Last night we attended Reformation Celebration at church. Instead of a trunk-or-treat or other kind of party, our church celebrates the date on which Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Catholic church door on October 31, 1517. Each year the pastors choose a reformer to teach about for the night...this year it was Hugh Latimer. But the kids also dress up for fun, and there were lots of games, a chili cook-off, snow cones, cotton candy, and popcorn! It was a very elaborate night. We really missed Aaron (he stayed home to recover more...he's in a lot of pain now). Enjoy the pictures of our girls dressed up!

Our attempt at a picture together...it's not going to be good for the next couple of years, let's just face it. Check out Cohen the pirate on the right. Poor little pumpkin...she rode like this the whole way to church. But the funny thing was that she didn't fuss about it! She just ate her snack and figured that not being able to see was part of the costume :) I was cracking up at her all the way there.

Vivian was Minnie Mouse! In June, Aunt Nancy sent some sparkly pink Minnie Mouse shoes for V, so I thought we could use those for a costume idea. And also, she's into Mickey Mouse right now (the one DVD we have of it...). Macy was a princess.

Ansley the butterfly!

Kate loves to play on the bottom step of any staircase. We played outside in the foyer for a while during the end of the Hugh Latimer presentation because they couldn't sit still in the sanctuary.

Then we headed to the Fellowship Hall for dinner, games, and sugar!

Brett and Jody dressed up as the Duggars, and they got the youth to be there 19 children. The jean jumper really suited Jody well, don't you think? She carried around this baby doll to be the latest Duggar child.

Mattie played with the girls and helped them eat more candy. Dennis took V to all the games and crafts, and got her some cotton candy for me while I watched Kate run around. Thanks, Dennis!

Happy Reformation Day on Sunday!

On Friday afternoon we drove to Boone, NC. It was about 3 hour drive and it was beautiful! We drove on mountain highways and the leaves are getting to be very pretty around here. We got there in time to eat dinner with Charles and Brittany. They drove from Nash Co. to meet us so that Charles and Aaron could ride their motorcycles all day on Saturday in the mountains. On Saturday Brittany and I took the girls to a pumpkin farm. We walked through a corn maze and Vivian chose each direction. She also picked out a pumpkin, and we went on a hay ride.

Then we went to Valle Crusis for the little town's Pumpkin Festival. There were too many people there and we had a hard time navigating with two babies.

Sorry, these pictures are out of order. Now back to the farm:

Trying to find the right pumpkin!

Kate was cold chillin' on the hay ride.

V was pretty excited.

She seemed to enjoy the maze, too.

We found some chairs by the New River outside of the maze and Kate had to get in one, of course. Her favorite spot...a chair!

If Aaron will email me the pictures he took on his phone, I can share some of their motorcycle ride.

Last week I went to a baby shower for our dear friend Ashely. She is due with her second boy Caleb at the end of November. We met at 419 West in Roanoke for dinner together. It was a relaxing, fun evening together celebrating God's goodness in creation. The theme was zebras and blue, and it was extraordinary. Kristin did 98% of all the preparation and she made everything as excellent as she possibly could. It was an awesome night out. Enjoy the pictures of all the details!

Also on our trip to Charleston, Jonathan and Joy had their second baby boy, Joel! We were thrilled to have a chance to meet him...on our way back home that Monday morning, we took a short detour to Greensboro to visit them in the hospital (he was born on Sunday night, Oct. 3rd). We met him in the hallway when he was on his way to the nursery, and then hung out with the happy parents for a few minutes before heading on home.

What a sweet newborn!

Runny nose:

But playful, happy girl:
And easy tickle target:

On Thursday night Aaron took Vivian on their first father/daughter date to Disney on Ice at the Roanoke Civic Center. I showed her videos online that day leading up to it, to get her excited about it. It worked...she couldn't stop talking about it after her nap that afternoon. And when Aaron walked in the door from work she squealed and squealed, "Daddy come get you, take you to princess show!!!" over and over. She put stickers on crowns during dinner that I got at WalMart and then she shared the extra crowns with other girls when they sat down at the show.I tried to curl her hair and make her look extra-princessy, but Aaron said she was the most underdressed girl at the show (everyone was wearing actual dress-up princess gowns!). He wasn't allowed to take the camera in, but got this one picture on his camera phone: He said she was entranced and loved everything she saw. He bought her a light-up wand thing and said she played with it the whole time, but also kept her eyes glued to the ice rink. They left early, but saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Ariel, Snow White (her favorite), Jasmine, and Belle. He got her popcorn and M&Ms...he's a great date :) What an exciting night! Thank you, Aaron, our Prince Charming...

I don't get a chance to blog very often but when I saw this picture I asked Lisa if she would give me a shot. My goal is that maybe around 2035 Vivian will look back on this post and know that her Mommy and Daddy love her very much. She brings us joy and is beautiful in every sense of the word.

So Vivian...when you are reading this 25 years from now and you have a little one just like this, I pray your hope for your baby would be the same as the one we have for you. That she would know the Lord and His steadfast love.

Aaron/Daddy

div>On Saturday we spent the afternoon at Papa and Gramme's house while Aaron made a trip to Winston-Salem to watch the Wake Forest/Navy football game. Gramme had a new toy...this climber and slide was given to her by Laurie who continually gives us things her granddaughters have outgrown!

Peekaboo!

We are taking advantage of every opportunity to play outside while it's still warm.

watching big sister :)
The first part of this week has been warm enough, so we're still outside in the afternoons. Kate loves to ride in the Cozy Coupe. Vivian was very good at sharing with her sister, mainly I think because she didn't want to hear Kate scream and throw a fit when her turn was over. So V would take a 10 second turn and then get out of the car and say, "okay, Kate's turn now, here ya go, Kate, get in!"
I asked them to help me pick up apples in our driveway and they did a fantastic job.

Kate took the task very seriously. Ha! Woman on a mission.

She went above and beyond my expectations for finding apples.

V was caught eating on the job several times.

Every time Kate dropped one in the bucket, she looked so proud of herself and said, "job!" (for, "good job!")

For the past two Tuesdays, Kate has been going to preschool to see how she likes it. I am really enjoying the alone time with Vivian. I foresee us being able to do things together that I normally couldn't do with both of them in tow. For example, this past Tuesday we met Avery and her mom Janelle at the park to play for a couple of hours. It was a gorgeous day to be outside!It was awesome for me to watch her play with Avery. She is learning so much and she made it obvious that she was having a blast. Janelle brought princess crowns for them to decorate with stickers together. It was so sweet.

We took our time and ate lunch there as well. Next Tuesday we made plans to take them to the Science Center!