It's The Great Pumpkin...

So it is getting to be Halloween time, so a couple weeks back we decided to get Eli his first pumpkin to carve. We headed to the pumpkin patch. Sarah found 1 Fun Farm. Not only did they have a pumpkin patch, but they had fun events for the kids. So we got together with our friends, Farm Boy, and Farm Girl, and headed to Farmland to the 1 Fun Farm.

Wow was this place great! They had fun activities for the kids. They had a Corn Box...like a sand box, only filled with Corn. They had a huge slide made from a drain pipe. Plus the Cow Train, three little pigs, and the corn maze. One of my favorites was the duck races with the old water pumps. You can see all the fun in the slide show below!

So then a few weeks later, we got together with our new neighbors, who just happen to have a little boy just a little bit older than Eli. Their son needed his pumpkin, so we headed to a different pumpkin patch! This time we headed to Drennn's Pumpkin Kingdom.

This was another great pumpkin patch. We took a hay ride, got a couple more pumpkins and even picked up some apple cider.
But the highlight for me was the Trebuchet. What is that you ask? It is a siege engine used during the middle ages. It used counterweight to launch rocks, or whatever at the opposing forces. In the case of the trebuchet at Drennen's...it launches pumpkins!!! How sweet is that! The has a small one, but it would still launch the small pumpkin a couple hundred feet.

Even though I didn't get to use the launcher, it was fun to watch. But we recently carved up the pumpkins we had...and they all turned out really good. That is mine on the left...looking evil. Sarah's is in the middle, and Eli's of course had to be Toodles from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

So the pumpkins experience was a great one!

More fights...

Yeah, another black eye. About a month ago, Eli got me again.

This time, playing on the bed in the "Man Cave." Yes, I have a Man cave in the house, and the bed is there for all the times I make Sarah mad.

So it was about bed time, and Eli and I were back in the man cave playing. We were hiding under a blanket so he didn't have to go to bed. He thought this was very funny. I tell him to yell at mommy.

So Eli pops up from under the blanket. "Mooooooommmmmmmmmy!!!"

From the other end of the house, Sarah yells back, "Eli, I'm gonna get you"

Eli grabs the blanket, and flings himself back onto the bed to hide under the blanket.

BAM. Back of his hard little head into my eye socket.

After I stop seeing stars, I slowly get up out of the bed, and grab a bag of ice, sitting there thinking, yep, he got me again.

I love it when people would say to me, "So what's the other guy look like" I say, "Short and cute with a hard little head"

A little preview, coming soon, a trip to the pumpkin patch, and a trip to Oubache State Park.

My Church singing debut...

OK, so I love to sing. And some people say I am halfway decent at it. So when our pastor at Church started to do a sermon series on David, I knew that I should sing a song that I have been listening to for about a year.

I talked with Lance, the bald guy below playing guitar with me, and we worked out the song. He got Bud, the lead picker, to learn the solo part, and away we went. We practiced the Wednesday night before my performance, ran through it a couple times, and then Sunday before we started services, we ran through it one more time.

First service went pretty good, but second service was much better in, my opinion. You can tell me what you think. Here is my video of the song Blind Man written by Tom Skinner, in the style of Stoney Larue.

Black Eye #2

So a few months back, Eli caught me with headbutt and I had the first black eye of my life. Well about a week ago, we were in the "Man Cave" playing around on the spare bed. (Yes I keep it in the Man Cave in case Sarah gets mad at me.) It was close to bed time, so Eli was hiding under the blanket so he didn't have to go to bed. I was under the blanket with him. He was laughing SOOOO much! Mommy was in the living room. I tell Eli to yell at Mommy...

So he pops up from under the blankets..."MOOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYY"

Sarah yells back..."I'm gonna get you"

So what does Eli do, he grabs the blankets and flings himself backwards ready to hide again. Well, my face got in the way of his hard little head. It nearly knocked me out...

So from now on, we play a little more carefully!

Back from the Circus...

OK, not the circus, but life feels like I have been thrown to the lions. But in a good way.

There have been some major changes at work. First and for most we are now live and local through the day! This is something I was wanting for years. We now program all the music locally, and we have local jocks here. Yee-Haw!

Plus we have a new station website. We are still filling in all the gaps there, but all in all it is GREAT!

In my personal life...Sarah is back to work after being a stay-at-home mom for 10 months. That was a hard change for her. She misses spending the day with Eli, but some days she is happy to get out of the house.

Eli is back in Daycare, and loving it...most of the time. He is also in "pre-school" at Day Care. He is counting on his own, trying to do the alphabet, and growing up REALLY fast.

We recently went to a pumpkin patch, he gave me another black eye and more to come in posts coming to a blog near you.

All a fun part of my life in Headphones.

Eli's First Hair Cut

So Sarah (my wife) and I finally come to the decision to cut Eli's hair. It was getting really crazy! The curls were sticking out from his ears. So then we had to decide where to take him. Sarah was talking with her mom, and found out that a place where they lived did a special certificate with the first curls in an envelope attached to the certificate. So we set up the appointment for a Saturday so we could go to the in-laws and get the hair cut and then go swimming. Since I needed a haircut as well, we thought that Eli would do better if he saw me getting my cut.

So we get to the Wooden Nickel Salon and get up in the chair. They break out the booster seat for Eli. I didn't need one. They start of on me. I am watching Eli, and he likes the spray bottle. That is fun! He has his toy car with him. He plays with that, and really didn't pay much attention to the lady cutting his hair in the back.

When she got around to the front, his didn't like it as much, so the ladies cutting his hair, break out the secret weapon...














Yep...Nilla Wafers. He was going to town eating them. As long as he had a mouth full of cookies, he was fine. All except the clippers around his ears. But, really who likes that anyway. All in all he was a big boy, and now looks like a little man instead of a baby. You can see the whole process below.

And the final product...me and Eli with our haircuts!


Another milestone for my little man, as I live my life in Headphones....

King of the Grill!

I refer to myself as "King of the Grill." And most of the time, it is a title well deserved. From burgers and hot dogs to Steak and Ribs, I can whip up a great meal, and not mess up my wife's kitchen.

So last night I thought it would fun to do my first Video Blog. I have been watching a lot of Grilling Week on the food network. And although I didn't do anything exotic last night, I did prepare a great meal. Pork Steaks, Roasted Potatoes, and Bush's Brown Sugar and Bourbon Grillin' Beans. Sound good? Check out the videos to follow!











Sorry for the first video being so shaky. Kind of looked like the Blair Witch Project for a few minutes. I don't have a camera crew to help me out. So I am no Bobby Flay....Yet. There might be more "Grillin' With Big John" I love to cook on my grill. It has to be Charcoal. Maybe next time I will give some Grillin' tips. More to come from my "Life in Headphones."