Since I got my camera back...

I can't believe it's October 20th and my first blog of the month was yesterday. Here's the deal--Ty borrowed my camera and I didn't want to post the stories without the pictures. Needless to say, I missed some good picture opportunities and had no camera, so I do have some stories without pictures anyway.

So, some highlights of the month that don't have pictures:

*Chandler got stung by a wasp under his chin at my dad's auction/carnival for his tree farm. The kids had a ride in a wagon pulled by horses. Ty shot a potato gun.

*We woke up to 15 inches of snow 9 days ago. It was crazy--we rarely get snow that early in the season, and we rarely get that much at once. Wish I had pictures of it, but it melted before I had my camera. Marissa was up at 6 a.m. and I'm not sure how she saw it in the dark, but as soon as she discovered the snow, she was bouncing on our bed shouting "It snowed, it snowed!!" I had to look out of the window to see for myself. The kids absolutely loved it, although we were ill prepared (us Floridians don't have snow pants and snow boots and coats and gloves). I've been waiting for some good sales, but this took us off guard. Marissa went out and played all alone in the dark, then came in and talked me into having hot chocolate for part of breakfast. After we all ate, we all went out. They wanted us to teach them how to make a snowball, snow angel, and snowman. (That sounds really pathetic to people who grew up with snow, I know.) The snow was too powdery for snowmen and balls, so we only made angels, and then the kids were freezing, so we came in for round #2 of hot chocolate.

The next day was gorgeous. About 1/3 of the snow was melted off, and it was sunny and probably 50 degrees. We got all bundled up, only to take most of it off by the end. I took the kids out after Marissa got out of kindergarten and we ate lunch. We built a snow man and a snow woman, and we were all laughing so hard pelting eachother with snowballs. I pulled them around on the sled, and got a real work-out, I might add. It really was a lot of fun. Days like that are perfect winter days.

* Chandler said to me the other day, as I walked out of the bathroom, just having gotten dressed and done my makeup and hair, "Wow, mom, you look SHARP!!" What a cutie pie, and that's exactly what I called him--"Chandler, you're such a cutie-pie." He wrinkles his nose and furrows his eyebrows then says, "Don't call me cutie-pie, call me blue dog." Blue dog?? Okay, I have no idea where that came from. But my baby boy is showing signs of becoming a real boy sometimes (and frankly sometimes it scares me).

*Another thing that scares me is how grown up and perceptive Marissa is. She really does not miss a thing. So we were watching "The Other Side of Heaven" on Sunday, 2 days ago, and John Groberg kisses Jean in the beginning before he leaves for his mission. Marissa turns to me and says: Mom, how do you kiss?
Me: How do you kiss? like this--(and I peck her on the cheek).
Missy: No, mom, How do you kiss dad? With your mouth like this (open) or like this (closed)?
Me: Uh, er... Let's watch the movie.
I honestly still have no idea how to answer that to my 6 year old. I really would welcome any words of wisdom or ideas.