Wow. That's all I can say. I couldn't get enough of watching their reactions after that 3rd strike. Matt scoffed at my sniffles, but come on, it was emotional! I feel that I would've enjoyed celebrating with Tim and Jen, instead of Matt, who asked if we could go to bed now.

Field Trip

Today I went with Lana on her first field trip. It was so fun to see her interacting with the other kids. I found out that in a group she is very shy! Who would've thunk it. And her teacher is a very amazing woman. I SO would not like teaching kindergarten.

Lana's best friend from school, Inez, moved here from South Africa 2 years ago. She is very sweet and I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with her Mom, who is very dedicated to the Lord. We were sharing how we prayed that our daughters would find friends whose families shared our faith and values, and He answered! Plus it's totally fun listening to them talk, since they have that great accent.

And, of course, tonight the Phillies are going to win the World Series, so all in all it's been a really great day. :-)

GO PHILLIES!!!

I learned last night that it is very lonesome watching the Phillies in the World Series all by oneself. Matt was out and there was only Tucker to startle with my exclamations of joy and angst. He is a faithful friend and stayed by my side, but he couldn't exactly discuss with me whether that pitch was inside or not. Besides, he had separation anxiety from Matt. The poor dog was beside himself with worry. I'm pretty sure he thought that Matt was never coming back. When Matt did come home, I thought that Tucker was going to have a heart attack. Pretty funny. What is it about Matt that invokes such love and devotion from even his dog? :-) Because he's awesome, probably. Do I tell him that enough? Probably not.

What a beautiful weekend! We spent most of it outdoors, enjoying the crisp, cool weather. On Saturday we went on a hayride with a group of friends. The horses pulled us out to a pumpkin patch where we spent most of our time trying to find Trent the perfect pumpkin. It had to have just the right size stem, and not a single spot on it. Needless to say, he had to settle for one with just a teeny spot on it, which he accepted but not without pointing it out to us several times. Lana had fun running between the rows and trying to get people to take pictures of her.

Yesterday after church we went to Ott's with Matt's Mom, Chad, and Chad's girlfriend Sarah. We go every year and the kids are such pros at posing at just the right spots for pictures. After that we went back to Lynda's for dinner and a marathon leaf-raking session. She kept thanking us for helping, but I don't think she realized how much fun we had! I think we got the better end of the deal. We don't get that many leaves from our one tree in the backyard, so they couldn't get enough of the enormous pile we had. Anyway, we came home exhausted but recharged for a new week.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see what a brave little girl Alison really is. She was in the hospital for about 9 hours, being poked, prodded, stuck, and taped. She was funny with the doctors, telling them to get out and to stop talking to her Mommy!! Wouldn't you? :-) But in between, she was happy and smiling, playing and reading. She was jumping up and down while Kim and I were exhausted. She's amazing! It was hard to see her go through all of that, but she was so good! Even in between bouts of getting sick on the way home, she was chatting and laughing. When I got home all I could do was hug my kids so tight. Unfortunately I have even less patience with Trent's tantrums about his lid not matching his sippy cup!! Lord help me!

Trent has developed a fear of the dark. A real terror that I can't just tell him to get over. We bought him a little lamp that we leave on at night, and he's fine as long as that light stays on. Last night I asked him what he was scared of, and he said that when the light is off there is a shadow that looks like scary hair. Oh, how that sounds familiar! I don't remember how old I was when I developed my fear of the giant with crazy hair outside the doorway of my room. I was in the bottom bunk of the crib in our little "nursery", and beyond the doorway past Mom and Dad's steps was a tall bookcase with a big spider plant on top. I absolutely knew that it was a bookcase with a plant on top, but that didn't stop my insides from shaking when the light went out. It was transformed. My eyes were glued to that giant; I just knew that if I looked away or hid under the covers that he would sneak in and get me. I would call for Mom and she would come down and show me what it was, but as soon as she went back upstairs he reappeared. I would just lay there in terror until I fell asleep. At some point, obviously, I got over it, as I trust Trent will. It just seems funny to me now, and I don't think that I'm traumatized at all by it.

Yesterday we got to visit with both Grammy Manthey and Grammy Metz. I forgot to bring my camera in to Grammy Metz's, and besides that, she was in a great hurry to get to her 4:30 dinner reservation.

If anybody ever asks where we get our weirdness, I think we can look further back than Dad . . .