Circus Day....

I don't know what has gotten into me.....maybe it's the Fall or that really, at heart, I am a "themey" person or the fact that I am pregnant, nesting and have cleaned everything in my house so now, I've turned to cooking and being "creative." And when I say "creative", I don't mean creating anything of value that I'll keep or could ever sell. But this October I have done the following projects....carve pumpkins, decorated pumpkins, made pumpkin face luminaries (complete with glitter), made and hung kleenex ghosts on our porch, collected pinecones for a Fall arrangment (to be honest, I made Piper collect them b/c I hate bending over right now), made pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars, cut-out cookies with orange icing, made a homemade apple pie, learned how to cook a whole chicken (cleaned out the guts and all- hillarious to watch), boiled the chicken leftovers and made a stock and then a soup, and FINALLY....drum roll, please....I sewed Piper's first, of many I hope, costumes....She was a clown for Circus Day at school. She got to march in a parade and everything. Here are the cutest pictures ever of her!

SharpTop Cove '08

As you know, one of the greatest places on earth is owned by Young Life. This is a place created with high school students in mind. Excellent food, beautiful accomidations/cabins, 2 zip lines, a blob, a gym, game room, frisbee golf, state of the art Club Room, hot tub, pool, and a lot more....these are the things that our God uses to change lives. Some of our high school friends joined us about a week ago, and it was awesome! We took a small crew this year, and it was perfect. We heard the greatest love story ever told and had the chance to talk about what it has to do with our lives today. All in all, I'm still convinced, there is still nothing quite like the time spent at a Young Life camp.

Picking Apples

Apples yes, but we also saw a ton of pumpkins, apple doughnuts (soooo good), cider, some Grade A people watching and more. The owners of Sky Top Orchard are geneus. They charge me and hundreds of other families to pick their apples for them, and then charge us more than what they can sell the apples to the grocery for. But, I'm ok with that. The time walking with the family, playing on the free playgrounds, eating a few apples as we stroll, and did I mention the fresh apple donuts? It was well worth the $8. So if you haven't experienced Apple Picking with your friends or family, then this is the time of year....

one of those proud moments...

One of Piper's favorite books is the Bible and I'm so happy that there is something in her that wants to read it and understand it. I continue to be amazed by the mystery of what God is doing in us and bringing out in us. And I see it in Piper all of the time and in the little girl growing in me. This is a great picture that Phil caught:

pumpkins...

Piper...and when i say Piper, I mean me (Amy)...loves this season and all the themieness it brings. We have carved pumpkins, made pumpkin break (and muffins and cookeis), made Halloween cut out cookies, luminaries, kleenex ghost- the list goes on and on. It has been so fun to have her get into all of this and have fun with it, and it's great that she thinks that all of the scary stuff is really "silly" and "funny." Thanks to Young Life and dressing up being a part of our lives weekly to teach her the difference between real and pretend!