Fire in the Hole!

Dockum family - do any of you remember that saying? A cookie to anyone who can tell me where it originated.

Anywho, to the casual observer, this may look like an ordinary fireplace. But on Sunday it turned into a fireball-spitting monster. Andy turned it on for the first time, and apparently gave it a little too much gas. When he put in the match, a huge blue flame shot out, singing his hair. We've now mastered the gas controls and are enjoying many cozy nights in our living room.

Circle S Farm

The best pumpkin patch in the Columbus area, hands down. My mom and sisters were in town and we had a great time being kids again with Ben.

Donut nirvana!



A pint-sized hay maze

Fall Pastoral

Being in a more rural area, there are some beautiful fall sights I wanted to share. I love the changing colors, which are vibrant, though not as brilliant as New England. We took advantage of all the pumpkin patches and hayrides around, and enjoyed seeing the fall harvest of soybeans and corn.
This was in late September, when the leaves just started changing

A very unflattering picture, but a fun hayride with Andy, Ben, and Andy's dad

The foliage near our house

My favorite tree that I always passed to and from our house

A stream near a playground we frequent. Oh, for the days of shortsleeves!

Halloween 2007

I love carving pumpkins - it's one of my favorite fall traditions. Ben helped me gut the pumpkin and I did the carving last night while rockin' out to my iPod. Design courtesy of Pumpkin Masters. Anyone who knows me knows I could never come up with such an artsy creation by myself.

Andy helping Ben put the Thomas face back in place.

Ben is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and looked adorable in his little train costume. We had a major Halloween extravaganza, which started with a trunk-or-treat last weekend at the church. It continued today with trick-or-treating and a puppet show/sing-along at the public library, followed by trick-or-treating in a few neighborhoods. I'll let the pictures do the talking. It wasn't quite as glamorous as trick-or-treating in Boston's Beacon Hill last year and getting treats at John Kerry's house, but we're living the fabulous life Buckeye-style. :)

Halloween Flashback

If you can't tell, I'm in the middle, along with my sister and brother. We're ready for a night of trick-or-treating in small town Oregon, circa sometime in the 80s. I just want to say that I am sporting a pair of killer boots. If only I could remember wearing them...Anyway, good job Mom on picking them out. Too bad most of the rest of my childhood wardrobe wasn't quite as stellar.

What's high in the middle and round on both ends?

OHIO! Yep, we're now denizens of the Midwest, circa June 2007. Life here has treated us well so far, minus the troubling lack of sidewalks and killer summer humidity. I love driving by cornfields to get to our house and seeing fireflies at night.