right now...

i'm extremely grateful for all of the men and women (including my little brother) who have served this country in order to keep us safe and free!  and, for giving us this day off!

i'm totally obsessing over my new jewelry from noonday collection that i got for my birthday!!!  each piece is handmade and looks amazing and has a cool story of who made it or how it's made!  i'm trying to decide what to wear later...too many choices!

i'm sad because i just ran out of my favorite oil!  it takes headaches away instantly and i love diffusing it because it smells so yummy and helps us breathe easier!  don't worry, though; more is on it's way!

i am really enjoying this book.  it is helping me be aware of teachable moments and using those moments to teach grace and carter man what the Bible says and how to apply it to everyday life.

i'm hoping to make something like this with the kiddos this weekend!

this "arctic blast" that is headed our way has got me thinking about christmas.  these things are on the wish lists of some kids i know:

this is my favorite song right now...love, love, love it!!!

i need to get up and do something that is somewhat productive on my day off, but this guy wants to keep snuggling!!!

trick ~ or ~ treat

Elsa:  Yep, we did our part of helping make Elsa the most popular costume of the year.  Grace was so excited about dressing up and she felt very beautiful!!!  And, I only have two words:  The Wig.

SpiderMan:  I mean, I hate to one up everyone, but this SpiderMan has a cape.  And sweatbands.  CarterMan was also excited to dress up; he felt very strong and super cool!

Love them!

We met up with The Riddler, a witch and her black cat, and a couple of Minions.  Then we froze while trick or treating!

They were so fast and so independent.  I was basically chasing them the entire time.  They are growing up too fast!

Our attempt at a family pic.  Fail!

This girl loves her some Reese's peanut butter cups!!!

While thawing out, the kids got crazy busy eating candy!!!

We had another super fun Halloween!!!

monster fun

we had another family fun night, but it was a little scary!

we had monster meatballs and slime for dinner.  eww!!!

after dinner, we made monster brownies.  they weren't eww!!!

after that sugar intake, we had to burn off some energy.  so, we had a monster dance party in the dark with flashlights.  it got a little crazy...you should have seen our moves!!!  ha!

ooo eee, ooo ah ah

ting tang

walla walla bing bang

after baths, we read the very scary monster story, the monster at the end of this book.  finally, we read Psalm 46:1-2.  i wanted to make sure the kiddos weren't scared and to remind them that we have an amazing God that will protect us because He loves us so much!

thank you, Jesus, for fun and family and for being our refuge!!!

it's a great pumpkin family fun night

this weekend, we carved pumpkins.

the kiddos did a lot of the work.

carter and daddy worked on a spiderman pumpkin.

grace designed her pumpkin all by herself.

cheese!

the girls finished first.

but, this was not a race (said the boys).

the boys finished their fancy superhero.  

then, we had some fun with the self-timer.

after that, the "momma, take a picture of this" began!!!

our pumpkins.

next, we had pumpkin shaped quesadillas for dinner. 

we ended our pumpkin night with this classic!

(it comes on abc at 7:00 thursday night, if you want to have a pumpkin family fun night too!)

while we watched, we snuggled and snacked on popcorn and reese's peanut butter pumpkins!  mmm!!!

happy pumpkin time!!!

all. the. time.

seriously, she does this all the time. all the time.  yes, we've all been kicked in the face by those flying feet that come out of nowhere.  but, i kind of love it.