What a Halloween Day!

Yes, America, I'm calling it what it is. It's Halloween, and I ain't just gonna say that we went to a fall party or a pumpkin party or a fall festival today. I just finished reading a fabulous article that my sister, Abby, sent to me about Halloween, and I'd invite you to copy and paste this addresss in your address bar, and go read this! http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/october2/29.79.html It is so well written. I mean, come on. Don't we all have some really fun memories of Halloween and trick-or-treating from our growing up years? Must we act as if we're not being good Christian parents if we allow our kids to participate in this societal tradition? I luuuuuuved dressing up at Halloween, and you know, I think that if life weren't so crazy hectic right now that I might would've enjoyed trying to figure out some semblance of a costume to wear to our church's Trunk-or Treat event tonight. Who might I have gone as? Hmmmm... I think it would've been fun, if my two sisters lived close by, to have gone as the three sisters in Sense and Sensibility. Hey-those a-line dresses hide a multitude of sins, ladies. Thank you Jane for S&S! You know what would really be fun, dressing as Mary Kay Ash herself--get a big ol' blonde wig and really do the makeup seriously, wear the biggest earrings, necklace and rings I could find, and wear a powder pink professional suit with a bee on my shoulder! :) Or maybe I should just tie some items to my clothing like some pieces of laundry, baby dolls, toys, crumpled magazine, a sippy cup, a few chew toys, a hairball or two--I would be a piece of still art representing my family room floor. Oh ladies, can I get a witness?? But seriously, dressing up is always fun! That's why I long for sometimes really yearn for an opportunity to get dolled up--cause for one night for a few hours I get a little respite from the everyday roles I play. Don't get me down wrong (thank you Marvin), I love my everyday roles, but don't we all love a little escape sometimes?
So here are some photos of our day. It was hectic and wonderful, and now begins the struggle of "Mom, can I have another piece of candy, please???" So maybe you'd like to share what you'd dress up as, and maybe you have some tips about the candy surplus!
PS-Oliva wanted to be a queen today, and she kind of created her costume herself, and I thought she looked lovely! She requested face paint, so I made a purple mask-like thing around her eyes. Tonight at the trunk-or-treat, she went as an "Indian Queen", because she switched and wore the dress that our friends from India gave her! Benjamin was going to be a puppy dog, but that costume was making me sweat just looking at it, so we opted for the cooler option of cowboy.

Wal-Mart Photo Sessions and other things that raise my blood pressure

Well, I finally took Benjamin for his inagural Wal-Mart photo studio session experience. I took Olivia in when she was 4 months old, and Benjamin is nearly 7 months old, but I squeezed him into his baptismal outfit and went for it. There are a few elements of experiencing a photo session in Wal-Mart that I could do without. Maybe some of you who have desired to have pictures of your children taken without having to remortgage your home can relate to some of the following matters of frustration.
1. Rather than a warm, professional greeting, a woman leaned around a wall divider and said loudly, "Honey, you can't change his clothes in here. My boss will fire me. There's cameras everywhere in here, so we can't have kids undressing. Take him to the bathroom, sweetie."
2. Everytime I go to Wal-Mart for pictures, there is always a battle over the backdrop. The photographer has a very difficult time understanding that I generally prefer the white, black, or blue background. Now for those of you who want a one dimensional Buzz Lightyear standing at attention behind your baby in a photograph meant to be kept for all of posterity, please do not take offense. Nor should those of you who simply can't resist the backdrop with the large stars or the one with Santa peeking around the Christmas tree be offended. As my pastor at Asbury United Methodist Church, Marvin Leggett, used always say, Now people, don't get me down wrong...I have to admit that I fell to the pressures of a rather aggressive photographer last year, and we do have a picture of Olivia amongst a field of spring flowers. And while it is a little cheese-ball for me, I have to tell you, it's not all bad. However, being that we don't go for pictures more than once a year generally, I just want the simple, basic white, black, or blue backdrop, please. And could you please not make me feel badly about it? Thank you.
3. When Olivia is working her smile as hard as she can, could you lay off of the feather duster in her face? After several rounds of, "Come on, sugar. Show me those pearly whites..etc." with the duster finding its way into all of the facial orafices of my child, I finally tried to interject politely with, "I think she's giving you her best smile," in order to spare Olivia any more of the trauma.
4. Could you please take a moment to learn my children's names? I just think it is the professional and caring thing to do to address a child by his or her name rather than calling them things like "Sissy" "Bubba" "Buddy" "Big Girl" "Blondie" "Baldie". OK, she didn't really call him Baldie. But that would've really been over the line, wouldn't it? :)
5. Last, but certainly not least, just a little greater concern for hygine and germ issues would be greatly appreciated. Maybe I shouldn't be so uptight, but when she kisses Benjamin's face with a teddy bear when he has druel running down his chin, and then she says, "Now I'm gonna kiss Momma!" I feel the wet teddy bear against my cheek and think, "Should I have waited to do this until after his next round of immunizations?" OK, not really, but you know what I'm saying. :)
The good news is that inspite of all the little crazy moments, we made it through without either child crying, and I think we actually got some pretty cute photos. I'll upload them when they come in. I must say that even though Wal-Mart photo studios are often a test of endurance, patience and your immune system, I'm always pleased with the end result! Maybe you have a photo session memory you'd like to share!

The law has come to town

Who can resist a kid in a cowboy hat? Olivia and I love to put this hat on him, and funny enough, Benjamin seems to kind of enjoy wearing it, too! Yesterday when I was waiting to pick Olivia up from dance class I had a moment that was a little embarassing, and as soon as it happened, I remembered the same thing happening when Olivia was about this same age. How quickly I forget. I was sitting there with Benjamin on my lap, and this woman looked at me, or so I thought, and smiled very warmly and said, "Hi!" I tried to look quickly to my left and right to see if someone else was respnding to her, but I quickly realized, "No she was looking in my direction, and even though I don't know her, she was definitely talking to me." So I smiled really big back to her, and said, "Hi!" and then she gave me a funny look and glanced down at Benjamin. Immediately I had my aha moment. "Duh!" She was smiling and talking to Benjamin, not to me! I remember this same sort of funny thing happening to me when Olivia was a wee one. What a goof ball I am! You ever had this sort of thing happen to you?

Olivia's Tent

I finally got blogspot to upload this picture. Olivia loved her tent, and in fact, ever since we had to dismantle her tent, she has discovered that a table in my office with a table cloth over it serves as a satisfactory temporary tent!

And He's Off!

Well, America, the true insanity has just begun. Benjamin is now crawling! It began this weekend, and all of you parents of more than one child know that with the second one you often are thinking that you wouldn't mind if he/she took a little bit longer to learn to crawl! I have already had a year or two taken off of my life with dealing with his new adventurous spirit. Sunday he crawled off of my bed--yes, it was dumb to put him there, and thank the Lord he didn't do any damage to himself--Me on the other hand...it took me about half an hour for my resting heart rate to get back to normal and for my hands to stop shaking. Today the fascination has been with phone and computer cords. He also did a face-plant on the bathroom tile today. I couldn't believe there wasn't any bruising with that one. Maybe I'll actually shed a few of those pounds I'd like to lose as I chase him around!
I am really frustrated with this blogspot.com right now, because I began this so I could upload photos and keep people posted on us, but it won't allow me to upload anything! I somehow got it to allow me to upload that one photo of Stan, Benjamin and me, but other than that, it won't load anything! Anyone have any advice?

Whatever

On Saturday at our church's Fall Festival they gave out CDs with children's music on them, and so Olivia wanted to listen to it on the way home of course. I really enjoyed one of the tunes, and Olivia and I were bee-bopping around to it as we rode home. She was enjoying the fall weather by keeping her window rolled all the way down, and her hair flew wildly beneath the Atlanta Braves cap she was wearing. Forgive me for getting wrapped up in creating a picture of the moment! Anyway, back to the song. It's that scripture that says "Whatever you do whether in word or deed do it all in the name of the Lord, Jesus." Olivia and I particularly enjoyed the intro to the song where the kids were singing "Whatever, whatever, what-what-what-what, whatever, " over and over again. Well, as often is the case, it's these kids' songs that stick in my head the most. I've been singing it all morning (I'm just grateful it's not the Dora song--another one that seems to often get stuck up there), and I've found it to be convicting. Whatever I do??? Really? Even making the beds and cleaning breakfast off of the table before the cereal remaining in the bowls becomes a compound hard enough to require a jack hammer to remove it? Can I? Will I choose to do that in the name of the Lord Jesus? As my BFF, Kristin and I always say, "Ich Libe ditch!" (Her college roomate was determined to try to teach her German--we think this means I love you, but it sounds much more like an experession of exasperation to us, so we use it as such.) So today, I'm going to really try to focus on doing "whatever" I do in the name of the Lord Jesus. What are you going to do today that will challenge you to say to the Lord, "OK, Jesus, this is that whatever thing, and I'm just going to do it in your name." Feel free to post your comments.

The Tent

Well, the Rogowski family is finally blogging! :) We just ended a full day because St. Mary's United Methodist had their Homecoming today and then the men of the church worked much of the afternoon completely emptying the sanctuary, because we're getting new pews and carpet and paint in the sanctuary in the coming couple of weeks. Benjamin is still awake and it is 9:30pm. I'm afraid I must confess it is likely because I ate two brownines today. In my defense, they were tiny, but I suppose they were enough to keep this little booger on a slumber party high tonight. Nursing mothers, stand with me and groan the painful groan of a woman who just wants a little chocolate--OK, who am I kidding? I want a lot of chocolate, and a lot of chips and salsa! The day will come when I won't be bound to an onion and chocolate free diet! I have a dream! Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, I'm gonna eat some brownies when I'm free at last! Can I get an amen?
Well, I thought I'd include some pics of what Olivia, Stan and I have been up to this weekend. (Olivia took the picture included. I would've put one of Olivia in, but something wasn't working right when I tried to upload a 2nd picture.) Stan helped her build a tent between the couch and the kitchen bar, and we had so much fun playing school! Olivia helped me take attendance, and we had to do lots of projects, eat snacks, sing songs, say the pledge to the flag (which I totally didn't even know my child knew--how about that?), trace letters, and do lots of cleaning up and washing of our hands--I'm assuming this is what she does a lot of on her three days a week in preschool. Very fun! I got to be the teacher, and Olivia was my big helper. It's so amazing how suddenly a space can be so fascinating and entertaining when you simply put a blanket or two over it! I remember making some fabulous little rooms underneath many a parsonage dining room table when we were kids.
Here was the funny conversation of the weekend around here: I mentioned at the dinner table last night that we hadn't heard from Uncle Will in a while. Olivia said, "He's busy at school." Stan said,"Up at Asbury?" She said, "Yeah. I'm gonna go to Raspberry some day, too, when I get to be big. I have to do lots of tricks, don't I?" Stan and I giggled and said to eachother, "Yeah, it's gonna takes some tricks for us to be able to afford it!" I loved the "Raspberry", though!
Well, the treadmill beckons.