Thankful One

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving and the thankfulness that many express this month.  I have one very thankful son in my house tonight.  2 years ago, Cody got his braces.  Here he is on that day:

 Today, he got them off.  A lot more than the placement of his teeth sure has changed in this man-child over those 2 years.  He was 13, now he is 15.  He was in middle school, now he is in high school.  He was shorter than me, now he is taller than me.  He is even close to getting his driver's permit soon.

Let's just say, he is feeling pretty thankful to have these things off.  He has not been very fond of them. This just may be the best Thanksgiving ever for him!!

Life with the Clapps

I would be lying if I didn't admit that reengaging life since the Swazi trip has been a challenge for me.  I don't know all the reasons.  I think some of it has been spiritual attack.  Some of it has been the crazy life we lead.  Some of it has been the adjustment I am still going through with my kids getting older.  It has truly been painful for me.  I am trying so hard to embrace it.  Honestly, I am still mourning the loss of the baby/toddler/preschool stage of children in our family.  

All the while, life still goes on around here.  I have a hard time sitting down to record it so I will share a lot of what has happened.  

Abby's spiritual bday was while we were in Africa.

Since we didn't have the fam there, we celebrated when we returned. 

We gave her a journal as her gift before the trip so she would have it to write in on the trip.

 Abby's Ice Cream Sundae

 We also celebrated our 10 year house Birthday by going to Old Chicago!

 I agreed to lead Isaiah's class Thanksgiving party.  His teacher's bday was the same day as our party so we celebrated her, too with flowers, singing, and gift cards!

 Our feast with a plethora of pies!

 I wonder where Isaiah sits?

 We played a math/coloring game

 We made a turkey craft

 If only...

 Lauren's class had their end-of-the season soccer party at Fargos

 Her coach with the Puma made by one of her teammates

 Laila saw The Little Mermaid for the first time this week.

She fell in love with Flounder.  

I love that she is wearing a Venom costume while she watches it.

 I saw this today and it cracked me up!  

Isaiah on his "tablet"(kid version) with a cup of coffee

My days have been filled with driving kids all over(school, sports, dr. appts., etc.)  The cold weather has arrived to Colorado so I am basically freezing all the time.    

We are very thankful to have this whole week off as a family for Thanksgiving.  We are looking forward to lazy mornings and wearing our jammies ALOT!!

Pumpkins, Costumes, and Candy

I am only about 3 weeks behind on my blogging.  Sharing about Swaziland put everything else on hold.  I don't want to miss out on having our Halloween festivities recorded.  Halloween for us is about traditions, fun, friends, and CANDY!!  

Every year, the kids beg to each have their own pumpkin to carve.  Every year, it is just too painful for me to spend that much money on 6 pumpkins that I know will just rot on our front steps.  This year, I was heading to Walmart to buy a couple of pumpkins.  When I got there and saw that they were marked down to $2.50 each, I just had to surprise the kids with one for each of them.  

At this point, Cody and Lauren were working on homework.  They joined us later.

 Gut removal

 Some of my kids love this part, others hate it!!

 Isaiah's pumpkin

 Laila giving her mean face.  Ooh, scary!

 Love Abby's Africa

 Cody carved flames

 Lauren's pumpkin had quite the eyebrows and mustache

 And, of course Sam is picking his pumpkin's nose

 The Pumpkin Lighting

 Napoleon Dynamite

 This kid was so much like him, it was actually scary.  

He talked like him...

 …and even learned the dance.

 My little nerd...

 …and her nerdy friends

 We had a trio of Super heroes this year:

#1

 #2

 Are you surprised to see this?

 This chick decided a long time ago that she wanted to be Iron Woman.  I suggested adding a tutu and hair bow and her red boots to make it look more like a woman, but she would have none of that.  She had to wear the costume just as it was made.  She even bought it with her own money.  She had so much fun being exactly what she wanted to.

Spider-man for the second year in a row

 #3

 "I'm Batman"(said in a very husky voice)

 Pow!

 BAM!

 Abby was a glow stick figure.  

 Blurry, but an idea of what it looked like

 The back of my truck on the way to our friends' house.

I felt very safe!

 We have spent at least 5 years with our good friends, The Fowlers, trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.  Micah even mapped out the route ahead of time this year being sure to include the house that gives out sodas.  It is so much fun.

The whole crazy crew

 Trick or Treat!!

It won't be long before this phase will pass.  I am enjoying it while we still have little ones to enjoy it!

While We Were Gone

I have shared all about our trip to Swaziland, but I haven't shared what happened at home while we were gone.  We were so blessed to have Rick's mom come to stay with the kids.  It was a treat for the 5 who stayed home to have her here, and it made our going so much easier.  They had their own adventures.  Grandma was lots of fun.  I am going to share their time with you in pictures.  

There was lots of bike riding

 Miniature Golf

 Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

 Lauren did some cooking

 Grandma got to see their sports.

This is Lauren celebrating right after scoring a goal!

 Skate Park

 This boy loves the skate park

 Isaiah had his last soccer game and came home with a glow-in-the dark medal

 Church on Sunday

 A shot with Lauren

 Grandma makes a mean bowl of biscuits and gravy

 I have no idea how many times they went to the park.  

 I know it was a lot!

 Laila had school 3 days

 Gunther Toody's is always a favorite

 She is one brave woman to take care of all 5 of them for 11 days!!

 Some more park fun

 It even snowed while we were gone.  Grandma was thrilled!

 Roller skating

 Some very competitive games of Sorry

Grandma, Thank you so much for using your vacation time to come visit.  I love how you jump right in and spend time with the kids in every way possible.  You really made their time so much fun!  That made it so much easier for us to leave knowing they were in your loving, capable care.  It gave them some special ways to enjoy their Fall Break.  We love you and are so grateful for the way you blessed us!!