Smiles all around

Today marked the end of the summer, at least for me. It was the last trip to Richfield to spend time with Ethan and Owen before school starts. Angie and Charlie, thank you for the weekly treat of playing with your little fellers and watching them grow into healthy and happy four-month-olds!

Dad/Larry/Paco/Grandpappy and I were joined by Auntie Annie today, which meant the adult to baby ratio was 3:2. We managed not to fight too much over who got to hold, feed, change a diaper, or play with one of the babies.

It took a while to get both boys to put on their biggest smiles at the same time, but finally they did it. Aren't they adorable??!

Too busy to write

Here's some of the recent activity going on around here...

Lead Cousin reunites with her Second in Command.

Toddler cousins as puppies.

Toddler cousins greet baby cousins.
Yup, the little guys are lookin' good!
The boys with mommy and Auntie Beesie.

Walking around the yard together looking for the right spot to play.

Miles and Hannah discussing sidewalk chalk art concepts.

Hannah's choice of "Rainbow" was the winning design.
Here are the artists at work.

WE WANT SIDEWALK CHALK!!

Evan, birthday boy.
Grandpa and Hannah crossing the bridge at Sibley Park.

View from the bridge
There's nothing more fun than riding a duck on a windy day!

I'm so lucky!

I am so lucky to have four grandchildren who add happiness and joy to my life and to their grandpappy's life as well. This is not a new thought, but one that is important to express now and then. On Sunday, Skyping with Hannah didn't work out so well because of interference in the Skype-o-sphere, but we got to see her briefly. How fun to hear her sing her version of "The Wheels on the Bus"! While we didn't see Miles this weekend, he talked to us on the phone, and that is a treat, especially when he says, "I yuv ooo." Today I played with Ethan and Owen, who were well-behaved and happy, but not too interested in napping. Oh please let them sleep tonight so Charlie and Angie don't suffer the consequences!

Charlie was at work at St. O, and Angie had a professional development workshop to go to today with her sixth grade teaching team. Aunt Britt and I were co-babysitters, and neither of us could get enough of Ethan's cooing and purring or Owen's grins and chortles.

Angie and Charlie, your babies are a delight, and I don't have the words to describe how wonderful it is to spend time with them. I'm sorry the summer is coming to an end, because that means the weekly visits are also ending soon. : o (

"Owen, I don't mind you snuggling into my shoulder,
but please don't drool on my alligator onesie!""Ethan, your arm tastes really, really yummy!"

"Mommy, we're so happy you're home! We missed you!"

Religious differences

Today was a lackluster day, and I haven't done anything blog-worthy, so how about another Spring Valley side-trip? As I've said before, if you find this dull and a waste of your time, so be it. Go look around on another blog or buy something on E-bay.

Today's topic is Being Lutheran, which I wasn't and still am not. As a recovering Catholic, I have nothing at all against Lutheranism, but if you've read any of Jon Hassler's books, particularly Grand Opening, you know that some Lutherans and Catholics choose to walk on opposite sides of the street rather than work out their God-and-Virgin-Mary differences. In Grand Opening, they shopped at different grocery stores. Go figure.

Here is Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Spring Valley, MN, as it looks today (except for an addition that I didn't include in the photo, wanting to preserve the look of the 1960's). The church is not black and white, but the photo is. Diane Highum's family lived right across the street, so I imagine they waited until the bells started ringing on Sunday morning before running over to make it for the start of the service.



Back in the 1960's when Our Savior's was new and St. Ignatius was old (torn down and a new church built around 1969; see current photo of St. Ignatius in right-hand column of this very blog), my Lutheran friends had lots of questions about Catholicism. I didn't have too many questions about Lutheranism, because I figured Martin Luther answered them all when he went around nailing things on doors a few centuries back. My Lutheran friends wanted to know why Catholics worship the devil and a lot of other things I realize I shouldn't blog about, having to do with illicit relationships between nuns and priests. They learned these things at Sunday school, or so they said. In catechism classes, my Catholic friends and I were asked to "renounce Satan and all his evil works," so I was pretty darned sure we didn't worship him.

Cindy (who went to the Methodist church) will have to help me with this one, but as I recall it was our financially better-off friends and classmates who were members of Our Savior's congregation. My only evidence is that Luther Leaguers used to go to Bible camp and Luther League conventions and we didn't leave town for anything. We had summer vacation catechism with nuns imported from Rochester, though.

The Spring Valley Story, continued

I have a very small readership for this blog, but one of the more demanding readers sent an email today telling me to get on the stick and write something, that's it's been a week since I last wrote. Yes, it has been. I've been busy. For the last couple of days I've been having fun with Miles, then Owen and Ethan. I didn't take pictures of them, though. What's the matter with me??

Yesterday I could have wished Annie and Tanner Happy Anniversary #4 on this blog. Happy Belated Anniversary, Annie and Tanner. And Doreen, Happy Belated Birthday to you, too. Next year I'll be fancier, and on time.

Okay, to appease the complaining blog reader, I thought I'd add a photo especially for her. No one else will appreciate it (except for me, of course). The trees are huge, so I couldn't get a good shot of the entire front.
This house is where my friend Cindy resided when she and I were kids on Huron Avenue. I thought it was the most exciting place to live, because she and her mom and dad (Barb and Don) lived in an upstairs apartment.

Arlene Lundby, aunt of our friend Merry Lundby (Yes, Merry. Not Mary.) lived downstairs, and entered her home through the door on the left. The door on the right was Cindy's door. I loved ringing the bell, waiting for Barb to say "Come in!" then climbing the stairs to their home.

Here are some things we did there:

Watched American Bandstand. We could have done this at anyone else's house and it wouldn't have been as cool. Cindy's living room had a great wall mirror, so we could watch ourselves dance to the tunes Dick Clark announced. Cindy watched herself dance A LOT! She was a great dancer, so all that watching paid off!

Stayed overnight in Cindy's great canopy bed. I remember it having a canopy, but I may be making that up. Cindy, help me out! I was in awe that she had a double bed and she was only one person!

Smoked my first cigarette--well, had a couple of puffs anyway--in Cindy's bathroom. The cigarette was a found object. We found it under an evergreen tree in my front yard, spilled from my mom or dad's cigarette pack, no doubt, and we rushed to Cindy's to smoke it. Her dad was sleeping in his bedroom (He must have been on the night shift at work.), and we quaked in fear that he'd wake up and smell it.

Went to a few parties there when Don and Barb were out of town. Cindy always had cute boyfriends who were older than we were, and they brought their friends to the parties. And they brought beer. Being the child of a teacher, I knew my ass would be grass if I got caught at a beer party, but since I didn't drink any of it, I took the chance.

I think Cindy's phone number was 2636. In the 1950's in Spring Valley, phone numbers were either three or four digits. Merry's was 431. Ours was 396. Simpler world back then.

Happy Thursday

Lots of cuteness on Oliver Avenue today. Ethan and Owen are now smiling and giggling and talking up a storm, although they look fairly serious in the picture immediately below.
Each of the boys took a turn with one of Miles' favorite infant toys (Miles had one just like it, or maybe it's his, on loan to E and O). It looks like an abacus, and apparently Owen and Ethan are becoming math whizzes by using it.

Trip

We flew to Missoula, MT.
We flew back to MN from MT.
In between, we had a good time with Don, Janet, Mike, and Amber.
We didn't take any pictures, but Janet did.
If I get some photos from Janet, I'll post them.
End of story.