The Band

This is my 12 year old son, he is my youngest which makes him #6. He plays the drums in a band with 4 other 12 year old boys. The band comes to our home (garage) every Friday and they practice. Sometimes I am very impressed with the sounds coming from my garage, other times I wonder where such young boys learn what sounds like "acid rock". There are a couple who really are aficionados of all genres of music and I am impressed by their knowledge of bands from my era (their parents must keep their 8 tracks and albums handy to listen to!).

I am glad we can offer a place for these boys to practice and hang out. I have learned (in 25 years of parenting) that it is important to know where your child is, who his friends are and what he is doing. I figure that if I keep baking cookies and brownies and heating up pizzas for the band I'll at least know where he is every Friday.

Change

I have lived in our area of northern California for much of my youth and most of my adult life. It seems that every autumn I become more appreciative of the colors and changes which occur in the foliage all around me. Perhaps I am just more appreciative of change, period. Having said that, sometimes change is good and sometimes it is not. I don't like all the recent political change. I don't like the changes age brings, and yet I am keenly aware of ALL of them. I often experience wistful feelings as I observe my growing, changing children and family...where did the time go? Gratefully, my parents change very little but their yard is in the midst of a gorgeous change of putting on its autumn color. I have been admiring the change in the beautiful trees and shrubs that surround their home and thought you'd enjoy it too. I also had to include this peach tree which is experiencing a change, (it looks a little withered compared to the beautiful color tinged leaves on the above trees). Life is often reflected in nature's changes which can be beautiful and glorious or dreary, plain and appearing nearly dead. In the cycle of life, I understand that I probably have passed the point of beautiful and glorious (if I ever was) and am more like the withering peach tree....for now.

Beware: A new driver in the family!

This is daughter #4. She just got her license last week. We have been driving with her for the past 6 months and decided that she needed a tank; we got her the closest thing to a tank we could afford...an old Range Rover.

The second day she had her license, she demolished the neighbor's mailbox, traveling at 5 mph. She is lucky that...1. She is number 5 in the line-up, 2. That we have seen a whole lot worse and 3. Her Dad only chuckled when he heard about the "mashed" mailbox. It was a very good thing we bought a tank.

Buy Pumpkins, they will come....

It is tradition in the Havens' home, the Monday night before Halloween, to carve pumpkins and spread a little Halloween cheer. I am amazed that our pre-teen, teenager and young adult will still gather in the garage on a cold October night and create Halloween art with a knife and a pumpkin. Perhaps they are drawn to this activity because of the gooey insides of the pumpkin, or the fact that they can use a knife any way they want. I like to think that family traditions are hard to ignore and that even though our kids may feel they are way beyond the age of carving pumpkins, you just don't break a long standing family tradition.....oh, wait....JORDAN, GET OFF THE PHONE!

Pre-Halloween Activities