So Thankful

Today was a stay at home day. No pictures today. I should have though...I made a chore chart for Emma and gave it to her for the first time today. It was precious. She has 3 chores every day: make her bed, pick up her toys, and the third one changes each day. Today it was to dust. There is not a speck of dust left in my house. She dusted every piece of furniture, the walls and tried to dust Harley. She loved it. Nathan even went and got a sock ( a clean, good one, but it's the thought that counts) and put it on his hand and started wiping off all the tables. I love that boy! Emma flipped her chart and pretty much did her whole weeks worth of chores in one day. I hope this enthusiasm lasts! I am going to have to come up with more ideas. Yeah for me...maybe there is hope for a clean house before they leave for college!

Tonight God gave me a chance to truly be thankful for everything in my life. I attended a rosary (prayer service) for a friend who is struggling with cancer. She has been battling it for two years and is currently on her last chance chemo. She is an amazing woman who is always smiling. I was blown away the last time I saw her...she was so beautiful. Several women were there praying for her tonight. We were praying over a prayer blanket. I wish I'd taken a picture of all our hands holding the blanket, tying the knots.
Anyway, praying for someone who is having to accept that God is calling them home is ....well, alot of things I guess.--Hard. Humbling. Beautiful. A Reality check. It made me thankful for my life...every bit of it. I am so thankful that I got to clean up spilled milk at least twice today. That I never got to work on my list of things to get done because I ended up playing "hide the pumpkin" and going outside to look for signs of fall with Emma and Nathan. That Nathan woke up early from a nap...so he and I got to spend some sweet one on one time together playing. That I have a wonderful husband who fed, bathed and put my kids to bed...and did dishes, so I could go pray tonight! Thank you, God, for my life!

Today, Sunday November 1, was such a great day! I started the day going to S.S. with Emma. I am teaching her class and so far it's been great!! I love being in there with her!
It was All Saints Day, and she had to dress up like a saint. She dressed up as Mary. She looked so cute. I think she loved carrying her babydoll most of all. This afternoon we all sat around the kitchen table and painted fall trees to hang in the kitchen. We had so much fun. Again, it was neat seeing everyone's personalities coming through in their paintings. Emma had her own technique, but her tree was very neat...all colors grouped together...a group of red leaves, a group of brown, etc. Nathan tried to mimic my technique (I am using the word technique, but that sounds much fancier than it really was. we were sponge painting!) I was amazed, and his painting looked great. He even drew straight lines for the trunk and branches. Gary's tree came out the "best"...he added lots of details. He reminded me that he HAD won first place at the State Fair for watercolor when he was in H.S.....I reminded him that I had a two year old in my lap when I painted my tree.
After painting, we went outside and played in the yard. Man, what a beautiful day!

I hope they are always this close!

Yes, Emma IS dressing herself these days. Why do you ask?

Emma was in a quiet mood today.

Going places.

Carving Pumpkins

On Friday afternoon we carved a pumpkin. Considering all the potentially crazy things that could have happened with a 3 year old, a 2 year old, a sharp knife, and a ton of sticky pumpkin seeds, it went amazingly well! We had so much fun. Emma dug right in and was up to her elbows in pumpkin gook. She got out as much as she could as fast as she could. She loved it! Nathan carefully took a few seeds out a time, inspected each one, and then carfeully put them in the bowl. He did try to eat a few. This was such a tell-tale activity in showing their little developing personalities.

Nathan checking out the insides. He kept saying "oooh. yucky!"

Emma lovin' life. Again.

We're all set and ready to start.

Halloween

We had a blast this Halloween. Emma is old enough to know what is all about, and Nathan is still young enough to appreciate the smallest things and enjoy every bit of it. Most groups of trick or treaters had 1 adult and a small group of children. In our group, we had Emma and Nathan and 7 so-called grown-ups making sure they were getting the most of their day. Happy Halloween!

Sweet Cinderella leading the way! She was on a mission this year. The best part of her night was running into Snow White. Another girl we didn't know was dressed up as Snow White, but to Emma, it was her BFF! It was so precious. It was like she hadn't seen her in so long!

I love how Nathan is looking up at his big sister.

"Hmmmm.....how much candy do you think we'll be aloud to eat?"

"I don't know, but I am NOT going anywhere without my baby."