Election Day

We physically voted for the first time this year (previously we voted via absentee ballot). We figured that was a good enough event to warrant dorkily taking a lot of pictures. We went as a family before school and waiting in line (in the rain) for about a hour and a half (friends of ours waited for five and a half). All in all a good day, a good moment.

Halloween

Putting James in his costume...no one does a better "long suffering" look than James.

He does a pretty good scary look too.

Princess Gillian

Gillian's Crown

Our third pea pod.

Man down.

Triumphant return.

Mommy's pile (aka confiscated peanut candy).

Bonus picture...last Halloween, we took our one and only halloween picture on the camera itself rather than the SD card and it took me this long to finally figure out how to upload it to our computer. Eleanor is in the picture too--she is just very, very tiny.

Eleanor Sitting

A picture of Eleanor when she first started sitting somewhat reliably a little bit ago. The picture is followed by the inevitable "falling" pose that came after the sitting.

Knox Family Reunion

Every October we have the Knox family reunion on the farm that Tim's Granddaddy Knox grew up on. This year was the 250 anniversary of the farm. It has been in the family since 1758 and is still a working farm. We had such a fabulous time.

This is the old farm house built in the 1800s. Granddaddy Knox was born in this house, as well as his father, and his grandfather, and perhaps his great grandfather. When I first entered the Bunton family, a couple of Tim's aunts still lived here. But now the house is vacant, and this year, someone went through the house, cleaned it, organized it, and opened it for a tour. It was truly a lovely house.

Being at the farm, I can kind of get a feel for how life use to be and it is not an altogether unpleasant picture. Until they start showing us all the farm equipment and start talking about their work day. Farming itself really doesn't sound like much fun to me. I am lazy by nature.

Aerial view of a part of the farm.

Children Should be Seen...

While the adults congregated and listened to speeches, the kids had a great time getting reacquainted with their cousins. It was beautiful, crisp fall weather and the kids spent almost the entire time playing chasing and racing games (there was a small digression into stick fighting until I put a kibosh on that).

Just a wee bit chilly.

Warming up by the heater under the tent.
Tim's cousin Nancy and her fiance are public history masters. They came wearing period pieces, Kyle (the fiance) made his own jacket even. They looked absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them together. I did get a picture of Nancy sitting with the kids during lunch. I bet they were glad it was cold this year. If it had been last year, they would have roasted in those outfits.

Spare the rod...

Just teasing, that is one old saying that definitely would never apply to my sweet angel. She was actually fantastic all day. We just held her all day in the windy cold and she was just cool with that.

Amanda's best friend, Donna Ehrisman, actually took Eleanor for the first half of the event. After a bit however, I started to feel bad for foisting an infant off on non-family and I went to hunt them down. I found Donna leaning against the trunk of an impressive magnolia tree with a sleeping Eleanor. I was quite surprised. My children generally need beds to sleep. Donna has the touch.

All Work and No Play...

They had so many super fun, old timey games arranged for the kids. They looked for buttons in the hay barrel, had potato sack races, and they hunted for eggs in the barn. These eggs were filled with candy however, so definitely not chicken eggs.

Gillian and Grandpa Jim looking at the cows. Judging from the picture, I don't think those cows smelled too hot.

Eating their booty.

Wagon Ride

The traditional hay ride on Saturday was replaced with a wagon ride. Can I just say again, how much I loved Little House on the Prairie when I was little.

Sara's youngest, Lillian, just adored Eleanor. Eleanor was not quite sure how she felt about Lillian however.

I think it was about this point that she made her final decision about the situation. I'll leave you guessing as to what that was.

Sunday

We spent the night in Winston-Salem with Tim's family. After a quick breakfast Sunday morning we met many of the Knox clan at the First Presbyterian church that Granddaddy Knox attended growing up for morning service and then we all met at cousin Clark's huge building for a fish fry. That's right, a fish fry. It was actually delicious. They had two huge jumping houses going for the kids to play in. They really went all out this year and they had those delicious brown sugar cookies again too. I'm afraid I ate more than my share.

.

James and Sara's oldest Luke

Gillian, so not happy with her puzzel interruptus.

Eleanor and Jim

Eleanor and Amanda

James channeling Charlie Brown

Unsatisfied with Snickers

So I went to try my first Snicker Bar since the end of my peanut embargo and found new packaging. I sat down at the end of the day, the kids were in bed, I had a blanket and a book, my house was clean, I take the first bite and...was confused. I think, "It's been over a year, maybe I just don't remember what they taste like? Did I just brush my teeth? Maybe I got confused and this isn't really a Snicker bar." I closed the wrapper, looked at the candy bar and saw a picture of Harrison Ford along with this, "Satisfy your taste for adventure! Rich Chocolate. Crunchy nuts. And a cliffhanger kick of exotic spice and a hint of sweet coconut flavor." What is that all about? Why are so many companies pulling that crap these days. If they want to make a new candy bar, make a new candy bar. Or at least make the limited editions one look a great deal different from the original. Coconut is all well and fine, but in a Snicker bar? I of course ate it anyway, but I wasn't happy about it.

Seriously--how cute is that?

I have never seen a "baby in the bath" picture I haven't liked. Babies should just be naked all the time I think. They are just so, so, so cute!

Living in the South

So James just called Eleanor a Cracky-crack-Cracker. Hmm--I am hoping that is just him experimenting with sounds rather than something he picked up at school. I guess out of all the racial slurs, Cracker is probably the best one to pick up--it will get him in far less trouble if repeated.

On a different school note, James is now in speech therapy for his "R" sound. Currently, that is all they are concerned about, and on some words his R is quite clear, so hopefully it will not take as long to correct his speech patterns as it did to correct mine. I still remember Amanda (Tim's mom) asking who the Spanish girl was who kept calling and asking for Tim (i.e. me).

It's Official

It's official that my baby is no longer my baby. She absolutely refuses to nurse anymore--she reacted like I was covered in salt the last time I tried--like it was just the grossest thing in the world. It kind of offended me and hurt my feelings. To make myself feel better I went out and got Peanut M&Ms, a Butterfinger, and a Peanutbutter Cookie mix.**

But there are tons of advantages to bottle feeding. I no longer feel tied to the house. I don't have to "nurse her one last time" before we leave the house. I no longer have a time limit when I leave Eleanor with Tim, I don't have to be home to feed the baby. The kids really enjoy feeding the baby and serving her like that. Plus look at how wonderfully chunky she is now. Her gaining weight so quickly means to me that she really wasn't getting enough from just nursing.
**with a history of peanut allergies in the family, they strongly recommend that you don't consume peanuts while pregnant or nursing and that you hold off giving peanuts to the child until after the age of five. So I haven't had any peanuts in over 15 months. I was very excited. It made me feel really guilty to eat them however. It is hard to change gears that fast.

James' First Field Trip

So I am awaken this morning when James’ sweet little voice interrupts my dreams with, “Buffy, I’m late for school.” Use to James’ pre-clock-reading concern over time, I roll over and try to get my sleep blurry eyes to read the clock only to discover that we are indeed late for school and therefore his First Field Trip.

It is 8:50. Normally the troops and I leave for school at 8:30 and even then often miss the start of morning announcements. My chances of being James’ favorite mother are officially screwed.

I jump out of bed, shouting general march orders to the household to cease current activities and change from their pjs, i.e. yesterday’s clothes, into today clothes. Heeding my own orders, I swapped my p.j. bottoms for jeans (my first pair of jeans since I got pregnant, I might add), and I make the executive decision to forgo hunting for and then wrestling into a bra.

I stumble into the kid’s room, pulling out jeans for James to match the glow in the dark jack-o-lantern face shirt he pulled from the closet. Not the classiest for his First Field Trip, I know, but I make the instant rationalization that it is still appropriate since they are going to a pumpkin patch and hay ride.

Gillian, after ignoring the general march orders, is forcibly removed from in front of the computer and wrestled into a skirt a size too small, but it had the advantage of being the first skirt I could find (why do we even have that skirt?).

Every 30 seconds I repeat the order for everyone to get his or her shoes on, as I race to get the super neat and special lunch I had planned for James’ First Field Trip ready. I am trying hard to suppress thoughts of how I will make this up to James if we miss his class. I know he will be brave and forgiving about it, but that just makes the failure so much worse.

Finally done, the kids miraculously have their shoes on as ordered and I send them outside to get into the car. All the running around however cause me to rethink my hasty decision to forgo the bra, and while the kids are loading up, I race back to my bed room, hunt down a bra and load the breasts up.

I run to Eleanor’s room and get my poor sleepy and faulty alarm clock out of bed, grabbing my purse, and James’ lunch, we head to the car. While buckling my three children into the back seat of my sedan, James' earlier questions of “what is the weather like?” finally kicks in and my response changes from, “how the heck do I know?—probably cold like all the other days this week” changes to, “Oh dear, the field trip is outside!” I finish the last safety buckle, then run to unlock the front door and find James’ hat and coat exactly where they are suppose to be. How often does that happen?

Finally, we are on our way.

Two seconds out of the driveway, Gillian cries that she is hungry eliciting a, “Hungry? Hungry! You mean you didn’t have breakfast? Oh James, I am so sorry. Gillian you can wait until we get home. If you were really that hungry you would have stopped playing computer and got your own breakfast, a skill I know you have. Now stop crying, there is nothing we can do about it now.” James replies, “That’s okay mom, I won’t be too hungry.” In contrast, Gillian immediately starts up with The Scream.

Those of you with Gillians at home, know The Scream. The scream that is the exact opposite of a siren’s cry making you want to be any place but there with your child. The magical scream that transforms the iron gates protecting long lasting, mother tested and approved rules into tissue paper, thereby making the scream increasingly powerful. I grit my teeth trying to ignore The Scream and pray that it doesn’t keep up once we get to the school where other, better mothers who have not allowed The Scream to get so powerful, might judge.

We arrive at the school, park on the street, James and Gillian jump out as I unbuckle Eleanor and we start the mad dash to the building. The middle schoolers milling around the hallway making their way to class fill me with hope that we aren’t that late.

We approach James’ community and I send him in, peaking my head in to find the children still sitting and the volunteer parents uncomfortably standing on the sideline. We made it. All is well with the world.

I watch James go to his cubby, happy that I haven’t failed him completely and suppressing guilt at not being a volunteer parent on this the day of James’ First Field Trip.

The girls and my sedate trek back to the car felt anti-climatic. At home, I discovered a long scratch down Eleanor’s face that I suspect is from my engagement ring and as I cleaned up the kitchen while Gillian ate breakfast, I had to pull pieces of Teflon out of the bread I used for James’ lunch. Apparently, it is time to get new bread pans.

But, you do what you can, other mothers be ----. Sorry, I don’t really say that, or even think it. I originally stopped with “…can,” but it rhymed and I couldn’t resist. Dang it. I’ll never be an “other, better mother!”

**addendum--when I picked James up from school. I realized that I had sent him with Gillian's coat rather than his own. So he spent his First Field Trip wearing a "girl coat." He seemed okay about that however.

Happy Day

My brother Tony just got engaged last month to his true love Heidi. They are getting married November 29 (his birthday) in Nebraska. I am just so excited to have a new sister. One of the great advantages of having brothers is that in the end you will have the same number of sisters only without the trouble of having to grow up with them, i.e. them stealing your way cooler clothes or taking up too much time in the bathroom etc. You can just head right into the adulthood bestfriend stage. (this reflection in no way impinges on allison, because she was the perfect sister. i doubt however that luck would have held if any of the other 4 siblings had been girls).

November 29 is the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, which means the cancellation of West Thanksgiving this year. The wonderful thing about holidays is that it is the event itself and the people you are with that make them special and not the day itself. So this year, Tim and I celebrated Thanksgiving in October with our wonderful friends Doug and Amanda Talk. It was delicious (even though the turkey took an extra two hours to cook).

(this picture is brought to you courtesy of James)