Happy Halloween to Miles' Cousins

Halloween is a spooky holiday, there's no denying it. This year for Grandpappy and me, Halloween started out happy and friendly. A little boy stayed overnight with us, and his cheerful smiles took the fright right out of this Halloween.

Miles decided to decorate a little pumpkin to share with his cousins. He is a sticker artist...and you can see he takes his art very seriously. He worked diligently, attaching 20 or so stickers to the pumpkin, and when he finished he looked at his handiwork with pride and shouted, "Happy Birthday!" Teresa, I'm assuming his proclamation is in your honor.

We're delighted the other cousins are together for Halloween. Owen the Friendly Ghost and Ethan the Happy Pumpkin will get trained in for trick-or-treating by Lead Cousin Hannah. Hannah, we just found out that your costume is Big Ira (Ira Grande), the best monkey ever! Have a spooktacular time together in NC... we miss you.

Saturday

A sunny Saturday...or maybe it's all a dream or an hallucination. We haven't had much sun lately, so I'm not sure. Dad/Grandpappy/Paco is on his way outside to start scooping up and chopping leaves to put out for the city leaf pick-up crew, who will fire up the leaf-sucking machine beginning on Monday.

A few days ago Dad checked with someone in the city offices to find out if it would be possible to zero in a bit closer on when the crew will be in our part of town so we don't kill the grass by piling leaves on it for two solid weeks. Nope, no can do--the reason being that there are only two guys on said crew, and they just don't know where they will be, and when (Hmmm...it just occurred to me that the St. Peter leaf pick-up crew might just be those two pilots who overshot the Mpls/St. Paul airport a couple of days ago and were out of communication for an hour.).

If the local Powers-That-Be would tune in to NUMB3RS on Friday evenings, they'd realize that they could predict where the leaf crew will be on any given day at any particular moment. All it takes is Cal Poly mathematician and former boy-genius Charlie Epps to work out a mathematical formula taking into account total street miles, minimum and maximum wind velocity, average leaf-sucker machine speed, annual volume of leaves sucked up, and anticipated lunch break length of the crew divided by their height and weight calculated in the base-8 system, and poof! we could know the exact time of our leaf pick up, thus saving the grass from certain death.

I spent much of the morning emptying the closets in the computer room and Annie's former bedroom. Where does all that crap come from? Both closets are a bit more organized now, after filling several garbage bags, sorting items to go to MRCI, and putting back what's left. I'm not done yet; the variety of distractions I've taken advantage of for the last hour put me in line for a procrastination award of some kind.

October weekend

By Friday evening, the house was full of toddlers, babies, and the parents they brought along. Here are some highlights of a great weekend...

Ethan practiced his beauty salon skills by drooling on
Owen's head and arranging his hair.

Owen and Ethan reflected on the responsibilities of being 5-1/2 months old.

Two spooky creatures showed up to entertain us.

Hannah and Miles decorated the sliding door with special markers. We'll enjoy their artwork for a while before washing the window.

On Sunday afternoon, everyone went to Grandma's Little Acre to visit the pumpkin patch.

The toddlers and some of the adults went on Farmer Pat's hay wagon while the babies and Angie and Charlie picked out pumpkins for Ethan and Owen to decorate (pictures will appear on CP or AP's blog). Here's Grandpa Larry making sure our hay wagon was on course.

Farmer Pat dropped us off in a field of pumpkins to find our favorites.

Hannah and Miles contemplate a big one.

After the hayride, Miles and Hannah climbed on the
Throne of Calabazas for a photo op.

Here is the Grimmius Family, with a cute little pumpkin.

Mommy/Auntie Elisabeth had her hands full with two wiggly toddlers.

We admired Grandma Pam's autumn harvest bounty.



Even good things come to an end, and soon it was time to go home.
Thanks for a great weekend everybody!

Cousins say hello

Grandpa Dave delivered Miles this morning.

Somebody was more than a little bit excited to see her cousin.
Hannah took off after Miles, and they both ran so fast the camera
couldn't catch them at the same time.
Here's Round 1.

And Round 2.

Round 3, and Hannah is closing in.

At last...close enough for a proper cousin greeting!

Caution

Charlie's recent blog entry about the octogenarian marathoner who inserted a catheter during the TC race last weekend prompted me to ask our children and children-in-law runners if that is a common practice. I was assured that it is NOT. So here is get-in-shape question #2: Are there signs like this one posted at fitness centers?

If not, there should be. Contact Dad/Larry/Grandpappy/Paco for further information.

Gustie Homecoming Weekend

We were happy to have a visit from the Richfield and Owatonna contingents for Gustie Homecoming Weekend. The cold temps and windy hill meant not much outdoor time, but all the better for tender baby and toddler skin to stay indoors. Here are some highlights from my babysitting adventures with the little boys, which may mean it will be a while before their parents let me watch them again.

Everything started out fine on Friday night when Charlie and Angie and Grandpappy were at the Commission 150 dinner. The boys told me their mom said it would be okay if they had some rice cereal, so they bibbed up and sat on the couch in the sun room for an informal feeding. All was well, and they shared nicely. After changing into pj's and reading a book about a spider at least four times, Ethan and Owen decided to mix it up a bit. You can see that Ethan was getting in a back-hand jab here. So Owen tried a "spaghetti hand" move, confusing Ethan about which hand or hands belonged to whom. Very effective... Or so it seemed. Ethan retaliated with a left hook that narrowly missed the mark. These boys really do love each other, and eventually broke out in tears, deciding to end the skirmish.After the tears ended, the babies decided to hug and make up. They promise no more Fight Club ever again when Gma Jill is taking care of them! Today it was nothing but cute and sweet and nice from both boys. Owen bumboed for a while, and called Hannah on the baby cell phone. While Annie, Tanner, Angie, Charlie, and Grandpappy took a quick trip to the Gustie game, Miles and Owen took naps. Ethan said he felt like baking, so we made a batch of chocolaty brownies. He was a bit miffed that I chose a mix, since he prefers to make them from scratch. Ethan posed with the spatula, but declined a taste, saying he's too young to lick batter yet.
Miles finally stood still long enough to have his picture taken in the Packer's cap Grandpa Dave gave him. Owen is contemplating whether it's legal to be a Green Bay fan if you're from Minnesota.
Everybody decided to go home tonight. See you all next weekend when Elisabeth and Hannah come to visit!

I survived the 2009 TC Marathon!

Congratulations Charlie and Annie for your GREAT performances today running in the Twin Cities Marathon! I really do not understand how anyone can train that hard and run that far, but you two did it, and Dad/Paco/Larry/Grandpa/Grandpappy and I are proud of you! Can't wait to see photos on various blogs. Angie, thanks for letting me be your marathon viewing buddy. I'm sorry if I slowed you down. Tanner, thanks for hauling Larry from site to site, too. He enjoyed it lots. I have no pictures, just links to the cool maps and time breakdowns for CP and AG. Hope you both can give your feet a rest tonight!