A little taste of Tennessee

Here are some small ways that Tennessee has invaded our life.

This is a drink that is manufactured up in Eastern Tennessee. One of Tony's co-workers brought him some to try. It tastes like a combo of Sprite & Emergen-C. You gotta love the slogan though, especially in this time of economic uncertainty, "Enuf is Enough!".

Eli came home from school with this. I asked if it was a class assignment & he said "No, I made it up myself!" I figured they had been studying Elvis but apparently Elvis has just snuck into his subconscious here in Tennessee. Check out that hip action!

The kids were playing hide & seek with Daddy. I thought this was pretty funny. Notice the daily outerwear. It's been hovering around 45 during the days & 20-30 at night. Brrr!

These are some big pillows I made for a friend. It was my first attempt at making & sewing on piping. I was encouraged by the results & may even attempt to make some new floor pillows for our home now! Even though I am no longer employed sewing at a shop I seem to have plenty of various sewing projects from friends & am able to make $10 here & $20 there. Enough that I don't feel like a "kept" woman. :)

Rollerskating part 2

We had a chance to go rollerskating again after church with a free coupon from Eli's school. Whee! This time Tony got in on the action. We tried to figure out how long it had been since he had last worn skates & came up with junior high at the latest (a long, long time ago). He didn't do too bad considering he was the supporting player for both kids most of the evening.

Adrienne found a friend who helped her skate & gave her encouragement.

Balloon Fun

Beware the dreaded balloon monster!
We finally took down the balloons that the kids had decorated the stairs with & of course they had to play with them.

A little balloon tug of war.

Rollerskating & other odds & ends

Our little tree.


One of the fun things the kids got to do with Nana before she left was to go rollerskating for the first time. It was a noisy night with the kids from Eli's school filling the roller rink.

Nana helping Eli with his laces.


Once we got everyone laced up they were not quite sure what to do.



So....we started out on the carpet.



Adrienne divided her time between the carpet & the bounce house they had for younger children. She did very well on the carpet though & now wants her own skates.



Eli got brave enough to go out on the floor. I helped him quite a bit at first but he soon got the hang of keeping his balance on the slick floor.

We're not ready to go out & race anyone yet but it's highly likely that we'll go to the next skate night his school offers.

Here's Nana with Mike B. Our soon to be too famous for us friend!

Frost on the leaves in the morning just starting to melt.

Amish Country

Adrienne & Nana & I traveled down to Lawrence County with some friends that used to live in the area to see the Mennonite community. Most of these photos were taken from the hip, literally, as the "Plain Folk" do not approve of picture taking. We were blessed to have beautiful weather & everyone seemed to be out enjoying it, especially the children. At times they were literally shielded from view by their Mothers so we could not see them. Once we started talking to the women however, they opened up & our children would peek at each other from around whatever they happened to be hiding behind...a door, a window, me, the van. I tried speaking to the little ones but they remained silent. They did give us big smiles & waves however & I wished I could have taken all their photos they were so sweet looking.

Two little ones.

A community building.


Adrienne & Trapper in a store with Amish handcrafts.


Building a new house & putting up the chimney.


Two women & one small girl in a covered buggy.


The open air buggy.


Going for a wagon ride.


A family car.


Hitching up the horse.


Taking a cow for a ride in the cattle buggy.


This is a deluxe buggy with an extra row of seats in the back. This family has money.


The houses are white & the workshops are red. We "English" only got to go into the red buildings.


The kids were fascinated with the peacocks & the albino bunnies they had at this home.


What a beautiful view of the pasture & the hills with the autumn colors.

Laundry day.



This man sold us some soap & candles. We found out that his oldest son is getting married this month. He said, "My son decided it was time for him to get married. He just had his birthday & turned 21 on October 30th." I asked if the girl was from around here & found out she was from the other side of the highway which is considered far away by buggy.

Frisbee

The weather was so nice on Sunday that we decided to go to the park. As an added bonus Daddy was still home & Nana was here for a visit. We all decided to go out & play frisbee. (& yes I did put down the camera to toss it a few times myself.)


Adrienne in action!


Eli hamming it up for the camera.


Nana being athletic. She said that any "athletic" photos of her had to go on the blog as proof!


Eli would toss to Daddy & if he missed Adrienne was his fetcher & then she would throw it back to Daddy.


He caught this one with his knee!


Adrienne was hanging upside down on the bars & her poncho fell right over her face. It was so funny when she landed right side up & had this beautiful "poncho hair".