RF completed his first "homework" assignment - answering questions about his family. He even signed his name at the bottom. :-)
RF working on his second homework assignment - answer questions about himself. He was deep in thought as he contemplated his answers. And Ellis decided to help him, too.
Getting to work on coloring his homework...
Ellis working on his "homework", too...
So proud of his work!
Venturing out to a local donut place early one Saturday morning...
The boys made their selections pretty quickly...
Nutella donuts, Reese's donuts, and maple bacon donuts...
Red velvet donuts...
Fruity pebble donuts, cookies and cream donuts, and strawberries and cream donuts...
Yummy!
Ellis was ready to DIVE IN to his donut!
Happy as can be!
"This place is delicious, mama!"
Big gulp of milk to wash down all of that sugary goodness...
Being silly with daddy's hat...
We made it 11 school days before someone managed to need to stay home because he wasn't feeling well. A trip to the dr. found double ear infections for our little boy.
Llama Llama was read a whole bunch during our day at home...
And so was How Dinosaurs Say Happy Birthday...
And so was Clifford The Big Red Dog...
Evening snuggles with daddy while watching a John Wayne movie...
A little art time for the sick boy...
And Chick-Fil-A for lunch along with a new DVD while he recovered...
RF read the train book to his brother before enjoying a little cartoon time together...
I think he's feeling better. Stinker decided to make a big ol' mess in his bathroom sink...I knew he was a little too quiet.
Since Mr. Ellis was feeling a little better we decided to make a day trip down to Perry to see Nana as she was recovering from foot surgery. Seeing his Nana and Babu perked this little guy right up...so did the chicken biscuit that he devoured.
Huge spider in Nana's backyard...
Lunch time in his favorite spot - in the baby high chair in front of the fish tank...
I put up 40+ bags of peas for Mrs. Margie...
Being silly with Babu's headset...
Nana always has ice cream ready for her boys...
This green jeep hasn't worked in years, but these two boys play on it everytime they go to Nana's...they use their imagination and tell us stories about how they are driving through town picking up all of the recycling...
Within 10 minutes of being in the car on the way home to Covington, this little man was snoring...
Monday, August 21 we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to see the solar eclipse in the 100% totality area...Packed in and ready to go see the eclipse...
Waiting in line to board the shuttle bus to the viewing site...these two are entertained with simple stuff - in this case, rocks.
This kid thought he was too cool for school as he got to ride the shuttle bus...
"You have to buckle up, mama. Safety first."
Ellis thought it was cool, too (but apparently wasn't ready for the photo)...
Wanting to sit in his daddy's lap - he was a little hesitant...
Once we got going, he was good. Taking some time to enjoy the scenery of the north GA mountains...
We brought a blanket and packed a picnic lunch. Enjoying a bite to eat once we arrived at the viewing site...
We brought a few trucks and RF spent quite a bit of time playing with them as we relaxed waiting on the eclipse...
Beautiful blue skies...
Playing with his truck...happy as can be...
My people...
We moved our blanket to be under a big oak tree and RF found a bunch of sticks so we started playing with them - making the letter H...
Then F...
Then R...
Then E...
Then they decided it was winter and cold outside, so they needed to use the sticks to build us a fire...
Then they decided it was beat up on daddy time...
They love to climb and wrestle with their daddy...
They gang up on him...
Then they decided to use the sticks to build a road for their trucks...
Free, simple, natural entertainment...
Looking all cute in his eclipse glasses...
He's been learning about angles, so he decided to put an angle in his road...
Time to start looking at the eclipse...
This one needed a little help with his glasses...
A couple set up telescopes close to our blanket, so we were able to stop by and see the process as the eclipse happened...
More beat up on daddy time...
Can you see the little sliver right in the center of the photo? This was about 98% eclipsed and it was still light out. Seriously - 98% of the sun was covered by the moon and the sun was still powerful enough to provide enough light for us to see clearly...
Almost time for totality and definitely time for our first mini-meltdown...
This one, too...
TOTALITY! It was amazing. All of a sudden it went from being 2:30 brightness of the afternoon to 9:00pm darkness - the tree frogs started croaking, the cicadas started chirping, and you could see stars and planets. It was seriously amazing. In the span of a minute and a half, it was over and bright again.
The rest of the afternoon was a bit more taxing than the morning. As soon as the eclipse was over, people started lining up to get back on the shuttle bus to head back to where we parked our cars. There were so many people at this viewing event and local traffic wasn't re-routed, so we had to wait in a line from 3:00 until 6:25pm to board the bus back to our car. It was so stressful. Luckily, E slept on my chest for quite some time and RF played with his trucks. I had fortunately packed a few special treats in case I needed to bribe the kids, but once the snacks and water started to run low, it was a bit more volatile of a situation. The event brought around free waters and RA stood in line (in the sun) for us so that the boys and I could sit in the shade.
Resting while waiting on the bus...
Wrestling...
We boarded the shuttle bus at 6:25 and arrived at our car at 7:15 - 50 minutes to travel 6 miles. The boys really were troopers throughout the afternoon. Once in our car, we still had a three hour drive home. We got caught in quite a bit of stop and go traffic, so RA used GPS (on our close to dead phones) to navigate us through the back roads of GA to get home and avoid as much of the traffic as possible. We stopped for a quick bite to eat. The boys both scarfed down their hamburger and chicken nuggets before falling asleep and staying asleep through the rest of the trip home. When we got home and moved them from the car to their beds, they didn't wake up at all. They were ZONKED.
RF playing dr. After a rough night of Ellis crying that his ear was hurting, we ran him by the pediatrician to be sure his ear infection was gone. It was, but seemed to have some sinus drainage and pressure that was causing his ear to hurt again. Glad to know it wasn't another ear infection.
All smiles at the dr. (He was NOT all smiles the night before...)
Lazy Sundays watching John Wayne movies with daddy...
RA found a video on YouTube of beagles acting silly - RF thought it was hilarious!
Hot afternoon "fishing"...
Monarch butterflies enjoying the zinnias...
Country boy - shirtless, GA hat, and Kool Aid mustache...
While we were in Maine, I saw a bird house made out an old lobster bouy, but wasn't willing to pay the $60 for it. When we got home, RA found a Maine lobster bouy online and made me a birdhouse. He's so handy...
We stopped by one afternoon to see RA at work (and the judge, too - RF is kind of obsessed with the judge) and the boys got to watch the construction on the judicial building from daddy's office...
Some mommy and Ellis time...
RA made another trip to VA to our favorite auction house to pick up our newest piece of furniture an early 19th century bench with built in storage. It will grace our front foyer once we get a few other project pieces out of the way. So, sometime next year it might be in its place...
This kid loves bananas...
First spider lily of the season - fall is coming!
Art work from E and RF to their grandparents in honor of Grandparents Day...
E and I ran some errands on Saturday. His cute face makes me smile...
RF thought this heart shaped potato was really cool and was kind of upset when I cut it up for dinner...
Closet cleaned out and ready to under go a renovation...
Doors off and coat of paint to match the living room...
RF helping me with the new flooring...
Finished! Still have a few touches to complete, but so much more functional than before...
So much nicer...
Announcement that school was closed Monday and Tuesday ahead of Hurricane Irma...
Ellis entertaining himself with his marbles...
And his matching cards while being protected by Gus...
I spent some time putting up our fall décor, too...
We opened the windows a bit to bring in a breeze before the wind picked up too much...
And we picked some of the zinnias before the winds blew them off...
Some family reading time...
And a few décor projects...old picture frame that I painted to hang above the mantle to hang some pictures and art from the boys...
Boys helped me do some painting, too...
Too rainy and windy to go outside so we built forts, watched movies, and RF painted me a new painting...
The dogs did a good job protecting us during the storm...
We're spending today getting the house back order from being stuck inside for two days.
We've got a few fun trips planned for fall and lots of fun with a birthday party for RF, a trip to the mountains, and even a trip to the beach for Thanksgiving week!
