Autumn Life

We are enjoying the rhythm of autumn life here at Myers house. Football practice, homework, cool mornings, laundry.

Jack got a haircut on Wednesday. Check out those styled curls.

The boys had a half day of school on Friday and staged a mammoth Madden tournament fulled by boxes of pizza and pop.

the Chili Cookoff

We celebrated a beautiful fall day today with a big chili cookoff party at church. They had all sorts of fun things for kids and all sorts of great food. The girls and I on the hayride.

The boys hanging out on a hay ride.

Sam ate his way through the pie eating contest.

Mustangs 14 - Bengals 12

And it's a sack by big Jack Myers.

Going down.

down, down.

John's laying it out for the boys.

Bath Day

We have the only golden in America that's not that fond of water. He likes creeks & the edges of lakes ok but the water part he only tolerates. The first time we bathed Cooper was an all out disaster. The only thing worse was the time I tried to bath the cat. (oh yea collectively now... what were you thinking?!) And by the way cats completely think you are trying to drown them. And if I'd have fell full throttle into a thorn bush I would have emerged less battle scared. The cat bat was only slightly less of a war than that first bath with Cooper.

But as the weather cools comes the inevitable..... bath day. Only one day a year are baths scheduled. The rest of the year if you get dirty or ya stink you get a bath. But only one day a year whether you appear to need it or not.... you're getting a bath. That last warm day before winter.

Oh the humility. But a 2 year old golden is an entirely different creature than a 1 year old golden.
And the deed got done. Now Colby she's too much of a lady to cause much fuss. But ya know under her breath she's letting us have it. Damn the people and their soapy water.

The other inevitable thing in life is seventh grade science and their experiments. We had to design a science experiment that uses the "scientific method."

So we plowed ahead. This little experiment was "how does carbon dioxide affect oxygen." Baking soda, vinegar and a candle. Add the vinegar and it creates a bubbling froth that produces carbon dioxide and uses up all the oxygen. (think fire fighters battling big wild fires) The funniest part was when Jack ran from the room returning with a big old towel over his mouth to scream. Mom carbon dioxide will kill you. What were you thinking. Carbon monoxide deary breath easy.

A day in a Missouri town

Missouri Town is one of my favorite places on earth. It's a living history settlement from 1855. And it's about 5 minutes from my house. It's an incredably peaceful place. The fall festival is their biggest festival of the year. Deb and I loaded up the van with all these chil'dens. That little sassy one on the end was full of tarnashion too.

The boys decided to foresake their normal Sunday position in front of the boob tube watching football to spend an afternoon bathed in warm sun, with the sounds of mountain music lofting through the hillside, the smells of campfire and lots of interesting things to look at.

Oh and there was food. Old fashioned rock candy, curly fries, kettle corn, cotton candy, root beer. That's what the boys bought. There was lots more yummy stuff including the best ever apple cider made over an open fire with big chunks of apples.

Rule #1 of festivals. Never ever buy those $2 recorder things. They will drive you plum nuts. You'll run screaming in front of trains to escape that shrill sound. For some reason small people with normally short attention spans will blow on those things for hours. Maybe the thrill of that piped pipper is that he promised the children that they could blow on the flute next. Anyway poor Erin had a major melt down over not being able to play her stupid recorder. Lauren had one over taking turns with a jump rope. Other than that..... a good time was had by all.

Check out my beautiful Lauren.

Just a few more

Beast boy.

I love this one.

And this is what happens when you break the line. That's Jack having to battle not one but two yellow dawgs.

some action of Jackson

The Mustangs have an awesome team photographer, Laurie Malcolm. She just posted this week's pictures on-line and she got a great series of Jackson breaking through the defensive line.
That's Jack in red on the left battling number 90.

Check out that determination.

Now he's got his eyes set on that quarterback.

Run quarterback run. Jack's on the lose.

Dawgs 28 - Mustangs 7

Another devistating lose. But no reason to hang our heads the Mustangs will regroup and take command again.

the lion and the lamb

There was a minor miracle at Myers house. These two have been playing tom and jerry for two years now. But somehow the prospect of hanging out with their boy led them both to Jack's bed. But to lay side by side. Wow. What's got into them. By the way see that cute wall paper - we love that wallpaper. But it's soon to be replaced with Red Sox paper. It came in on Friday.

Cats who live with packs of dogs have somewhat of an identity crisis. But it's just so unseemly to find this. It's bad enough when the dogs grab a drink but my cat........ and there's perfectly nice water in the bowl in the kitchen.

Pie Day

I dare ya to try and watch the movie Waitress and not want to make pies. For over 20 years John was a chef. When we married I was a little bitty young thing. Well now. We'll you've seen the pictures. I used to say I was the poster child for my husband's culinary talents. Today John taught Jackson how to make pie crust. The key is to use ice cold water like with ice cubes in it cold. (not as I thought when I just let the tap go until it's at it's coldest- the ice isn't an adjective here it's a part of the direction!)

Anyway I caught this delightful little father son experience. And most definitely caught the result- fresh apple pies lathered in brown sugar and cinnamon and I don't know what else. Ok. I know but it's the chef secret.