Halloween Fun!

I always liked Halloween, but now that I have a little one to share it with, I LOVE it! We have been having so much fun the past few weeks with all sorts of Halloween fun.

First we went to the zoo for Ghouls at Grassmere--tons of fun. Campbell didn't dress up for that, but he had a blast. At one point he was riding in his stroller and singing at the top of his lungs with his arms outstretched. I took that to mean he was pretty happy. Here are a few pictures of that night.

This last picture is Campbell in the bouncy castle, which he actually liked! I'm telling you, he's getting so brave.
Then Sunday night we had our Trunk or Treat at church. Campbell was so excited when he got there that all my pictures I took in the first few minutes we blurry because he wouldn't stop moving. He ran all around there, got more candy, and showed everyone who the cutest lion in all the world is. He even kept his hood on all night long. But around 7:30 he crashed and headed home early with Daddy so Mommy could stay with our youth kids. Here are just a few pictures of that.

Thanks to Tara for that picture which I swiped off her blog!

Then last night we carved our pumpkins with David, Sara, and Taylor. The kids were not too interested in the actual carving, but Campbell did find out that he didn't care for raw pumpkin. The finished products aren't award-winning, but we had fun.

And this morning, we had our play group Halloween party. Man, you'd think that would be the end of it, but nope we've got more fun tonight with Jamie, Russ, Clark, my parents, and David's parents all coming over for dinner and Trick or Treating. Hope you all are having as much fun as we are. I think we'll need a pretty good nap tomorrow!

thank you

I am overwhelmed and humbled by the support and love that I have been shown over the last week. Today I sat and opened no less than 10 cards from people in sympathy for the loss of my grandmother. I just sat and cried as I opened card after card and read the kind words of people who I know that when they say they have been praying for me, they mean it. I've also recieved countless e-mails, phone calls, sweet comments on this blog, and people coming up to me to say they are sorry for my loss and giving me a hug. And even some who drove all the way to Lewisburg to the visitation. Please be assured that I treasure each sentiment, and I feel so very blessed to be surrounded, on so many sides, with godly people who show God's love for me in such tangible ways. My cup truly runs over with blessings from you all, and for that I will always be grateful. I love you all more than you know, and your support has been such a comfort to me during this time. Thank you.

a sad day

Today I lost my grandmother, one of my most favorite people in the world. Her health had been declining for a while now, and her battle ended this morning. She was my mom's mother, Martha Earps. She was the most beautiful and graceful woman I've ever known. She had a charm and a vivacity to her that was unmatched. Everyone who met her just loved her. She could make anyone smile. And boy, she knew how to get any man to do pretty much whatever she needed done. She loved her family and the Lord, and she was a fighter to the end. Though her body was always weak, her heart was stronger than anyone could imagine. She told the greatest stories, usually over and over again. I wish that I'd written them all down. She always told me to follow my heart, and I've tried to follow her advice. I will miss her very much, and I ask for your prayers for me and my family as we grieve for this wonderful lady. I told the Lord this morning that this was His lucky day, for He got to walk with my grandmother today.

Movin' On Up

No, not to the east side, but there has been a lot of pie lately! Man, I crack myself up sometimes. What I mean is movin' on up the scale. And of course, I am referring to me and my ever-growing belly. I have been a little down lately because people keep looking at me and asking when I'm due, and when I tell them 12 more weeks, they look down at my belly in almost disgust and say, "Wow, you still have that long to go!!!" What are these people thinking? The ONLY appropriate thing to say about a pregnant woman's appearance is "You look GREAT!" or any variation there of. I didn't think my belly was freakishly large until all these people keep saying things to me. But at my doctor's appointment last week I was only measuring 1 centimeter big, so those people can just...well, never mind, this is a family show.

Another sign of my swelling belly is that I can no longer wear most of my T-shirts. There is still one I can wear which is one of my all time favorite shirts--no, not my Alcatraz swim team shirt as many of you are thinking, it's that Pi Delta shirt from Luau 2000--it's gray, and I think Kate drew the picture on the back. But I can't sleep in that shirt every night, so I have been reduced to raiding my husband's T-shirt drawer. But don't worry, David has a plethera of UK shirts for me to choose from. Well, the other night, after putting on one, Campbell said to me, "Daddy's shirt!" To which I replied, "Yes, Mommy has to wear Daddy's shirts now." And he said, "I wanna wear Daddy's shirt." And who could resisit? So we grabbed him one of David's shirts and put it on. It was about the cutest thing I've ever seen, and so I had to snap some pictures of my sweet boys.
If you're wondering what kind of face Campbell is making, he's saying "Cheese!"

Finally Updating

It seems that no matter what I do, I can never keep up with my blog like I used to. When poor Andrew gets here, he'll probably never get any blog time. But here I am to update at last. I'll start with a preschool update. Campbell is doing GREAT now. He goes in with basically no tears, and he gets a good report almost every day. He knows the names of all his friends, and comes home talking about the fun things he did that day. The credit has to go to his sweet teachers, Miss Joanna and Miss Janda. They are just wonderful, and they work really hard to keep all the little guys happy. So, glad to report that things are much much better on that front.

As for a pregnancy update, we are 27 weeks now, and all is going well. Just went to the doctor again yesterday and besides being tired and my back hurting from time to time, I have no complaints.

And now for the fun stuff--things we've been doing. Last weekend we went to Gentry's Farm. It's a family-operated farm not far from our house that has games and hayrides and fun things for kids to do. You can even pick your own pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch. We went with some of the people from our small group at church, and aside from the unseasonably HOT weather that day, we had a great time. Here are some pictures from the day.

I promise to post more again soon. I took some really cute pictures of Campbell and David the other night that I'm dying to post, but if I start posting out of order, I'll never catch up. Have a good weekend and enjoy this wonderful weather.