Ramalama Bang Bang. 304/365

We've had this planned since last winter - characters from our favorite routine from So You Think You Can Dance coreographed by Wade Robson.

Graveyard at Night. 303/365

We planned to have some good Halloween fun by playing flashlight tag in the graveyard, but decided not to since it would be hard to avoid stepping where people are buried. Instead, we explored the cemetery and found some headstones more than 100 years old.

M.J. 302/365

It's spirit week at the high school because of homecoming this weekend. Today's theme was "tribute to Michael Jackson". I thought Jordan pulled together a great outfit.

Fairy Circle. 301/365

This is one of the many mushrooms in our Fairy Circle that appeared after last night's rain.

Jack. 300/365

Better late than never. The girls carved their pumpkins. Mine is still waiting for a face.

Teeter-totter. 299/365

I almost drove off the road when I saw this. I haven't seen a teeter-totter in many, many years. Yeah, this is a safer version. We no longer have to worry about the kids getting smacked in the chin with the wooden seat or dropped to the ground when a friend gets off the other end. It's still fun!

Autumn Beauty. 298/365

Amazing color everywhere I look.

More Fujis. 297/365

We ran out yesterday and the girls insisted on going back up to Carter Mountain Apple Orchard today to pick more Fuji apples. We had a totally different experience this time on the mountain. Pouring rain and turn-your-umbrella-inside-out wind made this trip one to remember! It was fun, though. This picture was snapped during a lull in the rain and despite using umbrellas, we all looked like drown rats.

H1N1. 296/365

We waited in line at the Henrico County Health Department for two and a half hours to get Jordan a vaccine. She falls in the high-risk category because of her allergies, asthma, and diabetes. As we're walking to the back of the line I realize most of the people in line are there to vaccinate young children so I had Pete pull Maddie from school so she could be vaccinated, too. The county was going to vaccinate all students starting next week, but because of the shortage, that's been delayed. I am very thankful to Jordan's school for phoning regarding the delay and letting parents know to call the health department if they have a high-risk child. I am very fortunate to have both of my children vaccinated today.

Lessons. 295/365

This sight warmed my heart today. There's nothing better than a teacher who truly cares about her students.

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -- Benjamin Franklin

We need more of these around town! 294/365

Then maybe people wouldn't be so quick to throw their water and soda bottles in the trash (we carry ours home for recycling). This one is at Whole Foods - love that place!

WCUB Channel 5 News. 293/365

This is a day for which we spent five days preparing. Maddie was chosen to be a guest on the WCUB news (her school's morning announcement program). She wrote up a nice little script of fun facts about herself which she ended up reading (from nervousness) rather than going from memory. Coincidentally this is the also day she was to be a spokesperson for the school Green Team on the same morning program. It was a Maddie morning on the WCUB news today. She had kids stop her in the hallways to say "I saw you on the news this morning".

Orange and black for halloween. 292/365

When do the butterflies begin their migration? I thought these mid-40s temps were too cold for these delicate little creatures.

Full Swing. 291/365

We are in full Halloween decorating mode. We're making a few new decorations and we've even done some preliminary costume preparations. This year the whole family is dressing up. Should be interesting.

Ghosts. 290/365

I love it when one of my girls decides to sit down and make something. Today Maddie made ghosts from Blowpops, tissue, and ribbon.

More Rain. 289/365

In the Clouds. 288/365

Our lovely cold, overcast, rainy day.

Code of Conduct. 287/365

Apparently these go against it. Maddie brought these into class to share a bit of interesting Virginia history with her teacher and her classmates. These are civil war ammunition pieces recovered from a Virginia forest. Anyway, it is interesting in itself that this is what the Civil War soldiers used for ammunition. The gun powder was pressed into the hole in the bottom and once in the rifle, the powder was lit. The other story told to us is that the soldiers found it difficult and time consuming to write letters using a quill and ink. They found that the lead in these ammunition pieces wrote on paper much like their quill and ink did and began using their ammunition to write their letters. You can see the shiny lead on the pointed "bullet" where we tested this theory. It really does write.

Once Maddie told her teacher what they were she was told to "put them away, they go against the code of conduct" - I guess this is similar to a zero-tolerance policy. She never was able to show this primitive ammunition to the students, nor was she able to tell the story of how they were also used to write letters to loved-ones.

I asked Maddie if she also told the teacher that she had gun powder in her back pocket since that was the only was these would be dangerous. Maddie said yeah and I also had my rifle in my backpack. I'm through ranting now, but I'm not completely over this ridiculousness.

Unexpected Surprise. 286/365

Obviously, a sweet little bird had a nice meal in the back yard and went to the front porch to relax and take care of some business in one of my flower pots. Its okay though, since this is one of very few flowers blooming right now.

Fuji Apples. 285/365

Never had one before today. Until recently, I've only purchased Granny Smith, Braeburn, and Harelson apples. I like a firm, somewhat tart apple. Maddie has made me broaden my horizons and purchase Red Delicious - her favorite - but I won't eat those. Today, at the apple porch, we arrived ready to pick our own (never had done that before either) Braeburns and Red Delicious. However, those trees had already been picked clean. What was left? Golden Delicious (too soft), Jonathan (too far to walk for those trees), and Fuji. While picking, we decided we should try one to be sure that we actually liked them. We did, so we bought eight pounds of Fuji apples. Eat up! Actually, we ate six of them before we got home.

Perspective. 284/365

Jordan's feet.

Scenic Beauty. 283/365

We were detoured around some traffic congestion and ended up on a road we've never traveled before. There were plenty of photo opportunities, but this is the only one we took. We'll be back. You definitely have to click on this photo to see the colors and the reflection.

a.m. Bus Stop. 282/365

There is bus service available to Jordan, but she'd have to catch a bus at the end of the street (1/2 mi. up the road) at 7:00 a.m. to get to the "hub" or nearby high school where she'd get on another bus in order to be at her IB school by the 8:45 a.m. start time. It seems like most days I just drive Jordan to school to avoid all of that headache. But, if she doesn't have any homework to finish or a test for which to study, I may take her directly to the hub since they don't leave until 8:00 a.m. These are the three specialty center busses waiting for students at the hub.

Stowaway. 281/365

We found this happy little bear on the way to school this morning.

Yellow Gerbera Daisies. 280/365

These beauties were given to me by my neighbor (and Maddie's friend). Poor little thing was at home alone for a short time on Monday and fell off her bed. She hit her head on her dresser and was bleeding. She called her mom, who called me and another neighbor to help. Maddie and I ran out the door and found the poor bleeding girl on the neighbor's doorstep. She frightened me - when I called her name (to see if that was, in fact, her), she slowly turned to look at me I saw she had blood running down the side of her head and down her neck and covering her yellow shirt. She was so calm, she reminded me of a scene from a horror film. We got her in the house, cleaned up, and iced before her mom made it back. She ended up needing two staples in her head. The flowers were a thank you for the help given that day.

As much as I would love to go back to work, everyday something happens (mostly with my own kids) to make me realize I'm supposed to be at home right now.

It's here! 279/365

Autumn.

These boots were made for walkin'. 278/365

Walking the half mile home from the bus stop.

Sunday Breakfast. 277/365

The girls usually like either chocolate chip pancakes or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday, but I thought I'd shake things up a bit and make blueberry muffins.

Happy Mail. 276/365

Upon returning from our Disney trip we had a stack of mail I hadn't gone through until today. I found an envelope from my favorite Etsy seller, Alice & Elsie. In it were the cutest little halloween embellishments along with a few clown tags that are absolutely adorable. She even sends these lovely little treasures in fabulous little packages. I wonder if she'll just make my scrapbooks for me, too.

Fresh from the ground. 275/365

Now that the caterpillars have finished their feast on the carrot tops, Maddie pulled most of them from the earth. Let's hope she eats most of them!

Subway System in Richmond? 274/365

We see this sign on the way to the high school and wonder if there really is or was a subway system in Richmond. I briefly searched the internet, but with thousands of hits for the restaurant, I gave up on the effort. Maybe I'll search a little more thoroughly on another day.