Mums the word...

Oh how I just love the Fall!  Mums, pumpkins, brightly colored leaves creating all sorts of drama against the darkening fall sky.  Warm sweaters, wooly hats, windy days.  

Thanksgiving!  My most favorite holiday!  I love the food, the gathering of family, the cozy-warm fuzzy feeling in my house on the big day.  We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year at our house.  I am excited and I plan to start working on our menu later this week.  The inside cover of the Williams-Sonoma catalog this month has a recipe for roasted turkey brined in buttermilk with a "smoky bacon and biscuit dressing"- sounds yummy to me.  I like to try new recipes each holiday season and this year will be no exception.  

Today I have never been more proud to be an American.

Hope for a change- click here!

Happy Election Day!

Now go vote! 

All caught up now- Halloween!

Well Halloween 2008 has come and gone.  We had a fun night with all our neighbors, although what used to take nearly 2 hours to accomplish is now down to under an hour.  These kids are becoming much more self-sufficient (and fast!) and don't need help from the grown-ups like they once did.  We all met outside in the park at 6:30pm and started to make the rounds- we were a menacing sight I am sure.  A total of 10 kids ranging in age from 5 1/2 to 1 year, all dressed up and ready to collect their candy, their parents, and even a few grandparents!  We had 4 princesses, a ballerina, Tinkerbell, a caterpillar, Batman, a race car driver, and a little orange clownfish named Nemo (this was Jack- the giraffe costume was a no-go as "little" Jack isn't quite so "little" anymore!).  Unfortunately the battery had died in my camera that afternoon and I forgot to charge it before heading out for the evening.  The following pictures were taken that afternoon while I was hanging here at the house with Lydia and Jack.  (***be sure to scroll all the way down as I have actually made 3 posts today-more pictures!  my kids are setting records for good behavior today!***)

lydia was having fun on friday just bouncing her purple balloon through the house

up, up, and away! 

my handsome little monster

jack's new kicks- they arrived just in time for halloween!  

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?

The weekend before last we met some new friends from Alabama at the Memphis Zoo for the day.  Of course I am biased as I count the zoo as a former employer, but what a lovely place to spend the day!  My favorite spot to watch the animals is an exhibit called The Northwest Passage- featuring polar bears, sea lions, black bears, and bald eagles.  It is truly amazing to me how graceful the polar bears are while swimming- just amazing.  

maggie and lydia, entranced by the polar bear

this is chickie, a female orangutan that i used to care for- she still seems as silly as i remember her being

one of the new gorillas! 

riding the carousel with daddy

Our trip to the pumpkin patch- some pictures

About 2 weeks before Halloween we took our kids to a pumpkin farm in Hernando, MS.  We had a great day- it all started out with a yummy breakfast at our house with our friends and then we all headed south to the farm.  The big kids rode ponies, we saw cows, peacocks, and goats, pig races, ate some lunch (including very tasty pumpkin spice donuts!), and then headed out on a hayride to the pumpkin patch.  A few of these pictures are courtesy of our good friend and neighbor, Aneel.  Thanks Neelers! 

This time change thing...

...is for the birds.  I have been reading some on the internets that it is supposed to "help my heart" to get that extra hour of sleep.  The folks that had the nerve to release the findings of their research obviously do not have 3 children ages 5 and under.  Jack has been awake since 4:30 (or is it 5:30?  I have lost track at this point) and Lydia woke soon after.  Jack has been given a cereal bar to snack on and a fresh sippy of milk.  Lydia has been parked on the floor begging me to put on Winnie the Pooh's Halloween show (?).  We have settled on the Blue's Clues Halloween show.  

Thankfully Brian and Maggie are still sleeping.  Thankfully.  

For the birds I tell you.