the photos continue

yes, it is true.  for better or worse, i will keep posting pictures until i get to the one of the boys eating breakfast in their hats.

these are the ladies who i spend Labor Day with each year.  They are a pretty amazing group of ladies, and I love them.  (Sorry, Amy, I think you were in the creek taking another picture at this time.  You are amazing, too.) 

hot chocolate after school

kelly and the girls came to visit for a weekend in September.  Michael was away fishing.  It was hot, we were tired, and Kelly had the brilliant idea of taking the kids to Chuck E Cheese for dinner (with us getting good pizza after the kids went to bed).  It was actually really fun, and I look forward to going to the new Chuck E. Cheese the next time we need a family pick me up.  i love my sister.

the next weekend we began the first of our family adventures in arkansas.  Michael carefully chose a day hike to this beautiful waterfall/swimming hole.  It was really lovely - the pictures don't do it justice.

right after I took this picture, I heard michael yell, "ERIN!!"  Now michael does not usually yell my name, so when he does, it gets my attention.  I quickly climbed back up to where the boys were to discover that michael had slipped on a wet rock and fell with ford in his arms, straight into the water.  they were soaked and frank, having witnessed the event, was terrified.

they had to strip off their wet clothes

and i was overtaken with the beauty of the little swimming area.  Since we had not seen anyone on the trail or cars at the trailhead, i decided to just go ahead and swim in my skivies.  it was one of those super moments in life.  the water was cold and refreshing and my family was precious throwing their rocks in the water. 

that is until just about this time, when i was drying off and a family, or perhaps a church group, they were certainly religious (as the women were all hiking in long denim skirts), approached the little waterfall and looked over the edge to see us in all our skin and underwears just hanging out on the rocks. 

frank at least redeemed us.  he was the only one who was fully clothed.  he and michael built rock towers. 

the ride home

here is my new watch.  perhaps you have already seen it on me.  i love, love, love, love it.  so many times i have already gotten to use the calculator, and frank loves the stopwatch.  I can time his running back and forth when we are bored.  I have an alarm set to remind me to start getting ready to pick up frank from school.  I have always wanted a calculator watch since I was a kid, but I never felt cool enough to wear one.  Now I know that just wearing it makes you cool automatically.

Taryn.  sweet taryn.  Our most faithful visiting friend outside of our family.  She has been to every house we've ever lived in.  Frank believes that she comes to see him, i think.  After our trip to the farmer's market (where we saw the ladies singing), Frank requested that we all have a meeting after ford went down for nap.  Taryn was the secretary.  Bobby was in attendance.  I believe our discussion involved dinner plans and whether or not we would watch Star Wars that evening. 

and then we made her do this.  good stuff.

here is one of his latest drawings. 

an after school picnic at the park

the best little pumpkin patch in Kansas

kelly had another brilliant idea which was to go early in the season so we could get a good choice of pumpkins

I love how we all go to the pumpkin patch to get our best fall family photos

the sun is shining, everyone looks healthy and happy

but this is really the behind the scenes

someone gets tired and hungry

someone gets obsessed with his pumpkins

and some mamas get jealous of other people's pumpkin choices and force their families to stay even longer in order to feel better about her pumpkin picking.

the end result: too many pumpkins.  My new friend from Hungary says, "Tell me, what do you do with all these pumpkins after Halloween is over?  You are going to eat them, yes?"
well...i may have to now.  anyone have some good pumpkin recipes?

How many?

How many pictures can one look at before their eyes glaze over and they leave your pitiful website bored by the events of your past 3 months?  my guess is about 50.  but I have 97 in this folder that I have named, "blog."  we'll see how it goes.  

I changed my mind.  I'm afraid it has been so long since i put up new pictures, that I need to go all the way back to June, in Houston.  Here is one of my favorite grown-up places in Houston - the outside patio at Tiny Boxwoods.  Terrible name for a restaurant, but a lovely place.

and we went there with a lovely lady.  Dr. Jodi.  People who visit us are forever worthy of being included on the loaf  website.  if i have forgotten you in the past, forgive me; i am making new resolutions.  Jodi is a terrifically fun friend and we are big fans of her.

here is ford this summer eating his first ever ice cream, or technically Ice Dream, cone at one of our many visits to Chik-fil-A this summer.  he was in heaven.  even now, he would rather lick the ice cream out of a bowl than use a spoon, because he thinks this is so great.

July 3rd.  My beautiful cousin Susan, got married.  How I love my children dressed up for a wedding, but the technical issues are such a challenge.  i.e. leaving the reception to take ford back to the hotel where he had a sweet babysitter, and then getting all the way back to the reception to realize that i had forgotten to take bobby doggie to the hotel, and then driving all the way back to the reception to find my other son completely high on coke and peanut m & m's.  I didn't even get to dance before it was time to go because we promised paige and frank that we would shoot some fireworks before we went home.

here were the best dressed men at the fireworks stand all night.

moving forward - to ford's first haircut from someone other than michael.  He had no problem with the experience. 

oh my sweet small group.  i just wanted to add a picture of you.  missing you. 

here was the house under heavy "prep" to put it on the market, these two along with my awesome mom were the hired help.  Hired means they worked pretty cheap - ice cream and a dinner.  I think they saved us hundreds of dollars in labor and hours.  I am still grateful. 

feeding giraffes at the houston zoo. 

sweetness.

more sweetness.  anke and matthias. 

houston zoo, we miss you.  we miss the dinosaur exhibit.  we miss the growing elephant family.  we miss the natural encounters house, we miss waiting for the Africa exhibit to open, but most of all, we miss Smaug, the komodo dragon.  he has been a good, somewhat frightening, companion to us over the years. 

even more, we miss going to the zoo with our friends.  here's harper and frank.  they are a funny pair.

George letting ford do what he does best - play with water in the sink.  a good man, you are, George.

and here is my favorite photo from the move.  i love how all the color drains out of frank's face when he sleeps.  I also think that this captures how we all were feeling on that drive. 

welcome home.  that's twice now in that same shirt.  I stopped wearing it so much after seeing these pictures. 

here is an area of our new park in fayetteville.  its a weird, Lord of the Rings looking castle area.  lots of sharp rocks and dirty water for toddlers to fall on and make a kid happy and a mama crazed. 

here is the view of our house from the school playground across the street.  as i type, frank is playing over there while i sit on the porch and watch him and listen for a sleeping ford.  pretty nice.

ford is an excellent pray-er at meals.  we are so proud. 

he is also still an excellent nudist. 

and here are GoGo and Stephanie - i love this picture.  i wish i remembered what they we laughing at.

perhaps they were giddy with excitement for the play put on by Virginia, Willa, Frank, and even Ford.  it was entitled, "Shootin' Shaun."  once again, we are so proud.  

 

 

 

 

 

here's frank's collage on his moving box house.  he worked so hard on choosing his pictures and getting them just right.  i especially love the photos of the figs and barack o'bama with a giant hand.

my favorite doorknob in our house

isaac and frank at Whole Hog.  i think this photo is priceless.  i always appreciate how our guests and friends love on the boys when they come to town. 

we close today with a typical scene on our front porch.  i sit here and watch the boys play in rocks and dirt and sand.  many days frank and i play that game from the movie, "Up."  We each pick a color of car and count them as they pass by.  We have learned that most cars are either white, black, or gray.  If you pick blue, you are sure to lose.