Sunday night was Trunk or Treat at our church. I don't know if Trunk or Treat is just a Franklin, TN thing or not. I had never heard of it before coming here though. We have a devotional, chili supper and then the kids trick or treat from trunk to trunk in the parking lot. It doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but at Harpeth Hills it is HUGE. People go all out when decorating their trunk! A lot of them don't even include their trunk anymore! They create an entire scene right there in the parking lot. This year our Life Group made a pirate ship and we all dressed the part. Nathan and Laura have always enjoyed decorating a trunk and this year they roped our life group into doing it with them. Eric got excited about it and made the cannons for the ship, a brass monkey with cannon balls, and a plank to "walk" for the ship. He even made me and him dress up. We hadn't dressed up for trunk or treat since before Grace was born. That year I was actually pregnant with Grace. I wrapped myself in torn sheets and wrote "Mummy to be" on my big belly. I made a coke can out of poster board for Eric to wear and wrote "Pop to be". We were pretty proud of ourselves that year. But since then, we have just dressed up the girls.

This year some of the trunks were pretty cute. One group made a whole cowboy scene with two real ponies to ride and a campfire. Another group had the Holympics with with events for the kids to participate in. Another group had a movie theater with popcorn, a red carpet, and a big movie screen with the Charlie Brown Halloween movie playing. Another group had a car wash with little kiddie cars for the kids to drive through and they washed their windows and gave them candy. There was also a monster cafe, a scooby van, a Kroger grocery store, a pet grooming salon and a really cute voting booth. The kids went in a voting booth and voted for their favorite kind of candy. They could choose chewy, crunchy or chocolate. When you put your ballot into the slot for the candy your chose, a piece of your favorite type of candy came out! Too cute!

There is always a huge crowd too. I've actually skipped trunk or treat a couple of years because the crowd is just too much for me. We couldn't even find 4 seats together to eat our chili. The girls sat on our laps. It was fun though. The girls got into the pirate spirit along with Eric. Now what do I do with all of these costumes, cannons, plank and cannonballs?

A lesson in democracy

I voted on Monday. I decided to do it early in order to avoid long lines. Reesi and Lyla went with me though. It was kind of funny to have them with me because of the things they were saying and the fact that the room was quiet and everyone could hear them. When we got there I started telling them what we were doing. I tried to explain things in very simplistic terms so they could hopefully understand. Here are a few lines from the 30 minutes that we were there.

Lyla: But where's the boat?
Me: Boat?
Lyla: Yea, where's the boat?
Me: Not boat, vote. I'm going to vote. Vote, with a "v". That means pick who I want to win.
Reesi: I hope my mom wins.
Lyla: No Reesi, I hope my mom wins.

After the voting was done and we were walking out.......

Reesi: Jenny, did you win?
Me: No, I picked someone else to win.
Reesi: I think my mom won. Lyla, I think my mom won!! (in her typical dramatic fashion)
Lyla: Can we do it again? Can I push the buttons this time?

I think there were a few more cute phrases from the two of them but I waited too long to write this down and now I've forgotten what else they said. Luckily, everyone in the room didn't seemed too annoyed by the girls. They just smiled and snickered.

Lyla

Lyla is such a stinker. Right now she mainly plays with her collection of cars. Since we put hard floors downstairs she really has a big time zooming them across the room. A few days ago I was printing something for preschool. I hit print and immediately heard an awful noise. It sounded like all of the gears in the printer were grinding together. I jumped up and opened the top of the printer to find about 12 cars packed in the printer. I didn't even have to think twice before yelling for Lyla. I knew exactly who did it. When she came running and saw what I had found, she just smiled and put her hands in front of her mouth. She didn't have any excuses or explanations. I made her take them all out and then her cars went on top of the refrigerator for 2 days. At the time I didn't have the presence of mind to grab the camera. After I told Joni about what happened she simply asked, "did you take a picture?" After the girls were asleep that night I recreated the scene for the sake of the blog!

Slumber Party at Julie's House

Last Friday, after we went to the Discovery Zone with the girls, they went to spend the night at Julie's house. Mom came down for Friday and Saturday. The girls spent the night on Friday night and then we all went to garage sales on Saturday morning before Eric took the girls to Rockport for the rest of the day. They had a big time at Julie's house. They love Julie's huge bathtub, huge shower, huge bed and huge dogs. They took a big bubble bath, of course, and a shower together and then slept in Julie's big bed together. They also tried on part of Julie's Halloween costume. Julie said they were cracking up like crazy at each other. Here are the pictures....

A quick trip

Last Saturday Eric made a trip home for the day to help his dad with some work outside. The girls went with him to visit while he worked. These are the pictures Eric took while they were there. The girls had a good time and came home exhausted.

Last week Grace had fall break on Thursday and Friday. Eric took off Friday so we could do something as a family. We went to Murfreesboro to the Discovery Zone. We hadn't been there before and I'm glad we finally did. It's a science museum/center for kids. Every is hands-on and fun for the kids. Lyla spent the most time in the car mechanic area. She really liked that. She made me pretend like I was bringing my car to her to have it fixed. She would tell me what to say and then she would "fix" my car. They also have an outdoor marsh area that we walked through quickly. It was only $5 to get in too!