Our Boys...

Max got a new game for his birthday. Uncle Tom set it up and taught them how to play.

Max, Tom, Nick, and Ethan

One of My Favorite Places on Earth

I got to go to the NU-ISU game today.

I spent the first half sitting with Max:
And the second half with Ethan:

Nothing is quite the same as the first look at the field after you walk up from under the stands into the light of day. Everything is brighter and just more RED. :)

After the last second ticked off the clock:
A win, BTW, 35-17, but the experience of a Husker game is about so much more than the scoreboard.
Until the next game:

Fall Harbinger

Gorgeous milkweed pod, with bugs...

And hot air balloons! In Topeka!

Self Embelishment 2-Year-Old Style

Apparently Jacque got a hold of some little stickers...

She also spent some time working with this tree as a pell... :) Wonder where she got that idea?
(Wolf is on the other side doing slow work.)

Green Canopy

Not quite fall yet. This is a different perspective on my back yard. (From my back on the ground.)

The Colors of the World...

... are changing, day by day... (10 points for the song ref)

This is the mango ice cream from The Globe Indian restaurant here in Topeka. It's gorgeous (*and* yummy).

And this is a "cleome" according to Hank. By my reckoning, it's a Dr. Seuss character... ;-)

Obsessions...

In the last week or so, I watched Season 1 of Heroes in its entirety to prepare for tonight's season premier. I have very few TV shows that I watch at all, let alone regularly (one of my "rules" is that I should never choose to stay home to watch a show instead of going out to spend time with people), but this one has broken many rules for me.

And Jac really wanted a BUNCH of barrettes tonight...

My Charlotte...

Though I haven't heard her say, "Salutations!" and her web hasn't declared me "Terrific," this is my barn spider (Araneus cavaticus). I call her "Aranea." :) She sets up her web every night in my mimosa tree, then sits calmly in the center of it waiting for dinner.

Here are a couple of uncropped ones that almost show her web (if you blow them up to full size and squint a little):

Ever since we convinced her that the porch really wasn't the best place for a web (by walking through it a couple of times--bleh), we've gotten along really well. Sometimes I leave the porch light on for her to draw a few extra bugs. ;-)

In case you needed proof that there was something not-so-nice going on at Wal*Mart:

And a sunset photo (taken at a stoplight) to round out the weekend:

Our Tinkerbell

Jacque models her Halloween costume.

I didn't notice the "threes" that she had going here until I saw the picture. I have no idea what that's about.

This one is deceptively angelic:
And this one almost captures some of her joy as she says, "I'm Tinkerbell! " ;-) (Note the glitter... :) )

If you get up really early in the morning, the sky looks like this:

I was shocked.

Can't Believe They Grow This on Purpose

These are the "landscape plants" around the glorified Morton building that I work in.

Blowing in the morning sun.

I guess they are sorta pretty.

Sad Jac

I can't get it, Jenn...

Plus: Kyle teaches Shrek and a Cabbage Patch Kid to make a sword:

Fall Is Coming

My mimosa tree is starting to turn yellow...

Becoming a Wino

Here is just part of the stash that I bought at the Slough Creek Vineyard on Saturday. I am not a wine drinker, and I liked their whites (and of course their pyment [a word I knew and could discuss with the guy a little because of you, Spike]). This could be either a recommendation or a condemnation, depending on your point of view. :) Their mead was OK (I have been forever spoiled on mead). He let us taste some of their young stuff (he was testing it while we were there). It tasted . . . young. ;-)

But, this was a photo project so, I started taking pictures through the pretty bottles:

But Lex wouldn't leave me alone:

So it became about her . . . which, of course, she hated. :)