Dress Up

On a recent Saturday, ready for a play date at a friend's house

 Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun. - George Scialabba

I'm one holiday and almost a month behind, but these were too sweet not to share. Our Dear Aunt B sent the above quote on a birthday card to Asa a few years ago, and I love it. Whether true or not, we have imagination in abundance in our home, and it makes life joyful. Halloween was a few weeks ago, as you no doubt remember, and although it's not widely celebrated here (but the creepier parts are creeping in and retailers are more and more cashing in on the trend!), our little ones gave some consideration to how they might celebrate in costume, dug through the dress up box, and here's what they came up with...

Poor lighting, but Puss in Boots was quite dashing.

Thank you again for this cuteness, Aunt Crystal!

Dress up is not to be confined to a particular day, though...especially for Asa, for whom dressing up is an almost daily event, and little brother is following closely, as little brothers do.

Papa's WWII headgear gets plenty of wear by our little warrior.

This photo fits a bit with the dress up theme- the final day of last month's Thai module, in which we studied Thai culture. We were asked on the last day to wear traditional clothing from our culture, and a few of us did. Our country is a bit tough on this front, with no easily available or discernible traditional costume, melting pot that we are, so I fell back on the trusty old red, white and blue. Not as exciting as the beautiful Thai costume, but it will do.

This one I just had to share, even though I look odd (don't bend awkwardly in pictures), because this precious little baby, whose nickname is 'Peace' was born recently to our dear friends, and we had the privilege of visiting her in her early days. She is simply beautiful. If someone handed me one of these sweet bundles on the street, I would be sorely tempted to walk away quickly without asking questions.

And a recent Ju-ism I will document for posterity...

J: Mommy...

Me: (distracted by two other simultaneous voices) Just a minute, Ju...

Me: (turning to him after a minute) Okay, buddy, what is it?

J: Ummm, well...I lost my mind. (translation: I forgot:)

Going into Thanksgiving tomorrow, thinking of many loved ones we will miss (are, in fact, missing at this very moment) from afar. So thankful for the abundance of love that God has given to us.