To The Naysayers

Now are you glad Brett Favre is a Viking? I don't think Sage or Tavaris could have thrown that last pass. Minnesota 27, San Fran 24 with :02 to go!!! Yay!!!

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Here's to you, Angela and Darrick!

Special Effects And A Surprise For Me

This is Claire's first attempt at creating photographic effects. Doesn't it look like the thing in Cate's mouth is really huge?! All it is is a DVD package!

This morning after Claire had some luck on the potty she started talking about a new bike. I assured her she wasn't going to get one just because of this one success. But she kept talking about it. Little did I know there was already one out in the garage because when Cate and I were ready to join her there Claire was perched on her new two wheeler (training wheels don't count!). She does pretty good on it and even knows how to work the brakes. She just has to remember to use them!

Happy Birthday, Rand!

This is bad but I don't have any recent pictures of my brother! I'm not going to say he's celebrating his birthday today because he's pooh-poohed those for years. But it's his day and he's on a bike somewhere in Illinois so I bet he's enjoying it.

Two Weeks Is Too Long

It's been a couple weeks since we'd seen the little kids and if we don't keep up on them soon they won't be little anymore! We had to work a bit to get a smile out of Harvey...

...but Natalie and Mindy didn't mind obliging.

What's This?

Would anyone care to venture a guess as to what this is?

Too Many To Choose So I'll Skip It For Now

The North Shore was picturesque (but hot!) as always and since I have 828 pictures from our trip I've decided it's just too many to pick from for a blog entry right now. So....the girls will once again provide me with material to post! Claire has a new footstool......and Cate was ready to pick a bouquet!

When I came home from there on Saturday I passed some bean fields that are probably just past the really pretty color they get in the Fall. (Jill's Dad says when they're golden like that they're actually green....as in "money"!)

Also in Claire's neck of the woods are some corn fields putting on their Fall display. The colors of the season are one of the reasons it's my favorite one.

Northbound

This bunch plus Alan, then Tony in a few days, is headed for our favorite vacation spot...the North Shore of Minnesota. First the weather looked to be cool and wet but now I think it's looking okay. Just to be by Lake Superior is always a treat. See you when we get back!

9/11

A construction site west of our place has a flag flying proudly today in honor of 9/11 and in memory of those who died.

Just Because

(This is one of those days I don't really have a theme for my post...just random pictures.)

I always thought Cate never had an interest in holding her own bottle. She not only does but likes to one hand it sometimes. It can be kind of messy, though, and this is the girl that hates to have her face wiped!

While Cate napped Claire and I made ice cream cones.

Who IS that behind those Foster-Grants?

It still feels good in the grass even almost half way into September!

What Big Eyes You Have

All the better to see you!

One Person's Trash...

...is another person's treasure. We went to the trash and recycling center today and in the bin where we tossed our sink was this sign I pilfered for Grandpa's woods.

We actually hiked down a trail yesterday that I think could have this posted on. At least it seemed pretty steep to me!

Labor Day Picnic

We topped off the Labor Day weekend with a campfire picnic in G and g's woods. Tony got a little time with his niece and nephew...

...and Miss N got sandwiched in between a grand- and a great-grandparent.

"Godspell"

"Godspell" was playing at the Olde Pine Theatre in Pine Island this weekend so we went to the Saturday night show. I'd never been there before and what a pleasant surprise for a small town theatre! If you look hard over on the far right of this picture you'll see Tony at his set.

The music was great and the cast did a fine job of performing it!

That Sinking Feeling

We used to have a plain, old stainless steel sink and faucet.

But Jon came over on Saturday and, with a little overseeing from Natalie... ...put in a new one for us.Thanks a lot, Jon! You da bomb!

We Saved Big Money!

We shopped yesterday afternoon for 3 1/2 hours and most of it was at our favorite store.

Jill's got it in her head we need all new appliances after 18 years and pretty much had stuff picked out at Lowe's. But we stopped at Menards just to check on this one refrigerator and, lo and behold, all the appliances were at a sale price better than Lowe's. I tell you, we must have had a sign stamped on our foreheads to 'please be nice to us' or something because everybody we dealt with at the four places we stopped were SO pleasant to deal with. Some places we get such rude people that don't really give a s___ and it's such a revelation when you deal with someone that does. The last place we stopped, Godfather's Pizza, is a place that must really train their employees in customer service because I can think of the last three times we've been there they treated us like we were family!

I Think I Can Can

Today was my first ever attempt at canning anything. Over the winter I was at a couple parties where they had pickled green beans that were de-licious and I vowed to give it a whirl this summer. I suppose I can't test them out for awhile but I think the jars sealed as expected.

My hat is off, though, to people that can stuff on a regular basis. I was scared to death of that big of amount of boiling water and getting those jars in and out of it. We'll see how these turn out to see if I try it again.

Fun At The Park

We hadn't been down to the park even once this summer! So today we packed up and headed for the playground. Claire was a real trooper on her part of the walk...even brushing off a little ding on her leg with no tears after taking a tumble on the trail. The slides were still wet so she mostly just checked them out from the top.

Cate liked the swing and so did I. Because the minute I'd set her down elsewhere she had a handful of the woodchips and you can imagine where they were headed...straight to her mouth.

(Look at those top teeth starting to come in!)

Doh, A Dear, A Real Male Dear

I spent Tuesday with Natalie and Harvey since Mindy had her first day back to school for the year. Natalie needed to play with the Play Doh...

...and Harvey is proving to be a little dear...

...especially since he lets me have fun with the camera with him.(We called each other ahead of time to see what color each of us was wearing! ;)