Trick a Treat a Tailgate

The name has changed but the fun is just the same... well sort of.

The kids trick or treated for the 3rd time up at church this year. They had a good time, got and ate tons of candy, and even got to play with two minature ponies that attended the event. We parked next to the Tipps again and loved watching Aubrey eat her first lollipop and observing Jeff and Mindi in awe of their daughter as she trick or treated from car to car. Since Ll still isn't saying much these days, Kennedy got to decide what they were going to dress up as this Halloween. After spending so much time down in GW while I had my gallbladder surgery both kids have loved pretending to be my parents two rat terriers Peanut and DJ (or as Kennedy calls him, PJ). So when Kennedy decided that was what she wanted them to be it seemed like a perfect fit.

The reason I say it wasn't quite the same was our friends the Smiths who we usually park across from were celebrating out of town, and the little girls Kennedy's age that she usually runs around with weren't there. I'm not sure how much this really affected Kennedy because fortunately she had two ponies to take her mind off of things, but it was sad for me. I know she had been looking forward to spending the evening with her friends from church. I am becoming more aware that she really doesn't have any close girl friends from church her age. I'm not sure why that is, or how to change it but I am hopeful that it will rectify itself before she is old enough to notice. So all in all a wonderful evening. The only thing that got in the way was this Momma's hurting heart for her daughter.

Puppy Dog Eyes

Do my kids not have the best puppy dog eyes ever? I mean really. How do they learn this stuff? Surely not from Tim or I. :)

More Halloween 2009 Pics Coming Soon!

Mysterious Ways

We have been paying a higher premium on our homeowners insurance knowing that our roof was old and was close to needing to be replaced. So when the hail hit earlier this year we got on the phone with our insurance company and we were approved for a new roof. This turned into a L-O-N-G process. We had 4+ roofing companies do quotes and other than one company that seemed a bit shady no one could even come close to putting on the new roof for what our insurance said it would pay. That combined with me really wanting architectural shingles it was looking like we were going to have to pay a lot of money, and that we didn't have. So we did nothing. Then we heard from a friend about a company, Pro 1, who claimed to do free architectural shingle upgrades so we had them come out and give us a quote. Once again we were told they couldn't do it for what the insurance company was paying. So once again we did nothing.

*Now when I use the term "we" it might be better to describe it as Tim dealing with the roofers and me trying my best not to nag when nothing was happening as quickly as I had hoped.*

Back to doing nothing...
We had finally decided that we couldn't afford the architectural shingles, and that we just needed to get this roof done soon. Having it hanging over our heads (no pun intended) was becoming a drain and a stress. Then the phone rang. Pro 1 had agreed to do our roof for whatever our insurance company would pay, AND give us the free upgrade to the architectural shingles! I'm not sure why the change. I tend to think that maybe we drug our feet so long in making a decision that business from the last hail storm had started to dry up in the area and the roofers were more willing to budge. Or maybe our insurance company had heard from so many companies trying to get them to offer more that they finally decided to do so. I do know that the Lord works in mysterious ways, and we are thanking him for the new, beautiful roof over our heads!

Rainy Days...

are the BEST days!
(except maybe when your two year old runs next door to investigate the rushing water coming out of the neighbor's drain pipe, refuses to come back as you yell to him from the front porch and thus requires a rain soaked dash to retrieve him.)

Happy Halloween!

These are the faces I get these days when I ask the kids to smile. Ll is all cheese, and KB is my little priss. You might understand now why I am a growing fan of the candid shot. :)

Brentwood Fall Festival

Last Saturday we attended the fall festival up at Brentwood. It was a beautiful day! The kids played all of the games they were old enough for, but their favorites were by far the inflatables. We never really know what Lleyton is going to be timid of. For example, we thought he would love riding the train with his sister. No way! He was shaking like a leaf just standing near it while we watched Kennedy go. Then we thought surely he will love the big bounce house. Nope. Ll didn't want anything to do with it. Later we went down the hill to let the bigger kids (Kennedy and Griffin) go through the inflatable obstacle course. In one section it had a pretty big wall you had to climb over and then at the end very steep, tall steps that you had to climb up in order to go down the very high, extremely fast slide. After seeing Kennedy and Griffin go, Lleyton started trying to take off his shoes so he could go. I was hesitant to let him through because we wouldn't be there to help him up the steep stairs at the end, but Kennedy kindly went again and promised to help him a long. It turned out he didn't need any help at all and L-O-V-E-D it! The minute he slid down the slide at the end he popped up, and started signing and saying "Mo" "Mo" and pointing to the front of the course. We ended up spending almost all of our tickets on that attraction alone and Ll still would have gone again and again.

You have to see it...

To believe it!