blessed beyond measure

It's really an obnoxious holiday when you think about it, but cuteness sure makes it better. The little Hershey bar I'll be sneaking this evening doesn't hurt either. Happy Halloween from Coach and Moneybags!

Busy, busy, busy. As the cool we thought might never come has finally descended, and as we wait for the deep red and gold of leaves that may or may not turn, we are jumping at all fall has to offer. Trey and his class went on a field trip to Natural Bridge and explored the caverns. Our community pig roast was a misty, but yummy affair where Trey all but disappeared with his buddies and Aden took advantage of everything he could find, in close company with his Poppop! We gathered with dozens upon dozens of school families for the annual math night at Food Lion. Chaos and outrageous fun in learning. And Mama's night away, munching on pumpkin-flavored goodies and trying a shaky hand at pumpkin artistry. Such great kid-free time spent with my own sweet Mama. Happy, busy fall.

It's fall, y'all. We take it seriously around here. Beloved traditions are etched quickly and permanently into our already-full iPhone calendars, and the meal plan reads, simply, soup . All the soup. Five different recipes over three weeks so far. Like a kid in a candy store is Mama with a soup pot. My newest obsession: sweet potato corn chowder. It's like a hug. No, suddenly hungry girl, this post is not about soup. Traditions. Always, always one of our adventures is reserved for a farm. We did try somewhere new this year, Yoder's Farm in Rustburg. An absolutely gorgeous place with animals to pet, water pump duck races, a corn kernel crib, hayrides, pumpkin patch, and best of all, a ten-acre corn maze. Fall at its finest. It was a group effort, but for the first time in three years, we made it from beginning to end of the corn maze. Last few times we've gotten lost and ended up coming out at the entrance. Older and wiser, I suppose, we walked...

It's the most excited I've been about one of our adventures in a long time. At once I was able to recapture a feeling from youth and check off a bucket list box. Oh yes, we did. Well, Aden and I did. Trey was overcome with anxiety about not having complete control over his legs, as well as the six other people rolling around the rink who might happen to glance his direction. His attempt lasted two minutes or so, before he turned his skates back in. Aden was pumped from the start, and the fact that he fell every three feet of the first lap didn't faze him a bit. Improved with the second lap, then more with the third, then by the fourth he was faster than me. Loved it and has begged for our next trip there. As for me, it was thrilling to be back in a place where I spent one Sunday a month with the church youth group in my tween and teen years. Though I'm no vertically bigger now than back then, the place seemed much smaller than in my memories. As we were lac...

I'm late getting around to this post. And I can only but hope that clicking publish will at last cleanse my mind of what has been replaying itself through my head for the last ten days. It's a favorite childhood story, Charlotte's Web . Hence Templeton's song and the fact that whenever anyone uses the word terrific around me, my inner voice immediately chants, "T, double-E, double-R, double-R, double-I, double-F, double-I, double-C-C-C." Yep, toss that on top of a paralyzing fear of spiders and it's one of the many reasons I'd be an interesting study for science. I really am getting to the fair. We went twice. Once by night, so as not to miss the dizzying enchantment of lights and the pretty impressive fireworks display. Then once on the last day, because we all love the fair so, and because it's quite the rarity to find something that both boys flip over and are eager to spend time together at. You heard me. That's right. Eviden...