Lil' Dude the wanna-be

Meet Elizabeth's pumpkin.

 He's Lil' Dude, the wanna-be gansta. 

He's rockin' the green thumbtack nose and cardboard shoes look. Lil' Dude's wants us to spread the word that he's looking around for a high-quality pumpkin gang to join.

{I can't believe I just spoke for a pumpkin. Clearly I need to find SOMETHING a little more productive to do with myself and my time.} 

***

In other news, our house is going to be bursting at the seams with visitors this weekend. The visitors, who may or may not overlap, are as follows:

Christopher

Grandma and Grandpa from Florida

Daniel and Erika

Marissa

Hannah, Willie & Co.

Nicholas {he never misses an opportunity to not-so-coincidentally come over when we have company}

Jimmy, Debbie & Alyssa {or some combination thereof} 

Carol, Brian, Zachary and Molly

It's going to be a BIG social weekend for us but like I always say, the more the merrier {especially if it involves food}. 

The Pumpkin Patch

The other day I took my young charges down the road to the pumpkin patch. {Hence the above title and below picture.}

The pumpkins had something to say:

The poor pumpkins didn't know what hit them when Zachary and Molly arrived. I spent the whole visit being the Official Pumpkin Spokesperson and defending their poor stems from over-eager pumpkin-picking children. 

Speaking of pumpkins{as if this whole post isn't about them}, I was studying the various types of pumpkins at the patch and made the following scientific chart based on my observations: 

Exhibit A- normal, average, typical, usual, round orange pumpkins

Exhibit B- odd, very bumpy, wrinkly green pumpkin

Exhibit C- very odd, over-grown deformed acorn shaped pumpkins{or is it really a type of squash?}

Exhibit D- very lovely, multi-colored rainbow pumpkin{my personal favorite}

The pumpkin patch was in the front yard of a church so they made this cross with teeny-tiny pumpkins.

The most exciting part of our visit was playing hide-and-seek in the pumpkins. I didn't hide because I had to be the responsible photographer, but it provided endless fun for the kids. 

The two cutest little pumpkins ever.

{I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist calling them little pumpkins.}

ps. When we got home, Zachary and I played 15 consecutive games of Pick-Up Sticks. My humility prevents me from saying who won the first 14 games. 

♥ 1st Anniversary ♥

One year later they're still just as cute.

birthdays, fires and friends

1.

We have another birthday to celebrate!

The following conversation transpired while I was talking to Katie on the phone the other night in the presence of my family{a situation I like to avoid if possible}:

Katie: 22 seems so much older than 21!
me: It's not that much older. You're still on this side of 25.
Mom: That's right! You tell her she's still young!
Dad: Well, 22 is getting really close to 50. 


Thank you, Father. You were so reassuring in her time of distress.

2.

The fire alarm situation

The fire alarm went off three times during history yesterday. After three minutes of discussing whether it was a real fire or just a drill{I personally believe it's better to have that discussion once you're safely out of the building}, Mr Shadrick decided we should leave the room. As everyone stood up, he said "just take your valuables with you". No less than 6 people immediately grabbed their cup of coffee. Because coffee is way more irreplaceable and valuable than, say, YOUR LIFE.

3.

The girl from Peachtree City

Elizabeth's friend Abby flew up from Georgia to visit for the weekend. She is so sweet and has the best dimples. Elizabeth and Abby spent the visit attached to each other like Siamese twins{notice how they're wearing the same shirt}while they discussed deep topics along the lines of Silly Bandz and penguins. 

26

 This adorable little boy is having a birthday today.

{The cuteness is almost overwhelming.}

Happy birthday,big brother! 

Backwards Upside Down Supper

After the success of Silly Supper a few months ago, the mayor of Babysitterville decided to hold a Backwards Upside down Supper. {Technically it wasn't the mayor's idea, it was Laura's but with a little twist. I'm just giving credit where credit is due.} Anyway. If you wanted to attend BUDS you were required to be appropriately dressed. Namely, you had to wear a hat upside down and backward. Wearing your shirt backward was completely optional. The food was served on upside down plates and we attempted sitting on backward chairs. For obvious reasons, we did not drink out of upside-down glasses.

This was our first course:

It was a big hit.

As was to be expected, Molly had some major troubles with her hat but Zachary's was fine the whole time. That seems to be the pattern of their lives. I wore a hat also but there are purposely no pictures to document it.   

 Ever since I told Molly and Zachary about the 'ladies before gentlemen rule', Molly has been using it to her advantage in every possible situation. About to wash their hands? "LADIES FIRST!" Picking book for story time? "LADIES FIRST." {Capitals means she's very loud about it.} Poor Zachary got tired of this very quickly but since he's not a lady, he can't really argue. Until Backwards Supper. When it came time to eat their chocolate peanut butter spoons {my latest and greatest invention}, Molly began her "LADIES FIRST" speech as expected. Zachary just looked her very calmly in the eye and as he took the spoon with the most chocolate, he said "Not this time.This is BACKWARDS supper."

Many less words than usual Wednesday

 

                                                                     Columubus Day, 2010

A lot of CAPITALS

Ok, folks. Someone needs to get in contact with the owner and operator of this here blog and tell her that she’s been doing a TERRIBLE job of documenting her life lately. It’s an embarrassment really.


The owners of these two names, AUTUMN & JOANNA, showed up at my door the other day for our long overdue, all-important S.L./Scrabble/girls night.  We were way behind on our socializing and had A LOT to catch up on. Apparently, we were even louder than usual because when Autumn went upstairs to get her camera, Mom asked her if our group had suddenly multiplied from 3 people to 12. That’s saying a lot because we are not known for our lady-like volume. {There’s a small possibility Molly may have gotten her loudness from me.}We were so into our socializing that it took us 65 minutes to take three turns in Scrabble. What can I say? We like to talk. We were so busy talking that the only food we ate was the 12 cookies I made. That’s a shocker because food is pretty much the fourth member of our club. The final Scrabble scores were 184,148 and 135. I had neither 184 nor 148. Was I surprised? Not in the least. I’ve become quite used to being the LOSER. I wouldn’t know what to do if I won. 


{I think I’ve finally lost my brain because 2 seconds ago I know exactly what I was going to say next. NOBODY needs to reaffirm that statement about my brain, thankyouverymuch.}


Oh yes, school updates:
1. In sociology on Thursday, the teacher said such-and-such “happens all the time so it’s really rare.” I have NO idea what he meant. 
2. The Dean of the college will be visiting our science class on Thursday to discuss with us proper classroom behavior {or the lack thereof}, respect, and the general mayhem the goes on in Room 104B. As he doesn’t generally have these meetings with students and their teachers, it will be a very interesting morning to say the least.  
3. According to my history teacher, the inventor of Facebook makes $559,361{give or take} per hour. The poor man is barely scraping by. 
4. I've also learned that “it’s bad when trains hit”, “turkeys drown in the rain”, and that Theodore Roosevelt liked attention so much “that he’d go to the opening of an envelope if he could.” Mr. Shadrock’s history class is always worth getting up early for.

Elizabeth and her log

One day we were on the beach in Maine and Elizabeth fell in love...with a log.

She rescued it from a watery grave and wanted to bring it home.

Because lugging a log a mile and a half down the beach and into a car to be transported 150 miles away is the most normal thing in the world. 

It was one of those times I questioned the validity of our sisterhood.

Miscellany Monday

1. Awards

Natalie gave me an award and I am very honored. I'm also very late in passing it on because she gave it to me over two weeks ago. I think I've been just a tad busy lately. Without further delay, I pass it on to the following: 

Laura- because her posts always make me smile

Melanie- because I like her...and because I've known her since I was very small...and because I could have sworn that when she moved it was at least an hour away until I went to visit her and I only had to drive 15 minutes. 

Not that I should be surprised by that considering I have the direction skills of a 3 year old.

Julie- because she's sort-of-my-friend-I-just-haven't-meet-yet. The fact that she lives waaaay out in California and I live waaaay out here doesn't help to solve that problem. She has a little bald baby that is so deliciously cute it's probably just as well we didn't live nearby. Let's just say that Julie would be minus a child and I'd be plus one.

2. My new best friends

Don't tell Katie, but I have a couple new best friends. Meet my cup of tea and my box of tissues. They're helping me through this difficult time of cold and fluness. {Why does Spell checker have to tell me that 'fluness' is not a real word? Obviously it has no creativity.}

3. Birthdays

As further proof that I have been a tad busy and sick lately, let's consider for a moment the fact that I forgot about not one, but TWO birthdays. As the Italian guy in The Princess Bride would say, "it's inconceivable".

First we have the lovely Amanda, the wearer of yellow flowers and the brains behind the Civil War ball. 

image

Second is Nikki, sister of my small, gum-eating, lovable little boyfriend Noah.

I just realized she turned 16 which means she can drive. Why do these people think they can grow up without my permission? Noah is never going to grow up. I won't let him. If he ever tries to go to college, I'm going with him. 

4. Autumn and Joanna

Just because they haven't made an appearance in a while{and also because they're two of my very cool peeps}.