Well, while the rest of the world is watching the debate, happening right here in Music City, I am going to plop down in front of the computer and try to recap the last hectic few weeks. I have been busier than usual the past month, which partially accounts for my blog-neglect. The other excuse is that my camera was missing for a few weeks...finally found it last week...in a cooler....long story....don't ask. Good news is, it's still functioning, so I have a few pictures to add to our September update, although not as many as I would like since I had no camera to take pictures with for a while!!
September started off with the wedding of our cousin Alex Hartsell and his lovely bride, Lindsey Yeater. It was at the historic Hermitage mansion, home of president Andrew Jackson and was so beautiful, despite the rainy weather! Mary Rose and Sophie were flower girls and my nephews, Eli and Cooper were the most adorable "ring bears." We had lots of family in town for the event and had a fun weekend.
Jacob had his 13th birthday on September 27th and celebrated with about a dozen of his friends. They played football and basketball and stuffed themselves with cake and icecream for 3 or 4 hours, then all went home and crashed. At least that's what we did afterwards! Whew! There's nothing like a bunch of adolescent boys hyped up on sugar and testosterone!! It was a blast, though and Jacob said it was his best party ever! CANNOT believe that we have a teenager! We can't be that old!
Jacob finished up football season last week and had basketball tryouts yesterday and today. They just posted the list at the end of the school day today, and he made the middle school team, so here we go with basketball season! It is his favorite sport (and mine, too) so we are all really excited that he made the team, even though it will add another aspect to our crazy schedule. Practice is every morning at 6:15 am!!! My wonderful husband is coming up to bat for those early morning practices, though. I just cannot function properly at 5:30 in the morning. It is just not natural....really, it's not. If it is dark outside, it is obviously not time to be up yet. Before electricity was invented, you literally COULD NOT function that early in the morning because there were no lights and you would have to go shuffling around in the dark to light candles, burning your sleepy fingers and walking into walls in the process. I rest my case. Our Creator obviously meant for "dark" time to be "sleeping" time. Now, for you nay-sayers who want to quote the "worthy woman's" attributes in Proverbs 31...."She rises while it is still dark...." I'm not quite sure how that passage fits into my theory, but I am working on an explanation and I will get with you later. BUT, I digress....
We also celebrated the birthday of a dear friend of ours, Mrs. Nellie Mayes, who turned 95 in September! All the kids from church helped contribute artwork for a big wall art project I assembled (stole the idea from Family Fun - I love that magazine!) and we gave it to her at her birthday lunch at Cracker Barrel, her favorite restaurant. Then we hung it on the wall of her room at the retirement home. I think it turned out so cute and it really brightens up her room! She is a special lady and we love her a lot! I hope I am half as spunky as she is when I turn 95!
Last weekend, we had a neighborhood garage sale, which was kind of a bust. Not much traffic, not much buying, oh well! Somebody told us that there were 230 garage sales listed in the paper that weekend, so I think we just had too much competition. At least we got rid of a bunch of stuff! Everything that was left over (which was a LOT) we loaded up and took to GoodWill. Kevin got sentimental, if you can believe it, over the old floor-model TV that he grew up with that we finally carted off. It had been upstairs in the kids bonus room until the picture finally started getting a little wavier than was healthy for the eyeballs, so we sadly (NOT) parted with it. Cel-e-brate good times, c'mon!! Sing with me now! Alas, my joy was Kevin's pain....he actually had to
take a picture of the thing at the last minute before the GoodWill guys hauled it away!!
Behold, the bringer of "Brady Bunch" and other cheesy classics (is that an oxymoron?) that the Stinson gang grew up on....isn't she a beaut!!
We are finally starting to feel a noticeable chill in the air here in Nashville, so it's started to feel like fall! Hooray! Hopefully I will get to an October update before November gets here!
This year we had a cowgirl, Darth Vader, a nerd, and a GIRL pirate roaming the streets....
My nephews, Eli & Cooper, made the cutest Peter Pan & Captain Hook you'll ever see! 
And Silas was a very sweet Ninja (is there such a thing?)
