The Feast

At Reuben's Birthday request,

we went to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon today.

To buy a sword.

Because we don't have any??? 

Our pre-Feast sword collection.

I guess the word is "enough".  We don't have enough swords??  I don't know.  But we drove an hour, paid our family admission, and went hunting for the perfect sword.

 So The Feast is a weekend festival on the grounds of a French fort from the 1700s.

All the food vendors, craftsmen, and actors

are as authentic as can be.

We arrived just in time for the parade of soldiers,

Indians, and musicians.

It was also Charlie's naptime.

Which didn't last long.

Welcome men in skirts.

Awake now.

On to the search for weapons...

 Hatchets and little swords.

(Rube's wearing a tiger hat

in case you're wondering what in the world is on his head.

You'll see it better in another picture.)

More swords and bows

and cute little guns at the top there.

 They did have other things for sale,

like peacock feathers and walking sticks...

And beads and jewelry.

 And these horrible purses made with some kind of

animal's leg and foot dangling off the front.

Debbie, you're welcome.

Peter wanted to buy you one of these.

 Look at this booth of animal body parts for sale.

Trying out a rifle.

After much purusing and careful consideration,

we traded our dollars for matching 'inja swords.

<'Inja is Reubenese for Ninja>

Ninja's fought in the Revolutionary War apparently.

 Note Charlie at the bottom,

watching and learning. 

 Loving the Feast.

 So we purchased the swords.

The day is a success.

Next we walked the grounds

and practiced our sword fighting.

In this picture we are watching

a dancing demonstration.

See how Peter's watching it?

 

 Charlie, too, thinks the dancers are pretty neat.

Except, Reuben set down his sword and now is

Charlie's big chance to pull out his inner French 'Inja.

I enjoyed the dancers anyway.

So now we're home and the three 'injas are in bed.

Peter, turns out, has a 101.5 fever

that came about post-feast.

So he spent the evening nibbling on saltines

and watching Ben Hur and Ivanhoe.

It's what he requested.

 Oh yeah, that's better.

Eleven swords is what we needed.

The two new ones are in the middle,

to the left of the red lightsaber.

These are the 'best swords' because

they each came with a sheath.

The swords are currently out of commission as we wait for the wood glue to dry.

A day of battle was hard on them.

Reuben can't wait for morning to begin the battle anew.

The Three Photos

So the cord that magically transfers the photos from my camera to the computer is not working very well, thus the lack of posts here.  It's quite frustrating for me and you'd think that I should just replace the cord.  But really, the problem could be on the camera's end.  (It hasn't been the same since it went to the beach in July.)  Fortunately, Paul knows just how to wiggle the cord to get the photos to transfer, giving us the following pictures.  Thank you Paul.

My three overall clad boys standing in front of their Papa's barn.  Peter and Reuben were more propped up than really standing since they couldn't stand on their own yet (at 5 and 6 months old).  Charlie wins for his fabulous grin.  That's the advantage to being older (13 months).

Our mantle.

Cute boys in a row.

So cute.

Ok, here's Reuben's photo shoot from 2007...

 A little sad and unsure.

Getting propped up.

Ta-da!

I don't have Peter's day of pictures in front of the barn

because that was back when our camera used film

and it would be way too much work to find the negatives

and make prints and scan them and blah blah blah.

It would be fun to have the boys do these pics again...

Good idea.

We're all doing fine.

School's good for Peter (and for all of us).

Reuben successfully turned five, which reminds me that I should post about that.

Charlie has his first double ear infection and sadly has spit out every bite of avocado we've given him.  He is still hovering at 19 pounds.  If he'd just eat the avocado...

It's fall now.  Boo.  Except I like fall.  I just don't like that it means that winter is soon coming.  The leaves are turning and it's beautiful.  And the big boys got to ride in a combine and 'shell some corn.'

Tomorrow Rube, Charlie, and I are going on a field trip to the local newspaper office.  I'm pretending to homeschool Reuben.  One of these days he'll know the difference between letters and numbers.  Maybe in January.  For now, we will play lots and go on field trips with our homeschool group.

At Papa's Barn

I have a picture of Peter at age 5 months in front of Papa's barn.

I have a picture of Reuben at age 6 months in front of Papa's barn.

And now I have a picture of Charlie at 13 months in front of Papa's barn.

 There's something to the left...

 And something to the right...

And there's a funny dad behind Mom and her camera.

Got your picture, Mom?

I'm done.

Charlie and Reuben

As my Dad would say...

 Herman...

and Herman.

Going on a Trip

Here we are at CVS for the

Taking of the Passport Photo.

 Relax your face.

Don't smile.

Don't look mad.

Just have a plain, unsuspecting face.

Because it's time to renew your passport!

Why?

The Pete and the Paul get to visit

our future homeland this fall.

The organization we are joining is having a conference

in a certain coastal Asian city*

with all their workers gathered together.

I would love to go and meet the other families

and begin to get connected with this group,

but we decided that Peter should go

so he can get a feel for this unknown place

and meet some of the other kids there.

I think it will help him with the big move to come.

Peter is super excited.

They have a twelve hour layover in Germany,

so they'll get to explore there a little too.

They'll be gone a week.

A week of me putting

the Screamer, I mean, Charlie to bed.

Paul has the magic touch for this.

Speaking of the Charlie...

Everything,

except the multiple midnight waking up business of course,

is going so well.

We feel like he is a part of our family

and is also becoming a part of our community.

Everyone has been very welcoming of him

and his shyness is wearing off.

He has a sweet, charming smile that we get to see often.

Today he climbed up in my lap just to snuggle and be held,

by his Momma.

I loved it.

*If you want more details about this trip and our future move and such,

email me and we'll discuss.

Good-bye Trees

The town Tree Board declared that all three of our gigantic maple trees had to go.  Our house was built in the late 1880s, so maybe the trees are that old too.  If only there was a way to figure the age of a tree...

 The one the front yard was rotten

and during every storm I feared that it

would smash me in my bed.

So, glad that one is gone.

 But the two in the backyard gave us

so much shade and privacy and...

ambiance.

Sad to lose them.

But they got in the way of the wires.

Move the wires, I say.

And now the boys don't have a tree to pee on.

 It took several days to completely cut

and clear all the tree parts.

Rube, Charlie, and I observed from a safe distance.

It was pretty neat to watch the main guy go way up in the lift

and we'd gasp as big branches and logs came hurling and twirling down,

leaving bucket-size divets in our yard.

(The back half of our yard is all dirt and sawdust now,

from their big trucks and tractors

and flailing tree parts.

Will need to reseed with grass once it gets cooler.)

Charlie stayed occupied by eating Cheerios.

Lots of them.

Don't be fooled by this sweet face...

He knows how to slam a handful.

Reuben moved to the ground to get a new view.

  

After the tree guys cut all the branches,

they left the huge stumps for the next day.

They attached these ropes to later use to guide and pull the trees down.

The boys (and the neighbor boys) had so much fun

swinging on them.

 

And that's what we've been doing.

Observing, no, interacting with trees.

Reuben's Watermelons

When we were planning our summer garden months ago, Reuben specially requested we plant watermelon seeds.  So we did.  And now they are ready to eat!  Or drink...

I am mopping my floor every sticky watermelon day.  But he is one very happy boy.