Nana & Pops come to visit

**Before I begin this post, I want to take a minute to say thank you for all of your encouragement from the last post. It lifted my heart in ways you can't imagine to know that I am not alone. And that I'm not crazy. LOL! It really is such an adjustment to go from feeling like I once "had it all together," to living in a fog. Thank goodness for this blog, so that when the fog lifts, I'll at least be able to read about a few of the memories I will quite possibly have forgotten. =) **

Alright, on with the adventures with Pops and Nana...

One of our adventures was Friday Nights in Floyd. Have I told you about Friday Nights in Floyd? I can't remember. There's a small town about an hour away called Floyd, and every Friday night, local bluegrass musicians come out and line the streets playing their music for all to hear. It always draws a crowd.

The Floyd Country Store is kind of the hub of the activity on Friday nights. For a mere $5 you can (attempt to) pull up a seat in their often standing-room-only venue for an hour of gospel and many more hours of bluegrass. While we've never gone there specifically for the music, we usually stop in for some key lime pie and ice cream. (Although, this time we didn't because we had just had homemade blueberry cobbler at the Pine Tavern where they serve your meal family style.)

A couple of doors down from the Country Store is a barbershop. More musicians gathered to play gospel music.

Here's Pops with Roo-bear.

And Nana getting her some Roo loves, too.

We also went to the Homestead Creamery Farm Day. This is our second year to attend, and it is always so well done. Love this fall event!

The farm.

Homemade apple butter. They sold it in pint and quart-sized jars.

Free kettle corn. Yum!

Free pumpkin milkshake samples. Alex was a fan. So were the rest of us.

Nana and Alex looking at the cows. Alex had a blast running around unrestrained.

Nana and Alex near the cylos.

Petting the goats. I thought he would be timid, but he actually seemed to enjoy it.

Flapping his wings and "bocking" like a chicken.

Photo fun.

In line for the hay ride. You could either do a horse drawn buggy ride or the hay ride.
The shorter line was for the hay ride. We opted for that.

After waiting three rounds for our turn...

...Alex decided he wanted no part of it.

One of the days we had a picnic in the park.

 

 And fun at home.

Whew! There are so many more pictures, but that's all I can muster up the energy for tonight. Such a fun time - thanks, Nana and Pops, for coming to see us! We love you guys. =)

Life Sweet Life.

You know that scene where Person A is behind the wheel of the car waiting for Person B to get in, and just when Person B goes to open the passenger side door, Person A speeds off so that Person B is left standing like a fool because they weren't fast enough? So Person A stops a few feet ahead and says, "Come on and get in, Person B! I won't do it again." And Person B tries again, but the same thing happens? That scene describes my relationship with life these days. Life seems to stay one step ahead of me.

Pictures are piling up – in my camera and on my computer. The days of retouching my photos are long gone. I barely have time to get them loaded up to my flickr account, and the only thing that motivates me to keep that going is that I need to transfer all photos off of my computer to free up memory space.

My blog seldom gets a post. I have a list of things a mile long I'd love to share, but I either (1) can't find the time or (2) when I do have the time, I just can't muster the mental energy to string sentences together. My creativity has left me. I'm just thankful if I can put cohesive thoughts together.

Sleep deprivation is taking its toll. My brain used to be sharp. I felt smart. And quick. Not today. Today, I stumble through my thoughts and words. Case in point – the other day I called to give some updated bio information for a high school alumni directory. When the guy asked me what kind of degree I have, I just sat there. In silence. For several seconds. I'd be willing to bet he thought I was making it up when I finally remembered that I have a bachelor's degree in journalism. And I'm pretty sure that he felt sorry for my boys when I told him I was a stay-at-home mom. I had to hang up and laugh so that I wouldn't cry.

Well, let me tell you...life may think it's gotten the best of me, but I wouldn't trade anything for these days with these two precious little angels that I've been given. Oh, they make it all worthwhile. And I am grateful. Thank you, Jesus, for another day with them. How sweet it is.

A little light dusting

Last week we were gearing up for Pops and Nana's visit with a little housecleaning. Alex thought Roo needed some cleaning, too.

When he started dusting Roo's eyes and mouth, I had to cut him off. Clearly he wasn't too happy being told not to dust his brother anymore.

Roo watched Alex's response, not sure what to make of the whole thing.

But Roo was certainly grateful to be rescued.

Much to be thankful for

We're entering a season where we'll be spending lots of time with family. We're so excited we can hardly stand it. =D

Regular Sunday Attire

We are lucky if we get to see the Cowboys in action out here in the east. The networks air the games if Dallas is playing teams like the Steelers or the Redskins, but we don't get coverage like we did in Texas. Often I will look over and see Jerry watching the game on his iPhone. Not quite the same impact as the big screen. ;-) All the while, he's busy recruiting two new fans.

Welcoming fall and the pumpkin patch

I am smitten with fall. Always have been. I love the smells, the colors, and the crisp cool days that are prefect for wearing long sleeve t-shirts and shorts. Oh, and opening windows to let that fall air in. Only most of the windows in Mirabelle are sealed shut. So I've had to resort to leaving our front door wide open. By the time dinner rolls around, we may or may not have a few flies ready to join us. Now as much as I hate flies, they are a small price to pay in exchange for some fall air. At least in my opinion. Not so much in Jerry's. So he kindly installed me a screen door. And, people, I am loving it!

We have loaded up our October calendar with fall activities. We kicked off the month with a trip to the Sinkland Farms pumpkin patch with some friends of ours. 

If you could package the look of fall and put it all in one place, this would be it.

I didn't want to leave, except for the fact that it was quite chilly. 

Now, you know how I love me some pictures of my boys. So knowing that I would have many photo ops at the patch, I had the boys dressed in matching outfits, including the pumpkin hats Noni knit for them.

But wouldn't you know it, the weather decided to feel more like winter than fall, so we couldn't bear to get them unbundled long enough to snap any photos since their matching outfits were just long sleeved shirts and jeans. Imagine my heartbreak. =( But don't you worry, we've got plans to take Noni there when she's here in a couple of weeks so I will be trying again.

We spent very little time outdoors at the patch. In fact, we never even looked at the pumpkins because it was just too cold. Instead, we hung out at the little coffee shop...

And at this barn where we had our lunch.

Let me just tell you that I heard angels singing when I walked inside this barn. They rent this place out for weddings, and it made me want to get married all over again right then and there. The picture doesn't do it justice so just believe me when I tell you that it was oozing with charm – from the glass bottle chandelier to the mason jar candle holders tucked into little nooks in the wall. Oh so cute!

Once we got indoors, I was able to attempt a few shots, but by this point, Alex was mostly interested in running around like a wild man. I kept consoling myself with thoughts of, "We will be back. We will be back."

There were some cloggers/tap dancers who cut-a-rug to some bluegrass music, and Alex joined right on in at the foot of the stage. It was a hoot! He was in heaven getting to run around acting silly and dancing with his friends.

Meanwhile, little Roo was a willing participant for the photoshoots, although, he was checking out the pumpkins very intently, so he wasn't all that interested in looking at the camera. "We will be back. We will be back."

Hope your fall is off to a good start! Looking forward to sharing more of our adventures in the days to come.