Dressing Up

My kids love to dress up in costumes. I love to dress up too, and I always have. I don't have that many great Halloween memories from my childhood because my mom never really decided whether or not our family would celebrate Halloween. I never knew from year to year if we would or not. I remember always being very disappointed on the years we didn't do anything. For that reason, I let my kids dress up and go trick-or-treating. We talk a lot with the kids about the scary things we see in the stores and in some people's yards at this time of year. We choose fun, light-hearted costumes. And we reach out to the people in our community. This year required two costumes for Snapper and three for Pepper. We couldn't manage to double up. But it worked out great because I was able to make everything. I bought the material on sale so it hardly cost me any money at all! I think the grand total for 5 costumes was $22!

Wednesday was Bible Character night at Awana. Snapper dressed up as the tree in Psalm 1, and somehow I managed to not get any photos of her. Bummer! Pepper was Moses from John 3:14. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. Pepper had recited that verse at Awana the week prior, so the timing was perfect.

On the 30th, our church hosted Trunk or Treat for the community around the church. We did an Angry Birds themed trunk. The kids wore their Halloween costumes and we all had a blast. Snapper chose to be a parrot this year because she knew my friend Tracie's little ones were going to be pirates. Snapper thought it would be funny to be the parrot carrying around the pirate.

Book Character day at school landed right on Halloween. All the kindergartners and 1st graders dressed up as their favorite book characters. Pepper was Brother Bear from the Berenstain Bears series.

And then tonight was Halloween. Originally we had planned on spending the evening with friends in another part of town. But Pepper and I were sick late last week, and I just didn't feel up to going anywhere tonight. We stuck close to our house and took the kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We live in a lovely neighborhood, so it was really pleasant being out this evening. We walked around the beautiful lake that is a block down our street and the kids got a lot of candy from the gorgeous, lakefront homes. It rained all day and cleared up around 4:00, so it was nice and cool and the air had a wonderful, fall-ish, wet leaf smell. We walked around for about an hour, and then came home to hand out candy. Matt set up a table with coffee and cocoa, and we took advantage of the BOGO candy at Publix to make sure we had enough. We had been hoping to meet some of our neighbors this way. To our disappointment, we only got 3 trick-or-treaters. To my delight, we finished the night with 4 monster bags of candy left over, and a whole container of pumpkin spice creamer! It was a very fun week. 

Now we begin the countdown to Thanksgiving in earnest. We're looking forward to spending that weekend at a friend's beach house in the Florida Keys with our wonderful friends Brad, Kathy, and Vonette. And then Christmas is right around the corner! I've made great progress on my Homemade Christmas challenge, but I still have a lot to make. Can you guess how I'll be spending the 55 days until Christmas?

Then and Now: A Post for Snapper in Years to Come

As of 2 weeks ago, Snapper has been doing swim team for two years. It has become a really important part of her life. She is at the pool 4 afternoons each week. Most of her friends swim with her. We moved in June largely to be closer to the pool and to get Snapper into school with these swim friends. We believe that the solid relationships she is forming with this awesome group of kids is extremely important for her, especially since she has gone to so many different schools in the past years. We're hoping to keep her in this same school district all the way through the rest of school. We couldn't be happier with all that swimming brings to our lives, and its many benefits for Snapper. I hadn't planned on posting about this, but tonight I was looking through some 2009 photos with a friend and I came across photos of Snapper's first swim meet. I was blown away at the difference in my swimmer girl. I thought it would be fun to post them, just as a way to mark how she has changed.

Little Snapper, age barely 7, at her first meet swimming for the Arkansas Dolphin-Lasers. Crying during warm-up because the 20 minutes of continuous swimming was too much for her. Crying on the starting block because she was afraid her goggles would come off during her dive. Struggling with asthma. Didn't know any of her teammates yet, and very shy about introducing herself. Enjoying practice, but not too sure yet about this whole swim team thing.

Bigger Snapper, age almost 9, at a mid-summer meet with her Florida team. Swimming a mile or more during practice and coming out of the pool ready to run a mile or ride her bike. Only deals with asthma when she is sick. Bold and confident, bonded with her teammates, fiercely competitive, cheering for her team, and completely loving every aspect of swimming, except for push-ups and lunges on dry land days.

Timid dive at the first meet, October 2009

Strong, gorgeous dive now, April 2011

Notice the absence of muscle tone in her back and shoulders, October 2009.

Check out the muscle tone now! She grins when she sees this photo, taken October 2011.

Yay for swimming and yay for Snapper! Baby girl, this post is just for your memory book.

Awana Funny

When I was a kid, I have the privilege of participating in Awana at a local church. In case you're not familiar with it, Awana is a weekly Bible club for children. Kids work through a handbook, memorizing Bible verses and touching on important theological principles. They hear a Bible lesson, earn awards, and play fast-paced, exciting games. It is a great program, and I am thankful for how it grounded me in my faith when I was a child. My kids are in Awana now, and they love it as much as I did. This week as they were working on the memory verses, they said a couple of funny things that I don't want to forget.

One of Snapper's verses was Luke 12:6-7.
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows.


Snapper had learned the verse well, but she had a mental lapse when we were reviewing the verse on our way to Awana. She got to the last sentence and instead of You are worth more than many sparrows, she said, "You are worth more than a bunch of pigeons!"

HA HA HA!

Pepper's verses this week were John 3:14-16. John 3:14 says, Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.


Pepper announced to me that this is his favorite verse in the Bible. Why? Because it has a snake in it, of course! He repeats that verse over and over every afternoon when he gets home from school, emphasizing the word snake.

HA HA HA!

Pepper has also been learning the books of the New Testament. We have a fun song that helps, and Pepper loves to sing the song. He sings it over...and over...and over. Between the song and the snake verse, I'm definitely getting my Bible exposure daily this week. Last night on the way to Awana, Matt and I started using our hands as puppets to lip sync to Pepper's New Testament books song as Pepper sang it. Pepper thought that was the funniest thing he has ever seen. He laughed hysterically, still trying to sing. He laughed until he was snorting and crying, and all the rest of us were laughing along with him. This is one of those memories that will stay at the forefront of my mind when I remember Pepper at this age.