America's Family

 Something you should know about working in youth/children's ministry (you know, just in case you're considering it) is that sometimes you get ridiculous assignments. Assignments like, "hey Lawsons, y'all need to come to Fall Streetfest dressed as Workout Barbie & Malibu Ken from Toy Story 3." And that is why, tonight, we showed up at church looking like this:

I know, I know. You are super jealous that you didn't wear purple pumps and turquoise shiny tights today. You are probably also really wishing you had such awesome bouncy bangs and that your husband had a cool flowery shirt and ascot. However, if all of student ministries at your church ever decides to do a Toy Story theme, now you have some costume ideas. (Liam came as our dog, in case you were wondering how he fits into the picture). 

Liam LOVES dogs, so he was really excited about the nose and spots I put on his face, and he was surprisingly content in his costume all evening. Here he is with two of his buddies: Bryson was one of the aliens and Levi was sort of Bullseye, if Bullseye was a zebra :) He is only a month old, so his parents couldn't find him a horse costume.

Since all of student ministries dressed according to Toy Story, we tried to get a group shot, but it was sort of a big group. In the pic below the staff families are in front, the army men are right behind us, the red group of people on the right are the barrel of monkeys, the white group in the middle are Bo Peep's sheep, and most of the rest on the left and in the back are either aliens or mutant toys. So goofy & fun.

And here's a shot of just the staff families: Jarrett was Buzz, Chanika was a Mattel toy (Made in China because she's Asian), and Kaiya & Konli were Slink; Matt, Martha, and Levi were Woody, Jessi, & Bullseye; Nic, Kassie, and Karis were Mr. & Mrs.  Potato Head and a Tater Tot; and I'm not totally sure what the three interns on the right were dressed as.

What? That's still not a close enough look at the ridiculousness? Okay, here's a shot of the wives. I love these girls. I also think it's hilarious that Nic & Kassie's heads were inside there potato head hats so you couldn't see their faces at all. Their costumes were so creative.

And our husbands: the crazy fellas who keep our lives interesting.