Things Run Afowl...

An event that has been highly anticipated in our household has finally arrived with the morning mail. Eleven frantically peeping, day-old ducklings came in one small cardboard box. The next two days were a little chaotic until my neighbor came and took six of them off my hands for her home flock, and now things have settled down a little bit.

They pretty much just eat, sleep, poop and 'try' to preen themselves, with hilarious results, and make a gigantic mess for such tiny little creatures. But they are already growing so fast in the few days that they have been here (which they should, for as much food as they put away). They boys and I have been enjoying watching their antics, whereas Patrick and Annie are still reserving judgement. Once the duck egg omelets arrive though, I'm sure they will both come around. In just a few, um, months.

Here are our five little girls (one is under the pile). Aren't they cute?

And here are boys wishing our five little ducks good night. We'll see how this little foray into self-sustainability goes over the next few weeks...

State Fair and Purdy Invasion

One of the weekends when Sam was sick, Eli and I joined our friends Mark and Merrill and we all went to the WNC State Fair. We had a fantastic time (despite soaring temperatures) seeing all the fair sights, all the livestock in the agricultural section, petting random animals in the petting zoo (I saw a wombat!) and eating old-fashioned churned ice cream. One of the highlights was the armored vehicle that you could climb inside. Eli almost burst with excitement at the sight of all those switches (but really I think that Mark was even more into it than Eli was...).

Last week we had some friends from Atlanta come and stay for a few days. The boys had a fabulous time following around the older kids, but especially hanging out with 2 1/2 year old Shae. I think that they are both in love.









Look at that those curls...who wouldn't be, right?

Fall in the Mountains

After a crazy summer (and I know that I still have to post beach week pictures) we are finally settling in to the fall routine. Despite the usual upper respiratory infections, we have been having a wonderful time.



Here are the boys in their first fall wear, complements of Grandmama. Eli was pretty unhappy about the transition to long pants, but now that it is getting down to the 30s at night, he has thankfully come around. (I told Sam to put his hands in his lap; he's such a good boy.)




The first weekend in September, we journeyed to Nashville for cousin Charlotte's second birthday party. Charlotte loves buses, so Aunt Heather and Uncle Paul got her one! We all went on a bus ride and had a wonderful time.



Here are Eli and Grandmama enjoying a tour around Nashville on the birthday bus.

This fall I have enrolled the boys in a Mother's Morning Out program. So for four hours once a week, I actually have some uninterrupted time to clean the house. I was worried that the boys would have a hard time being left, but Eli was all, "Don't leave!! Don't leave!! Don't...hey, is that playdoh?" So everything turned out just fine, and now we all love Wednesday mornings.