Pumpkin Spice

Happy Halloween! Yes, as you're reading this, I'm sure you're thinking, wasn't it just Thanksgiving? True, but this is a busy season. Soon you'll see a post for Kayla's birthday, and then hopefully I can get to the current holidays.

Look at those cute tails!

 The girls are always cute, but especially so in their costumes. Out of all the costumes she could choose from (see last year's post where she tried them all on), Kayla immediately chose the elephant. I couldn't complain because Maren was destined to be a zebra, so this meant we had our own little African safari!  --  And here, we see the smaller zebra prowling the larger elephant as she goes after her food.

Our good friends Joe and Beth were kind enough to host us again to their home and neighborhood for the trick-or-treating festivities, and boy was I glad when the day was finally here. Kayla had been talking about Halloween the minute we started the month of October. After 5 days of her asking about Halloween, I sat her down and counted from Oct. 5 to Oct. 31. Kayla's response, "it's a lot of days until Halloween!" Amen.

As we started out, we came upon a parent who donned a Pooh Bear costume. It became clear to them, however, that this idea may backfire. His wife was beginning to think that maybe they would have to lose the costume, or they were never going to get through the neighborhood. Every kid was running up to him wanting hugs and pictures. So we got one too! It was almost like Disney World...

It was a fun night for all, and not too cold.  Maren enjoyed just chilling in the stroller. Fine by me too!

Here's a funny side story.  I should have rememered from the tiger costume last year, but not surprisingly, I didn't.  The tights that come with the costume have virtually no elasticity left in them.  I'm not sure if they were always this way, or if my nephew's booties already stretched them out!  =)  Anyway, Kayla found herself hanging out quite often during the night.  Here's early proof!

I also can't forget to mention that when Kayla tried on our Pooh Bear costume again this year, Maren was so excited.  She was running around the house chasing her trying to get a hold of Pooh.  She was a big fan!

Cream and Crimson

You may question the timing of my blog entry, considering Midnight Madness was only last week and the boys are still playing football. However, being a Hoosier is cool in any season, and well...let's face it. This shirt isn't going to fit Maren much longer.

You may recall an earlier blog (Indianniversary) of the girls in their IU shirts. I consider today's blog, the IU shirts take 2. Of course Aaron so kindly reminded me that, "they're not twins". Thanks for clearing that up, dear. I was pretty confused, however, I do distinctly remember two separate pregnancies. Ugh, there's that sarcasm I mentioned in my last entry...so hard to suppress! But back to the point; there's just something about dressing them alike.

So I shipped them off to school as the IU duo, and their school director had the nerve to tell Kayla to say, "Go Purdue". When she told me this upon picking her up that night, I promptly reminded her those words should never be spoken, and she loudly exclaimed, "that's right...I U!!!"

All of these pictures were taken frantically as we were trying to get out the door for school one morning. So I couldn't believe how well the one above turned out. But I thought you'd enjoy some of the less successful photos too.


Despite the looks of this one, Kayla had not just knocked her down.


Channeling Aunt Kelly, much??

What's your story?

So I've always been somewhat quick to mention shortcomings and faults; I think because I have a sarcastic nature (though Aaron will tell you that it doesn't always come out as sarcasm). But today I want to highlight the positive and something that I find to be amazing about Aaron. He is a great evangelist. He does it in disguise at times, and then other times you see his boldness. I often forget about this quality when we're going about our daily lives.

Our church has recently been doing a sermon series called, "What's Your Story?" Each week, Pastor Chris has highlighted a person/family within the congregation and ties it into a passage from the Bible. We knew this weekend would be all about Brad, a young guy who Aaron met in the basketball league.

Aaron mentioned that he'd been interviewed for Brad's video, but didn't think he'd be more than a few seconds in the story. Well, much to my surprise, Aaron was VERY instrumental in Brad's story. Brad really credits Aaron for helping lead him to Christ. I hope you'll take a minute to view the video at the website below. The video is titled "Brad & Aaron". If you have time, view some of the other stories as well; it is extremely powerful.

What's Your Story videos

Watching this reminded me just how blessed I am, and how blessed my girls are to have such a wonderful father. I hope you will all honor the men that lead your households. I know they all do so many wonderful things for your life and for the Kingdom!