Pumpkin Carvin in Bristol Ridge

Okay so Mom and Dad had a party planned and the Silers had a pumpkin carving night planned but it was all cool because the same people were invited to both so we just rolled with it. First up - Pumpkin Carving! Like all things, the Cleveland boys were ALL IN.

I may have carved the ugliest pumpkin in the history of pumpkin carving. No seriously. It was a complete failure. I think I'll stick to using my brain and moves on the mat.

Chloe's was great of course!

Everything was going as any normal gathering might go in suburban America on a pleasant fall evening. That is until Mrs. Vance decided she needed power tools. Next thing we knew, pumpkin was flying EVERYWHERE! You might think she'd stop or slow down, but nope, she just put on more gear!

Evan's pumpkin was the best. It was a work of art.

The younger gals went with paint and sparkles and glitter.

The older ladies were just happy to have a reason to use power tools. We had so much fun at the Silers that the party never even made it across the street to our house. Mom said it was the best party she'd ever hosted.

Trick or Treat

This year we tricked Mom and Dad into spending $65 on new Halloween costumes, then when it was time to dress up for school, we dug these really really old get-ups out of our closet. Cole is wearing a robe made by Grandma sometime in the 80's and I am sporting Didi's old vest from sometime in the 60's or 70's. We got tricks AND treats this year!

Halloween Parties

Today is one of the best days in the whole school year. It's Halloween Party Day!

Mom donated this cool candy jar for Coley's class party.

and she ran a photo booth for mine! Here I am with Billy Couch Jr. (this is what we all call him) and Emmit.

We may get just a little bit of sugar on Halloween party day.

Mom took a break from the camera to pose with her favorite cowboy.

Here I am back in the booth with Bryson, Kayden and Cole is hiding behind the purple spider.

Yup, it was a pretty good day. Thanks Ma!

Crazy hair

It's spirit week! Can you guess what today was?

Mom said my hair wasn't all that far off this color for a few awkward months of my infancy. The good thing about having white hair is that any color shows!

Coley's color didn't come through as bright, but he made up for that with his awesome mohawk.

Seriously dude. Dad said this had better  not be a precursor to your teenage years!

Scouting Mission

Well Mom and Dad went on another boring trip without us. How on earth did they expect to enjoy themselves? Surely it was dull dull dull.

Wait.. they had those?!Dad got to drive through the mountains in that??

They said they were scouting future family vacation spots. It looks pretty cool out in the Smokies!

Dad has become a big fan of what mom likes to call "hillbilly gear." Here they are wearing two of his favorite new hats. He has also been acquiring machetes, axes, guns, knives, survival gear and outdoorsy stuff. He doesn't actually use any of this, Mom explains, he just likes to have it.

They sent this one back to us on Grandma's phone. Here is the world's fattest pig and his friend, the world skinniest goat.

They stayed tucked away in this little cabin on the side of the smokies.



and spent lots of time hiking up and down throughout the resort. They sure do have big trees in TN.

Okay not that big Dad!

a close up of their cabin.

They went down deep into the earth to explore a very cool cave.

The Indians actually dropped down into this cave through a teeny tiny hole and lived here in the winter - in the dark!

Then the moonshiners found it years later and used it to make whiskey. They got busted and the cave was discovered.
The scouting mission was a huge success and Mom and Dad promised to take us back asap.


**UPDATE** 
Only 6 weeks later, a devastating fire destroyed much of this area.

Grandma!

While Mom and Dad were out exploring the Smoky Mtns. Grandma came to hang out with us! Of course she always tries to get all the cousins together. This time we got to go to Zoo Boo together.

In a weird move that surprised even me, Bryce decided to mount this rock and hold a pose while we all waited for Izzy and Oli to come. We thought it'd last a minute or so, but nope - the kid stood there motionless for over 10 minutes! People were stopping to take pictures! You never know what you'll hear or see when B is around.

I tried to be a statue too, but it's much less believable when you can't help but smile all day long.

Later Grandma took us to the school dance. We made sure nobody made any moves on her. That's OUR girl!

You can't tell me you wouldn't find it just a little bit creepy to walk through these doors and see a headless guy and Kylo Ren waiting for you.

We outdid ourselves this year, if we do say so ourselves.

Coley won first prize for his costume and Jax got second. Here we are brothers with brothers.
Thanks for taking us Grandma. Happy Halloween!

Papa and Nana

Look who stopped by with our traditional fall painted pumpkins today! These two old Vandy men are aging quite well.

We sure do love our Papa and Nana!

Left Behind

Rowan does not like it when we leave. First, he tries to prevent us from going, then he sits and watches over us.

thanks for looking out for us bud! We're just here playing at Sam's!!

Box Car Drum

Mom and I made this awesome car and Dad helped me put wheels on it. You'd think a car this cool would be driven around, but nope. After all that, I decided it was a drum.

Bounty

Mom and I woke up at the crack of dawn on Sunday. I wanted to take a peek at all the beautiful leaves and gems we brought home.

Daddy was particularly interested in these green glass-like rocks we found in the corn maze.

I was most fond of my white crystal.

Mom tossed the leaves and spent a bit of time helping me shine up the rocks, then moved on to other things.
Not too bad for a weekend haul!

First Try

We paid for our pumpkins and were just getting ready to head home, when we made a last minute decision to take a quick trip through the corn maze. No worries. B had a map!

One of us was a little more hostile towards those who chose to disobey direction than our crew might have liked.

One of us does most things at the maximum intensity level.

Well we wanted the full experience and we got it. We were soon quite thoroughly lost.



Oh and it was SUPER muddy too. It wasn't long before people were getting testy.

Uncle Scott hoisted Coley up onto his shoulders to get our bearings, then we just decided to plow right on through to the road. I guess we ended up doing things B's style after all :)