Samuel's Dedication

A couple of weeks ago we publicly dedicated Samuel to the Lord at Providence Church. What an honor to stand before our family and church family to commit and surrender our little boy to his Creator! We shared a letter that we wrote to Samuel and he blew raspberries and made silly noises the ENTIRE time. Something tells me that he knew this was a special day and an event to rejoice in! Evangeline was exactly the same way at her dedication almost exactly two years before. And, she didn't disappoint at Sam's dedication either- running around like a crazy girl and commenting on all the pictures on the screen. My kids somehow always seem to entertain, often embarrassing me a little, but I'm over it! I have learned in the almost 3 years since having Evangeline that we will inevitably embarrass each other throughout our lives.
Here are a few shots of the evening:

We love you dearly, our little Sammer Bammer!!!

Harvest PAR-TAY!!

Eva's preschool had a harvest party on Thursday, which included a parade, a tractor ride, and lots of old-fashioned fun and games for the kids. My mom joined me to help hold Sam and, of course, to "oooh" and "ahhh" at the cuteness. I love seeing Eva with her little friends; she was so excited and was BUSTING at the seams to go on the tractor ride. Here are a few pictures of the day:

The whole class being led out on a rope (how else to keep 10 two and a half year olds in a line?)

Eva was excited to be a cow

 Longingly looking at the tractor as it gave the first ride, which she wasn't on :(

Woo-hoo!!! After what seemed like forever, she and Caleb jumped in for their ride. Caleb immediately went for the steering wheel. I was anticipating a problem on the ride, so I said, "Caleb, make sure you give Eva a turn with the wheel, ok?"

Eva's classmate, Jadon (on the left), in the car behind them.

 Less than a minute after they pulled away, Eva started bawling because she wanted a turn to steer (mom intuition I suppose). I ran up and told Caleb to "let go and give her a turn, NOW!" The tractor driver had already stopped once because another kid was melting down, so I wanted to nip it in the bud 'cause lots of kids were waiting. Caleb let go and Eva recovered pretty quickly. Phew!

 The tractor dropped them off at the "pumpkin patch" and they got to choose one to take home! Eva did some serious inspecting before choosing the perfect one!

Eva's classmate, Nick (middle), and his brother, Jack, and dad who helped us out (see below).

Sam: "What exactly is going on here, mom?" He had this look most of the morning.

Pumpkin ring toss

Eva's classmate, Conner, playing one of the toss games. (His dad helped, too).

Eva was proud to show her teacher the bracelet she made. She used all sparkly beads. I was shocked.

Eva's classmate, Bella. What an adorable little pumpkin!

Lily's mom helped do face/hand painting. Eva chose a lady bug for her hand.

Eva's classmate, Lily. Such a cutie!

Showing off the finished product. She was proudly displaying it all day long & wasn't a happy cow when it got washed off.

By the time the party was ending, we were ready to leave. And by "we", I mean Sam. He needed a nap BAD and he was also hungry. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I got a frantic call from my mom that she needed me to come back and help her. She was stuck. FOR REAL?? My kids are exhausted and hungry!! I love my mom, and felt bad that she was stuck because she came to help me and see Evangeline (and also because she is a bad driver), so I turned the car around and went back to check out the situation.
Well, it was indeed a **situation**.  She had somehow managed to back over a very large curb- on the other side of the curb the ground was lower, and it was grass. She was spinning when she tried to get back over. I got in the car and backed it up a bit more and determined that the tire was not flat (she thought it was), and thought that we only needed a few strong men to get her out of the predicament. So, she stayed with the kids in my car while I went to round up some men to help my "mom who is a terrible driver"- that's what I told them all. And, it's true! I was pretty embarrassed- it's not like I actually know the kids' parents in Eva's class very well yet. But, I got 2 dads of her classmates and one dad that I knew from church whose little girl is in Eva's Sunday School class (hallelujah!).  They essentially picked up her car and lifted it over the curb. I watched the whole thing and my camera was RIGHT there, but I didn't even think to capture the funny moment. BUMMER. Here's a shout out to Nick, Conner, and Rachel's dads. They totally rule :)

She's got markers, so...

Keep an eye on her, Mike.  That's what I said. That's what I meant. Eva loves to draw with markers, but she's 2.5 years old, so (DUH) it's best to have a "grown-up" there to keep tabs on the process. That's why I said (in case you missed it), "She's got markers, so keep an eye on her, Mike".  His very matter of fact, "ok" made me trust that he understood. Clearly, I had far too much confidence in his understanding, because he, in fact, did not understand. This is what transpired in the 2 minutes mom was not there and she was under daddy's watchful eye.

The camera happened to be right next to me so I grabbed it after looking at Mike and saying, 

"Seriously? Look at Eva!" 

How could I not capture this moment?

She was sitting ON the art table which is situated perfectly in front of a large mirror- NICE. 

I think Mike might be thinking something like, "Oh sh*t! How did that happen so fast!?" 

Welcome to parenthood, especially with toddlers :)

At this point, I think I said something like, 

"take the marker from her!!! oh my goodness, get it together!"

Daddy was getting a kick out of how well she got that marker into her belly button.

Somehow Mommy ended up giving her a bath. 

She had also gotten the back of her neck, under her hair, quite nicely. 

The water got dark blue by the time we were done. 

It was unreal, but the camera was no longer nearby, so I didn't get to capture it. 

I got this shirt perfectly white. Thank you Crayola washable markers. They are indeed very washable :) I suppose that's part of the lesson. If you have any markers that are not not washable NOT locked away in a freakin' safe and you have kids under the age of 6 in your house, you are not very smart.

fall makes it better

It's fall. The leaves are starting to change colors and the air is FINALLY starting to feel a much less like liquid and a little more like.... freshness :)
I'm not a huge fan of what I call "the extreme seasons".  I would be thrilled with just a few weeks of summer and winter, which I actually really enjoy for a minute or two. But, I just cannot get enough of the fall and spring. They always pass too quickly and I am always dreading their end.  This year hasn't been any different. This summer was hot. There were something like 50 days that were "hotter than hades" kind of days and I was happy to see it end. Now the fall is upon us and all that comes with it. Pumpkins and Indian Corn and Apple Cider and Apple Sauce and Candy Apples and Fall Foliage.... I am in seasonal heaven!
Something about fall has made a time that is difficult more bearable. There are some things that are hard right now, not devastating or major. Life is just "LIFE" right now. Challenging and stretching, but beautiful, too. We are walking it together as a family and trying to keep our eyes focused on Jesus as we journey along.  We are believing Him like we always do, because He's never failed us, never left us. There is much to be thankful for, much to praise the Lord for, too! We have babies (nieces and/or nephews) coming (one from Ethiopia), we have an amazing family, we are healthy, and we are children of the Most High God! What more could we possibly need?
A few fall pictures...

Just a random fall day- isn't he looking like a big boy?!?!

My fall table

Sibling love on a fall morning

Springton Manor Farm

ADORABLE 

Our crawler :)

DADDY!!

Sammy loves to be upside down. Diving in his future? His daddy thinks so! 

Evangeline is our little ball of sunshine 

Mama and Samuel

Mama and Evangeline

Schooligan

So, my first born had her first day of school about a month ago. Oh my word, the cuteness was beyond me. Completely, ridiculously cute.

It all started about a year ago when I would pick up either my niece or nephew from school with Eva. She loved it, especially when we got to go inside- book fair, Christmas show, etc. She would constantly talk about Judah and Addie's school and, eventually, began to ask if she could go. By the time the school year was over this last spring, she was starting to get upset when I told her she was too little to go to school. But when I heard that Windsor Christian preschool was starting, for the first time, and "2 and a 1/2 year old class", I didn't even hesitate for a second. I signed her up and made the very stupid mistake of telling her just that (IN MAY). HELLO!!!! Add that to the list of "dumbest mom moves"...

So, she managed to wait 4 months, almost driving me out of my mind in the process, and started school on September 9th. Her back-pack was literally as big as she was- all the kids have to use the same one, provided by the school- and it served as a very concrete reminder of how small she still is. But, she was positively giddy when the day arrived. She woke bright and early and asked for 3 hours if it was time for us to leave. She walked to her class with major gusto and waited impatiently outside until the teacher declared, "it's time to come in and get started". She bolted across the threshold and didn't look back. In fact, the teacher had to bring her back to the door to remind her to "say bye-bye to mommy and give her a kiss and a hug". Hello? Did the teacher really have to remind my kid to show me some love on the first day of school? Geez Louise.

When I came back to get her a few hours later, she looked pretty disheveled (no more pigtails) and greeted me with a huge hug and a "MOMMY!!!", but talked my ear off the rest of the day about how much fun she had at her new school. Her teacher sent a few pictures of their first day and in EVERY one she had only one pig tail in. Seriously? Did I really think that my attempt to cutify her would work when I wasn't there to "re-do" her hair every 2 minutes? I mean, even then, it's usually a disaster. Live and learn. Don't even give their cuteness a second thought, because they are so cute even when they look like complete wrecks :)

She has continued to absolutely love school and she is engaged and learning. It's been amazing to watch her soak in so much.  Our Evangeline: She's one dynamite little girl.

 

Another fun day at our favorite place...

We walk

 We run

 We make friends (with squirrels)

 We discover

 We feed the fish

 We stop and smell the flowers

 We laugh

 We get wet

 We marvel at the greatness of God's creation

We love it here at Longwood.