Not the holiday card picture

Well this is NOT going to be our holiday card picture. After Liam's nap yesterday I pulled out the tripod and the camera and we set ourselves up on the front porch. Out of all the pictures I took, this one was my favorite, except for (and maybe a little because of) Peyton's face. I laughed a lot and then we took another one which will be the one on the Christmas card. I designed the card myself this year and I'm printing them at home. I have a photo printer that is great so I figured I would give it a try. I'm not sure if it ends up being cheaper because I had to buy paper, envelopes, and an ink cartridge. Hopefully I'll have enough ink to print 60 of them!

I made pecan caramel cinnamon rolls over the weekend. They were amazing! But I also discovered that my breadmaker pan was leaking. I have a number to call about ordering a new pan and I need to do it soon. We use our machine at least once a week and I can't stand being without it. I'm gearing up to make 2 apple pies and Mark's cake on Tuesday and Wednesday. I may need to wear some loose pants on Thursday to give me room to eat lots of turkey!

Liam's turn

Yellow JMU hair and silly Liam posing for the camera

Liam had a hair cut today. We went to visit my friend, Lisa, out in Mt. Solon for the cut. It's a long way to drive, but she is so great with the kids and I love the end result. Liam looks like a little man every time he gets a hair cut. He wasn't scared about sitting in the chair because he held my hand the whole time. He also got really freaked out when these two sweet old ladies came in the salon. I'm not sure why, but he called out to me and wanted out of the chair immediately. One of them was wearing a white turban thing on her head and it may have just looked odd to him. Who knows? He can be a scaredy cat sometimes. But he can also be most entertaining!

So cold today

It is so cold today. I think the temp is still just above freezing. It probably won't get into the 40's today...brrrrrr. The kids were driving me insane this morning bickering and fighting. Mark came home for lunch and gave me a bit of a break. Now it's rest/ nap time and all is quiet. I just finished reading my Bible and my daily devotion and hopped online before going to grab a snack. My small group issued a challenge to choose a devotion and read it every day for 90 days. I LOVE a challenge and probably stick to things better when I am challenged. It's day 19 of this particular one and I've read every day. I'm hoping this becomes a habit that sticks! I have never before been able to sustain any sort of daily quiet time or daily Bible reading. I fail every single time. It would be great if I can maintain it this time. There is so much to read and so much I want to learn.

We are heading to the library after rest time and then to our church for the monthly fellowship dinner. On the menu for tonight is a Thanksgiving-style turkey dinner. I cannot wait!

First snow of the season

Last night around 8:30pm I pulled Mark away from the computer and we stepped out onto the deck to see snow flurries. No one was forecasting any accumulation, so it was a nice surprise to see a dusting of snow outside this morning. Peyton was eager to get out of bed when I told her there was snow on the ground. Liam said, "We gonna need our boots to go play in the snow." Sadly it was almost gone by about 11am, but I guess officially this is the first snow of the season. Peyton said she was hoping for "eighty one thousand hundred feet" of snow this winter! I'm hoping for enough to close JMU so we can all stay home for a day or two and enjoy playing outside. I want the kids to build snowmen this winter!

Playing in the leaves

We spent some time outside late last week playing in and raking leaves. It was fairly nice last week with high temperatures in the high 50's, but not so much this week. The highs this week are not supposed to budge out of the 40's. I'm predicting some cabin fever!

Sidewalk Paint Art

I found a recipe online for sidewalk paint and gave it a shot. It worked well but was very runny. I made green, red, blue, and yellow and was hoping the kids would enjoy the different colors. Well, my sweet Peyton decided to mix them all and so we ended up with dirt brown. But they did have a ton of fun playing with it.

My musing for today includes this: why does Liam decide to poop just after I put him down for nap? He has been doing this almost every day for the past 2 weeks or so. I'll get him down for nap, go downstairs and open my Bible, start reading, and then, "Mama.....I pooped!" He did it today and now will not settle in and rest. He is screaming my name, singing the little skunk song, throwing things out of his crib, etc. It is going to be a very long evening because when Liam doesn't nap, he's a huge grumpy whiny mess. At least Nonna is coming. He'll probably be on his best behavior for her.

JMU versus William & Mary tomorrow....woo hoo! My mom and I are going to the game. It is supposed to be very windy and possibly rainy, but I'm still looking forward to it.

Crazy Peyton Jane

Every time I pull out the camera Peyton wants in on the action. She won't smile sweetly at the camera for long...oh no...she has to clown around (where did that come from?). So here are a few fun pictures we took this week of her being silly. As for the hairdo, she did that herself during her rest time!

Visiting JMU

I took Peyton and Liam to visit Mark at his office last week and we made a stop by the lake to feed the geese. I swear the geese have multiplied since I was a student. We used to sit by the lake and do homework, but now you can hardly walk without stepping in a pile of goose poop. We took a long walk around campus after we fed the geese, mostly so we could scrape the poo off of our shoes.

The weather has been cold the past two days and it feels like fall. I feel a need to eat lots of warm soup and to drink lots of coffee. In fact, I've been drinking WAY too much coffee because it makes me feel warm. I'm trying to encourage the kids to play outside even when it's a little chilly because they get crazy if they don't play. I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time at the library and children's museum this fall. The time change drives me crazy because it's dark by 5:30 and so there's not much time after naps to play. But we didn't have any difficulty with the kids adjusting to it.

I'm feeling renewed today and at peace. The kids are at preschool and the house is very quiet. Yesterday was a rough day. I was so impatient and frustrated all day and just so tired. I didn't get a great night's sleep last night, but it was enough because I'm feeling better. I left the house this morning and had breakfast at Mr. J's Bagels and spent time reading there. Now I'm going to work on a few Christmas presents. I hate thinking about Christmas before Thanksgiving, but since we're making a lot of our gifts this year, I have to get them done. It should make December a very calm month!

Fall in the Park

Fall has finally exploded in the Valley. The leaves are so pretty and I am enjoying the beautiful colors. Our maple tree in the yard finally started changing colors and we'll soon have a ton of leaves to rake. I took the kids to Purcell Park last week to play on the castle playground and Mark surprised us by showing up to play too. We had a lot of fun playing on the castle and walking around the park. I am trying to get the kids outside on any nice day so we can enjoy the weather while it lasts. Today it is warm and gorgeous. It's almost hard to believe it is fall because it feels like spring!

I am home today working on some crafty-type things for Christmas gifts and for fun. We are making a lot of our gifts this year and I love the chance to be creative and to have fun with it. I'm trying to slow down and relish this month because I love Thanksgiving and I don't want it to get lost in all the hustle and bustle that is Christmas. The stores already have holiday decorations in stock and some are already playing Christmas music! I'm not quite ready for that yet. I need to eat my big turkey meal first!

Election Day

I'm sure by now that you are so sick of hearing about the election, but I had to throw in my 2 cents. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for or who I think you should choose, but I am encouraging you to get out and vote. Mark got up at 5:45am and had voted and was home again by 6:30am. I went at 9:30am and had no trouble at all getting in. In fact, I was surprised at how easy it was to park and get through the doors. I was expecting lines and a wait, but was pleasantly surprised at how organized it was. In Harrisonburg we still use paper ballots, so they hand you a ballot, after confirming your identity, and you fill it in like a scantron test. I'm going to use my "I Voted" sticker today for a free coffee at Starbucks, after I go to the dentist. Then I'm going to give it to Peyton. She saw Mark's sticker and asked for one. I tried to explain voting to her yesterday and it was an interesting conversation.

Here are a few pictures of my polling place. I took the one of the inside and then got yelled at by an election official. Oh, did you know that you can't wear any political shirts, buttons, hats, etc. into your polling place? They had shirts available for people to wear over their shirts if they wore one that supported a party or candidate. I personally think that is ridiculous, but apparently it is an old law that has never really been enforced.

Halloween

She wore these heels almost the whole night. She changed to crocs after she tripped on some stairs and scraped her knee.

Seriously mom, turn off the camera and let's go! (See Mr. Peanuts' ear in Liam's pumpkin? He went trick or treating with us.)

This year was my first Halloween at home with the kids. We have been at Nonna's for the past few years enjoying her church's fall festival. We decided to take the kids trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We chose costumes from the dress up box and they were really excited to go out. We had to make them wait until 6:30pm to leave. I was surprised at how few people on our street were actually participating. We had hoped to just do our street and be done, but we had to choose another street so the kids could get some candy and to make the event last longer than 15 minutes! Peyton and Liam went right up to the doors and had no problems ringing the bell, but they did have trouble just saying, "Trick or Treat." They would say, "Happy Halloween" or just stand silently when people opened their doors, but they were pretty consistent about saying their thank yous!

Liam did have a freak out moment when this man answered the door in a black cape and creepy mask. I was standing behind him and Mark and he shrieked and started screaming for me. Another man had to come and give the candy to Peyton, but that was the beginning of the end for Liam. He told Mark about 10 minutes later that we wanted to go home. They went home and Peyton and I visited a few more neighbors before we called it a night. We ended up back home with a big bowl of popcorn and the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin DVD. We let them eat a few things from their pumpkins before they went to bed. They have a TON of candy and we ended up with a bunch of leftover candy too. I think we had about 10, maybe 15, kids come to our door all night. It seems like maybe door to door trick or treating is going away. We might try to find a fall festival next year where the kids can play games and get candy.

We had a great weekend at home too. The Charlottesville cousins came to spend the day on Saturday and we did the farmer's market, bakery, and children's museum. Then Sunday was a calm day of church and outdoor play. We are soaking up all the sun we can during these next few days. It is sunny and warm and gorgeous.