pumpkins continued -

It's coming! Halloween!

Plus, two weeks - 4 days. For real this time. :)

Boys.

You think I like the Gap? LOL. Believe it or not, the stuff in all the photos lately is all from the real store even and not the outlet. I think I may have a bit of a problem. In fairness, that red jacket Matthew is wearing was once Trevor's. And someday that orange Tshirt will be Matthew's too!

So...

I'm waiting for the Ambien to kick in. I seem to be headed towards another bout of insomnia. I'm also feeling kind of melancholy tonight. Tonight was supposed to be the night I was going to the airport to pick Mike up to come home, but things have been delayed once again. :*(

But tonight it hit me as I was sitting there after the kids had gone to sleep, and I was putting together a Lego set that Matthew had picked out earlier tonight at Target. The last of the birthdays are over for the year. I always feel in August for Trevor's birthday that there are still more left...so I don't think about it much, and feel like his gets extra attention. Unless it's on the first day of school like it was last year. Even this year it was in the first week of school, and that alone brings it's own kind of crazy.

Then when when October hits it's like a race to the finish. There is literally a birthday every week, and then Halloween to top it all off. It was just like a heavy sigh tonight. I think it almost goes by so fast that I don't feel like I really had a chance to let them sink in. I want to remember every detail, and make sure each one feels special. This was also kind of a weird one for Megan since I was so sick on her birthday that she ended up taking care of me.

So in a way, I'm sad that it's all over until June (Mike's birthday) but also glad that October has been busy enough to go by quickly so we can start the countdown for him coming home again. I hope that the next few weeks go by fast.

Peace out. I think the ambien is working. ;)

Start the Star Wars music.....A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....... you were born.

Another birthday this month! Matthew.... is SEVEN. For some reason he's stuck in my head forever as being under 5 years old. I don't know why. Even throughout the last year I would catch myself and look at him and ask, "You're SIX?" I guess he can't be in 1st or 2nd grade and still be five, but there's something about the youngest. I always felt like he helped to halt time. As long as one of my babies was under 5, it felt like time wasn't going by as fast as it really was.

So here he is. Seven years old: In second grade, has friends that he has made on his own and not organized playdates because of me, he runs down the street by himself to one of his friend's houses after school, and comes back when they are done.

He likes to try his independence by his stubbornness to listen sometimes... but it's not always a bad thing. He has an idea in his mind of the way things should be done and he's going to try it. He is fearless. But, that's also the way he is learning and I guarantee you this is one tough little boy who doesn't' take crap from anybody. His teachers in each grade from kindergarten on up have said that he'll get into a fight, but he is never one to start it. He will certainly share, but if you take away something he is playing with.... there are consequences! He's never been in trouble because of this, the teachers have always said that he's just doing what he should be. This boy is a leader. Not a follower. Which frustrating as it can be when he is a child, will be a great quality when he's a man.

This independence is also in small things like the desire to make his own sandwiches and cereal.

He loves Star Wars. Oh my gosh.... he even walks around humming the theme or Darth Vader's theme. (I bought him a musical birthday card that I'm sure I will regret, but I can't wait to see him open it and have it play!) He loves Legos (Yep...all of them, but especially Star Wars ones.) Even if it's a regular Lego City set.... it still has a Stormtrooper or somebody in it.

His favorite word right now is "awesome." but the way it is said makes me laugh. It's totally with

a surfer dude sound to it. Now I think he's been to a beach probably 10 times in his life, but you'd think he was born and raised in SoCal. Everything from a good belch to something cool is

"awesome!!!"

These photos were taken at the crack of dawn while it was still dark out. Hence the orange glow of the lighting and bed head. New Lego Agents:

New Lego Space Police:

I caved and gave him one of his presents the night before. It was a Star Wars Lego set. At first I told him he could have the people out of it and then he had to go to bed, but then I ended up putting the ship together. I've gotten good at following the directions.... lol.

Now I'm off to buy cupcakes for the classroom, and then later he has asked about going to Cici's Pizza for dinner. (Of all places... but it's HIS pick.)

Happy birthday Matthew!

Updates...and a BIRTHDAY!

From this: To this:

And then to this:

Ugh, it's been a week. We've had a nasty flu running throughout our house for the past three weeks. It started with Trevor, then Matthew and Megan at the same time, and then finally me. It kicked my butt hard. It is the worst that I have been sick in years.... high fever, aches, sleeping all day and the works. The worst is, one of my worst high fever days fell on Megan's 11th birthday. The poor thing, she's been looking so forward to her birthday and with every reason. You only turn 11 once. We had big plans since they also had the day off of school for part of fall break. Sadly, she spent the day taking care of me. She's such an amazing girl and did so much without me having to ask. Including cooking and making sure her brothers were fed. I owe her big time.... thank you sweetheart.

She's always a reminder of how much richer my life is because of her. Honestly, the world is a better place because of her. She is an amazing little thing.

Today we were driving down Richwood and Megan said, "I can't remember a prettier fall." In one way I thought it was funny because as far as a real fall goes and living where it does look like fall we really don't have a lot of years to compare it to. But there is something about this one.... this one especially is beautiful. I can't tell you why or what makes it different. The trees are insanely beautiful and look like they are on fire. Especially on days like today where the sun shows through them, and the roads are sun dappled and the leaves are falling and swirling. You can't help but stop breathing at the beauty of this place this time of year. (Until some rogue piece of falling fruit falls on the hood of your car jolting a car full of people wide awake wondering if you hit a deer or something. But there was some sort of fruit smushy sauce on the hood...whatever it was.)

There are beautiful multi color trees, mums everywhere, trees with bright red berries on them, bright green grass before the snow comes, and the contrasts are just gorgeous. - And the horses and cows are getting fuzzy. They look so cute!

So today I took everybody to Toys R Us since Matthew already has a birthday check to spend. (Thank you Aunt Kim! He picked out a Star Wars Lego set - go figure. Pictures soon!) and Trevor is telling me about his PowerPoint project he had to do in class this week. He had to do a report on the West. I asked him if that was kind of cool since he was born in the West...you know, Arizona. He looks at me confused and says, "Mom, Arizona is NOT the West, Arizona is the Midwest."

Huh? We live in the Midwest dude. Smack in it. I'm pretty sure of that. Plus I grew up in Arizona and spent 30 + years there.... I'm pretty sure I know that Arizona is part of the West.

"No, where we live now is the NORTHEAST. Arizona is not in the West."

OK, so I have to find out what sort of funkified books that boy is learning from. He can tell you what 4,398 and 1/2 is, divided by 3.5 without having to think about it.... but he still believes that Arizona is not located in the West. And that we don't live in the Midwest. Hmmm.

He says, "My teacher took a class in college about geography, so she should know."

"OK, well I still grew up there, and took lots of classes on Arizona history so we'll see." If you want to get technical, I'm sure it is the Southwest but that seemed to throw him off even more.
My jaw dropped. He's really arguing with me about this. So we have a wager, which I cannot wait to collect on. If I'm wrong, I will clean his room top to bottom. If I am right, he cleans the entire house top to bottom. I have an email into his teacher to settle it.

And what sort of grade did you get on your "PowerPoint report on the WEST???" An A. Hmm.

Mike is coming home Mid November. This time for real. Long story short. But we are really looking forward to it, and seeing what happens from there!

First day of school. Well, kind of. At least a do-over for the scrapbook.

On the first day of school, I managed to forget to put the card back in my camera the night before. So as I'm out in the front getting pictures of Megan on her first day of middle school.... I didn't realize the photo card was still in the computer. D'oh moment for sure. So since then we had planned on going over to her school to take some pictures instead. It seemed like everyday we planned on doing it something came up or it was raining. Today though - we did it! The weather was even cooperating since it's been pretty cold this week.

(I took the name of her school out of the sign for privacy reasons.)

This one is my favorite. :) This one makes me laugh because I swear the background looks like one of those tacky fake wilderness scenes at Sears Photography or something. The beauty of Kentucky? Those are real trees!!

Of course the deal is - if I get pictures of her - she has to get one of me. Here I am. In my LOVE shirt that Megan and I each got one of at American Eagle this week. I think we are supposed to coordinate with each other on who wears theirs on which day so we don't get matchy matchy.

BORED.

Warhol Matthew:

It's Thursday night... but feels like Friday because the kids are off from school for a four day weekend. We've watched Survivor together on the couch, and I'm saving some of my other shows to watch after they go to bed. If I have to clean the kitchen one more time, I am going to scream. Same with picking up Legos. What do I do? Sit on the computer and play with photofunia.com.

Today - a perfect fall day.

Not a whole lot going on, but I got tired of seeing my face every time I'd log on to look at the radar for the weather. Believe it or not, that thing is pretty accurate so I'm always checking.
Yesterday was a weird, windy, cold and gray ominous day. Today was gorgeous again. Pretty blue sky, puffy clouds..... a little chilly, but perfect sweater weather unless you just found a cozy spot in the sun. Sometimes I take advantage of this weather and sit on the front steps with the kids and talk about the day at school. - Also take advantage of the sun to get the torts out. (For some reason I swear they are potty trained, and I'd rather have them poop out in the yard than in the terrarium!) I love to watch them right now anyway... the sun is so warm they stretch their necks out and bask. I'd like to be a tort for a day. :)


Really, do only scrapbookers raised on 2Peas photograph food? I don't know what made me take a picture of dinner tonight, but it was as good as it looked. The best thing about this time of year? Easy dinner, warm comfort food. Baked potato soup and turkey and cheese croissants. I was trying a new turkey this time and got sun dried tomato. It is goooood!

- and while having the camera out front with me getting a picture of T after school today, I might as well get one of a tortoise right? Since our lives are so exciting right now! But this does remind me that while I go for walks I am always looking out for dandelions since they are like the crack of the tort world. They love these things, and I am the crazy tortoise lady who collects weeds out of people's yards and then sits out front watching them roam the yard. I'm not terribly worried until I get a leash for them and actually take them on the walk with me.

Megan and Matthew have been home sick all week. It has been their turn after Trevor was home all of last week. Also, the countdown to Mike coming home is on. :) That makes for a very happy Kerry.

birthday.

I think I have made more appearances on my blog in the past month than I have over the past several years. Three reasons:

First: my little girl is interested in photography and is turning the camera around on me after the past 10 years of living with one in her face. I guess that is only fair. She's doing pretty good though. She comes from a very long line of family who has always enjoyed photography.

second: requests from my overseas man and family so they can remember what I look like.

third: I have lost 30 pounds and am back in my old jeans! Like PRE - Trevor. I'm still working on the pre-Megan jeans, but I'm getting there. It's all part of feeling better and not hiding as much as I did before.

fourth: (I know, I just remembered this one) I was looking through old photos of Mike and I back when we were dating and just married and holy cow I realized how much time has gone by. We've known each other forever. It was interesting seeing the changes over the years, so I really do need to be better about being in photos so my kids can see someday too.

So today is my birthday. The big THREE - NINER.

Right now: Megan is making me a birthday cake all on her own. I'm not allowed to help. Trevor is playing with Legos, Matthew is on the couch sick (it's his turn after Trevor was sick all last week.) and Mike is asleep in Yemen. I did get to talk to him today (I do daily.) but it was nice to hear from him on today of all days. I have also heard from family and friends. Thank you to everybody for the birthday wishes!

It is 54 degrees outside. Which made me very happy to be able to put on a coat for a few outdoor photos. I love coats. I always have, and collected them. It was hard in Arizona since I never got to wear them to their full potential there (But that is where I found most of them since they go on wicked clearance when it's 110 degrees!) Here though, they get worn all the time. I'll have to count how many I have someday. Some women buy shoes like crazy, and I've always been a coat girl.

I mentioned to my mom last year how much I love winter here when I was sitting at P.F. Changs with Mike one day for lunch. Business people were coming in from a light snow, with long coats and men with hats. It must be something that reminds me of the 40s, a time that I love. Men should always wear hats. It's awesome. I remember going back to the restroom and needing to walk through the coat room. A real, honest to goodness room dedicated to nothing but hanging coats and hats. SO COOL. It was heaven. I love coats.

There's even something cozy about breaking out the boots and feeling warm. If I could skip in those heels, you bet I would. It's the best time of the year!

The must have fashion accessory. Surgical masks.

Trevor has been sick since Saturday. He had a fever for three days, and yesterday it seemed like it spiked and he was getting better. Then last night.... another fever.

I got him into the doctor today where he was tested for swine flu and strep throat and even was sent to cincinnati children's (all of those people are SO good with kids. I love that place.) for a chest xray to check for pnemonia. I did get a call back already on the xray... no pnemonia.... thank goodness. However the poor guy still has a high temp and is guaranteed another day off of school.

He said he felt silly at the hospital having to wear a mask. I told him he looked really cool.

So hopefully I'll be able to keep the rest of us from catching anything. Bring on fall and winter.... this is going to be a fun season.

Fall y'all.

Well, you saw the boy version a few days ago (in shorts even!) but a few days later, here is the girl version... with sweaters!!!! It is fall. Maybe not officially on the calendar, but all the true signs of it are here. I even had the crap scared out of me the other day driving down a road and having a huge leaf fall on my windshield. I have to remember... that happens, don't freak out. So does goose poop - watch where you are walking.

I am shocked at how big this girl is getting. In less than one month she will be 11. Middle school has been very good to her. It is such a nice thing to pick her up everyday and hear how much she enjoyed it. She has some great new friends, and teachers.

Trevor is sick today. He wasn't doing to well yesterday and had a fever. Luckily today is some sort of Star Wars Clone Wars marathon on Cartoon Network to make the stay on the couch more bearable.

random....

Today is COOL. Yesterday actually looked like this too...and I love it. When the sun was setting last night, all of this fog was pink. It was the strangest thing I've ever seen. I felt like I was inside a bag of pink cotton candy. At one point my boys were down playing at a neighbor's house in the front yard. I could hear them but couldn't see them. When I waited out front to watch them come home, it was like a movie seeing these forms coming through the fog and finally being able to focus enough to see who they were.

There is a really hill-y farm on the way to the kids' schools. It looks like a patchwork quilt with a cornfield on one hill, old barns, pumpkin patches with dots of orange, big round rolls of hay from the newly plowed fields, and horses and cows. I really have to get a photo of it someday, it is breathtaking - but SO cool when it has the layers of fog too. I always tell the kids I expect to see Scooby and the gang in the corn maze since it looks almost animated. Add this place to another reason I love Kentucky.

SO..... small updates on the fam.

Trevor woke me up with a fever last night. He's on the couch with a little bed made for him and strict instructions to stay put all day. He asked me if he could have a soda from McDonalds, so he is set with that including a mass of stickers from poison control stuck all over the cup and lid so nobody accidentally drinks from his cup. It's toxic! The stickers made him smile though, so they serve two purposes really. :)

We have two kids that Megan plays with that had confirmed swine flu last week. One girl had been home and Megan hadn't seen much of her the week before she got sick. So hopefully she dodged germs. The other is a boy that Megan has lunch with every.single.day. She was telling me the other day when he had his first day back how she started calling him Moses. The story kind of starts with me going to open house at her school the other night. She went with me to show me her classrooms, and we had to keep to a schedule like the kids have all day, only our 'classes' were 10 minutes each. The hallways are impossible to pass through with all the kids during the day. It's like being a salmon trying to swim upstream to get to your class. It's like my high school was with overcrowding... you'd hear the tardy bell but you were stuck in people traffic, so there's nothing you could do except stand there and wait.

Except... to be BFF with Moses. Why did he go from being Nick to Moses? Because apparently all you have to do to clear a path through hundreds of kids is say loudly, "I had swine flu last week!" And the sea begins to part. Clearing a path for Nick (with Megan and a few others in this group who all have four classes in a row together) to follow behind. It cracks me up! She has her daddy's sense of humor when it comes to nicknames for people. I was pretty impressed with Moses.

This week too I learned the newest in elementary/middle school slang.

"That's so beast!" - said about a super cool Hot Wheel that came in a happy meal. Apparently "beast" is the new word for cool. But the kids all thought it was dorky and laughed at me when I said that in my day, "Boss" was cool. "That is SOOO BOSS!" Does anybody else see the irony that they think boss is stupid.... yet here they are saying "beast" with the most serious faces? Ok guys.... we'll just go with that for awhile. Until the next word comes along.

We had fun playing with the ridiculousness of it all while we were on the freeway the other day. We'd look for random signs to come up with our own cool term that surely will become the next 'cool' slang word. "Oh man, that is SO Turfway!" "That is SO dead possum on the side of the road." Want to pass time in a car full of kids? Play that game. They think it is so funny.

Not much else going on here. Still patiently waiting for daddy to come home, and have to get everybody well for that. October also starts the birthday month from hell..... mine, my sister, Megan and Matthew. Then Halloween. October is always a blur now. Which isn't such a bad thing since I ADORE fall... but wow. Time to hold on tight.

Who knew stormtroopers could be so romantic?

This has to be one of my favorite little scenarios that I have come across lately. Matthew and Trevor leave them everywhere! I even found some poor lego man hanging with one arm from the light fixture at the top of the stairs today. It just made me laugh when I walked by it. I saved it from a two story fall.

uncooperative subjects.......

Do these two look like they've been up to something??

Some days are just not meant for photo taking. For some reason this photo still makes me laugh.

Happy weekend, and happy birthday to my dad!

happiness....

A random photo of Ms. M, sitting on the deck while I wait for chicken to grill. (What, you don't cook with a camera within arms reach?)

I'm so excited to sit down. OMG I have been walking every day this past week and let me tell you that the hills around my house SUCK. The worst thing is, my house happens to be the one on the TOP of the hill, so there is no getting around it. If you go down the hill feeling like you are invincible and ready for a stab at exercise, you have to drag yourself right back up if you want to get home. The bright side is that I can collapse in my own yard once I make it up the hill and I can't breathe. That way at least I look like a doof in my own yard and not passed out in a neighbor's yard.



I have actually started walking for a little over a month. Megan and I do it together mostly, but I knew when school started I wanted to get back into a daily routine and be able to go out on my own during school hours. I still go out with the kids after dinner so we all get exercise.



A life shift happened too, and it took hitting a rock bottom to learn a few things. I look back and know that I have spent the last year here really depressed. I don't think it ever came across in any of my posts because I wanted to convince myself that things were OK. On the outside I think they were.... but on the inside I was struggling with some things for a long time. I wasn't myself.



I know I stopped taking care of myself. I just didn't care. I wanted to hide in the house all day but I didn't want my kids living an unfair lifestyle because of MY depression. So I kicked my butt to at least try to get out and look 'normal.' I am happy here, and have been as far as location. It's the life stuff. I stopped eating well, gained weight, pulled my hair back every single day for a year and took no pride in myself at all.



But like a re-birth I'm able to look back on the year and no without a doubt that part of my life is OVER. I'm so excited about the future now. I am taking care of myself, which means that I am taking better care of my family. Whom I love so much, and a husband that I love beyond measure. It feels good to be in love again, and feel like we did when we were teenagers. Some outside aspects of our life that we can't control are still sucky.... but I know that a united front is unstoppable. And the things we CAN control are wonderful. Every soul needs to be nourished once in awhile.

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.

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around the house

I took a little break to enjoy the breeze outside today, and sit and have a glass of ice water on the front steps. I really need a cool rocking chair out there. I've always been a porch sitter. My parents were porch sitters and I come from a long line of porch sitters. (Note open windows in above photo....my apologies to my Arizona people. ;)

I was on IM with Mike earlier today and told him that after I had driven back from taking the boys to school that I noticed how pretty the flag on the front of my house looked as it was waving in the breeze. It wasn't that all out spastic waving.... but more like that slow motion, big waves, flowing type waving where you can even hear it pop as each wave works it's way through the fabric at the end. Of course my photo doesn't show that AT ALL dang it. It was really beautiful. Mike said he absolutely cannot wait to see this flag flying again, after living overseas for some time now.


We are late as usual for doing any sort of planting. In my defense I think I still may be on Arizona planting schedules. I always let things burn to a crisp when I planted things out there. Plus I bought this little herb garden kit on clearance last year and the kids reminded me that we still had it. Megan had enjoyed my neighbor's fresh basil on her delicious Kentucky tomatoes this year so much, she was pretty excited to see that basil was one of the seed packets. Megan mixed the dirt, wrote on the labels and did this all by herself.

And we are excited to finally see little green things popping through!! Come on little guys! You can do it!! Grow!

random

Just playing around with photoshop tonight. I'm hoping to get some photos like this done for my blog album that has been seriously neglected for months now! (Click on the image if you want to read the journaling.)

So far a pretty dull week. I was pretty bummed that Hell's Kitchen wasn't on tonight... you know I love my reality TV! AND speaking of reality TV...SURVIVOR starts this week. All is right in the reality TV world. And all will be right in my whole world when my man comes home to watch it with me on the couch!

Whoa. I scrapped. It's been a long time. I finally have found peace with a few things.... one, I love tan. Whether it is normal tan cardstock or kraft color and all the shades of tan in between. Why fight it when everything will go into an album anyway. It should make it all look like it was supposed to be like that and flow, right? I also like grids of neatly lined up photos. Why fight it anymore? I just can't scrap like I used to anymore. I want to enjoy it again.


More later... I'm going to bed!

September 11th

Every year I think of this little girl. Juliana Valentine McCourt. Every milestone with my own daughter I think of this little girl too. She was the same age as Megan when she died on UA flight 175 on September 11th.

Megan will have a birthday and I'll think of the time missed with this little girl. Or when Megan started a new grade in school. I remember holding my own daughter in 2001 and feeling so sad.

Before details starting coming out about some of the passengers on the planes I remember hearing that one of them was heading to California. - and being a morning flight I thought that there had to have been children on that plane more than likely headed for a trip to Disney. Sure enough later when the details started coming out..... this little girl was on the flight with her mother - headed to Disneyland.

I think of how scared mom must have been. Megan was into watching Barney at the time, and all I can think about is how I would have handled such a scary and unknown situation. I imagine her holding Juliana on her lap and singing the "I love you" song from Barney trying desperately not to show her fear to her little girl.

It's early fall, there's a cloud in the New York skyline....

Innocence dragged across a yellow line....

The Hands That Built America/U2

Rural roadside distractions

My boy who is now 9. I finally got a photo of him. He's so handsome. I love him. Happy birthday nine year old.

Amazing scenery...

Every now and then on a weekend day we drive to a place called Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. It's along the river, and a neat little place tucked in between huge trees on a little - barely - two lane road. It's one of those roads you have to pull over to the side if two cars are coming until one of you passes. We love to go there because it's usually pretty quiet and we like to go into the general store that has been there since 1831. We pick out a bottle of soda from the fridge in the back, pop the bottlecaps off at the front door and go sit by the river and either play with the dog, watch river traffic or wave at Indiana across the way. Everybody who comes to visit us goes to Rabbit Hash at least once.

It's really not far from the house, along a super winding road with horse or cattle farms and fields, and cool old barns, old historic Kentucky architecture farm houses, and new beautiful mansions. It feels good to open the windows any time of year because the trees are so thick through here it is always nice and cool. Megan is channeling her inner retriever or something by sticking her head out the window.

It's a neat old place. It has an arty feel to it, with some of the local people who make and sell things. It also has turned some of the old buildings into dusty antique shops where the stores aren't manned. If you want something, you have to be honest and take it into the general store to pay for it. It's also hippy-esque at times, and also a place where biker people like to go. What a mix. But it's also just a neat place to go because everybody is friendly. Like today when I accidentally drove past the sign that said "No thru traffic due to festival" a man who I've seen there before, who I thought was going to yell at me when I rolled down my window instead was relaxed and said God Bless to me. Then to have a nice day. Whew.

Festival? There's never anything going on here when we've been here before. But today we rounded the corner and the street was closed off (until I had to go and break the flow of people traffic! While trying to avoid hitting children, dogs or people who were enjoying the festival a little too much with a beer in hand!) Mmm, then we could smell the smells and hear the music.

We had to park a little way down the road and this tractor came by and drove us in. It was funny because just the other day when I was pointing out the signs all over the place for the Halloween farm festivals coming up, Megan said, "I really want to go on a hayride this year!" Here is your hayride Megan.

We walked around, got sodas for the kids, petted animals, looked at artwork for sale, watched some old machine making corn into cornmeal and listening to music. I'm glad we ended up coming here when we did. It was a nice surprise to think that we'd come and do our usual hang out in a quiet place and instead find this. When we were driving home all three kids were telling me how much fun they had and that they loved making pots. I love it when something so small is so memorable.

Rural roadside attractions..... continued

The kids all got to make a pot or bowl on a pottery wheel for $2 each. This woman was wonderful, she was so nice and so patient with kids while she taught them how to make something on the wheel. They all loved getting their hands dirty and watching the clay turn from a ball into a pot or bowl. The boys both made pots, and Megan made a bowl. They are perfect, and each have little fingerprints and things about them that make them unique. Megan's bowl is slightly lopsided on the top, Matthew ran his finger on the outside of his cup to make lines and Trevor's cup has a lip around the top from pinching the top as it spun.

I think the pottery was by far the most fun thing to all of us.

I took this picture for my mom. Recognize that basket?? I fell in love with that color blue glaze that they used on so many of the pottery for sale. It was beautiful. But... I don't have room for all the things that I would like to take home with me.

This band was playing cajun music. They were really good. I would have loved to have sat down and listened to them more, but the kids were all wanting to go in different directions. Matthew wanted to walk down to the river and do what he loves to do whenever we go to rabbit hash....which is to throw sticks into the Ohio river. The boy loves his sticks. Yep... and we brought one home with us. Trevor was interested in the food that you could smell everywhere (HUGE onion rings! OMGOSH. kettle corn, roasted corn on the cob, BBQ....heaven.) Megan was watching all of the dogs roaming around or on leashes. (The 'mayor' of Rabbit Hash actually is a dog named Lucy Lu who always greets cars that pull up and park on less busy days.)

Rural roadside distractions... continued

After leaving Rabbit Hash we stopped at an old church that is on the side of the road. It is on a hill and overlooks the river on one side and has rolling corn fields on the other. I've always wanted to stop and never have. I told the kids since I didn't get to make a pot this is what I wanted to do. I'm in love with these doors. My next little photo shoot will be in front of these. Old doors are awesome. My Matthew who is in a phase where he doesn't like to show his teeth when he smiles.

This is the entrance. There is a date stamped into that step at the very front of the door - 1893. - Looking at this door I can imagine the years and hundreds of people who had their first wedding photo taken standing on that concrete pad. Or the babies that were baptised through those doors, or even families gathering for a funeral. I imagine some beautiful leaded stained glass window was above where the wood is now. Those things are in antique shops all over the place here. - I wish those doors could talk.

I picture these shutters thrown open on beautiful days, or hot ones when it would be sweltering hot inside this building. This photo was taken from the cemetary right outside and down a small hill. Some of the headstones were so old you could not read them. Some were relatively new - like the 1980s so some families are still buried together in huge family areas. Maybe I'm weird, but I love old cemetaries and their history. Not that I hang out in them.... but I think they are interesting.

For the longest time I would see these big metal stars on the sides of old brick buildings. I wondered what they were. They always looked as old as the buildings, so I knew it wasn't some badge earned for being historic or anything, and they are on some pretty run down brick buildings too, so they must have had some sort of meaning or purpose when the buildings were new.

I found out when my mom was visiting months ago that they are supports! Behind the star is a long metal pole that goes through the building every so many feet that goes through to the other side! The stars are like decorative caps on the outside of the building. Mystery solved.

AND THE FIRST PUMPKIN SIGHTING! This could only mean one thing.... fall is around the corner. There have been other signs as well... like the geese are starting to come back. It's a sound I miss all summer, hearing them fly overhead honking. It is the neatest sound.

happy anniversary

Have I ever mentioned that I have the greatest kids? Today is my 19th wedding anniversary. Spent with the kids. I had them out of school today for some other reasons, but we went to one of their favorite parks. They knew I was having a hard time and spoiled me all day. My favorite was the fact that I was given picked flowers that were brought to me all day long. Which at one point all ended up tucked behind my ears. Matthew said I looked like a princess with my crown of flowers. Stay sweet you little guys. If you think I look like a princess I will believe you. I felt like one today!

Megan even took my picture. I'm rarely in pictures. You'll have to excuse the gray hair.... which will be taken care of tomorrow by Liz at 10:00. - and then I'll be able to claim my prize of the most fabulous hair.... bestowed upon me by my friend June. Today, it didn't look so fabulous. Haha.