FarmFresh

Just One More Candle and A Trip Around the Sun

My old (I do not mean he is old in years. I mean from a while back when I was but an all-knowing and smart-mouthed youth. The "olden days," so to speak.) youth pastor posted this on my Facebook wall this morning. Thanks Rick!

5 years

 

An anniversary of sorts. A collection - snippets from the life of Jon+Kelly+Payne+Jackson. Five years of photos and anecdotes and brief commentary.

Thanks for reading. Hope you keep coming back for more of the bits and pieces.

Travel back to the first post to see where it all started. The boys were 8 and 4. 4!!!! I now have a teenager. A teenager!

There has been nothing outstanding. No earth-shattering posts, no life-changing words. Just a record of us. For us.

Baseball and hunting and family and homemaking and traveling and football and braces and the life of boys. Lots about the life of boys. And we can't forget the farm, either.

Amazing set of days strung together to create our life.

Welcome, November!

And so November falls in line, sneaking in after the way-too-hot when the rest of America cools off October and the blur of activities, parties, shopping, traveling, and cooking that is December. It's the month of birthdays: Kay-Kay, me, Jon, Scott, Aunt Susan, Amanda.....just to name a few.

Today is Kay-Kay's. I am lucky to have such a wonderful mother-in-law.

My parents were here the past few days to watch Payne play and go to the A&M football game. I always love having them here.

The Big Picture's Autumn Scenes

An Amish farmer and three children bring in a cart full of harvested corn stalks at a farm in Middlefield, Ohio on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) #

 

Since it is a scorching, summer-hot day today, I thought I would seek a little relief. Love The Big Picture. Especially enjoying the pictures of fall, since it. is. never. coming. to. South. Texas.

 

Misty fields and patches of autumn-colred forest are seen in this view near Presque Isle, Maine on September 25, 2009. (Dina Rudick/Globe Staff) #

#2 In Your Program

Excuse me. Being the mother of a junior high football player has taken over my life. It's homecoming, and there are decorations to attend to, floats to prepare, snacks to gather, etc, etc, etc.

Be back shortly. In the meantime, have a great weekend.

October

Well, hello there, October. You have quickly and quietly snuck up on me.

You see, the rest of America is starting to cool off. Fall is pushing past Summer's boundry.

Not here in South Texas.

Here Summer continues to wrap herself around Fall, unyielding, and won't let go.

You may have your crisper morning, your cool evenings, your seasonal color shift of flora. Enjoy your cider, your steamy oatmeal, your heavier sweaters, and your boots.

I still have shorts, sandals, and humidity.

I bet some of you would trade me in the winter though. :)

Rhythm-Less

We are still around. Still shuttling kids, attending 232 football games a week, dodging rain showers (a very, very, very good thing to have to do!), fixing snacks, feeding pigs, and folding laundry.

The usual busy-ness.

I have not settled into the rhythm and pace of this school year yet. I pulled back from my millions of my more intensive volunteer positions, yet still can't find the groove of working through each week. No more Junior League, no more PTO president. Should be home-free.

Not yet.

I'll get there. It's just taking a bit longer than I thought.

It is fall, it is September, and it is raining. And that makes me happy. For today, that is enough.

Do You Remember?

Ah, music. Snappy little tune for this first day of September.

And yes, I am already tired of hearing about cool weather, seasonal wardrobe changes, boot-wearing, and the like. It will be summer in South Texas for 3 more months, thank you.

The Sound of Silence

First day of school! We have one starting 7th and one starting 4th today.

I am off to check my camera settings. Focus is off big-time.

Lucky 13

If you were to ask me, and I beg that you don't, I would tell you that there is no way I am ready to have a teenager.

Yet I have one will have one today. Tonight, just before the clock strikes midnight. He saw fit to not delay a couple of minutes longer, and in doing so, shares the auspicious day of his birth with none other than Fidel Castro. And Don Ho.

I never imagined the impact that little sheep-headed blob would have.

He's brimming with self-confidence, loves to try anything, and never turns down an opportunity to "go," "do," or "see." He thrives on competition. Thrives.

He thinks he's all that, plus a bag of chips, yet is a humble guy.

School is easy for this one, and though he won't verbalize it, he still enjoys it.

I adore his sense of humor, am thrilled that he is as enthusiastic a reader as I, and enjoy being around him. Now that we are 10 + 3, the enjoying  being around him part? Yeah, it could change. Any moment now.

He's the kid who was sent out of the classroom this spring for talking and laughing with his buddy. The gist of the conversation? Underarm hair. A lone, singular underarm hair. A conversation that rings of SpongeBob and Patrick. He has no shame.

No, really. He has no shame.

He is tough. Physically AND emotionally tough. We joke that he has no feelings. Not entirely true. But things just don't bother him. He's so laid-back and easy-going. He hides that fore-mentioned competiveness pretty well.

He's eating more and more and sleeping later and later. Couldn't stop the impending teen years if I tried. *Sigh* No longer does he need the mama watching over him, quick with protection, a literal, physical shield. Now I start moving to the periphery and out of the center of his universe.

Happy 13th, Payne-o.

*Mikey P trivia: his baseball number for All-Stars? 13.