Football & Pumpkin Muffins

The Good's and I decided to take the children to Athens for a football game.  Figured it was 3 parents on 5 children, surely we could do this.  We went down Friday night and ate dinner at the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Athens.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown so we just walked around everywhere and enjoyed a crisp fall night in God's Country.

Saturday, we were up early for the game and headed over to the Tailgate Station where we have a parking spot.  It's a great place for children (and adults) because it's fenced around, indoor bathrooms, TVs, and usually a band is there to keep our feet moving.  These pictures say a thousand words - if there was a powder-puff UGA team, Bonner would be trying out for captain-ess ... Ian has his backpack on with his Toy Story friends in it and is more interested in talking to himself than catching the football!  Ha!

Somebody was talking the other day about a 3-ingredient recipe for Pumpkin muffins... well, Bonner overheard it and was bound-and-determined for us to try it.  And, I mean, it's hard to say "No" when there are only 3 ingredients.  So I made a batch and the children loved them - have been requesting them every day since.  You mix 1 box of yellow cake mix, 1 can of pumpkin, and some Pumpkin Spice together.  Fill your muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.  The pumpkin moistens the cake mix and I am clearly considering these a helping of fruit at this point (or are pumpkins actually vegetables since they have seeds)?  Either way, it's not much better than good old-fashioned cupcakes, but it's a little bit healthier!  I'm pretty sure that I have figured out why the children love them so much ... and I don't think it has anything to do with the end result!

Disney on Ice

Disney on Ice came to the Bi-lo Center so me, my mom, and the children set out to enjoy some entertainment.  It was really good - the kids loved it and the skating and theatrics was fantastic, as usual!

 We're here...

The first act was all about ~

 Mickey & Minnie;

 Goofy (mommy's favorite);

 Cars characters like Mater; and,

Tinkerbell's Fairy friends (so cool to see her flying around the ice rink)!

The second act had Ian's full attention ... TOY STORY!

 The Army Men called us to attention -

 Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head was on the ice -

 along with our favorite dinosaur, Rex - 

 and, of course, Woody, Bullseye & Jessie!

Even Barbie & Ken got in on the skating action.

Their skit, by the way, was hysterical!

We had a great time - so glad we went and that we bought this picture because I did not get any good ones of the two children with my camera!  Cheese!

Thanksgiving Feasts at School

Each class had their own Thanksgiving feasts and put on little programs.

Ian was an Indian...

 Ian with his helper teacher, Ms. Nordeen

Ian was at the head of the table ...

"That's me, chief indian!"

Bonner was a pilgrim ...

 Bonner with her precious teacher, Mrs. Zivitski

And here are my most favorite Indian and Pilgrim ever!

Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site

Southside put together a fun night for the children centered around the book Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site.  They built stuff all week and the author came in on Friday to read the book to the children in Early Education.  My children loved it.  So, Friday night, they had a dinner at the school and had all kinds of activities set up for the children.  We started in the cafeteria with a yummy dinner and a visit by the author.

 No idea what Ian is doing in the background ... but each table had "building blocks' for decorations so the building began right when we sat down!

 Bonner finally warmed up to her construction hat ... okay, so maybe "warmed up" are strong words.  Let's just say that she wore it for a matter of seconds and it was way too much to ask her to smile for the picture!

We then moved into the library in groups and were able to build stuff with Legos.

Our group ended on the playground digging for shiny treasure in the sandbox.

Halloween

So for Halloween, Bonner settled on being Ariel from the Little Mermaid and Ian decided on Jake from Disney Jr's Jake & the Neverland Pirates.  They were so excited to go out trick-or-treating that we were outside and ready to go about 5 p.m.  Of course, no one else was even home from work yet, but it gave us plenty of time to snap pictures of the mermaid and her pirate.

 They started off so sweet and innocent ...

 And then someone remembered that he had a sword...

And wanted to see how close to his sister's head could swing it without her losing her smile!

 That has got to be the world's smallest Trick-or-Treating bucket in the world ... Pretty sure she had other options, but she has great self-control!

Ian ended up playing in the tree with the sword because "pirates can go on land, too!"

 We ended up trick-or-treating with our sweet new neighbor, Lexi - such a cute kitty cat!

And this was the girls at the end of the night - jacked up on sugar wearing their princess gowns!  As the children said, "This is the best Halloween ever!"  I'm pretty sure it's the only one they remember, but I'll take it!

October Fun

We have been taking an "acting class" at the South Carolina Children's Theatre and this week we got to wear our Halloween Costumes to "act out" our costume.  The teacher, Miss Tracy, interviewed each child to see what they had to say about their character/costume.  Bonner decided to be Little Mermaid and Ian was Woody, of course.  Here are some cute pictures of them during their class time.

Grandbuddy's work had their annual Halloween fun so the children got all dressed up in costumes to go see Grandbuddy's office.  To celebrate with Grandbuddy, Bonner decided to be Minnie Mouse and Ian picked Jake from Disney Jr's show, Jake & the Neverland Pirates.

We also went to our first high school football game at Southside Christian.  The pastor of Gigi & Grandbuddy's church has a son that plays for SCS so we all decided to go and pull for him.  Ian was really into it and enjoyed watching the players so close.

Mission Trip - Eleuthera, Bahamas

The mission trip was terrific.  We got to meet some really need people, help a struggling community, and enjoy a church service like no other!  Here are some pictures from the adventure!

We held a camp one day at the place where we were staying.  So many of the island children came to the camp and we played games, did crafts, and fed them lunch.  The island is truly Caribbean - beautiful waters, rocky banks in many places, people run on "island" time and lots of desolation.  There is a huge Haitian population on the island that has migrated in and they are struggling to acclimate.  We went into their shanty community one day and played soccer with them.  The kids loved it and the adults were very gracious.

All and all, it was a great trip with some great people!  However, I am reminded that while God calls us to "preach the gospel" to everyone we meet, there are plenty of people right in my own backyard that are longing to hear the true word.  I'm on the lookout for my next mission trip - whether it be locally or abroad!