pie social

Our church had a pie social tonight! For a hour and a half, there was a family festival- complete with inflatable jumpy, slidey things, games, and face painting. After the games and inflatable sort of fun, the church gathered and ate pie together. From what I understand, the pie social has been one of the oldest traditions in our church. Here are pictures of Liam with pumpkin pie, and Charlotte with chocolate pie.

A funny thing about tonight was Charlotte on the inflatable obstacle course. She would race through the course with the most determined look on her face. At the end of the course is a rope climb up the inflatable wall. Charlotte can get up that rope in a matter of seconds. The pastor overseeing the obstacle course at the time is a retired master sergeant and he told me to watch Charlotte climb the rope. He'd seen her do it a couple times, and while lots of kids struggled to get footing and maneuver the rope, Charlotte never faltered. This retired master sergeant was proud of my little girl and that made me proud. I sometimes get frustrated that she won't let me dress her in pink or fuss with her hair, but I love that my little girl is scrappy and strong and fast. I didn't teach her any of that. I've just loved watching her grow.

And Liam is two today! Our day started with Charlotte waking us all up and her coaxing Liam out to the living room. We didn't think anything of it until we heard Charlotte explaining how to open presents. We scrambled out of bed and had to explain in no uncertain terms that yes, it is Liam's birthday, but presents were waiting until after naptime! Charlotte could not fathom a more inane idea, but Liam could not fathom what all the fuss was about! He got phone calls where family sang "Happy Birthday" to him and as I told everyone at church today that Liam is two, loads of people were telling him "Happy Birthday" and celebrating for him. His Brittney even got him a birthday present in a "Cars" gift bag-- a gift bag he proudly showed off to everyone. So when he unwrapped a great big box from his momma, papa, and sissy, he probably still had no idea what the fuss was about, but he by now was clearly enjoying the fuss. We got him a big set of blocks-- all shapes and sizes. He had a great time building and toppling, building and throwing, building and destroying! Our little man is two!

As I write, I remember a little more about the evening. So before I log off, I need to also say that there was a clown at the fall festival and how my children each interacted with this clown clearly illustrates the differences in their personalities.

When we were driving into the parking lot tonight, snow swirling big flakes, I saw a clown walking in. I wondered how Liam, in particular, would react. I started introducing the clown to Liam from across the room. I didn't want Liam to be surprised by the clown. I just knew that wouldn't work for him, though he's never seen one before.

The clown was sitting up on the stage. Liam was fine standing in one spot, watching every move the clown made. When I began to move a little closer, Liam became concerned. When we were halfway across the gym, Liam wanted absolutely no closer. About this time, however, I turned to talk to a couple friends and when I turned back around, my daughter was on stage next to the clown, roaring in his face! She would laugh when the clown would pretend to be scared and I immediately made Ash go get her down-- all other kids came up to the clown from the ground-- not from stage level. She lingered near the clown for a couple minutes-- amused and curious.

Liam, however, was still concerned. When I asked him to wave at the clown, he would cautiously move his hand up, but no wave. It wasn't until about 45 minutes later, after having studied the clown the whole time, Liam was okay with offering a friendly wave and allowing the clown to SLOWLY approach him. They shook hands and the clown gave Liam a purple heart sticker that read, "I hugged a clown today!" Liam proudly wore it on his sleeve.

Something very charming about those stickers-- by the end of the evening, it was not uncommon to see those "I hugged a clown today!" stickers, each a little crumpled, slapped somewhere on weary papas. The last sticker I saw was upside down on a young father who was carrying a tired child out to the lobby. The young father looked like the last thing he'd done that day was hugged a clown.

And something more to offer from our evening: Dance Dance Revolution! It's a video game-- but one where you move around on a dance pad following dance moves-- a little like that old game "Simon", but you follow the moves with your feet! Here's a picture of Ash with Peter (Johanna's brother). I think Ash lost every game he played, and I tried to get a picture of when you have to move your feet in opposite directions at once, but this was the best I got. I love that my husband played Dance Dance Revolution. I love that I have a picture of it.