FBJ

Joey is a bit heavy.  At the vet's office, he weighed 101 pounds; he probably should be closer to 85 pounds, so he's on a diet.  Hence, until he's shed the weight, he's "Fat Boy Joey."  Of course, the acronym could also stand for "Fat Boy Jeffy," so I guess we'll all watch what we eat over the next few weeks to prepare for the impending holiday gluttony.

Bode's been doing great.  He got his first middle school report card and earned all A's and one B (in Language).  We are very proud of how hard he is working.  The beginning band also had an introductory night (I forgot the camera).  It wasn't really a concert--the teacher walked all the parents through some of the things the students do in band.  It's impressive how far they've come--some kids started without ever having played an instrument.  As part of the evening, the band did play three or four songs, some with solo sections.  Bode volunteered to do one of the solos and did awesome--no wrong or bad sounding notes.

Bode has also made some friends at Meigs.  The football team was in the championship game last week, so we all went.  Bode didn't watch a single down--he was off doing whatever it is kids do at these things.  I didn't embarrass him by whipping out the camera, but I did try to take some shots.

His best friend (I think) is Olivia.  She's a very nice girl, and she's come over to the house a lot after school.  Here's a picture of Bode and Olivia swimming (again, I had to sneak in the picture-taking so I didn't embarrass the young fellow).

There was a trunk-or-treat at our neighbor's church last night.  I tried to convince Bode he was a little old for most of the things (targeted more towards toddlers), but he wanted the free candy.  I took him, and he wasn't all that interested in the games, but he did like petting this dog (looks a little like FBJ).

We had a nice relaxing weekend.  Ashley and Barkley took a little nap.

Work has started (sort of) on the carriage house.  Some trees have been removed and some sand has been brought to the site and pushed around.

Another week of the same ol' stuff this week...with some trick-or-treating on Thursday night.  It might be "cool" in that the temps might be in the 70's :-)  The temps are getting lower in the evenings, so I decided to pick my watermelon...it's not very impressive.

I will try to refine my gardening methods for next season; I think I need to be much more proactive in fighting bugs and fungi.  Pleasant week to all.