Life As We Know It

Our lives are quite busy here lately.  Well, really, always.  But who isn't busy, right? There always seems to be something that comes up, or several somethings all at once!  But God is good to give us the energy that we need to accomplish it all.

The weather has significantly changed here.  The fall colors that were so vibrant and beautiful last week are starting to change now.  Don't get me wrong - they are still beautiful, but just not quite as intense as it was a week ago.  Amazing how fast things change!  I love fall - I love to see the leaves change.  Growing up in Colorado, we did have beautiful falls - but it just isn't quite the same as up here in the north east.  Colorado basically gets pretty yellows and golds.  Here, we get many different colors - reds, oranges, greens, golds - all mixed together!  There is no doubt when you look at the changing colors that our God loves color and variety!  The picture at the header of my blog we took last week when my mom was here. (By the way, I know that it is HUGE, but I haven't had the time to figure out how to make it smaller.  Anyone want to give me tips on how to do it in iPhoto, since that is the program I have?  Please let me know!)  But still, aren't the colors just fabulous?  Love it!

The temps are much cooler, too.  It gets down to the low 40's and 30's in the night, and hasn't been much higher than 64 this whole week.  I enjoy the colder weather, but I don't enjoy having to bundle all the kids up before we go anywhere.  With three now, it definitely takes up an extra 5 or more minutes just to get in the car before we go anywhere!

Church is going really well.  We have started back up with our children's program and youth group.  Since we do not have a youth pastor, and Matt does it all, we took the summer off so he could have a little bit of a break.  But it is good to have our kids and teens back, along with some new faces!  Its Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, with Thanksgiving Day on Monday.  We are having special services on Sunday. We are calling it "An Old fashioned Thanksgiving."  We are encouraging everyone to dress like in the time of the pilgrims or like Little House on the Prairie type dress.  Matt has a really cool outfit he had made, and the kids and I are dressing up too.  We will definitely take pictures so you all can see it!  We are having a praise service first thing, followed by a huge thanksgiving meal, then having the Lord's Supper.  We are trying to fashion our day sort of how it was way back when in times when they would spend a whole day at church.  It should be a really fun time.

The kids are great.  Libby is still our smiley, happy girl.  Still no teeth, but definitely working on the front bottom two.  I can almost see them now, so we should have some teeth soon!  I am starting to switch her over to a bottle, for several different reasons.  I always get a little sad when this time comes.  I guess it is like it is that first step away from me, and part of me wants to hold on to that little baby who needs me for her ever need.  But, they do grow up.  It doesn't make me feel any better, though!   Don't worry, I will get over it! ;-)

Leila is our "Jumping Jack."  She literally jumps ALL THE TIME.  She is constantly moving, which wears her out and makes her sleep really, really well at night.  No complaint there!  She is our little instigator, and is when you hear screaming and crying from the other room, it is usually Leila pestering Liam in some manner.  Leila likes to sleep with about 7 pillows, three blankies, a soother (my next thing on the list to work with her on now that she is potty trained), a cup of water, and a book or her backpack.  It is pretty funny to see her in her bed.  Its like "Where's Waldo" to look for her in her bed.  She is catching on to the phonics that Liam is learning, too.  It is cute to hear her say her vowels!

Liam is LOVING school.  He really likes learning, and gets so excited each day when we start.  He stands when he is supposed to, and makes sure that I stand when the teacher says, "Girls, stand!"  Ha!  He never ceases to amaze me with how much he catches on to.  I have to tell one funny story about him.

Last week, when my mom was here, we were all getting ready for Sunday night church.  Since our church we don't get home from church until about 9 p.m., I always take the kids' pj's and change them at church.  That way we just come home, brush teeth and they are off to bed.  Anyways, I was gathering the kids' pj's, and went to go into Liam's room when I realized the door was locked.  He recently has gotten into locking his door, but knows he is not supposed to do this.  I knocked on the door, and called for Liam when I heard him say, "What."  Only thing was he was standing right next to me!  "Who is in your room?"  "Nobody." He said.  "Why did you lock your door? You know you are not supposed to do that!"  "I didn't want Leila to get my toys."  I tried to explain to him that if the door was locked with no one in there, then nobody could get in!

We didn't have time then to deal with it, so ran off to church.  When we came home, Matt did all he  could to unlock it.  Now, remember that we have an almost 30 year old house, and the locks on the doors are not like the "modern" locks now where you can just stick a pin or toothpick or something in it and pop the lock.  No this was almost like a keyhole thing.  So, nothing Matt tried worked.  So he had to resort to getting the whole door knob off (which is easier said than done!)  After alot of banging and pounding, he eventually got the door knob off.  So, now Liam has no door knob, which throws me off because I keep trying to grab it as I walk out of the room!  We were planning on buying whole new doors someday, anyways.  So we may start with his and get a new door and door knob.  Only this time, we will NOT have locks on the kids' bedroom doors!  Liam has a history with locking himself or other things behind doors, so I think that it is best to not have them at all!  Ahhh... The memories with kids!

I received my blog book in the mail today and I am so happy with it.  I was not really sure what to expect, but it turned out great and I am so happy to have it in print.  I guess you could say I am a published author now!  Ha!  (actually, I already am - I won a contest when I was younger and had a poem published in a big book of poems.  Hmmm... I wonder where that book is...)  I would definitely recommend if anyone wants their blog to become a keepsake for the family to invest in something like this.  It prints the pictures and everything if you want it too!

So that is our life as we know it...at least for now!  We have a very busy weekend ahead.  I hope you all have a great one!

Until next time...