Halloween

What to do for Halloween? It is one of those holidays that I have been conflicted over for years and now that we have kids I knew that Dwayne and I would have to come to some sort of conclusion. We both had been raised that Halloween was the "Devil's Holiday" and that we would not go trick-or-treating or celebrate it in any way. What made it more confusing though is we went to a "Harvest Party" at the local churches. Dwayne and I finally decided that no matter what title you put on it you are still celebrating the day and the holiday. Even Christmas has many rituals based in pagan traditions. After some long discussions we decided that we would not treat Halloween any different from any other holiday that comes and we celebrate. Just like anything you do it really has to do with the spirit that you are approaching the holiday from. As a family, we are going to celebrate it in more of a Harvest Festival sort of way. We will allow the kids to dress up and we are going to take them trick or treating. I am putting my foot down though and they will not be allowed to dress in anything scary or gory. No witches, gouls, skeletons, or serial killers. But that still leaves many options available. Princesses, super heroes, etc. will be totally acceptable.

With that decision finally decided at the last minute we weren't sure what to dress the kids up as this year. I didn't set any money aside for costumes. The mall where I work was having a trick or treating in a controlled "safe" environment and I really wanted to take them. Luckily, Dianne had been bringing/making dress up clothes for the kids so we had a few things we could pull together for them. Evie went as Peter Pan and Sam we dressed up as a cowboy. They both got so many comments about how great they looked. I think it was because the costumes were handmade and "real" vs. the expensive yet cheap-looking costumes that are so popular. At first they weren't sure what was expected of them but seeing that candy was involved, they were both pros with the asking and saying thank you by the end of the mall. We thought about hitting another section of mall and maybe going to our church also but I realized that Halloween is NOT going to be focused on how much candy we can get. They had plenty of candy and it was dinnertime and Evie hadn't had a nap. All these things added up to a short but sweet trick-or-treating session. Overall, we had a great time and I think it went really well for our first ever as a family.

Pictures

Sorry I am late in updating the blog. I've been a little busy with all the traveling and working we have been doing. I feel like I am playing catch up all this week. This past weekend we went down to Oregon to spend time with family and go to Terry's memorial service. We decided to drive down Friday after Dwayne got off work so we could get up early to enjoy the Oregon zoo on Saturday. Luckily, Dwayne was able to get off work around noon so we got an early start on our drive down. We stayed with Dave and Charlene so we got to see and visit them and their boys. It was a very nice weekend but I can't wait until Evie sleeps a little better at other's houses. She still wakes up frequently during the night. But then she has never been as good a sleeper as Sam.


Evie, Aiden, and Sam on a tractor at the zoo. Grandma Mary is holding up Evie because the boys didn't want to share their seat.

Another picture of the kids on some wooden horses in the barn at the zoo. Apparently this is a good accomplishment for Aiden as he was scared of these horses the last time he was there.

Lions are back at the zoo!!!!

I uploaded this picture because it was such a gorgeous fall day. The colors of the trees were beautiful, especially with the sun shining. The air was crisp but not too cold and all the animals were out and about because it wasn't so hot.

Here is a snapshot of Dianne's siblings and mom. Her dad passed away earlier this year.

Dwayne, his mom Dianne, Dave, and Stephanie.

Dianne loaded us up with lots of presents to bring home for the kids including new play hats and Evie got a whole set of different Disney princess shoes. Here is a picture showing her just loving the new shoes and hat. She is also carrying around the stuffed kitten we picked up at the zoo and she refused to let go of for several days.

We had a great time and even though it was semi-sad, the memorial service was fun too. We got to see so many family and friends that we hadn't seen in forever. Many of whom had never met our children yet. Dwayne was so proud showing off his family. Now I need to catch up on some badly neglected housework.

Sad News

We have been busy this week just working hard and getting through the sickness. I managed to pass my cold on to Dwayne so we have been dealing with him not feeling well. He did manage to decorate the pumpkins with the kids one evening while I was at work and I have to say they were very pretty. But instead of buying new paint I decided to use the paints I already had in the house. Well, the first night the pumpkins were on the porch it rained. The next morning all the paint was gone. I had forgotten that the paint I had them use was the Crayola washable paint. Oh well, the kids had fun anyway and so far (crosses fingers) they haven't caught the cold Dwayne and I had.

As most of you probably know, this past Sunday evening, Dwayne's stepdad Terry Morton passed away. He had been struggling for the past couple years with infections that he caught after having hip-surgery. He finally recovered and decided to move forward with having his second hip done. As many people know, however, once you get a real bad infection like he had, you are more succeptable to catching infections again. He seemed to be recovering fine but another infection snuck up on all of us and it shut down his organs. He died from that infection. We will be going down to Oregon this weekend for the memorial service and to hang out with family. The memorial service will be held at Life Church in Aloha this Sunday at 4:00 with a potluck to follow.

We all seem to be doing ok. Dianne is handling it the best she can. Her biggest concern right now is the finances. Without the disability that Terry was bringing in, she isn't sure she can make the mortgage payments on the house. So please pray that God will provide a solution for her in a timely manner so she doesn't have to worry about that. Our kids don't know that he is gone yet. I'm not sure how to approach it with them. It is a blessing and a curse that they are so young. They are finally figuring out who Grandpa was but I don't think they will have too many memories of him when they are older. Luckily, we have several good pictures. I think we are going to wait to bring it up when we go down this weekend. They will probably ask us after seeing everyone where Grandpa is at and we can tell them then that we won't be seeing him anymore because he is in heaven with Jesus. That seemed to work pretty good when we had to put my cat to sleep. Not exactly the same thing I know but it is something they can wrap their little brains around. With so many family members to distract them I don't think it will overly concern them too much. If only we were all so young and innocent at times, huh?

Anyway, thanks in advance to everyone for their prayers and condolences during this time. We will keep you posted on updates as they happen.

Pumpkin Patch

I woke up yesterday feeling clogged up and miserable but I knew that it would probably be the last sunny day for a while and I really wanted to go to the pumkin patch with the kids before I ran out of money. So I downed some cold medicine and away we went. It was fun watching the kids run around trying to pick the perfect pumpkins out of all the ones we could choose from. Sam insisted at first that we had to get a BIG pumpkin but I convinced him that little ones were best. The patch that we visited had animals you could look at and had slides and a corn maze but I had to be at work by noon so we had to pretty much pick our pumpkins and leave. Any energy I had in the morning was definately used up and I was dragging at work. But thanks to modern medicine I survived. Today though I am feeling pretty miserable. I've convinced myself that the house can wait and I'm going to relax as much as the kids will let me today. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling better. So far the kids don't seem to be catching this cold that Dwayne and I had but I figure it is only a matter of time.

Shopping!

Dwayne got paid today and I was able to postpone a couple bills for a week knowing that I would be getting some money coming in. So with the new budget I was able to go shopping for things that we have been needing/wanting but unable to get because of budget constraints. Dwayne stayed home sick today so I grabbed Sam since he doesn't need a nap during the day and spent the day shopping with my son. It was so much fun! I was able to take my time and actually browse stuff and I have found that I have a new found respect for my money and what I should spend it on. I found lots and lots of things that I wanted to buy but instead of just getting it I took the time to realize that I didn't really need it. I got my haircut and a few new clothes to go with the new haircut for the new job, found a couple work shirts for Dwayne at a good price, and got some misc. things like a new razor and batteries. I was underbudget all day and I am so so proud of myself. Anyone who knows me and how I can spend money like crazy would be very proud of me. It was also exciting to try on some clothes and realize I needed a size smaller. This new job doesn't allow me to always eat regularly or I don't get the chance at all so I've been skipping some meals as well as being much much more active and it is showing! Yet another benefit to me having this job. I had so much fun spending some one on one time with Sam too. It is amazing how well-behaved my children are especially when they don't have each other to annoy and fight with. You can tell he reveled in the special time with mommy and came home with a new Hot Wheels for his good behavior. Overall, a very fun and exciting day. I haven't been able to shop like that for a long time and it was so much fun. Did I mention that I had fun? LOL

New Books

Working at the Christian bookstore is paying off already. I have a love of reading. Most of what I like to read unfortunately, are things strictly non-christian in nature. I love books of fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, and to some degree horror. One of my frustrations as an avid reader and christian has been trying to find the books I like in a christian bookstore. Most of the fiction section seems to be covered in romance, finding love, living on a homestead kind of story. Don't get me wrong, those definately have their place and I know a lot of people (especially ladies) who love those types of books but they aren't my cup of tea. If they do have anyone in the store that runs into speculative fiction it is usually authors that have already proven themselves like Tolkien, CS Lewis, and Peretti. They are great authors but I've already read them all. I would like something new. So of course, I read the secular books that aren't necessarily good for me or God-fearing.

Well, last night I ran into a guy who told me he was an author. His first book will be published in April 2010 and he gave me his card. We started chatting a little bit and he told me he likes those kinds of books too. He also had the same frustrations I did about the lack of speculative fiction in christian bookstores. What I found out though is there are many authors out there who have written christian speculative fiction but most bookstores don't carry them because they haven't been proven big sellers. Thanks to a couple of series (Left Behind for one) and a couple of new authors (Ted Dekker) this thankfully is changing. But for our tastes to be more represented we have to demand and buy the types of books we are looking for. That still leaves the question of who these authors are and the titles of the books so we can look for and buy them. He had a friend who developed a website that lists all the christian speculative fiction writers along with their type. I checked it out this morning and it is very exciting. I plan on looking for these books right away and start reading. The website is http://wherethemapends.com/Booklist/booklist_intro.htm . While browsing the website I found out one of the authors is also developing a christian MMOPG. This is so exciting for me as I am a huge online game player. It isn't ready yet but you can see what has been developed so far and the progress of the game at http://www.foundationsofhope.com/foh_online.php .

The author who was so nice and gave me the information is named James L Rubart and his book Rooms will be released in April 2010. You can preorder it now on Amazon. He was very nice and so helpful so check him out if you get a chance. I am not getting any kind of compensation for this endorsement but just wanted to give him a shout-out for helping me out.

Nothing New

I haven't been doing much this week which is why I haven't written. We have just been trying to adjust to my new work schedule. The kids seem to have adjusted to me leaving really well. Especially since they get to stay with daddy. They give me kisses and hugs as I run out the door just like Dad does in the morning so they seem to think everything is fine.

They have been busy this week playing with all the new toys Evie got for her birthday. Sam loves having a new pile of things to sort and will spend hours moving toys from one bucket to another. Evie loves to go over and take one of "his" toys just to hear him squeal. I've caught her doing it and she gets a look that shows her perverse pleasure in making her brother scream. She is going to be my handful. I just know it.

Work is going well. I'm enjoying myself so much. Starting this week I get keys to the store and they are going to entrust me with closing by myself. I'm not sure if I am ready but it will be a nice challenge. It is weird working in a place that puts so much trust in their employees right from the start. Unlike the big corporations where you need to visit customer service just to buy a book of stamps. I sold my first huge statue yesterday and I get a little thrill of pleasure every time I sell a picture or plaque off the wall. I think this has been one of the best things for me. I don't feel so trapped and I like being able to socialize with adults again. Dwayne still needs some more adjustment I think. He is confident and great with the kids but he is unsure of some of his cooking skills and I can tell he misses me when I get home. He has taken to hovering around me while I eat my dinner, change my clothes, or start to relax from a long evening. I feel kind of bad because I have been so busy, I haven't had time to really think about him or the kids so the separation isn't as acute for me. But all in all, we seem to be adjusting well. We can't wait until the 20th when I get the first paycheck where we will actually feel the extra cushion in our finances. So hopefully, only a couple more weeks of struggling and skimpy meals and then we will start to see the benefits of this new arrangement.