We're (Almost) Famous

Published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press Bulletin Board today:

"This just texted from my daughter Sarah about my 3 year-old granddaughter Sophie:

'We are carving pumpkins for Halloween. Sophie says, "Cut the top off ." Check. "Draw a face." Check. "Now we need to put the template on the pumpkin." SAY WHAT?'"

Happy Halloween, 21st century style!

Grandma Time

Sophie went upstairs to wake up Hannah on Friday morning. Hannah had painted a glow- in- the dark skeleton costume and she put it on and danced for us in the dark. Sophie liked it, but not enough to let Hannah hold her while wearing it. Sophie then talked Aunty Hannah into polishing her toes and fingers. She didn't want to put on her socks and shoes to go shopping, but I made her. We had alot of errands to run to pick up stuff for Emily before I leave to visit her next Thursday. We went to Ulta to pick up makeup and Sophie held the shopping basket. We talked the cashier into a perfume sample, and sprayed it on our wrists in the car. We went to Best Buy to buy a present for Patrick's and Jeff's birthdays, and Sophie tried to get me to buy a Pillow Pet for her dad. I resisted! We went to lunch at TGIF and ordered dessert! We were on the way to Aveda when Sophie fell asleep in her car seat, so we went home. After her nap we went to Jill's for Andrew's (and Zach's and Patrick's) birthday party. I promised Sophie she could go barefoot once we got there so everyone could enjoy her toes. (Of course Jake was in a costume - Batman this time.) At the end of the party Nate asked to stay overnight with me. I said yes because it won't be that many years and he'll be too busy for his old grandma. We went home and watched Casper the Friendly Ghost on DVD and stayed up until midnight. He slept with me and giggled in his sleep about 5 times, thoroughly scaring me each time. It's surprising how creepy a giggle can sound out of the blue in the dark. On Saturday morning, he watched cartoons while he ate breakfast. After repeatedly checking, Nate was finally able to chat with Emily on Gmail. I read him the story about the mummy in the newspaper. We lazily lounged around until 12:30, when we set out on a new round of errands. He picked Chipotle for lunch. We stopped at Sprint, the gas station, Petsmart, and Sam's Club. (And Yes, we did get to Aveda.) I am sleeping until noon tomorrow!

No Boyz Allowed

Today was girls' day out. Princess Sophie and I went out for lunch and a little shopping. Before you get jealous, I must tell you it was McDonald's and the Dollar Tree! I picked her up at Molly's for a little alone time. "Where do you want to eat", I asked her. "McDonald's", came the reply. "But where else?" said Grandma. "McDonald's" insisted Sophie. McDonald's it was. During lunch we talked about fashion (she liked my shoes, but she liked her own sparkly ones better), sleeping at Danielle's (in bed with the dogs, and BTW, KiKi bites), gardening (carrots grow in the ground and you wash them off with a hose), school (her teacher's name is Mrs.Pam), cousins (Max is her cousin but Sully isn't), and Halloween (you say trick or treat and you get candy!) She wanted to go shopping so we headed for Dollar Tree. After serious thought and alot of trades for something better, she took home: 1.a purple and white stick unicorn ("my daddy will just love it", she said) 2.a package of three headbands in pink, purple and white ("can I wear one right now?") and 3. plastic daggers for Luke, Jake and Nate. I also gave her a Hello Kitty lipgloss ring that I had been saving for a special occasion. "Grandma, you're the best", she squealed! Yeah Sophie, back at ya...

Fun with Food: Fall Edition 2010

Thanks to Aunty Danielle and Uncle Mark for this fun new experience!

Tuffy the Tugboat and the Busy Beaver

Today was predicted to be the last sunny warm day in a while, so we planned a field trip. Luke and Sophie were over because of school closing statewide for MEA, and we didn't want to deal with the crowds at the Pumpkin Farm or the zoo. We hopped in the car and rode over to the Lock and Dam #1 on the Mississippi River. We had the place to ourselves. Luke spotted a beaver swimming in one of the Locks, so we told one of the guys that works there. He said he'd open the gates to let the beaver out. We watched for 10 minutes while the water slowly lowered inside the lock to match the level on the downriver side. The beaver continued swimming laps until the last minute when he started heading right for the gate. Hooray! Nope. OOPs. He swam into the corner of the lock right when the gate was closing. He was trapped behind the giant steel gate! Oooh Nooo! I told the kids there was probably a beaver-sized space behind the gate, but that was just wishful thinking. We kept waiting for him to come out the crack at the side, but he never showed. Finally Bob distracted the kids by looking for fish on the other side of the observation deck while I kept vigilance over the open Lock. The gates slowly closed again and the water started filling. And just when I had given up hope, out of the shadows in the corner swam the beaver!!! Yeah. But that meant he was still stuck. Soon after a couple barges pushed by a tug came into view and passed through the locks. The kids waved at the man standing on the barge and he waved back. The bridge and the Tug exchanged toots. Bob said he saw the beaver swim out upriver when the first Gate was open, but I didn't see it. Anyway, his dam is downriver so he'll have to go through the locks again to get home. The kids started complaining about hunger, so we stopped at a bakery to pick up treats for after nap time, and then went to Wendy's. Luke ate 10 chicken nuggets! When we got home Luke helped Bob in the yard and Sophie took a nap. I sent Luke home with some old books from my childhood that I rescued from my mom's house. But now I'm on the lookout for a vintage Golden Book called "Tuffy the Tugboat."

When You're Right, You're Right!

For the past month Sophie told me and anyone who would listen that she was going to be a butterfly for Halloween. Today I took her costume shopping. When she spotted it she said," It's absolutely perfect." How can you argue with that? And you know what? I think she's right.

This , That and the Other Thing

We have been busy emptying my mom's house and getting it ready for sale. We had only gotten together a couple times until a broken water pipe flooded and forced us into action. We had to clean out the basement and the main floor rooms for the insurance to repair the damage. We started on the upstairs (AKA No Man's Land or Out of Sight, Out of Mind) this week. She lived in the house for 47 years and was a shopaholic. There are only 5 of us and 24 hours in a day. You do the math! Here's a list of some of the more interesting finds so far from upstairs:
- Enough Easter eggs to stock a medium size grocery store if they were hen's eggs.
- Four sets of 8 stainless steel ice cream sundae dishes still in the boxes.
-Two, count 'em , two stained glass chicken shaped lamps, in boxes.
-Lamps. lamps and more lamps. Oh, and lampshades.
-Dozens of fabric shopping totes. And more purses. With tags.
-"Happy 30th Birthday" products. Probably from hers...
-And at the bottom of a pottery jar, we found 3 lone dimes. One each for Dale, Jill and me that were working there tonight. Read Jill's blog for an explanation of the Dimes from Heaven. http://minnesotabeans.blogspot.com/

Shop, Eat, Nap, Lounge Around, Sleep. Repeat.

Aaah, the best laid plans! On Friday Hannah and I had planned to take Sophie with us to run a couple errands at the mall, then to the Pumpkin Farm, then to lunch. BUT , and you knew there was a but, didn't you? Luke came with Sophie in the morning because he didn't have school. Then Hannah got a last minute email for a morning meeting at the University. Luke said the Pumpkin Farm was booorr-rring. So the kids and I packed up, dropped off Hannah and went alone to the mall. What should have been an in-and-out trip was anything but. First their was a snafu with the jeans I was picking up for Emily (actually I found out there was an additional discount if Jill used her credit card,and I'm cheap, so I put those on hold.) Then Luke got a gusher of a bloody nose and I had to lay him on a bench in the middle of the mall until it stopped. We were there for 50 minutes. We ended up picking up Robyn to join us for lunch (Thanks Robyn!) before we headed home for an afternoon nap.
On Saturday morning Bob, Hannah, Diane and I went to cheer Nate's football game. He plays his heart out, but they can never quite win. (Please God, let him win one game this year.) He asked if we would take him to lunch because he was starving. He then asked to come home with us, and Bob swung by and picked up Jake too. Hannah let the boys accompany her to the lab where she does research at the UofM. They got to look at worms in a microscope! Then they stopped at Creamy Cone where she and Zach work, and they got to make their own treats! Afterward, the boys came over to hang out and throw the football in the backyard with Hannah. We popped in a movie. Later we dropped them off at home and met Lorraine, Patrick, Sophie and Luke for supper at TGIF. It was very nice to see Lorraine is doing so well after knee replacement AND bowel surgery!
On Sunday I met Jill, and the nieces Maddy, Caitlin and Kim at the Olive Garden with the intention of going afterward to my mom's house to do some more packing. Jill belatedly decided to clean her own house instead, so I went home after a second trip to the mall to get another pair of jeans to bring to Emily in Mexico. I spent the rest of the day doing crosswords, watching TV, embroidering some jeans for Sophie, and reading.
So to sum up: shop, eat, nap, lounge around, sleep, football, eat, nap, eat, lounge around, sleep, eat, shop, lounge around, sleep. As Luke would say, "booorr-rring.

Saturday Morning Football, Saturday Night Movie

We went to Nate's football at 9 this morning way out in Woodbury. It was a beautiful day in the 80's to enjoy the game. Nate has this to say about today's game:
" I scored a touchdown. In Your Face!!!! Now I have 4 this season. I juked him and ran for the touchdown. My friend Randy chest-bumped me and he hit me so hard that I fell over backward. It rocked! We are middle linebackers. We hit them so hard sometimes that they cry."

Tonight Nate and Jake came to spend the night because Molly has the flu. We laid together on the couch and watched a truly awful movie called "Furry Vengeance". Nate read a book I made about the cabin (on Shutterfly) to me and Jake. And then we tried to video chat with Emily. We eventually settled for typing. Nate typed on his own one letter at a time. Cute!

Friday + Fall + Grandkids = ?

Of course it's the Pumpkin Farm! Today Luke stayed home from school because he had the stomach flu. It was so great to see him, as he hasn't joined Sophie on Fridays since kindergarten started. We cuddled for a while in the morning, and when he felt better we made plans for the day since it was so warm out. (A record breaking 87 degrees!) We woke up Hannah on her rare day off, and drove to the Pumpkin Farm. We fed all the animals, including the now runny- nosed and rheumy- eyed goats. We pet the llamas and sheep, cows and baby goats. Hannah took the kids through the corn maze, and they came back with a an ear of corn and a headful of sweat. When they got hungry we left and picked up sandwiches for Hannah and me, and bakery for all. The kids ate "noodle soup" to placate their still finicky stomachs. They both took a long afternoon nap.
Yesterday, I went to the annual Gathering of Friends Antique Sale at the Bachman's on Lyndale with Diane. It wasn't as big as in previous years, but I still managed to buy a couple things, including a mid-century flowered tablecloth for $4 and a very nice vaseline green glass flower frog for $9. Believe it or not, we stopped for lunch at IKEA! and had swedish meatballs.
The rest of the week I was stuck in the basement of the Courthouse waiting to be called from the pool for jury duty and feeling very sorry for myself.
TGIF!!!!!

Pumpkin Farm

It's October, which means one thing .... Pumpkin farm!! Grandpa and I took Sophie to the farm near Stillwater. Sophie LOVED to feed the animals, who vacuumed up the corn from her hand with their soft velvety mouths. This is the opening week, so the animals are still friendly and don't have those runny eyes that they'll inevidently get from contact with so many sniffling kids. She fed llamas, a cow, chickens- including some with furry pants, sheep and lots of "billy goat - goats!" She tried to talk us into keeping one, but we couldn't get it over the fence. Whew! She then led us (read: bossed us) through the corn maze. We were the only ones tackling it at the time. She was intrigued by the corn still on the stalks, and by the silks still attached to the corn. We brought some home to share with Pumpkin Boy who was in kindergarten. She tried out the tractors, but particularly liked the pink and purple one that was covered with flowers. She stuck her face in a multitude of seasonal picture cut-outs, but didn't like it when I or grandpa put our head in the vampire one. (I only had my old camera phone, so the pics are not so hot. I don't know what that face is about in the corn maze. Maybe sun? She was actually having a blast.) We then went to a store and she picked out a bag of jellied sugar pumpkin candy to bring home. Afterward, we went to lunch "in a restaurant", as requested by the Pumpkin Queen.