Family Fun Night; Halloween!

With the move, Justin's school semester starting back up, home improvement projects and various other things happening within the last two months, we haven't had a chance to do a Family Fun Night. But last night, we got back into the swing of things :)

We started off by making pumpkin pancakes. Orange pancakes with green pancake stems. Then we used berries to add faces :) (Sorry, no pics of that one... camera was in the car and I couldn't run out while the griddle was hot).

Then we made a paper plate spider web craft, found here:

Next we read a few books, Fancy Nancy or Bust!, Halloween Jack and a Elmo Halloween board book for Megs.

Then it was treat time! We made pumpkin pie smoothies! YUM.

Then, what the kids had been waiting for all night... carving time!

And while we carved, Justin and I took turns reading this sweet little Pumpkin Prayer. It likens the seeds and yucky stuff inside the pumpkin to our sins which are removed once we ask Jesus into our hearts. It was really fitting and kept the focus on Him, instead of spooky Halloween things ;)

And what's a FFN without a movie? So we watched:

Unfortunately, moments before I turned on the show, Jake informed us that he didn't have fun at all during the night because 'we didn't give him any special treats' (I'm not sure what more we could have done, but that wasn't the point really). Because he was unthankful and unappreciative, he got sent to bed and missed out on the movie, which he would have thought was the best part because he loooooves movies. Hopefully he'll remember to be a little more thankful for the time and effort we put into the night before our next FFN :)

 And now, we're reading for Halloween. Trick or treating tonight!!!

Latin class

We were in Tar-jay yesterday and out of the blue, Lauren says, 'mom, I hope you don't get cancer on you'.

I was like, 'huh?'

And she said, 'crabs, mom! In Latin, cancer means a crab. I hope crabs don't get on you!'

LOVE that Latin is taught in the kids school. Yes, it's not much help right now as Kindergartners and Preschoolers but hopefully as our kids get older, Biblical concepts will be a little more clear since they we be able to understand the original text.

AVCS Harvest Festival

AVCS put on a giant Harvest festival for the kids last week. Everyone dressed up... including my cowgirl, cupcake, and Power Ranger.

But don't let the cute lil' cupcake fool you... she was a grumpy cupcake, and was incredibly annoyed that I asked her to sit still to snap a few pictures. The nerve of me, I know.

Once I took more pictures than should be legally allowed for a family with 3 kids under 5, we headed to the Festival.

There were jump houses, obstacle course, games, photo booths, food, prizes and friends everywhere!

The Power ranger and the cowgirls, Britt and Lauren)

There was even a 'game' where you could dunk Pastor John :)

And because this event is put on by faculty and parents of the school, we all chipped in to help with time and resources (hello tons of candy and kiddie prizes!) This was our Kindergarten booth where I manned it for 30 minutes... spin the wheel to see how many candy pieces you'll get if you are able to putt the golf ball in the hole.

 

Another great night at AVCS. We are so thankful for this school; for the incredible teaching and the sense of community here :)

 

Lauren's harvest party

The kids had a Harvest party at school last week. Us moms got together to make the food, decor and goodie bags. When we arrived, we were treated to a little pumpkin puppet show, a song and a presentation about how pumpkins grow. The kids did such a great job! Then they explained to us that like a candle sitting in an pumpkin, we are to shine like that, letting others know about Jesus. I LOVE that everything discussed, from apple trees to pumpkin seeds, in taught with Jesus and his Word as the center.

 

After the presentation, it was party time! Little siblings got to join us, so we all gathered together for some yummy food to share!

Yay for Harvest parties!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

 

It's crazy to see how much our kiddos grow over the years, but man, they do! (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011,

 

We had a great time again this year. Lauren and Jake were more interested in the rides and Megan couldn't stop yelling 'punkin!'. Seriously, she was allllll over the place, hence very few (decent) photos of that busy little girl.

 

We checked out the petting zoo (that's a given with daughters who LOVE animals),

and daddy got accosted by some goats :)

Then they went on the swings, and Megan was SO excited! She grinned from ear to ear, waving to 'bubba and sissy' every time she saw them around the corner :)

Then the big kids went into this obstacle course,

before heading down the super duper slide!

Finally, Meg and Jake jumped their little hearts out,

while this BIG girl below got to go on the bungee jump thingy. She BEGGED to go on, and waited patiently in line while much bigger kids went on. But she couldn't contain her excitement, so we let her go (and I was secretly wishing I could have gone on too!).

She was beyond excited! Who is that big girl?!?

We got our pumpkins and now the fun part... carving tonight!

 

Happy Halloween friends!