We just got back from a very quick trip to Nantahala, N.C., to visit Shelley and her family, who were spending a week with Shelley's extended family in the mountains. They graciously allowed us to cram into the cabin with them and add to the chaos.
We took the kids on a hike yesterday in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Josh walked Zoe, the Cullums' lab, and amazingly there was no complaining this time. I'm afraid we're going to have to get our own dog soon!
Molly, Josh and Alex before the hike
Josh, who loves to be in charge, became sort of a nature guide on our hike, stopping to loudly point out things like "green leaves" and a "big rock." Maggie was very tolerant of his continuous stream of pointing out the obvious, only occasionally turning around to roll her eyes. 
We had a picnic after our hike, and then our outing abruptly ended when Josh walked over to the creek to throw some rocks and fell in. The next thing I knew, he was walking around in his underwear and shirt. We quickly loaded the cars up and left!
We had a major first at the cabin when Josh and Molly decided they wanted to sleep on the same pull-out couch. It was cute when they fell asleep curled up together, but unfortunately that happened hours after we turned out the lights and it meant they were right there to wake each other up at 6:15 the next morning.
Unfortunately our camera could only be in one place at a time this weekend, so we don't have all of the excitement captured on film. Chris took the camera on the camping trip with his and Josh's Y-Guides (the YMCA version of Cub Scouts) tribe in South Carolina. They spent Saturday horseback riding, shooting bb guns, practicing archery and making arts and crafts, among other things.
Chris called early Sunday morning and said they were getting ready to leave, even though the camp was open for a few more hours. Apparently the dad who received the campwide "Snoring Bear" award was in their cabin, and neither of them got any sleep. Josh took a nap on Sunday afternoon for the first time in more than a year.
Meanwhile, back in Charlotte, I hosted a huge yardsale at our house to raise money for some friends who are adopting two children from Ghana. I wish I had photographic evidence of the huge amount of stuff on my front lawn and driveway. People from our church dropped off truckloads of donations, and we had people shopping until 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Molly seemed intimidated by all of the stuff and people in our yard, so she parked in front of the TV for about six hours. A friend and I switched off checking on her and replenishing her cookie supply. I figured I'm allowed one morning of bad parenting every once in awhile!
The good news is we raised about $1,200 for our friends and Goodwill got a huge donation of unsold stuff when it was all over.
We had to scrap the family costume this year because the only costume Josh would wear was a black dog, we think because he really likes our neighbor's black dog. Unfortunately black dog costumes aren't interesting enough to make it into today's Halloween stores, so I had to make his ears and tail. I'm nominating myself for Mother of the Year for dragging out my sewing machine (which hasn't seen the light of day in years), reading the entire manual to relearn how to use it, making a pattern for ears, cap and tail and then actually making it in time. Thankfully Josh wore the cap with the ears for the whole party--I would have been really mad otherwise!
Molly went as Emily Elizabeth from Clifford, and Josh refused to even consider being Clifford. Chris and I raided our closets and dressed as hikers. Not too creative.
I had to blow out Molly's hair with a hair dryer to get the Emily Elizabeth hair puff. Unfortunately it didn't last long once it started raining.
The kids enjoyed the annual hayride, which involves riding up and down the street in a trailer pulled by a lawn mower.
I tried to get a picture of Josh with Gracie, the black lab that we think inspired his costume, but Gracie had had enough of people for the day and was not interested in posing for a picture. We took a picture with Gracie's co-dog, Remy, instead.
We made a pinata for the neighborhood party this year, and it took all week to paper mache, paint and put tissue paper on the thing. It lasted about five minutes at the party.
Here's the mob of kids rushing the felled pinata:
It started raining at the end of the party, so Josh and Chris went home to hand out candy and Molly and I trick or treated with a big umbrella. It was Molly's first time trick or treating, and she had a hard time leaving with just one piece of candy. One of the kids at the party came up and told me that Molly was stealing everyone's candy--I'm not surprised!
A lot happened today, but here's the most important: We took the kids to our next-door neighbor's wedding (she actually invited them), and at dinner Chris told Josh to "sit proper." Josh yelled out "ly," as in Chris should have said, "Sit properly." Josh was right.
A glimmer of hope that my genes have somehow influenced one of my children! I was so proud.We also talked a lot with Josh this evening about marriage, as he thought Laura was marrying the church at first, then he wanted to know if he, I, Molly and Chris would all marry the church. I told him that Chris and I were already married to each other, and one day he would marry someone else. He fired back, "Are you going to have another kid then?" I told him not to worry--he would not easily be replaced, especially when I'm in my 50s or 60s. Yikes.
Here are some pictures from the wedding, which the kids enjoyed other than the realization that they're really going to miss our neighbor.
This is why we are bringing the portable DVD player and setting it up under the table at the next wedding the kids attend. This was less than a minute after we arrived at our table. 
We waited a loooong time for them to cut the cake, and in the meantime Molly pondered the brownie we had brought for Josh.
Still waiting. . .
Josh was really into taking pictures tonight with the disposable camera on the table. When the cake cutting actually happened, Josh surprised us all and bolted over to the cake and snapped some pictures. I was standing to the side laughing at his boldness; I'm not sure if the other guests were amused. Maybe there's some photojournalism running in his blood too.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year at the Marriott hotel in Panama City Beach, where one of our cousins hosts Thanksgiving lunch.
She's in the DVD-watching zone; no time to smile
It's not hard to guess what happens next
Thankfully I had the forethought to anticipate such an event as one of my kids falling into the pond, and I had a clean clothes and shoes in my bag. Molly quickly got over her trauma, although we provided plenty of entertainment for the diners at the Marriott.
Before we left for the beach, we took a family picture with my grandmother at her farm. Granny turned 91 this month!
