Perfect Pumpkins - Perfect Day

Saturday was one of those perfect fall family days that you just have to document somewhere. During the morning we just worked around the house and J. Hogan surprisingly took an extra long nap. We then picked up our good friends the Malones and their daughter and headed north to Riceville, Tennessee, to the Gutherie Farms pumpkin patch.

It is a really great small town farm complete with a corn maze, pumpkin patch, hayride, petting "zoo", and many places to take some great pictures. Peanut loved every minute of it.

After the pumpkin patch, everyone was hungry so we began our trek back south stopping in Cleveland for dinner at Jenkins. When I was growing up in Athens, we had a Jenkins and I loved it. It's basically bar food done right! I had my favorite veggie burger of all time.

We then headed home and watched a little football and then off to bed at a decent hour. Like I said - perfect day!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

So today was one of those days mornings that you just want to crumple it up into a tiny ball, throw it on the ground, stomp on it twice and then bury it under several layers of rock and soil. Okay so maybe I am being a little dramatic.

First of all, for those of you who do not know J. Hogan personally, he does not sleep. He is way to busy and far to wise to fall for any tricks to get him to take a nap so don't bother with the suggestions. This morning was just extraordinarily bad. He REALLY needed a nap in the worst sort of way. But instead of napping, he was just completely happy fussing at me about EVERYTHING. So I then grabbed my phone and looked at my calendar only to realize that I mistakenly thought J. Hogan's pictures with the best photographer ever were today and not tomorrow as it was booked in my head. I then began to scramble to iron clothes and pack all we needed for the photo shoot. In the midst of packing while holding a tired child, I got scratched in the eye by a stray fingernail and therefore was sentenced to wearing my glasses all day.

I finally got everything in the car, the dog locked in his kennel, my glasses on my face, the kid in the car and began to back out of the garage. Side note - we bought a brand new car two months ago that I drive. I put the car in reverse and began my journey into the world. Side note - depth perception in glasses is not that great. As the car began leaving the garage, I hear a SCRAPE. I get out of the car to see that I have just hit the basketball goal. Side note - we have not played basketball in oh two years. I see the damage, but it's not too bad. Just a few scrapes. I get back into the car and pull forward to remove the car from the basketball goal and then hear a CRASH. I hit the garage with my passenger mirror. GOOD MORNING!!!

I then head off to Cleveland for J. Hogan's pictures convinced that it was going to be a disaster. Well, I can happily say, I was wrong. It was wonderful. Carrie is so amazing and it was so nice just hanging out with the little man outside acting silly.

I can now laugh about the car. I mean, it's just a car and it can be fixed. But I just hope and pray tomorrow is better.

House Guest

So this week we have been hosting a very important house guest. Her name is Coconut and she is a gecko. She belongs to a brilliant, adorable, fascinating 10 year old who is currently vacationing with her family.

Coconut is pretty cool. She is nocturnal so she does not do much during the day, but she occasionally comes out of her cave or tree log to see what's going on in her world. At night we have to feed her crickets - live crickets. When I first learned of this fact, I wondered what I had agreed to, but it is really no big deal. And believe it or not, I have yet to cry over the loss of a cricket or release any into the freedom of our yard. I guess it is all part of life.

So to let you all know, geckos are a really neat pet. I highly recommend them and will miss Coconut when she goes back home on Sunday.

Sneak Peek

I almost did not want to post these pictures, but then I realized it is not like a wedding dress. J. Hogan will not have bad luck if you see him in his Halloween costume prior to 10/31. I will post the full costumed effects later. I just wanted everyone to see how adorable my little giraffe was.

Vacation - A Success

First I have to say that I promise to get to the "Not in the News Today" posts. Time, uh I mean vacation just got in the way.

So here I am just returning from a week in Destin, Florida, with Chris and J. Hogan - our first family vacation. It was wonderful. We played, we ate, we went swimming, we ate, we shopped, oh did I mention we ATE!! Workouts begin tomorrow. But all kidding aside, life was wonderful as a family of beach bums.

J. Hogan loves vacation. I know you are all dying to see pictures, and I will post more at the end, but for now let me show you a little bit of our life as travelers. This picture illustrates that when you are on vacation you are allowed to do things that you are not typically allowed to do at home - like eat your breakfast while sitting on the counter. Oh and did I mention my husband is a HOTTIE!!!

What you also will not realize about this picture is that you are witnessing a new love for J. Hogan. Before vacation, he did not like bananas, after vacation he LOVES bananas! It must have been the salty air.

Another thing you typically don't do at home is photograph your child when he/she is pitching a fit, however, on vacation you do - because the sun is setting fast and you need the right light. Here are a few attempts at taking beach photos when J. Hogan has not napped and is ready for dinner.

Oh and did I mention my husband is a HOTTIE!

Which brings me to my favorite part of the trip - the ocean. Chris and I are both lovers of all things water and much to our delight, so is our son. J. Hogan LOVED the ocean. He swam, he jumped in the waves, he splashed, he road in his float, he had an amazing time. I am so proud of our little fish.

So I will write more about our trip on later posts. But until then, here are a few more pictures.