Jack... as in Jack-O-Lantern

We know better than to carve the pumpkin earlier than the week before Halloween... we know because we swim in humidity from late April to mid November. Humidity = rotten carved gourd. This time we outdid ourselves... our pumpkin was rotten before we carved it. Surely a little bit of mold was NOT going to stop this creation (and we didn't know it was rotten until we cut the top off...)

The rot. I was really looking forward to letting the boys play with pumpkin guts. Not this year. Instead, Daddy will do the honors.

Gavin was our creative designer for the pumpkin face. He drew his interpretation of a jack-o-lantern on a piece of paper (inside a circle I drew; top left picture) and handed it to his Daddy to replicate on the pumpkin.

P.S. Gavin is wearing his unfinished puppy dog ears during this creative endeavor...

Noah, on the other hand, is harrassing the cat (I guess his way of practicing his puppy role) and exploring...

Hello, Jack.

Ag Expo in Moultrie

Field trip!!! Pop, Gavin and Myself ventured into Georgia for the Ag Expo. Everything agriculture all in one, big open field.... This is not for the faint of heart. We saw everything from log splitters, to livestock, to stocked ponds, and tractors, tractors, tractors!

Ice cream...homemade... blueberry and vanilla... at 10 am...Gavin also ate fried peanut butter sandwhiches, boiled peanuts, roasted peanuts, ice cream sandwiches, a bite of catfish, and a pulled pork sandwhich.

After walking around for hours, we happened upon John Deere Land-- no, this is even better than that-- John Deere Universe. And yes, we sat and tried to steer every tractor. And we bought out the toy booth. Thank you Pop for the next year's worth supply of tractors. Noah will not be empty handed-- Pop has decided that Noah will be a collector of red tractors. So Pop bought him a Case tractor. I was also informed that Noah will be a fan of Massey Ferguson as well...

Does anyone else out there have a love for walking sticks? My whole life, I have always known a walking stick is more of a necessity than shoes. This man taught me that and it looks like that lesson may have just been passed down. These sticks were being given out by the Fellowship of Christian Farmers. A leather strap strung with beads (gold, black, red, white, and green) symbolizes the story of Christ.

Sorry, back to the Deeres...

What a great, great trip we had! I think all three of us really enjoyed this. Pop was a huge influence in my love of the outdoors, my country-fied-ness. He indulged me in my love of horses (lots of money and time later, I still get knobbied knees around those animals) and ventures into agriculture (sorry about that Seed Savers shenanigans; but you know, this goat meat business will end up being a GREAT idea, I know it!) And now Gavin and his John Deere thing... Not to mention the future brainwashing of sweet, little, No-No...

Happy First Birthday, Noah!

CAKE!

Mr. Noah loves cake. So he decided to wear his at his birthday party. Yup, he had his very own dinosaur cake. And we let him sit in it. Don't say we never give in.

Gifts, Grilling, and Chillin'

We had a roarin' party for Noah's first birthday! With a Dinosaur theme and a bevy of kids (Birthday boy Noah, Gavin, Dylan, Tyler, Ryan, Phoebe, and Aurora), good times were waiting! Bronto burgers, t-rex dogs, and tons of sides were on the menu. Followed by a snappy birthday song and a slice of our friendly dinosaur cake (see prior post). Presents were opened- THANK YOU to everyone for the abundance of gifts!!! We had a great time and appreciate all our wonderful family and friends!

Birthday party, you say?

Because I feel it is monumental to have a first birthday, I feel the need to post a few little ditties about it instead of one lump some post. So, let's kick it off with a little photoshoot of the birthday boy with his parents...

Dino cakes!

Oh, Noah. I stayed up very, very late making these cakes for your first birthday party. And after I went to bed, you woke up twice. Twice. You do realize that your birthday party is the very next day, right? And I am to host this party? You must have more faith in me than I do myself- because on very little sleep, I am not a functional human being...I have a huge favor to ask of you...Please remember these cakes when you are choosing my nursing home. Thank you and I love you!

Banana Pancakes

Just like that Jack Johnson song, well except it is not rainin'. And these are made from whole wheat flour.

Pumpkin patch!

Our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! Well, not really a patch, but a field next to a trailer park with an assortment of pumpkins from North Carolina. A church fundrasier of sorts, with a kinda honor system of name-your-overinflated-price from $10-12. All in all, you can get a pumpkin in the local Winn Dixie for more than half this price, but look at the fun we had! And honestly, I would rather buy a pumpkin from the Lord than Winn Dixie any day.

This was Noah's first trip to the patch... last year, I looked like this pumpkin. He was born 2 weeks after last year's visit.

We spent more time than was necessary to pick out a pumpkin, but the boys had fun walking and crawling through all of the pumpkins.

Gavin picked out our keeper... I think he named him Clifford... Or was it Merv?

Poor Gavin. There is not much weight difference between him and Noah to begin with, but throw a massive pumpkin in the mix? This child was straining!

Yeah, we know we are corny.

Gatorin'

One of the many joys Gavin and Pop enjoy together. Of course, I have to be discreet about my photographing... Gavin will tell me very politely that I am a "gurl" and this ritual is for "boys and dogs." Sigh...