Fall Reading Week

Reading Week always means I get to take a trip home, even if it's only for a few days. But I get to do fun things with my family. For instance, here you see me preparing to serve dinner at church with mom. I expect to receive a tersely worded e-mail from her shortly about posting this goofy picture of her. But hey, I look good!

Here we see mom instructing me on the proper way to slice a bundt cake. Apparently my almost masters' degree doesn't increase mom's confidence in my ability to wield a knife.

Max, on the other hand, was just tickled to be in the same room with cake.

We had excellent help and lots of amusing conversation with our friends Liz...

...and Bill (always dapper in his hat).

That looks like some mighty fine cake cuttin' to me. That's like, ninja level cake cutting. Wax on, wax off, grasshoppah.

Did I mention that we had cake?

Posting this picture on the internet has just guaranteed that I will be receiving no Christmas presents this year.

I also got to go to one of Zoe's drill meets. It's all very serious - lots of standing at attention, saluting, formation making...

...splitting a can of Coke with your best friend...

...making dorky faces at your mother. Okay, perhaps it's not serious at all and the military just has the wool pulled over our eyes.

I don't remember what this is called, but it's like a big game of military Simon Says. All of the students from each school stand in formation and have orders barked at them. If you blow it, you get dismissed from the floor. Zoe (front row, left end) was the fourth cadet to be dismissed, apparently for making eye contact with the drill sargeant. The nerve! I bet if the military had staring contests, she would totally clean up.

I got to spend time with the rest of the family, too. Here's my brother, Tryg. I don't recall if this was a really annoying game of "I'm not touching you," or an emphatic request for me to pull his finger. Really, it could have gone either way.

And while the grown ups (whatever!) talked, we turned the photography assignment over to Emma...

...and Josiah. Let's see how they did...

...A still-life. Very nice...

...A close up for Mr. DeMille. Good, good...

...A shot of daddy's ass. Interesting choice of subject...

...A random tonsil search. Always a good idea...

...Ummm, okay, I think we're getting distracted. Maybe we should try to coax more emotion out of our models. How about rage? Could you give us some abject rage?...

...Yes!! Excellent!! What about total disinterest?...

...Perfect!! How about a dash of fruity cousin in the background?...

...Spot on, I say!!...

...And clearly we've come up against a brick wall.

Before heading back to school, Zoe and Max and I took a trip to the pumpkin patch. Here we see Max hanging out at the petting zoo with Larry the Llama. Or maybe it was Llarry the Llama.

It's almost like they're looking in the mirror.

We made friends with some scarecrows.

We stumbled across this scarecrow of Big Bird which is every bit as creepy as it sounds.

Max nabbed this very rotund specimen.

Zoe opted for a more petite gourd.

For me, it's not about size as much as color. I like for my pumpkins to still have some green on them. It makes them look like they're not quite finished...like me.

Egads.

And doesn't this picture of a 14-year-old girl with her mom pretty much say it all?

Max was much more compliant.

Have you ever seen a more gorgeous head of red hair?

Have you ever seen two more gorgeous heads of red hair?

True story. As we were passing through the pumpkin farm market on our way out, Max, who is amazingly brilliant and wants to work for NASA when he grows up, points to this piece of produce and says to me, completely seriously, "Mom, you should have gotten that pumpkin. It's still really green."