a little fall party

i threw my kids a little fall party on saturday evening.
i've been planning it for about a week. i knew pat was going to be gone. the atmosphere in our home has been heavy and hard in the bad moments, cramped fake smiles with a mom that's barely hanging on in the best moments.

we all needed some simple "fun."

this party is NOT to make anyone feel "less than" (not that it's that amazing or anything!) but this is my kind of thing. this makes me feel like "me" and it felt so so good....to plan and to do.

i gave them the invitations at lunch. they had no idea, until then, that it was happening. and they didn't know what it was going to be like.

we spent the afternoon at football games, then came home and started our party!

first was a craft. we stamped with apples.

 the paper is still laying in that exact spot a day later. my plan is to cut the apples out and do something with them. we'll see...

 then we played a couple games.

first. a relay. walk while holding a baby pumpkin on your head.

 it was harder than it looked. they got frustrated. cheated. cried because the other team was "cheating." it made me question why i do this. but we soldiered on and i'm glad we did.

 next. 3 legged race. joshua NEVER puts his football down! :-) they didn't do that well because they refused to work together.

 these 2 were HYSTERICAL! they laughed the whole time and, goodness, it made my heart so happy.

 some of these are blurry. but the joy that shines through is worth the blur.

 and this. preciousness.

 she is amazing. she blesses me in so many ways.

 so. this was kind of what made this whole party happen. i realized the other week that my kids have never bobbed for apples. so i had to fix that! (and made a whole party around it! :-))

 it's ALSO harder than it looks!!

 she found the stem - smart cookie!

 i mean?!?

 when it was his turn, he started crying! looked too scary for him. we told him he didn't HAVE to do it! :-)

 joshua wanted to try again...he's a pretty emotionless guy, so i love to see him having fun!

 then they hung with me while i put the finishing touches on dinner. and we've been listening to this song, Long Black Train for the last week or so. i asked the kids to see if they could figure out what the "black train" IS - it stands for something. and while they were there with me last night, we listened to it...(and rebekah grabbed my camera, apparently :-))

 and i stopped the song every line and had them repeat it to me and we kind of talked our way through it...

 they were REALLY into figuring it out!

 and they finally got it.

next up, dinner!! in front of E.T.!

i think my heart was the calmest it had been in a couple weeks during those couple hours. just enjoying my kids. "real life" can't be a party all the time, but it was a nice change of pace! and i loved doing it for my kids!