Family Photos

Last week, the Gilliland children converged near The-Center-of-the-Universe, AL for a visit - the second in a couple of months. We will get to see a lot more of each other now that we all live in contiguous states. Anne and Granddaddy will get to see a lot more of the babies

and the big kids. As true pyros, we cooked hot dogs over a fire in the back yard.

Some of us got into it

way more than others. Some of us were really hungry and ate them right off the sticks.
Before heading out Sunday, we got some shots of all the (current) clan. Notice a new addition will be arriving very soon. I think we went for every possible combination of folks we could think of.
Kids and their families:

with Mom:

and with Dad:
You might be a redneck if . . .
. . . you take a picture of your grandchildren on your vehicle.

Oops! Forgot one. Now they're all there. You might be a redneck if you load them in the back of a truck for a family photo too.

And if the grandparents hop in, you are for sure a redneck or at the minimum a hillbilly, but that's okay rednecks and hillbillys are by and large good people. It doesn't get any easier to take a photo of your kids as they get older. We're all looking a little goofy here. No the other shots weren't any better.


TTFN!

Hooooooooooooo!

A while back I pulled an idea out of last year's Better Homes and Gardens October issue - starched cheesecloth ghosts.

Being the cheap - I mean frugal - mama that I am I was sure we could do this thing with items we had on hand. I rounded up liquid starch, balloons and other roundish stuff, cups to hold said roundish stuff, lined cookie trays to hold the drying project, a bowl for the starch, fishing line, black felt scraps, glue, and gauze -



- sterile gauze with little strips that show up on x-ray film if they get left inside you during surgery and they have to track them down.
Funny enough, I think you could probably do this whole project with stuff you found at a hospital - if you were bored at a hospital, ya know. In fact, the gauze, cups and tray liners were courtesy of Anne's hospital surplus collection.
After pulling the little -x-ray visible strings off the gauze, we dipped four layers of gauze into the starch, squeezed most of it out, and draped them artfully over the roundish things. (I of course could not get a shot of the starching.)
I did, however, get a picture of what Owen did with some of the other materials.
This boy definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer :o).
It took them about a day to dry.


Then we added black felt eyes and some almost invisible fishing line hangers so these little guys could spook our house for the month of October.
Fast forward a few weeks, and Granddaddy came up yesterday to bring us some furniture. He also brought his pole saw and limbed-up some of our trees for us. Thanks, Dad!

And he got some Owen and Caedmon time.
After we worked him plenty, Grandaddy, the boys, and I went over to Bell Buckle for the arts and crafts fair. It was a great day to be out - just the perfect temperature - no jacket required but no sweat either.
This morning he headed out early, and we sent a few little spooks home with Granddaddy to haunt him and Anne.

Clap Your Hands

Finally got a couple of action shots with Caedmon clapping! Yay!

Things I'm Grateful For

A beautiful family and a nice, big yard for us to play
Owen - so very independent and creative
Hand-me-down overalls - so soft and comfy
A fall garden that produces despite all the weeds and grass and inattention it's gotten



An explorer
Nursing - so soothing for both of us
A sunflower planted late and picked with NO stem that lasted for a week on our table
A magician with a straw-wand

A visit from Anne a couple of weeks ago

And a tour around our yard (not so thankful for our trash art mosquito made from a toilet float, fan blades, and an insecticide can - well, maybe just a little for the humor it allows)

A hiding place for Owen in a fallen tree which will eventually heat our home


More places for my boy to explore
Owen's new-found love of letters and spelling

That Darned Cat

Here she is.
Here's what she did. I caught her in the acts but not on camera.
So I went to Lowe's and found this - Pet-D-Fense pet resistant screen.

After I got Caedmon to sleep and Owen watching a show, I brought the door inside
and removed the wood strips holding in the old screenwhile making sure to label them for proper replacement.

The old screen was only held in place by the nails and the wood strips, but I thought this one could use a little more help. I stapled all the way around it
and cut the extra. Yup, it really is petty tough stuff. I put the wood strips back.


abd rehung the door.




Now, try to destroy that, cat.

Exploring the Greenway

Murfreesboro is home to a Greenway with paths along the Stones River. The boys and I took a picnic and walked the trail near Cannonsburgh Village (which was closed - so we can go back again to explore the old, log homes and other buildings). Owen found a nice rock by the river for our picnic,
and carried the back pack the whole way,
and got to practice his balancing.