Family Night

I have very fond memories of Friday nights from my childhood. My family (for many, many years) had a weekly "family night". We all stayed home and ate pizza, watched movies or played card/board games together. At one point in time, we spent Friday nights eating popcorn and listening to my dad read aloud the Little House on the Prairie book series. These were such fun evenings. Unfortunately, they grew less and less frequent as we got older and wanted to spend the weekend nights out with friends.

Ken and I have started the "Friday Night Family Night" tradition with our own little munchkins. Usually we just head over to the library on Friday afternoon and pick out a movie and then have a "picnic" while we watch movies and eat pizza. Occasionally, we try to mix it up a little and go somewhere for family night. During the warm summer months, we rode our bikes to our downtown and walked around window shopping and eating ice cream. Now that it is colder, we are having to mix it up a little. Recently we played putt putt and got hot chocolate together. On a side note, Harry always gets a least one "hole in one" every time we play. Seriously.

Our family time feels rare, with Ken traveling a lot for work. These times together are precious. I hate to think that one day our kids might be too cool to hang out with us. Maybe then we'll become those annoying parents who chaperone every event their kids go to. :) In all seriousness, we hope these Friday nights are helping to build the foundation for communication and mutually satisfying relationships with our children. That's is our prayer.

Voting Day

Hannah's school was out today for voting day, and as Harry's school was still meeting, we had the whole morning to ourselves. We decided to go to Bob Evans to get her free birthday meal (yes, I know we're about 4 months late on that). Hannah was so cute. Right before we went into the restaurant, she asked if we could pretend it was her birthday while we ate. I said, "Sure!", since we were technically celebrating her birthday. She got so tickled when the waiter brought her free pumpkin bread (for her birthday), and everyone kept wishing her a happy birthday and asking how old she was. It was fun to watch her. We had a great time together, talking about school and dolls, and the upcoming holidays.

It was so nice to take a breather and look across the table and remember what is really important. My daughter has truly been one of God's greatest blessings to me. She is tangible evidence that God is a loving Father who gives the greatest, most needful gifts.

Halloween Extravaganza!!!

We celebrated Halloween at our house for 6 days!

On Tuesday night, we held our first annual pumpkin carving contest--boys vs. girls. Ken and Harry created Pierre, a fierce pumpkin who's main purpose in his short life was to scare away naughty squirrels. Hannah and I carved Violet, a fancy young she-pumpkin who sported a saucy birthmark on her cheek and purple accessories.

On Thursday, Harry dressed up as Darth Vader for his school's annual Halloween parade. He wouldn't stop long enough in the procession for me to get a good picture. That night, we headed over to our friend's neighborhood to trick or treat with her family and several of our friends. Hannah was Ariel--complete with bright red wig.

Hannah's school parade and party were on Friday. Her class paraded around the school and the adjoining neighborhood. Then we had a party in her room with games, snacks and plenty of dancing! She also recited a Halloween poem with a few of her classmates. It was so fun seeing her in her element with her friends. She has such a fun and wonderful teacher and lots of sweet kids in her room.

On Saturday we went to a neighborhood Halloween party. We've been in our house for 3 1/2 years, and that was the first time we met several of our neighbors. Only problem with meeting people at a costume party--it's a little harder to recognize them later on. I'm pretty bad with names anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter that much!

By the way, Harry did have the coolest Darth Vader mask, but it didn't make it into any of the pictures. I think it was not all that comfortable to wear. You'll just have to see him in person sometime to get the full effect of Lord Vader.