Farmer Jones & Freddie Bear

This time last year, I read a blog post saying that, to get really good Halloween pictures, you should take your tiny tricksters to a location that's appropriate for the characters of their costumes. That's why Hoss & Little Jones Cartwright ended up at the Ponderosa-like Cataloochee Ranch last October.

This year, the "location" shoots were held at Riverview Farm & Garden and in the cabin area of the Lake Logan Episcopal Center.

"Farmer Jones" came from the fact that Jones is obsessed with tractors and farming AND from the fact that the Little Golden Book "The Animals of Farmer Jones" is one of his favorite books. I bought his copy at McKay's in Knoxville when Leslie and I went used book shopping a few months before Jones was born. It's a book that I had as a little girl. In fact, there's a picture of a 3 year old me sitting at our kitchen table in Greenup, KY, holding the book in front of my face and my VERY LARGE head of unkempt hair. Because of that, I've been wanting to get a picture of Jones reading it, too.

The origin of "Freddie Bear" is pretty obvious. I figure next year, he and Jones will have been around long enough to know what Halloween is all about, so I'm assuming this is my last chance to come up with their costumes for them. That's why I thought it'd be a good idea to squeeze in a Freddie Bear costume, just because it's too perfect for a little Bear named Freddie, and because there's NO WAY he'll ever pick it for himself. We also own a Little Golden Book called "Freddie Bear," and though I love the fact that there's a Little Golden Book link to go along with the fact that both of their costumes were plays on their names, the truth is that we hadn't even heard of the "Freddie Bear" book until AFTER we'd picked their costumes.

Speaking of which, here they are!

That harmonica in his pocket caused
something of a wardrobe malfunction at
a Fall Festival we went to on Friday nite.
A friend gave it to me for the boys,
and Jones fell in love with it. As we walked
out of the festival, he tried to put it in his
front pocket but ended up putting it
down the bib of his overalls instead,
so we had to basically do the
hokey pokey to get it to fall out
of his pant leg.