Trick or Treat

Tonight we went over to Eric's cousin's house and spent some time with their family. The kids were excited to go out trick-or-treating.

Here are some pics from the night. Madelyn was dressed up as Belle and her daddy was going to go as the Beast. Unfortunately the only beast mask he could find terrified Owen to the point that he was in my arms screaming so Madelyn had to go trick-or-treating with her Daddy instead of the Beast. The other kids in the pic (pirate & ninja) are Madelyn's cousins on her mom's side.

I'm sure you can figure out what my kids dressed up as but just in case - Morgan was Hannah Montana, Drew was Spiderman minus the hat, and Owen was Pooh.

Bonus pic - Madelyn just became a new big sister last week when her brother, Riley, was born. Below is a pic of Riley and his mom, Rachel. Isn't he CUTE???





I also wanted to include an article that a family member forwarded me regarding Halloween. I struggle with this holiday because I don't like what it stands for yet it is hard, for our children, to ignore all that is going on around them. How intentional we must be as Christian parents to make sure our kids look at things as God sees them.

It's a good read.

HALLOWEEN
Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
By Pastor Eric WattGuest Writer
CBN.com – What about Halloween?
Should you and I be involved in the celebration of Halloween?
Finding the answer to this question has been an interesting journey in itself. I interviewed several people and then researched what many leading Christian writers, authors and spokesmen have written about the subject. I also searched various websites like www.christianitytoday.com, www.focusonthefamily.org, and www.cbn.com to read what others might be saying. What I found was an agreement on the origins of Halloween, but a mixture of recommendations about allowing our children to participate in this super-charged media driven holiday.
The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions.
But what about today? Perhaps we can still learn from history. In the fourth century, Christians attempted to co-opt the holiday by celebrating the lives of faithful Christian saints the day before Halloween. This was a conscious attempt to provide an alternative and re-focus the day away from ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and other “haunted” experiences. Since that time many Christians have decided to allow their children to dress in more “innocent” costumes of pumpkins, princesses, Superman or as a cowboy. Part of this is due to the simple reality that in today’s Western culture it is nearly impossible to “avoid” Halloween.
Just before reaching a conclusion on the subject, I was struck with the thought that I ought to further my search and find out what Wicca, the official religion of witchcraft, has to say about Halloween. Perhaps they viewed the day as a simple fun and innocent neighborhood activity?
“Shock” is the only word to describe what I found. Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who follow Wicca. In fact, it is one of two high and holy days for them. The Celtic belief of spirits being released is current, along with the worship of Samhain (the lord of death) – both are promoted as something to embrace on that day. There is no question in my mind that to those who believe and follow the practices of witchcraft, Halloween represents an opportunity to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the spiritual world.
So after discovering this, what is a reasonable conclusion? As Christians you and I are placed in this world to be a light in a world of darkness. There is no lasting benefit to ignore a holiday that exists around us, but it also does harm to celebrate Halloween as it has originated and grown over the centuries.
My suggestion? Christians should be teaching their children (age appropriately) that:
there is a spiritual world filled with goodness from God and evil from Satan (Eph. 2:1-10);
life with Christ has power over darkness (I John 4:4); and
those who celebrate Halloween either are unaware of its roots, or are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded and viewed as an ultimate power.
To counter the evil influence of Halloween, we need to join together and celebrate the reality of the heroic efforts of Christian saints over the evil in their day. Many leaders in the past -- and present -- have fulfilled the mandate of destroying the works of the devil through their sacrificial commitment to Christ and His Kingdom.
Too, rather than “hide” in the face of evil, we should unabashedly and boldly create an alternative that is positive and uplifting; that celebrates good over evil and the triumph of God over Satan. We need to provide an environment that also makes room for heaps of fun while using the day as a “teachable moment” to celebrate God’s protection, provision and purpose for our lives.

Oops

Well, apparently Morgan wasn't allowed to dress up for school today. I looked in the school handbook and it didn't say that they couldn't dress up, I looked for something in the notes sent home from school, again, nothing said they couldn't dress up. I did have a note from her teacher telling me that I could dress up and add to the craziness of their Halloween party and the school down the road was able to dress up as book characters. Call me crazy, I guess I just assumed they could dress up as long as it was modest. I remember dressing up for school and loving to see what everyone else wore.

So, Morgan gets up and we get her all dolled up as Hannah Montana, wig and all. She was SO cute (I'll post a pic later) and she heads to school. About 30 minutes later I get a phone call from her teacher asking me to bring in clothes as they weren't allowed to dress up. Nice.

I felt really bad because I didn't want Morgan to feel embarrassed or anything so I hurried up and got to her school with clothes. She could have cared less and for that I am thankful.

So - tonight - Hannah will be out & about along with Spiderman and Pooh Bear.

Hannah Montana

So, is it sad that my TWO YEAR old was sitting in my car the other day ASKING/YELLING/BEGGING to listen to Hannah Montana and today my THREE year old turned it on here in the house?

Aren't they a bit young to actually like listening to Hannah Montana???

Happy Fall Y'all

Note: I started this post on Thursday, Oct. 25th but am just now getting it up, hence the references below to my mom being here. We had a great time with you Mom!

Finally, a day that actually felt like Fall! This has to be my absolute favorite season of the year. There is nothing better than a crisp fall day, leaves changing colors, pumpkins around and the scent of apples pie.

My mom is here in town visiting and we finally had a day without rain (I'm not complaining, we needed the rain). We picked up the kids from school and decided to head to the pumpkin patch. Here are some pics from the day:

Morgan is SIX!

In keeping with the birthday tradition, here is Morgan's birthday story.

Six years ago, today, our first child, Morgan, was due. Out of all three of our children, Morgan was the only one that we "planned" (the others were more of welcome surprises). We had only been married about 6-7 months when we decided we wanted to have a baby - not long, I know. I went online and found an ovulation predictor that showed when would be the best time to get pregnant based on information it asked. It told me and said if I got pregnant when i would be due. I expected it to take a little while to get pregnant but 2 weeks after deciding we wanted a baby I found out I was pregnant! I was shocked!

Fast forward to my due date, October 27, 2001. It fell on a Saturday six years ago, just like today. I went to a craft fair with my friend, Dina, and was just feeling blah. I was tired of being pregnant and I was in no mood to walk around looking at stuff. I knew that if I didn't have this baby by Monday that I would be induced because of blood pressure problems. I can't remember if I already had Castor oil in the cabinet or if I went out to buy it that day. At any rate, I took it around 2 pm and waited. I thought nothing was happening and went about my day. Later that evening Eric was taking a nap in our room and I was sitting on our bed watching Maternity Ward, getting ready for my favorite show at the time, Trading Spaces to start. All of a sudden I felt and heard a loud pop. It was the strangest feeling. I laid there for a second wondering what that was and then got up and ran to the bathroom. I was able to make it all the way to the restroom before my water broke. That was probably one of the most surreal moments of my life. It's not like I didn't know what was going to happen, I was pregnant and I knew I couldn't stay that way forever but my water breaking made me stop and think, "Wow, this is really happening."

We call the hospital and the lady gives me the "Oh honey" speech and treated me like I was ignorant and didn't really think my water had broken. We decided to go in anyways. Before we even got to the car I started having contractions 3-4 minutes apart. They didn't hurt very bad, just a bit uncomfortable. We got the hospital and was found to be 4 cms. dilated. I got the IV, the thing that scared me the most, and hung out in the hospital waiting for things to happen. At that time I had been talking about going drug-free in labor and told Eric to make sure I really wanted meds before letting me. Several hours later I was ready to say the heck with natural labor and asked for the epidural. Eric asked me if I really wanted one or if that was just the pain talking. My thoughts (not sure if I said it but I sure thought it) was "the pain is going to start 'talking' to you if you don't get me the darn epidural." The epidural man was my new best friend!

Funny thing about my labor. This was the day that you set the clocks back for the fall and I was so irritated at the nurse when she came in, stepped up on the back of my bed, and moved the clock back an hour. I had worked hard for that hour - I wanted it back!

I got to 10 cms. pretty quickly but Morgan was still pretty high up. The dr. let me labor without pushing for 3 hours and the contractions brought her down. I started to push at 3:00 am and at 3:37 am my little girl was born. She was 8 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long. We laugh about this now but M did NOT want out and she spent the entire first hour of her life screaming her head off!

So, here we are, 6 years later. Where has the time gone?

I'm trying to upload some pics but for some reason blogger is being a pain, check back later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGAN!

Can't get the pics to work but you can click on the links.

On the way to the hospital - after water broke.
Pre-epidural - OUCH!
Minutes old.
Morgan, 2 weeks old.
Morgan, 6 years old.

Girl's Weekend

This weekend I had the opportunity to go visit some friends - some GIRL friends for a fun GIRL's weekend!!! It was GREAT! Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and children but it was SO nice to have some "me" time with my friends.

It has become an annual tradition to get together with Dina, Nance & Jamie (pics coming) and make our Christmas cards. Yes, this is a bit early but it was the best time for all three of us so we did it anyway. I must say, our cards look AWESOME! :)

We had fun going to all the different scrapbook stores and also doing some shopping (for our kids, of course). I got to meet my friend's newest addition - Nicholas! Jamie, he's ADORABLE. I got in some serious cuddle time with that little guy hoping to get rid of this baby fever I seem to have (didn't work).

On Sunday we threw a surprise baby shower for my friend, Dina! It was fun to surprise her and give her some fun GIRL stuff. She has a little boy so the girl thing is new for her. YAY for PINK!

I so miss my friends!!! It was great to spend some time with them.

Save some $$ with these websites

I know that I've given many of you these websites before but I don't think I've posted them.

Here are some websites that I like for good savings. If you know of anymore, please post them in the comments section.

I check these two websites daily:

www.dealhunting.com
www.slickdeals.net

Before I buy anything online, I check out this website. Use the drop down menu to pick your store and click "go". If there are any coupon codes available, they're normally posted here.

www.naughtycodes.com

I read this blog some:

www.frugalhacks.com


Anyone have any to add? :)

They are driving me nuts

Do you ever have those days where your kids absolutely, without fail, drive you OUT OF YOUR MIND????? I think I've had one of those days EVERY day this week. I can't get anything done, my house is a stinkin' pit and we are having a neighborhood garage sale tomorrow and I am not ready for it. I wish I could ship them off somewhere for a couple of hours and get something done!!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I really love my kids but I am just at my limit with their stupid fighting and inability to spend even 5 minutes without having to have me entertain them.

Kids say the darndest things

I wish I could remember all the funny things that my kids say but I can't. One from Drew really sticks out though.

We were going to Morgan's soccer practice and were in the car getting ready to get out when he gets excited and points to a big dog across the parking lot. Morgan asked where it was and he said, "Over there, by that human!"

I was rolling!

Putting it in writing.

Okay, I was at spin class this morning and got to talking to my friend, Laura, about the Country Music Marathon & 1/2 Marathon. The spin instructor had said that the YMCA was going to start training for it in November and the marathon is in the spring. The timing is funny because I was just thinking about it this week and thought that I'd really like to try it this year. I thought about it last year but I had barely started working out 6-8 weeks prior to the event and well, I wasn't that motivated at a normal work-out let alone training to do a 1/2 marathon. Yes, you can walk it and you have 7 hours to do 13 miles and so it's doable but I kind of wanted to try running it or most of it.

The thought of running really intimidates me, I have to tell you. I joined the track team briefly in high school or junior high school and quickly determined that it was not for me. It probably didn't help that I had no physical training at all and was completely out-of-shape and tried it but it left a bad taste in my mouth about running.

I've been working out consistently 5 days a week going on 3 weeks now and I have no intention of stopping. I haven't seem huge changes in my outward physical appearance (DARN IT!) but I can tell a difference inwardly. I feel a lot better and I have a lot more energy. Perhaps with a few more weeks under my belt and my physical condition a little better I can get up the nerve to actually try running.

I told Laura this morning that I was afraid to try running on the treadmill because I'll be that girl who does and ends up flying off the back and flat on their face. Seriously - that would be me!

All this typing to say, Laura & I along with a few other people have decided that we are going to try the 1/2 Marathon this year.

There, Laura, I've put it out there so we have to do it! Are you still with me? :)

Pooh Party!

We had Owen's 2nd birthday this past weekend. I still can't believe my baby is 2!!! I have some cute video of him singing "Happy Birthday" that will have to wait for when I can figure out how to get it off my camera and onto the computer but in the meantime, here' a slideshow.

The theme was Pooh as Owen LOVES Pooh & Tigger.

Funny moment from the party, the older boys (Drew, Eli & Dillon) were outside and someone inside said that there was someone peeing on the fence. I look out and my son had dropped his pants and was standing there peeing on the fence while Dillon watched. Guess he really had to go. LOL!

That was me- the sore thumb

After a very hectic day, I was hoping to get to the YMCA in time for spin class. Unfortunately it was a little after 6:30 pm before I got there. I seemed to remember someone mentioning a Pilates class around that time so I went upstairs to check it out. I walked in and that's when I became the sore thumb as in I WAS STICKING OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB.

Apparently Thursday afternoon is Yoga (not that I know how that is different from Pilates). I felt awkward just walking back out so I got the mats I needed, took off my shoes, and *tried* to participate the best I could.

My picture of yoga was women in weird positions, saying "Ohmmmm" and well, I don't know. I guess I just thought it was some weird thing (sorry if you like Yoga). This really wasn't anything like that - with the exception of women (and one man) in weird positions.

It was kind of nice in a strange way. I needed something calming and low-key and I sure got it. You do stretch in ways that feel very good and I'm sure I also needed that.

While I can't say that I'll ever go to yoga again, it was a nice change of pace for tonight.

The story of "O"

Owen is TWO (Oct. 4) so I thought I would share the story of our little man, Owen.

Warning - this is LONG.

To say that Owen was a surprise is a huge understatement. Eric and I were still "discussing" whether we wanted a third child. I come from a family of 3 and I was pretty sure that I wanted another baby while Eric comes from a family of 2 and was pretty sure that he was done with two kids.

My friend, Dina, and my co-workers knew I was pregnant before I even did. I remember going to lunch with my department and I got grief for my food choices. I didn't think they were odd and had a logical reason for everything I ate (salad, pickle w/lots of salt on it, and a blackberry cobbler). They joked with me about being pregnant and even more so because my two older children were born during the last quarter of the year which is VERY busy at work. No one wanted me to be on maternity leave during that time again. LOL! I think my exact words to someone when they asked me if I was pregnant was "Hell no" (tsk tsk - I know!) Their joking got to me and I went out that night and bought a pregnancy test and it was negative - this was on a Thursday.

For some reason, I questioned it again on Sunday night and after our small group left our home I ran to Wal-Mart and picked up a three pack of pregnancy tests. I didn't tell Eric yet that I was doing as I didn't want to freak him out unnecessarily. Well, the first test came up positive as did the following two!!!! OH MY GOODNESS. I was in shock. And, Eric, well, the guy who NEVER calls in sick was so shocked that he called in sick and literally stayed in bed with the covers over his head all day & night. LITERALLY.

Now, onto my friend, Dina. I later found out that the week prior to finding out I was pregnant, I had walked into her house and her first thought was that I was pregnant and that it was a boy. She told me later that she was actually mad at me because she thought I was keeping it a secret from her when in fact, I didn't know yet.

The pregnancy went along well, no real complications. We found out that we were expecting a boy mid-way through and quickly came up the name Owen Francis. Owen because we liked the name & Francis after my grandfather who had passed away while I was in college.

Fast forward to late September. Eric's grandpa, Lester, was very ill and ended up passing away. That was so hard. So hard. He was such a wonderful man of God and a tremendous grandpa & great grandpa. I was heartsick because I was due any day and we couldn't travel to his funeral. I tried everything to get this child out early so that at least Eric could attend the funeral to no avail. This child did NOT want out.

My mom came out and to help with the kiddos and I still hadn't had Owen. It wasn't that I was overdue, I just wanted him to be born. When I was 40 weeks, 1 day I had a dr. appt. and the dr. said that I could be induced in another week. WHAT?????? I was NOT going another day being pregnant. So, I went home, and took 2 T. of Castor oil, as I had done with the previous 2 pregnancies, and waited to see if it put me into labor. About 5:30 pm I was getting a bit frustrated and wasn't feeling great so Eric & my mom took the kids to the park. My stomach started hurting but it wasn't contractions so I wasn't sure that it was labor. It hurt like crazy though. Eric called about 6:30 and I was pretty sure that we needed to go to the hospital but he didn't get home until about 7 pm. At that point, the pain that I was experiencing had turned into timeable contractions and they hurt. They were at the point where I needed an epidural with Morgan and I was STILL AT HOME. Ughh. It was the hardest thing I did to say goodbye to Morgan & Drew without scaring them by the pain that I was in. I could have knocked Eric out too. I am in crazy pain and he wants to IRON HIS PANTS before we went into the hospital. Are you kidding me????? Put the stinkin' pants on and let's go.

We get to the hospital and they don't have a labor room cleaned up yet so we were put into a post-partum room. I was checked and was at 4-5 cen. I immediately asked for the epidural but they couldn't give me one until I had a bag full of fluids first. NOOOOOOO!!!! They did give me some Stadol and then proceeded to ask me to sign a bunch of papers. Hello - I am on another planet and you want me to answer questions and sign documents? Seriously? Why the heck did I pre-register if I was going to have to do all this???? I've heard many say that Stadol doesn't take the pain of the contractions away and is worthless but I have to tell you, it took the edge off the pain enough to make me happy. They said it would last 30 minutes and I kept close watch on that clock. I finally got moved to a real labor room and the epidural guy was called. The Stadol started wearing off and wow, that was some stinkin' pain. I remember just crying that I couldn't do this anymore while Eric sat there trying to convince me that I could.

FINALLY the epidural guy shows up. I sit up to get the epidural and it was the strangest feeling, unlike the past 2 times. It literally felt like I was sitting on Owen's head, like he was right there. I sure as heck wasn't about to tell them either until I got the stinkin' drugs!

Epidural in and working and the nurse checks me. I am 9 cms. dilated and the only thing holding Owen in was my bag of waters. The nurses can't break the water, only the dr., so we waited. About 20-30 minutes later the dr. shows up & breaks my water. Shortly there after I started to push and out comes Owen without much work.

He was born 2 hours after getting to the hospital, around 10:30 pm (I think). This was nice because both Morgan & Drew were born around 3 am. He weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was 21 inches long.

After Owen was born, in the delivery room, Eric & I decided to change his name and include his grandpa's name - Lester. It seemed funny to many that we had two middle names but they both were special to us. We wanted to honor our grandfathers and so we named our little boy Owen Lester Francis.

My wonderful mom had come out for 2 weeks to help me with each of my children but had gotten there shortly after we were released from the hospital the previous two times. It's hard to plan flights in advance for obvious reasons. It was so special to be able to have her come up to the hospital within the first hour of Owen's birth and hold him. I love that memory!

So, here we are, two years later. He's still my baby. Such a cute little man.

Happy Birthday Owen!

Here are some pics:

Me, in labor, ready to get to the hospital. Don't I just look *great*?



Minutes after Owen was born.

Funny picture of Owen just after he was born.


Newborn photos (less than 2 weeks old I believe)

My three kiddos (Morgan was 3, almost 4, Drew was 22 months, Owen was less than 2 weeks)

Eat More Chicken - TONIGHT!

A family from our small group, the Johnson's, are in the middle of adopting a sweet little girl from Malawi (you can read her story here). As you can imagine, it's not cheap to adopt and the Johnson's have been doing many fundraisers in an effort to help with the cost.

Tonight Chick-Fil-A in Smyrna is donating 20% of sales to the Johnson family. Just come in between 5 - 8 pm and eat, present them with the flyer and let them know that you are there to support the Johnson family. Don't worry, if you don't have a flyer, Crystal will be there with plenty of extras.

This is a great opportunity to serve another family in a practical way. Please come, enjoy some YUMMY food and help bring baby Savannah-Hope home!

Thanks!