Trick Or Treat!

We had a great Halloween! The kids dressed up as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan, and they raked in the goods!

First we took the kids by Papa and Nanny's house. Then we did the old, customary Halloween tradition of TRICK-OR-TREATING AT THE MALL! Yeah, okay, so we opted out of going door to door (just doesn't seem like people get into it anymore... you end up getting 1 successful hit for every 5 or 6 tries!) With Dylan still being small, it seems easier to take them to the mall, which was promoting a Trick-Or-Treat night. And boy, did they RACK UP!

It was actually nice... we got to just walk them in the stroller, look around a bit, have a cup of coffee, and the kids saw a ton of kids in their costumes and scored on the candy!

We let the kids eat a sucker while we at the mall, and then we let them have 2 candies when they got home. THEY WERE JACKED UP! I'm surprised we got them down for the night (albeit a little late.)

Another Halloween come and gone, and Thanksgiving is next! For now, Happy Halloween, everyone... hope yours was as good as ours.



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The Great Pumpkin

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!


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Autumn Fun!

We had a great time last weekend. We went, along with Papa Bear and our friends Jeff, Amy and their son, Connor, to Cagle's Dairy Farm. There we went on a hay ride and got to roast marshmellows and play around. It was a lot of fun.

Maryn and Dylan adore Connor, and its fun to watch them together. We keep making jokes that Maryn and Connor are going to grow up and get married. We'll see, I guess.

The kids just had a blast. Its fun now that Maryn and Dylan are older to go out and do things together as a family. And its truly surprising how much I enjoy watching them experience something new.

The simple things astonish them, the amazing things seem to be no big deal. It makes you realize just how much we adults have lost the wonderment of a roasted marshmellow, or soft green grass, or the moon in the sky. As adults, we become harder to impress. But for kids, things are simple. It doesn't take a lot to "wow" them, and that's so fun.

It's great taking photos of them during these times, too. Sometimes I wonder if we're more concerned with capturing the moment than we are of being "in" the moment and enjoying it. I hope we're actually somewhere in the middle.

I hope in time we slow things down a little more, enjoy life more, and just spend more time building memories that our kids will carry with them forever.

Thanks, God, for the blessing of children, family, and friends.

Oh yeah, and roasted marshmellows and cool, colorful autumn evenings.

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Likely Not!

I am wondering today if the feeling of wanting to surround my children with some impenetrable shield for the rest of their lives will ever pass. The sheer volume of bad news these days is almost too much to bear. I think maybe a bubble existence wouldn't be so bad. Maybe safe in their bubble, I could simulate the ups and downs of life to provide a seemingly perfect existence. But only the major stuff like getting caught telling your first lie, stealing something to impress your friends, or finding out what it feels like to be betrayed, or not liked. But also the good stuff like your first kiss, or the feeling of success and love.

We all have to take off our rose-colored glasses at some point, I just dread the day my children do. I wish they could always see life like they see the movie, Curious George. Maryn and Dylan, neither one like the part where the burly doorman is searching for George. I know it is the look on his face they dislike. I say, "he's just very grumpy". But, Maryn tells me to "get to the happy parts". She is content to just see the good stuff in life right now and I dread the day that all the stuff that I see comes into clear view.

It is only my faith that allows me to escape a life filled with fear!