fall fun on the farm

Hannah went on a field trip last week to Sunny Day Farms in Louisville, GA. I wasn't sure what the field trip entailed, or to where it was exactly, when I dropped Hannah off at school last Thursday. But after talking to her teacher and realizing many other parents were going along, I knew I had to change my morning plans.

I put on jeans, boots and a warm coat and drove 45 minutes into the country to surprise my little brown-eyed Monkey girl.

She was excited and we had a ball! First…feeding the goats.

We sent Daddy a picture of his girls:

Then a lesson at the pumpkin patch before heading inside to learn about bees and taste fresh honey!

I watched as she hunted for treasure in the corn box.

Which got a little interesting when the whole class ended up inside at the end… Hannah became way more concerned about the kernels in her boots than in finding hidden treasure.

After a group picture on the tower of hay bales, they were given permission to climb and play (barring no objection from mom or dad). The kids loved it.

No surprise that my fearless five-year-old was at the top first…and, again, no surprise when she was quick to help her classmates up.

Afterwards we headed over to the corn maze.

We followed a cute little story through the maze. It was really neat; the corn was well over my head.

It's hard to say, but possibly the highlight of the day was the jumbo jumper pillow.

Wow. So cool! This girl loves a trampoline so she was in heaven. And I really wish I would've tossed my boots aside and jumped myself. No other adults did, so I thought it was just for the kids, and then later I saw a teacher jumping with her class. Darn!

We ate lunch at picnic tables and I watched Hannah run around on the playground for a little bit before heading back home.

As I was driving away it started to sprinkle. The classes were soon to board the bus, but I did miss out on the last-minute pig race they got to see.

It was such a fun (cold) morning and I am so glad I went.

rock 'n' roll

This past Saturday was the Savannah Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2. We came into town on Friday and carbed-up at Vinnie's. Vinnie Van Go Go's is an awesome pizza place downtown in City Market. My family has been eating there for most of my life. We love to go and sit outside, drink good beer and have their (huge!) slices with all kinds of toppings (I like spinach, artichoke hearts, anchovies, garlic…).

Granddaddy, Aunt Angie and Uncle Will Will joined us. We didn't all need to load up on carbs, but we did anyway.

The next morning we bundled up and left my mom's at 6:30 to make it to the start on Bay Street before 7:00. Initially, I thought I would run the 1/2, but due to some knee issues, I never got the training miles in.

But Joe did run. And, after dropping him off, we maneuvered around road blocks and closed streets to make it to our first cheering point: the corner of Montgomery and Gwinnett streets. We waited eagerly to see Daddy, who came in right on time!

Mile 4.7 at 7:30AM:

Then we made our way to stop #2. Again, right on time.

At each point, Granddaddy (pushing the stroller) and Meme (at times running with Josey) joined us in cheering Daddy on. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Mile 8.2 at 7:52AM:

Two friends from Sandersville also ran. Thomas on the left, Mitch on the right.

Then, off to catch Daddy at the finish.

Geico gave out little bells, which my children were only too happy to ring like crazy. And not too long after we found a place to stand did I spot the yellow singlet coming down the chute…

…ahead of his goal time!!

I had propped Joseph up on the fence and was trying to hold him, take pictures with my phone, and yell at the same time. So, excuse my finger and poor photos.

Joe wanted to run the 1/2 marathon, 13.1 miles, in less than an hour and a half. Well, he got his sub-1:30 goal alright. His time was 1:25:11. Even better: for the first time in sixteen months, he ran with no pain caused by his accident.

Go, Daddy, go!!!

Our friend Mitch did well too and I was happy to post a picture of the two of them.

And then I love this:

Joseph wanted to take a picture of Honey and Daddy with his camera.

Just to be real, here's what most of our family shots look like:

This is the best one. Three out of four isn't bad.

We had breakfast at the Original Pancake House and then let the kids play at the mall before heading back home in the afternoon.

It was a very successful day, though I should mention one little detail. Joe told me after he finished the race that he was hoping to qualify for the New York City Marathon. I didn't know about this, and he missed qualifying by 11 seconds. Eleven seconds!

You see, Joe has a new goal. {My husband operates on setting and achieving goals. So whenever I hear I new one, I know that he will likely do anything in his power to make it happen.} He wants to run "the big six"- or the World Marathon Majors. Boston, NYC, Chicago, London, Berlin and Tokyo.

One down (Boston), five to go…

meeting lachlan and a visit with granddaddy

Last Wednesday, my half-brother who lives on the West Coast (San Diego), his wife, and their precious 2-year old boy came through town. We hadn't gotten to meet Lachlan yet and were so excited to have the chance. They brought Granddaddy, also visiting from the West Coast (the Pacific North West, more specifically).

The kids had a great time riding around the backyard and showing Lachlan their toys.

I wish I would've gotten a picture of the whole group. We don't see Randy and Suzi very often and enjoyed catching up in the little time we had with them.

Granddaddy stayed with us for a couple of days and, even though Hannah got sick in the middle of it all (high fever), we had a wonderful visit…

…and wore Granddaddy out.

Friday morning, Hannah felt much better and wanted to send her teacher a picture of her show-and-tell item(s) of the week. For this week's letter, J, she picked jewelry.

What else would Hannah have chosen?

Her sweet little brother came outside and plopped down next to her for the picture. To not hurt his feelings, she posed for a picture with him before getting one solo.

We then piled into the car and headed to Savannah for the Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon.

To be continued…

halloween and other things

While we were on our way back from Joe's 20th reunion, Meme took Beauty and the Pirate to the fall festival and trunk-or-treat at the church. We hated to miss it, but they sure had a good time.

In non-Halloween-related news…

Tuesday:

The Red Ribbon Week theme was "cap off drugs" and Hannah added a hat to her uniform attire.

That day I also found this collection in the bottom of my washing machine:

Yes, those are nuts, an M&M, raisins, a rock and a hair pin. How I missed all that is truly remarkable. Another reminder to check those pockets, especially of one little three-year-old boy.

Wednesday:

"Black or shade-out drugs" was the theme for the day. Hannah doesn't have a lot of black, but she loves leggings and any excuse to wear her black boots. Then she added her fancy glasses.

Thursday:

I picked up Joseph from school and noticed he had a bump on his head, just above his right eye. It wasn't too terrible but it got worse with every passing hour.

When I asked what happened, he told me he "hit the fence" at preschool. I'm not sure under what circumstance that happened, but he had to have hit it hard.

Didn't stop him from riding his traffic up the street later on, though.

No slowing him down.

We did try to ice it a couple of times, but that was miserable. He was screaming, not staying still…and it was just not happening. Joseph is terrible about icing anything. No child likes icing boo boos, but Hannah was much better about that at his age. Joseph can make himself sick he gets so upset.

Anyway, he went to bed ok that night, but woke up around 4am and came to me crying and scared. His eye was swollen shut. Amazingly, by school it was looking a lot better.

Friday:

I met up with Hannah's class at the downtown square to go trick-or-treating at all the local businesses.

Above: she and her sweet ninja friend, Cameron. Below: the treat bag she decorated at school.

Meanwhile, Joe was at the preschool watching Joseph eat a lot of sugar at his fall party. Afterwards, they headed to the playground where I met up for games - and lots of candy!

Anything that involved throwing he was all in…

We were completely taken by surprise when he hopped on the swing and started pumping!

Not sure when he learned that! I think it was just last week Hannah was pushing him on the swings in the backyard.

Speaking of the backyard, I completely forgot to put our ghosts out until the last minute.

And this is their last year, the poor things. It was quite a production to just get two standing this time. I believe the two surviving ones' names are Scarlett and Lila…or Riley. I think the names changed at some point.

Halloween night we joined some good friends to trick-or-treat up and down Smith Street. We have several friends that live on that road and, with the houses close together, it makes for a perfect (abbreviated) candy-gathering experience.

We paused outside of my friend Deana's house for a moms and babies photo (we are all looking at the "real" camera):

Hannah was a hard-core trick-or-treater. She really wanted to go in a backyard haunted house (my fearless one) but it wasn't open yet. {Probably a good thing.} But when it came to going house to house, she was up at the front of the pack with her friend, James, always first ones to the door. Thankfully she remembered her manners and said thank you.

From Smith Street we went to a friends' house for our family supper club featuring the Pioneer Woman's spaghetti. Delicious! The kids had a great time running around together and the adults had a great time chatting (and enjoying the fact that the kids were mostly entertaining themselves).

I only have one picture from the night:

Joseph counted down the days until he would get to ride in the "ca-plice" car at Mrs. Kati's house. He talked about it constantly. And it did not disappoint. He let his sister drive for a while and then, once everyone else moved on to other activities and toys, it was his turn.

At one point, well after dark, all the other children were inside and Kati and I found him still driving the police car around the yard. He cried when I told him it was time to come inside, totally heart-broken and confused as to why I would so cruelly cut his playtime short. I caved and let him take one quick little spin and then Mrs. Kati asked him to park the police car - and the John Deere Gator - in the garage. On top of that, she let him close the garage doors.

He was in heaven. There is nothing Joseph loves more than opening and closing a garage door.

Except maybe driving the ca-plice car.

It was a fun night and a very exciting Halloween for these two little ones of mine.