Feeling Lazy

It's what Fall Break does to us. Ahhhhhh!~

Perfect Pairings - Romans 12:9-10

My prayer for our children:
Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle
~Romans 12:9-10 (The Message)

Follow this link to Baloney's blog and add your own Perfect Sunday Pairing!

Fire!

I opened my window
and pushed out the screen.
Had to capture a picture of the
blazing fire outside my bedroom window,
while it's still burning.
Hot!

Of Pumpkins and Mud

Once again, we went to the pumpkin patch in Bixby.

We enjoyed the usual elements:
mounds and mounds of bright orange pumpkins.
Cute little girls in kitty cat shirts.Interesting farm animals. Lots of 'em.Bags of feed for .50 cents apiece. Pony rides: $4.00.
Scarecrows and other photo ops. And something new for us this year: mud. See it on the pumpkin?
Look at the ground. It was impossible to avoid the sludge of muddy soup.
The mud on this boy is just a small sample of the total amount that covered him by the end of our visit. The pictures don't do the mud justice. The upside? Not many people decided to brave the mud like we did, so we had the whole sloppy place to ourselves. I tried to ignore the fact the mud won; it took me an entire day to get the boots, the blankets and my car free from the caked on baked on mud. The kids didn't care, in fact they had fun in spite or because of the mud!

A Halloweenish Story

A few weeks ago, the girls both auditioned for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow at a local theater... it wasn't a story we knew much about, just that it was a little spooky and perfect for the Fall Season. Well, we were all jumping up and down when the director called and offered them parts in the play! So for the last 6 weeks, we have LIVED down at the theater in rehearsals.... but have truly enjoyed every minute of it. Ellie was cast as a phantom and Kami a schoolgirl. Their parts fit their personalities really well. Last weekend was "opening weekend" and this weekend is "closing weekend," but they will have a total of 8 performances. The crowds last weekend were GREAT! More than scary, it is a funny play, with lots of comic moments from Brom Bones, my personal favorite character. Kami gets to scream "Beehive!!!!" in Home Alone style and do the Virgina Reel on stage. Ellie gets to be very spooky and chant things like "Beware of the galloping hooves/ Beware of the cries in the night. When the Headless Horseman rides/ You'll probably die of fright!!!"

Here, in a super duper abbreviated version, is the story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving :

There once was a town named Sleepy Hollow, a town that seemed to thrive on superstition and ghost stories.They had a town prankster named Brom Bones, a ruffian who every one loved to hate. He was brash and bold... ... and was in love with a local girl named Katrina. He tried to win her over with pure persuasion and crude gifts like an old coin. One day a funny looking man named Ichabod Crane, a lanky yet educated individual, came to town to be the new school master.He was a very strict schoolmaster, his favorite saying being "spare the rod and spoil the child."He, of course, quickly fell for the beautiful (and rich!) Katrina, but this didn't set well with the rough and tumble Brom Bones. Bones quickly came up with a plan to chase Ichabod Crane out of town, like he had done to other schoolmasters before. He and the Sleepy Hollow Boys threw a bee hive into Ichabod's classroom. That prank didn't scare Ichabod away. They tried other pranks that weren't successful either, but when they started scaring him with stories of ghosts from the town graveyard, Ichabod began to become uneasy. One night, after a party at the Van Tassell home......Brom Bones told an elaborate story of the Headless Horseman. (this by the way is a GREAT scene!)Ichabod Crane, who had eaten far too much that evening, began hearing funny sounds as he made his way home through the forest. He thought he encountered the ghost of an old pirate, the spirit of the Woman and White and other cute (mine especially!) phantoms. Ichabod's final encounter was with none other than the Headless Horseman himself!!!! (This chase scene gets EVERYONE roaring!) After that night, Ichabod Crane was never seen again. What do you think may have happened to him?

I Love All Things Fall

I do, I really really do.

Warm sweaters,

hot chocolate,

orange pumpkins,

Multicolored leaves,

Darkness coming early,

chill in the air,

The smell of burning wood,

Homey get-togethers,

I just love it all. It's so darn cozy! And I like to be cozy.

There's just nothin' I don't like about this season.

But in my family, I am alone in my devotion to the fall season.

I'm sorry, fall, to tell you... that no one in this homestead likes you much.

Kami and Tom are summer lovers - more hours of light = more hours of sports. It's that simple.

Luke says that he loves summer too. Swimming, running, jumping, playing... all done better in summer.

And I had to laugh today while I looked through Ellie's papers. As it grows cooler and the days shrink, all I can think about is F-A-L-L! But Ellie's composition for the day? It is called "Spring."

I like Spring because flowers start to grow and all the pretty butuerflys come out and its a perfect time to spend time with my mom and dad. Me and my dad can go fishing. Me and my mom can go minow catching with my frind Savanna. Spring is a wonderful season.

Yes, it is, but until it gets here, I am going to jump headfirst into the big pile of leaves called FALL.

It's A Beautiful Day....

The Maize

Kami has been to the pumpkin patch for 9 years in a row now, and Ellie has officially been her 7th time. So, while the pumpkin patch is a great photo opportunity and a funnish fallish experience, Kami, Ellie, and friends were excited about the new place in town (or should I say waaaaaaay out east of town) called The Maize. Unlike the pumpkin patch, you have to pay admission. But it was much more than a corn maze. The maze itself was pretty cool, a walk through winding and crossing paths of corn that took us about 15 minutes. The maze was in the shape of Oklahoma with a salute to the centennial, and luckily, didn't give me any Children of the Corn vibes. The place was packed with a ton of fun fall stuff to do, like bury each other in a pit of corn. You'd think they were on a beach, burying each other in the sand. But, well, here in Oklahoma, we don't really have that choice, now do we. So, corn it is! One of their favorite things was just playing on the bales of hay that were stacked up. And they loved the rubber ducky race below. Plus, they had a cow train pulled by a 4-wheeler and bikes the kids could ride through the corn. But, that's not all! Paintball guns were a big hit too. We had an awesome time and followed it up with a meal of cornchips, salsa and queso from Ted's!!! Yummmmmm!

Look at These Pumpkins!

Welcome Fall Y'all

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ok, I know this is officially a Christmas song, but I just love this time of year. The fall season is so amazingly beautiful (the colors of the leaves shock me every autumn), there is a chill in the air, and you can just cuddle up and be cozy. For some weird reason, I actually enjoy the short daylight of the fall and winter and love dark fall evenings.

We have only made two trips to the pumpkin patch; it seems like we usually go 3 or 4 times, but with my kids getting a bit older, it seems we are also busier with activities. Carmichael's is THE place to go. They have dozens of animals that the kids absolutely love to feed. And a maze made of bales of hay. And a hayride, ponyrides, and mounds of bright orange pumpkins. See Ellie's project for other cool sights at the pumpkin patch.

More Mudslinging

Here are some more pics of our trip to the pumpkin patch! Finally, with some finagling, I was able to post these pics. Isn't this the cutest family of all time? They are just as nice as they are cute. And I don't think they got a drop of mud on themselves. My family, however, was covered. Ellie took a spill, and didn't capture a picture of this, but Kami's pants had mud smeared on them up to the thighs! She was a bit disgusted. We had to strip off our shoes and pants on the ride home, so we didn't mess up Tom's loaner truck. But, it was an adventure I'm glad we didn't miss. Goodbye Ashley, Alex, Andrew and Aunt Anne! Come back again yall!