The Stubblefield Family

Well, tonight Hannah and I had our first girls night out. I am in Mommy heaven. We had a wonderful time. Three nights this week there are informal performances for the Lawson Academy dance classes, except for the youngest girls like Hannah, who have their performance next week. So, Hannah and I decided to go watch some of the older girls dance and make it a night out. We shared an oatmeal raisin cookie at Panera Bread, where Hannah asked me to introduce her to Maria, the girl at the counter. :) We sat at a table in the window and chatted about reflections. Then we headed over to the dance studio and enjoyed watching 5 or 6 pieces. On the way home Hannie told me how excited she was for us to come and watch her perform. Me too! Hurray for being a Mom to one wonderful little girl and and hurray for many more girls nights out to come. :) And what were the boys up to while the womenfolk were off enjoying a night of baked goods and culture? Jared and Ben headed over for a bon fire with Mike and Kyle, our neighbors. Jared said that he and Ben did their "man dance" (Jared hunkers down, with his hands in fists, flexing his muscles, giving a manly grrrr, then Ben does the same, back and forth, very funny! :) around the fire and roasted marshmallows. He said, that on their walk home Benny snuggled in close, with marshmallow smudge on his cheek. Here are Hannie and I at Panera.And here she is reflected in the window.
Just wish we had a picture of that man dance! :)

A dear friend from our ward is a landscape-butterfly-flower photographer, oil painter and giver of large amounts of produce to all he loves. His daughter says, his heart is as big as Wyoming, his native state, and we, and all who know him, would agree. He just loves and gives. This fall, Brother Wooden offered to take a family photo for us. So, we met him this Thursday at the Milliken Park, a beautiful open area, with grass, trees, ponds, ducks, geese and cranes on the Milliken & Company campus in Spartanburg. Quickly we realized that it was very different for him doing portrait photography than his usual nature work, but he hung in there and kept snapping until Ben fell into the pond (true story :). Even though there weren't too many shots where we were all facing the same direction and none where we all smiled at the same time, we didn't mind. It was so pretty out there and we got to spend part of our day with Brother Wooden, complete with a story about how he got bit by a rattle snake when he was a boy! Plus, we did get some photos that we like. Here's a look at some of the better digital pictures. There were also a couple of sweet ones on the role of film he took, but we haven't scanned them yet.







It was while we were taking this last one that Ben, who had been quacking his heart out and really wanting to pet the ducks, finally got too close and slid right into the pond. Brother Wooden fished him out and luckily Hannah's American Indian costume was in the car (I don't know why?), so we put him into that for the ride home. He is one fearless little kid!

Today, we took advantage of Jared's Friday morning off and, likely, the last warm day of Autumn and got in one more hike. We headed back out to the Croft Natural Area with a nice 1.5 mile loop picked out. Some accidental detours and the fact that we started out on the wrong trail head! (oops :) combined to give us a bit more than we bargained for. Even still, Hannah did most of it on her own two feet. And I only had to carry Elsie the last half a mile. At that point she basically stopped walking and looked up at us like, are you kidding me?? :) Luckily the weather was wonderful, the woods were awesome and the creek just as beautiful in the Autumn as it was this Spring. Hannah made up a "hiking song" and sang it along the way. We added 4 more miles to our trail tracking total, doubling it in one day :). Which means we end this year with 8 miles hiked as a family!

Here in South Carolina voting lines were out the door and around the building. It took our family 3 1/2 hours to do our civic duty. Jared actually left the line, went back to school, took an exam and made it back to us with lunch before we ever made it into the building! :) The kids were great and played in the school yard most of the time.
Although, at one point, at the same moment, they both melted into hungry, tired tears. Jared arrived with lunch just moments later. Our hero!! :) Ben fell asleep in the baby carrier right before I got to the voting machine and Hannie is now officially the youngest, voting supporter of the Constitution Party's Candidate for President. She proudly wore her "I Voted" sticker on our way out. Here she is with her sticker, her "voter registration" and her "photo ID." This morning as Jared and I were gathering ours together she set about gathering hers too. :)

Well, yesterday afternoon we wrapped up our fall time festivities with our ward fall festival. It was the perfect ending to a beautiful season of fun activities and I'm already thinking about how to make Pilgrim and Indian costumes for the next big celebration. :) I love marking our years with traditions and celebrations. It seems to strengthen the gravitational pull of our family. I hope that as the kids grow these regulars will become like touchstones that help them feel secure in who they are and where they fit in this world that is super fast and always changing.