Trick or Treating Day

Yes, I am more than a month behind in blogging, but I must post our Halloween pics. As usual, we had a wonderful Halloween party in the cul-de-sac. This year we ordered pizza and shared appetizers. Of course, Ms. Shanda made her special cupcakes and we crowded around the Andersen's driveway (previously, the Coulters). Right before the sun went down, we rushed to get the kids in costumes and then headed down Willingham Rd. for some trick-or-treating. Actually, Matt took the kids out, while I handed out candy, which I LOVE to do. This year, after the trick-or-treating was over, we went to Ms. Shanda's house where the kids watched a movie in the basement, the moms chatted over peanut-butter m&m's and hot cocoa, and the guys sat in the driveway handing out candy to the Halloween tricklers. It was a wonderful time.

Mommy gets a special hug from princess Belle, who is wearing a beautiful shade of lipstick.
Batman and Optimus Prime. . .best friends.

Oops, my bad, it's really Lancie and RyRy. These boys love each other. Even when it's not Halloween, they love dressing up as Superheroes and playing.

Princess Ali and Princess Madeline.

After trick-or-treating, we told Madeline that she could pick out one piece of candy to eat before bed. So what did the girl do? She put her entire head, arms and shoulders into her bag to make sure she made the absolute best choice. . .I wonder when she realized that this technique does not provide much light to illuminate her choices.

After choosing a piece of candy, Madeline decided that she wanted to sort her candy. She immediately went upstairs, dumped out her four small bins and separated her candy amongst them. As of today, December 1st, she has barely touched her candy. To be honest, Mommy and Daddy have been enjoying it.

RyRy LOVES candy. When we told him that he could eat one piece, he just stuck his hand in his bag and pulled out a piece. It did not matter what it was. . .he was going to love it, and he did.

We learned something sweet about Ryan after trick-or-treating. He loves to share treats with us. In this picture, he is offering Daddy some of his candy.

So what did the Wells' do on November 1st? Went out shopping for 50% off costumes. This is a picture of Ryan as Johnny Flame (the human torch of the Fantastic Four) and Madeline as Silver Mist (a fairy in the Tinkerbell movie).

A Thanksgiving to Remember

What a wonderful Thanksgiving week we had.  It all started with a late night phone call from Bobby on Thursday night inviting us to spend the week with he and Lanie, and his family at Nag's Head.  Though Maddie had a Birthday Party Friday night and we planned to go to a UNC football game Saturday afternoon, we decided to go for it.  We love Bobby and Lanie, and Bobby's extended family. We also knew it would be a spiritually refreshing time.  So we woke up at 5am Saturday morning, packed up, and headed to Chapel Hill for some football.  After one half the kids were ready to go, so we got into the car and drove toward the Outer Banks.

The first few days at Nag's Head were spent with Bobby and Lanie.  We climbed and rolled down Jockey's Ridge's dunes, celebrated Madeline's birthday, ran, and relaxed together.  We had really special times in the evenings playing games and talking about the Lord.  And two days in a row, Lanie and I got to go out together.  One day we stopped at a coffee house with our Bibles and shared what the Lord was teaching us.  It was so awesome to be spurred on this way.  And of course, we enjoyed a bit of shopping.  

Tuesday evening Bobby's sister, husband, 3 nephews, 1 niece, and mom arrived.  It was just like being with our own family.  Madeline and Ryan loved their time with Jake, Ali, Ethan and Ben. And they got used to Rauel (that's what they call their Grandma Linda, Bobby's mom) scooping them up and kissing them all over.  All four Joynt children were a joy to be around and quickly added Ryan and Maddie to their "circle".  Madeline especially loved nine year old Ali.  She woke up in the morning excited to see Ali and play with her.  So wonderful!

Thursday morning, after Matt and I did our own 6 mile Turkey Trot, we headed to Sanford to spend Thanksgiving with Matt's dad.  It was a lovely time, although we had a major interruption just as Matt was going for seconds.  He heard Ry in the bathroom and went to investigate.  When I heard the "Lauren" from the bathroom, I knew something was wrong. When Matt arrived in the bathroom, Ry said to Matt, "I poo poo four".  Indeed he did. . .a trail from the floor all the way to the sides of the toilet.  The poor guy had diarrhea and did not make it to the potty in time.  Even worse, Grandpa Wells and Grandma Pat have carpet around their toilet.  Instead of enjoying a second helping of a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, we ended up scrubbing the bathroom and bathing Ryan.  So. . .this will be a Thanksgiving we will never forget.  Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa were very forgiving.  As we were driving home, I realized that the diarrhea was probably my fault.  At the beach, Food Lion had a sale on high fiber oatmeal.  I purchased it and from Thursday morning to afternoon, Ryan had three packets of the this oatmeal (I was running low on food since it was the end of the week, but did not want to make another trip to the grocery store since we were about to leave).  Then he had apple juice before dinner and apple juice with dinner.  I'm pretty sure this was the reason for his diarrhea.  A lesson well learned for Mommy!

And this morning, I was at JCPenny at 4am, Sears at 5am, Target at 6am, and the Christian Bookstore at 7am.  It was SO fun and I am finished with all my Christmas shopping.  Right now it feels like 5pm, but that's okay! 

Cookie Decorating

A few days before Halloween, I thought it would be fun to decorate pumpkin cookies with the kids.  We made sugar cookies, and orange and green icing.  Madeline had her friend Jessica over and Ryan had his friend Ty over.  Madeline and Jessica beautifully decorated their pumpkins with icing and sprinkles.  Ryan and Ty had a different approach.  Theirs was to cover the cookie with icing and pour as many sprinkles over the icing as possible while Ms. Lauren (aka Mommy) was in the bathroom (really. . .what was I thinking taking a bathroom break in the middle of cookie decorating???).

More than decorating the cookies, Ty and Ryan enjoyed eating them.  They kept running to the mirror to look at the colors of their mouths, and giggling at each other when they saw each other's hunter green tongues.

Superhero Friends

Did you know that Optimus Prime (Transformer), Super Girl, and Spiderman are friends?  If you don't believe me, check out the pictures below.

This is their tough pose.

I promised Ty, I mean Spiderman, that I would keep his identity a secret.  Maybe one day you will know his true identity.

Southpoint Alert

This might be old news, but the play area at Southpoint is GONE!!!  After a long wait at the "Genius Bar" at the Apple store, we headed to the food court for dinner and play, only to discover that the play area has been demolished.  A sign says that a new play area will be build near JCPenny's.  Hmmmm. . . .  I wonder when and how big it will be.

Anyway, just wanted to spread the news.

Our Little Princess Meets the Princesses

Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom

As soon as we enter the Princesses' special quarters, Madeline is whisked away by Belle.

Look at our sweet girl's body language. She is so excited and shy that she's not sure what to do.

She becomes more comfortable as Belle talks to her.

Look at how her gaze never leaves Belle's face. Mommy could have walked out the door and Madeline would have never noticed.

Next, Maddie gets to meet Princess Aurora. Immediately, Madeline hugs her. You can tell at this point that Madeline is so excited she feels like she must be dreaming.

Aurora is by far the most dynamic princess of the bunch and Madeline is completely enamoured by the attention she lavishes upon her.

Princess Aurora admires Madeline's painted nails.

Look at our sweet girl pulling at her shirt in her nervousness and excitement.

Cinderella is the last princess Madeline meets.

Here's Cinderella making Madeline laugh.

Madeline LOVES being touched by the Princesses.

Truly, it was like a fairytale. Though Madeline absolutely loved every moment of her time with the Princesses, I think I enjoyed watching her more. It was so precious to see her purity--her belief in their "realness" and her awe of their royalty. It is one of my favorite memories so far as her mommy. I got to see emotions and reactions from her that I had never seen prior to this moment. What a joy.

Painting Nails

This morning I painted Madeline's nails. About an hour after they dried she came up to me and said, "Mommy, we need to always keep my nails painted. It makes me not pick my nose and eat them" (of course she was referring to boogies). I, of course, had to use every ounce of strength not to hysterically laugh, as she was being serious and was offering up a solution to a socially unacceptable behavior. And while I knew that her finger often made its way up her nose, I did not know that it then went into her mouth.

Over the last few months Maddie and Ry have been sleeping in the same room. They alternate between Ry's room and Maddie's room. Tonight they are in Maddie's room, sharing her full bed. When I went in to check on them, Madeline had her legs and arms draped over her brother. Such a funny sight. Of course that would not be tolerated by Ry if he was conscious. I love the friendship they are developing. I pray that they will be like iron sharpening iron for each other and that they will be good friends.