Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween! This year we were not going to do anything but purchase a little candy and stay at home to watch a movie. Our friends Michelle and Darlaina had a great idea to have a little pot luck and then trick or treat in their neighborhood. Our church no longer does anything for the holiday so our choices have been limited and our kiddos are getting older.

Thayne and Lydia were thrilled with the idea to go out and party! So we quickly put together a Poppy the Troll costume for Lydia and Thayne went as a sloth. We had so much good food, shared company, and then headed out. Thayne lasted about 10 minutes before he reached his upper limits and started to say "none of this is real" under his breath. It is really hard to handle Halloween with sensory sensitivity. So that worked perfect for me. They had the experience and just a small amount of candy and we all went home happy and had time to watch 'Hocus Pocus" before bed.

Our Annual Bowles Farm Pumpkin Day

Once again we join with our homeschool friends to go get lost in the corn maze! This year's theme was The Pride of Maryland. It was in the shape of the Maryland state flag. Thayne and his friends made it through in under 15 minutes. It took us girls only a little bit longer.  There was an interesting video at the first about Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin with parts of their farm scenes cut into it. when we first started coming the farm had a video that showed baby chicks being culled. It was a little bit traumatizing for the children. Glad that they have improved the video portion. Southern Maryland definitely has its quirks.

Oh these precious kiddos of mine. The time between childhood and being an adult is growing thin. It has been a blessing to home school them because we have had time to be a family that we wouldn't have had otherwise. They have not been dealt the easiest life with the challenges being mortal that this life has given them. But Grace is a wonderful thing and they both have eternal outlooks that help make it all a bit easier.

Maliea loves this every year. I was a bit sad that the larger maze wasn't open for the day due to too much mud. Maliea loves the challenge of making it through the maze on her own.

It has been a beautiful day, not too cold and just enough wind to keep us from getting all sweaty as we ran around everywhere.  Thayne and his friends Maddux, Robert and Jonathan all have had the best time playing in the hay piles and the corn. I failed to get pictures of any one picking out their pumpkin this year. It was a bit harder because the weather had turned many of them to moldy mush , but we did find some great ones to take home. Life is more fun when we can make memories with our friends.

This Guy!

At Abell's Wharf sans children we took a selfie. There are not very many pictures of us as a couple. We should probably remedy that. He is my everything. My soulmate. I am convinced that we have encircled many eternities together. The person that every cell in my whole body cheers for when I see him. I love it when he laughs which is not very often but he has such a great sense of humor. He is a go with the flow type which often worries me but I don't think he ever worries about much so we balance it all out that way. He travels too much for work which he loves until he doesn't. I think he just goes for the food.

I first fell in love with him while eating a banana in a USAF chow hall and then fell in love again 18 years later when he wasn't phased by all the medical equipment that filled my home. Our marriage is really, really good and we are more alike than what is probably healthy for our bedroom floor.

There are times when I wish that he had gotten the less damaged version of me but God knew what kind people we needed to be and when we needed to be so we could have this successful relationship. Yes, we sometimes drive each other crazy and that is how it should be. He is a good man trying hard to be an even better man which I believe is a rare thing in this day and age. I've been on the flip side and do not take that for granted. I am so grateful for the wonder and craziness that our life together is.
Now here is the non-beauty filter picture. hahahaha

Wonder and Curiosity

 "I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it (the child) with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity" - Eleanor Roosevelt
I love this picture of Thayne. He was totally enthralled with this enormous wasp nest that is at least 12 feet of the ground in our magnolia tree. My father-in-law says there is an old wives tale about the higher up the harder the winter. We had no snow last year at all so I am wondering what this year will bring. I am hoping though that all the wasps are gone out of that huge nest. Yikes.

Daddy's back

Michael arrived back from Italy late on the 29th. He came with gifts from the Harry Potter Store in London and with tons and tons of chocolate and treats from Italy. I think there are about 10 candy bars and tons of all kinds of other sweets. We should be set with sugar for the next couple of months. Thanks Daddy!