1 year and Counting

My little boy is all grown up! It seems like only yesterday he was learning to hold his head up, and now he is walking and need to learn to protect his head again.
We had a great birthday party with all of the Dude's peeps. Mom's cupcakes were a hit, I hear.
In honor of Mugs -my sister- I made Floyd a hat. I even bought sparkle paint. It said "The Dude Hits the Big #1." He was overwhelmed with all the people and gifts. But the best present was dads....200 ping pong balls in a box!

the Dude hits the Big #1

Yep, I busted it all domestic and ...... I was "guilted" into making cupcakes from my family. I thought about buying gourmet minicupcakes, but then reconsidered after I realized it would cost the same amount as a wedding cake. So instead I made Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes with cream cheese and chocolate icing. Not bad eh? Who knew I had it in me. All of this in preparations for a birthday bash on Friday night. All are welcome. Let me know and I will give you the deets.  You  will be able to see the walkin'man ..."burning out his fuse out there alone."

Early Morning Phone Calls......

I have found that it is never a good thing when the phone rings early in the morning. This last Saturday was no exception. My sister called to tell me that my grandpa had died during the night. My Grandpa was 84 years old, and a wonderful man. These last few days the whole family gathered to share memories and the many one-liners my grandpa had for every occasion. My favorite was "If I was feeling any better, I would have to take something for it." 

I spent almost everyday in the summertime at my Grandpa's house. We would swim and run in and out of the house for frozen snickers bars and coke.  He would take us out to his shop and build us boats to float in the pool. 

Grandpa always had a smile on his face. I never saw him angry. Every time I saw him he would share the same stories again and again about how much our grandma loved us, and about how Grandma never hated anyone except for Mr MacGregor because he was so mean to Peter Rabbit. 

I remember christmas at grandpa, he  would nail the tree to the floor so it would not fall over. I loved watching him make a fire. He loved to sit in his yellow leather chair and watch all of us in the swimming pool.

My dad gave a life sketch for my grandpa during the funeral, and his closing will stay with me forever..."dad, it seems like I never said I love you near enough." 

Floydster and Margot up to no good.

Yuck Mouth

I couldn't sleep last weekend. It could have been that Floyd was kicking me in the face, or the fact that Rob was out of town, or maybe it was the sharp pain radiating from my upper teeth. I started convincing myself that I had an abscess cooking in my face, and would require emergency dental work, you know, worse case scenario type stuff. I made it into the dentist on Monday afternoon, and a grim future of expensive painful dental work was painted for me...can't wait.
 

Boise

We made it up to Boise to see Mugs and the G's over the weekend to celebrate October birthdays and Halloween. The Dude tested out is Yoda outfit at the neighborhood Halloween Carnival. He was a hit, but Grant took the cake with his deadpan impersonation of John McCain.

North Carolina

From the top left:
1. Mom and Floyd outside grammy's house.
2. Floyd and Grammy in the flowers.
3. The dude in the flowers
4. Shout out to Erin, my best friend, who is moving to Boston today.
5. Grampie Eddie
6. Rob's breakfast. We ate with members of the Christian motorcycle asssociation.
7. The boy at breakfast, he ate pancakes and peaches.
8. The leaves in Damascas Virginia.
9. Rob and the boy.
10. Floyd crached on Gammy's floor.
11. The boys with Grampy Jones' horse.
12. Floyd and Grammy Leslie.

Fast trip! But worth it in oh so many ways! Next weekend Boise!

Oktoberfest

Its time to celebrate! The backyard is nearly finished. We kicked off the fall with a little Oktoberfest party to test out the new digs. It rained. 
Sunday we loaded up the family unit and went for a ride. We road the tandem with Floyd in tow.