HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We celebrated Halloween a day early so that our immediate family (minus Jen & Joe) could gather together for a chili supper, cornbread, and see Cailyn in her costume...and she delighted us by coming to the door and softly saying "trick or treat"
Mike and Corissa said it was "challenging" to get her dressed, but the results were worth waiting for! What a darling "ladybug" she is!! AND even her dolly had a costume to match...
Cailyn opened her bag of goodies from Mimi and Grandpa, and out of all the little gifts in the bag, she was most happy with the silly straws! I think she thought they were drumsticks or something! She had fun "dancing" in her ladybug costume!

After supper, Aunt Alissa made caramel appples for everyone,
and Uncle Alan carved a pumpkin
Everyone admired the jack-o-lantern-in-process
AND the trick-or-treaters will enjoy this happy pumpkin when they come to our door this evening~
Hope you all enjoy a Happy Halloween too!

October 28, a Day to Celebrate...TWICE!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to TWO special couples in my life. My parents are celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary today. We celebrated with them last Sunday with a trip to downtown Phoenix on the light-rail. Our destination was the Spaghetti Factory and we had a delicious lunch there,
and enjoyed our train trip too!
Our son Michael and his wife Corissa are celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary.
They celebrated last weekend going on a "date" while Alissa and Alan took care of Cailyn!
Many more happy years together to both couples!!

October Break

Before October is over, thought I would blog about my activities during my October break from work. It was a busy week, but a much-needed change of activity and scenery! I rented a few movies to watch, did some reading,
decorated for Halloween,went shopping, including Costco. Mike and Cailyn joined us there one evening
I had the opportunity to watch granddaughter Cailyn on Monday, Thursday and Friday. She is one busy girl now! Being 20 months old means Cailyn has lots of energy which results in one tired Grandma at the end of the day! ;-) At home
I also did some paper-shredding, rather mundane, but I listened to an audio book while in the process.
I played dolls with Cailyn...

At home I did some on-line shopping
and some yardwork. I went on a walk with Cailyn; our destination was the McDonald's two blocks from her house! They have a great indoor toddler play area!

She and I like the yogurt parfaits! We got to enjoy Elmo's alphabet song on their computer, but only for a few minutes.
I practiced my latin choir music, one of the many special songs for the dedication of St. Mary Magdalene's new church building on October 29.
I joined the church choir last spring and really enjoy serving in this ministry. Have I mentioned that Cailyn's favorite puppet is a kitty, and her "boo-boo bear" is always nearby!
She loves dressing up, and likes playing blocks with her Grandpa! He came over to play after work one day. The weather was still warm, but early on my last playday with Cailyn, we went out on their patio right after breakfast, still in her pajamas, to play with bubbles. I had been told how much she likes the bubbles, and there was a special wand that makes tiny little bubbles, and Grandma had a big time with that!
While Grandma was busy making bubbles to entertain Cailyn, she surprised me by being more fascinated and entertained with moving dirt from one flower pot to another
What was supposed to be a nice, clean fun activity turned into quite a dirty, muddy mess, since Grandma then had to clean the dirt out of the water table, and Cailyn of course wanted to help with the water!
She and I were both wet and muddy by the time we went in the house! It's a great memory and I am so grateful that I had the week off, and an opportunity to spend some extra time with Cailyn!

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

While we were waiting to become grandparents for the first time, I did alot of dreaming about what our grandchild might be like and how it would feel to be a grandmother. Learning from my sister, my parents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins and friends...the unanimous consensus is that "grandparenting" is one of the BEST things to be experienced in life, (and some would say even better than parenting!)

Our biggest quandry at the time was "what will I want to be called by our grandchild?" So Vince and I went through the usual possibilities: Grandma, Nana, Grandpa, Papa, Grammy, Gramps (that choice was nixed by Vince right away). We finally settled on Grandma and Grandpa after Cailyn Grace arrived!

Who would have thought that after a year, the name Grandma doesn't seem to be working anymore. That's because Cailyn has decided to call me "Mimi"! MIMI!! We ALL thought it was so cute, the first few times she referred to me by that name...thinking it would be a phase. But it seems that MIMI is here to stay...and actually, I've come to love it! Of course, this child could probably call me almost anything, and I would love it! ;-) Right now, Vince is still Grandpa, but of course, that might change next month. If it does, I'll post an update!