Family Fall Party... With Additions

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery Pics are just some more of my favorite fall things. Enjoy!

RANDOMNESS - Last Saturday, I went to the JSU football game with Melia, her mom, Lisa, and her little brother, Payton. It was a good day. We had beautiful weather. The band was fantastic. The football team was winning. We were going out to eat after the game to celebrate homecoming. Like I said... a good day.

With about two minutes left on the clock, the score was 56 to 3 in JSU's favor. Suddenly, I heard a man shouting at the top of his lungs, "Hey! Number 15! Take your skirt off and play some football!"

"I feel sorry for that jerk's mom," I thought to myself.

Then I noticed Melia giggling and texting. I looked over my right shoulder and two sections away Austin was standing up in all of his 6'4" glory yelling one more time at Number 15. I was mortified.

"Melia. Please text him and tell him I said to sit down and be quiet!"

Melia laughingly obliged. I watched as Austin opened his phone, read the text and looked over at me... grinning ear to ear.

He gave me a big wave. I snapped my fingers twice and pointed to the seat which, as everyone knows, is the Universal Mom Code for "Sit down, and don't let me hear you say another word."

That made all the band guys sitting around Austin laugh... and they waved at me, too.

I was just about to march over and ground him from tooting his horn when the game ended... 56 to 3.

When we finally talked face-to-face after the "end of the game" show, he still showed no remorse. "What is wrong with you? What if Number 15's mom had been sitting where she could hear you? Have you no shame? Were you raised in a barn? Have you learned NOTHING in 19 years about proper football etiquette?" And then one more time for emphasis, "What is wrong with you?"

He never answered any of my questions. He threw his head back and laughed and laughed. "Was that a great game or what? Let's go eat."

And that's how we left it. All I can do now is focus on Josh and Roxie... pounding everything I want to teach them in the next few months and years into their brains.

And knowing at the end of the day, they are just going to retain the information they want to retain. (Heavy sigh!)

It's almost depressing.

Wednesday Wisdom - It's still a "Pooh" kind of day here in the South. I know I've shared Pooh quotes before, but for a "bear of little brain," he is quite smart, you know.

If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”

“If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." (Every college student should have a pillow with this embroidered on it in their dorm room. And except for the fact the male college student would probably be beaten up if anyone saw it in his dorm room, it is very appropriate.)

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like 'What about lunch?'”

"If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”

“You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

The last one is my favorite... because it is so very, very true.

Family Fall Party... With Additions

This is a re-post from last year... with a few additions.

Plan an early afternoon party for just your immediate family. Here are a few suggestions for a couple of hours of enjoyment in the fall.

Make a mini scarecrow to decorate your front door by stuffing old baby or doll clothes with hay and using a stuffed sock for the head.

Set up a row of pumpkins and take turns trying to land a hula hoop or a circle of rope around one.

Have a harvest slalom race in which runners must weave through a line of potatoes or turnips. (Or parsnips! You could use parsnips, because believe me they would be much better on the ground in a slalom course than on a dinner plate on your dining room table. I'm just saying.)

See who can squirrel away the most acorns or pine cones in ten minutes.

Get one ear of dried corn per player. First, hide the corn around the yard, choosing spots that are neither obvious or too hard to find. Now round up everyone and explain the object is for each contestant to retrieve an ear and remove all of its kernels. The first one to succeed is the winner. Once everybody in the group has accomplished the task, you can feed the kernels to the squirrels and the birds.

Plan an afternoon of leaf raking for the whole family. Make sure you have enough rakes to go around and get busy. After a couple of hours of hard work, reward your family with an old-fashioned hot dog roast. Sit around a fire eating hot dogs, marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate. (And don't forget to let the kids jump in the biggest pile of leaves. That's kind of the whole reason to rake in the first place, don't you think?)

Taken from Family Fun Magazine, October, 1999.

Okay. Here is the "With Additions" part...

End the evening with an appropriate "scary" movie. If you have little ones, Disney's The Haunted Mansion would be good. If there are teenagers in the house, try Signs or a DVD of old Twilight Zone episodes. Watch them outside under the stars.
NOTE - If you decide to watch Signs, there is a devotion in the book Movie Night for Teens. It is also on the Focus on the Family website. It is very, very good.

Divide into groups of two or three and have a pumpkin carving contest. (Not for speed, but for originality.) If you have little ones, use paint, thumb tacks, hot glue (adults only using the hot glue gun) and ribbons.

If you have little ones, end the evening reading The Pumpkin Patch Parable for your devotion.

Have fun with the family. Put the same effort and energy into your family party as you would a gathering for friends.

Have a wonderful Wednesday. On Thursday I'll be sharing interesting Blog Linkage and the obligatory "fun date." Some things never, ever change.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda