Line Dancing and Pumpkins

 

So we had fun this morning on stage.  I got to do some line dancing, always a thing I was regretting not doing in Nashville in the 90's.  I remember being in Nashville at this huge place downtown, and there was a balcony I could look down from while we ate, and there was a big dance floor.  And these people were line dancing, and I thought there was no way I could remember that and how awkward I would feel - and that's strangely one of my largest regrets, not doing that.  So lately there have been a few opportunities to do a country line dance, and although this morning's was highly abbreviated, I still had fun going up there and giving it a whirl. 

All week I was trying to think of what to do for this weekend at KidPak.  It was a prayer themed message, and of course we were in Tennessee all week.  So of course it came down to us doing something like this.  I knew a lot of kids were going to be reciting long memory verses in service upstairs in the main sanctuary.  And having fun with that, I was using this song to remind everyone of an easy verse to remember, one of the easiest:  "Never stop praying."  1 Thessalonians 5:17.  Pretty simple stuff, and it of course goes well with our message this morning.  We had a lot of fun with this one, donning our cowboy hats and having a little boot scoot out there on stage.  The kids loved it too!

So finally the rest of the day was the rest of the day.  As in, we rested.  Well, at least Mom and I did.  Maddie went off to Nate's, and there they had a pumpkin carving party, which means that Nate and Maddie carved another pumpkin with Nate's family there.  They even all got new t-shirts and had a great time together playing games and of course carving those pumpkins.  Maddie carved out a picture of Question Hound, a dog that showed up like twelve years ago, seated at a table and saying "This is Fine."

You may have seen this meme.  Anyway, she had a great time.  I think they definitely carved their share of pumpkins for the season, although we just might do one more.  Here are some pictures from Maddie's time carving with Nate's family - they turned out great!

After Mom and I dropped Maddie off, we didn't go straight home, and in fact the opposite direction.  Mom was wanting her this one food item that she gets at a Mexican restaurant down off of Friendship Road, so we journeyed down there for a nice quiet lunch together - one that was pretty massive.  And really tasty too!

We have food for tomorrow now, as both of us essentially packed an extra meal to take home, they gave us so much.  Anyway, on the way home we got some vanilla ice cream from the grocery store because much later - when we were finally ready to eat something again, both of us got to enjoy some of that Dollywood apple pie.  We heated up a bit of it and put some ice cream on top, and oh boy was that good.  Delicious!  Worth the wait!  There's still so much pie leftover, because that one slice of pie is ginormous!

Oh, and I don't think I mentioned the early birthday gifts at our front door.  Lots of eyeballs!  Nana, Ye-Ye, Aunt Shain and the rest of the family dropped a bunch of gifts off and decorated the front porch for us.  It got a new Terry Pratchett book that I don't have, plus a Addams Family "Thing" scalp massager.  Yes, it's as weird as it sounds.  But here's something pretty amazing:  a retro Batman costume!  

This is awesome!  I will probably wear it soon, no joke!  This is pretty much an adult-sized version of the Batman costume that I wore for four years in a row on Halloween.  I was Batman over and over again, and I wore this piece of plastic over my face, the one with the tiny eye holes that pressed into your skin, and that tiny mouth hole there that kept all your breath inside the mask so that everything got all wet inside the mask, and those rubber bands that snapped so easily and you had to keep reattaching things to keep the mask on.  Good times!  Read this book if you want to know what Halloween was like for our generation - it's hilarious. 

Tonight we saw the animated "The Addams Family," mainly because I wanted to see the second movie maybe tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes.  Oh, and speaking of going, I was on the treadmill again downstairs getting to about 70% of the 60-mile course for "The Corpse Bride."  Moving right along!  I was finishing up the movie "Planes" as I walked, something I've been watching from the treadmill lately.  I'm getting a kick out of seeing these old movies that I've forgotten so much about.  But this one was great, and soon enough I'll be watching the second in that series, "Planes Fire and Rescue."  Anyway, it helps the time go by certainly.

We did some unpacking and clean-up, but not as much.  It's been a busy last few days, so we were ready for a Sunday afternoon rest.

Maddie joined us later tonight, and yeah, it was time to get to bed early.  It's been a fun Fall Break, but reality starts a little earlier tomorrow.  That being said, we got to reading, and after that said our prayers.  Time for a good night's rest.