Fall Festival at Grammy and Grampsy's Church

 I made Brenna her own little princess dress for Halloween.  She did not want to take it off!

 Sarah is Christian punk rock singer, Ashton is a dragon and Brenna a princess fairy.  In fact, Ashton cracked us up as we were going to the church.  Have you ever seen Super Why?  It's  kids show and one of the characters is a princess fairy that uses her wand to spell words.  Brenna dropped her wand and Ashton rushed it to her and said, "Brenna, you need your wand so you can spell princess!" 

 I can't get enough of these guys!

There was a little face painting...

 And Grampsy holding Ian (who was a conductor).

 Ashton almost stumped the face painter!  He wanted to look like a dragon.

 Brenna thinks makeup is a necessity, not a nice to have.

 Scary dragon...

 And a butterfly princess.  (I would have a picture of Sarah, but she had disappeared.)

 This is my favorite picture of he night. 

I would have had a nice one of Ashton, but his face was stuck to the cotton candy.

Thanks for inviting us Grammy and Grampsy!  We had a great time!

Apple Picking for the First Time

Believe it or not, I've never been apple picking.  Or if I have, I don't remember it! Our friend Judi and her daughter Hanna joined us for the adventure.  And she introduced us to apple cider doughnuts and Apple Cider slushies! If I had known how good they were, I would not have brought a lunch!  I lost my smaller camera and can only post some of our pictures from the day. 

 Sky Top 2011 or "Apple Mountain" (as Ashton calls it)

 Heading out to pick some apples.

 Sarah helping Brenna pick.

 Hard at work.

 Ashton couldn't go on without a bite of apple!

Brenna needed a snack as well.

And Sarah joined in as well!

I love this shot! 

 And here is our friend Hannah. 

The girls started getting a little scary looking...

So we took a break.

 

And this picture sums up Brenna perfectly!  She even eats apples with an attitude!

And we did manage to bring a half a bushel of apples home.  After the apple donuts and apple cider slushies entered the picture, the kids took a break on the apples!  From that bushel, I made some apple butter, apple pancakes, apple fritters, apple sauce and an apple pie!  We'll be heading up to pick Granny Smith Apples soon!

Stephen's Test of Faith

For Christmas, I ordered NetFlix for the Wii.  The family has really enjoyed the service so far.  Tonight I found Stephen's Test of Faith and decided to let the kids watch it. It's a 30 minute movie about a 12 year old boy who is challenged by bullies after sharing his grandfather's bible in class.  His father explains where his name comes from and then it moves into a dream like state where he sees how Christians were persecuted through the ages and still stood up for Christ.

This movie certainly appeals to a younger audience. I would suggest younger teens and under.  My 10 year old and 3 year old both could not turn their heads from the show.  It's short and makes an impact. In addition to that, it is a good visual for kids who are facing the same thing on a daily basis.  Following Christ is not always an easy thing.

My Giant Busy Box

Amazon had a lot of great sales before Christmas. While hunting down the best prices for gifts, I came across Alex Toys - My Giant Busy Box.  I had never heard of Alex toys before, but it got rave reviews and I wanted something to do easy crafts with the kids.  To top it off, it was half price. 

The Giant Busy box came in with the other gifts and I have been very impressed.  It includes everything to complete the included projects. I would only suggest some better glue.  The glue stick does not provide a strong enough bond for some of the projects.  Regardless of that minute detail, we've thoroughly enjoyed the projects completed.  If we allowed him, Ashton would do all the projects in one day!

Alex Toys has many other project boxes for kids of all ages. If you have a hard time or little time to pull crafts together for your kids, I strongly recommend these products!  It's also a great thing to have around when your child is recovering from an illness. The crafts take only a short time to put together which works great for kids with limited energy.