October Fun

Dressing up for Grandma and Grandpa

This was our quietest Hallowe'en ever with not one knock on the door.  That's not surprising as we put our lights out but I didn't see many kids in our neighbourhood.  I delivered candy to some neighbour kids and then we enjoyed pizza and screen time.  

I'm looking forward to when the kids are a little older and we can hopefully all enjoy watching a movie together.  I took out Bambi from the library, hoping that would work but Kohen told me the mother dies so he didn't want to see it and I know Lily-Anna wouldn't have lasted long as she finds a lot of things scary (such as Mr. Humdinger).  

I found my old tea set!

Kohen sees and anticipates when she'll be afraid and he'll talk her through it.  If she's upset about something, he comes and does a little slapstick routine in which she touches him and he falls to the ground.  Tonight he wanted to give candy to Grandma and Grandpa and also gave some of his candy to me and Lily-Anna.  He is a very sweet boy.  

Isaac said he had a great day.  I was at my church all day for Mental Health First Aid Training so after Graham dropped me off, they drove to Graham's parents' place (The Faulkner Restaurant) for a lovely brunch with different food stations.  They were very excited to tell me about it.  

The kids were all off school for a week this month due to cold symptoms.  They each had the Covid test but thankfully the results came back negative.  The kids were prayed through the tests.  The chocolate I gave them after the test also helped distract them. (Thanks for the idea and the chocolate Mom!)  

This month was also the first time that our whole family has been at our own church building together since March (we have watched online and a few times we attended Graham's parents' church when we were visiting them).  It felt good to be back.  

A couple of moments:

In the washroom with Lily-Anna

LA: Do you know what remems means?

Me: I know what remember means.

LA: Remems means I love you Lord with all my heart, soul, and strength.

Fun with the dress

***

Kohen told me he made a Hoodie Club at school with some boys from his class.  He picked two boys to be in command and others to be second in command and then he and another boy were third in command.  His job was to look out for the bad guys.    

***

We haven't given Lily-Anna gum yet but she is an expert fake gum chewer:

LA: Can I have a piece of gum Mommy?

Me: Sure.  Here.

LA: (She starts chewing) Oh yum, vanilla!

A few chews later

LA: Mommy, you should really have some of my vanilla gum!

I take some.

***

Kohen asked to play the game Clue against Graham and I (three players).  Kohen did not use the papers at all and yet he beat both of us.  I played against him one other time and he didn't use the papers but he kept revealing information that helped me win (and I accidentally broke a rule).  

Kohen is enjoying learning French.  He asks me to test him on his words and give him a dictee.  It's fun to watch him learn.  He is going to do a mini gymnastics session starting next Saturday.  He loves to run and jump and climb.  Hopefully he will learn new ways to use his energy.  

Isaac did a great job on a mathematics contest this month.  He came first in his school out of those who wrote the test.  Kohen liked hearing his brother's name over the PA system.  

Graham has raked lots of leaves this month, with some more to come.  UW kindly gave staff two thank you days off of work so he has made this a long weekend and he took me out to Cora's for breakfast yesterday when the kids were at school.

I am enjoying having a little breathing time to myself in the mornings.  I've been keeping up with scribing the prison letters in the book our church distributed.  I just finished Colossians.  I often come home from dropping the kids off at school and then put the tea kettle on and read my Bible and pray.  My lovely mentor recommended that I divide up my prayer list so that I pray for different people each day.  

For the first time ever I have also almost finished my Christmas shopping by the end of October!  This is thanks to my mother who suggested that I start early as Covid may affect things.  One of my favourite things is picking out good books from Christian authors for the kids.  We like all sorts of books but most other books I can get from the library.  Our city libraries don't have the books I order.  I am thankful for our church library and we still have books on our library shelf that have been there since March as the church library is closed right now due to Covid.  

We gain an hour tonight as the clocks go back but I should use that time to sleep so I'll sign off.  We are singing a song in Tamil during our service tomorrow so I need to be well rested to sing it properly.  I love that our church is diverse and that we celebrate the diversity!  Thanks for any prayers.

Blessings,

Elizabeth

Colossians 1:19

For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Warrior cry!

Covid birthday celebration in a garage