More painting!

Yes I'm painting . . . again! Here's why:

The picture just doesn't do it justice! (click on it to see it larger!) That wretched flat paint! There's no washing it.

The fact that our living room, dining room, entry way and kitchen are all one big room makes choosing paint a difficult thing to do. I wasn't ready to paint the entire living room yet, so I decided to do the entry way and hallway in a sage green.


The girls asked if they could help (and were shocked when I actually said yes!) They each painted a little rectangle and thought it was fabulous!


The finished product:

Hayride

And now onto part 2 of our Saturday!

We went to the RBC Annual hayride and Bonfire. Jason was speaking, so the Alligoods were there as well. We all had a great time!


Shooting the water balloons was a big hit. Of course, Julie needed Daddy's help.
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Ali's turn! (Emma got a turn as well, but I missed it!)
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Uncle Joel was in town for the weekend and Meg especially loved that! "Yeah . . . someone else to push me on the swing!"
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Little Monkey Julie
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Face painting was another big favorite with all of the girls. I think that by the end of the night, each of them had something painted on their face, plus on each hand. I was shocked at how still Julie was during her painting.
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Meg getting her kitty "whispers"
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"Meow!" Julie really developed her feline persona. We listened to kitty noises from her all evening (and even the next morning)
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Cute!
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All the girls . . . kitty whiskers on everyone, except for Ali, who chose a mouse.
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Ali was excited about her mouse (That's what she wants to be for Halloween!)
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Meg's turn to show off for the camera
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. . . and Emma
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Uncle Joel with the Littles. Aren't they cute!? At least one of the kids is looking at the camera.
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Ali wants so badly to be flipped and spun like the other kids . . . She's just getting kind of big for it. Joel gave it his best . . . and got quite a workout in the process!
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Oh Emma . . . What can I say? The relationship b/w Emma and Uncle Joel is rather complicated. Joel loves to pick on her, chase her, flip her around, etc . . . Emma protests and complains and acts like she doesn't like it. Yet she would be crushed if he stopped trying. I'm hoping that one of these days she'll just loosen up and enjoy herself! : )
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While Emma was getting "picked on" the other kids were looking on with envy . . . they all wanted a part of the action . . . and they got it. It was funny to listen to them all, Pattons an Alligoods alike (with the exception of Emma, of course), yelling "Uncle Joel! Uncle Joel!"
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Jonah enjoying his turn!
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Aubrey was looking on longingly, but was afraid to ask for a turn. She got it!
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Meg was the one who just couldn't get enough! It's a miracle that she didn't barf up her hot dog!
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I love this one!

Spelunking Adventure . . .

Okay . . . I don't know if you can really call it spelunking when you are walking on a path for a guided tour of a cave, but you get the idea.

This past week in science we studied caves. We had talked about going to Meremac Caverns for a family field trip, then we discovered that is would cost $51 for our family to get in! Yikes! So I decided to research other caves in the area and I found the Fisher Cave in Meremac State Park. It has no claim to Jesse James, but it is definitely less touristy and cost us only $20. (It's actually only 4 miles past Meremac Caverns) Sounds like a plan to me!
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We originally planned to do some hiking first, then tour the cave, but we didn't get there early enough. Our cave tour lasted 1 1/2 hours and was very cool. Afterwards we had to head back home for some rest before the bonfire and hayride at RBC tonight.
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The cave was totally awesome! I couldn't help but to stand in awe of my Creator. There were times when we felt like we were walking through a forest of stalactites, stalagmites and columns. There were times when we had to walk, bent in half, for a long enough distance that I was feeling it in my legs. At the midpoint in the tour they turned off all of the lanterns so we could experience total darkness. It's amazing how that messes with your eyes. They kept trying to find something to focus on, without any luck. But how often do you really experience total darkness? The kids thought it was really cool. I wondered if Meg and Julie would have a hard time with it, but we prepared them and they did fine. Julie kept whispering in my ear, telling me it was dark. Then she started singing "Jesus loves me." I don't know if she was trying to comfort herself, or if it was just random, but it was darn cute!
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As you can imagine, I took tons of pictures. Here are a few . . .

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Here the water has flowed over this stone and created little pools of water - some the size of a bathtub.
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I love this picture!
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Here you can see where the water eroded the stone.
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A massive column in a room that had to be 3 stories high. The picture just doesn't do it justice!
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Flowstone. The white is fresh calcite.
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Okay . . . so, taking pictures of people is difficult to do in a dark cave. In most of my pictures, my flash illuminated my family, but it just looked like they were standing alone in the dark. I had to think strategically to get a picture where I could see the people and the cave formations. Of course, I couldn't see much in my viewfinder, so I had no idea that Meg's back was to me.
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And finally, everyone is looking, etc . . . But this one was actually taken outside of the cave : )
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Overall it was an experience that I would definitely recommend!

Strange Little Girl

Yes, this is my 2 yr old "reading" the dictionary. What can I say? She's a genius!


. . . and darn cute!

I Couldn't Resist

Right now Ali is making sandwiches for lunch. Emma is setting the table. I am down at the computer, and I was greated by this pathetic face and a seriously over-dramatic cry. "Emma won't give me the pinkish-purplish plate!" Oh Meg!

So, what did I do? I grabbed my camera (that happened to be sitting right next to me), snapped a picture and told her to deal with it! : )

Apples!

Apple picking is one of my favorite outings of the year. It's a Patton-Alligood tradition, and makes for tons of great pictures! We had excellent weather this year. What a treat!

Someone was kind enough to offer to take a group picture for us! The last time we had one of these taken was literally years ago . . . we each had only 2 children!
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Family picture! It has also been ages since we've had one of these taken!
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Our four girlies. I took about 30 pics of the four of them and didn't get a single one where they are all looking! Go figure!
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Alligood fam . . . Aren't they cute! (What an awesome photographer they have!)
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Our 4 big kids. This a photo that we have taken every year since we started apple picking together. It's so fun to look back at the old ones!
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What a crew! This is the first apple picking picture that we have with all 7 of them. Last year there was no apple picking (due to a late frost) The year before that Julie was a brand new baby and spent the entire trip in her car seat!
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Jonah and Ali. This is another one that we've been taking for ages! Aren't they sweet!? We'll have to display this one at their wedding (Shhh . . . they don't know that we're planning it already!)
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This is one of my favorites of the whole trip. Karis is seriously photogenic, but Emma . . . not so much. So a rare shot of both of them relaxed and smiling . . . it's quite a treat!
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The littles in their first group shot! The other kids have always been paired up, but these girls are a threesome . . . and an adorable one at that!
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Ali reaching for an apple.
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Emma getting an apple (there weren't a whole lot of these shots b/c the lower branched were pretty picked over. Basically, the daddies picked the apples while the mommies took the pictures, but the kids did manage to get a few.)
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Meg managing to get an apple, with Daddy's help. (She was afraid to let go of Aaron's head to reach for that apple!)
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And finally, Julie got an apple too!