Halloween

Our neighborhood stinks for trick or treating so we headed over to my friend Lindy's house. See a pic of our kids here.  The kids got two giant bag-fulls of candy.  I don't know what we will do with it all. 

Carving the Pumpkin 2009

Fall Festival 2009

Today, we went to the Fall Festival at our church. Princess dressed up as Cinderella, and Speed Racer dressed up as Batman. We had a great time. The kids played games, won candy, bounced in the bouncy house, rode on a hay ride (Princess and me), ate hot dogs, hamburgers, and popcorn, and slid down the giant bouncy slide. It was quite a fun time.

Princess saw her friend, CE, and helped cheer her for a little while. Elijah ran around with his friend, JP. Of course, Princess and Speed Racer had to dance to the folk music before we left, and I enjoyed some cotton candy.

We had a great turnout - there was a lot of people, and each year it is more organized and better than the year before. So exciting!

Halloween at the Zoo

We had thought we might go to the pumpkin patch today, but we decided to go cheaper this year and go to the zoo since we have a membership there, and the kids had already gotten 2 little pumpkins from the school trip to the pumpkin patch. We will just buy a pumpkin from the grocery store this year. Since it has been raining almost everyday for the past two months, we decided to get out even though it was the coldest day of the season so far because it was dry, and we were all tired of being cooped up in the house. The kids just enjoyed running around in the cold and looking at all of the Halloween decorations. They had an Auburn - Alabama gameday picture area, so of course, Daniel and I posed with our perspective team mascot.

Caramel Chocolate Apples

Today we made caramel chocolate apples. We made the caramel from scratch, and it was quite tasty. Even though it is an extra effort to make it from scratch, I think I will do it again because it was so flavorful. I am not a candy connoisseur, but the recipe I followed made it very easy to make the caramel. However, I did not quite get the chocolate right. You can see in one of the photos that it is starting to slide off of the apples. I'm not sure why. I saved them by putting them in the refrigerator to set. Of course, I will try it again, but I think it is because I got the chocolate hotter than recommended and there was not enough fat in the chocolate. I tried to temper it with no success. Whatever the case, I still think they look appetizing, and they are definitely quite yummy as well! According to Daniel, they cut nicely, and all of the caramel and chocolate stayed on instead of falling off.

The kids LOVED them! And even though it was a time consuming process that was not the kid friendliest, they loved loved loved eating the caramel as I dipped the apples.

Princess is very excited because she is sending one to her teacher, Ms. Melanie, tomorrow.

You can find the recipe I used here. For tips on tempering chocolate, you can visit here.

Field Trip

Today, Princess had a field trip with school. We went to the pumpkin patch at a local church. I am sure someone got a relatively good picture of Princess's class, but this was the best I could do with Speed Racer keeping me running too. All the kids got tattoos, stickers, suckers, a pumpkin, and they got to listen to 3 or 4 pumpkin stories. It was so sweet - they were so attentive and still for the stories. It was fun to see her class interacting with one another since I don't see it regularly.

Speed Racer got to go and enjoy all of the treats too. He cannot wait to go to school.

Karting and Caring at Road Atlanta

For those of you who did not know, my husband races go-karts as a hobby. Every year, there is a race in Braselton, GA, at the Road Atlanta track the first weekend in November. This race is usually put on by Big South Road Racing series and my father in law. So this year, we loaded up and went again. I do not love the race track and every thing about it, though I wish that I did. It is not especially fun to take the kids and care for them alone in an uncontrolled environment -only a few minutes of napping, etc. is just stressful for me. It is supposed to be family fun and togetherness, but I'm not there yet, though this was the best trip to Road Atlanta I've ever had. The kids however, are starting to really enjoy being at the track and all that goes with it. Pea pretended to drive every vehicle there - a go-kart, the motor home, the golf cart, and anything else he saw with wheels (he made the motor sounds himself). Princess also likes it and begged to go back to the tower when we would take a nap break.

There are a lot of nice people that race go-karts in the series that my husband and his family race in. Mr. Lamar basically feeds all of the Harper clan, which is a lot more than just us Harpers - its Alan from MS, the Farrs from Michigan, Kenny from Indiana, Katie and her family from NJ (I think), the Stoneys from Trussville, and the list goes on. He stocks up his motor home with deli meats, bread, cheese, sodas, waters, other beverages, and pretty much anything anyone would want. Friday night he had a BBQ and all of the fixings for all of us. The kids went trick or treating in their costumes at the track. Then on Saturday night, Mr. Lamar swapped out with one of the other guys and together they had crab legs, grilled chicken, grilled steaks, potatoes, etc. for all of us. Though people donate funds now and again, Lamar & company do this just for free. He also opens up his motor home to any of us to get out of the weather at anytime - I've spent as much time in that motor home as anybody. I've nursed both my kids in there. I've put both of them down for naps. I've watched TV. The motor home is a refuge at the race track, though not a private place. To my knowledge, he is not a believer. He is a nice person, but niceness does not take you to heaven. There are lost people all around me at the racetrack, and I don't know that my heart is fully devoted to sharing the message of salvation to them.

Somehow in the mix of life, I am working at being a mom, and don't find myself caring about the lost people all around me, and believe me, if God has given Daniel and I a missions opportunity, it is at the race track. I feel like I am the missionary who goes to Africa, but only has time to care for my kids and never builds relationships with anyone else. What would the point of being there really be, right? I don't feel as though I accomplish anything other than caregiving for the kids. Perhaps, people are able to see Jesus in me through this, but my intentionality is not there. Luckily, God still speaks to me in the midst of my sin and self focus and sheds light on this problem. Luckily, he uses sinners despite of our sinfulness. Why God ever chose to do this is a mercy that only God could bestow! I know that God can give me a heart overflowing with love for the people of the racetrack - I just have to choose and recognize this place as my mission field for now, and pray, pray, pray. I know He will answer because He has placed me there. Sometimes, you have to open your eyes to see the land God has blessed you with, and enter in, and obey. I am blessed to say that people do see a difference in Daniel. Perhaps he has always been different, but now as a Christ believer, he is being recognized as such, and I am so proud of him. Hopefully, this difference will give way to opportunities to share the good news of Jesus in his life.

PS. sorry I do not have kart pics.