A Lesson Learned....

Last Saturday it was military appreciation night for the University of Alabama Hockey Team. So, we were able to get free tickets to the game. I was excited to go, I knew the kids would love it and you can't really beat free. My biggest dilemma as we were getting ready to leave was which camera to take. I didn't really see a need to bring the big powerful canon. My thoughts were that I wasn't going to be framing any pictures of Hockey players... I could take some pix of the kids before we left the house and then I wouldn't have to carry around the big camera. My other reasoning was that my 8 year old has taken a serious liking to photography and is constantly trying to convince me to let him take pictures - I am MUCH more comfortable with him using my older camera. So... I had decided, and I felt good about the decision, that my old, somewhat reliable Canon power shot would suffice. I packed up the 40D, hoping not to hurt it's feelings, grabbed the power shot and was out the door.

The game was so fun, so exciting and both Jason and Jackson were having so much fun taking pictures of the players - each getting really excited if they managed to capture the puck in the picture. Then, during the break between the first and second period they introduce the parents of all the players. (It was homecoming - I don't think they do this every game) Guess who we then find out is sitting just below us.....Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn. I could have died, I sat there with all my earlier thoughts running through my head..."I won't need a powerful lens or zoom, what will there really be to take pictures of?" And then, there they are with their perfect hair (seriously, Kurt Russel had AMAZING hair) and I am sitting there with my useless camera. A camera, I had just begun to hate. Why such a strong word, you may wonder? Well, it is because my old camera goes through batteries in what seems like a matter of seconds. (it didn't help that we bought some terrible batteries online because the price seemed so great) So, by the time I realized who was there, I had no camera abilities at all. I did however, have a ton a hokey shots, some even have the puck in it - if your lucky you just might find it.

Here he is....the son....the number one. It was probably a boring night for his whole family. This Mr. Russel is the back up goalie and didn't play all night! :(

So....lesson learned - never again will I leave my nice camera at home. Jason can take all the pictures he can get out of 4 double A batteries on the old one, but I, will always take the newer one. You can never know what picture you may be missing.

On a side note - the part of the evening my husband found hilarious was when in the midst of my frustration I turned to him and said, "I am SO blogging this!"

All for One and One for All!

All last month, at least 3 or 4 times a week, I would consistently hear the words, "Mom, how much longer until Halloween?" Well, after much anticipation, it finally arrived. The boys were thrilled to dress up in their Musketeer costumes and head out to gather as much candy as they could carry!

The evening began with a Truck or Treat at the church building. (Trunk or Treat= cars lined up in the church parking lot with trunks open as the owners of those cars pass out candy and visit with friends) It was supposed to start at 5 pm and due to the kids excitement, we were actually on time. The problem was that not many people were. My kids made the parking lot circle in about 6 minutes and then what? Well, cars were still pulling in...so they just kept circling!! All in all it ended up with plastic pumpkins filled to the breaking point and then they were ready to leave. Except for Tyler, who went around the circle maybe twice and then found a place in the grass to sit and eat his treasures!

This is my friends daughter as little red riding hood. I couldn't resist posting it! She is so cute!

After the Trunk or Treat, we headed home to conquer the neighborhood. Jason, Jackson and the friends we had over couldn't wait to start. But, once again, Tyler felt a little differently. Here is what he looked like as soon as we got home:
So, while Tyler slept, we went from door to door having lots of fun. That lasted for about an hour until we realized that Jason was no longer with the group. This is NOT the first time I have lost Jason on Halloween. I think too much candy does things to his brain. I wasn't too panicked this time, he's 8, he knows his address, and last time he was only 5. So, I ran back home and he was getting there at the same time I was. All was good but we decided that was enough fun for one Halloween night. We went inside where the adults had fun visiting and the candy trading between the kids began. All in all, it was a great Halloween. We still have TONS of candy if anyone needs some! :)

Cotton Belt of America

So apparently we live in the Cotton Belt. This is a phrase that even a few months ago would have meant very little to me. But not anymore. I have fallen in love with cotton! (Is this sounding too much like a fruit of the looms advertisement?) I mean, I had seen the plants, they were green, they were every where, toward the end they had little white dots on them and then suddenly, they were gorgeous. Breathtaking. I had no idea cotton looked like this. I am sad I didn't get my entire family into the field for a picture but we aren't going anywhere so there is always next year. Here it is, my newest love. Let me know what you think!

Pumpkin Patch

So, these next two posts will be a little out of order. I completely forgot about them but they are still in the Fall theme of things.

A few weeks ago Jackson had his first field trip. Tyler and I went along for the fun and brought some friends along with us. The field trip was to the local Pumpkin Patch, Tate Farms. I have been to a lot of pumpkin patches (I even remember my first field trip to one in Kindergarten!) but this one was the best by far. They had corn beds, hay mazes, tricycle pits, bunnies, and hay lofts where you could jump into piles of Hay. The kids had a blast and it was fun seeing Jack interact with all of his classroom buddies. Tyler, of course, felt like such the big kid to be included in Jackson's fun!

My only complaint for the day was that I got much better pictures of my friends children than my own. Oh well. Here were the results.

Here is Tyler with his two buddies Kayla and Luke. Kayla, Anna, Luke, Jackson, Tyler and Stephen.

These last two are of my friend's daughter Kayla but I just loved them!

Jackson with his best bud Johnathan from school.

Halloween Party Time

This year we were invited to a Neighborhood Halloween Party this year and it was a lot of fun. The first of a new annual tradition. Sean and I dressed up as a "Cardiac Arrest." He was the police man "arresting" and I was the "Heart" (a jail uniform with felt hearts pined to it. I thought it was pretty creative but I can't really take credit - you sure can find great stuff at the last minute on the Internet! We will have to start planning next years costumes soon... although knowing my tendencies for procrastination, I am sure I will leave it to the night before, once again!

The boys were dressed up as the Three Musketeers. My mom got them adorable costumes with these huge hats and swords. They were thrilled - anything involving swords, pretty much always gets a seal of approval from my boys! They were so cute they won the costume contest for "Best Boy Costume" It was a really fun night for everyone!

Pumpkin Carving

About a week ago we carved our pumpkins for Halloween. It was a lot of fun and every year it gets a little easier for mom because the kids are more and more capable of carving their own pumpkins. This year I only had to carve one!! Jason was so proud of his final creation. Jack and I worked on his together and Tyler decided to color his! It was a fun Halloween!

This last picture does a great job of showing you the wall paper I will be taking down shortly. Any advise on getting wallpaper off the wall??

Welcome to the South

A couple of weeks ago we decided to take a drive to see more of this gorgeous state we live in. With the trees starting to turn, I thought it might be a great time to get a picture for our Christmas card. I brought all the equipment but I was also realistic - if it didn't happen - OK, no big deal. It was a good thing I had that attitude. Here's the story...

We drove to this little town about 45 minutes away called Guntersville. It's adorable, you feel like you have stepped back in time. If only I hadn't had a car full of crazy, hungry boys I could have spent the day, just me and my camera and had a great time. But, that wasn't the case. (when is that EVER the case!?) Supposedly there is this great state park in Guntersville, there are signs for it everywhere but we drove and drove and drove and saw NO state park. We were frustrated, the kids were hungry....such is my life. So we went through the McDonald's drive through and pulled over at this lame boat landing. The lighting was all wrong, Jackson kept making funny faces in all my pictures, but the kids had fun feeding their cheeseburgers to the fish and throwing rocks in the water. Here were the results....(stay tuned after the photos....the best part of the story is yet to come!)

Boats were starting to come in so it was time to leave the boat dock. It was at this point that the lighting was becoming ideal and I did go to the trouble of packing up the tripod, dressing the boys in matching shirts, making Sean coordinate his shirt with mine and bringing a spray bottle with water, hair gel and combs to do the boys hair. How could I give up now? So, Sean pulled over at this Yacht club with great looking trees and a covered pavilion over looking the lake. At first look it seemed like the perfect place, there were even these great tree stumps that I could have posed the family around. We get out of the car, I open up ALL the doors to get out the kids and all the camera equipment. Then, I begin to do Jackson's hair. I think it was a this moment that I noticed the swarming bugs. No big deal, I thought, they must just be in the pavilion. Then I realized the swarming bugs, were mosquitos...yeah...mosquitos. We left the pavilion only to see a haze of bugs, no let me rephrase, a haze of mosquito's covering the entire landscape. Everywhere. We of course freaked out and frantically began swooping up everything we had just unloaded and throwing it back in the van. After we had all reached what we thought was the safety of our vehicle, we noticed the 50 or so mosquitos that had made it inside. We spent the next 10 minutes chasing down these pests with a vengeance. By the end, we were out of breath and traumatized.
I knew we were living in the South, I knew there were supposed to be massive amounts of bugs here, I just really haven't seen them in the last 4 months. I mean, the bug guy comes to spray every month and aside for the crazy ant piles in my yard, I haven't given bugs much thought. Then I come to find out that the city I live in has these trucks that drive around every month fuming the city for mosquitos. It is part of the taxes we pay - a tax I will GLADLY pay by the way! So, I guess aside from the great schools, great people and great community, I have one more reason to be grateful for where we live. It may be a while before I venture out of my safe little city again.
After all, I can still hear them now, all those mosquitos coming to feast on my family, thinking nothing more than, "Eames family, welcome to the South!"


(I stole this picture off the web, but it is a pretty accurate portrayal and helps you get the idea of how horrifying the experience was!)

Military Fun!

So most everyone who reads this knows that my husband spent just under 5 years as an officer in the Air Force. It was a great time in our lives and he is still in the AF Reserves. I love him being a reservist and I know it isn't easy for him. Essentially, he has a second job that isn't the most convenient when it comes to scheduling. We appreciate all the work he does and luckily there are benefits for us. One of those is being able to vacation on bases.Every time we do this there are things my boys just couldn't see anywhere else. When we used to frequent Camp Pendalton, it was the marines doing PT on the beach and all the hover crafts doing training exercises within view of our cabin. On this last vacation we stayed at a Navy Base. The base had this incredible Aircraft museum and ALL the boys in my family were in heaven. They had all these cockpits of jets and helicopters that you could sit in, pretending you were in the heat of the battle, I'm sure! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Sean or the boys! Here are some fun pictures from the day.