Mmmm...

The other night I made Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. I had just finished making the frosting and had given both kids a lick from my finger. They were both saying "mmmmm" and "yummy" (or "nummy" as Grace says) over and over again. Aparently, it was good :) Isaac asked if he could lick the spatula off and I told him I had a better idea... he and Grace could each have a beater! I haven't ever given them beaters before so this was a big treat... and you could tell. They were quiet (except for an occasional "mmmm") for a good 5 minutes. It was so cute watching as they tried to find a good spot to lick. They kept saying it was like a lollipop or a popsicle. There were times I was laughing so hard as I watched them so intently trying to get the frosting off. Enjoy the pictures! :)

Carving a Masterpiece....

Okay... so maybe not... but we sure had fun trying! :) We are still on vacation, so we decided to go to a different church for service. We went to the church the kids and I go to for MOPS since it's close and we knew we would know some of the people there. We've been before and really enjoy the service. The bad (and good, I guess) thing was that the service was at 8:30!!! It was very hard to get up this morning... we had to wake the kids up even. The nice part was that we were home by 10:15, leaving us plenty of time to carve our pumpkins. Last year, it was nice enough to do it outside at the picnic table... today we had to be inside... just a little bit too chilly out. We tackled Isaac and Grace's first. I drew various shapes of eyes, noses, and mouths so they could choose what they wanted for their pumpkin. Cleaning out the "stuff" inside was pretty funny. Grace dove right in, even though she wasn't able to do it very well, she didn't mind it at all.

On the other hand, Isaac was bothered by the smell! We kept telling him that it wasn't a bad smell... that pumpkins smell good, but we just couldn't convince him! He didn't want any part of the "gutting". But both of them had fun helping us cut the faces into their pumpkins.

And they were both very proud of their finished products!!!

Francis tackled his next. We found a Thomas stencil online so he decided that's what he would do. It was a lot harder then he thought... but it turned out really well.

And since we had a Thomas pumpkin I thought it was only fair that my pumpkin be turned into a Princess one. My pumpkin was so big I thought it could really use two on it. Can you guess who they are??? :)

It was a big mess... a lot of work... but so much fun! :)

(Here is a little "story" we used as we carved our pumpkins today:

First, God picks you from the pumpkin patch and brings you in from the field. The Bible says He selects us out of the world. We are in the world, but no longer of the world.

He then washes all the "dirt" off the outside that we received from being around all the other pumpkins. All the outside influences of our former life must be cleaned up. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.

Then, He carefully removes all the "yucky stuff" called "sin" out from the inside. Look at this! Yuk! Sin will not have such internal power. He then changes us from the inside out by the Power of His Word.

That's why it is important to go the church and learn about God's Word. He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love. After Jesus is invited inside, you begin to experience the changing power of God's love in your life.

Then He carves a new smiling face. Our countenance is changed by the power of His presence in our life. We then become so grateful. It can even show on our face!

Now we are going to light this candle inside. Look! This pumpkin now reflects the light from inside out. So too, when Jesus, who is called the Son of Light, lives inside of us, He shines through our life for all to see. We can let His light reflect through us to reveal His presence. "Let your light so shine before men that they may be able to see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven."

So you see, we Christians are really like this pumpkin! We will never be the same with Jesus inside of us. We can say like this jack-o-lantern, "Thy presence, my light!")

Vacation at Home...

So, this past week we were on vacation. Due to lack of money, we decided just to stay home this week and find things to do in the area. Because Isaac had preschool Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we really only had Tuesday and Thursday to do things. On Tuesday, we took the kids to the mall. We don't get there very often because it's about 40 minutes away and we usually do most of our shopping at Walmart or Target anyway. This was a big treat for the kids. We just window shopped, but had a fun time. Isaac and Grace were also able to ride on the carousel that was there... another reason they love going to the mall!

On Thursday we headed to our local children's museum. We haven't been in a very long time. I took Isaac with friends last fall... but Grace and Francis hadn't been since Grace was a baby. We got there around 10:30 and enjoyed a very fun (though long and tiring) day! We aren't members so we wanted to make the most of the time we had there. There was just so much to do and see. The kids were troopers... especially Grace who missed her nap entirely. We definately want to get a membership so that next time we don't feel like we have to do everything in one day. We didn't end up leaving until after 5pm!

This may seem like a lot of pictures... but we took over 300 :)

So, that was the extent of our vacation at home. We have decided not to take another one here though. Most of the week we were left alone, but there were a few things that happened that required Francis to interrupt our vacation and tend to church matters. Thankfully we didn't lose as much time together as we could have. Next year we'll just try and plan our time better and spend it out of town instead! :)

A Cool, Crisp Fall Day...

Last Saturday we took the kids out for a day of fall fun. We started the day at our local apple orchard. We have been a few times already, but had never gone through their big "Apple Core Maze". It's like a smaller version of a corn maze. We had to search for answers to questions as we wandered around trying to find our way out.

We had a good time, though by the end we were still missing one of the answers and the kids had had enough of the maze! :) Francis ended up going back in while I waited and thankfully someone else was able to tell him where the answer was. Come to find out, Grace had actually found it early. It was underneath a platform and as we walked by she pointed and said "there it is"... but I thought she was looking at the apple windsock that was above it. So, we spent a lot of time we didn't need to... next time we'll have to listen to her! :)

After a quick lunch, we headed to the pumpkin patch. Grace fell asleep on the way there and took about a 5 minute nap.

Thankfully, she perked right back up when we got outside and she saw all of the pumpkins. We spent a lot of time, each of us trying to pick our perfect pumpkin.

Grace is the only one holding the pumpkin she actually brought home! We tried to convince her to get a bigger one, or a different shaped one... but she kept going back to the first one saying "my baby pumpkin" :)

We had a couple of laughs while out in the patch. As Francis was trying to take my picture, he stepped backwards and fell over a pumpkin that was behind him. I wish I had thought to grab the camera back from him and take HIS picture! Later, as we were walking around, Grace wasn't watching where she was going and stepped right into a very soft pumpkin. She soaked her shoes, socks, and bottom of her pants! She wasn't too happy about it either :)

Isaac's 1st Field Trip...

Isaac had his 1st field trip this past week. On Wednesday, his preschool class went to our local Apple Orchard for the morning.

I took Isaac while Francis and Grace had some special daddy/daughter time :) The first thing we did was a wagon ride up to the orchard to pick apples. The kids were each able to pick 3, not a lot, but they had fun finding just the right one.

Then we continued on the wagon ride through the orchard and we saw the pumpkin patches too.
After, the kids spent time painting pumpkins. Isaac managed to stay paint free until the end, when he went to put his paintbrush in the water he slipped on the bench and ended up with paint from his pumpkin on his shirt and paint from his friend Thomas' pumpkin on his face!!! :)

Then the kids had a snack of donuts, apples, and apple cider! The morning ended with a ride on the Cider Barrell Express and many trips through the hay bale maze.
The weather was perfect and the kids all had a fun time! I'm so glad I was able to go with him and see exactly what he did. It was also nice to see his teacher "in action" and to see how Isaac interacts with her. I'm looking forward to being the parent helper one of these days and actually seeing what it is like in his classroom :)

Grace's 1st Haircut

Wow... 2 posts in one day. But you can see by the title of this blog it is a momentous occasion. My baby girl had her 1st haircut today. We've been swaying back and forth when we were going to do it. Her hair in the back had 2 very distinct layers so we really wanted to even it off. We hesitated for a while now because we really didn't want to lose her beautiful curls. But, today after an early bath we decided it was time. She sat like a big girl and just let me cut away until it was done. I think it turned out pretty well... and she still has a few curls left!!! :)