A Shout Out To My Friend Kelli

So, it's been a while since I posted. My friend Kelli Bragdon reminded me. My friend Kelli knows why I haven't posted because she has THREE (count 'em) THREE little girls younger than my youngest. She and Dan live in Pennsylvania with their three sweet girls, FaithLyn, Elise and Olivia. Wow. That's lots of little girls. But I remember Kelli before she was Kelli Mommy. I remember her back when she was just Kelli Clark, Hardin-Simmons Freshman. Man were we cool. We have millions of fun memories, but two stick out in my mind at this moment.

Our freshman year we did a Disciple Now in Midland, Texas. Chad, Kelli, Andrea (my roommate) and I drove there together. We were driving through Big Spring and eating a snack. Chad (for some unknown reason) peeled an orange and put the entire thing in his mouth. Evidently I had no clue what he was doing and was talking and looking the other way. I heard Kelli say, "Erin, look at Chad so he can stop." Just like that. It was hilarious. Kelli, Andrea and I laughed our heads off and Chad was HACKED. Hacked because he got nailed by Kelli Clark in classic Kelli form.

The other memory took place after we had all gotten married. Chad and I lived out in the country in this giant house and we never locked the doors. Dan and Kelli were on staff at a church in Abilene. Dan was the youth minister there. To welcome them to the church the congregation gave them a pounding. You know, the kind where everyone cleans out their pantries and gives you the stuff that they'll never eat. So Dan and Kelli were overrun with canned goods and about half of the cans were green peas. I really don't know of a food that they hate more than green peas. What to do...what to do...
So Chad and I come home one night and start to get ready for bed. I open the medicine cabinet to get my toothbrush. What? Peas in my medicine cabinet? How did those get here. Hmmm. I go to my dresser to get my jammies. More peas? What the heck? Under our pillows, in our coat pockets, in our oven, under the couch cushions. Everywhere! Stinkin' green peas. We found them for months. Much to the amusement of Dan and Kelli Bragdon.

Trick or Treat in Crane, America

Trick or Treat time in Crane is the ONLY way to spend Halloween. It happens like this: At approximately 5:00 pm on the Saturday closest to Halloween the fire siren starts blowing. This signals the start of Trick or Treat. The town comes alive. For one hour the streets are full of kids, running as fast as they can, collecting candy. The whole town turns out. The streets are packed. There are people in their lawn chairs in the front yard with huge baskets full of goodies. For an hour this goes on. Then at 6:00 sharp the fire siren rings again and everyone makes their way to the community center for a city-wide Fall Festival. It's a huge deal in Crane. Mom went through three giant bags of candy this year and almost resorted to "thumping" (a well known Halloween method in the Allen Family). I'll explain in a few. So here are a few random thoughts on Halloween:
1.) I should explain "thumping". Thumping originated with my brothers when we lived on McElroy Street. There were so many kids that you would inevitably run out of candy. So you'd go get your stash of pennies. When you ran out of pennies you began a technique fondly known as thumping. With one hand you reach in the bag. With your other hand you "thump" the backside of their bag to make them think that you actually put something in there. Tricky and deceptive? Yes. Effective? Oh, yeah. Hilarious? You bet.
2.) My brother, Scott, is a story teller. I mean to tell you. He can weave tales like no one I've ever encountered. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they come from deep within his mind. I'm convinced that even Scott doesn't know which is which. But he is ENTERTAINING! He keeps us rolling with his memories and stories. This particular trip to Crane he told us about the lady who used to hand out hot pennies to trick or treaters. She despised the holiday, she despised kids and to prove her point she would hand out scalding hot pennies instead of candy. According to Scott it would burn little penny sized imprints into your palm. Fact or fiction? Urban legend? Who knows.
3.) I know that there are many varying views on Halloween and all that it entails. But in Crane it is a fun community event that I have grown up with and grown to love. Long live trick or treating in Crane!

Anna Kate's meltdown...

Anna Kate had a complete meltdown yesterday and it was just too funny. Granted, her threshold has been a little low because she's not feeling good but this was funny. I cleaned house yesterday while the kids were asleep. After they woke up they played and I was paying bills, etc. I heard Anna Kate start screaming and crying (sounded like she got her arm chopped off!) and Chad ran in there to check on her. She was in the bathroom with her pants pulled down just having a complete meltdown. Chad asked what was wrong, "Did you wet your pants?" She said, "No! It's blue! The water is blue!" Referring to the clean potty water. She couldn't handle it. She came in and just sat in my lap forever, trying to recover. It was just too much for my girl.