Halloween Pictures

We had a fantastic day on Halloween beginning with a Parade of Fiction at MG's school. She dressed as Fancy Nancy (along with many other kindergarten girls!), and I dressed as Eloise. It was a fun morning at school seeing everyone's costumes. G and Pops drove down from the mountains to trick-or-treat with us that evening. We are so thankful that they made the trip to hang out with us! Our trick-or-treating always begins with a Halloween march down Main Street. For this phase of trick-or-treating, Sam was a fire truck driver and MG was a cheerleader. It's always so fun watching the joy of the shopkeepers as they pass out candy to equally joyful kids. . . . it makes me so thankful for where we live. When we came home, Sam decided he was finished with the fire truck and pulled out MG's old cow costume from the closet. He excitedly wore his new costume for our neighborhood trick-or-treating and proceeded to tell each person who greeted him, "My name Sam, I have a tail." We had a great night together and managed not to overdo it on eating candy.

Faces of Sam

Every day provides a new adventure with Sam. His vocabulary is rapidly expanding, he loves to make people laugh, and he enjoys helping out around the house.

The other day he disappeared from my sight for a few minutes, and I quickly found him outside in his underwear carrying out a trash bag. Of his own accord, he was taking the trash to the outside can. I couldn't resist snapping a few shots.

On Friday, I was a little chilly, so I changed into a warm-up suit. Immediately Sam began demanding that I put his warm-up suit on him as well. I then found him with these additions to his outfit--rain boots and an old necklace from my Indian Princess days.
Saturday morning in a chicken suit. . .

Another funny face. . .

I'm not so sure what's going on in this one. . .

I'm thankful for a sweet, happy, and healthy boy who brightens up whatever room he is in.

Our Star

At the end of last week, MG had her first school play. The first of her kindergarten class plays was held in her classroom and involved the retelling of three fairy tales, reciting nursery rhymes, and singing a few songs that they have been practicing since the beginning of school. MG got to be one of the narrators which she thoroughly enjoyed. She did a fantastic job and the play was really great--very creative. I am so thankful for all that she is learning without her even realizing that she's learning. Today (Tuesday) she had to leave school early because she did not feel well, but she cried because she really didn't want to miss one minute of school. What a blessing for me to feel so good about where she is!

Dancing--

Narrating--

Big Smiles--

The whole class--

First Sleep-over

On Friday, we decided to try letting MG have a friend spend the night. She has been asking to have a sleep-over with our neighbor for a few weeks, and I figured the distance between our houses would allow an easy bail-out if her friend missed her mom and wanted to go home. I'm not sure what sleep-over really meant in MG's mind, but she knew it was something she wanted to participate in. Honestly, she has really begun showing some maturity (for a kindergartner), so I figured that it was okay to start the fun of sleep-overs. We went to get pizza with "the college students," and then came home in time for the girls to have a few minutes to play and then go to bed. Everything was great until I said goodnight and turned off the light. Our friend was almost immediately asleep, and my daughter (who was sleeping in her own bed at her own house!) began to sob uncontrollably. She kept saying that she wasn't "old enough to have a sleep-over." I was torn with how to handle the situation. Was I supposed to wake up her emotionally stable friend to take her home because MG couldn't handle a sleep-over at her own house? It was definitely an unexpected twist. So, MG went to our room to cry and fall asleep and was then transferred into her own bed when we were ready to sleep. There were no problems until I was awakened at 6am by MG's sweet (but bawling) face in my face with her chorus of "I'm just not old enough for sleep-overs, Mommy." If I had been more awake, I think I could've laughed for a long time, but at the time, laughter was not what came out of my mouth. I truly do cherish these precious times of life with MG, but maybe we'll wait a little while to try our next sleep-over.
A few pictures of the happy time before bedtime---

More wedding pictures

I'm still working on getting pictures of the bride and the groom, but I couldn't resist posting these pictures of our new friend, Jack, and MG. They look like quite the couple.





And one of the three sisters--

Sara is married!

We just had a fantastic weekend in the mountains celebrating Sara's wedding. Although it was a little surreal watching my littlest sister get married, Chuck and Sara's marriage was so clearly right and orchestrated by God. Sara looked beautiful wearing the same dress that my mom, my sister, and I wore. The service was very worshipful, led by Sara's pastor, a dear friend of ours, and the reception was lovely and as Sara stated, "exactly what she would have dreamed of wanting" for her wedding. MG was a wonderful flower girl and made a new friend in her ring-bearer cohort. The two spent the entire weekend together, most of the time at a very high gear, laughing and in their own little world. Sara and Chuck are now off to Maui--not a bad way to start their life together!

I have a couple pictures from the beginning of the weekend with more to come soon.

At the bridesmaids' luncheon--Sara's luncheon was held at the house where we grew up vacationing every summer. We have many pictures on this same hammock of the three sisters. It was such a special place to gather!
The bridal party--

On a more somber note, one of Sara's best friends who has been sick for a little over a year, died last Friday evening. She was very much on our minds this weekend as she was one of Sara's bridesmaids, even though she was not present. Please pray for her family as they mourn her death and celebrate a beautiful life lived.

First Day of School!

I have lots to catch up on, but I wanted to post pictures from MG's first day of school. What an exciting day it has been! I am so proud of her--she went from 8:30 until 2:30 and did fantastic. When I was walking her into the school building, she turned and whispered to me, "Mommy, I'm a little scared." I could feel her little heart racing as we walked down the hall together. That was the first and last mention of fear that I heard from her. She walked right into her room, unpacked, and settled right in. While she was at school, the house was strangely quiet--I'm thinking the adjustment will take longer for me than for her. She was happy to see me at 2:30 and was bubbling with excitement and stories from her day. We celebrated her day with a trip to get ice cream--what could be better? What a big girl I have now!