just like the ones I used to know

As you could probably guess, the second part of Tree Night is always a bigger hit with the kids. Decorating the tree is merely a means to an end. I'd be more inclined to scold them for their priorities if I didn't remember being exactly the same way. So, after the tree was successfully dressed, we broke out the mugs of hot chocolate and the ridiculously large assortment of donuts (forgot to snap a pic of those!) that Dave had brought home. And of course we continued the revered Warren-tribe ritual of recounting the memories of each Christmas past. For us this begins with the year Dave and I began our journey together. And the kids get squirmy, only getting excited if they hear their name mentioned (i.e. -- "Henry was the new baby that Christmas!"), but really focusing more on licking the pudding out of their Boston Cream. Ah, the family fun.

Dave bought individual packets, so the kids could "name their poison" (as Dad would say) and hopefully no one would fuss. Right.
This was #1 of Liam's 3 donuts.
Henry looks thrilled with the trip down memory lane.
Enjoying the plunder

haul out the holly

So, Tree Night Pt. 1 -- we decorated our tree last night! We have lots of helpers now, as well as pseudo-helpers, so its an interesting game. I think we're finally collecting enough ornaments that not all can fit on a normal tree anymore! If we had space enough in our house, we could set up our smaller tree and cover it with ornaments, too. With such small kids, its so funny to watch them as all the ornaments come out of the boxes....here are the typical responses:

Liam: (ornament in mouth) Uh-huh! (his favorite word)

Carrie: I love this pink heart, its my favorite! Know why, Daddy? Cause its pink like me! No, this pretty angel is my favorite, just like I'm an angel! Oh! Look at this flower stocking -- I love pretty flowers!

Henry: (totally uninterested in the paraphernalia) Aren't there supposed to be donuts?

Warren: (arranging a line of ornaments) This is my 1st favorite, this is my 2nd, this one is my 3rd (etc, etc, etc)

Molly: I can't believe you boys don't remember this ornament! Mom, they don't even know about this stuff!!

Some pics of the hard work...

The 2nd part coming soon

I'm bound to thank you for it

this morning, at the breakfast table:

Molly: Hey everyone! Don't forget...tonight is Tree Night!

Kids: yeah! hooray! donuts! hot chocolate! woo-hoo!

Henry: Is anyone coming over for Tree Night?

Me: No, just our family this time.

Carrie: What?? But I want Daddy to be here for Tree Night!!!

Me: Uhh...he will. Our whole family will be here.

Carrie: Kids! Did you hear Mom? Daddy is coming over for Tree Night!!

(Tree Night pics, complete with the honored guest Daddy, will be posted later)

picture book, of people with each other, to prove they loved each other

Beth's main activity while here in VA (besides imbibing large quantities of Mountain Dew), was taking pics...

Thanksgiving Day leaf round-up...what a good-looking man!
Warren and Henry promised to help
Doesn't my baby look thrilled? NEVER too big to be kissed by Mom
I love this one! She's always in pink.

yesterday, they let me know you were gone

We miss Beth! It was so good to have her here for the week, and to share Thanksgiving with our family. The kids had so much fun with her, she took tons of pics (I'll be posting some of them later), and we spent plenty of time in our PJs. Its so hard to believe that Beth is already 17, graduated from high school, and fixing to start her second semester in community college! Her dreams for the future are motivating her well, and I can't wait to see what the next few years hold for the "most smartest" sister, who is also a super-creative genius. Thanks for visiting, Beth -- we'll take you back anytime!

I'll share this love I find with everyone

Thanksgiving Day was super! After prepping for 2 days (with much help from Beth), I spent all day Thursday cooking, while Dave was cleaning and getting the place ready for guests. The turkey was my main hang-up, but I was very surprised that it turned out beautifully, better than I expected! Our guests arrived late in the afternoon, and we had some time to visit before our meal. The Pippins are a family in our church, and Andre is in the middle of his 2nd consecutive year in Saudi Arabia. Caroline has been a single mom to their 3 children, and its been a tough haul for all of them (he won't be home until June). Their relatives live far away, so we asked them to spend the day with us, and we had a great time! The kids had fun playing video games and super heroes, while the adults sat around trying to figure out why we had eaten so much food. And it was wonderful to have Beth here to celebrate with us! We feel so blessed and had much for which to thank our God!

Molly loves to fold napkins for special dinners
The house barista at work (can you say "egg nog lattes"?)
Our family w/ the Pippins: Caroline, Andrew, Rachel, David (Beth was shooting, so escaped this one)
And Annie came over after for Denver biscuits and pie -- but to be fair, I think it was baby Judah demanding the calories, not her.

blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

So, tonight I'm reflecting on a few things for which I am thankful, while there are so many more that I don't have the energy to list:

*gracious provision for each and every day, from the Giver of all good gifts
*a husband who not only works hard, but tries in so many ways to serve me
*the 5 children I treasure, not just the 4 that I always said I wanted
*a rockin' 17 year-old sister who just finished helping me bake!
*pumpkin (anything)
*traditions from our families to share with our kids
*new traditions that make the SlaughterHouse unique
*an amazing heritage
*friends that spur me on to better things
*winter coming
*a wonderful fellowship of believers that we are so blessed to have
*that I can truly be thankful, really in awe of His goodness, and not just say it

Our celebration tomorrow will be joyful and abundant, yet bittersweet as we think of those we are missing. I hope that yours is rich, memory-making, and full of love!

or would you rather just mingle

Ok, I know this is a week late, but the kids were so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa here for their first trick-or-treating ever! It was great Halloween weather, and they had such fun filling their pumpkins with more candy than they have ever seen...at least since Papa last visited :-) After strolling the neighborhood, they made their way up to the Community Center for more loot, and I stayed behind to pass out candy to a million kids (felt like it anyway).

We had a black cat, Blue Power Ranger, Black Spiderman, CheerBear CareBear, and Peter Pan
She put together her costume by herself, very proudly.
Uncle Caleb, handing out more fun
Cousin Erin dressed as a Hokie cheerleader, but when her Dad would say, "Let's go to another house now, Erin", she would say, "I wanna go to YOUR house, Daddy!" But she enjoyed passing out candy with Annie.
Grandpa and the cutest little Peter Pan you've ever seen.

I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end

Pumpkin carving with Grandpa Slaughter...

Kids get the fun of watching. Some fun, huh?
Molly loves pulling out the "guts".
The finished product
Spooky Jack at night

walkin' October road

We went to Harper's Ferry , WV for a day, while Mom and Dad were here. Its a gorgeous town, with tons of history. And we were blessed with perfect weather that day! The sun was out, the leaves were beautiful, and we enjoyed walking around learning about early days in the town.

Grandma with the SlaughterHouse 5
Our crew
Peanut loves to mug for the camera
Mom and Dad Slaughter

imagining the world outside

Some fun in the beautiful fall outdoors...

Raking is serious business with the cousins.
Evidently there was important hammering that Robbie and Molly needed to do.
Dave was impressing the boys with his wood-chopping skills (I must say he looked very cute out there, swinging that ax)
Liam and Mommy strolling on the deck.

thank God for this new laughter

I managed to get some uploaded today -- hooray for me! Here are a few shots of indoor fun, hopefully soon followed by our outdoor activity.

The kids said we were boring grown-ups, just sitting around and talking.
Carrie convinced Daddy to play Winnie-the-Pooh friends with her.
Molly and Olivia making masterpieces.
Liam and Victoria stealing toys, most likely.

trouble is I'm so exhausted

I've been trying for almost 2 hours to post pics of the past week...the fun in the Poconos and Mom and Dad Slaughter's visit here. My computer is against me. Everytime I upload pics, it times out after 10 minutes or so, and I give up. I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe. I'm sleep-deprived after this nasty virus all week that keeps me up coughing all night and steals my voice, so my motivation is fairly low. But check soon, and hopefully I'll have conquered the machine.

Thanks to those who have been praying for my cousins Meredith and Matthew. For those who don't know, the 24 and 22 year old brother and sister were in a terrible car accident in Fort Worth, TX. They are both in critical condition on life support, and have already undergone several surgeries, with more to come. Meredith has never regained consciousness, and Matthew did for a bit, but is in an induced coma for now. The injuries are massive and many, too many to list here. We serve a big God, bigger than medical problems and earthly limitations, and I know He can heal them if it is His will, which is my fervent prayer. Please pray for them if you can.

hello? (hello, hello?) is anybody in there? just nod if you can hear me.

I'm pretty sure you feel like there is no point in checking my blog, seeing as how there has been nothing new for a while. I was just telling Jackie that I am so impressed that she blogs every day or two, always w/ cute pics and/or something interesting to say. Being interesting is, of course, a prerequisite for that routine, so maybe I'll find something else to impress everyone.

The SlaughterHouse is lighter than ever before. No one has gone on a crash diet, but I went on a massive closet-purging spree, and so went a ridiculous amount of junk we didn't need. Living in tight quarters has finally forced me to attempt some greater organizational techniques, but even that was impossible until I was much more picky about what each of us can own, keep, and keep put away. Even cleaning was next-to-impossible with very little floor/wall space exposed. Things are looking better every day, and I'm feeling successful (Dave as the dutiful husband is telling me I have done a great job, but you know Dave, he'd say that anyway). But you probably shouldn't ask my kids how they feel about me eliminating 1/3 of their belongings....they haven't figured it out yet. I'm hoping it'll be Christmas before they notice, and then their new loot should be a permanent distraction from "lost" treasures.

Warren is doing well recovering from Lyme. We still have another week and a half on his meds, and then hopefully leave this chapter behind us. He seems to have been back to his normal self since 2 weeks into the antibiotics -- that was so good to see. He even played goalie in his soccer game last week, and did a wonderful job!

In 2 days, we head up to the Poconos, to spend a couple days with Rob, Steph and kids, and Dave's parents. We haven't seen his folks in a year, and the kids are soooo excited. They'll come down to our house afterwards, and spend a week here in VA. Depending on weather, we hope to go apple picking and a couple more fall-ish activities (of which I will try to get some pics so that I'll have a reason to update this blog again!).

After about 3 Indian summers so far, I'm hoping that today's cold front is not an impostor. These new sweaters that I bought with my birthday gift cards (waving to awesome sisters) are sitting in my closet mocking me, complete with their tags. And I'm pretty sure they are saying, "Texas followed you East". And that's just not right. I'm praying that it gets so cold here, that CJ and Aubrey will feel it from 1500 miles away.

More later? Don't hold your breath too long.

looks like the blind is still bluffing the blind

(Scene -- Molly is outside playing, 4 other kids are in the living room watching a movie/playing TMNT, I am in the kitchen throwing food into pots to resemble "dinner"...)

Liam: (screaming with fervor)

Me: What's wrong w/ Liam? Did he get hurt? Check on him, please!

Warren: Carrie, why did you hurt Liam?

Carrie: No, I didn't do it! I promise! I'm good today!

Warren: Henry, why did you hurt Liam?

Henry: I didn't do it! I promise! I don't know what happened!

Warren: (to Henry) Well, Molly is outside, and Carrie says she didn't do it, and I can control myself, so that leaves you.

Me: (silently) Sadly enough, W's rationale actually makes sense.

my own fine day

Happy Birthday to the best surprise ever! Can't believe we're looking back on an entire year (though the 90 degrees today certainly reminds us of the hot weather the day he was born), amazed at this little person that we got. A very busy guy, Liam definitely makes us think of Molly as a baby: a bit high-maintenance and demanding something all the time. He cannot function without his siblings around, is offended if anyone leaves a room which he occupies, and is trying to making yelling an Olympic sport (or is at least practicing like he believes it). At 11 months, he began walking and is now attempting to run, once again offended if the floor doesn't cooperate. I'm amazed at his will, stronger than my other kids at this age, and his undeterred spirit in the face of discipline. **sigh** He loves to hug though, and make a game of going back and forth between Mom and Dad to tease us, laughing hysterically. By the way, that last picture is not the "birthday cake" picture. That is the evidence of the "I-have-5-kids-and-don't-have-time-to-remember-what-they're-allowed-to-eat" syndrome. He's been eating chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and ice cream longer than I'm willing to admit here. I'm sure the cake tonight will not be as thrilling as it was to the other kids. So, to our little Virginia baby, may God bless us with many more years with you!

we are frail, we are fearfully and wonderfully made

Gosh! He looks like his Dad here! Well, I get so used to our family, and my kids especially, being fairly healthy, so it really shakes me up when one gets really sick. Warren, our oldest son, had been complaining of some pain since June or July, off and on. The pain seemed mostly in his right leg/knee, and would hurt for a day or two and he would limp severely, and then one day he'd be fine, play soccer, ride his bike, etc. We just thought maybe arch problems ("stop wearing flip-flops!") or growing pains ("here's an Advil"), but it still kept showing up every now and then. Then on Wednesday of last week, he was limping heavily again and avoided walking if he could. I was a little concerned, but then when he woke up the next morning and his right knee was the size of his head, I was definitely freaking out. He could barely walk, and was really lethargic. So we made an appt, spent all day seeing nurse practitioners, Drs, lab techs, and an orthopaedist. The ortho decided Warren's knee needed to be aspirated, as there was way too much fluid to leave in there. My little guy was very tough during the very painful procedure, and the Dr was amazed at his stoicism (so was I!). Yesterday the blood/fluid tests all came back positive for Lyme disease. No, we don't remember seeing a tick, and no, we never saw the "bulls-eye", and no, he hasn't run any fevers. Very strange, but here we are. For about 28 days he'll be on antibiotics, and hopefully that will be enough to kill the bacteria that's attacking his body. Poor guy is so tired and the pain is intermittent right now. He's handling it pretty well, just asking anxiously every now and then if they'll need to stick another needle in his knee. I am thankful this wasn't anything more serious, and that there are such good treatments for Lyme these days. And I have a lot to be thankful for, including that this was the first time I have taken a child in for a "sick" Dr visit in 3 years! I think God has been very gracious. He is so good -- all the time.

where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came

Some great Tex-mex place (I miss REAL food!) in Arlington, VA
You know we had to get one picture in front of the tree.
Our "good-bye" shot

I really do have the best friends. This was a much-needed long weekend, mostly just hanging out, catching up, trying new wines, watching silly movies, some sight-seeing, and lots of laughing and crying. We stayed at Janelle's house, just outside DC (thanks Craig for turning the house over to us!), Amy drove up from SC and Jackie flew in from UT. I'm so blessed that we are all still so close, though far in distance, and that after all these years we still can't wait to be together! And we're already planning for next year's Posse reunion. I could post paragraphs about each girl, who they are and what they mean to me, but since they already know how important they are to me, I'll just share the pics here. Now, back to normal life....

I'm strugging to cater for the space I'm meant to fill

Precisely because its been a tough two weeks and even in free time my brain is too tired to think, I've been remiss in posting. I haven't even taken any pictures lately, so no good ones to share with you. Tomorrow I'm heading out for "Posse 07", my annual college-girlfriend-getaway-weekend -- much needed right now! I'll post again when I get back, hopefully in a better frame of mind, and ready to tell you nice things about my children.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, check out the Warren family blog here if you want a good laugh and a dose of what our childhood was like. We had fun putting it together.

if I could, I'd do anything spontaneously

Once again, Henry has made it (safely?) to his next birthday! He is 5 today, and will start the day with Count Chocula cereal (that mean Mom never lets him have except on his birthday), and we'll have a party tonight where he'll collect his loot. Pictures of that to come! Not much has changed, Henry is still a fireball of energy and constantly pushing me to the point of exhaustion, but is also the crowd favorite in almost all settings. He's an entertainer, loves most forms of weaponry, and is currently on a Ninja Turtle and Harry Potter kick (sometimes they even cross paths...don't ask). We're starting a **bit** of Kindergarten stuff, but I know him well enough to know that starting very slowly and tricking him into learning will help keep me sane. No seat work (or sitting, for that matter) for this boy, school will mostly be completed while standing on his head, or on some unsuspecting sibling. Happy Birthday Cricket!

what tho' the odds be great or small

GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!