Trunk-or-treating

Last night we took the boys to trunk-or-treating at a local church. If you ask me, this Halloween event is the greatest thing since sliced bread: it's fun, safe, and much more efficient than traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating. Falling asleep on the way to trunk-or-treating So excited to get some candy

One of the trunks in the Steeler section...

The little one loved any and all dogs present...

And anything dressed as a dog... Searching for pennies

Pumpkin bowling

Trick-or-treating at the grocery store

Hey, why not? It gave us a quick chance to try out the boys costumes. Batgirl and batman, flexingBatman and my pumpkin

Sam was just thrilled to be let loose in the grocery store. He kept trying to grab things off the shelves!

Pumpkin painting

Fall is my favorite time of year, by far. This has been the most beautiful fall in Pittsburgh since I've moved here. We haven't had much wind or rain, so the leaves have had a chance to turn shockingly beautiful colors.
However, Halloween is my least favorite. The ghostly and ghoulish decorations bother me. I just don't like that dark side at all. I can definitely blame it on going to a Christian college where one prof in particular felt the need to educate his music students on the disturbing and dark history of halloween, including witchcraft, animal and child sacrifice, the history behind carving pumpkins, etc. Personally, I would rather Halloween just disappeared. Since that's obviously not going to happen, and we have two little boys, I want them to be able to enjoy the fun things about Halloween.
So this afternoon I had the boys fingerpaint on their pumpkins. It was the first time either of them had fingerpainted, and their reactions were priceless (see videos below). We're also planning on having them dress up, Isaiah as batman and Sam as a pumpkin, and go trunk-or-treating at a local church. I have good memories of Halloween as a kid, and I want my boys to have that too.

Happy but exhausted...

This evening I have had a chance to sit down and relax... for the first time since Wednesday evening. We'll start with last Thursday.

Thursdays are normally my busy days: three piano lessons, two band classes, and another piano lesson (or three, depending...). Add to that a viewing for a friend's grandmother and leading the music at the Alliance Women's Fall Event hosted at our church, and you get a day that only God can get you through and still keep your sanity.

At the fall event, we had over 80 women from probably about ten different churches get together to hear a missionary from Germany speak. It was an enjoyable evening with lots of amazing food. (Mental note: must learn how to make German sauerkraut meatballs and potato dumplings.)

Friday morning was filled with last minute details for marriage171. Then I had my two choir classes with an additional after school rehearsal (what was I thinking?). We had a great Friday night session at marriage171. The three lead couples were hilariously entertaining, yet got the principles of having a successful marriage across to the participants. Saturday involved several more productive marriage sessions, including a showing of the movie Fireproof, which I highly recommend. I can say fairly confidently that all the participants went away having learned something about marriage. I think what personally stuck me the most was that the three couples went into marriage knowing that they were committing for life. All three couples admitted that, not matter how low they got, and some went through some very tough times, they never ever considered divorce.

Sunday after church we had a pastor appreciation reception which I was in charge of. I had a lot of help (thank goodness!), but I still needed to make sure the whole thing happened.

Then after the reception we had about 16 people at our house for lunch to celebrate Claire's sister Tina's 20th birthday. I was worried about not having enough food, but it turns out I had about three times what I needed.

I still have a busier schedule than I would like the next three or four weeks, but this seemed to be the most concentrated craziness.

Sometimes I ask myself why I get myself into all this... but I already know the answer: because people's lives are being changed. The women who came to the fall event had a great time of worship together and were inspired by the missionary's stories and lessons. Marriage171 certainly impacted the marriages of all the participants. At church today, we were on step #3 of the Biblical 12 steps: I now make a conscious decision to turn my entire will and life over to the care and direction of Jesus Christ as Teacher, Healer, Savior, and Lord. That is a life-changing step Vern was asking people to take. I know we're not supposed to look around, but hey, I'm up there playing the piano, so what can I say. Four people raised their hands. Lives are being changed. After lunch today, Dan and I got a chance to spend some time with a boy we've been mentoring. Hopefully something... anything we've been saying is getting through. Two steps forward, one step back sometimes.

It's like the story where an older man is walking along the beach and sees a younger man picking starfish up off the beach and throwing them back into the water because the tide is going out. The older man says, "But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!" The young man replies, "It made a difference for that one." Very encouraging and crucial lesson in life.

Passing the blame

Yesterday, Isaiah was in a different room, and Sam farted right in front of me. I asked him who did that. Without missing a beat, he said, "I-yay-yah" (Isaiah).

Soergel Orchards

What better way to celebrate indian summer (is that still an acceptable term?!) in Pittsburgh than with a trip to Soergel Orchards? I hadn't been there since they opened their new gluten-free, allergen-free, organic store. It was really nice. He kept posing for pictures. This was the first.

Sam was obsessed with the animals. You see his face smooshed in to see the calf.

Then he proceeded to stick his head in to see the sheep...

And then his hand... He has no fear.

Getting taller...

And not into it at all.

Little cowboy

Playing on the train

Peeking out

Trying to lift his pumpkin

Lovin the ice cream

The boys

At dinner, we told Isaiah that we were going somewhere fun to get a yummy snack that is cold and starts with an I. After thinking a minute, he said, "Igloo?" Oh my. Ice cream, child. Ice cream.

Kiski Railroad

I didn't have school yesterday or today, so today Dan took the day off from work, and we took the boys for a ride on the Kiski Railroad. The train cars were pretty full because it's the peak of their fall foliage tours. We had a good time, so enjoy the pictures and videos below. Isaiah took this picture of us. Haha!

The ride was at 2pm, right during Sam's nap time. So he took a few minutes to snuggle down with his brother.

This picture has not been digitally altered in any way. How Sam's face ended up in that shape is beyond me.

Enjoying himself, but wanting his naptime.

Sam and Momma. Notice Sam's black eye. He did it to himself by falling into a wooden foot rest. Poor thing!

Sniggled in the blanket.

So excited to get moving!

Getting our tickets punched

Reading a Thomas the Train book during our hour and fifteen minute ride.

The boys

Waiting to get going (Sorry about that bad quality! I have to convert everything from .mov to .wma then upload it, and something gets lost in the translation!)

Finally on the move!

The boys

We've been trying to get Isaiah to stop sucking his thumb for a while now. Yesterday I told him he couldn't suck his thumb any more during the day and put some yucky tasting stuff on his thumb... like nail polish, but designed to stop thumb sucking. (As a little aside, Isaiah licked it and said, "Mmm... Tastes like bananas!" Dan and I tried it later, and it was mildly distasteful and spicy.) To some, this might seem like a technique out of the 1960s, but thumb sucking is an extremely unhealthy habit. According to my calculations, there is a 100% chance of my kids getting sick from another sick kid because they play with the same toys, then suck their thumbs. With everything going around this year, I just want to decrease his chances of getting sick. So I found Isaiah like this today. Well, technically he wasn't breaking the rules. Guess it's time to change the rules. =)

The other day when Isaiah was camping with Vern and Lorrie, Sam crawled up next to me on the couch, asked for a pillow and blanket, and promptly fell asleep. This was about 11:00 am. This NEVER happens. He slept there for about 45 minutes. So sweet.

To do list

I did something today that I haven't done in a long time: I checked everything off my to do list! Several of the items involved scheduling Christmas events for school. They hadn't been at the top of my priority list for a while, but I finally got them done. I'm looking forward to taking my band to play at PPG place, and my choir is going Christmas caroling at a personal care home down the street from the school.

I also had to schedule Sam's two year well visit. Our pediatrician's office is going to walk-in well visits as of November 16 to keep the healthy children away from the sick ones. Luckily Sam squeaked in just before this change. I really don't want to walk in there and get whatever flip-flop wearing nurse practitioner is available. And all the sick kids are in the office in the morning. It's not like they're going to clean all the toys in the waiting room and clean all the individual rooms before the healthy kids come in. So the healthy kids are still going to get exposed to the same germs. Oy. Supposedly they're going back to scheduling well visits in January. I guess they've had so many sick children, they felt this was they way to go.

I also scheduled my first hair dye EVER. (My 30s have been filled with firsts... first mani/pedi... now first hair dye). I've had light cap highlights a few times, but they've grown out completely. I actually like my natural color, but I need to get rid of the gray, and maybe get some highlights or lowlights. We'll see how that turns out.

Then I needed to find something fun for us to do since I have Thursday and Friday off of school. So on Friday we're taking the boys to ride the Kiski railroad. It should be pretty fun, but I found out that the cars aren't heated and it's going to be in the 30s. Note: Bring blankets.

So I guess I can just put my feet up and relax now that I have nothing to do. Haha!

Party on party people

Woohoo! It's date day. Dan and I are going to celebrate our anniversary (only 3 months late!) and both of our birthdays with lunch at the Melting Pot, some shopping, and then a movie. Ought to be fun!

Why I love being mom

And it's not why you'd think! Here's a conversation I just had with Isaiah:

Me: Isaiah, when you're done eating your apple, I want you to get dressed and then we're going to Kohl's.

Isaiah: Why?

Me: Because I need to go shopping.

Isaiah: Oh. Ok.

So that's why I love being a mom. You can tell your kids you need to go shopping, and they don't argue! I just think of it as preparing them to be good husbands someday. =)