Bowlin Beige

Fall is my favorite time of year. The cooler temperatures, the beautiful leaves, the outdoor activities, Harrisonburg on game days, our wedding anniversary, hunting season, and the promise of holidays just around the corner. Pumpkins always bring back fond memories of youth - carving pumpkins with my parents, the variety of Halloween costumes (many made by my mom), and the delicious chocolate treats that seem to fall from the sky! This year we enjoyed a trip to the pumpkin patch with the kids, complete with a hayride and some very selective pumpkin gathering. Enjoying the hay ride to the pumpkin fields. Climbing on hay bales! Last Friday we invited all of Ainsley's friends over for an impromptu pumpkin carving party. As with most things at this age, the kids lost interest with the pumpkins after they had cleaned all of the seeds out of the inside. The actual carving duties were handled by the adults while the kids ran around outside in the rain. Ahhh.... the carefree joys

As a mother (and essentially a single mother for many weeks of the year), I pride myself on being able to comfort and control my children when we are out in public. However I have quickly realized that these skills are inadequate when it comes to watching live sporting events. My scooting, crawling, chewing-on-everything son, and my bouncing, talkative, high-energy daughter, have a difficult time sitting through a 3+ hour college football game every weekend. However - being the smart woman that I am - I married a man who is perfectly capable of keeping his children entertained while watching the game. Exhibit #1:  He gets Parker to take a nap (30 minutes at least) during every single game. In the middle of drunken cheering college students, yelling hot dog vendors, and Ainsley's incessant chatter, Eric takes on the role of "Baby Whisperer" and gets our little guy to snooze. Napping through JMU-Towson Napping through JMU-W&M Snoozing throug

We were upstairs with the kids. Eric was working on a few house projects and I was putting the kids’ laundry away. Ainsley was playing in her room with Dixie and her kitchen set (making “coffee” for the dog). Parker was in his room on the floor with some toys while I put his laundry away.  After just a few minutes he starts crawling across the hallway and into Ainsley’s room (apparently she’s much more entertaining than I am). The first thing I hear is “No Parker! You can’t come in my room! Only GIRLS are allowed in here!”  Then I look over and she is holding his hand and dragging him across the floor back to his room. I gasp and run over to grab him, but I look down and he has the biggest grin on his face. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. I told Ainsley she couldn’t drag him by the arm because she might hurt him. Whew... disaster averted. He's fine. She goes back to her room to play with Dixie, and Parker is in his room with a stuffed animal.  A few minutes pass and