Giving Back

We are enormously blessed, and I think it's easy to sometimes forget just how blessed we are.  We've been looking for opportunities to give back as a family, so that as our cups runneth over, we can spill some of that goodness into the lives of others.

Two of our favorite ways to give back:

Our annual bell ringing for the Salvation Army...

 Complete with Christmas songs on fiddle, Gryffy's breakdancing, and Meaghan's singing.

 ... And violin/piano concerts on Friday nights at Rose Estates.

 Belle and Bow have got quite the following.  Barb is usually the first to arrive and Judy claps wildly along.  Everytime we go there, my heart just bursts with all the joy the kids bring to the residents.

 Gryffy's our emcee, and those kids sure share the spotlight.

I'm so grateful for these sweet kids and their great big hearts.

Bike riding & Scary story

Big News:  Gryffy can ride a bike!  He could pretty much stay up on his bike for several seconds all summer, but yesterday, he got to where he was really riding around.  So excited for you, Buddy!  Not even four-and-a-half and you're riding around the cul de sac!

And here's a story Gryffy told me this morning:

Once upon a time, there was a vampire coming in through the window, and a screamy, slimy monster with scary hands coming through the wall. I could see its face in the mirror.  Then, I took out the candle and whooshed them all away.  The end.

Thanksgiving Article

I might just love Thanksgiving as much as Christmas.  Well, almost anyway.  I think gratitude is perhaps the most important spiritual practice, for one.  And it's also a holiday with deep roots in my family: our great grandparents (x16 generations), William and Mary Brewster, crossed the seas on the Mayflower and offered up the first Thanksgiving prayer.

So when I got assigned to write this article for KC Parent this November, I had gobs of fun.  And just look at those darling pilgrims (Gryffy wouldn't cooperate, but Lorelei and her friends look darling in those hats we fished out of our Thanksgiving bin--they were great sports).

Trick-or-Treat

It's that spooky time of year again. 

Time for snuggling up to scary stories like "The Hook" and "The Sweater" and "Where is My Toe?"...

"Stinky Ghost" stories by Daddy, installment #18 being the most current...

Hayrides and hay fever, pumpkins and these little punk'ins...

Gryffy picked out Scooby-Doo last year after Halloween.  Bless his heart, he stuck with it and never changed his mind.  Lorelei found a cat costume she adored and talked Grammy into buying it.  On her next trip to Party City, however, she found a pair of "peahawk" wings and a mask and decided upon that instead.  Her peahawk costume was all she could talk about for a whole month.

I made her a peahawk tutu to match and surprised her with it.  She loved it.

 The neighborhood goes all out for the holidays.  The kids trick-or-treat along our trail.

 Vampire teeth.

 The girls: Sarah, Anna, Lorelei.

 Natalie, Dylan, Gryffy.

 The costume contest commences, with a $10 Target gift card on the line...

 Lorelei wins! 

(Fortunately for Gryffy, he won the costume competition at Tae Kwon Do, and took home a sports flag for howling a most adorable "Scooby-Dooby-DOOOooooo!")

 Ghost pancakes.  Pumpkin flavor.

 The kids designing their pumpkins.

 Our favorite tradition is the planting of magic pumpkin seeds.  In the middle of the night, they sprout!

Baby pumpkins!

 The kids' pumpkins.

 School parties were great this year, just across the hall.

 Mrs. Brahl's first grade class.

 Gryffy with sunny Miss Lisa.

 Miss Nicole was a great sport.

 So was Miss Laurie.

Best buds Zeke, Gryffy and Ben.

 Our pumpkin family.

 We joined this little gang here for trick-or-treating.

It was the year of FrankenStorm in the northeast, but the weather here was beautiful Halloween night. Trick-or-Treat!  Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch x 3

My little punkins are loving the fall pumpkin patches.

 Our first trip was to Kansas City Pumpkin Patch in Gardner with Lulu's class.  Gryffy and Mommy tagged along.

 Duck races!

 Gryffy always makes mouth movements when he does things.  It's pretty adorable.

 Cole, Lulu, Spencer and Gryffy with L's first grade teacher, Mrs. Brahl.

 L & Bree.

 Love the action hero poses.

 At some point, you just give up on normal photos.

 G was right at home.

 I have Gryffy in the mornings now that he has afternoon preschool, and I have to say that I love this special time!  One one gorgeous day, we went to Deanna Rose before school.

 Maybe because it's right by our house, or because we have so many memories here, but I just adore Deanna Rose.  And look at the creativity!  Deanna Rose knows how to do fall.

 Gryffy loved the hay bales as we waited for the hayride back.  Mommy didn't.  My allergies went hay-wire!

Gryffy's class took a field trip to Johnson Farms in Martin City, MO.  We went to this one last year as a family, and it's even better this year.  Aren't those kids darling?!

 This was my favorite new feature, a ginormous play area for the kids.

 And the old maze isn't too shabby either.

Halloween's on its way!