What season is it again?

I know many of you aren't plant people, but if you know me well at all, you know I am. So humor me, OK? I went out in the backyard this afternoon to put the new water bags on the pool cover net (long story), and some of my plants are growing better than ever back there! And we never go into the back yard unless we are swimming, so we don't get to enjoy them.

Lo and behold, we still have tomatoes! I thought I had nearly killed the plants when they went for a week in hot weather without being watered when we went out of town in September.

The ginger has put out two more bunches of beautiful, sweet-smelling blooms. I wished it bloomed earlier in the year too!

The impatiens love the cooler weather.My bougainvillea hasn't bloomed yet this year, but it is looking really good now. With my luck, it will bloom right after I stash it in the garage for the winter.

The purple and green I combined in this pot has finally taken off. The coleus has suffered a bit from a lack of water, but the sweet potato vines are thriving.

The huge holly bushes (trees, really) between our house and the neighbors' are giving us a preview of the season to come, though! I like to cut off branches and decorate with them at Christmas time.

Sarah visits

My niece from Canada came to visit in October. I haven't seen her since she was about 12! (She's 24 now.) We had a great visit--we went to the Arts in the Park, toured downtown and rode a riverboat, saw Graceland, and had a good weekend visiting. (and eating!)

My sister Donna and Sarah on the roof of the Peabody:

Me, Sarah and Donna

I let Molly use my camera some when we went downtown, and it's interesting to see some of the things she decides are photo-worthy. Here is a slideshow of some of her pictures.

American Girl Store

On the last week of September, the kids are out of school for 3 days during the teachers' convention. We took the opportunity to go visit Lee's parents in Chattanooga and his sister Davida in Atlanta. Before going, I found that there is an American Girl store in the Atlanta area. Molly was thrilled! She has 2 18" dolls similar to American Girl dolls, and she picked one to go visit with us. So we went--Davida and I, Molly (armed with her birthday money) 12-year-old cousin Sylvan, and Molly (the frizzy-haired American Girl knock-off doll).
What a place that is! A little girl heaven on earth. That is, a little girl WITH LOTS OF MONEY TO SPEND heaven on earth. I cannot imagine taking a girl there without planning to buy.There is an American Girl doll/character named Molly--hence the name for Molly's brown-haired doll Molly. (Stick with me now--this could get confusing.) This is a picture of Molly holding Molly in front of the Molly display in the store. Molly decided to buy the Molly outfit that Molly wore in the movie "Molly" that the Molly doll is wearing behind Molly in the picture. It is the patriotic outfit that Molly wore in her tap dance number at the end of the movie. Got it?

Of course, as every girl does, we had to visit the bathroom while we were there. There were little silver brackets on the wall in every stall, and I had to see what everyone else was doing with them before I figured out what they were. Doll holders, of course! Every little girl in the place had a doll under her arm, so it makes perfect sense. Instead of purse holders, they have doll holders. (Yes, this is a smile, sort of. It's the face Molly initially makes every time I point a camera at her. Molly the girl, not the doll.)
We had planned to get a snack at the Bistro, but there was a wait of 1 1/2 hours. We decided against it. Note to self: make reservations!
They even have an area where they will fix and style your doll's hair. Most style were $20, so we opted not to do that. Besides, Molly's doll is not really an American Girl doll, so they probably wouldn't have done it anyway. But, boy! Does she need a hair fixing!
Molly really wanted this volleyball outfit, but she had to choose between so many things that she wanted. It was agonizing to see her have to choose based on her limited money. She had $90, but in that store, that's pretty limited. I had planned to get her the volleyball set for Christmas, but she informs me that now that volleyball season is over, she doesn't really want it any more.
Here she is making her purchases. She picked the doll high chair that goes with us to most restaurants now, the patriotic outfit that is so neatly packed in the box, a pair of glasses for Molly since her old ones broke, and a hair-styling kit complete with rollers.
This will be a regular stop any time we are in the Atlanta area now. But I will have to be sure to remind Molly that she needs to earn some money to spend first!

I had to get this picture of Molly wearing a bike helmet backwards. It was so cute! She is complaining because our can of mosquito repellent isn't spraying.

Grandparents Day

Let's see--what have we been doing since the last time I posted?

Molly had Grandparents Day at school. (It only involves elementary, so Adam didn't get a special day.) Molly's class did a short play about parents, grandparents and children. Molly was to be one of the parents. She took the opportunity as an excuse to raid my closet. She can actually wear many of my things! She picked out her favorites, including my high-heeled turquoise sandals, so she was decked out. She complained half way through the day that her feet were killing her. Yeah, sister, get used to it. Beauty comes at a price! She was relieved that I had brought along other shoes (and clothes) for her to change into.

Molly, Annie Bell, and Laura Warren as "adults."

Couples Retreat at the Wilds Oct 17-19

What a great time we had! We left around 5 a.m. Friday morning (yawn) on a tour bus that the church rented. We arrived at the Wilds Friday afternoon. We ate dinner, then went to the first service of the weekend.
After the service, we went down and played a crazy game of minigolf. Things get a little nuts when a bunch of parents have the chance to be kids instead of parents for a while! One deacon decided to do his ape imitation:
and our distinguished youth pastor did his Karate Kid imitation.
The leaves were changing, and the mountains were beautiful! The Wilds is a beautiful place--I've never been there before. On Saturday, we had two services, a split session, three delicious meals, and time to relax and play all afternoon.
We got in some gazeeball--"Throw me the ball, Steven!" Andrea even got into it.
And some human fusball, or "faceball" as it came to be known after Sapphira got whacked in the face.
I wanted to do the giant swing, but Lee wasn't going near the thing. So Woody offered to go--I think he just wanted to see if I would be scared. But I really wasn't--it was fun!
That night, they had a western theme. They had a band that played, a delicious barbecue dinner, and a skit that, I understand, is as old as the camp itself.
Then after the evening session, we played some card games, since it was too chilly for another game of minigolf.
Mitch and Kim Tibbits played Buzzword with Tim Fowler and Andrea and Steven Allen.
I played Dutch Blitz and Skipbo with Debbie Phillips and Sapphira and others, while Lee did his nails. (He was really keeping score.)
On Sunday morning, we had a service and a wonderful brunch, then boarded the bus for the trip home. It was a wonderful weekend to draw closer to God and therefore to each other, and also great for relaxing and having a good time with friends.

First Day of School 2008

OK, so I'm a little behind on my posts. Well, I'm determined to get caught up! Molly started 4th grade, and Adam started 7th grade.

























Well, Adam is never too fond of me taking his picture on the first day of school, especially on the first day of junior high! But he will have to get used to it.

Homework is a struggle this year. For Molly, it's a struggle just to get her to focus and do it. She absolutely HATES doing homework. I have to stand over her and prompt her to do every little thing. For Adam, it's a struggle to get all the homework done and turned in and on time. ("I didn't know she wanted us to hand the homework in!") He has already done one Saturday school for an hour because of five referrals (like demerits), and it looks like he will be doing another before this grading period is over. He has only gotten one for behavior, though, so that's good. And he is quite adamant that he was NOT talking. Well, yeah, whatever.

Wild River Country

We drove to Little Rock one Friday with Andrea Allen, Kendall Allen and Samantha Hulsey to go to the water park there. What fun it was!
I went down every slide they had! Andrea went down most of them too. We have decided that we are going to plan a couple of trips for next summer, one right after school is out before the price goes up.