October 2015

Posted by Amy Evelyn Oden , Sunday, November 22, 2015 6:52 PM

Just when we were feeling like we were starting to get our feet back underneath us after the move, this month pulled the rug out from under me, with the news of my best friend's cancer diagnosis.  (On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, but I confess, my legs are still wobbling...) So unpacking the final stretch of boxes moved to the bottom of the list and prayer took its rightful place at the top, right above emotional processing and trying to find some way of being helpful.  

And as hard as it is to carry on with the demands of the mundane when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and plead to God to take this cup from your friend & her family, I continue to thank God for my kids, who compel me to keep on going; their sweet faces and mostly-innocent antics give my heart the joy to persevere.  Again, thankful for the snapshots that remind me of this...



 Finished up a sewing project for V's bedroom

 With some coaxing, she once in awhile finally lets me put barrettes in her hair.  But it's all or nothing with this girl.  She either refuses or wants 16 at once.
 We tried out Five Guys for the first time.  Have heard it raved about for years...were skeptical...
now: big fans.
 Daddy snuggles!
 These two!
 Class of 2036 or so, perhaps?
 Grandma came to see our Sacramento life for the first time.  Oliver stared at her from the stroller for about 10 minutes, but then wanted out to give her this big hug :-D.



 We went to a local pumpkin patch for a bit of fall fun.



 Searching for the perfect pumpkin (for Cinderella's carriage perhaps?)

 One for each of us!


Grandma brought some pumpkin accessories

We also took Grandma to downtown Sacramento (our first jaunt down there, too).  Pretty cool place and eager to return, now that we know more what to expect.  We knew it was an Old West neighborhood but were thinking just a street or two so Vianne dressed up in her Sheriff Callie garb...but it's actually 28 acres so it warrants several more visits.











We walked across the gold bridge and proceeded down the river walk on the other side...

Vianne was already wiped out from the walking!  (This was so unusual for her and took A LOT of coaxing to get her up from this position.  She finally marched up to me and said angrily, "You think after all this, you could give me a little rest!"  I was like, Who is this girl and what has she done with my daughter?)


At the pumpkin patch, Grandma had purchased some popcorn on the cob so we tried it out!
It was delicious!  Tasted so good, without adding any salt or butter!
Oliver's obsessed with the kitchen cabinets... (sigh)
...and his big sister likes to go shopping from them.  Needless to say, we regularly find a lot of canned goods and utensils in the weirdest places these days.

Halloween 2015

Posted by Amy Evelyn Oden , Thursday, November 12, 2015 6:00 PM

Having arrived back from Oregon the day before, we packed all of our Halloween into the day of this year.  In the afternoon, we carved pumpkins and Vianne helped clean hers out for the very first time!  A little hesitant about the yucky stuff inside...


 ...but then she goes for it!


 The master artist at work
 Vianne requested a scarecrow (left) and Oliver let Mama do whatever she wanted ;-)
 A bit of a hasty flower for me...
 ...and Patrick's raven on a branch work of art!
 Very cute all in a row
 Just before night fell, we got the kids into their costumes...neither protested "recycled from previous events" costumes, so we went with Sheriff Callie and Thor...

 but Thor didn't care much for keeping his hat on.


 I'm not sure why he did this pose, but it was awful cute.
 Daddy makes a valiant last ditch effort at getting the hat on...
 Vianne was a trick-or-treat pro from last year but Oliver was adorably confused about why we were going for a walk in costume, why people had those cool decorations up, and then once he got the hang of the knocking on doors part down, seemed very confused why we kept knocking on doors but not going inside (I think he was used to going to many houses from our Oregon trip!).  Our new neighborhood is very kid-friendly with lots of young families so a great place to trick-or-treat; a lot of houses were giving out candy and nobody had anything gory as far as decorations.  

Vianne was utterly delighted with the whole process; even though we only knocked on maybe 20 doors (those who were home) and only walked about 3 blocks, and her pumpkin was only about 1/3 full, on the way home she exclaimed, "I GOT SO MUCH CANDY!!"  I love her innocent exuberance and this blissfully ignorant stage before Halloween becomes gluttonous. 
Back home, we lit the pumpkins and welcomed our own trick-or-treaters (for the first time in our marriage, we've lived in a place that gets them!), and I think Vianne was as excited about having people come to our door and giving away candy as she was getting candy at others' doors!