Missing an old friend

It's just over a year since Dune passed away and we all still greatly miss him... even Harley.Dune loved the water but was soooo chicken to jump off a boat. That fear made it easy to take him on boat rides - he wouldn't escape for a free swim like other labs I know.He loved my parents house because we could just let him run and run and sniff and run...A true Florida dog...Who's who? Any true Dune friend would know that it is Dune on left - he licked anyone and anything ALL the time. (Brooks on right). 2006.Christmas was always a fave of Dune's...except for Santa. He had a complete dislike for the man, no matter who he was each year. I wish I had pics of him in full Santa attack but along with our puppy pics, they were taken pre-digital cameras. Dune was such a mellow dog that it made watching him go bezerk over Santa even more funny. He wouldn't stop barking until Mr. C left the house. Here you can still see the "I-haven't-take-my-eyes-off-you-yet-Mister!" look (as well as the look of distress on Robert's and Braden's faces... poor Santa never really got much love until the kids passed the age of 3).Can you find him?Playing football in the snow...I'm sure Dune and Ashe are having more than their share of fun in doggie heaven.We miss you!

My Family by Grant

"My Family"
by Grant Behringer

Our kids seem to come home with endless amounts of artwork projects. Some good, some great and some go straight from back pack to the recycle bin. But every so often we come across one that is just priceless. This was one of those times.

Who knew Grant was an artist? I didn't. Don didn't. We knew he could scribble and draw a few random things ("oh!!!! THAT is a car... NOW I see it....") but I've never drawn people with Grant before (not even a smiley face) so we didn't expect this! I was so surprised and delighted to find this in his work folder. His teacher was even surprised - most of the other kids leaned more toward abstract art than realism. And he did it all by himself.

Woven through my joy however was a strand of guilt. I started questioning..."Have I really never drawn a person with my son before? How can he be three years old and I haven't done that yet??"

I am fully aware of the statistics and realities of younger children not getting as much attention as the first child...especially those of us with high-maintenance first children. And while this may bring guilt to many of us multi-children parents, maybe it's not all so bad. I seem to find myself so presently surprised by some of Grant's accomplishments whereas with Olivia, I (honestly) sort of expect it.

So, this piece of artwork entitled "My Family" by the up and coming artist Grant Behringer has inspired me in two ways: to make sure we are giving equal attention to our second child and to maybe lay off of the first one a bit.

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!

Happy Halloween 2008!
This was the year that Halloween lasted and lasted. Costume ideas were generated in August... Grant, a pirate, and Olivia, the corpse bride. Olivia wanted to be the corpse bride last year (taken from the cartoon movie, The Corpse Bride- which is quite good) but chickened out. She wasn't quite ready to break from the girly stuff. The pumpkins were purchased the end of September on our return from North Carolina. We decorated the house on October 1. Olivia and Grant attended a costume birthday party for their friend Weston. We went to another friends (Chance) Grandpa's house for a halloween party - complete with hay rides, ghost hunts and spooky decorations. Oh, and a stumble into the fish pond. I guess Grant wanted to try out his pirate skills. Then it was halloween parties at school and finally, the big night of trick or treating. Whew...

First: Halloween Prep

We carved one pumpkin each night during the week to prolong the fun. Olivia and Grant came up with their designs on paper and Don carved them. We may have helped Grant a little in his design interpretations but Olivia's is 100% hers. I think she did well.Grant and Olivia Pumpkins...All aglow...The Great (family) Pumpkin... We had our yard decorated to the max this year. Each year we add a little bit more to our decor collection. We have gone with the creepy graveyard theme. We have tombstones, skulls, bones, corpses coming out of the ground, cobwebs and spiders and staked skulls. This year Don added a body inside our front room window. He stuffed his mechanics suit and placed a lifesize skull on top with creepy eyes stuck in the sockets. We sat it in a chair looking out the window. With the strobe light flashing behind it, it was enough to creep me out much less some of the trick or treaters. Some wouldn't even walk up the path. Success! All this and I cannot believe we forgot to take pictures of it. We promise to next year.The morning after we decorated, I awoke to giggling outside of our bedroom door. Grant and Olivia were being sneaky and trying to place a worm inside of our door. I let them finish and listened to them whispering and laughing on the other side for a little while. After snapping the photo (blurry, I know, but it was early!!) I opened the door with a scream, much to their delight.Second: School Parties

Both Olivia and Grant had Halloween parties at school this year. I volunteered to bake cupcakes and the kids helped and in fact, did most of the work.We made spiders and pumpkins...Costume prep...Grant as a pirate...Olivia was a cat for her school costume. When the party notice came home, it stated: "Please, no weapons, masks or scary costumes." Don and I conversed and I won the "is the corpse bride too scary to wear to school?" discussion. I will let you be the judge if you think the costume would have been too much for a first grade classroom...Any-hoo... I left work to attend the carnival at Grant's school. It was so nice and quaint. Grant goes to preschool at First Presbyterian and the school itself is small, nice and quaint. We are very happy there. Thanks for the recommendation Veronica!
Grant and one his favorite assistant teachers, Ms. Whitney...The carnival was run by volunteers from the church. It was complete with bean bag toss, treasure hunt and...

Fishing...Face painting, or mustache touchup...Personal hay rides. Grant's fave...He made this poor volunteer lug him around the courtyard at least 10 tens. Luckily no other kid really had any interest.Going down hill was the best part...Lastly, they went trick or treating in the church. Getting prepped...Grant was wheeling and dealing with the minister and asking for more! I was slightly embarrassed but it was funny... he was quite sincere about it.After it was all over, they had a seat in their room and were allowed to choose one trick or treat item to eat. Grant chose cheeze-its and in his excitement and determination to open them himself, the bag ripped open and they flew all over the place...Finally: The Big Night!

Olivia's friend Aislinn (and our friends Nicole and Kieran) came over to do some trick or treating. Olivia the corpse bride and Aislinn the cool, pretty witch. Quite a contrast. If you look closely you will see Olivia's blue swim cap under her wig. She complained that the hair itched so we thought we had the problem fixed. No luck. She complained from the moment it went on and complained and complained, and complained some more. Unfortunately I could only make her wear the hair for about 10 houses. Then I carried it and the dead flower bouquet and the pirate sword and eventually the pirate hat the rest of the night. Oh well. At least the pictures look good.And for costume #3 for the year... post trick or treating, we turned Olivia into the joker...And now, my favorite picture of the Halloween season (courtesy of Veronica). Olivia and Grant were invited to their friend Weston's costume birthday party (is that grammatically correct?!) I was working the ButterflyFest and met up with them later. So, Don dressed them and got to the party a little late (they were at the Fest with me). As they approached, he noticed lots of little girls dressed as fairies, princesses, angels, etc. When they turned to say hi to Olivia and Grant, their jaws dropped a little and they just stared wide-eyed at Olivia. I suppose she is a sight to behold for 3-6 yr old little kids. She almost lost her self confidence but Don cheerleaded her on and she had fun at the party. You will notice the little angel is standing jjjuuuuussssttttt far enough away and looking slightly uncomfortable...Priceless!

I think what is the most fun about this costume choice is that in Olivia's mind, she is beautiful. Let me explain... in case you haven't seen the movie, "The Corpse Bride" it is about a lovely young woman who was killed by her husband shortly after being married so he could take all of her money. She so desperately wants to be loved and married that she comes back from the dead to marry a "live" young man. It is actually a charming animated movie that isn't as creepy as it sounds. Anyway, the bride is quite pretty for a corpse and you end up feeling sorry for her. I believe these two things are what inspired Olivia to be the corpse bride. So, while most view her costume as a creepy corpse, I believe she sees herself as a beautiful young bride that wants to find true love. It's all in the eye of the beholder, right?

The Halloween season wore us all out. The next day, Grant fell asleep by 6:00, Olivia by 7:30 and me by 9:00. Until next year...

Flat Stanley's Adventures in Gainesville, FL

Flat Stanley came to visit us this week!

He arrived in the mail during UF's homecoming week. Perfect timing to join us in some homecoming related events. The University and schools shut down for homecoming so first up on Friday was the homecoming parade along University Avenue. Unfortunately it was raining so we got there late and it ended early. The parade itself has a very home town/college town feel to it but the kids like it. Poor Flat Stanley spent most of the time in his plastic baggie raincoat so he was unable to clap, do the Gator chomp or grab candy that was thrown from the floats.

On Saturday, we bought Flat Stanley a ticket to the Florida vs. Kentucky homecoming football game. We cheered the Gators to a 63 - 5 victory and Flat Stanley lost his voice from yelling so loudly.Tebow running it in...The marching band played and danced to Michael Jackson's Thriller during half-time. The crowd got into it. Don commented, "I believe this is the first time I have ever clapped for the band..." Terri, don't take offense. I think it's because back in the day he would leave at half-time, do shots, and race back for third quarter. It was called "Kamikaze half-time." They don't allow you to leave and return anymore so I think he realized what he was missing all those years :)Then, per tradition, they bunch up and play right in front of the student section...The obligatory gator photo...He even bought himself a souvenir Tim Tebow jersey...

Oh no. A little too much fun for Flat Stanley...One of our favorite places to visit is Payne's Prairie. We had yet to hike the Bolen's Bluff trail so we took Flat Stanley on Sunday. The weather was PHENOMENAL... We met a friendly little boy (and his parents) on the trail and the kids had fun exploring with him. Here they holding a fuzzy caterpillar on the stick...Cattle, bison and horses can been seen on the prairie, but it is rare. In the 1500-1600s, Spanish colonists began cattle ranching in the prairie. The wild animals are descendants of those brought over by the Spanish and left to roam free after the British raids in the early 1600s. On our hike, We were very fortunateto see some of the wild horses! Seven of them were resting under shade trees right along the trail.It appears they are used to people as we were able to get quite close...Flat Stanley had his own adventure too. When we were gathering for a group photo, he decided he wanted to explore the prairie by himself and jumped from the observation deck into the bushes and grasses below!! Luckily, he wasn't hurt but he did get tangled in some vines and couldn't get out. Since we didn't have boots or long pants on (we were warned that moccasins were present), a kind stranger offered to rescue Flat Stanley for us. Three cheers for David!Flat Stanley is now in the mail on his way back to our nephew Ben's school where he will tell all the students about his fun adventures in Gainesville, Florida.