Costumes, and a glimpse into the future??

We were invited to our friends/neighbor's house tonight, and we haven't had this much fun at Halloween in a long time. We were 4 families with a total of 16 kids ages 10 and under. Not bad :-)). I guess we like to hang out with other large families...
The kids dressed up some - Alex wore his fire fighter garb, Nina (hmmmm, do you want to guess??) her princess dress, Anya was a soccer player, and Elia Batman (cape only). Nico was just happy to play with his best friend.
We played around with some fun and goofy wigs, and the pictures are priceless!
It was amazing to see Nina in the black haired wig. Wow, this is what she might look like once her hair grows out! She will be at least 2 - 3 years older I would think, but it was still such an aha moment. I think she looked so pretty with long hair and her beautiful complexion. I kind of wanted to touch her just to make sure she was real! She loved the wig, but you could barely get a smile out of her while she was wearing it! Not sure why...
Is THIS a glimpse into the future too?? LOL
This was Alex' favorite hairdo

And then it was time for breakfast...

I don't care for Halloween.
Much...
I try to do a couple of fun things for the kids (like pumpkin carving), and that's it. One thing that is starting to become a tradition is the Halloween breakfast. Last year we had brains topped with stomach fluid and eyeballs, this year we had owl biscuits (I thought they'd look kind of like bats) with bloody hand spread, worms, eyballs and bile to drink.
Yumm.
It is funny how "ordinary" things all of a sudden are so gross to them, just because they are a different color!
Needless to say, they preferred looking at their breakfast rather than acutally eating it :-)))

Happy Pumpkin Day!

~Jack O’ Lantern Poem~

I am a Jack O’ Lantern
My lights will shine so bright
For I’m a Christian pumpkin
My symbols tell what’s right

My nose is like the cross
On which our Savior died
To set us free from sin
We need no longer hide

My mouth is like a fish
The whole wide world to show
That Christians live in this house
And love their Savior so!

The story starts at Christmas
My eyes are like the star
That shone on Baby Jesus
And wise men saw from far

My color, it is orange
Just like the big bright sun
That rose on Easter Day
Along with God’s own Son

And so on Halloween
Let’s set our pumpkins out
And tell the trick or treaters
What God’s love is all about!

Happy Jack-o-lanterns to all of you out there!

Yesterday we tackled pumpkin-carving. I haven't been this brave for about 4 years, but since I have such a great pair of extra hands, I felt all ambitious. We were going to do it outside, but the weather did not exactly cooperate, so we moved the pumpkin project to the kitchen (thank goodness for concrete floors!). We had fun, and you know how it goes with small kids - they are all excited initially, but then wear out quickly when it's actually work. Can anyone relate :-)) ?

The biggest "challenge" was to gut the pumpkins. Now do I have a bunch of wussies, or what, but they were sooooo disgusted by the slobbery, stringy mess inside the pumpkins. Elia (he was gagging already) asked, all exasperated : "Why do they put all those seeds in them, anyway?".

We discussed what to do with all the pumpkin seeds, and since I could not remember how to roast or toast them, Anya volunteered to google it, and lo and behold, a few minutes later she had a recipe neatly printed out. Let me tell you, she is one computer savvy 8 year old!

Designing and carving the faces was more fun, and the level of participation rose dramatically. The results are VERY cute.

Nina and Elia showing off the tools. As you can see, there is no pumpkin innards to be seen yet, hence the grin on Elia's face is still HUGE ;-)

Nico was the only one who carved his pumpkin all by himself!

Yep, the lid fits!

And the mess is growing...

Alex is getting his cleaned out, too!

Look at all those pumpkin seeds!
And then the beautiful results.... First Nico's...
then Anya's...
Nina's.... (she HAD to have a ladybug pumpkin)
Alex's

And Elia's (who had to have the biggest pumpkin)And "Big Anja", who carved a pumpkin for the first time in her life.
Grandma and Caleb were the happy bystanders (or -sitters.. :-) )
We lined them up at the edge of the driveway and lit them after it got dark.
That's quite a pumpkin family!


What is it like to be a Christian?

"Well, God picks you from the patch
and brings you in and washes off all the dirt on the outside
that you got from being around all the other pumpkins.

Then he cuts off the top
and takes all the yucky stuff out from inside.
He removes all the seeds of doubt, hate, greed,
and all those other bad things.

Then he carves you a new smiley face
and puts his light inside of you to shine for all to see!
It is our choice to either stay outside and rot on the vine
or come inside and be something new and bright!"

Author Unknown

**********************************

If I Came...

If Jesus came to visit,
And on Halloween we'd meet,
I've often pictured Jesus,
With the children on the street,

He'd walk along beside them,
His mission would be clear,
His shining light would surely,
Make the darkness disappear.

He'd walk to every home,
There'd be nail marks in each hand,
And patiently He'd knock,
At the door is where He'd stand.

He'd be pouring out His love,
So everyone could see,
That Halloween for Jesus
Is an opportunity.

No matter how you celebrate,
His light can surely shine,
If your in the street or out,
Anywhere will be just fine.

So, however you decide,
To spend your time this holiday,
I hope that you will shine His light,
And let Him lead the way.

Copyright© by Debby Orstad

*************************************

Here is a story that teaches kids some interesting Halloween Details , and this one is a Halloween story about a Black Kitty

Princess Nina

Well, I suspected it all along, but I got confirmation today: Nina is royalty!
Just look at her!
She has been prancing around with her big sister's Cinderella dress, and has drawn quite a crowd wherever we go.
She danced to Disney princess music this morning (wish I had it on video), and it's the cutest when she thinks nobody watches her.
And yes, she is a princess. I hope that some day she will decide to become the daughter of the King of Kings, and she will be royalty forever.
By the way, if you need a GREAT book for your daughters, get her the book "A parable about the King" by Beth Moore. I might have to do a separate post about that, but it's food for thought for now.
So - without further to do, here she is....
THE princess.... waiting for her pumpkin to turn into a coach...

A funny picture

Elia really, really needed a new bike helmet. Actually, he should wear a helmet all the time. He is a dare devil, a little boy dripping with testosterone...
If you have the book "Love you forever", and you look at the page of the two year old little boy... well, I could not relate to it at all UNTIL I had Elia. You don't believe me? I will try to find one of my favorite pictures of him, and you will get a feeling of what I'm talking about...
After all, he had a broken foot when he was 1 1/2, he had a skull fracture and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance while unconcious when he was 2 1/2... and I'm not kidding!
He has a semi-permanent bump in the middle of his forehead (at least I HOPE it is not permanent) from all his crashes, and that's why we just HAD to get that sticker for his helmet *LOL*

*********
Yeah, I found the pictures of Elia I was looking for (from March 2005). Do you believe me now *LOL*????

What a beautiful day, what a beautiful girl!

The weather lately has been better-than-you-could-possibly-hope-for here in Wyoming. I'm sure I don't have to remind you that it's almost the END of OCTOBER, and we still have temperatures in the 60's. It is gorgeous! I took Nina and Alex for a walk this afternoon, and it was sooo pretty at the little creek close to our subdivision that I took Nina back before the sun went down for an impromptu photo shoot. I really haven't taken any good pictures of her in a couple of weeks, and the evening sun and her just get along soooo well!
I had a nap this afternoon (first time in a long time!), the weather is nice, my house is picked up and I feel ready for the week.


It was sooo still, and the water was like a mirror. It is windy a LOT, so this is an unusual sight.












Nina was so excited about "making circles" in the water!

Fuer eu alli ide Schwiiz

Ja, ja, ich weiss, dass ich doch einige stille Mitleser habe :-)). Einen Kommentar zu hinterlassen ist wirklich ganz einfach. Falls du kein Google-Namen hast, einfach "Anonym" angeben, und dann fleissig schreiben. Ich freue mich immer so ueber alle Kommentare.
Item... ich habe ein suesses Video von Nina (und mir), das zeigt, dass das kleine Maedchen also auch ein bisschen Schweizerdeutsch kann!!

Yes, we did it...

Okay, still doing some blog-catching up :-))
I think it was Buffi who noticed it in some of the pictures. Nina has EARRINGS!! We had them pierced about 5 weeks ago, and Nina was soooo proud!! She had the hots for "her" ladybug earrings, and so we finally did it.
I'm one of those (horrible - haha) Mom's who thinks babies with earrings are sooo cute. But, when Anya was born, I resisted. She was a) completly bald, and b) her ears were, uhmmm - let's say I didn't want to draw too much attention to them. She was 5 or 6 when she got them pierced for her birthday.
It was VERY easy. We had them pierced at the same time, and all Nina said was ONE "ouch". No tears, no trauma, just one happy little girl! She doesn't like it when I mess with them too much, but so far they are healing up nicely.

Right before

And after...