Happy Halloween!

I really waffle every halloween. I love to see my kids dress up and have fun collecting candy. I love picking pumpkins and the family time of carving them and eating roasted seeds. But, I really struggle when we go around our neighborhoods and seeing caskets in yards and reminders of death, evil and distruction. It's a great time to reach out to neighbors cause EVERYONE is out and especially this year. We have wonderful weather of 65 degrees and we went out two nights this week. Besides halloween night we also went to the local outdoor mall two nights before for a dry run on our costumes. The kids had parties at school and the day was full of fun.

Finding the creepy crawlies in spagetti

Mall trick or treating

We have a "road trip", a quarter back,

batman and a cheer leader

Our Genie or is it I dream of Jeanie

Caroline is a girl being blown in a wind storm

or maybe an Midwestern in the September Hurricane

The "Quarter" back - He has a quarter taped to his back

Batman flying

Carving Party

Caroline's sunshine pumpkin

Caleb's football throwing pumpkin

Abby's Silly Girl pumpkin

Asher's Batman pumkin

We had lots of roasted seeds from these pumpkins

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

Tonight as I got Asher out of the bath tub, I was telling Asher how God made him. We were going over his body parts and how God made his hands, and his strong legs and his soft hair and beautiful skin and his sweet smile. Asher stopped me and said, "When I was a baby God held me in his hands." And I thought a moment and said, "Yes, Asher God held you in His hands when you were a baby." And I thought oh, if he only knew how much truth that statement holds and then I thought some more. I realize that this statement is true each and every day for all of us if we allow it. God holds all of us in His hands each and every day. Out of the mouth of babes!

The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I love this time of year and the annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We will be still make the trip even after our kids are grown. There is nothing like the smell in the air, the crunch of dried vines and leaves, the feel of straw as you pump along on the tractor driven wagon ride. We came out of the afternoon with four of the most perfect pumpkins (according to the kids). Caleb claims it is his best ever! All four had different criteria for just the right pumpkin and it was fun to see them all make the choice and for one of us the choice kept going even after we were on the wagon ride back. There always seemed to be a better one out there. Stay tuned to see the creating of the jack -0-lanterns!

Are you ready for some football?

This weekend the three younger ones and I had the privilege to go cheer on my nephew CJ (#82) who plays tight end of SIU Solukis. We were able to cheer along side my sister, Sharon and my brother-in-law, Drew. We are die hard fans now and can't wait to catch another game in person. But until then we will be catching him on the web and listen to the play by play.

Horses and Whales and Bears OH, MY!

Ok, not sure what we will be for halloween but we were having fun trying on some oldies but goodies.

OH . . . IO

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Yes, Asher referred to himself with his Ethiopian name which is amazing since we don't call him Asher Mamushe too often. And the rest is the product of listen to the Ohio State Marching Band each Saturday morning and reading a board book called Ohio State 101. By the way, if you are curious who his favorite player is since the tape ran out . . . it's Beanie Wells!

Water for Ethiopia

I just came across this organization and even though it's not September anymore I'm all for raising funds for Water in Ethiopia. The organization is called Charity:Water but their Ethiopia project is with Born in September Project. Take a look at this video and if you need to know more go to http://www.borninseptember.org/ I talk my water for granted soooo much, but as my kids learn in school - Water is life and is needed all over the world. So excited to see nice clean water getting to Ethiopia. I'm gonna be a part of it - Will you?

Paint and Bubbles Day!

Asher had his first finger paint day and yes it was a challenge to keep the paint on the paper. He wanted it on his belly, lips and some how got on his underwear (still potty training). Then we got cleaned up and went out for some bubble time. It was windy so the bubbles came flowing out when you held up the wand. I love having a toddler at home so I can have this kind of fun too! Asher really misses his sisters and brother when they are gone to school and of course, Dad at work, but we try to find fun things to do to help the time go faster.

Fun Grocery requests

You hear how some kids ask for candy, sugar cereals and other junk food while you shop in the grocery store. Well, the last three weeks Asher has joined the request line, but this is what he was wanting. . .

Red Bananas from Costa Rica. They are different but equally

as good as yellow ones.

I love to be stretched by my kids in this way and so excited to

have another kid that enjoys trying new things. And, NO SUGAR added!

They Huffed and They Puffed. . .

. . . and the blew our electric out for three days. High winds were the cause many in our area to loss power and over 100,000 homes are still out of electricity today, Friday, and the storm was on Sunday! We had 50-60 mph winds with gusts up to 80 on Sunday and my daughter played soccer during it. I really wished I'd brought my camera. They had to hold onto a neighboring goal so it won't blow across the field and hit people. Here are some shots of what we did. We had minimal damage with our trees and lost a few singles but all in all we just enjoyed our time living as Laura Ingals did in her day. And my kids enjoyed finding stuff and extra stuff to wear to clean up the yard.

We as a family played football in the yard in the dark, we worked together, grilled everything in our freezer including frozen veggies, we brain stormed things, listened to the radio and stories on tape and my husband and I looked each other in the eye and talked by candle light. Life was good and it still is. We had the township deliver free ice to us at 9:30pm one night by driving up the street and using a bull horn to announce their arrival. My kids will never forget this experience. We have had amazingly wonderful weather to make the experience so much easier. Praise the Lord for He blessed us.

This was a good reminder for us to keep praying for the people in Texas who will be out of electricity for over 6 weeks with HOT temperatures, bugs, no ice and limited food and gas. I can't truly imagine it all although I have a small insight into their situation. It also freed us from some of the things that we let hold us captive like our computer and tv. We spent our days outside and even into the night. We had a neighborhood smore night and talked more with my neighbors than I ever do. We checked on each other and just took the time! Very meaning full to me and I really want to find ways to "take the time" from here forth.

So on Wednesday when the electric came back on, Caroline was disappointed and I have to admit I was too, but just because we have power doesn't mean we have to go back to ignoring one another and taking things for granted. That is my prayer for our family and I'm sooooo thankful - the lights went out!

Ice delivered in the middle of the night. Didn't

have enough coolers for it.


Team work!
Strong guy!

This neighbor was out of town and had a big
tree in the front and one in the back yard.

Fashion Plates! We took a bike ride and ran into some

friends who appologized for their looks and I said - No

apologizes needed just look at us!

I even did laundry and hung it on our back porch to dry.

Do Something today

I got this from a friend of mine. Thanks Heidi, what a great idea. So many of us want to do something but feel limited in time and money. So sit at your commuter today and DO SOMETHING

1) goodsearch.com - Each time you click, the charity of your choice will receive 1 cent. I know that doesn’t seem like much, but consider how much you google stuff each week. See? It can add up!
2) thehungersite.com - So, there are different buttons for different donations, and you can click the buttons to have money sent to different needs… While you’re waiting for your favorite youtube video to load, park it at this site and click away!
3) ripple.org - Ripple works in the same way that thehungersite works… You just click and money from tasteful advertising goes somewhere to somebody in need. You can even install a ripple searchbar or put a button on your blog.
4) freerice.com - Test your vocab skills while you donate rice to those in need. The more right answers you get, the more rice goes to someone else.
Here’s the challenge: Bookmark one (or all) of these links in your browser. While you’re waiting to kill some time, take a moment to click.
Your clicks can change someone else’s life.

Anyone seen this commercial?

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Has anyone seen this Walmart commercial. Ok, really KT this is for you! Would you like to set up an arrange marriage with Hannah now?

Potty Training! UGGGHHH!

Well, we've started the journey to the rite of passage of using the facilities. It is sooo much harder this time around and I think it is because I don't have the luxury of being home ALL day long. I really need to be but I have a jr higher and other older kids that need to get out for activities. We are having some funny moments and I've tried to capture some on film and video. So enjoy! If you are past this stage you can look at this a say a prayer for Asher to be productive and for me to be patient. If you haven't gotten there yet then laugh along and just wait till it's your turn. Please share your great stories with me in the comments. It will help this process seem at least a little lighter! :)

Asher with a reward - a blue M&M

One afternoon, I heard a trickle sound and was sooo excited

thinking that Asher had taken the intiative and and gone
to the potty by himself.

Only to find him dumping his juice bag down the toilet. Ugghh!

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When asked who was teaching Asher to be potty trained . . .

This was his answer! He was listening when I read him that book.

Atleast I got some credit!

Labor Day Weekend Fun!

As much as a love a long weekend, I sometimes have a hard time enjoying them. They should be relaxing and fun, but it's hard to find the balance with those two. Here is what I mean. . . We had a sick child for the first two days of the weekend, the rest of the family went to a football game on Friday night and my awesome husband made it home from being out of town for four days on business just in time to take them. Saturday, we went on some errors, patched some dry wall holes, watched the OSU game, went to a local water park and watched a movie as a family in the evening. Sunday we went to church and brought two side dishes to participate in the church picnic afterwards. Also this is about when the allergies hit for two of our family members. We then came home and all went separate ways for the afternoon. We then went out to eat and and took a bike ride. Monday came and some went bike riding while Dad took Caroline and a friend canoeing. We swam all afternoon at Grandmas and had dinner with her before coming home to get ready for bed and to start the school/work week. It was a fun weekend, but I am tired and realize the more I get old that fun and relaxing don't always go hand in hand.