Our Lil' Purple-Faced Baby!

Just had to snap a picture of our little Ellie-bellie with her purple face... It's just too cute! LOL
Thankfully the gentian violet seems to be kicking the thrush in the butt! :-)

We Got to be Part of Pop-Culture History :-)

And THAT is ALWAYS a fun adventure! :-)

Back in October, there were rumblings 'round town that there was this "guy" who was putting together a Flash Mob for anyone & everyone who wanted to, to participate in...

So first of all, if you're not familiar with what a "Flash Mob" is... here's a quick lesson:

>Read THIS.
>Watch THIS, THIS, and THIS. :-)

Now back to our tale...

I found this Facebook Fan Page: Flash Mob Birkdale 2009 and got a chance to read up on the "guy." His name is Terry Vaughan and he lives here! He is a motivational speaker & a teambuilding expert... (you can read more about him HERE...) who was inspired by seeing the Oprah Flash Mob, to do something like it locally to bring the community together for some fun. And FUN it was! We heard it was the FIRST Flash Mob Dance in North Carolina... so we were pumped to be a part of history in the making!

The weather was GORGEOUS! Sunny & in the 70's!

The crowd was HUGE... estimates were that there were 2,000 dancers.

Then... we DANCED! :-)

It was really a LOT of fun... even though my kiddos chickened out on the dancing part. Sam said she got nervous 'cuz there were "too many people!" :-) Laura (the daughter of our friends Malcolm & Carolyn for those of you who don't know her) danced with me & Mom did a great job playing the part of an unsuspecting spectator! LOL

We even got to meet Terry, the guy who organized the whole thing! He was so nice to say "Hi!" to us & take a picture with the kids:

Afterwards, Coldstone Creamery was calling our names...

Yum-O!

Then we got to enjoy the Birkdale Village Parade & Christmas Tree lighting...

The Hopewell HS Marching Band sounded great!

The kids were THRILLED to see Santa Claus!

And after Santa made his way 'round... He flipped the switch on the Chrsitmas Tree!

Not too shabby for an impromptu afternoon out! (I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to pull off actually going 'cuz Danny was working, Lawrie was having a "bad day," and Ellie was being... well, a baby. LOL!) It was a fun way to ring in the holiday season...........

Ellie's New Toy!

Ellie tries out her ExerSaucer for the first time... She was instantly enamored with the mirror! Her ExerSaucer was a gift from Danny's Aunt Susan & Uncle Bill. :-)

UPDATE: Video added @ 10:02 pm

Halloween was a BLAST!

I'm thinking I'd better start out this blog post with a disclaimer... It seems like this year more than I ever remember in the past, people's feelings really reached boiling points regarding being a Christian & "celebrating" Halloween. Maybe I'm just perceiving that to be so because I'm more connected this year thru blogs & Facebook... but anyway... just to clarify...

I am painfully aware of the pagan traditions surrounding Halloween (psst... there are also several pagan traditions surrounding Christmas & Easter, too *GASP!*)... and I'm aware of the tradition of All Hallow's Eve being celebrated as the day before All Saints' Day... I'm also aware of the way various other cultures celebrate the day (i.e. the Latino celebration of Dia de la Muerte.) However, for our family's sake, we've chosen to recognize Halloween as a fun-filled day & night of costumes & candy and for "fun fright," not nightmare inducing terror. I believe that every family must draw the Halloween lines for themselves based on their understanding of Scripture and we do not judge anyone else's family for their beliefs regarding Halloween. :-)

So... THIS year... my kiddos fell in love with a movie from MY childhood: Ghostbusters! Now, my Sammi has been fascinated by "ghosts" of all sorts... from Scooby-Doo's ghost hunts to Ghost Hunters on the Discovery Channel, since she was about 5 years old. And quite frankly I was always fascinated by the paranormal when I was younger, too... so I know how to talk with her about it and how to handle in light of our family's Christian faith. But I honestly just thought "Ghostbusters" would be way to campy for my kids who are dazzled by the latest CGI-effects with every new movie we see... nevertheless, they LOVED it! (And Ghostbusters II, I might add...)

When it came time to discuss costumes for this year... Sammi wasted no time blurting out "Ghost!" And without missing a beat, Lawrie said, "I wanna be a GhostBUSTER!" LOL

TOO cute, I thought! Then we found out that our Church would be hosting a "Trunk or Treat" event and we just knew that we had to show up in "Ecto 1!" (Ahem, that's the name of the Ghostbusters-mobile...) ;-)

We had a GREAT time and I think the costumes AND the car turned out awesome, even if I so say so myself!

Ecto - 1 (2009 Edition) :-)

Sammi, bein' all ghostly!

Ellie, the friendly ghost! :-)
(Her little hat said "Boo!" It was too cute...)

Who ya gonna call???

The blacklights, the Ghostbusters Soundtrack, and lotsa candy made our "trunk" a big hit!

A little dry-ice helped complete the effects...


Quite a stash was gathered by the kiddos!

And all that fun wore 'em slap out! :-)

Wow... November...

First of all, I cannot believe that it is November.

Second of all, in looking back over my blog posts from this year, I noticed that I didn't do a very good job. Oddly enough, most of my posts were consumed with being pregnant! (Go figure!)

I think the other reason is because of Facebook... the evil monster that it is. So many friends & family members are on there, that it is just almsot too easy to post pictures & anecdotes for them to see nearly instantly vs. the work of blogging. But I started this blog when Lawrie was 4 months old(!) and I don't intend to give it up just yet!

AND... since I can't believe it's November... Why don't we have a little fun with a Summer Review??? :-)

~~~May, 2009~~~

Well, this month was pretty much consumed with the planning, prepping, and carrying-out of Shell's wedding! May 15th was the Rehearsal Dinner...

Pictures here ---> SWARINGEN/BLACK REHEARSAL

Then on the 16th... we all had a wonderful time on the BIG day! Sammi & her cousin Katie were the Flower Girls... Lawrie was the Ring Bearer...

I was the Matron of Honor... and Danny was on "kid wrangling" duty! LOL

But it was a wonderful wedding and we all had a great time! You can see ALL (and I mean all 800+) of the pictures here ---> SWARINGEN/BLACK WEDDING & RECEPTION

Then at the end of May, it was time to wrap up Lawrie's 3-year-old year in Playschool!

Lawrie with "Miss" Elizabeth

Lawrie with "Miss" Kim

And of course, I posted more pictures on Facebook! Click here ---> Lawrie's EOY Program

~~~June, 2009~~~

For the month of June, our MAJOR event was that Lawrie made it to his FOURTH BIRTHDAY! LOL!

We had a great time by the pool with the rest of the fam & Lawrie's BIG gift this year was a brand new, big-boy bike since he'd mastered riding without training wheels!

I posted pictures on Facebook here ---> Lawrie's 4th Birthday
And Shell posted some on her Facebook too! ---> Lawrie's 4th Birthday - Shell's Shots

~~~July, 2009~~~

July was our busiest month by far... but also the most fun! We started out the month with a week long trip to the coast of Virginia to visit Pawpaw & Grammaw Barth & Aunt Nikkie! We did EVERYTHING that week... from minature golf to building sand castles at the beach to having a mini-baby shower with the extended family to canoeing & paddleboating at Newport News Park to camping out in the backyard overnight!!!
It was truly a perfect way for Sammi & Lawrie to spend time with us, Pawpaw, Grammaw & Nikkie before the baby made its debut.

And there's, like, a TON of pictures here ---> Summer '09 in VA

Then there was the Fourth of July...

We celebrated with supper at Five Guys then headed to Daddy's downtown Lowe's store... which has a parking deck on the roof... to watch the Charlotte fireworks!

Also in July, we visited the Ballpark with a group from our church to cheer on the Charlotte Knights!

And lastly... July means Sammi & Poppy's BIRTHDAYS!

She turned the be 0-7 this year & Poppy turned the big 6-5! :-) Sammi's big gift this year was something she's been asking for for a while... a REAL-sized stroller for her baby doll! (She'd outgrown all the "toy" baby strollers....)

ALL of our busy, busy July is summed up in photos here ---> JULY '09

~~~August, 2009~~~

If July was our BUSIEST month of all, then August was our BIGGEST month! As we waited for our new arrival, Sammi got to sing in church for the very first time...

Sammi & her friend Avery performed "I Am a Friend of God" for our special "Blessing of the Backpacks" Sunday...

Then... all of lives were changed in an instant... at 1:12 a.m. on Wednesday, August 19th... when Miss Melinda "Ellie" Kay Barth joined our family and made us a "Party of 5!!!!!"
I blogged about her amazing birth here ---> ELLIE'S BIRTH STORY in case you missed it.
There are PLENTY of pictures from the lil' booger's birth & first few weeks at home here on Facebook ---> MELINDA KAY BARTH

~~~

Sheesh... THAT was exhausting! (Mainly because Blogger's formatting is just NOT friendly, in my opinion...) Believe it or not, it's taken me a WEEK to finish this post! Ugh... I just cannot let myself get THAT behind again... LOL!
I think pretty much everything else is documented... more about Ellie... the kids' first day homeschooling for this year... so fortunately I am officially caught up! Trouble is, I can't slow down for one second in this family... or I'll be left in the dust!!! ;-)

FIELD TRIP! Patterson Farm, NC

On Friday, October 23rd, we visited Patterson Farm in Mt. Ulla, North Carolina for the day. It was a wonderfully fun learning experience. The kids learned a lot about the operations of a tomato, strawberry, and pumpkin farm... enjoyed feeding some farm animals up close & personal... took a hay ride through the fields... picked out some pumpkins... posed for pictures... and finally, had some fun on the farm's playground! It was a great day & we were lucky enough to have Daddy with us because he was off from work... The pictures tell the story...