Trick or Treats, Andy Griffith & Goofy Grunts

Holy cow have I neglected the Rutl Farm. Our beloved blog has taken a back seat for the last couple of weeks to a weeklong celebration of Halloween, a weekend trip to Mt. Airy with our friends, and the parental juggle that is our daily life.

Halloween taught Amy & me first hand that holiday celebrations can drag out for a long time. The holiday isn't just about trick or treating anymore. Not that it ever was I suppose, but this was our first exposure to day after day of Halloween parties, preschool celebrations, neighborhood get-togethers, church events all around All Hallow's Eve. The boys only have 2 teeth left and they just sit around all day on the couch eating their weight in Snickers and Milk Duds. Ok, so it's not quite that bad, but it's safe to say Mars, Inc. stock has gone up lately.

I cannot complain about the celebrations though. The kids' enthusiasm -- although draining -- is so contagious and fun to witness. Gus dressed up as Batman, Owen as Robin, and Tess as a pink kitten. We trick-or-treated with several families in our neighborhood, adults hanging out in the street as kids bounded for each door. It was really a fun time.

Last weekend we trekked up to Mt. Airy, North Carolina which some of you may know as the real-life Mayberry where Andy Griffith based his TV show on. (The Andy Griffith Show still runs in syndication on just about every channel in NC by the way -- we North Carolinians love our Andy, Aunt B and Opie). Our friends the Wises have a place there, and the boys got to fish, camp, run wild with other kids, and roast marshmallows for 48 hours straight. Just when I think we couldn't possibly compress more fun into a short period of time, the kids find a way.

We do have a few pictures to share. But that's mostly because Amy got a Flip video camera for her birthday, and she takes videos instead of still shots. It is a pretty cool little gadget that allows us to capture some cool moments of the kiddos. We will definitely get some of those posted here soon to share.

Tess's vocabulary still continues to grow. Only it is growing in ways that only parents understand. She mumbles things whose meanings Amy & I have deciphered like cryptic code. So either we are making progress understanding our 20-month old or she is having a fun time seeing how many words her parents can assign to her goofy grunts.

For example:

"Oh" = Owen
"Duh" = Gus
"Da" = Tucker (dog)
"Opper" = Harper (cat)
"Dut" = Dutch (cat)
"po-po mm-mm" = purple blanket
"eye-na mm-mm" = the blanket that's not the purple one

It is amusing fun to be able to build communication with a toddler, even if it does seem a little crazy to people witnessing our attempts from the outside.

We will get some videos out here soon. Before Thanksgiving I promise. In the meantime we're gearing up for the start of college basketball season, watching the incredible Flash Forward, and looking to see where the po-po mm-mm happened to end up.

Cheers!