A Conversation with Carys

The other night I was trying to get Carys to watch a Christmas movie on ABC Family rather than the video she wanted to watch.

Mom: We're going to watch a Christmas movie. We love Christmas.

Carys: (babbling on about Santa Claus)

Mom: Santa Claus isn't real. He's make believe like Tinkerbell and...

Carys: Santa didn't make Tinkerball. Santa made cookies!

Alrighty then. We laughed ourselves silly.

9th Annual Meahl Family Scavenger Hunt

It's that time of year again, and this year I made all the clues up by myself.

The First Clue


And I made them HARD! For example, if the answer to a clue was a door, I gave no hint as to which door in the house the clue was on. The kids called me evil, and I laughed wickedly as they ran all over the house looking for the appropriate door or whatever. This made the scavenger hunt last much longer than typical.

Another Clue


The answer to this clue was "bear" - there's a bear face on this wreath.


Carys is looking disinterested!


Then she helped find the next clue in a "basket".


I have one child who loves to have her picture taken and makes sure to make a silly face or funny pose...


and another child who hates to have his picture taken.


It was all over too soon anyway, and they found their pumpkins in the girl's closet.


Despite the food they'd eaten at the Country Carnival, they managed to scarf down some more candy from their pumpkins!

Country Carnival

This is the first year we've attended Cornerstone Baptist Church's Country Carnival. We have been attending there regularly and would probably join if we were certain we were staying in Citrus County. Until Greg has a permanent job, however, we're living life in limbo it seems. This church has a heart for the community and the world. We LOVE that!

The carnival was incredible. There were all kinds of games (with candy for everyone who played), a climbing wall, several bounce houses, an inflatable obstacle course, a petting zoo, and pony rides. Everything was free, and all attendees received a ticket book with tickets for a free hot dog, drink, popcorn, and cotton candy as well.

Greg and Chase worked in the petting zoo for half the evening. Greg is SO good with kids!


I could not believe Carys held a baby chick and a bunny!




She actually rode the pony, too, and wasn't a bit scared!


This big inflated chair was simply a photo op, we think!




Thanks to everyone at Cornerstone for all their hard work!