Trick-or-Treat

We had our first Halloween last night. Until now Ben hasn't really been old enough to care, or really enjoy it, so it wasn't really worth the effort. But this year... we were invited to a party on Vermont Street in west Asheville by our awesome friends the Whipples. And we had a blast!

So here are a few pics...

The dinosaur and the bear.
I really like warm costumes... and even better warm HAND-ME-DOWN costumes!

The little dinosaur all ready to go out!
He was so excited he couldn't sleep for his nap. :)
Can you blame him?


As we were walking to the car on the way to the party, Ben started to panic...
"Mom, how can I sit with a TAIL!!"
After we got home and were in pajamas he reached behind him and said,
"Mom, I kinda think I still have a tail." :)

Naomi's costume was a 3T, but who doesn't love a wrinkly teddy bear?
Oh, and that tail! I just LOVE it!
We might just use it again next year. :)



And here are my friend Lara and I.
And I somehow didn't get a picture of her precious Juliet... 6 weeks old and dressed like a tiger!



We saw some awesome costumes!



I didn't get any awesome shots of actually trick or treating, but we had a great time. After the first house Ben was hooked! Vermont Ave in west Asheville is the place to be! (Our friends went through 20ish bags of candy!) In addition to candy people were handing out fresh-made popcorn, animal crackers and raisins (Rachelle, you can tell Mike we like them!)... which was a nice break from the candy! And once we got back to the house, we loved watching all the trick-or-treaters and seeing all the cool costumes!



The kidlets. :)

Blanket Girl

I never thought I would be a mom that had a child who was attached to something. Ben, other than his amazing attachment to my hair, doesn't really have that thing he loves. He enjoys his stuffed animals and plays with all of them, but life didn't fall apart if he didn't have it.

Then we had this little girl... and MAN does she LOOOVE her blanket. Thankfully, it is not one particular blanket, any of the little baby ones will do. One lives in the car and the other two in her crib. But if she is feeling tired, she will go and pull it out through the bars of her crib, it always helps her calm down and she loves to cuddle with it. We can't read or sing at night without it. It is an extension of her. So sweet. :) So long as it doesn't go to college with it (and I may change my mind on even this) I am okay with it. :)

Benjamin

A: Ben, what does your shirt say?
B: It says, if you go up high in a tree and stay there for a loooong time, that no one will EVER, EVER see you.



L: Ben, why is the baby giraffe in the middle?
B: Because they are all going to EAT him!!!



For the next 5 minutes the circle proceeded to close in on the poor baby giraffe... with Ben chanting the whole time... "eat him, eat him, bite him, bite him... yumm... yumm!"

It is never dull around here!

She Speaks...

Well, at least a little bit. :) It took three videos to get the majority of her words, so unless you are a grandparent or an uncle or aunt you don't have to watch them all.

A little bit of explanation: Her words are Mama, Daddy, Kitty, Uh-oh, Ow (which she says with great conviction), "lllllll" is her word for "ew." I guess I say it when something is gross... :-P. And she can sign More, which I thought was so cute when she first learned it that I laughed, and how she does too every time she does it. And the one I didn't get was "DEEEEEEE!!!!!" Which is Ben, this little girl LOVES her brother. :)

Video 1



Video 2



Video 3 - looking a lot less like Captain Crazy Hair (or as Ben has started calling her... Dragon Hair)

Naomi: 18 Months

Sweet. Spunky. Sassy. Determined. Independent. Cuddly. Kissable. Adventurous. Passionate. Crazy.

So many words to describe this little girl. She is a joy in our lives!

I can't believe she is already 1 1/2. The time goes too quickly. But she is getting more fun every day, and every day is keeping up with her brother just a little bit better. She is feisty but quick to forgive and give hugs. She is loud and loves to have fun. She doesn't say many words but know what she wants, and is surprisingly good at getting her point across. And she is blonde, but has her mama's whispy hair curse. :)

All Grown Up.
(She got up there herself.)

Corn Maze

Today we went with our little home school group to the Elida Home Corn Maze. The weather was B-E-A-UTIFUL and we had a wonderful time!

Although the corn maze was beyond what our kids could really handle (we found that out the hard way... and by hard I mean lugging a 30 lb little girl through a mile-long mud pit... okay, not quite that bad... but almost)... we still managed to have an awesome time. They had a bunch of other things to do, including a mini-maze, a "corn box," tractor rides and a huge slide. And now... the pictures! :)

My attempt at a self portrait on the tractor ride.



Ben on the Super Fast Slide. He did it about 25 times.



Corn Angel?

Bumpersticker of the Day

EAT THE RICH
THE OTHER WHITE MEAT

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MY OTHER CAR IS
DIMENSIONALLY TRANSCENDENTAL

The Boy

I Love Fall!

I LOVE Fall! I love the cool weather, the falling leaves, the colors! And I love everything it inspires! Hot tea and cocoa, soup, jeans, sweaters, jackets, pumpkins...

We have been out enjoying the beautiful weather the last couple of days, here are a few pictures!

Naomi swinging.



Collecting leaves, sticks, acorns and more. :)



Naomi with her loot.



Ben the odd ball.



Oh the colors. Ben pushed this stick the entire 1/4 mile home, trying to hit as many leaf piles as possible.



Walking around the Bass Pond at the Biltmore today.



I finally caught a smile!!!



King of the Stump!

Girls Weekend!

Last weekend I went to Atlanta along with 2000 other women for the Amazing Grace 360 Conference. It was a great time of friends, fellowship, worship and teaching and more. Indelible Grace lead worship, which was incredible.

Friends. The best part of the conference. :)



The roommates! Melanie, Ann & Jen. We had a great time together! Ann, Jen and I were able to go a day early... we went out for thai food, watched lame TV & drank red wine. Fun, fun!



The awesome showers in the locker room at the hotel. :)



Oh yes, and on the way home we stopped at this crazy place called Goats on the Roof (yes, there were actually live goats on the roof... and you could feed them if you wanted to.)



And, horrible as it is, this made us laugh really really hard. :)

Benjamin

while downtown last weekend we decided to go to the chocolate fetish for a sweet treat...

B: Mommy, I can't walk, I am tooooo tired!

L: You need to be able to walk if you want a chocolate.

B: Oh! ... long pause.... if I run can I have a really big one?

---

Ahh.... real life... yikes...

Andrew: Leah, do you know where that little thing went?

L: No, I don't.

A: Ben, do you know where it went?

B: Nope. Don't know, don't care.

Family, Family, Family!

As you saw in the last post, my family gathered out here in Asheville for a family reunion and to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday! We had a wonderful time! Here are a few pictures to prove it!

My dad's crazy cousin Mala flew in from Texas to surprise my grandmother!



And here we all are! My dad's cousin Mala and his other cousin Viji came, along with her son Vinnie (the super tall one) and his finance Hilary, and her daughter Gayathri. And then of course there are my parents and three of my brothers, and one wife... plus the 4 of us! All together we represented NC, TX, NY, UT & MD... not bad! We all gathered on Saturday night for dinner!



Horray for grandma's that bring cool new toys, and uncles to play with them!



Oh, how different life would be if we didn't have crazy uncles to strap weird things to our feet...



My parents rented a condo at Lake Lure, they had an awesome swimming pool, life-size chess, mini golf and more! So much fun!



Cornhole anyone?



Mini Golf?



Uncles Rock!



Naomi & Mala, they got along SOOO well. They bonded because they are both grumpy in the morning. :)



Naomi & her great grandmother Shanthi



Ben & Auntie Mers!



In the clothes that their grandmother brought them. I even got them not to smile like good little indians. :)



The kids and their great grandmother.



While here the siblings, minus nate :(, were able to escape and go out to lunch together. It was awesome, and it was so much fun to all be together! (And yes, my baby brother has facial hair... man I am getting old!)



The amazing sushi we had for lunch. :) The one in the middle was the best (and the most unique... lemon on top!)