Hot and crispy... yet foggy

The above photos were on my walk yesterday. While fall isn't my favorite season, I'm learning to appreciate the russets and golds. 

Below, some of our mornings. I dunno how we get any fog when things have been as dry as they've been. Doesn't seem like there's enough moisture to MAKE fog, but I guess that's why I'm not in charge of such things.

 

Happy first day of fall, y'all

 

It has been hot enough that I still haven't wanted to bake, and that's saying something because I LOVE cookies. I owe some to some friends, so no, you guys, they're not lost in the mail; they're still ingredients.

Anyway, here's hoping we get slightly cooler temps, but more importantly, RAIN. It's been dry for... months? Things are sounding quite crispy and today is only the first day of fall. Could have fooled our yard!

First day of school!

In my head, I always hear "first day of school" in Nemo's exuberant voice as he bounces on Marlin to wake him up. Our kids are WAY past being that excited about Day One, but photos are obligatory anyway.

Thing Two kicked off his first semester of college this week. (And there was much rejoicing. Hallelujah, brothers and sisters!) He's taking an English comp class in which he was the only guy, Calculus, Chemistry with lab, and Welding. It is going to be an interesting semester!

So far this week has been ice breakers and "this is the actual book we will be using" and "we are moving to this room" and so forth. 

We are excited to see what this semester holds for him in new friends and knowledge gained. Have a great Fall of Firsts, buddy!

 

Clinging to summertime

If you're familiar with weather in Ohio, you're aware that there can be 30 degree differences in a day. Last night the low was predicted to be 48 while today's high is to be 84 with temps only making it back down to 70 tonight. That means the kids begin to freeze at the bus stop in the morning while determinedly wearing shorts and sandals that they know they'll want to be doing recess in. Layers, layers, layers.

However, the afternoons have been just about perfect, so we sneaked in some R&R this weekend.

Someone hijacked my hammock. I spent a little bit of time fully equipped to stay for an extended period, but the middle child took advantage of a "move your feet, lose your seat" moment and I didn't have the heart to bump him back out when I saw him cocooned in, bookworming. I brought out snacks instead.

A smaller boy was in and out of his own hammock like a bumblebee dipping in and out of blossoms, therefore I didn't snag any photos of him. I loved that they were both reading and in the fresh air instead of on screens under artificial light. It's already getting dark seemingly much earlier, so I hope to take advantage of every drop of sun that fall bestows on us!

Boys, bugs, mums, and other assorted musings

No matter how big he gets, this kid is irresistible when he's sleeping. The camera loves him and somehow he is even more kissable when he's snuggled into a big chair. 

I often wonder how he's going to fit at, say, 17...

We had some insect adventures at the bus stop this morning. There was a two hour delay due to fog. Some of you are rolling your eyes, but I swear we've already covered this ground; we live out in the boonies and bus drivers probably can't see the kids, not to mention any deer, in fog you could saw through with a butter knife. It lays especially thick on the fields, some of which are being harvested. At any rate, it's rather pleasant to eeeeeease into a Monday...

So the sun was fully up and shining away by the time the Damonater struts down the driveway at 10 AM. Birds are twittering away, the squirrels are in full... uh, squirrel, and the bugs are zooming every which way. We had an overly friendly bee checking us out thoroughly. I've always tried to teach the kids to not swat at them, but to stay calm and remind the bee that they're not a flower. It must be confusing to find bright, colorful things that smell like... kids. Oh, never mind. You're not a flower. Got it. Moving on.

This bee was not easily convinced. We had been swatting a pesky mosquito which we both missed when I heard a buzzy drone in my left ear. Damon exclaimed, "bee!" so I ducked a bit and she headed around to my right ear. I felt like I was living that scene from "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" where they talk about, "I'm on the east side, I'm on the west side" that you can see here in case you need a fun distraction. I had nothing to do with either the original movie nor the video clip. Anyway, this bee was not to be deterred from her examination of us. Once she'd repeatedly zoomed around both my east and west sides, she headed for Damon.

He hunched his head down into his shoulders, clasped his hands tight and screwed his eyes shut. Right now I'm curious- is that the universal sign for "potentially stinging winged insect of undetermined malicious intent"? I think it must be. She gave him a complete thrice-over before landing on his forehead right where his bangs meet skin. She only stayed a few milliseconds but it was long enough for me to spin it saying, "awwww, she gave you a bee-kiss!" Off she zoomed, probably to go play amongst our crazy, leggy mums. 

The bee crisis averted, we then did succeed in pulverizing the mosquito that finally landed on Damon's shin. As the bus approached, an Asian beetle/ladybug imposter crashed our party and landed on Damon's backpack. I told him he had a hitchhiker who looked pretty confused about being on a backpack, and off she went with him onto the bus.

I can only imagine the adventures she will have today.

I keep forgetting to get the fall bin out of the attic so the kids can finish decorating, but we did get a good start:

For those of you who live where the weather is a bit more predictable in October than Ohio's weather is, I thought I'd enlighten you on why it is important to wear layers:

I snapped a picture of that after doing a double take when I looked at the weekend weather last week. Yes, those are snowflakes, sun, and rain all on Saturday, with a high of 83. Once again, Mother Nature said, "hold my beer." And while we didn't see the snowflakes, thank goodness, it did reach the lower 80's. In October.

I blame karate. Yesterday was the start of the fall dress code, which means full gis must be worn instead of just the pants, belts, and whatever karate-related T shirts you own. Naturally the first half of this week is going to be in the 80's. In October. 

Following the layering rule, this is what I strolled to the bus stop in today:

Yes, that would be a sundress under a corduroy jacket. Good thing we didn't pack them all up already, right, Mommee? I wanted something long and loose over my ACE bandages which are compressing my top half enough that I still look pregnant on my bottom half. The nail polish is Avon's Mudslide, just perfect for fall, and the boots were on clearance at Charlotte Russe several years ago. They make me feel really tall. I'm back in my bunny slippers now, but it was nice to clump down the driveway in the boots. Just gotta remember to watch out for those slippery acorns.

Enjoy... what is this, officially? Indian summer? Anyone?

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File this one under Texts I Never Thought I'd Get:

Sure enough, it was one of our machetes. Thing Two had taken it out back for reasons unknown and had then forgotten about it. Fortunately, our lovely neighbor (read "who is SO patient with us") discovered it and it wasn't hidden and therefore mowed over or anything like that. I shudder to think the damage a machete could do to an unsuspecting riding lawnmower.

And then there's this one, which perfectly sums up not only our lovely fall weekend but our family dynamics as well:  

I believe it was last fall that I posted about once you see a cattail begin to poof, get that sucker out of the house as fast as possible without making any wind while doing it or you're going to need stock in vacuum cleaners. Cattails are outstanding outside toys. Even Dada had a good time squeezing them and watching the endless amounts of seed fuzzies spread. 

Our yard is still coated with pockets of seeds, might I add...

Fall fun

Just what have we been up to? Look at that face!

Oh, a little of this and a little of that. I have another Mystery Adventure to blog and this weekend kicks off the first of the holiday parties and then there's the Thanksgiving post to do... eh, you get the idea. Your schedule probably looks very similar!

But for now, here are some snapshots of what These3Thingz have been up to in the last beautiful days of November:

What a gorgeous fall. We certainly don't get to complain about weather. God is good, all the time, and especially for providing mild weather when we were waiting for our new heating system to be installed. That's another post waiting to happen. 

The kids have already gotten midterm grades for their second quarter of the school year, and today is the first day of December. I'm not at all sure where 2016 went- it sure whisked right past me! Our days continue to be a mix of school, karate, homework, household chores, and as much fun on the fly as we can fit in. 

We hope your Thanksgiving was blessed and that you take the time to enjoy the anticipation of the season this Advent. It may be, perhaps, that our Christmas tree has been up since our Christmas in JULY party, but that doesn't mean that I will get around to Christmas cards or extra decorating or all the baking I'd like to do. The same may be true for you. Just remember to take good care of yourself in what can be an insanely stressful, busy, overwhelming time of year. It's not meant to be. We do that. It's meant to remind us of an incredible gift of love that costs us nothing to accept. So put down that dratted Elf on the Shelf, schedule some time for coffee with a friend so that you have a little bit of breathing room, and look for the best in each person and each day. Happy holidays!

First half of November

 

We've certainly run the gamut of crazy November weather. I don't know how it's possible that every single year I forget how fickle fall is. We started off with gorgeous sunrises before the time change and have had snow since. Bah humbug! I prefer the sunrises to the snow any day.

 

Ick ick and double ick. You should see it all now. There's at least three inches out there on all those chairs, but I hear Sherri and crew have a foot on theirs, so I'm shutting up.

 

 

Okay, karate pictures. The big kids graduated from their orange belts to the purple belt level. That's their fourth stage of lessons, for those of you who are keeping track.

 

 

Now now, Care Bear, no kicking classmates off the stage.

 

Liam was selected by one of his teachers, Mr. Stanford, to spar a little bit. He was delighted, and he did an excellent job. You can see how proud Mr. Stanford is of their class a few photos down.

 

 

Great job, big kids! We enjoyed watching you!

 

And have we mentioned there's lots of leaves at the new house? Two Saturdays ago we had everyone out, including one Damonator dressed as Skeletor, raking and hauling leaves curbside. Since we don't have a curb, oh anyway...

 

 

There was a fair share of messing around, as you can see...

 

 

The one above is my favorite. Heh heh heh. Remember, you can always click on a photo to see it larger!

 

 

Yep, even I ended up in there. Twice.

 

 

Yesterday Dada borrowed a neighbor's leaf-sucker-upper-thingie and worked out front some more. Then it started to snow, and lo and behold, a two hour delay today. We got to shovel instead of rake. Yaaaaaay. Not.

 

Anyhoo, now it's already 2:30 and I still have some stuff to accomplish before leaving to get Damon from preschool, so I must go.

 

Happy birthday to Hinrew! We love you oodles and bunches and tons! Incidentally, everyone needs to quit with the birthdays. Every time a family member has a birthday, it snows. Just cut it out already.