Halloween Preview 2009

TRUNK OR TREAT!

The Matthews Family Good Witches

Bring you Happy Halloween Wishes!

Choobs is the White Witch.

Raleigh is the Candy Corn Witch.

Madeline is the Spider Witch.

Dionne is the Something-0r-Other Witch. (I tell Dallas, "You've gotta take me on a nice date so I can wear that ball gown sometime other than Halloween!!")

And Dallas is a wizard. Not a warlock, a wizard. Because that's what the girls want him to be. He's a good daddy.

The best part about Trunk-or-Treating was giving out the candy!! We built a semi-life-size spooky haunted house with windows and a door, and Madeline and Raleigh took turns passing out the candy. The little kids would come up to the door and knock, and a good little witch would open the door to hand them a treat. Here's Madeline:

Charlotte (Shawn and Ginny Butler's little girl, dressed up as a cafeteria lady), LOVED the house and knocked on the door 40-50 times.

Here are Choobs and Charlotte playing:

Now.

After all of the candy you eat this weekend,

don't forget to brush your teeth.

Just relax and brush, the way Choobs likes to do it.

The Bug Hunt

Choobs vs. The Gnat

(Please ignore the moving-in mess.)

Choobs vs. More Bugs

Dear Dade,

When will you come visit me?

I miss sharing my personal space with you,

And sitting at this table with you,

Eating Grammy's (Grandy's) Famous Smoothies,

And fighting over Madeline's purse.

I'll let you have it this time.

I need a snuggle,

Or two.

Even though we're far away now, I do enjoy seeing my dad at lunchtime,

Falling asleep on the floor now and then,

And playing with my sisters.

Maybe when you come we can organize some water bottles.

Wouldn't that be fun?

Or we can eat cereal together again,

Just for old times' sake.

We could also eat Combos together. And stuff them in our cheeks,

And suck on them until all the cheese comes out,

And then spit them out when we are done.

Doesn't that sound fun? Please come visit me, Dade!

Miss Middle

After re-discovering the dress-ups on moving day, Madeline (the bride, wearing her "reading glasses") put on an impromptu story time for Chooberella, who got to participate in dress-ups for the first time in her little life.

Poor Miss Madeline, though. She has been a little accident-prone since we've been here. While taking her first shower in the "Girl's Bathroom" (and very girly it is), we heard a loud crash, and Madeline was covered in shower curtain with a pole on top. Not two days later, I walked past the other bathroom where Dallas and the girls were talking. Madeline was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, and I saw her, (IN SLOW MOTION), fall backwards into the tub with the whole shower curtain and pole falling in on top of her. She lay there kicking her legs, laughing and screaming, (while we were laughing and screaming), and we rushed to find her upper body and head somewhere in the jumble. The entire family saw it. It was a legendary moment for all of us.

But honestly, what are the chances of bringing down TWO shower curtains in THREE days? She's a legend. But it doesn't stop there.

I am reupholstering our kitchen chairs, and this accident happened:

I made her stay there until I could get a picture. (She was "a little sore because Mom made me stay there until she got a picture.")

Okay, wow, and then look at this mess:

All I'm saying is that it was DALLAS and the FILE BOX who caused this bit of trouble. Madeline escaped unscathed, minus her pride. If she had any left after a week's worth of accidents. I'm sorry to say that she is just like her mother in this department. Now where did I get it from???

Raleigh & Her Self-Portraits

Virginia Beach, VA

(This isn't a self-portrait, but close enough to look like one. Sort of amphibious-looking.)

Alpharetta, GA

Now is it just me, or has she grown up overnight??? I guess she's had to grow up fast with all of the moving we've been doing. She had a school assignment yesterday where she had to make up riddles for her vocabulary words. Here's what we came up with:

1. What type of fabric softener does the mama tiger use?

Answere: Pounce.

2. How does the sleepy girl sing?

Answere: Monotone. (A little bit of a stretch but all we could think of.)

3. What did the car put on when he got dressed in the morning?

Answer: Attire.

4. What did the Great Dane call her tea party?

Answer: Dainty.

5. Where did the singer learn how to ask questions?

Answer: Inquire.

The last word was "clench," and I could not, for the life of me, come up with anything. When Dallas came home, he listened to all of the others and then came up with this:

6. How did the teeth win the talking race?

Answer: They clenched it!

Yay for Dallas! And for Raleigh! And second-grade homework! And cheesy humor! It's the best.

What's on Your To-Do List?

The Rains Came Down

Yesterday morning the Georgia rain fell particularly hard and fast. I piled Raleigh and Madeline into the backseat, and Choobs sat wide-eyed in her carseat, watching and listening to the pelting rain and thunder. I think they were a little nervous because Madeline said, "Mom, I think we better say a prayer." We did. Then I decided it was time for a rousing song of "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man."

Oh, the rains came down and the floods came up.

The rains came down, and the floods came up.

The rains came down and the floods came up,

And the house on the rock stood still.

I explained to them what it meant to have your house built upon the rock or upon the sand. Building your life upon the teachings of Jesus Christ is like building on the rock.

"What if you kick somebody? Is that building on the rock?"

"Or what if you help set the table for dinner? Is that building on the rock?"

And on and on. Everyone and their mother (literally) was driving to school because of the rain, so this part of the conversation was endless.

Eventually, the girls began coming up with their own examples:

Raleigh: "What if you plant dandelions in your yard? ON PURPOSE??"

Madeline: "What's that? Is that good or bad?"

Raleigh: "DANDELIONS ARE WEEDS!!"

Madeline: "Oh, that's bad."

Dionne: " . . . Yeah. . . . That's bad."

In other news, Dallas spent an entire Saturday a couple of weeks ago helping with the flood cleanup in Austell, Georgia, with the men of our ward here. (I'm glad he wore his old clothes and shoes. I'm thinking about throwing the shoes away.)

He came home covered head-to-toe with something white. I think it was sheetrock debris. His group worked in a cul de sac where they completely gutted a house down to its frame. Nice houses, too. Everything was ruined; everything had to go. They pulled everything out onto the curb for pickup. He said the line of mud where the top of the water came to was eight feet up the wall. I was like, "What happened? How did they get out?" He said they just started swimming! Dallas said he won't ever forget the smell there, and he felt "toxic" when he came home after breathing in who-knows-what. But they were able to do a lot of good and felt happy for the opportunity to serve hands-on.

Yesterday

The girls and I were on our way back from the playground to grab a quick drink at our place before going to run some errands. We have a garage at our apartment, so I pulled up and clicked our garage door opener so that I could run in and keep the girls in the car while I got:

1 ice water in a Hello Kitty water bottle,

1 ice water in an Alpine Elementary (sniffle) water bottle, and

1 ice water in an orange sippy cup. Respectively.

WELL, the garage would NOT OPEN! Sheesh. I had to get out and go around to open the front door. And now the KEY wasn't working! So annoying. We were thirsty. Good thing the office was open so that I could ask them to open our door. Or we could leave for a couple hours and come back when Dallas got home. But wait- where was our doormat?

I went back into the car, baffled.

Then after a few moments of inspiration, I backed the car out, and drove two complexes to the east, pulled into OUR driveway and got:

1 ice water in a Hello Kitty water bottle,

1 ice water in an Alpine Elementary (sniffle) water bottle, and

1 ice water in an orange sippy cup.

Respectively.

Our Town

To all of you out-of-towners, here is a link to my hometown. See why it's a great place to live! #8. Peachtree City, Georgia.

And come to visit us sometime!

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/index.html