Sky Chairs are Swinging!

The Big Guy started a project a few weeks ago. Pumpkin was a great help! The bags and the wood were very heavy.The ground was fairly wet. It didn't take too long to dig the holes.
Buddy tried to help as much as he could!



Cutting the 4 X 6 took some elbow grease.
They got creative with the ends of the 2 X 12s.

Thank goodness for clamps. They held the beams up to level 'em.
Look at that drill bit!!
Looking good!
Yes. The Big Guy got a new drill out of this project.




Peanut gave the first push!
How do they look?
It just makes me smile when I look out back. The boys had fun with this project. I am already hinting for a chiminea to go along with this!!

Fall Break Weekend

Last Friday was Homecoming. The dance started before the football game ends - kind of strange - but that is how they do it. Pumpkin opted out of the game as it was raining and raining. I was the driver. We picked up his "friend," really just a friend and another girl. Her mom took pictures but I don't have them yet. Here are two the Big Guy snapped before we left.
We were teasing Pumpkin that his mom is the only one who can kiss him! I think he had an okay time. From what he told us, there was some girl drama. He wasn't the cause of it. Thank goodness. I don't think he has any patience for girl drama. Love it!

We were supposed to leave for Cincinnati on Saturday morning. Peanut had other plans for us. He ended up with a stomach bug and ran a fever for a day or so. We thought it wise to cancel the trip. It was a bummer that we did not get to spend time with my family. We made the most of it here at home. The weekend was productive even with the rain. I think they said that it has rained 12 of the last 15 days! That is lots of rain for October. Our maple tree leaves are falling off from the rain before they even turn that beautiful red!

The Big Guy took vacation too. I guess we had a staycation right here. Peanut was better in a few days. It took until today for him to really have his appetite back.

Anyway...Tuesday was the Big Guy's birthday! We celebrated with his request for Chicken Pot Pie. If you look closely, you can see his wise, old age carved into the crust.

Another request was for chocolate cake from Costco. I don't even want to think about how many calories are in that. He loves it! We got him a tshirt, a biking jersey and a spare pair of biking cleats to alternate his biking shoes. Yes. All those gifts are bike related. Did I mention it has been raining? He has not had the opportunity to get out on his two wheels. Ugh!!

When we painted Elliot's room, we noticed an electrical line was run to his closet. There was a switch for it and everything. I think the builder just forgot to hook it up. The Big Guy installed the electrical box in the ceiling and hooked up the fixture. Let there be light!

Pumpkin will love picking out his clothes - now that he can see them!

Peanut was not too much help. He just played with the multipurpose screw driver.

All in all, we had a nice little fall break here at home.

The boys went back to school on Wednesday and we are back into the routine. The best treat of all was having visitors yesterday. Rachel, Kevin and Averie came to visit. Kevin had a conference in Tunica. I snagged the girls. We hung out for the day. Isn't this little cutie adorable? They stayed for dinner. We loved seeing them and are so glad they stopped by. We only hope we will get to see more of them!

Lots of Photos from the Last Two Weeks

The weather has not been the best for cycling - that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!!! The other morning I drug myself out of bed. Look at the reward. I got to see this out on my bike. Amazing! The car driving by me must have thought I was nuts with my iphone out on my bike trying to ride up hill.

Before Peanut's first official ref job. He had fun, but we aren't quite sure what the process is to get paid.

Last Saturday we headed to Nashville for the Vandy vs. Ole Miss football game. Here the Vandy team is walking to the stadium. We got burgers from Ted's Montana Grill and sort of tailgated in our car. I don't need to spend time on the game. Vandy did not look good. But, I got to spend time with my friend Amy and her family. Enjoyed it!

Peanut takes a tennis ball to and from school just in case they need one for wall ball at recess. Guess who realized a tennis ball was hiding in his backpack?

We had a touch of cool weather. On Sunday, I made this Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip cake. Talk about good! Everyone looked forward to some dessert.

I went to organize my knitting stuff. I had lots of ideas! I found these two wips and decided to finish them. It was great to pick the needles up again. I have to block the hat and make a tassle for the top. We are going on a road trip tomorrow. I have to get a project ready for the car ride.

Peanut's school has an annual fundraiser, The Turkey Trot. The kids solicit money for laps they run. Peanut just hit us up. His class runs for 30 minutes tallying all the laps they run. Well, Peanut outdid himself. He tied the school record with 42 laps. One lap is 1/8th of a mile. You do the math. That is pretty fast!!

This week at the high school was Spirit Week. Pumpkin jumped right in and dressed up - a bit - each day. Yesterday was baby day for the freshman. We did not get too creative. He tied one of his bibs on. I had to pinch myself. At times, I just don't know where the years have gone! The bib is cross-stitched with his name on it.

Peanut had a diarama project due today. He finished it a couple nights ago. It was on the book, Brian's Winter, by Gary Paulsen. He strategically placed his Lego pieces in order to reclaim them from the project. I was on a mission to make him use stuff that was in the house. The pretzels look just like trees. Don't they?

Lastly, today was Nerd Day for Peanut. It is a fundraiser for the Student Council. Peanut looked pretty good. He wore the Big Guy's bow tie and we were able to get it tied!

Love the hair. We used gel trying to keep it parted. He has lots of straight hair that likes to do its own thing!!

The Homecoming game and dance are tonight. The rain is here. I wonder if it will go away for the game. Pumpkin broke his glasses last night. Fortunately, he has a spare pair. I'm off to see if they can fix the other ones. Pumpkin did ask someone to the dance. I don't know if I am ready for all this, but here it comes! I am sure they will have fun. We'll get to question him about it the entire car ride. We are heading to Cincinnati for a long weekend!

Los Locos Duathlon

The boys registered to do a local duathlon, 2 mile run, 15 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. Pumpkin did the biking and Peanut did the running. After all the rain we've had the last few weeks, it finally cleared up. It was gorgeous!

Peanut had on his lucky Vanderbilt running shorts. He never wears "short" shorts. I loved it! He was showing off those cute muscular legs!

Getting ready to start. They started in waves and the relays went last. This gave Peanut a chance to see where to run.

Peanut was a bit nervous and started off really fast. The boy in front of him in the yellow shorts runs cross crounty for Rhodes College. He looked just like a gazelle running on the pavement. Adam ran a good split, but did not keep up with him.

Here comes Peanut finishing up the first run. He's even smiling! He's got a half mile to go before tagging Pumpkin.

Here they are transferring the clip. Pumpkin wasn't too much of a help as he was holding up his bike.


Off Pumpkin goes to start the bike ride. We were a bit nervous about this. The ride is hilly and were just weren't sure if he'd keep his focus. He did fine! He seemed to enjoy the experience. We learned more and more about the ride route as the day went on.

We did not even know it, but one of Peanut's soccer team mates signed up too. He was part of a relay team with his dad. Peanut was determined to run faster!!

Here he goes off for the last two miles. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Pumpkin coming in off the bike, but I got caught up enjoying the moment.

Here is Pumpkin after his bike ride chatting with us waiting for Adam to make it in from the run.

There he goes! At this point, he had a half of a mile left.

Here he is bringing it home! With the time adjustment, they finished with a time of 1:17.47.

They both had a good time and were talking about what they can do next!! It may be this run. We are heading to Cincinnati in a few weeks for fall break. Buddy is coming with us and we may just entertain him.

Squeaky Clean Happiness

Happiness does come from very simple things.

On Tuesday, I got the urge to really clean the refrigerator. The timing was perfect as it was rather empty. What a job it was. Can I tell you how exciting it is to open my refrigerator? Every time I do it, I smile. It looks lovely. I snapped these photos after my trip to the grocery.

We are still limping along with a broken ice maker on the fridge itself. It is too old to call a repairman. But, too young to part with. The blue ice trays work great when the Big Guy isn't filling them. He has a tendancy to spill the water! What's better than a clean freezer with a big box of Skinny Cow sandwiches?

Here's the fridge!



What a cheap thrill to have a clean fridge! I don't think anyone else in the family appreciated it. I'm continuing my cleaning...I am rearranging the furniture in the music room. We'll see how that all turns out. If nothing else, I'll get all the dust bunnies that are lurking in that room!