A trip back in Oct '10

We went to Kristen and Dave Trout's wedding back in October, and on the way back, we stopped at a place called Lamb's Farm in Illinois outside of Chicago. It was a decent stop and we had a good time with Grammy and Opa.

Grammy and Opa riding the kiddy train with us.

Giddy with anitcipation for the train ride.

Jack rides the chicken. See how excited he is in this picture?

It was close to Halloween and they had some decorations up - this one was a nice photo op.

3 big men.

While Mommy is away... (1st weekend of Nov)

Leslie went away with her Mom and sisters for there annual girls weekend in Gatlinburg.

So, Jack and I entertained ourselves with several fun activities.

Here are the ladies ready to have to together time.

Jack and I went to Play Dog Excellent and watched teams of 4 dogs each run relay races! Talk about crazy loud and fun!

We watched high school bands at Finley Stadium that Saturday night. Jack and I sat in 40F weather for an hour while we ate Halloween candy and watched the bands.

We had a great time and nearly froze to death.

Good times!

Here is the bigger-than-life sized Cat in the Hat. We saw him and his friends at the WTCI open house that weekend. They were a little too big for Jack to be comfortable with them, so you can see below that even Clifford was a even a little too scary to approach. I did get him to stand beside Curious George long enough to snap a quick pic. You can even see in the pic that he's blurry because he wouldn't stand beside George long enough to get a good shot.

Clifford

Jack and George

Jack beside the big Fire Truck that was on display.

He was interested in it for about 3 minutes.

Here's the results of Leslie's shopping trip with her Mom and sisters. Jeez. It was a good weekend for everyone apparently!

The Annual Pumpkin Carving Fiasco

Jack had no nap today despite our best efforts. We went to TJ Maxx, and even out to the fall festival at Burks UMC for a few hours, so carving the pumpkins was the last event of the day. Jack was skittish at first, but with some gentle encouragement (and a few honest threats thrown in) he finally warmed up to the idea of putting his hands in. All in all, despite teetering on the edge of three-year-old eminent breakdown, I think all of the pumpkins turned out real nice. Leslie did the happy one, I did the cat, and Jack's is the "mean face."

A child's unique perspective...

The other day, Jack was using the toilet in Mommy and Daddy's bathroom.

He noticed his Daddy (me) stocking a

cabinet with Mommy's femine hygiene products.

The wrappers were plastic and multicolored,

and I was taking them out of a bright pink box.

Jack asked me: "Daddy, are those lollipops?"

I replied: "Yes they are. Only for Mommy though."

And with that, we finished our business and went on our way.

Conversations like this are a daily occurence between us.

And I only lie to him most of the time.

Bionic Woman

Here is a picture of my lovely and brave wife,

who has gone four times under the knife.

I can't think of anything else that rhymes at this time of night! Leslie had surgery #2 on her left shoulder 3 weeks ago, and is progressing well. She isn't pain-free, but has done a lot better this time around. She is doing therapy twice weekly (sometimes thrice weekly) and has good range of motion. If you care to look back to the very beginning of this blog, you'll see that she always looks great before surgery.

( By the way, if you haven't already, press play on the arrow under her pic. )

Don't make me tell you twice boy!

Jack passed his hearing test! This is great news because we have been having a lot of trouble out of his left ear. He has suffered though it and now i think we are past it. Yeah!

1st Attempt at Canning

My friend Doug enouraged me to try my hand at canning over the weekend, and after he loaned me the pot and utensils, I used about 3 hours Monay night to get into it. I ended up with 15 pints of better boys and one quart of roma's. Not bad for my first try. I'll let you know in a few months if they're poisoned or anything. Only time will tell. Leslie let me buy my own canning gear at Walmart tonight. I'm practically a chick sometimes.

Good News for Marley!

At our regular vet visit last week we were informed by the Doc that Marley's heartworm dipstick-test was positive! We were crushed. The treatment for heartworms is very hard on the dog (the meds contain arsenic) and very hard on the owner's wallet. So they called the next day and said they wanted to do a blood test for confirmation, and we ended up taking her in last Thursday, and we finally got the results today that she was negative! Yeah for Marley! We are so relieved that she is good to go.

During the vet visit, Jack was in the room with us watching the exam. In order to test her stools for worms and whatever else, the tech stuck a plastic probe about 8 inches into Marleys bottom, and Jack's mouth dropped open and his eyes got so big. We just about fell out of our chairs watching his reaction to the whole thing. It was hilarious.

Misc Moments...

This is our new tile job on the staircase.

Just kidding. This is actually at 'The Tile Store' and we do have a tile job to

tell you about soon, and we purchased our tile from them.

But sadly Leslie wouldn't let me go all-out

and get this done too. Maybe in the future...

Here is some of the bounty from the Turner Garden. I actually had a good corn crop and the tomatoes are coming in good right now. I have learned a few things this year:

• Ears of corn are only $0.19 at Walmart. This renders my efforts at the growing of corn to be retarded and a waste of time. I know what you're going to say, "your effort makes it taste better...blah blah blah.. but the Walmart corn in this case is better tasting and bigger. My corn didn't taste that good and they were skinny.
• No more growing radishes. What was I thinking? They grow very easy, they're the first crop that's ready to pick, and still taste like radishes.
• Long rows of veggies next year instead of short rows.
• Growing cucumbers and squash in tomato cages didn't turn out very good. I only got 3 squash. Dude.
• I need to sew the carrot seeds very thinly. I sewed them thickly this year and that was a big mistake. I got nothing.
• Jack is good at picking tomatoes-even ones that aren't quite ripe yet!
  

Here's Jack and his beautiful mother at the Red Bank Pool having a great time.

If I get my tools out, guess who has to get his tools out too?
This is the mudroom project. One of 4 in progress at our house!

(Details to follow in a separate posting.)

The Independence Day celebration at Coolidge Park was very fun.

Crowded, but fun. We had a funnel cake and lemonade

while we enjoyed the music and the fireworks.

The Other Day...

Funny Story: Jack likes to shut himself in the kitchen pantry while we're cooking, as kind of a hide-and-seek game. He also is a big Thomas the Train fan. So the other day, while playing in the pantry, he gets quiet, comes out of the pantry and hands Lesie a Kool-Aid packet and says, "Here's your ticket home Mommy." It struck me as a pretty funny moment.