Trick or Treat. Or Not.

We don't allow our kids to go out for Halloween. Gasp!!! I know. Horrible, mean, unfair, and unfun parents we are, aren't we?

When I was younger (much younger :o), my parents did let us go out for Halloween. We were dressed up as princesses or Minnie/Mickey Mouse, visiting the neighbours that we knew, as well as our grandparents. But at a certain time in my childhood (I can't remember how old I was), my parents decided that going out for Halloween was not something we should participate in, due to the increase focus of death (i.e. skeletons, tombstones, skulls etc). Instead, we would go out for supper and my mom would make sure each of us would have a bag of candy/chips to enjoy at school so that we weren't sitting there drooling into our Smurf lunchboxes while watching our peers chow down on one sweet thing after another (grrrrr, reminds me of my younger sister who was able to ration her candy for weeks on end when mine would be gone within a few days. Ahhh, discipline. I lacked it then already :o). As for Nathan, I may be wrong, but I think with his family, they never went out.

When we got married, we had decided then already that we would not let our kids go out for Halloween. Although we didn't have kids, we didn't participate by handing out candies. That's right. We were the grinches of Halloween, the ones with the lights out.

Back then the decision was made without much research into it. It was just the way we were brought up and it carried over into our marriage. And it was a decision that was easy to stick to due to the fact that we didn't have kids. That is, until Keziah was born. We didn't research into Halloween until she was born, knowing that we should really come to a final and concrete decision as it now would be affecting her (and now Lincoln).

And research we did. You see, I was hoping that the more research we did, the more we would agree with people that "it's just for fun!!" and that we would let our kids enjoy a night of dressing up and weeks of candy. However, the opposite happened. The more we researched the more our eyes were opened as to what and how this "holiday" came about.

I am sure you can all agree with me that once again, commercialism has taken hold of a "holiday" to new levels. The things people can waste spend their money on to decorate their home with all that ghoulish stuff is amazing! But I actually think this is a good thing because with all this commercialism, you can't help but see the common themes that are everywhere in regards to what Halloween is all about. And what is that common theme? Death. Morbidity (is that a word?! It is now....:o). Evil spirits. Witch/witchcraft. Etc. (and an underlying theme of greed: how much candy can we get??)

I don't know. Just somethin' about that theme, as well as reading up on it has convicted us not to participate. I wish it didn't!!! Getting dressed up IS fun!! Getting candy is also fun!! (Believe me, I research it every year again as I become wishy-washy in my thoughts, wanting Keziah and Lincoln to have fun, too. And I may or may not have wanted free candy).

But is the ruler of the dark not using "fun" as a way to get us, who are called to be children of the Light, involved and participating in something that clearly has dark/death undertones? And aren't we supposed to focus on Life? Not death? Is this where the saying "the devil walks in slippers" fits? Or am I taking it too far? I am asking these questions seriously, not always being sure of the answers (and if you do and you see that I am way out to lunch, I ask that you enlighten me! Seriously.). But, for the fact that these questions make me uncomfortable and very unsure as to whether we should participate in Halloween, we as a family don't. And won't until I can be convinced that by participating, we are glorifying God.

I guess I just don't have that carefree attitude of "ah, c'mon. It's for the kids!". Not with what I know now about Halloween. And not when a lot of the decoration carries on the themes of evil. And especially not when I read from the Bible how God abhors anything to do with witches and witchcraft; evil spirits; darkness.

But what I do read from God's Word are verses like Colossians 3: 17: "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." and what is written in Ephesians 5: 8-10: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord."

Maybe I am naive and narrow-minded, but I just can't see how participating in Halloween is "innocent", pleasing to God, bringing glory to His name. That is afterall what He wants from us. In everything we do. And yes, I live with myself and so I know I fall short of that every. single. day.
If you are interested, below are some links about the history of Halloween. Have a read and see what you think. As you can see these articles are off the internet, meaning, I don't know how credible they are but I found them interesting....And I know there are so many more articles out there. But I thought I'd share these 3 with you as a starting point.

http://www.halloweenhistory.org/
more history
and an interesting read: http://www.exposingsatanism.org/halloween.htm


And lastly, let me share with you a funny story about Halloween (see? I am not all boring and "unfun". I know a humorous story when I see one :o):

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking through Walmart, with Keziah plodding behind me. After awhile, I didn't hear her footsteps and so I stopped to check. Sure enough, she had stopped walking a ways back and was frozen to the spot. Fear was written all over her face while she called out "Mom? Mom? Mommy!!". She wasn't calling me because she couldn't find me. No, she was calling out FOR me. Why? Because right beside my shopping cart was something that looked quite like this:

After dealing with all these scary things with her for over a month with all of this Halloween stuff out in the stores, I finally decided that it was time for her to see that the witch was not real. I picked her up and walked her over to the witch, all the while saying to her,"Look. It is NOT real. It does not move. It does not say anything. It is fake." And then. Well, I am sure you are guessing what happened. If not, let me show you how smart of a mom my kids have. I had the bright idea of touching the witch's hand to PROVE to her it was not real. Wouldn't you know it, the moment my hand touched the witch, it set off the witch, making the eyes go bright red and flashing, the arms went up and down and the witch's mouth opened and out came this scary Halloween sound??! Yeah. I am pretty sure I am up for Mother of the Year after that incident! The poor girl!! (is it insensitive of me that every time I think of this, I laugh??!)

Colourful!

One of the things I struggle with as a mom is to spend time doing things with my kids. I am always with my kids, but that doesn't mean I am doing something with them. I am usually quite content to be busy throughout the day, cleaning this up, putting that away, wiping this down, reading my book, folding laundry, making lunch/supper, bake, you name it. And for the most part, I usually have a 3 foot high partner doing these domesticated things with me. And I love that.

I do "drink" my fair share of hot chocolate with one marshmellow and eat the mud cake that was baked for me but not while dropping my doekie (cloth, for you non-dutchies) that was wiping down a cupboard.

But it struck me a while back as to how often I am asked by this 3 foot high partner to help her: to read a book, or to paint, or to colour, or do a puzzle. And it really made me aware of how often I said "Not right, now, hon." or "Keziah, can't you see my hands are busy?" (which, by the way, came right back at me one time when I asked her to help clean up the toys :o).

I think I know why I struggle with spending even 10 minutes a day doing an activity that she chooses. The easy answer is: I am lazy. I don't always feel like it. And to blame house cleaning is not an excuse. It's not like my house is sparkly clean either. I think the deeper answer is this: when we adopted Keziah, I parented her like she would be my only child. Not in the spoiled way that you would think (at least, I hope I didn't spoil her rotten), but in the "you are going to be independent and not look to me for entertaining you" kind of way. I counted on her being an only child, not knowing if it would be in God's plans to bless us with another little one. And although it was in God's plans to bless us with another, I still parent her the same way!! I wanted her to learn to play by herself, to be content to be on her own and not to cling to me as her only playmate.  I feared entertaining her all day long and then when I needed to get something done, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. I wonder if that is one (of possibly many) reasons why moms send their kids to juniour kindergarten....because by the time our child is 4 we are tired of entertaining them since we've done it from day one and now the child doesn't know what to do and so we say they are bored. Hmmm. I'll leave that can of worms alone. For now. :o)

For the most part, I think that it was good to do this, to encourage this independency. However, I think I have taken it too far. Although I don't believe in dropping everything the moment your child wants to do something, being at his/her beck and call all day long, I am recognizing that the way I've been doing it needs changing as well. And with the "longer" days of cooler weather ahead of us (meaning, inside the house more), I am praying that I may be able to make some changes in my parenting. I know I will fail miserably at this but that isn't a reason to not even try. And so, by taking it one day at a time, I am tackling this challenge, leaning on God for patience and enthusiasm. And she gets the benefit! And I am finding out, so am I!! It's a win-win situation!!

And so this week, we made colourful rice. It's really nothing extravagent or "new under the sun" as you will find oodles of links on Pinterest as to how to make this. (make THAT your challenge: make it just to say you finally used one of the 100s of ideas pinned to your boards on Pinterest :o) But maybe you've made Colourful Rice already. Actually, so have I, but many years ago for my students. But if you haven't, try it! Your child will love it! And so will you because after spending time with them making it, you'll have time on your own to dust that shelf or clean that toilet because your child will be spending a lot of time playing with it :o)

First off, ingredients: rice, food colouring, and rubbing alcohol (or vinegar)

Oh, and don't forget to add in your excited helper! Afterall, that is the goal: to spend time with her :o)

Mix 1 tsp of rubbing alcohol, 1 cup of rice and drops of food colouring into bowl and stir (I used 2 tsp of rubbing alcohol for 2 cups of rice):

Once well stirred, lay out on parchment paper and let it dry for 2 hours or so:

Tada!!!! I almost didn't let her play with it because I liked the design the colours made in the bucket. But then I remembered it was for her :o)

Throw in some measuring cups, measuring spoons, rice krispie moulds, little containers, whatever you can find and watch how much fun they'll have with such a simple thing of pouring rice from one container into the next:

And by all means, don't just let the 3 year old have fun! Put some in a little container with a sealed lid for the 9 month old to shake around!

You may find rice on the floor, but let me tell you, sweeping up dry rice is SOOO much easier than with cooked rice. So really, it doesn't take long to clean up. I have found over the last days of play, that for easiest clean up, either play with it outside, or on a mat if inside. That way you can just lift up the mat and pour back into the bucket.

And to keep things in perspective, for fear of you thinking "Good for you, Michelle!! What a great mom you are!" let me share with you what we had for supper that night:

That's right. Hot dogs. I was hoping the roasted broccoli would redeem the fact that we had hot dogs. I don't think it quite made it. Oh well. We enjoyed it all!! :o)

Excitement!!!!!

Last week, Nathan was gone on a business trip for 4 days. No, that is not why the title of this post is "Excitement" :o) Believe me, the days leading up to him leaving are faaaaar from excitement. I despise it when he has to go away overnight. It doesn't happen too often, a few times a year, yet I don't like it one bit. Actually, the days leading up to it are the worse. Once he is gone, it always goes much better than I anticipate. But till he's gone, I kick, scream and cry. Well, maybe not kick and scream, but if I said my blog would be honest, then I must admit there may have been a tear or two that was shed.

When it was just the two of us and he left for a few days for business or whatever, I disliked it because I was fearful of something happening to him. He was all I had!! We didn't have children that would remind me of him. On the flip side, I also took advantage of him being gone: browsing through my favourite stores like Talize and Value Village, not worrying about having to rush home to make a "real" supper. I also would get a lot of sympathy from my kindergarten students as I would tell them that "I am sooooo lonely" :o) I would even get an invite or two to their homes for dinner!

Now with two little kids of my own, I still don't like it, not fearful of something happening to him, but fearful of how I am going to get through my day without the regular highlight: him coming home after work! How would I get through the hours 4-7, when I find that time being the longest part of my day.....almost like another day in itself in just those 3 hours! But once again, the LORD provided. We actually really enjoyed last week, with a good mixture of socializing and staying at home. So hopefully the next time he leaves, I will remember that although Nathan is gone, my source of strength, encouragement and wisdom is always near me. Each and every day.

Clearly the most exciting part of Nathan being gone was Saturday morning, when I took the kiddies to the Toronto Airport to pick him up! That was soooo much fun!

Keziah was amazed that the cars were driving under us!

At the airport by Arrivals, there were two dinosaurs, a large one and a small one. This is about as close as she would get to them. I am impressed that she even got this close!!

See? Excited I tell ya!!

When we arrived, the board said the plane would be 45 minutes late. Groan!! But then the next time I looked, it said this (it's the Hartford Flight 7427 flight):

And then, hold your hats!! It said this:

But we knew it could still be awhile, and so we kept on exploring. Building engineer one day, maybe?

"Excuse me, sirs. Would you know where I could find my daddy?"

Is he here yet????

Her reaction to him walking through those doors is a memory that will be ingrained on my heart forever! I enjoyed witnessing it so much I'm almost tempted to tell him to go away again so I can witness it again!! (the key word in that sentence would be 'almost' :o)

Hey, that guy looks familiar!

"Daddy, I am taking this so you don't leave again!!"

Although we had a good 4 days without him, we are sooooo thankful to God that our dad and hubby is back home with us. Our family is incomplete without him!! Besides, who else can we mooch food off of AND turn into a rmotorcycle racetrack at the same time?

Fun in the Leaves

Just some pictures of the kids enjoying the leaves. The colours this year have been absolutely brilliant. And speaking of colours, it's not just the leaves that are so colourful, have you been able to take some time to view the sunsets lately?! I have yet to capture it on camera....hopefully one of these nights. What a creative God we have.

The first two pictures are so typical of this brother and sister: Lincoln keeping his eyes on his sister. No one competes with his sister.

My Princess and my Prince:

And lastly, a picture of the queen and king (we kept our crowns inside for fear of losing them in the leaves :o)

Hmmm...

....can any of you spot the problem??

I am not sure what's more the problem, that it never was uncomfortable for her or the fact that I didn't notice until 3 hours later! :o)

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

For the last 10 years, we have camped on the Thanksgiving weekend. We first started this tradition at the Pinery Provincial Park, inviting whomever to come and join us.

2 years later, we moved to Turkey Provinical Park (how fitting, no? For Thanksgiving weekend??!) as this park was much closer to home, about an hour or so away. What attracted us to Turkey Point were the bike trails. There are numerous moutain biking trails there and every year we discover more.

And so the last 8 years we have been enjoying our Thanksgiving weekend, camping with our very close friends, Jenn and Jay. Things have changed over the years for us. I remember years ago feeling sorry for Jenn as she would have to wake up early because of her toddlers and baby, while I got to snuggle in bed for as long as I liked. I guess I could have gotten out to help her but have I mentioned that these mornings could be cold??!. Sorry, Jenn!! But you know what? Tables have turned and now it is me having to get out of bed because it is now my little ones that are awake early and she gets to sleep in cozy and warm because her youngest is almost 5. But we are in a warm trailer, so I have nothing to complain about.

We've been spoiled the last two years because of the very warm temperatures. We knew it wouldn't last. And sure enough, this Thanksgiving weekend, it was cold. Not as cold as 3 years ago (I remember this as Keziah was only 2 months old), but definitely cool.

We actually left on the Thursday already, with Jenn and Jay and kiddies coming up on Friday. Thursday and Friday were very nice outside, not cool at all. But then Friday night came. It poured that night and not only did the water come down, so did the temperatures! Saturday and Sunday were cool, like 10 degrees, and Monday was a bit warmer.

Okay, okay. I hear you. You want pictures!!!! So onto pictures we go:

Somebody was getting too big for his infant car seat and is now in a "big" boy's car seat on the way to camping:

Our big helper, setting up the screen tent:

Learning to play Ladder Golf:

See, Aunt Jenn? THIS is how you throw it:

And maybe stick out your tongue 'cause that might help, too:

Nathan had a bit of a stressful week, which caught up to him Thursday night. He was snoring in his chair by 7:30 (yes, his legs are that white that the flash reflects off of them :o):

Having fun, roaming about and playing at the park:

And then it got cold:

And no, he is not frozen stiff :o)

One way to stay warm: play lots of badminton!

"So Megan, why doesn't YOUR mom make you wear snowpants?? My mom does which makes it VERY hard for me to move."

Enjoying a campfire lunch:

Lincoln was a happy baby most of the time. There were times when he got frustrated from being so bundled up and so I would take him in the trailer where he could crawl and stand up without any obstacles. He was also teething so everything, I mean, everything went in the mouth.

On Monday, everyone in the park leaves. And because most people are in a trailer, that means having to get rid of the trailer waste before going. This means big. long. lineups. And so we beat them all by hooking up the trailer at 7:30 in the morning, dumping, and then came back. It just meant we couldn't use the washroom, but that's okay. I'd rather that "inconvenience" than having to sit in line for hours.

Watching daddy do the dirty work, out the window:

"Don't worry, Lincoln. I have you."

And that concludes our trip!! By Sunday night I was ready to go home and so we were home on Monday by lunch. We were looking forward to being in a warm home, only to come home to it being 11 degrees inside!!! So much for thawing out! :o)

Although it was cold, which made things a bit difficult with a 9 month old (I hardly saw Keziah as she was always with her friend, Kathryn), it was a good trip; a trip filled with games, fires, marshmellows, chats, walks, all done with the blessing of doing this with such close friends. We pray for many more Thanksgiving weekends with them, the Lord willing!!!

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His Name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." Ps. 100: 4, 5