Aaaaaannndddd...he's sitting up!

Halloween

We had a wonderful time this Halloween!  Luke was a clown and Zachary was a pumpkin.  We went to a couple houses on our street.  Oma (Darren's mother) came over for a few minutes to see the costumes and drop off a couple goodies.  Oma made the clown outfit that Luke is wearing.  She made it for Darren (my husband) when he was little!

Then we got in the car and went to Papa and Granny's house (Darren's Dad and Step-Mom) then we got back in the car and went to my parents house.  It was fun.  We got home waaaayyy too late and ate waaaayyyy too much candy.  Just as it should be!

Luke and Zachary

Luke's full clown garb

Luke's clown make-up

Oma and Luke

Luke and Granny's dog, Pebbles

Luke and Granny

Me, sneaking a piece of candy at my Mom's house.  Ok, ok...it was two pieces! 

Mom and Zachary

...and the sugar high begins...

Fall Fun Craft!

My friend's blog, "...from under His feathers..." had this tutorial and I LOVED the idea so I decided I would let Luke do it!  The original post is here. You should stop by and check out her blog.

I had slightly different resources at my disposal so I will make my own tutorial below.  You can choose which tutorial you would like to use based on the supplies you have on hand.  We had so much fun making these and I hope you do too!  Thank you Brooke for this wonderful idea!  This cost me nothing but time as I had all these supplies on hand.

First you start with the basics.  I had some pint and half pint canning jars.  You can use any glass jars you have on hand:

I had Blue, Red, Yellow and Green paint:

I wanted to make an orange.  I know that yellow and red make orange.  Armed with that knowledge, I set about mixing the two for my desired pumpkin orange tint:

Then we wanted to see what color we could make if we combined ALL the colors together.  This is what we got.  It's a dark purple:

I had some random tea lights on hand:

I had just the basic thin masking tape and some kitchen scissors:

I cut out some faces with the masking tape and put them on the jars.  Brooke says to be sure to rub the masking tape on really well so the paint wont seep under the tape (my masking tape is the cheapest stuff you can buy from the dollar store so paint seeped under ours as you will see in later pictures):

I had Luke paint the jars (over the masking tape faces):

We waited for them to dry and then removed the masking tape.  Voila!!!:

So very cheap, easy and fun!!

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He's growing up...

I was using the restroom this morning and I heard the water hose being used in the backyard.  I knew Luke was in the backyard and I just assumed he was watering the garden.  He likes to do that.  Then...I heard the chicks start sqwaking.  UGH!

I opened the bathroom window just in time to see Luke spraying the chicks with the water hose!  I couldn't believe what I was seeing?  What was he THINKING?!?!  In true horrible Mom fashion I yell at him at the top of my lungs, "Luke, STOP!".  Thankfully, he complied immediately.

I went out back and grabbed the hose from him and squirted HIM with the hose to demonstrate how NOT nice it is to squirt someone/some animal with the hose.  Especially on a rather cool day.  As his punishment, Darre said that he needed to clean out the chicken coop as he had made all the bedding damp.

Below are pictures of Luke cleaning out the coop.  As you can see, our punishment plan backfired.  He is having a BLAST!  That bedding is HEAVY as it is all soaked with water and tamped down.  But he was a trooper and cleaned it all up!  I have a short video clip below too.  I didn't think he could/would clean the whole thing.  But he bucked up and did it all by himself.  When he was done he asked, "Can I do that again?".  A little hard work is good for the soul!

The Judge

I am a judgmental person by nature.  I can have formed an opinion of someone in less time than it takes to shake their hand and say, "Hello.".  I am not bragging here...I am merely confessing.  I truly BELIEVE one should not judge another.  So why do I continue to do it?  It's like a knee-jerk reaction for me. 

We are told not to do so in the Bible.  Luke 6:37 says, "“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;".  Not to mention that I have learned from personal experience...it's a really bad idea.

No one wants to be judged themselves, so why do we judge others?  Perhaps we feel insecure?  Perhaps it's a learned trait?  Rationalization for our own errors?  Whatever the cause...it is a struggle I have and work on daily.  My tongue has been tempered with time and I have learned to keep my mouth shut (most of the time).  But it typically doesn't stop me from thinking it.  I am ashamed to admit it, but it's true.

What do we judge people about?  Oh, just about anything under the sun I suppose:  How they spend their time, how they spend their money, how they raise their children, how the keep their house, what they eat, what they don't eat,  what they drink, religion, politics...I could go on and on.  Why is it we inherently think our way is the best way for all people?  Don't we routinely change our own ways?  How does the saying go?  "When you know better, you do better?"  Something like that.  So what we are doing now, that we think is so grand, could possibly change anyway the more we learn.  Why do we think people need to be just like we are right now?

So how do we stop judging others?  Well, I don't know that I can answer that question as I have already admitted, I struggle with this a great deal.  What I CAN say, is that while we may still think the judgment, perhaps not acting on that judgment will be a step in the right direction?  I may think a person is irresponsible in some matter, but I can keep my mouth shut unless it directly affects me or my family.  I can not butt in unless I am asked my opinion on the matter.  I can chose to not shun them.  I can just love them anyway knowing there are things in this life I am working on too, and I hope people will show me the same grace in turn.

We are not called to be a people who judge.  We are not called to right everyone else's perceived wrongs.  We are called to be a loving people who show the compassion of Christ through our words and deeds.  I suppose if I busy myself doing what I am called to do, I will not have time to get myself wrapped up in what I should not be doing.

The case of the perpetually missing spoons...

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When you open your silverware (or flatware as some refer to it) drawer, do you most often have an equal number of forks, knives and spoons waiting to be utilized??  Yes?  No?  Well, the answer for me would have to be no.  More often than not, the spoons have gone missing.

Not just the little teaspoons; but the soup spoons, the serving spoons and the plastic spoons I keep for just such an occasion when all the other spoons are missing.  How in the world do we go through so many spoons?  When I am loading the dishwasher (for the 5th time in a day) my spoons are already usually in their caddy.  If I have made soup for dinner, inevitably I will have to wash some spoons so we can partake of the soup I made.

It's true, I need to purchase more flatware/silverware.  With our expanding family, we will need more utensils.  I am a stay-at-home Mom, so we probably go through more utensils than those who have nobody at home most of the day.  I also cook most of our meals, perhaps that has something to do with it?  I don't know.  What I do know is, unless I have just emptied the dishwasher in the the last hour...chances are, when I reach for a spoon, one will not be clean or available for immediate use.  More than likely I will have to grab one out of the sink or the dishwasher and wash it by hand.

Does anyone else have this problem???