It's Pajama Time!

The other day I was playing on the floor with Lauryn when she grabbed my hair brush and walked toward me. I bent my head over and she started brushing my hair! She thought that was the best thing ever. Kaity tried to capture Lauryn's delighted expression, but every time the camera appeared, Lauryn put on her Camera Face, otherwise known as the Dull Stare of the Dairy Cow.
 

Saturday night Jeff and I gave the little girls a bath. We had just gotten home from grocery shopping, it was late, and that could have been a recipe for disaster, but the girls were really sweet!

Just look at that precious profile! And those little curls!

Selah wanted Daddy to brush her hair. Not. Mommy.

Dining Room Transformation

It seems like every week there's a new project going on in our house. Sometimes it's little things like unpacking yet another box or hanging pictures, and sometimes it's big, wonderful things! This weekend was a big, wonderful kind of project. A friend of ours and his two sons came over and helped move the last of our furniture from Jeff's parents' house! We inherited a corner cabinet from Jeff's grandmother years ago and since we didn't have space for it, it's been at the Pittards'. Also, for Christmas this year Jeff's parents have graciously given us their dining room table and chairs! It is such an overwhelming blessing to have a place for all of us to eat together.

There are also two leaves that expand the table to seat 10.

I'm so glad to have my china back home again! We received it as wedding gifts nearly 17 years ago.

Cheryl and her sister reupholstered the chairs in this beautiful fabric.

Double Date

Last month Jeff and I were very excited to get to see Alton Brown on his Edible Inevitable tour! It's like a live episode of Good Eats (which you should definitely check out if you never have). Or Mr. Wizard meets the Swedish Chef. At any rate, it was awesome.Totally worth the long wait, considering we bought the tickets in June!

We had a chance to go on another date just last week. Jeff had a couple of vacation days to use up so he picked a random Thursday and Friday for a nice long weekend. Thursday, we put Lauryn down for a nap and left Kaity in charge of Joe and Selah, then headed out to the big city of Statham to check out all the antique stores! We had so much fun browsing through and dreaming of what we could use in our house. At one point I was musing over a mirror, knowing just where I'd put it. As we wandered away, a man who had been rearranging a display behind us spoke up and asked if we were interested in the mirror. I replied affirmatively, and he told us that he was preparing to mark it and everything on the wall down by 40%. Naturally, I wandered my little self right back over to that mirror and started calculating. In the end, I picked up three things:

This is the original mirror that caught my eye.

"Hey, y'all!" This mirror is 30 x 40 and doesn't yet have a home. I have several places in mind, so we'll just have to see.

I've been wanting a big United States map for the schoolroom, and this one is perfect!

The only problem is that Jeff fell in love with it and suggested we hang it in the living room so we can see it all the time! (Side Note: Every time I look at a map like this I always think of that scene in Sleepless in Seattle where Sam says, "Where's Seattle?" Jonah points, and Sam says, "Where's Baltimore?" Jonah's stumped and Sam retorts, "Tha-a-at's right!", jabbing a finger at the map. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... it's like, 26 states away!")

Total price of my three finds? $37.84! I think we'll have to start dating more often.

We Didn't Start the Fire

We recently got a fire pit but haven't really had a chance to enjoy it. The other day, Jeff decided it was time to try it out! I didn't even have any marshmallows for roasting, which was a great disappointment for the kiddos, let me tell you. It was fun just watching it and spending some time out on our deck anyway.

Why, yes, that IS our fire pit sitting out on our wooden deck.

Fire is so mesmerizing!

Best Seat in the House

It's tough being the only brother. The girls really gang up on you!

Bless him.

It's the only place to watch TV.

Oop! Busted.

Lazy Sunday

Poor little Lauryn has had a virus for a few days now. She's been getting plenty of rest and snuggles from Mommy! She and I stayed home from church today so as not to spread the plague. We had a nice day together, doing laundry, watching The Paradise, listening to a sermon on-line, vacuuming, and cooking lunch.

Bless her tiny, pitiful heart.

(Also, this picture kind of reminds me of Doc Brown from Back to the Future. It's the crazy hair and the wide eyes, I think. Great Scott!)

 Ah, browsing the Sunday afternoon comics, just like the olden days.

No one can resist the sunbeam on our living room floor. It's like a magnet ... a glorious, soporific magnet.

As evidenced by this picture from a couple of weeks ago, even I have fallen under the sunbeam's spell:

In other news, the girls' personal shopper (our sweet friend Kim!) gave us a goody bag today! Are these not the sweetest little dress coats ever?! The only difference is the size and color, so I turned Lauryn's over in order to show off the adorable detailing on the back. The pajamas are Lauryn's, and Selah has a matching pair! Kim has such a great knack for finding terrific deals on the cutest clothes.

Here are the girls in their matching pajamas! Lauryn was not happy that Mommy put her down for 5 seconds.

"How dare you betray me like that?"

Thankfulness

For several years during the month of November we've had a tradition of making a paper chain of things we're thankful for. I believe that it really sets the tone for the holiday season and prepares our hearts for Christmas. We usually do it right after our Bible time for the day, which includes reading from a Bible story book, like The Gospel Story Bible, a chapter or so from the Bible (we read through a book at a time, alternating Old and New Testament) and prayer.

The start of our chain for this year.

Once we get past "Mommy", "Daddy", "Daisy", etc., the kids start being a little more creative and thoughtful with their answers. It's always interesting to see what they come up with each day! It's already funny to hear Selah say, "I'm thank you for ..."

*Side Note*: Have you ever had to try not to laugh while listening to a 4-year-old pray? It's not easy, I'm hear to tell you. Especially when she prays, "Thank you, God, for Joe and (here she opens her eyes and aims a judgmental squint at the object of her prayer, proclaiming pointedly) thank you for him not hitting me ..." Hint, hint, Joe! Or, "Thank you for Daddy taking us to the playground ... (eyes pop open) Mommy, can we go to the playground when Daddy gets home?"

Undoubtedly, if Daisy participated in our thankfulness chain, warm sunbeam naps atop a human would certainly come first!

We're all thankful for these little crumbsnatchers.

And high on Jeff's list would definitely be the Oatmeal Crumble Apple Pie I made Wednesday night for dessert.

Oh, Baby!

Selah has always been a good little mama to her baby dolls. She loves to feed, diaper, and snuggle them. The other day she got out this little teddy bear that Grandma Fran gave her at Christmas and she hugged it (fiercely, as only Selah can!) while announcing, "I love my Grandma Fran!"

Here she is diapering it:

After Selah painstakingly spread out the blanket so that she could change her baby on it, Lauryn promptly took it over as though Selah had done it just for her!

Lauryn soon lost interest in the whole process and decided to play peek-a-boo with the blanket instead.

I kept trying to capture her cheesy grin, but my camera's batteries are low and it just wouldn't cooperate.

Family portrait! Lauryn kept trying to sit on her wipes box, unsuccessfully.

Selah often proclaims, "I love my stister!"

A little later, she came over to me and said, "Mommy, my baby's coming out of my tummy!"

She's about to pop!

I love their imaginative little minds!

Corn Maze

 A few weekends ago we went on a little road trip for the day. Our first stop was to see our good friend Amber, who has recently purchased her first home. She gave us a tour of her beautiful new place, then we drove just down the road to Jaemor Farms! Jeff has been wanting to go to a corn maze for years, and we finally took the time to do it. When the kids and I went on a field trip there in the spring they received an activity page which, when completed, gave them free entrance to the maze. I saved them aside (miraculously, through the move!) and we used them for this special trip.

The weather was stunning! It was a perfect fall day for meandering through a farmers' market and a corn maze. We even had a picnic with cheese, produce, and bakery fresh bread purchased from the market supplementing the barbecue sandwiches sold there.

 Lauryn and I played out in the field in front of the maze while Jeff and the big kids went to wander their way through.

Everyone loved the big slide!

Fall Festival

I love being warm. I am not a fan of cold weather, except for the fact that along with that cold weather come warm buildings (finally, no air conditioning!), sweaters, blankets, coats, fires, hot chocolate/coffee/cider, gloves, hats, etc. In our house, we have The Green Blanket. It's a wonderful part of our lives. At the first sign of a cold snap, Jeff happily announces, "It's almost time to get out The Green Blanket!" and when spring comes, we reluctantly prepare to store it away for the long, hot summer. It is our greatest consolation for having to endure cold weather.

Anyway ... I do love autumn. It's hands-down Jeff's favorite season, with good reason! The brisk evenings and still-warm days combined with the gorgeous blue sky and golden browns, reds, and oranges of the leaves, the bright green grass ... it's an absolutely glorious display of God's creativity and splendor.

The kids had a lot of fun this year preparing for our church's Fall Festival. As usual, even though I LOVE coming up with costumes, we were getting outfits ready at the last minute. I think they turned out well, though, considering. I went to the garage to hunt through some storage boxes, attempting to find a couple of store-bought costumes from past years for the little girls. Thankfully, I found something completely different!

Thanks to some overalls that a friend gave us when Lauryn was born, she had a ready-made scarecrow outfit!

Big sister Kaity sewed patches on her hat. I added straw to her pockets after we arrived at the festival.

Bless her tiny heart. Lauryn was not a fan of the hat!

 In rummaging I came across my dirndl from my childhood in Germany! I wore it in first or second grade, but it worked just fine for Selah. All that was missing was the cord used to lace up the front. Daddy's black dress shoes yielded the perfect substitute. Neat braids and a pretty smile turned our little girl into "ein kleine madchen"!

Kaity, Joe and I put together a perfect Link costume for Joe with stuff from around the house! We used a couple of green T-shirts for his hat and tunic. Kaity laced up the sleeves and collar with twine, and she designed and sewed Link's hat.

Of course he needed a TriForce drawn on his hand!

My boots and Daddy's belts helped complete the outfit.

Kaity chose to forego dressing up so that she could participate in the drama presentation of the Gospel. The presentation was given several times throughout the night to the people on the hayride. These pictures aren't great, but they're all I have!

Kaity is directly below the lime green spot in the middle/right of the picture.

It's not a festival without facepaint! Cutest little kitty cat ever.

It was much chillier than we expected, but Lauryn didn't mind getting to snuggle in Daddy's jacket!