Happy Halloween 2010!!

The whole gang gathered at Dawn's house for some fun in the 'hood trick-or-treating. Linde was Mickey Mouse, Leah was Minnie, Ryan was a skeleton man, Keely and her American Girl doll dressed alike, Charlie was a dragon and Reed and Nolan were Hans and Franz from Saturday Night Live. Surprisingly, the boys didn't put up a fight to go to bed, even with the stream of sugar that is running through their veins!!

Halloween at Kids R Kids

The boys participated in a parade around the daycare parking lot dressed up in their Halloween attire. I'm not sure they were all that enthused, but seemed to play a little follow the leader very well!!




Reed formulated a new appetiser...Potato chips dipped in orange jello! C'mon ladies, you know you want to serve this at your next get-together!!!


Then, Bob and Mika came to town for a visit and Mika got to see the boys at school. They were beside themselves when she came through the door!!

A penguin with green teeth?!?! Looks like global warming is taking a turn for the worst!

Happy Birthday, Todd!!

35 years ago yesterday, Larry Todd McLure was born in Athens, GA. Goooooooo dawgs! Thank you to Nana and Poppa for coming to watch the boys while we could have an adult night out...dinner and a movie...with no orders from the children's menu!! Wow, that was a treat. He got loads of love from his Facebook friends and even gifts from the boys and Nekoh!! What a great day, right hon!?! Happy birthday to the best dad and husband in all the land!!

Uncle Bubba's Whodilly

This morning we went to Dad's Garage for a puppet show. It was called Uncle Bubba's Whodillly and we had a great time. It was an improv children's show that was quite participatory. The actors encouraged the kids to shout out things to them during the course of the show. Reed and Nolan didn't really get it and were actually a little scared of the dark at first, but they ended up enjoying themselves once they realized it wasn't a scary event. Here, Reed and Nolan are posing with two of the actors...Laederhosen Larry and GrapeJuice Jones. Good times!








Here's Nolan at the theater with the stage behind him.








Then, we went to Felini's for a scrumptous pizza lunch!! Mmmmmm......

Halloween...let's go to it!!

Friday night, the Chattahoochee Nature Center had a lighted-non-scary-hike thru their trails with loads of activites involved. The boys (charlie, too) got their hands painted, danced to the beat of live drumming, ate popcorn and did a great job on the friendly hike while learing about the animals in our area.

He ain't heavy...

he's my Reedee!!!

Safety First!!

Is Reed trying to tell us something about our driving?!?!

Air Show 2010

Every year Dobbins Air Force puts on an airshow on their base. Since the boys take the time to stop what they're doing at any given moment to shout "mommie/daddie airplane!" we figured they'd love to see it. Here they are getting ready for the show eating chips at 9am.



We didn't get to see the Blue Angels like we had hoped (seeing as they weren't scheduled until the end of the day) but we'll do some better planning next year!

Dinner with PeteChalee

We couldn't get all 3 boys together for a picture and I was surprised to even get Chalee to stand still!

The McLure Trail of Tears 10-10-10

So, this was probably the second hardest day in the McLure household thus far, both physically and emotionally. The physical part was taking 2 clumsy, head-heavy 3-year-olds hiking. After constantly reminding them to "look down, look down" so they wouldn't trip over rocks and tree roots, we ended up with lots of scrapes and bumps.

Graveyard fields is a spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway that Jackson and I used to frequent when we lived in Asheville. When I worked at the Grove Park Inn, I had Monday's off and it was the best day for a hike seeing as we would have the trails to ourselves. This seemed like the perfect spot for us to spread Jackson's ashes.

We found a beautiful golden tree on the upper falls trail right next to a campsite that seemed to be the most fitting place to say goodbye. The boys are sitting on Jackson's tree with brances that seem to be reaching out to ask for a hug.




There just happened to be a tent stake right next to the tree that called my name to carve a "J" in the trunk. We hope to find the tree again on a hike or camp trip in the future to let him know we're still thinking of him...always.

Par-tay...Asheville style!

Sondra and Ryan took us out for a night on the town...kiddy-free! We first went to a bar called LAB where we lost Todd about every minutes or so because he kept going to the bathroom, to check out the hand dryers! Ok, so they were really cool as they were some dyson-water-excavation-system and became a topic of conversation for the rest of the night!


Then, for old time's sake, we went to Hannah Flannigans. This was the origination point for the ever popular Vanilla Vodka and ginger ale combination I became so fond of about 9 years ago. Memories!!!

I had my fix for the weekend when I took my happy self shopping at the Mast General Store, for their penny candy. After spending almost $20 in candy, we all took part in taking down most of it, even sharing it with the bartenders. Here's Todd with a giant smarties lolly...and a beer. Classic.

Hickory Nut Gap Farm

Last weekend the whole fam packed up our gear and headed to "the mounts" as Reed calls the mountains. Our trip had an underlying cause, which we'll get to later, but beforehand, we wanted to have some fun! We stayed with our buddies, the Honrado's. They took us to a farm not too far from their house that had a pumpkin patch, corn maze, and all sorts of farm animals to peek at.

The pumpkins in the field were a bit overpicked and the ones that were left seemed to have bug occupants of their own. For those reasons, we decided not to pick any to take home for ourselves. Right, No-No!?!

The boys got to play and act silly with their "cousins" Gracyn and Griffin. They had a blast petting the horses, playing with bubbles, and swinging on the rope swing in the barn.

The highlight was the horse ride! Reed and Nolan were both very brave and rode a horse for the first time! They giggled as the 22 (!) year old horse walked them up and down the street.

To end our tour, the boys got to munch on some cidercicles before we left. Not really the greatest popsicle invention, but the kiddos were happy to eat a frozen treat on a stick...even though it didn't taste like anything but ice!!

It's beginning to feel a lot like....FALL!!

Yes, it is that time of year to unpack your sweaters from the attic, get out your cozy jackets, and stack wood for the fire. Here's our first round of fuel to heat the ever-chilling house we call home. The boys did a great job helping daddie stack all the dirty logs!

Happy 70th, Andma!

This past weekend we went to Athens to help celebrate Emily Harris' (Todd's BFF's mom)70th birthday! Rob and Mika set up an awesome surprise party for her and we all had a great time. The boys were the highlight of the night even though Reed kept saying "happy birthday GRANDPA!!"