Apple Festival and Burt's Pumpkin Farm...

Several years ago Kim and I were out driving with the intent (I believe) of simply driving and finding some fall color and possibly heading up to the Cherohala Skyway....a SUPER cool drive this time of year. Anyway, we crossed over from Cartersville to Canton and started the trek north and once we got into Ellijay we saw all of this mess (traffic) for the Apple Festival that was going on that Saturday. Having always heard about it and having never been --that we recalled, we decided what the hell...let's burn an hour checking this out. What happened after that was a day that Kim and I will always remember for some reason. We had the best time that Saturday. We ate, we laughed at the cheesy craft booths, we drove forever, and we saw some of the most amazing autumn color that day. It was perfect.

That image has burned into our minds now as a tradition of sorts. This little outing had such an impact that a couple years ago when Kim and I were struggling through some issues in life, the Apple Festival ---- of all things ---- was one of the things that we both talked about. That day, that little trip to North Ga.....Well, all things worked the way God wanted them to and we've been Apple Festivus-ing it up on an annual basis since then. Last year we went up there with Lance and Celeste and made the drive to the Cherohala as well. Kim was pregnant with Reese and we had a blast. This year, little Pooka made her first visit to the Apple Festival and we did it one better, we all went to Burt's Pumpkin Farm for the first time.

Let's also set the stage that the typical Autumn weather pattern is for cooler mornings and reasonable afternoons....mid-60's to low 70's. Ummmm yeah, the high today was barely 50....yeah Fifty...like Sally O'Mally....Fifty! 5 - 0. FIVE.....OOOOOOOOOOOw. Fifty.....

So, Pooks needed winter wear and she flat looked adorable.












Reese saw about 15 minutes of her first trip to a Fall festival and then decided that it was just too much for her to handle...
So...with Reese out for the count, we decided to do what we do best at this deal...EAT. Don't judge us. Especially me because I came to dance by dammit....

















































So some explanations by line include me woofing down an Italian brat with some phenomenal sauce. Lance and Celeste approving of something and then....maybe not so much. Me eating fresh corn and Celeste eating an fried apple thingy and Lance looking "pretty"....The little white, powdery puff looking thing is a fried Twinkie...Honey hush! That was the best thing I've ever set my lips to. Delicious. Kim is overseeing the making of her chicken and steak wrap and Celeste is in deep thought while salting her curly fries. Lance is a little too excited about the chow and finally Lance, Kim, and Celeste doing the touchy face pose that a friend of ours does all the time. It gets worse believe me....the touchy face thing lasted all day.

See....Oddly enough we didn't get any crazy looks because the word on the street is that Ellijay has more gays per capita than any city in Georgia....so we fit right in.

We felt like we had consumed enough festival food for a while decided that it was time to go further. Reese did wake up about two seconds after our first family portrait at the Apple Festival so we took a few more pics to commemorate.












A friend of mine that works at my offices told me to get on over to Burt's Pumpkin Farm early but we just knew that wasn't going to happen...She told me it would be busy...Wow - she was right.

We rolled up to the Pumpkin Farm and commenced to Pumpkin patching it. I have never seen the like of pumpkins in my entire life. I swear this place was packed with 1. pumpkins and 2. people. It was a freaking ZOO! But it was worth it all to net some great pics of Reese...and us.




















































So again...explanations by line. Me and Kimmy taking turns with Reese for pumpkin pics. Kim and Reese exploring the patch. Wedging Reese between pumpkins for a standup pumpkin sammich pic. My precious daughter just soaking it in for the next two lines. Lance looking all happy for his pic and Celeste looking like a Mommy wannabe? Kim trying to get the wheelbarrow shot without flipping our girl...it was happening left and right to poor kids. Reese calls it a touchdown and gets attacked by gords and squash. And finally a general pic of the crowd.

Mom and Dad also happened to be in the area and they stopped at Burt's to see Reese in all her pumpkin glory...
And in honor of our face touchy picture friend...we touched faces for pics again.



















Don't be jealous...just touch faces with your camera mates, that's all.

In all seriousness though, this was another great day. These days are the ones you'll remember all your life and the ones I'll yearn to recreate with Reese as she grows older. These days are about making memories and starting traditions with her that will last for years. One day she'll ask when the Pumpkin patch opens up and can we get the biggest pumpkin out there....one day she'll ask about going to the Apple festival and playing the silly games because its not all that silly to her. She's nearly seven months old and we pushed her pretty hard today and she was just fantastic. A little grumpy here and there but all in all, she was a little trooper. Thanks for a great, great day Lance, Celeste, Mom, Dad, Kimmy, and especially Reese. "Just wait" 'til next year. :)

This is too funny...

The USA Today recently posted this...I just thought I would point out publicly that I'm a dummy.

And what's even better...is that I had to do three of the five for this bathroom project...tile, toilet, and install/refinish a floor.

I'm REAAALLY an idiot.

My little cutie....

No chili prize...

Yesterday was our neighborhood chili cookoff / fall party and I believe that Kim's Chili is fantastic...and she probably should have won a MAJOR award like a leg lamp or something. But suffice it to say all of the effort and love that she put into her chili didn't net any accolades. I think the judging was rigged but you know, you just roll with the punches.

We don't have any pictures but Kim was amazing and so covered up all day and I appreciate all that she does. Your chili gives me heartburn like no other babe....I love you and thanks for making some awesome chili!

Just wait...

In the days that have led up to now, I have pretty much been on my poor knees in solitude in the master bath. That fact alone has allowed some time to ponder....you know when you get in that mode where you have to think but only elementary thoughts are necessary for the task at hand so then the other 95% of your brain just runs wide open? Or is that just me? Anyway, I've been thinking alot about how bad I'm aching and how bad my knees hurt but one thing that has been on my mind the most is Reese and Kim.

I told Kim last night that sometimes I just have to look at Reese and remind myself that she is our baby girl. She gets to stay all the time and we get to see her grow and experience her little moods and learn about her personality. I was thinking the other afternoon about how many times someone told Kim and I....just wait....EVERYTHING changes.

We've all been there...at some point in your marriage there was a couple - be it friends or family - that you knew and they had a child and they shared the "just wait" stories. Some were funny, some were horrible, and some were just down right scary. "Life changes" and "your life is not your own anymore".....we heard those as well. Sometimes the parents would almost make life with a little one seem simply unbearable and you could almost hear a tinge of regret in their voice.....Not always, but sometimes. Sure, there were a few that managed to tell you the amazing aspects but just like the evening news, the bad always seemed to out weigh the good.

Maybe that's why Kim and I waited for so long...We'll be married 14 years on October 21st and we didn't have Reese until a little more than six months ago. You can imagine the amount of "just wait" stories that we've heard. We've never been rude to anyone when they shared horror stories and for the most part we were genuinely interested in the "just wait" story but after a while it became sort of sad. Were the parents not on the same wavelength? Did they have communication issues to begin with? What did they expect parenthood to be? This isn't like adopting a dog. Maybe the issue that they are dealing with in their little one is really a mirror image of their own personal issues? I don't know....I'm just saying...but almost every "just wait" story had that negative hook no matter who told it.

Kim and I were talking the other night and the consensus from our end is that God has just blessed us with a fantastic little girl. She is perfectly matched to us....Made by God just especially for Kim and I. She shares traits from each of us and is a perfect mix of fun, cute, and cuddly. She loves to sleep close to us, she loves to be held, she loves kisses, she loves bath time, she even loves to have her ears cleaned after baths....I imagine that a lot of kids squirm like crazy when something touches their ears. She loves to eat, she loves to take walks, she fights naps unless the vacuum is running and then she'll nark out, she has not shown a temper yet......I could go on, and on.

But, at nearly seven months we STILL hear the "just waits". Just wait until she starts walking, just wait until she starts talking, just wait until she starts throwing fits, just wait until this....that....the other.....blah blah blah.

Truth is we can't wait. Time is flying like it was shot from a cannon and Reese is changing everyday. We can't wait until more and more of her personality is visible...until she is walking and talking and getting into everything. We can't wait until she is stumbling around the house and driving us up the wall because she's bored. I wish we could turn time to slow for a while and keep these days for longer but "we can't wait" for what is next. I dare say that you will not hear Kim and I explain to a potential parent the "just waits" in a negative term. It absolutely changes your life.....DUH. It absolutely changes your schedule.....wh-wh-what! And you are absolutely correct in that NOTHING comes in front of Kim and Reese now. NOTHING. My priorities are changed. Kim's priorities are changed.....Der!

I mean yes...its tough work raising a child but seriously...is that a shock? If you didn't expect that, then you probably should have waited a little longer to have kids. We expected it....Hell, we embraced it....and sure, it has been tough and it has been much different that sitting around without her. But what fun would it be if it were too easy? I think that changing up your world like this makes life that much more rewarding. I mean for some folks, its about world travel or going off to Africa to help save elephants or whatever....Some people can change jobs and move across the country without a whim...that gets their blood pumping. Its a change and change can be tough. But with a child....that change is proving to be the most rewarding thing in the world for us.

Yeah, all that time on the floor of the bathroom has given me some perspective. We've been blessed with a phenomenal little girl.....and I "can't wait" to see what's next.

"Just wait" until I finish this bathroom.....I'll never start another project like this! (so that was a little negative shout out to all of the nay sayers.)

A funny thing happened at work the other day....

I've been laughing at work about this story with a co-worker and I felt like I might share in order to shed a little light on what I do. I sell fun. I sell Yamaha outboard engines and very rarely I get to actually get on the product that I sell. At a recent meeting for one of my accounts, a co-worker and I were running a boat with the intent of getting running shots of other boats for a performance bulletin...Too many details I know but I was taking pics and so this boat that we needed was running up behind us...
So I started taking pics of this boat that was catching us...

This is looking like a good chance to finally grab this picture of a boat that had been eluding us. There were nearly 8 boats running at the meeting and this particular boat had been hard to shoot because of the fenders on the port side and finally needing the "money shot" with the Yammies in the center...

Here it comes....Jarrett slows our boat and we'll be right on top of this one....I mean this is going to be perfect. I tell you...nothing beats a day on the water and after this pic - we're going for a ride to test another boat. I love being out of the office and in the field....what! What the......

What the hell?....Where did that nekkid dude come from? Seriously? What the hell are you doing hiding out on the deck of the boat? And you're practically NEKKID....Duuuuuuude. Put on some clothes.

I mean really? Do you need a cigarette now or something? What have you guys been doing on that boat? You jokers sure have been gone a long time....Something isn't on the up and up here....are you guys filming some old man stripper movie on that boat?!?!?! Awwwww nawwww.


What a mess....So in a nutshell, that's what I do. I take pictures of dudes coming back from some sort of "JOY" ride on one of my accounts boats. Class-less ingrates.

I haven't seen my family....

since Wednesday. No really. I've been secluded in our master bath removing sinks, removing tile, prepping for tile, laying tile, aching, hurting, sweating, stinking, getting dusty, and pretty much anything else that might suck in a big way. Oh...and the best part is that I'm no where near done.

I took off another two days later this week which I hope will be a little less chaotic. I'll share pics as I get closer to done but suffice it to say....this is interfering with posting. Sorry for the slow posts. Hopefully I'll get better once the world calms down a little bit.

Kim and Reese have been enjoying each other while I hide out upstairs so I really don't have a clue as to what Reese is up to these days because in my own mind....she should be in the bathroom helping her Daddy! Let me offer a little sage advice....no matter what the price is to install tile, it's worth it. Pay the contractor. Believe me.


And Reese feels the same way.....I love this pic so I had to include it.

Poo poo surprise!

We should have paid attention to the signs....little baby farts....little smells that stunk to the high heavens. We're professionals now, we should have seen this one coming.

I suppose like all parents do at times, we let our guard down and it bit us. Our little angel took advantage of our naivety and we had the first poo poo surprise......in the bath tub.

How does one deal with a poo poo surprise you ask? With something resembling shock and awe...a small gag reflex, and then some amount of instinct kicks in. It all started with the squash. Reese is eating baby food twice each day now. Tonight, she ate squash and while it went down, I don't think it was her favorite. I'm sort of shocked by that because anything would taste better than that swill called formula ever could. Squash was creating a bit of a gag late in the game and we decided that it was probably enough for the evening and gave her a little rice cereal with apples and she woofed it down.

We go to the Family Tradition for dinner and Reese was a little ham...just smiling away, playing her game of drop the clean toy on the dirty floor. Everything was fine. We come home, get prepped for a bath....and commence to soaking with the bath toys. A couple toots rang out from Reese's behind and like Pan playing the flute we were laughing and giggling, dancing wildly into trouble.

Bubble, bubble....braaaampft.....the tub rumbles from underwater noises. I laugh because the bursting bubbles reveal an aroma unknown to my nose with Reese...."DAMMIT!" I exclaim...."That smells HORRIBLE!" Kim comes back laughing...hehehehe hohohoho...ah......oh no....OH.....OH NO!

Reese was pooping in the tub. The poop had not broken form just yet and so the thought was that maybe I could lift her out of the sewage tub now with no issue.....I lift Reese....the poop breaks form. Almost like a drop of dye in a cup of water, the poop races to every corner of the tub and becomes all encompassing. Toys are mired in a soggy concoction of poopy bath water...Kim picks them out which I find amazing. Ask us two years ago if we will pick up poopy toys in the bath and our response is probably something along the lines of "those toys don't even make it to the trash...we burn 'em."

Kim, brilliantly, lays out a new diaper for me to toss Reese upon and then we ponder what to do with the stew left before us.....It DARE NOT go down the sink. Too messy to poor into the toilet. Outside....that's it, but how? I'll carry it Kim, you open the door. Kim works toward the back door for which I immediately think of Baxter....he would eat it. I know he would. Bax is disgusting when it comes to food. If he'll vomit and then eat that....he'd eat wet baby shit for sure.

Out the front door.....Isn't there some saying about throwing the baby out with the bath water?? Well, we tossed the former contents of the baby out. I wonder if the Cleyera bushes well grow to a lush deep green color now, or will they wilt from the funk?

Ahh yes....the joy and wonderment of parenting. If I could narrate this story and choose a background song, I would choose the Doobie Brothers "Black Water" and in a voice like Larry Munson....that voice could really add some drama to the text don't you think?

We're officially disgusting.

Behind....waaaaay behind.....

HAPPY SIX MONTHS REESIE PIE!!!!!!!

I'm late on updates for several major reasons....1st - the father figure has been out of town again and in keeping with not advertising that to the entire world via the web - Posts have been delayed. 2nd - when said father figure is out of town, it is ALLLL she can do for the Mother figure to keep the world straight at night - much less post....Reese is a handful for one person now. 3rd - when said Mother figure and Father figure have their beautiful daughter in the bed...the parental units tend to want sleep as well so late night posts are slipping a skosh.

So it's update time and the first order of business is that Reese went to the Dr. today for her six month appointment. She weighs 20 lbs 10oz and is 27 1/4 inches long. The rampant weight gain has stopped (Thank you Lord) and her length/height is still moving upwards. All signs are good and we are now cleared for baby food twice a day! We may even drop one bottle every day now - ooooh wouldn't that be nice!

We have had a sleep issue since Saturday night that Kim got to work out while I was gone Sunday until today. Reese woke up Saturday night all sorts of cross threaded on her breathing and spit up. She was coughing, gagging, spitting, sneezing, tearing up, her head was all splotchy like she was almost having an allergy attack. It was pretty rough. The poor thing would gag and cough and she just couldn't get out of this funk and Kim basically hung with her Saturday night ALL night since I had to leave Sunday morning. They both slept periodically but Reese didn't want anything to do with laying down for most of the night. Well, that led into fears about Sunday night with me not here and Kim being the lone ranger. Nothing significant happened but Reese acted a little hesitant about going back to the bed....aka the Choke Chamber - for her anyway.

Sunday and Monday were better and now as I post on Tuesday night, Reese is sleeping in her bed and actually went down reasonably well considering the issues since Saturday. Our Doc says its nothing to worry about and we could add some cereal to her last bottle in case this is acid reflux....I don't know what cereal will do to stop that but it's not the first time I've heard the cereal thing either.

Back at the homestead, I will be taking off the next two weeks on Thursday and Friday in order to finish a bathroom remodel that we've teased. I hope his goes well because Kim will probably shoot me if this goes on for much longer. I'm so glad to take some time off no matter if I'm working or not around the house. I'm just toasted with work and I need some down time. Hopefully tile work is soothing for the soul - somehow I doubt that it is but it has to be better than the norm.

We'll hit up a What is Reese Doing Now post in the next few days so keep checking in.

Just pics

New schedule....

We're trying something new right now...Nope, no new food or a new outfit or anything like that but a new schedule. We're so hoping this doesn't back fire.

Reese just seems so sleepy in the mornings and the thought process is that she isn't quite getting the sleep that she needs. Naps are a little less frequent and the "quality" of the nap is sort of on the low side. So we thought this out....just let her sleep until we have to wake her and send her off with a full belly to Krissy's. She'll essentially sleep - uninterrupted - for an additional hour and change. All total the only gain is around 30 minutes in the morning but in the evenings, because of the later bottle to start the day, she really gets to go to bed about an hour sooner. Meaning this schedule is netting her an additional hour or two of sleep every day.

Now...all of this costs something. A full bottle. Again, there is hope that the Dr. will allow additional rice feedings or maybe baby food feedings can start and these will sort of keep her fire stoked in terms of chow and maybe the "lost" bottle will not be missed.

Good Lord....feeding a baby is like figuring an algebraic equation right now.

On an entirely different note, the flood waters have receded and I was actually able to mow the yard today and I noticed a rampant amount of fungal activity in the yard. Dollar spot, fairy ring, leaf spot, etc.....I'm certainly not complaining because many families are dealing with true life disasters so my yard is nothing more than an observance and not in any way a notable issue. It was just nice to see the sun and mow again. Here's to hoping that the sun brings brighter days to those affected by the flooding.

15 inches in 24 hours....

yep...you read that correctly. This is basically a pic post of some of the flooding close to home today. The flooding was spread all around but locally the impact was pretty large with a major highway that joins into I-75 flooding completely at one spot.