Happy Birthday Piper-Girl!

Tuesday was Piper's 7th birthday! We are having a celebration at our house this weekend mostly for family, but I wanted her actual birthday to be special too! We took the day off from school work and started out to Toy R Us, where she picked out her birthday present.

Then we were off to Chuck E. Cheese for playtime and lunch. There was hardly anyone there, so it was super-nice!

Abe didn't like the rides that moved. It kinda surprised me because the older two always loved them!

Costume Contest

Piper has won the costume contest at the church "Fun Night" for the past 3 years. This year as she was getting on her ladybug attire (pictured below), she asked me if I thought she would win this year. I shrugged and said I didn't know (of course) because you never how extravagant the other kids' costumes will be.

Well, low and behold, she did win yet again! After the contest she came to show me what she had won and I kiddingly tapped her on the belly and said, "Girl, you're 4 and 0!" and she looked at me very sincerely and said, "Well, I knew I was cute." There was no sarcasm in her voice, she was plainly stating "the truth" as she saw it!

She obviously has no self-esteem issues!

I have thought about her statement so much since, and although what she said was very prideful, the world is going to try its best to drag down her self-esteem. We are constantly told we are not cute enough, tall enough, thin enough, whatever. I pray she can keep that positive outlook on herself, but she will have to learn to control the prideful statments!

Halloween Pics

Trick-or-treating at their first house (Piper and Cohen with Jorja-dressed as Coraline)! This was their first time really trick-or-treating and they lost steam pretty quickly. Cohen and I headed back to the house in about 20 minutes and the girls hung in there a little longer! Piper and Jorja sat on the front porch handing out candy to the other kids, they seemed to enjoy that a lot more!
Cohen, dressed as a cool knight, or (k)nightmare according to who you ask!

My adorable puppy dog! I think the costume called for black pants and top underneath, but I though he looked pretty cute with his roly, poly legs hanging out!

And last but not least, the sassiest ladybug around, Miss Piper!

Piper, Abe and Jorja hanging on the porch waiting for trick-or-treaters.

A Nightmare

I'm still not a huge fan of Halloween but my kids love the dressing up and candy gathering. We happened upon a costume sale and took advantage of the cheap prices. Piper is going to be a lady bug and Abe is going to be a puppy; they are both adorable in their costumes. However, Cohen chose a cheap-looking (all plastic) "knight" costume, solely because it had a sword. He has no idea what a knight is or what a knight does but the costume had a sword, and that immediately appealed to him. Well, on the way home after purchasing the costumes, Cohen asked me, "What am I going to be for Halloween?" And before I could even answer him, he answered himself saying, "Oh yeh, I'm being a (k)nightmare."

I laugh everytime I look at his awful, plastic (k)nightmare costume!

Cohen's Soccer Career

Cohen has chosen to play soccer this Fall, and being his first season and really his first experience with team play, Chad and I usually double over in laughter watching him! During practices he will be trying to wrestle the other players or start side games totally out of sync with the coach's plans. During the games he scores on his own team's goal and when playing goalie he will wrap his hands and head up in the goal's net so he cannot loose himself to guard the goal!

Last night was only their third game, so I know he will get the hang of it. We encourage him and tell him what a great job he is doing, if he will just try to score on the other team's goal next time!

Here they are before the game having their devotion and prayer. Cohen is the orange "8".

P90X

So, we are infomercial crazy around here and order those infomercial products more often than I should admit. One of my most valued purchases has been the P90X exercise program , which I am proud to say, "I finished" today! 90 days of butt-kicking exercise and I did it!!

Getting up every weekday morning at 5am has been no walk in the park, but I am loving the strength I have gained and the added energy (although I am ready to crash every night at about 9pm). I feel so accomplished to have started and finished the 90 day program, I think I am going to start another 90 days tomorrow!

Flying Kids

We spent Saturday and Sunday at my Papa's house celebrating birthdays and enjoying visiting with family who had traveled in for the funeral services. My cousin Jon sent these cool pics of the big kids "flying" with a gorgeous blue sky in the background!