Yearn for Surrender: Food, Faces, Friends, Folding, Fanciness, and more Fall Fun (HUGE photo post)

If I wasn't 4 months behind on blogging this post would be 3 posts at least. I know it is a lot of photos from many many different things. They each tell a story. Catching up on the blog continues to be very therapeutic for me. It is gift to see the photos of joy filled moments. My heart smiles when I see my children's joy! I hope your heart smiles as you see their joy as well.

T really wanted to eat her special treat from Jelly Belly Factory. I told her to save it for her Christmas stocking, but she insisted that she would much rather get these pictures in her stocking then the actual candy. We compromised and she ate them. The funny follow up to the story is that neither of the kids got the candy in their stockings. I sort of forgot about it and they didn't ask. I guess M will just have a treat at some point. I can use them to help him stay awake on the way home from therapy!

T: So excited to try all the flavors!

T: I love the cherry ones.

T loves to crack eggs. She really enjoys egg casserole and cracks all 12 eggs and beats them for many minutes while I brown the hamburger and shred the sweet potato. We make a good cooking team.

T: It takes a lot of concentration.

The stirring is a big job too.

T picked out some very special fancy looking treats from Trader Joe's. Neither of the kids really liked them, but they did look quite fancy.

T: Did my lips turn red?

Just a typical look for school. Does she remind anyone (who grew up in the 80's) of Punky Brewster?

T: I love to be fancy for school!

The kids have special vase that we fill with cotton balls when they make great choices. Once the vase is full they get a special treat. This time they chose to go to Culver's for a lemon ice treat. Daddy loves Culvers so he was thankful for this tasty choice.

M: This was our first time getting something at Culvers. T: I can't wait to try it.

M and T: It was really cold and took a long time to eat.

Monday is laundry day. I try to get everything folded and put away before the kids get home, but sometimes I am behind schedule and they help me. They have come a long way from their first folding attempts! They also have a ways to go, but I love their willingness to help and their effort.

Great job guys!

One night T really wanted her hair curled. She found an old curling iron and it still worked. She sat very still and allowed to to curl it quite a bit. It was such a special time.

T: I loved it when mommy curled my hair.

T: It looked so beautiful. I wanted to put these clips in to make it extra fancy.

We often have "One time things" at our house. They are exceptions to the rule. They are special. We don't want to have a coffee table full of scratches, but we were so thankful for our kids shared moment of joy that we told them it was a one time thing. T is in a "boat" that M is pushing. They had great fun and M got in some great heavy work. They switched positions, but it was more challenging for T.

M: This is a big job. T: This is so much fun!

The kids love getting CD's with books from the library. T got some for Christmas as well. It is a calming thing for them to listen to books and sometimes they will listen long enough for me to go to the bathroom without hearing chaos on the other side of the door. T has a style all her own. I believe she was dressed up fancy for iGnite.

T: Do you think it could really rain food from the sky?

T: Ready for iGnite. Do you like my style?

A perk of small town living is a grocery store that gives away tokens to kids. They get to choose a small little prize that usually breaks on the way home, but is special anyway.

M: I always take my time choosing which prize I am trying to get.

We are so blessed to get hand me down clothes from friends. M was THRILLED to find some real padded biker shorts in a bag. He put them right on and was ready to ride.

M: Now I look just like daddy.

M and T: We loved biking to the park with S and T!

T: Sometimes I get to ride on Daddy's bike for a little extra adventure.

M and T: We both love watercolor painting.

The kid really enjoy helping fill shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. It is hard for T to not want every toy for her own, but she improved a lot in her understanding of the process this year. We had great big kid helpers who walked the kids through the process.

T: C was my big buddy helper. He made sure that I only took toys for the box.

T: It was really fun to get everything to fit!

Swinging is so relaxing for my kids. It was fun to look out the window while washing dishes and see them all swinging together!

I sure do love this crew.

T: It is pretty tricky. M: We do need to focus!

M and T: Do we look like a spider... or a butterfly?

This kids got on a cousin Ben CD kick for a while!

T: I picked out a fancy outfit for school.

On Tuesdays the kids love to go over the nursery and play with their buddies L, J, and A. We sure so blessed by our special friends.

T: Now that J is bigger we are good buddies.

This fall T brought home a one day pass to Costco. She and I went and spent way too much money way too quickly. I am thankful it was just a one day pass. I have found few things there that I will try to get again, but over all, Aldi is more my style. Anyway, while we were there T spotted some adult cami shirts that she really wanted. I agreed and she wore them like dresses. She loved to wear them every chance she could get. The hair tie in the back kept it in place... most of the time.

T: Hello world, you are upside down. M: I love making silly faces.

T: I LOVE my Cami!

T: More playtime with my buddy J!

T: I made this rainbow tail girl.

T goes over to our friend's house once a week. Overall the girls play very very well together.

T: We had a pretend picnic in S's new playhouse.

One night when M and I had a late Dr. appointment, Brandon and T went on a dinner date. They went to Arby's and had a great time. T was very proud to be on a Daddy/Daughter date!

T: We got a lot of food.

T: It took me a lot of days to eat all this food.

One day T and I went on a shopping spree. She had money from her great aunt and she knew what she wanted. She was so proud to get LOTS of "pol-nailish" and other lipgloss and still come home with change. We needed to paint her nails right away. We were not impressed with the little jewel ball things. They made quite a mess but didn't want to stick to the nail polish.

T: I had a shopping spree!

One week before playgroup we moved T's food sets into the work room. She doesn't like the little kids to put things in their mouths so we slid it out of the way. Then she discovered that she could make her own restaurant in the basement and she had a ball being the customer and waitress. Several months later she continues to be obsessed with playing store, every kind of store!

T: Welcome to my restaurant.

T: I got this awesome bedding from my great buddy E. I love it!

Sometimes moms get hungry at night. I am thankful that my son is old enough to remind me not to clean any bowls in the fridge.

M: "Don't eat my ice cream."

T: These hair clips make great earrings.

We talked with kids about Veteran's Day. They were both very curious about Grandpa Daryl's time in the Army. T was scared about it. M was thankful. He decided to write Grandma a note and have Brandon take a photo to text to Grandpa. Each kids called Grandpa to thank him for serving our country.

M: "O grampa I love you You were a vetrin hoo sirvd in the army."

While, I style T's hair from time to time, she certainly has her own fashion style and she isn't afraid to show it.

T: This is what my hair looked like from the front.

T: A view from the side.

T: I put on a bit of lipstick before my trip to the library.

T: I really dressed for the iGnite theme! I was a cowgirl!

I am not sure why this photo won't rotate, but it is worth sharing even if it is strange. Seeing M read to T is one of my favorite things in the world!