The Boys of Fall (and a girl too!)

When I feel that chill and smell that wet cut grass

I'm back in my helmet cleats and shoulder pads

Standin in the huddle listenin to the call

Fans going crazy for the boys of fall

They didn't let just anybody in that club

Took every ounce of heart and sweat and blood

To get to wear those game day jerseys down the hall

Kings of the school man we're the boys of fall

Well it's turnin' to face the stars and stripes

It's fighting back them butterflies

It's call it in the air alright, yes sir we want the ball

And it's knockin heads and talkin trash

It's slinging mud and dirt and grass

It's I got your number, I got your back

When your backs against the wall

You mess with one man you got us all

The Boys of Fall

In little towns like mine it's all they got

Newspapers clippings fill the coffee shops

The old men will always think they know it all

Young girls will dream of The Boys of Fall

Well it's turnin' to face the stars and stripes

It's fighting back them butterflies

It's call it in the air alright, yes sir we want the ball

And it's knockin heads and talkin trash

It's slinging mud and dirt and grass

It's I got your number, I got your back

When your backs against the wall

You mess with one man you got us all

The Boys of Fall

Well it's turnin' to face the stars and stripes

It's fighting back them butterflies

It's call it in the air, alright yes sir we want the ball

And it's knockin heads and talkin trash

It's slinging mud and dirt and grass

It's I got your number, I got your back

When your backs against the wall

You mess with one man you got us all

The Boys of Fall

The boys of fall

(The boys of fall, the boys of fall..)

We're the boys of fall

That Kenny Chesney song brings goosebumps to me EVERY time I hear it! As long as I can remember, I have ALWAYS loved fall. I will admit that I was one of those goofy kids who looked forward to school starting. I have also always loved jumping in leaves, still rake 'em with the kids and jump in at least once, and have great memories of doing that with my brother and my cousins, Eric and Chad, who lived across the road when we were little.

As I got older, I started appreciating other great things of fall, like trees changing color, mums and pumpkins, and craft shows. After I married the farmer, I look forward to the Harvest! All of their hard work comes to a finale. I love memories of riding in the combine when we were younger, SKINNIER and dating! I rode with DH alot in the combine. Mom and I did Craft Shows in the fall, the crisp cool air, friends and fun.

Then in 1994, I had a whole new reason to love fall, my first baby was born. Cody Garrett was born on the last 'unofficial' day of summer, yes, you guessed it, Labor Day. I could write a thousand blogs about how kids have changed my life, but I am trying to focus on my love of fall. Seeing my favorite season in the eyes of my child, made me fall in love with it all over again. That 'first fall' was kind of a blur, sleep deprived and adjusting to the new stage in my life, that fall moved in to winter before I even realized what happened. By the next fall, I had this lil fella who couldn't wait to ride in the 'bines' with Daddy and Grandpa. We spent many of the next years discovering new traditions like painting pumpkins. Fours years after my first fall harvest of a baby, we did it again, Sam is my October baby, four years later, Jenna and two years after that Seth finished up our run on fall babies.

As the kids have grown, fall has taken on many more new meanings and fun activities. Trick or treating and what was my one sewing project a year for many years, homemade Halloween costumes. The first one I made was Bugs Bunny when Cody was 2. In years since, we have had pirates, Batman and Robin, a knight, a muskateer, several versions of Princesses, Elvis, the Disney character Stitch, cowboys, Darth Vader, baseball players, a witch...........this year so far Seth is going to be a 'bowl of rac-n-roni' (macaroni, if you don't speak Seth-ese) I kinda get sad when I think about that two of my boys of fall are too big to dress up anymore, thankfully Seth and Jenna still enjoy the 'magic' and the nephews and niece are still willing participants in my sewing craziness!

Also as the kids have grown we've added a family activity that at some times of year, all but dominates our lives, first 4H and now FFA. Being farm kids, our kids love their animals and 4H has been the first vehicle for getting the opportunity to show their animals and promote our way of life. Now we don't generally 'show' animals in the fall, but the new 4H year begins in fall, we celebrate 4H week, which by the way is the first week in Ocotober (Sam's birthday week!) and now with having a highschooler, we are part of another farm family tradition in rural America, FFA. Fall is busy in FFA as the kids have their first BIG fundraiser, fruit sales, in which the kids really work hard at since their sales help to pay for their trip to Nat'l convention ALSO in fall (end of October, if you are keeping track).

We love all of these fun great events, its a challenge to juggle it all at a time when harvest at home is in full swing, but after 20 years of marriage, I have found that there is not one part of the 'year' that's not busy with something on this farm, and that's okay, that means we are doing our job, hopefully doing it well! :)

If you are keeping track, harvest, birthdays, 4-H and FFA............think that we are busy? Nope apparently not busy enough...........we participate in one more great 'fall tradition' especially in Centralia, our boys play football! If you had told me several years ago, that I would write about football with love and passion and exclamation points, I would have laughed in your face.............hahahaha, well times change. I LOVE football! I don't know that I will ever get real into college or NFL, but I love me some youth football, so far Cody has played since 7th grade and this year Sam is playing on the 'little league' 6th grade team. I love love LOVE it!!! Yeah I complain with the rest of them the long drives to games, the kids getting home late from practice and I won't even start to describe how much I wish someone would invent something that gets the stink off of shoulder pads! But I can't get enough of Panther football! I am a very proud parent and thrilled that my boys are part of a long standing tradition in our mid Missouri rural town.

When I first heard Kenny's song, it gave me chills, he did a great job of capturing the feelings and emotions of football season and our much loved 'Boys of Fall'

Looking forward to the fourth night of Friday night football while watching the sileage wagons drive by outside my office window this morning,

From Tulip~

KH

:)