makin' a thumpin' bumpin' sound...

FIELD TRIP!

So the boys and I decided to take a field trip up to Hoschton one Friday. Harrison was home from school sick. Sully had a teacher work day. The weather was yucky and we couldn't stand being in the house any longer. The usual haunts were no good because we didn't want to spread our germs. So lucky for us the nice people Hoschton decided to put up 4,000+ scarecrows.

Harrison liked the pirate and decided to take some pictures...

Sully like the scuba girl and decided to do some investigating of his own... then we saw these scary guys...

Elvis says, "drink lots of water or you might look like the lady to my left!"

Sully tried to trick us into thinking this guy had real hands...

*flashback*
I was window shopping and saw these toes...

so weird to me that after all these years I still know My Baby Beth feet when I see them.

then there were more frightening scarecrows...

and a visit to the Ponderosa...

we rode around for a little while and this town went all out!
here is a wedding...

and a family with their pet...sasquatch?

I really wished we had dressed like Dorothy, the Tin man and the Lion... maybe next time.

FANCY MUSIC

Each year a few of Harrison's friends drop out of choir. I'm going to be so disappointed if he ever does. I think it's just the sweetest thing...

HUNTER'S MOON

it is our tradition to go out when the moon is full and walk the neighborhood in pajamas until we find a perfect place for moon gazing. Probably the only thing I don't like about living this close to the city is the absence of stars and the ability to drive without headlights when the moon is bright down a winding road. this time, the boys decided to get comfortable...

BALL PIT!?

not sure how I deluded myself into thinking it would be a good idea to put 1,350 balls in the playroom, but I did...

NOCTURNAL PUNKINS

so we grabbed the flashlights and went pumpkin hunting at dusk.

but we found sticks. have I mentioned my kids like sticks?? I'm seriously getting sick of sticks. we live in the south. we have a lot of pine trees. there are always going to be sticks!! put the sticks down and look for a pumpkin! Yes, I feel better now...
but then we had to have a little lightsaber action with the flashlights. have I mentioned my kids like star wars??
but harrison finally found his perfect pumpkin...
and so did sully...
jack-o-lantern pictures coming soon!

REFLECTIONS...

Harrison participated in the national PTA art contest again this year. The theme was WOW! and he choose to paint a roller coaster. He didn't place and was a little disappointed. You could just see his little eyes brimming with red. One of his best friends got the blue ribbon and Harrison was very happy for him. I told him that I was prouder of him for congratulating his friend than I ever could have been if he had won. It takes a lot of maturity to be happy for someone when they have what you want most... so reflect upon that, my little artist.
you are one awesome kid!
and for the record...he plans on doing
four entries for each category next year.
I can't wait to see his dance entries. :)

DRAG RACING & AND MY STATE OF THE UNDIES ADDRESS

sleeping in dad's undershirts was all the rage around this house. the boys were so cute picking out the soft, tagless ones. bob doesn't seem to think so. he made the comment that he couldn't wear one now because it has a stain (chocolate soy pudding) on it. I told him to wear it with a dark shirt because it was an undershirt...thinking most of my day-to-day shirts have some sort of child related stain. what I wear under my clothes is something I wouldn't blog about even if this wasn't a blog for pics of the kids. but my birthday gift was accidentally delivered to our home very early and thinking bob might have some 'splainin' to do....I opened it. so I will be having a fitting for some super fancy undies and bob will have the sweet reminder of how his boys like to drag race in his shirts as a last ditch effort to avoid bedtime...
enjoy those pudding stains dad!

Q: WHY DO MY CHILDREN LOVE RENTAL CARS?

A: Because they can use The Force to pop open the trunk!

MY NEW SISTER...

*Diva* she is so tiny and sweet and nothing like her nephew, mace. I have never seen a dog's tail shake so quickly. It's like watching a humming bird...it's mesmerizing.

I take back the part about her not being like mace...she wiggles, likes to lean into you for snuggles, has some wicked separation anxiety, and shares a hatred for my new flash.

welcome to the family!
but you are going to have to get used to this crazy chick that always shows up with her crazy kids coming at you with the camera!

OH MR. BRYSON...

Here is the scene- The boys are playing in the front yard while I sit on the front porch in Grandpa Patton's rocking chair reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. He is discussing the archaeological site, Olorgesailie, and wondering why this place would exist for such a long time (from about 1.2 million years ago to 200,000 years ago), under such conditions (they carried the stone about six miles to the site), and why it would produce so many axes. Here is an excerpt from the book:

Various replications have shown that the axes were tricky and labor-intensive objects to make- even with practice, an axe would take hours to fashion- and yet, curiously, there were not particularly good at cutting or chopping or scraping or any of the other tasks to which they were presumably put. So we are left with the position that for a million years-far, far longer than our own species has even been in existence, much less engaged in continuous cooperative efforts- early people came in considerable numbers to this particular site to make extravagantly large numbers of tools that appear to have been rather curiously pointless.
And who were these people?...

So I took pictures of the boys that day and the last couple of weeks since. Just like the craftsmen at Olorgesailie, the boys are prolific!

and let me introduce the craftsmen

here is stick with a piece of glass as a spear point any good invention requires a lot of tape...
and collections.
like magnolia cones and squirrel nibbled pine cones
and cones taped to sticks
and rocks taped to sticks to make a balancing thingy
lets just pause and check out my groovy mom pants....

now back to the inventions.
the modified gardening tool with lots of tape.
made, of course, to collect cones...not throw at your brother.and when the inventions were complete, the didn't want to mess up the house...so they made a new table from chairs and a crib mattress. thanks guys for the help.
and then there are paper cup inventions
and dice in a box from the recycling inventions
and the Panera wind rocket I can put paper bags over my head, just not plastic ones, right? invention
and the old potato rodent feeder invention...for those Irish squirrels
and lots and lots of swings.

The one thing Mr. Bryson didn't count on was Moms. I think of all the times I have praised an invention that was totally useless and where that has lead us. But I guess they are not futile...the craftsmen have creatively solved many problems.

I just imagine a mom with a protruding brow praising a dull axe as I try to communicate which rolls of tape are off limits and demand nothing else be pulled from the trash.

at least we haven't made it here...yet.

SMILING ON THE INSIDE

That is the only way I can describe watching Harrison practice piano. The piano belonged to my great-great-grandmother, Grandmaw Ada, the mother of Darlin, my great-grandmother, before eventually coming to me. I'm also got my first name from Darlin. She passed away when Harrison was a baby....seven years ago today.

clockwise- me, grandmother, darlin, pop-pop and grandmaw ada
at the flower shop in 1974.

I have not had the piano in my home since November of 1990 when my parents moved. When Bob and I were designing the living room, we made sure it had a spot and I hung the pictures several years ago....but then it took me five years to figure out how to get it home. So at long last, my piano is home and my punkin is learning to play it. life is good.

By the way, Harrison and Sully like this photo because they think Pop-Pop looks like Shaggy.