Halloween

 And one more fun night to dress up...with our visit to the Rawls house for the official trick or treating.   The Rawls cooked some Chili, and Magan brought some potato soup.   There were pumpkins being carved with the older kids, while the ever decreasing number of little ones pestered us finishing out meals that it was time to go out to get candy.   We hit all the normal houses, then as everyone else went inside, I knew Ruby wanted the one last hill of houses, so we scored a little more extra candy.   While Ruby may not have been recognized as Lafayette, I did her one lady exclaim "Wow, you are a cool historical figure".   I feel our Halloween door to door visits are on their last legs, but I will keep going up and down whatever hills Ruby will take me on...as behind some of those doors, are those little butter finger pieces.     

Homecoming with the Raiders

Wow, a return to the Good Hope Raider football field to watch Eli play in this senior season. Everything just feels surreal as we parked in a baseball field I used to play on, as we walked up a hill towards the Friday Night Lights that captivated me as a kid, walk past the locker room which is exactly the same as I left it 30 years ago with my Junior High stint in football...and I could almost smell the B.O. that was a major part of that building.   

We passed by Mrs. Montgomery at the top of the hill and talked about our upcoming family merger, then down to the Eli Sartin fanbase section.   I think both Magan and I were surprised at the super intense football momma Marcia had become.   Anabelle was happy to see little Ivey, and we shared a Jacks strawberry and cream cheese pie with her.   Then Ivey stuck her finger into the pie to lick off all the cream cheese out of the pie...fortunately she had a bleacher to wipe her finger on before going back into the pie for more.   Yuck.   Ivey...if you ever read this, that was gross, but you were super cute.   

After the game, we all waited our turn to see Eli and get some pictures with him.   And I slipped off to see the ole ball coach, my buddy Alan Scott.   He introduced me to his son that is super tall, and we sat and chatted about life 30 years out of school.   I would ask where all the time went, but it is easy to see in all these little ones grown big, and easy to see in the mirror every morning.   It was a good homecoming.   The raiders won big.  We saw old friends.   And Magan will remember that the backpack was helpful.   

Ruby Turns 12

I think most of the Birthday attention on this girl was used up at the end of September with some fun birthday parties.   But there were still a few surprises for our girl on her actual October birthday.   And she finally got that Jeremiah's ice cream birthday cake she had been talking about for a long time.   Ms. Laini got her some crafting supplies, and Ms. Lisa found the exact same watch that she had recently broken.   Ruby is too much like her Dad, and was happy that she did not have to change to a "new" watch.   Happy Birthday to our fun Ruby Judy Lou!