Morning Smile

You wouldn't think that leftovers in dirty dishes would be a good start to the day, but this made me smile.

The engraving has worn but my daughter's name is still faintly visible. 25-30 years ago, you could send in labels from SpaghettiOs and get 3 engraved spoons. The kids liked them then, and J still buys them for a quick warm snack every once in a while. The problem was the '3'. We have 4 kids. Since Ameranth did not care for this delicacy at that age, I got spoons for the others, and when she questioned it a little later, she was told her spoon was lost in the move to Maine. So she says- I don't remember this.

But, yes, that was Ameranth's snack last night and that spoon is hers. I was lucky enough to get 6 unengraved spoons on EBay some years ago, and not only gave Ameranth her spoon, I replaced Shoeshine's which was long gone, as well as welcoming Mr C to the family with his own spoon. Thank goodness he's a good guy who doesn't mind his in-laws' quirks.

Last year I found some more spoons online, not the same design, but still SpaghettiOs. Shoeshine's family all got engraved spoons, including two sent to Ladyslipper and her halfbrother. I couldn't have her lording it over him in the future, could I?  Now, Teva is here and needs one and J still mentions the fact that he never got a spoon at all. My supply is dwindling, but I still have a few for future additions to the family.  Lucky unsuspecting souls!

OMGtober

Whew- October is over! What an increase in activity to our normally quiet routine, and it was fun. Shoeshine and Lady A were a little tired when they got here from Boulder, with several stops along the way to stay with relatives. They were more tired when they left a week later, after attending a friend's wedding and meeting his and her old friends on various days. Lady A had some concerns about leaving the kids with us, since we had never met them before, but all parties were agreeable, and we had a great time.

Mars was fascinated with the lawn tractor and couldn't wait until he was able to drive it. J had more on his hands than expected, trying to keep passengers seated and drivers from zigzagging, but he loved it. The weather gave us a couple of good days for outside activities, which was great for energy burning.

They wished for a swing, and bam, Grampa J built some swings. He produced two plastic swords that he had stashed in his shed, and they even had scabbards! Venus came tearing up from the pasture to announce that Mars had "caught a fish! without a pole! it was hardcore!" This was in the 12 inches of water and Shoeshine went down to check it out. I cautioned him that we had no fish, but did have some 2 inch long leeches, so he was very relieved to find Mars with a bullfrog tadpole.  Venus spent much of her time catching insects, including the "Halloween" ladybugs that spend October in Maine trying to get inside our homes for the winter.

Speaking of Halloween, J's ghouls were a great hit and a new one was made as a group effort. The kids were each allowed to pick a mask- any mask- from J's precious collection, and he was proud of them for choosing two of his 'best' ones.

 Venus learned how to make apple squares and was a big help- in fact she decided that she had done most of the work, including taste testing the 'sugar apple' mixture.

(she did not eat from the bowl- she was smelling the shortening in the above picture!)

 The baby. What a good baby Teva is, very open to being passed around a bit, and really only complained when he got hungry, or felt his mother had been out of sight for too long.

Boomer needed a little extra love too, but he was very good with Teva. Having a baby here for sitting the last 6 months has been good for him. He knows he can't chew on baby toys, and he lets S take any toy from him- which is more than he lets me do!

Teva is a solemn little boy, but he can smile and laugh too- very serious 'old' eyes. It was wonderful to get to know all of the kids and we hope to set up Skyping soon.

Venus and Mars each got to make a character and we helped them play a little Guild Wars2. They each made a ranger so they could have pets, and had a blast running around. Mars chose the largest race and the largest size, and loved hunting and getting his loot. It was a fast paced game with him.

I don't have a screenshot since Venus played on Ameranth's game, but she chose the smallest of the 5 races, and spent a great deal of time over face and hairstyle choices (as do we). She probably came up to the top of Mars' boots! She traveled to his area so they could play together but had a hard time seeing her character in the giant's landscape. After an NPC (non player character) child commented on her size, she was offended and wanted to go back to "my own people". She wandered around gathering pets and avoiding fights. Very slow pace for her. It was fun, and never too early to indoctrinate them, right?

We were sorry to see them go and hope that someday they are able to live closer to us. I don't want to forget Ladyslipper- she wasn't able to come visit, but we did get a recent picture. After 2 and a half years, she finally had enough hair to need a trim, even if it was only in the front for bangs.

Love 'em all.