A Great Performance, A Wonderful Christmas, and A War Hero

Well, here we are at the end of 2003. It seems like just last year I was watching the 24 hour New Year's celebration on TV when we ushered 2000 in, not to mention '01 and '02. Christmas has come and gone yet again and we feel very blessed to have experienced everything God has brought into our lives this past year.

I SIMPLY MUST BRAG. Last Sunday's musical went very well. Everyone involved in the production did a superb job. I was most proud of Vicki who was one of the narrators. I kept wanting to turn around to people sitting behind the sound booth and say, "That's my wife down there. I discovered her. I even get to live with her!" She delivered her lines with the confidence and expression of a pro. There were probably 700+ in attendance.

A VISIT WITH FRIENDS. Brent Freeland, for those of you who don't know him, is a childhood friend of mine. He and his two older brothers, Brian and Steve, are three very special guys who lived down the road from me. We were even roommates in college a couple of times. Brent, Sabrina, and their kids live in Virginia and they surprised Brent's parents with a visit this week. I got a couple of chances to visit with him and was really blessed by that. Isn't it neat to think about all the people God puts in your life?

CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES. Kenny and Lori Swann had their annual Christmas Party in their barn on the 23rd. It is part of our traditional activities and simply a lot of fun. We had a Christmas Eve service the following night. It is really nice to take that time to celebrate Christmas with your Christian family. On Christmas Day we went to Mrs. Connie Swann's new house for our traditional brunch (she is Kenny's mom). There was way too much good food there. After that we came home for the kids to nap and then went to Pauline's house to exchange gifts with her before all going to Aunt Mar's for some family time there. We were worn out when we got home.

CHRISTMAS GIFTS. We were all overly blessed this year. To hit the high spots, Nate got several little toys. Of his toys he likes the blocks the best, but when Ben fires up the train he got the blocks are forgotten. Ben's train is a motorized Thomas the Tank Engine set. It has a little track to run over and Harold (the helicopter) flies around above. After Nate derailed the train several times Ben just runs it across the floor now. Jenna got a Barbie laptop computer. She has been engrossed with that thing. I think it is a bigger hit than the Leap Pad she got last year (probably because she is a bit older). Mom, Aunt Mar, and Pauline went in together and got the kids a battery powered John Deere Gator. It is neat to watch them drive across the yard. They take turns driving and the passenger always has his/her arm around the driver. Vicki and I bought ourselves a digital camera. We are enjoying the ability to delete bad shots.

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO. For those of you who don't know my Dad served as a gunner on a B-29 in WWII. He flew 32 missions against the Japanese Empire. In doing some research on his unit in the past I ran across a picture of a gunner on another plane in his group. This fellow, Sgt. Krantz, was on his 7th mission in early January '45 when his window was shot out by enemy fire. As the plane depressurized he was sucked out and dangled outside at 39,000 ft. for 15 minutes by a harness he had made himself on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of '44. The picture shows this. He was pulled back in, survived the 6.5 hour trip back to Saipan, and made a full recovery. He was the only frostbite case in the South Pacific.

Yesterday my cousin, Jackie, came by the house and brought me an article from Clarksville's local paper, The Leaf Chronicle. Low and behold, there is Mr. Krantz in the article talking about his experiences. I had no idea he lived an hour away from me! I looked up his number and gave him a call and he said, "Why don't you come by for a visit some time?" I'm going this next week! While he didn't know my dad, I have never before had the opportunity to talk to anyone face to face about those missions (I have talked to Dad's pilot on the phone though). I am really excited to connect with Dad in this way.

I don't know how long they keep old articles posted but you can read it on their web site. Jackie, thanks for dropping that article by.

THE RETURN OF THE KING. Vicki and I watched The Lord of the Rings 3 last night. It was really well done and lives up to the expectations set in the other two films (in our opinion). It was just l_o_n_g. I am looking forward to seeing it again from the comfort of my couch and with the convenience of a pause button.

Joe

Busy Days, a Happy Reunion, and a Crazy Dad

We have been at church five of the seven nights this week. I feel as if I have hardly seen my kids as I have gotten in from work, eaten supper, and left for church to work on sound, lighting, or the set for tomorrow's musical. Vicki has usually been an hour or so behind me. I hope we have a good crowd at church tomorrow.

We hope all of you have a most wonderful Christmas this coming week!

DUE TO A HECTIC SCHEDULE. One day this week Vicki and the boys went shopping at Wal-Mart. We have a Super Wal-Mart here in Springfield. It is supposed to be the third largest in the nation. If they make it chances are you can find it at our Wal-Mart. While there Vicki bought groceries. However, when I got home from work she mentioned something about having to go to Food Valu in Cross Plains after choir rehearsal because she didn't have all of the ingredients she needed for cookies Jenna was to take to school the next day.

Well, Cross Plains is a small town and Food Valu rolls in its sidewalk at 9:00. Since the rehearsal went long we had to drive to Kroger in White House. They are open 24/7 so we knew we could find what we needed. If it hadn't been so cold we would have made a mini-date out of the trip and had milkshakes at Sonic.

So we get home, relieve Pauline so she can go home, and Vicki starts in on the cookies only to realize that it two trips to the store she only has a few drops of vanilla. Thankfully Pauline had some. (If anyone can relate to this Vicki would love to hear from you.)

DAD IS OUT OF HIS MIND. Last night we decided it was high time to go through the kid's toys since the inventory is about to grow next week. Vicki was feeling a little sick so when Nate went down for a nap she did too. While they were sleeping I rounded Jenna and Ben up and we started cleaning their room out. I figured the best way to do this would be to take all of their toys and put them in the hallway. That way the room would be empty for a thorough cleaning and we could organize and weed out what went back in.

Vicki woke up as we were finishing the "empty the room" phase of the job. As Vicki was surveying the scene Jenna walks up to Vicki, holds her hand up to the side of her mouth, and says in a low voice, "This is all Dad's idea." Then she shakes her head and says it again. Vicki said the look on her face seemed to say, "I think Dad is crazy, but I'm following orders."

THEY GROW TOO FAST. In helping to fold and put away a little laundry I sorted out the pajamas. Now its easy to sort Jenna's pajamas as the boys don't wear pink. But Vicki called to me later to let me know that I had put some of Nate's night clothes in Ben's drawer. Neither boy should be that big! They grow so fast!

A HAPPY RENUION. Ben has this stuffed bear that he LOVES. I am sure that if we could find a picture of it when it was new we would be shocked at its present condition. Last Friday Ben spent the night with Mom and Aunt Mar. When I picked him up we didn't see Bear so I figured we had simply left him over there. We did not know Bear was in the bottom of Ben's backpack or we would have gotten it for him when he asked about it on Saturday, Sunday, Monday....

Ben spent the night over at Pauline's last night. In packing for the trip Ben found Bear. I didn't see it but I heard this happy shout behind me. When I turned to look he was hugging the stuffing out of that thing.

SCHOOL IS OUT. Can you believe Jenna has a half a year of Kindergarten under her belt? We can't!

Joe

Breakfast, Birthday, and Things That Go "Beep" in the Hallway

It has been a cold week with some rain. We have even had snow flurries which has piqued Jenna's interest in the weather forecast.

THE INSTIGATOR. That would be Benton. And Nate is his gullible victim. For example, several weeks ago when our furnace was having problems it was suggested that we get a carbon monoxide detector. We have it plugged into the outlet in the hall and Jenna and Ben have explicit instructions not to touch the test button (which makes the thing emit its 85 dB alarm). They have been really good and have followed these orders. Nate has found it since he started crawling but pushing the button once scared him out of his wits and he left it alone until the other day. That was when I hear Ben whispering to Nate, "Push this button Nate," followed by a series of loud beeps. Well, we know the CO detector is working anyway.

CRAWLING. Nate still scoots a lot to get around but he is starting to actually crawl more. When he crawls he is using Jenna's style of dragging one leg. The problem with this is when he wears a one piece outfit his left leg comes out of the leg of his clothes and gets trapped up inside, a frustrating predicament for the boy.

It is fun to watch him because he has a good idea where things are now. He still explores but you can tell when he has some object on his mind and is moving with purpose.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Vicki celebrated her 34th birthday on Wednesday. We went out with Mom, Aunt Mar, and Pauline to Cracker Barrel Thursday night. Aunt Mar baked a chocolate cake and Pauline made a blackberry cobbler for the occasion.

I did give her a gift she really liked! Beginning on Thanksgiving weekend I dug out our wedding video and imported it into the computer. I divided the video into sections (rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding, etc.), marked these sections with chapters, and put it all on DVD. Then I got the bright idea of scanning all the wedding pictures in. We had 84 pictures from the professional photographer and an additional 217 snapshots that others took and shared with us. We are really blessed with these snapshots as they capture so many little things about that day that the photographer and the video camera missed.

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA. This morning the Senior Beta club at East Robertson High School had a breakfast with Santa fundraiser. They had a Santa who was really good with kids, a great breakfast, and a short line. It was a lot of fun.

LETTERS TO SANTA. Jenna dictated her letter to Santa the other day. They hand out these forms to all the little kids in the school system and the letters are printed in the Robertson County Times. The letters would be organized by school (East Robertson Elementary) and teacher (Linda Jakes). One thing Jenna wanted was the tape of The French [Grinch] Who Stole Christmas.

PHOTO OP. We spent a roll of film shooting our Christmas card picture this week. Out of 26 pictures we had four usable shots. One of these days they'll all sit still and smile. ( I can dream, can't I?)

CHOIR REHEARSAL. Since Pauline now lives next door Vicki decided to rejoin the choir for the Christmas program which they will perform next Sunday (December 21). She had rehearsals three nights this past week and will have to be at church five nights next week. I also have to attend next week's rehearsals because I am on the audio/visual team. Vicki is one of the narrators in the program. It amazes me to hear her practice her lines as memorizing things like that is extremely difficult for me.

A PRAYER REQUEST. Please pray for Mrs. Mildred Swann. She is a relative (obviously), good family friend, and member of our church. She had a stroke the other day and is in critical condition at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville.

Joe

Decorations, Pronunciations, and Dead Batteries

I can't believe it is December already. It seems like we just celebrated New Year's such a short time ago and here we are doing the holiday season all over again. Ho! Ho! Ho! Here we go!

OOPS, I FORGOT TO REPORT one thing we did last weekend. You'll remember that I painted the hallway back in October when everyone was gone to Virginia. Last weekend Vicki and I bought more paint and painted the back hall the same color tan as the main hall. For those of you who have never been to our house, our back hall was originally the back porch to the house so two of the walls are clapboard like the outside of the house. We could forget all about the roller as this job required a four inch brush. It looks much better!

DECORATIONS. We typically decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend and can get almost all of it done before Monday comes around. This year, since we chose to paint the hallway, we have had to decorate throughout the week, and we are still not done. I will hold Thanksgiving weekend as sacred for decorating for Christmas from now on.

I'll have to say though that Jenna is now old enough to be a really good helper. She and I made quick work of putting up our tree, Pauline's tree, and Mom and Aunt Mar's tree. We have discovered one product that is THE THING TO GET--NET LIGHTS! They come as a 100 light set in a 6 foot by 4 foot net. I have always dreaded putting the 6-8 strings of lights on our 9 foot tall tree in the past. I always get the lights too close together as I wrap them around the tree and run short when I get to the bottom. Now I can put 3 nets on and fill in the bottom with a string or two of lights where the nets don't reach in less than 15 minutes.

I'M SLIPPING. Vicki has always wanted to put some kind of outdoor lighting up on our house which is something I have completely refused to do. I have no interest in spending that much time up on a ladder on a cold day hanging lights just to take them down on another cold day a month later. (Although, I guess I could do like some houses I see and leave it up all year.)

Well, this year we put up a plywood nativity set in front of our mower shed. We have always hung a large wreath on the back of this shed for the cars going toward Cross Plains to see but never had anything for the traffic going the other direction to enjoy. Now we do. The kids were very enthusiastic about the project.

We got this set from my cousin, David Lee Thompson, who moved this past summer and did not have room for it in his new yard. He made the figures and Betty Jo, his wife, painted them. There are about 15 figures. The tallest ones are about 3.5-4 feet high. I have two flood lights aimed on them and they show up very well at night. We pray it will be a blessing to all who see it.

MIKEY HE'S NOT. Nate eats everything. He is a pleasure to feed because of this virtue, but we have to be vigilant about baby proofing the house because he also likes to dine on dead ladybugs, potting soil, and long, lost Cheerios.

OUR PARROT. No, we don't have a new bird. I am talking about Nate. He is in those early stages of mimicking sounds and words he hears us make. As I was leaving the other day he said "Ah-Ba" to me. He is also waving now.

I'm really curious as to how Nate will pronounce some words as he gets older. We thought is was funny when Jenna would say "think um" for "thank you". Ben says "fink you" for his version. Another example is Jenna's "fellffunt" and Ben's "ef-flent" for the word "elephant".

CALL THE RAILROAD. For those who don't know Memorial Boulevard is the main drag through Springfield. At one place there is a railroad bridge that goes over this street. The other day there was a train parked on the bridge. As Vicki and the boys were going to the YMCA Ben said, "Uh oh! That twain's battewies have wun down."

Joe

Moving Baby, Dry Pants, and a Wedding Dance

The weather typical for November has arrived. It's three weeks late but it's here, complete with a light snow flurry yesterday. While we went to the parade in short sleeves last Saturday we haven't been able to dress that way since. It has been cold and wet. All the farmers have been scurrying to get their tobacco down.

BEING THANKFUL. Like everyone else we celebrated the holiday on Thursday. We ate over at Pauline's around 3:00. Vicki, Pauline, Mom and Aunt Mar all combined efforts for a wonderful meal. That way we had a lot of food without overwhelming one cook. After that we all watched some home video we had shot with our camera since June. Nate sure has grown!

A SMALL BLESSING. I usually have some chore that takes me outside after dark. I really like to do this on a clear night as the stars are so pretty (Orion and the Pleiades are rising an hour or so after sunset this time of year). About once a week I walk out to hear the coyotes howling in the woods behind the house. Sometimes I'll carry on a short conversation with a screech owl.

Monday evening I went out to dump some table scraps in the field. When I pitched the scraps out of my bowl they almost landed on a small animal. Having seen me coming it was hiding under some leaves but after the near miss with the leftover food it decided to make a dash behind the red house. I got a pretty decent look at it as it ran off and was very thankful that while having black and white fur it appeared to run like a cat.

MOBILITY. Nate is on the move. He is not crawling yet but has perfected his scoot well enough to traverse the house. The other day we set him in his room to play while we were working in the kitchen. He was very content there until he heard Vicki and I start to talk. In just a few moments we were startled to hear him squeal at the kitchen door. He had left his room and scooted through our bedroom and the hall to find us.

Sometimes Nate wants to be picked up, usually when you are trying to get a few chores done. When this happens it feels like you are living inside one of those video games where there is this little robot or something after you. You can always outrun it but you have to stay on the move at all times. It doesn't matter where you go, the robot is always facing you and slowly making its way toward you. And if you are wearing sweat pants the "robot" may attempt to pull them down to your ankles trying to get your attention (at which point you have lost one life and have to start over).

BIG BOY PANTS. We put Ben in underwear this week. I don't think we will tempt fate with him like this at night but he seems to be ready to wear them during the day. He was really proud to have his Bob the Builder underwear on and I explained that it was very important to go to the bathroom when he felt the need to go. He said, "OK Daddy, I not get Bob wet."

A MOVIE REVIEW. We rented Winged Migration this week. If you are looking for a story with a plot, this ain't it. If you are looking for a documentary on birds this really isn't it either. It is a film that shows birds as they migrate over a year's time. There is very little narration but some really neat footage of different birds in flight. Some of the "stars" of the film were raised by the filmmaker's crew since hatching and had "imprinted" with their human parents so they were very tame. These birds were used in the close-up shots of birds in flight. Once they got the birds used to flying with an ultralight aircraft they could shoot some amazing footage for the film. It was entertaining.

A WEDDING. Our pastor's oldest son got married this evening. Pauline and Aunt Mar kept the boys so Vicki, Jenna, Mom and I could go. The wedding was held at First Baptist Nashville and was a beautiful ceremony. The reception was at the Hermitage Hotel. It is really hard to think of Brandon getting married. He was a toddler when Bro. Bill and Cindy moved here.

Jenna was looking forward to going. We thought for a little while she might get sick and not be able to go but she was determined to be well. We called home to check on the adults left behind while on the way to the reception. Jenna got on the phone and told Pauline that Brandon kissed Lesley Ann and, "It was funny." I danced with her at the reception. I don't know how to dance at all but having a scared, shy five year old wrapped around my right leg hid that fact pretty well. I couldn't help but wonder when Jenna would be the bride...it will be here way before I am ready.

OH TO BE IN THIS GOOD OF HEALTH WHEN I GET OLD. The other day we were talking to Mrs. Mary Yates. She mentioned that they had cleaned out the gutters on their house last week. When asked who they hired to do the job she said, "Why, Robert (her husband) did! He climbed up that ladder like a squirrel"

For those of you who do not know Robert and Mary Yates, they go to our church. They have been members at Mt. Carmel for decades. Everyone loves them a whole lot and they are some of the first people who come to mind when I think of our church. Mr. Robert is 91 years old.

Joe

Tricks, Tricks, and More Tricks

The Holiday Season has begun as far as I am concerned. As you will read we have already been involved with several Thanksgiving/Christmas activities. It promises to be a fun season. Just hope we are ready because the pace has picked up and it won't slow down until January. We hope each of you has a most wonderful Thanksgiving.

The only downside to the week is that we have not been completely healthy. It's nothing major but a combination of autumn sinus problems, an ear infection, and a migraine headache triggered by some virus has made life interesting around our house. Especially when you are putting three kids to bed and trying to keep all of the medications straight.

PATRIOTISM AT ITS FINEST HOUR. East Robertson Elementary begins its day like every other school in America, with the Pledge to the Flag (which is a matter of prayer itself), a moment of silence (which is a good time for that prayer), and announcements. At the end of this they have an OLD record player connected to the intercom system. They use that to play some patriotic song. Monday's song was You're a Grand Old Flag.

That night we decided to go out to eat at Cracker Barrel. On the way Jenna was singing the song with confidence and gusto. We were enjoying her rendition as she was getting all the words right. However, we couldn't contain our laughter when Jenna sang the line, "Every heart beats true/To the Red Riding Hood...."

NEW TRICKS. I've dropped Nate's bed mattress down to its lowest set of hooks. I knew it was time when I walked into his room and he was sitting up in bed. He is very adept at flipping over from back to front and then using his arms to walk himself into a sitting position.

Nate is also more mobile. Once sitting (with his feet in a clapping position in front of him) he can scoot. It sort of looks like an Elvis impersonation. He isn't truly crawling yet but he is giving that a try as well. He will get on one knee and then pull forward one step with the other foot, much like Jenna crawled for those of you who saw that.

MORE NEW TRICKS. Ben has introduced some new tricks as well. Most important to us is that he is starting to go to the bathroom on his own! I can't say that he has a perfect track record this week but we are very proud that he realizes when its time to go by himself.

Ben is also starting to put his own clothes on. Now, he may come out of his room with his shirt on inside out and the tag in the front, but he put it on! He is also able to buckle himself into his car seat!

HOW'S THAT AGAIN? I enjoy listening to NPR's Morning Edition when I drive to work. Thursday morning I decided to treat myself at the Doughnut Palace in Springfield. As I pulled into the drive-through line a story came on the radio about some of the most sought after art in the world. They went on to mention a Van Gogh that was recently sold for $80 million just as it was my turn to order. With this freshly on my mind I looked out the window and calmly ordered 2 million chocolate covered doughnuts. My only clue that I had said something wrong was the look of shock on the guy's face.

AN OFFICIAL START. The November meeting of the Cross Plains Heritage Commission is generally my mental kick off for the Holiday Season. That is because it is a covered dish supper! I was not disappointed. The topic of the program was the source of our Christmas traditions.

Vicki and I came home too stuffed to move. Partly from the supper and partly from lunch. We had gotten to eat with Jenna at school as well. The school cafeteria served Thanksgiving dinner. They sold tickets in advance (open to family members of students). Those ladies can cook! We all enjoyed walking hand in hand down the hall to and from lunch.

'TIS THE SEASON. Today we went to the Christmas Parade in Springfield. Of course, one of the humorous things about a small town is that the parade was longer than the parade route. The kids enjoyed everything but the sirens on the police and fire vehicles. The strange thing is that it was warm enough to wear shorts and t-shirts (we even raised the windows in the house today).

SHOP 'TIL YOU DROP. Vicki is very good about getting a head start on her Christmas shopping. She is finding things, big and little, all through the year for Christmas presents so when the time gets here she has quite a bit done. However; she started shopping in earnest this week. Wednesday night after church she and her mom, Pauline, went shopping and they didn't come home until after midnight. She and Nate went shopping through part of the day yesterday and then she and my mom went shopping last night.

This isn't to say that she won't be out on Christmas Eve, but it is her goal to be lounging with the rest of us on the 24th.

Joe

Winners, Losers, and Web Sites

This week's issue is short. Either Vicki or I have had something going on each night this week which has left the other one as a lone ranger on kid duty each evening. I usually procrastinate until Friday nights to get this thing started and finish it up on Saturday nights. Since Vicki has been out both of these evenings I have been left with a lack of time and a lack of a proofreader. Well, something is better than nothing.

NOT TO BE DEFEATED. He may look like he is down for the count but then he comes back from behind. I am talking about Kenny and the leaves in Aunt Mar's yard. I'd love to know how many cubic feet of leaves he has removed this week. The next rain may mess it up but right now Aunt Mar has a clean yard. He has made Aunt Mar one happy woman. Just don't look at our yard when you drive by.

NOW HOW DID THAT GO? It was Tuesday of this week that the photographer returned to East Robertson Elementary School for pictures. They have already had their regular mug shots and their make up mug shots, now they are back for the Christmas mug shots. (They only came around for pictures once a year when I was in school.)

I take Jenna to school on Tuesdays and Fridays. On our way out the door Vicki told Jenna to be sure and put on a pretty smile for her picture. Jenna then put on this real cheesy grin and said, "Like this?" Then Vicki coached Jenna to get a nice, relaxed, pretty smile. With that accomplished Jenna said, "I'm going to have to hold that all day so I don't forget how to do it."

NEVER, EVER, EVER TRUST A NAKED BOY. For those of you who have changed very many diapers on baby boys you know why I am saying this. I really hadn't planned on doing that load of laundry at that particular time. I was in the line of fire, at point blank range, with absolutely no where to go.

A MECHANICAL MIND. Mom and Aunt Mar received an item (in the shape of a computer mouse) in the mail promoting some tractor parts business (with an online store). They had no idea what the item would be used for unless it was a paper weight.

Ben spent the night over at their house last night. In his play he ran across this item. They said that within one minute he had found the magnet on the "mouse" and stuck it on the fridge, discovered that the mouse buttons slide forward and snap back to hold a pen, and found a slot opening on the rear of the mouse for holding paper. When Nate and I went over there for breakfast this morning he proudly showed me how he had them set up with scratch paper and pen on the fridge.

WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE. We have been working on a web site for church on and off for the last month or so. While it is far from being done it is at a point where we are ready to go public about it (which will be tomorrow morning in the worship service). We will be adding features over the next few months as time allows.

Joe

Clapping Hands, Eating Yogurt, and Raking Leaves

Ahhh, we finally have cool weather! Now I'll be comfortable when I go outside to work. The nice thing is that the usual fall rains held off long enough for the farmers to get most of the soybeans in. Last fall it got wet early and there were some beans that didn't get harvested until this past spring. Now, with the wet weather they can turn their attention to taking down and stripping tobacco. Can you tell I kind of miss farming?

CLAP YOUR HANDS. Nate now claps his hands! When you put a Cheerio in his mouth he grins and claps away. Now if we could just dress him up in a seal costume and teach him to balance a ball on his nose....

FRUSTRATED WITH PARENTS. After Ben's shower Sunday morning I dried him off and I sent him to his room to get a pull-up (yes, he is a stubborn boy). He went running through the house. After a moment I heard him in Nate's room where Vicki was nursing Nate. I then heard Vicki say, "Ben, go get a pull-up and take it to Daddy."

He then runs through the house again before coming to me--without a pull-up. I said, "Benton, go to your room and get a pull-up." He retorted, "Hmph. That's just what Mommy said."

A few days later Vicki got him a cup of yogurt for an afternoon snack. While he was eating she noticed him about to stick his fingers down in the cup. When she told him not to he said, "But Mommy, that's what kids do."

KNOW IT ALL. Thursday morning I took Jenna to school. It was a cool morning. Jenna put her hand on the window and exclaimed, "That's cold!" Then she added, "That's because it's cold outside."

"You think so?" I replied.

"Yes. I just know all about this world," she answered.

LEAVES. We raked and burned leaves early this week (before the rain came). It seems like we loaded my truck at least a dozen times and it doesn't look like we made a dent in the yard. The kids really loved it. One time when I came out the back door I looked around and saw everyone except Ben. When I asked where he was he popped up out of a nearby pile of leaves saying, "Here I am!"

We are more fortunate than Aunt Mar. We have about 25 trees in the yard, all of which drop all their leaves in a few weeks time. As most of you know, Aunt Mar has about 125 oak trees in her yard. Oaks are notorious for dropping leaves all winter long (most of the leaves come down in the fall but not all of them). I read somewhere than a mature oak tree produces about 700,000 leaves each year. Kenny has visited her yard with leaf removal equipment twice already. I couldn't tell he had been there at all.

A BROKEN FURNACE. The heat exchanger on our furnace is cracked. We can still use it but the part needs replacing. Fortunately it is still under warranty! Unfortunately the part was ordered on October 31 and still hasn't arrived (we are hoping it will be here by November 12 but have no guarantee of it). I was told that if I wanted the part sooner I would have to pay the shipping costs--company policy. Very frustrating.

Joe

Spooks, Spirits, and New Skills

This has been the peak week as far as the trees go. Most of the trees have been at the height of their color; however, they have not all peaked out at the same week as they have done in previous years. This has not been one of our most colorful autumns.

THE FLIP SIDE. We have always put our kids to bed on their backs when they were babies. Naturally, we have discovered when each of them has learned to roll over when we walk in to the nursery one morning to find the baby of his or her stomach. Nate has arrived this week!

Since we always have put the kids on their backs they learned to roll over from back to stomach first with the stomach to back roll coming a couple of weeks later. Nate demonstrated today that he did not plan on wasting time with this skill. There will be no more setting him in the middle of the bed when I change clothes after work.

OLD KATE. The Bell Witch is a world famous Robertson County legend. Last year David Alford moved back home to Robertson County after a career in theatre in New York and other places. Being fascinated with the Bell Witch story he wrote a play called "Spirit" which the Robertson County Players performed last October. "Spirit" returned to the stage again this year. We went to see it Thursday night (on a double date with Brent and Cindy Roycroft). It was very well done. A most entertaining evening. (The Robertson County Times published an article about the play. This page will probably be online for only a few weeks.)

If you are not familiar with the story of the Bell Witch you can visit www.bellwitch.org to learn more. This site is not connected with the play nor is it focused on the occult. The author of the site does not claim to believe in the Bell Witch, he just posted to site to present historical documentation of the legend (and to sell his book on the subject). It is a good read if you are interested in the legend from a historical perspective.

WHENEVER I HAVE KIDS.... Jenna obviously has a few issues with our parenting. At least she is expressing her displeasure in a positive way. Her hinted advice to us includes "...I will always say 'yes' to them," "...I will take them to the park every day," and "...I will never make them take a bath."

TRICK OR TREAT! Last night we took our ladybug (Jenna), our gorilla (Ben), and our puppy dog (Nate) trick or treating. We walked the length of Cross Plains collecting candy and stopped at over a dozen houses of family and friends after that. At Aunt Mar's house Ben walked in and said, "Give me tandy!" We got home three hours later. We were a tired assortment of spooks by then. We got more chocolate this year than we remember getting last year.

Joe

Splinters, Cats, and Salutations

We have had wonderful weather this week--couldn't have asked for better. It is cool enough to see your breath in the mornings, a touch warm at lunch, and just right for working outdoors in the afternoons. All that is supposed to be over by tomorrow when the rain moves in with a cold air mass.

GOOD HELP IS EASY TO FIND. Monday afternoon after work I went out to trim the almond bush that had overtaken the western side of the front porch. I'll have to brag on Ben here. He was great help picking up small twigs when I asked him to. We carried off five truckloads of brush.

PETS, PETS, AND MORE PETS. Some of you who have visited us in the last two years or so will remember all of our cats. We are in a prime location to receive animals nobody wants. Our small herd started from one pregnant stray. Every time we'd have new kittens we'd put ads in the paper for free cats. Several weeks ago our wildest dream came true. Someone answered the ad, came by and said, "I'll take them all, even the pregnant one over there. I have a barn they will be happy in." So, we were out of the cat business--until Monday. If anyone wants a little white kitten...it is very patient with little boys who treat cats like rag dolls.

Speaking of animals, Mom and Aunt Mar have a pet frog. Or maybe I should say there is a little green tree frog that has two pet women. They noticed this little frog hanging out on one of the patio chairs a couple of weeks ago. They now go out and talk to it about every day. I think Aunt Mar has even been able to scratch its head. It will be interesting to see if it returns after its winter hibernation.

TRAUMA IN THE BR. On Thursday Jenna's class visited a local pumpkin patch as a field trip. They did the normal hay ride, corn maze, etc. Somewhere along the way she picked up a splinter. In getting ready for bed Vicki mentioned using a needle to get it out. As she comes into the bedroom she says something about it to me saying that "Mommy will do it in the morning." And as she prays she includes that in her prayer.

After we are done praying I say, "Let's just go to the bathroom and get that splinter out right now." Little did I know what we were in for (and to give Jenna credit, I remember being terrified when Mom would pull a splinter out of my finger at that age).

Jenna walked part of the way to the bathroom but I had to carry her the rest of the way. Funny how kids are heavier when you are taking them somewhere they don't want to go.

When Vicki is ready to begin the operation Jenna is wailing, close to hyperventilation, but she manages to say, "I-I-I w-w-want to c-c-count." We say "Ok" and she starts up, "O-o-one, t-t-two, t-t-hree, you're not c-c-counting w-w-with me!"

In unison Vicki and I say "Four." (We couldn't have done that better with practice.)

When we get to 10 we stop. Jenna says, "I-I-I want to count to twenty-y-y!" "Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen - ...."

At twenty, she buried her head in my shoulder while Vicki performed the extraction. It was funny to hear her show off her new, well earned band-aid to Ben.

NEW SHRUBS. Taking advantage of a half price sale at Lowe's we decided to put some of Pauline's landscaping in today. We got 20 of 27 bushes in with the weed control fabric around them and one truckload of mulch down. It was a great day to be out working on the project.

HI! We had a Sunday School class party tonight complete with chili (I ate the potato soup), a hay ride and a bon fire. Because he had a cough we left Nate with Pauline. When Vicki went to get him she walked in and Nate saw her and grinned really big. Vicki said an enthusiastic "Hi!" and Nate replied with his own "Hi!"

He has been very vocal this week. It's been fun for all of us.

Joe

Wet Paint, Disgusted Kids, and a Pot of Chili

Well, my family has gone and returned home again safely, the hot weather is gone until spring and most of the mosquitoes are dead. What more could a guy ask for?

OUT OF TOWN. As you will remember from last week, Vicki, Pauline, and the kids went to Virginia to visit her brother and family. They left Sunday morning, came home Thursday night and had a great time in between. Cameron and Zachary, my nephews, sure know how to entertain.

WET PAINT! While everyone was gone I got the hallway painted, everything but the woodwork that is. We both think the tan looks a lot better than the green. Vicki is itching to paint the rest of the house now.

HAVING FUN TOGETHER. Vicki and I took the kids to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville yesterday. There is a really cool, five level tower for the kids to climb on with all kinds of interactive science exhibits. Jenna and Ben had a blast.

MORE TEETH! Nate definitely has four teeth now, the two top front and the two bottom front. And Will, Vicki's brother, thought he spied a fifth tooth in there somewhere.

We think Nate said, "Da Da," several time today while looking at me. I choose to think it was not coincidence.

"MOM, DAD, THAT'S DISGUSTING!" Last night Vicki and I were in the kitchen. I was cleaning up and she was cooking supper. In the course of talking about their trip and my saying I was glad they were home I walked over to her and gave here a big hug. That was about the time Ben rolled down the hall on one of his toys and stopped at the kitchen door. Looking at us he said, "UGH!" in a combination of surprise and disgust. Then he called to Jenna with the same tone of voice saying, "Jenna, come look!"

IT'S NICE TO BE NEEDED. Jenna spent the night with Mom and Aunt Mar last night. Ben and I went over to get her late this morning. On our arrival Ben got out of the van and went right in to find Jenna and said, "Come on, Jenna. We need you."

A POT OF CHILI GOES A LONG WAY. I am writing this as therapy right now. This is one of those things I will laugh at one day; however, that day has not arrived for me at this time. And in Jenna's defense, this is not normal for her.

Vicki has rejoined the choir at church to participate in the Christmas musical. They had a choir retreat today at 3:00 to give themselves a three hour practice. My mom picked Vicki up and they drove together. The retreat was held at a cabin on a choir member's farm.

Before leaving for the retreat Vicki had made a pot of chili as all the families of the choir members were invited to come over at 6:00 for a chili supper. At the appropriate time the kids, the chili and I left home, picked up Aunt Mar and headed for the cabin. Once we arrived Jenna insisted on coming between the front seats of the van and exit out one of the front doors. I had Nate in my arms and was trying to help Aunt Mar so all I could do was say, "No Jenna, don't do that. You'll turn over the chili." I repeated this several times, until she turned over the chili. There was about a gallon of the stuff. UGH! I think it will be a few months before I'll want chili again.

Joe

Secrets, Prayers, and Pre-Crawling

This week's edition will be a bit shorter than the last ones. For one thing it has been a pretty normal week. Not that it hasn't been busy, just routine. On the other hand, Vicki is scrambling to pack tonight and I am helping. She, the kids and Pauline are going to Virginia to visit with her brother and his family. They leave tomorrow and return on Thursday. Yes, I will be holding down the fort all by myself. Actually, I will be painting the main hallway in the fort while they are away, which will be a lot easier without kids. Goodbye light green, hello light tan.

SHARING LITTLE SECRETS. So, I'm sitting in church on Sunday. Bro. Bill is in the middle of an interesting sermon about Elijah and Jenna taps me on the arm. "Hey Daddy," she whispers.

I lean over a bit. "What?"

"Guess what!"

"What's that?"

And with pride in her hushed voice she says, "I've got purple panties on."

I sort of lost track of the sermon for a moment or two right in there.

GOD LISTENS TO COMPLAINTS, RIGHT? While we have suggested some things the kids could pray for at night we have always encouraged them to ad lib at meal time and bed time. Jenna and Ben come up with some of the sweetest prayers and it can be very touching what they think of to pray about. A lot of times Ben vents his complaints to God at bed time when he got in trouble or something didn't go his way. I was going to stop him from doing that when I first heard it, then I remembered that some of the most powerful prayers recorded in the Bible included complaints.

Ben also prays for the soldiers. We have four from our church who are deployed in Iraq at the moment. Three of these are brothers. One of these, Benton Roberts, is currently ending a two week leave here at home. He will return to Iraq in a few days. Our Ben prays for Ben the soldier. I made sure they got to meet at church on Sunday.

MOVING AROUND. Nate is trying his hardest to reach for everything. If he is sitting on the floor and a toy is out of reach he'll lean forward until he flops onto his stomach (he's tough, not caring if he eats a little carpet in the process). From there he can wriggle an inch or two to try and get the thing he wants. If that doesn't work he just wriggles backward. He can make more progress in reverse anyway.

Joe

Grass, New Foods, and a Double Date

It is a shame to go through life being so busy that you feel like life is dragging you from one thing to the next by the heels. I'd almost swear I met myself on the road the other day. It has been such a busy week that I haven't even checked our e-mail until today. This is something I normally do at least every other evening.

We are at the front end of what is my most favorite time of year. As I was driving around on Monday I thought I noticed just the slightest change in the color of the tree leaves. By the end of the week you can tell the show of fall colors is about to begin around here.

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE. Mrs. Connie Swann (Kenny's mom) celebrated her 70th birthday on Sunday. They had invited all of her family over for a luncheon after church which she knew about. What was a surprise to her was that many, many friends were invited to come over at 2:00. She seemed to really enjoy the day.

A NEW RELEASE. Ice Age was recently released on video. We rented it this week. It was pretty cute. No bad language, no lewd jokes, and only a few references to evolution as fact. We also rented Charlotte's Web for Jenna since we finished that book a few weeks ago.

NEW FOODS. We have introduced Nate to bananas and applesauce this week. This has been a very funny thing to watch as he flutters his eyelids and shivers all over. It looks sort of like those babies you see on America's Funniest Home Videos who are given a lemon for the first time.

A RETRACTION AND AN ADDITION. Last week I reported that Nate had two top teeth. On closer examination one of those actually hasn't broken through his gum but it is soooo close. He does have a new tooth on the bottom though.

KENTUCKY 31 TALL FESCUE. I sowed 600 lb. of grass on Pauline's yard on Tuesday. We had marked off about 1.25 acres for her yard. The nice thing is that my cousin, Kenny Swann, is in the lawn maintenance business. I used his John Deere Gator with a seed spreader mounted on the front bumper to do the job in less than 2 hours! Jenna and Ben loved riding around with me. We should see grass in 21 days.

SPEAKING OF BIRTHDAYS. Pauline turned 71 on Tuesday. We had a little dinner party for her over at her house. She enjoyed it very much especially since I sowed her yard. If only we could finish the landscaping, sidewalks, deck, and driveway!

A GOOD REPORT. Parent-Teacher Conferences were held Thursday night. Vicki met with Mrs. Linda and enjoyed hearing all about our little scholar. She said Jenna was conscientious and kind among many other compliments. Jenna absolutely loves school and her favorite part is "doing papers."

A DOUBLE DATE. Since having kids Vicki and I have been able to go out on a date alone on occasion. We have also attended functions like Sunday School class parties without kids. But last night we went out on a double date with Brent and Cindy Roycroft (Brent is the Minister of Music at church).We can't even remember the last time we double dated with anyone. Jenna spent the night with Mom and Aunt Mar while Pauline kept the boys (Ben stayed overnight). We splurged and went to a Japanese restaurant where they cook and perform tricks right before your eyes. Afterwards we went back to their house to play Balderdash and Ping Pong. We had a great time together. It felt really strange returning home just a few minutes before midnight.

FROZEN IN FEAR. In the middle of doing laundry today, Vicki hears Ben screaming out. When she gets to him she finds him on his back holding a book in the air. A wasp was crawling on the book and he was too scared to move beyond a tremor. Vicki takes the book and wasp from him and he timidly follows her down the hall to the back door. They go outside where Ben watches the source of his fear fly away. He then takes a relieved breath and says, "Thank you, Mommy!"

Joe

Self Examination, No Trespassing, and New Teeth

Autumn is here! The grass and weeds are starting to look; well, tired. Almost all of the tobacco is in and the farmers around here are in the middle of picking corn. Everywhere you look you see signs of another growing season coming to a close.

A LITTLE SELF EXAMINATION. I had to stay late at church Sunday night for a meeting which put Vicki doing bedtime by herself. Ben was being slow about everything which was an irritation to Vicki. Vicki went to get Ben's toothbrush and it was not in its usual spot. When asked where he had put the toothbrush Ben said, "I don't know." Vicki shot back, "Fine then. You can just got to bed with dirty teeth." This prompted him to scramble up onto the counter and look in the bathroom closet for it, which he found hidden on another shelf.

Vicki reprimanded Ben by tapping where the toothbrush should go and saying, "Benton, you know your toothbrush lives right here. You are not supposed to put it anywhere else. Do you hear me?" Ben thoughtfully replied, "I don't know why Bentons do that. It makes Mommies mad." He knows just what to say to melt his mom's heart.

KEEP OUT. Jenna asked me to write up a sign for her the other day which she taped to her bedroom door. It reads, "Don't come in there. You can only come in there at night. -Jenna." This was directed at me and Vicki.

PASSING ALONG SOME NEWS. I heard from Virginia Ellen Hanks, a cousin of mine on Mom's side of the family, in response to getting this newsletter. She reports that her mother, Mary Rose Meador, is not doing well. I'm sure they would appreciate your keeping her in your prayers. She is in her mid 80s.

Another bit of news Virginia Ellen reported was that her grandson is into racing and recently came in first at the Nashville Speedway. If you are interested you can check out his site at www.keetonhanksracing.com. Who knows, we may see Keeton's name on the NASCAR circuit in a few years.

GONE BACK HOME. Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob left for Florida on Monday. We sure do miss them.

I am glad to have Vicki at home in the evenings though. After the kids were in bed she would go over to Aunt Mar's to play Spades until after midnight.

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS. For the last 6 weeks I have been teaching a class at church on Sunday evenings to train people to use the sound system and A/V equipment. I'm glad we did this because it has added to our A/V team and will make things easier on the rest of us. Starting tomorrow evening I will be leading a study on Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Vicki and I have really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for whenever you are looking for something new to study.

RAISING BOYS. Vicki and I have both read the James Dobson book Bringing Up Boys and have found it very useful. She is currently attending a class focusing on that book on Sunday nights at church. I think she is enjoying the class a whole lot.

IMMORTALITY ISN'T ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE. At least according to Angus Tuck it's not. But Vicki and I will give Tuck Everlasting four thumbs up. It was a very clean movie. I even got the point of this story!

GONE TO NASHVILLE. Nashville, Indiana, that is. Mom and Aunt Mar went there on an overnight trip with the seniors at church. They left on Thursday and came back yesterday. I haven't had a chance to talk to them about it much but they seemed to have had a great time. The important thing was that they found a Russell Stover outlet on the way home.

A VISIT FROM CAMDEN. Pauline entertained four high school friends who had driven up from Camden yesterday. She says they really liked her house and that they had a nice visit. Upon leaving they said they'd have to try out the beds next time.

A BIT OF HISTORY. The Cross Plains Heritage Commission met on Thursday evening. We had a really interesting program on the Bowen House that is located in Moss-Wright Park in Goodlettsville, TN.

LOST AT THE PLAYGROUND. We went back to the park at White House last night. They have some really nice playground equipment there. Jenna took one look at the fireman's pole and passed right on by. Ben, after watching another girl use it, jumps over to it, grabs on and slides down, much to Vicki's surprise. When he hit the ground he came up shouting, "I DID IT! I GOTTA TO GO TELL MY MOMMY!" After reporting in he goes back to slide again but this time he can't find the top of the pole. Vicki and I were sitting on the bench cracking up as we watched this perplexed child running around the little elevated walkways searching for pole he had somehow lost. Finally, he looks over at us and says "I can't find where is it."

NOT ONE BUT TWO. Nate's two front teeth are in! The left one popped through on Thursday and the other came in today. He'll grin at anyone wanting to check them out.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A REDNECK when your three year old kids make up their own party games throwing dirt clods at a grain bin. When Vicki and Lori discovered Ben and Wilson they were filthy but having tremendous fun. We were at Wilson Swann's third birthday party this evening. It was over at Kenny and Lori's barn. We had a whole lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

Joe

A Good Boy, a Bulldozer, and a Bad Toss

It is finally getting cool enough here to open the windows to the house and leave them open all day long. While we may go through an "Indian Summer" in a week or two we can pretty much say goodbye to the hot, humid weather. Hello fall, here we come!

BENTON -- A MAN ON THE MOVE. Ben is definitely not a home body. On days that Vicki takes Jenna to school Ben usually asks Vicki where they will be going that day after they have dropped Jenna off. Whenever the answer is, "We're going back home because we don't have anywhere to go today," he bursts into his "But I don't wanna go home" mantra. All you have to do with Ben is say, "Come on, let's go somewhere," and he's putting his sandals on.

A GOOD BOY. We were on our way to White House to pick up supper at Sonic and let the kids play in the park when I asked Ben all out of the blue, "Are you a good boy?" He answered with an enthusiastic "NNNoooOOO!" Then he reconsidered and said, "Well, maybe I little bit good."

A FINISHED GRADE. Some of you getting this newsletter may not know that Vicki's mom, Pauline, has built a house right behind ours. She moved in a couple of weeks after Nate was born. When the contractor got done with all the outside work it was too late in the spring to sow grass. We did, however, have a great stand of weeds that we have kept mowed.

We have been on a long waiting list for a guy that does dozer work to come and do some things around the yard before I attempted to disk it in preparation for sowing grass. He has been here this week and has burned and buried the big brush pile, leveled the yard, and done other work. Hopefully we'll have the grass sown and a sidewalk to the front door in before winter.

A SURPRISE FOR AUNT MAR. Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob arrived for a visit on Thursday. They drove up from Florida without Aunt Mar knowing they were coming. Because of this Aunt Mar was unable to give her house the rigorous cleaning it usually gets before company arrives (not that it ever needs the extra effort). Last night someone got up around 2:30 am to make a trip to the bathroom and noticed a light on in the back bathroom with strange sounds coming out. Upon investigation Aunt Mar was discovered up cleaning. She said she thought it was as good a time as any to get the work done.

We all went out to eat at the Catfish House in Springfield last night. After supper Jenna and Ben were given a few coins to throw into the fountain out front. Ben's aim was a little short because of the planter around the fountain. Uncle Bob took a penny to demonstrate how to throw underhanded to Ben. His coin sailed neatly into the air, hit the rim of the fountain and bounced into the mulch below bringing cheers of delight to the rest of the family looking on.

SOME SPIDER. I think that is a fitting tribute to Charlotte A. Cavatica. Jenna and I just finished reading Charlotte's Web tonight. This is the second chapter book we have read together, the first being Little House in the Big Woods. I believe she has a Winnie the Pooh book next on our reading list.

Joe

Clothes, Weight Gain and Hot Air Balloons

This is the time of year in Robertson County when tourists stop and say, "Hey, your barn is on fire!" We have not had that happen in a few years because they have not used the tobacco barn that is near our house in quite a while. Just about everywhere you look though you see barns with smoke rolling out of them. The smell of this smoke is the thing I always missed when I was away at college.

HOLD YOUR EARS. Nate has discovered a new sound and he loves to try it out. It happens to be an ear piercing screech. We've never heard a sound like that come out of such a little fellow but he seems to enjoy making it.

I DIDN"T REALIZE IT STARTED SO EARLY. On Wednesday night Jenna, Nate and I rode to church together. As I was getting Nate and myself ready to go Jenna went to the back hall. She called to me and said, "Daddy, which of these shoes should I wear?"

I replied, "I can't see what you've got. You'll have to come in here with them."

A moment later she walked into the bedroom where Nate and I were. She had a white sandal on one foot and a brown sandal on the other. It was my opinion that the white sandal looked better with the clothes she had on. With that she said, "No, I think I like the brown one better." Then she turned and walked away.

My, "Why did you even bother to ask me for?" comment was met with a little giggle. With that I looked at Nate and said, "Nate, there's a woman somewhere down inside that little girl."

NEW CLOTHES. The other day Vicki found Ben an outfit on sale. It consisted of a shirt, pants with suspenders, a sweater and necktie. When she had Ben try the clothes he danced around and said, "I pwetty, I pwetty," and scampered off to the bathroom to look at himself in the full length mirror. Ben obviously did not inherit my lack of appreciation for dressy clothes.

TIPPING THE SCALES. You'll remember that I reported to you that we started Nate on rice cereal two weekends ago. Just a few days before that he had gone in for a checkup for an ear infection in both ears. He weighed 19 lb. at that visit. Vicki took Nate back to the doctor on Monday to check his ears again. This time he weighed in at 21 lb. and had healthy ears.

GOODNESS, GRACIOUS, GREAT BALL OF FIRE. We (including Mom) went to the Hot Air Affair last night. This was a fund raiser for the Bill Wilkerson Center at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. I counted over 25 hot air balloons there. Jenna and Ben chose to call them fire balloons. About 10 balloons took off for a race right after we got there, about 8 balloons were giving tethered rides, and about 12 were inflated to do balloon glows after dark. The line was too long for us to take balloon rides but there were plenty of activities for kids. It was a lot of fun. The emcee said the common thing was for one to spend $40 for their first balloon ride and $15,000 for their next (due to purchasing a balloon). Even though the tethered rides were $5 I guess its just as well that I stayed on the ground.

AN UPDATE. Since May I have found a few errors and learned a few new things to warrant writing an addendum to The Call of the Whistle book. I will be posting it as a PDF file on my web site (link now defunct) sometime in the next few days.

Joe

School, Solid Food and Maintenance Problems

I am going to own up to a deficiency of mine. I am horrible at communicating with my family. I don’t write. I don’t call. And you can all probably count on one hand the number of times I have called you on or around your birthday since I have become an adult.

Now I have never liked this about myself and have made attempts to change this over the years. This has worked about as well as my mom’s dieting schemes. I want to do better.

I mowed Aunt Mar’s yard today. I like to mow. With three kids in the house riding the mower gives me plenty of time to think. One of the things I mulled over today was this problem of mine. As I thought it over I decided that I can certainly find 15-20 minutes per week to peck out a short letter about what’s going on in our family and e-mail it to all of you. Given my past track record all I can say is, “Enjoy it while it lasts.” That said, here’s the news of the week.

JENNA IS LOVING SCHOOL. She has just completed her second full week of classes and is having a great time. Her teacher’s name is Linda Jakes. She goes to Mt. Carmel with us. Last Sunday night, as we were putting the kids to bed, Vicki reminded Jenna that there was no school the next day due to Labor Day. Her bottom lip pooched out and she cried, “But I want to go to school tomorrow!” After we explained that it was a national holiday and that no body in the country would be going to school she brightened up and was content to wait until Tuesday.

East Robertson Elementary celebrates Grandparents Day in a big way each year. G’Anne, Aunt Mar, and Maw Maw Jones all went to school to take part in the activities and have lunch with Jenna yesterday. Jenna was very proud to show them around her classroom. We heard that while the meal was good, getting in and out of the seats was another thing all together.

BEN IS NOW TOP DOG. With Jenna away at school during the day Ben is now the oldest sibling. He seems to really enjoy that. He is now going to Mom’s Day Out at Cross Plains Methodist Church on Tuesdays and Fridays. This has been a good thing because he wants to go to Jenna’s school. His teacher says he is very smart. He is the youngest in his class.

We can tell a real difference over the last few weeks in Ben’s use of words. He is commanding a greater spoken vocabulary and asking better questions.

We are still working on the potty training with Ben. He is getting the idea for doing #1. Doing #2 is more of a challenge.

NATE IS SITTING UP AND EATING FOOD. Just this week Nate has gotten his balance down good enough to allow us to sit him up in the floor and leave him alone. We can sit him up in his room and put several of his favorite toys around him and he is happy for 30 minutes or more. We’ll come check on him and he’ll just grin.

Nate also started rice cereal last weekend. We had kind of put it off due to potty training and Jenna starting school. Nate’s reaction was, “Where have you been hiding this stuff?”

OUR LUCK WITH THE LAWN MOWER IS HOLDING. Our mower has broken down some 6 or 7 times this year. Not a good thing when we are taking care of 3 yards. It seems like I have used Kenny’s mower about as much as I have used mine. I am most grateful for his generosity. I lacked 30 minutes finishing Aunt Mar’s yard today when it broke down again. Cub Cadets aren’t what they used to be.

VAN PROBLEMS. Vicki took Jenna to school on Thursday. When she and the boys got home the van was making a gurgling sound and steam was coming out in a big way. When I got home and looked at it the radiator was bone dry. I pulled out the hose to refill it, and as I was doing that water starts gushing out of the side of the engine. With 153,000 miles on the thing we were just holding our breath when the guy from Tate’s came to tow the van in. Fortunately the repair is around $100 and most of that is labor because they had to remove other parts (like the alternator) to be able to reach the problem.

A MOVIE REVIEW. Last night Jenna spent the night with Pauline, Ben spent the night with Mom and Aunt Mar, and Pauline agreed to keep Nate for the evening. Vicki and I went out on a date! We began our date by splurging (we had a coupon) on seafood at a great little seafood place in Springfield (Captain D’s). If you had looked in on us a bit later you would have seen us taking a lovely walk through a nearby garden. When we left the produce section we continued our leisurely stroll through the grocery store (more coupons in hand). Between these two things we stopped by the video store to rent some movies (still more coupons). When we got home we put Solaris in. Whenever I figure out what the film was about I’ll let you know. If any of you have seen the film and want to enlighten me, please help me out. Other than not getting the point of the story it was pretty good. But maybe that was due to the bowl of ice cream.

Joe