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It was the night before Halloween and pumpkins needed carving in order to be ready to stand vigil outside our door.
Getting ready to work.
Ellie came up with a plan on the way to the pumpkin patch the previous day so out came her drawings to work from as she carved.
Dad supervised the carving. But she really didn’t need much help this year for the first time. I guess for Ellie, 7 is the magic age for pumpkin carving.
The work area. I prepared Anna’s pumpkin since she was out shopping with a classmate for their party.
A pumpkin carved.
See how it matched the plan.
Ellie and Daddy.
Mommy and Ellie and Belle (her doll). The smaller Christmas tree pumpkin was for Belle.
Anna arrived home in time to carve her pumpkin.
I think she is positively in love with her pumpkin man.
Now we are ready for Halloween!
Two days before Halloween and the girls ask, “Are we going to get pumpkins?” Of course we are! And of course we headed to our favorite spot: Peter’s Pumpkins and Carmen’s Corn. Jeff passes this place on his way to and from work daily and we love seeing Anna’s former Spanish teacher, Carmen when we visit.
OK, so maybe Anna is a bit big for a wagon ride.
Ellie is a much better size (at least yet this year) for Jeff to pull.
Not so fond of this odd-shaped pumpkin. It went back.
Jeff and Ellie headed one way looking for the perfect pumpkin.
While Anna headed another way.
Here’s the one Ellie liked.
Anna picked this one.
And Ellie needed a second one for her doll this year.
Pumpkin weight lifting.
Girls among the pumpkins.
Jeff and the girls and pumpkins.
Me and girls and pumpkins.
Sisters.
Carmen and Anna. Carmen was Anna’s Spanish teacher for six years.
Happy Independence Day! Happy 4th of July!
It was just me and Ellie for most of the day. Jeff had to work.
We started out the morning by taking Brandon to the Target clinic for a rash on his leg that just wasn’t clearing up. Probably poison ivy he picked up at the cabin a few weeks ago.
Ellie and I shared an Icee while waiting for Brandon.
My friend, Gale, from church invited people out to her lake home to spend the day. Ellie immediately found a new friend in Gale’s toy room (yes there is an entire room at her house just for toys) and snuggled on the back porch swing with it.
July 4:
Relaxing on the 4th.
Other photos from the day:
Gail’s beautiful lake home.
Ellie and I spent most of the afternoon floating on the raft. Later when more kids came, it was always full.
Me on the pontoon boat.
Heading back after a tour of the lake and swimming at the beach.
After a wonderful potluck dinner and more swimming for Ellie back at Gail’s dock, we had planned on staying to watch the fireworks. As Ellie got dressed, she said that she’s never watched the fireworks without her Daddy, so we headed home. I tried calling on the way, no answer. When we got home, no Daddy and no note either. Luckily Daddy showed up about 10 minutes before we were ready to leave for the fireworks display. Just enough time to light a few sparklers.
A new challenge this week at jessicasprague.com prompted me to get a layout done already using these photos from the 4th.
Ellie has recently got into digi-scrapping too. She made this layout using a template. I did the typing, but all the words are hers. She did all the clipping of papers, selecting and resizing of the elements (she loved the paint splatters).
I love her work!
For the kids it’s about finding their Easter Baskets that are full of treats. For the youngest it’s still about hunting for treat-filled plastic eggs in the woods behind our house. For the family, it’s about celebrating Christ’s resurrection and spending time together.
A few days before Easter Jeff, Ellie and I dyed eggs.
“Big sister Anna helped Ellie get ready for her first Valentine’s Day at school by giving her a special pink streak in her hair to celebrate the day. It was darn cute and Ellie loved it.”
It’s been a Funky Minds tradition for the past four years to celebrate the love with all the folks at our local senior citizen center. We missed the first year, but have been regular attenders ever since. The highlights are always the chocolate fountain, getting dressed up and the dancing.
Ellie made a special card for “grandpa Bill” (everyone’s favorite grandpa and a Funky Mind’s fixture). He was thrilled to get his card:
The Queen of Hearts greeted all those entering the ball:
The kids made the chocolate fountain their first stop:
It was a good thing Ellie’s dress had “chocolate” spots on it already since she added a few more:
Then was was lots of dancing:
And you can’t have a ball without a King and Queen ruling over it:
King Beau and Queen Katie (Katie was the Funky Mind’s Americorps Volunteer last year and is now a first grade teacher).
It was a wonderful event. I even got to dance with my hubby and both my girls.
Last night was Christmas eve. Started our celebration by worshiping with the family at Earl and Penny’s church where Earl was singing in the choir. It was a beautiful service with of lots of songs and God’s fulfilled promises. Penny fixed a yummy dinner featuring ham and cheesy hashbrown potatoes. After a bit of cleaning up, it was picture and present time. As usual, the youngest (Ellie) got the most presents. Of course, she was thrilled with all the toys. Jeff and the other men in the family got new saws from Grandpa and pj’s from Grandma. The boys got some clothes, more treats and more money. Me–let’s just say I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my family.
December 24:
Reece (Gayna and Jim’s puppy dog) got worn out by all the excitement.
The church Christmas show, “Arrest These Merry Gentlemen” was performed during the service last Sunday. It was a show that both touched your heart and made you chuckle.
December 19:
“Arrest These Merry Gentlemen”
Chorus:
What we need is a silent night,
A little law and order sounds nice
When all of these census crowds
Are driving us crazy.
What we need is a clean sweep,
Less noise so we can get some good sleep.
We’re thinking these shepherds are beginning to
Sound a little shady.
Can you tell by now we’re saying?
Arrest these merry gentlemen!
More photo highlights from the show:
The finale featuring highlights from “He Is the One” and “Share the News”
December 4:
December 3:
December 2:
December 1:
I wasn’t sure I’d undertake this project this year. Last year I made layouts every day in December, the year before I posted a photo a day. Looking back I realized I love seeing and remembering all that happened during this exciting, busy and important month. So here is the start of the 2010 version!
I don’t think we’ve ever had our tree up this early before. Usually we are a family that waits until it is at least December and often into the second week of December before we get our tree. This year it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving–still November! But it was a beautiful winter day and we had all the kids with us, so after the church service we stopped at our local nursery. Ellie and Anna had fun feeding the donkeys. They ate grain right out of their hands. Brandon and Austin were more interested in hanging around the fire pit. It didn’t take us long to find our perfect tree that we all agreed upon. It was a little bittersweet knowing that next year when we get our tree Brandon will probably still be away at school. While they tied the tree to the top of our van we went inside the store. There they had some unusual stuff–”fake” snow called Snow to Go that really felt a bit cold. Everyone had to touch the stuff.
Well, we do have the tree up in it’s place in the front window and the lights are strung all around. It’s been watered faithfully each morning, but it must be getting lonely without any decorations. We haven’t gotten to that part yet. Decorating the tree is on this weekend’s agenda, so it might just be the second week of December before the house is ready for Christmas celebrating after all.
