Remembering

This week we went to a service to remember A's grandmother who we called GG Nan. I went back through all 7+ years of our digital photos and found all the great shots of her and passed them on to hopefully be useful some way or other.

The biggest thing for me was the sweet and ladylike way she had about her. Very gentle and well, sweet is the perfect word. I was fortunate to have so many years to have gotten to know her and for each of the children to have gotten to know and love her too.

I will surely remember her every time we use our silver teaspoons that were hers, our cake plate that still has the family name written on the bottom, some crystal from her parents' farm, as well as some lovely jewelry for me and many play necklaces for L.

We love you GG Nan.

Halloween Fun

Let's face it, Halloween is a major thing for the little ones. They love the costumes, they love the candy, they love the excitement.

Sleeping Beauty on her way to school to see the boys

At their school there is a parade of costumes first thing after lunch. It's a fun little tradition where everyone in the school gets to see each other's costumes and show off a bit.

Indiana Jones

Green Lego brick

Soon A. had to head off to work and the grandparents all started showing up.

We lit the pumpkins and took the obligatory group costume pictures.

We were joined by our friend Luke Skywalker, I mean A. and his Mum.

And we made the rounds.

There were a few glitches. Indie's whip kept unraveling, the Lego block couldn't put candies in his own bag (his arms couldn't quite touch), and the princess had to hike up her dress to climb the steps. And man, was it cold!

The next morning we took inventory. What a great night.

Pumpkin Patch

LATE ENTRY

Oops. I just found these pictures from our quick family trip to the local pumpkin patch.

I think I'll just slide them in here, ok?

Aren't they cute little pumpkins?

the Day Before the Big Day

This is the story of the Sunday before Halloween. We hung around all afternoon and did pumpkin-y stuff and last minute preparations.

We hollowed them out, scooping the guts and saving the seeds.

Someone in our family is pretty gross on a regular basis (licking spilled slurpee off the playground equipment this afternoon, BTW it wasn't his slurpee, it was garbage left there from lunch). But somehow he can't stand the thought of touching pumpkin guts. Can't figure that one out.

Watching Daddy do the carving. Mum is the cleaner, Dad is the carver.

R's choice of pumpkin faces and a to do list for the day.

Occupying himself while Dad carved out his design.

K's design...

Watching it come to life.

L's was the last pumpkin to be carved, so she got creative during her long wait.

The finished products. L's, R's, K's.

And we fell asleep by candlelight.

The votive holders on either side were from VBS this summer.

The pumpkin one in the middle R made at school.

And that was the day before. Stay tuned for a recap of the actual day itself!

Belle visits Papa

When the kids were younger and not in school full time it was much easier to get them to visit the grandparents in their costumes. Now L is the only one home during the day, and only 3 days during the week! Well we did make it to visit Papa and I am so glad we did.

She had a few costumes this year and the Belle costume is more indoor appropriate so a good choice for this day. Everyone asked if she was a princess which made her very pleased.

Then Papa fell asleep so we wandered around to visit the neighbours and L danced her little heart out for them. They had a great time watching and she had a great time dancing.

I have always said that nursing homes and daycares/preschools should be in the same buildings. It would make everyone happier!

Reading

I have some posting to catch up on, but for now...

My cute readers!!!

Library day is becoming a pretty big deal around here.

Jelly Bean

L's first time as a Jelly Bean Helper was this past Thursday. Um, hello super cuteness.

She insisted on bringing a small barbie like toy that we got for free *cough* McDonalds *cough*.

I tried to talk her out of it, then big brother R tried to convince her to bring something else, but no such luck.

Apparently, her favorite part of the whole thing was letting everyone touch it. She went around the circle twice, and kind of skipped the part where you sit and answer questions:)

I love seeing her do so well at preschool. She jumps in there and does all the things she has watched her brothers do before.

Oh, and she picked a red jellybean in case you were wondering.