Blue Meme

Logan has long been attached to his blue blanket (or "meme" as he calls it).
He carries it most everywhere we go and it is always quite amazing if he says he's leaving it at home or in the car.
When he gets tired, he rubs the silky edge in between his fingers until he is asleep. Interestingly, Alyssa had (and still does) a yellow "tassel" blanket when she was little - it had a couple of ties on it that hadn't been trimmed down (so they were long) and she would twist these in her fingers until she was asleep.
We also have a green and a yellow blanket that has the silky side and edge and fleece side, but Logan needs his "blue meme." Even in the dark he can tell if you've tried to trick him with one of the other blankets (I usually wash it when he's sleeping - if I have to wash it when he's awake, he'll take it damp out of the washing machine, not letting me put it in the dryer).
Aaah, a boy and his blanket!

Not So Routine

We (ok I) have finally settled into our school/soccer routine. I have felt that I haven't had much to blog because life is back to school normal, but we aren't that boring.
Every year the Georgia Poultry Federation puts on a "Night of Knights" for all people in the industry. It consists of poster displays, dinner, concert, and dancing.
Robert and I signed us up last year to be "hosts" to help seat people at their tables. What that really means is we get to dress up a bit, have a great dinner, chat with colleagues, stand around smiling (because people really don't need much help finding their tables), find an open table, eat dinner again (if all that smiling made us hungry), and watch a pretty personal concert performed by a country singer - no one is really more than 5 or 6 tables away from the stage in the middle of the room and the stage rotates.
Last year Joe Diffie performed and this year was Travis Tritt. It is always a fun evening, especially having an evening with Robert in Atlanta.
Today Logan and I went to school to have lunch with Jake and Natalie. Their lunch times overlap, so we went in with Jake and Natalie joined us when her class came.
Logan loves going to school to see his siblings!Later this afternoon, Jake called out that there was a deer in the back yard. We normally see them in the woods, just beyond the grass area.
This one was a bit more bold and was right in our back yard.
It tried to nibble at the grass a bit, but always jerked its head back - alert.
Izzy (our dog) was lying in the garage not even aware. When I went out quietly to see if Izzy would run out (she always thinks you're coming out to fetch with her), she stopped at the edge of the garage and just stared at the deer (she isn't much of a barker usually) or she might of been staring at the squirrel that she went running after, once the deer went back into the woods.
It was cool to see it so close and Logan and Jake kept talking about how Bambie's mom was in our back yard.

Mixin' it Up

I've had a couple of great buys this last week and so we've been doing some rearranging.
Our couch, a much appreciated hand-me-down from Robert's parents, finally got thread bear enough to wear through on one armrest.
In thinking about reupholstering it, I was driving by an antique/barnyard sale here in town and saw a couple of couches. I stopped, just to see what the prices were, and couldn't pass them up.
They are in great condition, a style that both Robert and I like, and only $145 for both of them!
They looked so nice in the living room, but thinking of how hard the kids are on our couch, thought we'd put them in the front room and still get the old couch reupholstered.
We put the piano against the other wall and moved out the bookshelf.
Now we have a nice little sitting room.Funny that Robert moved that couch a bit to center it under the tapestry - I obviously had it centered before (I'll have to move that back over a bit).
Sorry the color is off on this one, taking the picture into the windows and afternoon sun put the whole room into a dark shadow.
We still need to move the picture of Christ overlooking Jerusalem and hang my peacock cross-stitch, and make some other changes.
And, I'll be repainting as soon as I choose a color (yeah!! I've never really liked the color in the room or the boarder wallpaper at the top, the room is originally a formal dinning room that we never used in that way).
But we are already enjoying our sitting room and are now motivated to finish the room and do some other rearranging in the house.
It's been three years, we needed to scratch that itch sometime!

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Saturday was Logan birthday.

In the morning when Robert asked him how old he was he held three fingers and said soon he'd be four. Robert said that it was his birthday and today he WAS four.
Logan's eyes got really big and he smiled and put up four fingers. Later when our friend asked him how old he was he said "just today I'm four."
I went with an Indiana Jones hat cake, even carving out for the shaping and adding a ribbon.He has been so excited about his birthday that he wanted to open presents first. We had him wait until everyone was done with dinner and then had cake and ice cream.
In years past he hasn't been too sure of people breaking out into loud song for him, but this year he didn't mind.Finally present time.
A big airplane (foam), ball, Legos, gifts from grandmas and grandpas, and a boxing set.
Everything he always wanted.
His birthday card came a couple of days early, from Robert's parents, and he was so excited to get birthday money and buy a Lego set.

A package came from my parents and in it a tin of decorated fudge covered Oreo. When Natalie asked for one Logan said, "no they're all mine!"
He did end up sharing.
Every time we've gone to the sporting goods store, Logan goes right to the boxing section and stand there punching the bags.
I got a little set with gloves and a blow up bag.
He got quite a workout, with gloves . . .
and without.
He had a great day and a great party!
Happy Birthday, Logan!
We love you!

Superstitious?

Seventeen years ago, August the 13th also fell on a Friday.
It was the best day ever!People thought we were crazy, but no superstitions here.
Happy Anniversary!

What a Week!

We had quite a busy week last week!
Wednesday was "Meet the Teacher" because Thursday was the first day of school!
Wednesday was also when Robert's sister and her family came into town for a visit.
The kids had a hard time waking up after staying up with cousins and it was still dark outside.But they ate and got ready to go.When Logan woke up I told him that Jake, Natalie, and Alyssa were at school. He thought a minute and then said, "but Hunter (his cousin) is here" and then he was ok. He and Hunter became fast friends.
While the kids were at school we showed the Nelsons around town.
The UGA stadium and bookstore are always fun to check out.We couldn't have too much fun while the kids were in school - they were mad enough already. At least, being the first few days of school, they didn't have any homework yet. We took every moment when they were home to go do some fun things together.
We went to the Elder Mill Covered Bridge.
Logan didn't start out too happy (falling asleep in the car can do that for you), but he enjoyed it before too long.
And played in the water.We went to Stone Mountain, to watch the laser show and fireworks. Logan actually liked them. I think sitting with his Aunt Heather helped.
We played games, went flea marketing (is that a word) at the J&J, and checked out the Antique places that line the highways.
We also checked out Watson Mill Covered Bridge. The water here was much more impressive than at the Elder Mill Covered Bridge!
These falls are right after the river goes under the bridge.
Going there, Jake said that he didn't want to in the water.
He soon changed his mind. Here are some fun runs down the rocks.
A longer one.


And a shorter one that ended in a deeper pool.

We're definitely coming here again!
We loved having the Nelsons visit.
Now that they are also on the east coast we can't wait to see them again!

Canned Pumpkin is Seasonal?

The dog days of summer have hit.
Hot and humid.
For us it also means that school is starting soon
and trying to get in as much fun as we can before it does!
Since I've been freezing a lot of our garden, I was running our of room in the freezer. The biggest thing to get rid of was a turkey.
We invited some friends over for Thanksgiving in July!We had all the trimmings. Except pumpkin pie. Did you know that canned pumpkin is seasonal? I couldn't find it anywhere!
We went with a lemon meringue - which was very good. And now I know to stock up on canned pumpkin come November.

Natalie spent one morning planning a lunch cafe - menus, place mats, and rolls and coloring pages while you wait for your main dish.
We try to go to the river as often as we can.
And invite friends over as often as we can, too.

Our summer went by too fast.
Sure it's still summer, but we find that our life's year starts and ends with the first day of school.
We can't wait for it to come again.