Fun run

 We had a nice Friday evening with Ethan and Owen. 

Here they are just before pajama time, playing on the couch.

Next it was time for a little brotherly wrestling.

On Saturday morning the Halloween Fun Run participants ran and
walked past our house, much to the delight of two little munchkins.

Ethan and Owen watched Mommy and Daddy leave

for the race.Recognize the monkey pj's, anyone?

 It was cold outside, but the boys were patient, waiting for the runners to get to Church Street, which was almost at Mile 2. Interesting that a 5K race is measured in miles, isn't it?

Pretty soon Mommy and Daddy showed up.

Grandpa Dave flew by so fast that we barely got the camera out 

before he disappeared from sight! Can you pick him out?

Teresa made a stop to show off her peace sign pants.

Spectatorship is fun! The boys watched for nearly an hour. 

They enjoyed the runners and their costumes, and the 
runners were delighted to have two such enthusiastic 
(and adorable) bystanders cheering them on.

Saturday fun

While Larry/Dad/Paco/Grandpappy checked out the new Gopher football stadium ... oops, the TCF Bank Stadium ... today with Angie and Charlie, I played with Ethan and Owen. Such cute and funny little toddlers! I only took a few photos. We were too busy to do a decent photo shoot.

 Mr. Blue-Eyes

 Mr. Brown-Eyes

A pair of close-talkers (Seinfeld episode, anyone?)

About the time I was starting to write this entry, Miles and Weston showed up in our driveway. Good thing Annie and Tanner were along, because neither little boy has long enough legs to reach the gas and brake pedals. It was a quick stop to pick up a bag of miscellaneous stuff on their way home from a day with Grimmius relatives. Thanks for stopping by!  Now we just need to hear from the Dellon family. They're visiting Granmarge in Baltimore!

Just words

I am in the midst of filling the garbage and recycling with binders and folders filled with my writing stuff from teaching at Gustavus. I parted with all but what I deemed potentially useful in June when I cleaned my office, but still brought home dozens of binders and folders. I am only keeping a few things, and those only until I decide they need to go, too. I have no intention of doing any more work with groups of teachers or college students, and so like my friend and writing partner Teresa did a few years ago, I decided to say goodbye to the physical remains of the work I did on the road with Teresa, and in the classroom at Gustavus.

I thought about saving a paper copy of everything I have on transparencies, but if I were to do any teaching or workshops again, all of it would need to be recreated in power point anyway, so no reason to keep anything. And soon, no reason to keep anything electronic, either. I transferred a lot of files to an external hard drive last spring, and am only keeping teaching files on my computer that I might need to send to students this year while the ones I still know are student teaching.

I don't even feel bad about getting rid of the stuff. Spending Wednesday with my brothers in Spring Valley sorting and reminiscing our way through Grandpa Charlie's house prompted me to get rid of my former work life. While going through binders and folders this afternoon, I felt sadness about what I'm seeing in many classrooms-- kids doing worksheets and teachers "covering curriculum". One of my student teachers lamented last week that she had to do several worksheets each day from the purchased literacy curriculum or else she would get behind. SHE would get behind... Well, keep on going honey, and drag those kids right along with you. Make sure they can read isolated lists of words and fill nouns and verbs in blank spaces, and then you can complain when they don't read with enthusiasm or write well when given the rare chance to write something that is meaningful to them.  Grumble, grumble. They're just words, anyway.

Grandpa Charlie

The mom of one of the football players who went to meet Coach Charlie Reps at 

the end of August got these photos from the SV Tribune and passed along copies to me. What a great time for Grandpa CReps!

More about Weston

Weston is at home and learning about life with his family. He discovered quickly that Miles is a nurturing big brother. Last night, he invited Weston to read bed time books together.  Do you notice that Daddy appears to be the one ready for bed?

Today Uncle Charlie, Auntie Angie, and cousins Ethan and Owen came to say hello. They've been bumped out of baby position by Vivian and Weston, and are handling their middle-cousinhood with style!

Uncle Charlie is a pro at holding little squirts like Weston.

Weston is wearing a comfy sleeper that Owen and Ethan wore not so long ago.

After all that baby-admiring, the blonde cousins decided it was time for lunch at the big-kid table. Monkey bread, anyone? Wait a minute--where's Ira when you need him??

Lunch conversation was serious for a while. "Does fruit taste better on a fishy plate?" "Who likes blueberry bagels?" "When is a guy old enough to drink out of a cup without a top?"

Grandpappy and I said good-bye around noon so we could go to Spring Lake Park to meet Allie and Kasey, Mike and Amber's twin baby girls, who are a month old now. They weigh only about 5 lbs. each. Grandpa Don and Grandma Janet got their first hands-on experience with their granddaughters this weekend. They were convinced they need to move to Minnesota after cuddling the babies. 

Which brings me to the expected conclusion:  As happens quite frequently (for real or in our imaginations) with family events, we once again can say, "UNCLE DON WAS THERE!"

Can you believe it? ONE MORE birthday!

Since no one is interested in my retirement planning strategy, how about hearing about Weston Charles Grimmius instead? Yup, Miles' new baby brother made his way into the world at 1:13 a.m. today-- October 15, 2010. He weighed in at 7 lb. 5 oz. and stretches out to 20.5 inches in length.  It would be so much fun to see Weston and Vivian side by side right now!!

We are touched by Annie and Tanner's choice of a middle name for Weston. Grandpa Charlie would be honored to know that he now has two great-grandsons-- Owen and Weston--who have Charles as their middle name.

Miles seems to like Weston, and is sweet and gentle with him. He and Hannah both know how to be super older siblings.  And now... here's Weston! We love you, little fella!

Tips for future retirees

If you are planning to retire from the work force at some point in the far future, this little message is aimed toward you (Elisabeth, Evan, Charlie, Angie, Annie, and Tanner). 

1. Get a very large jar, larger than the one Annie was using to save for a little yellow truck.

2. Empty your pocket or purse change into it every morning or evening, starting tomorrow.

3. Pick up coins on the street (yes, even pennies) and add them to the jar.

4. If there are ardillas in your neighborhood, know that they collect all sorts of shiny things, including coins (just ask Old Man Fookwire, right Hannah?), so rob their nests of the coins to add to your jar.

5. When the jar is filled, seal the lid, get another jar, and start over again.

6. By the time you are ready to retire, you'll be all set for a life of comfort.

I am telling you this after spending 90 minutes on the phone this morning trying to get the information I needed from a TIAA-CREF representative so I could roll over the meager amount of retirement savings I've accumulated while working at Gustavus, and put it into an IRA account established elsewhere. Well let me tell you, those TIAA-CREF people become hostile when a person tries to take her money elsewhere. It was an ordeal, but at last I have enough information to get the forms I need to proceed.  I have had an account with TIAA-CREF for 10 of the 11 years I was at Gustavus, and in the last few years since they've taken their access online, I have not been able to get to my account. Why, you ask? They had the wrong user ID, the wrong email address, and my grandma's maiden name as a security check, but asked me always for my mom's maiden name.  

Get your jars, kids. It will be a lot easier than trying to collect your hard-earned retirement savings!

More about Vivian

Story time last night...reading Big Sister and Little Sister.

Vivian Claire is a relaxed and mellow baby. Cute, too!

Cousin Linda drove over from Raleigh this morning to meet Vivian. They got along famously! We all went to The Weathervane,  a great restaurant at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill. Hannah had two GREAT BIG pancakes--her favorite!

 Grandpa, snuggling a peanut and a pumpkin this afternoon...