Merry Christmas to everyone - and a Happy New Year at the rate I post on here!
I am happy to report I have a month old Granddaughter - Cyra McKenna Bolterman born on November 26th weighing in at 5lbs 12 1/2 oz.

well - I did say intermittent!

whoosh and another month has passed! Heading towards Thanksgiving and then it's all downhill from there for Christmas! Where did the month go (I say that a lot lately - must be my age!)

Still waiting for a grandbaby. Hopefully soon I will have news!

The trip to the Gymnastics Superstars in St. Paul with Helen and her friend Kenadi (and mom Sarah) was a blast and went so smoothly from the parking, finding our seats and getting out of there!!! The gymnasts were fantastic - I will have to try and post a few piccies, although it is tough to get decent ones! We stopped at Lark Toys on the way up which was a hit too since they have the most ornately carved carousel that the girls had a couple of rides on.

Tonight is our Daisy Investiture and Rededication - I will have to post after that!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who may read this!

Halloween Helen

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween - we did the local party on Thursday and Trick-or-treated on Friday. Halloween Helen was a wicked witch. Helen and her dad carved the pumpkin right before trick or treating - I think they did a great job - must get a picture before it rots! Helen had fun with two friends and then another stopped over after for pizza. What a perfect night to be out and about - this is the warmest Halloween we have had in ages!
Yesterday I tackled the leaves - collected and stuffed 24 bags! Boy was I stiff and sore last night - and that was only the front yard (UCK!) Don't quite know how Tom managed to get out of this - but he did, don't worry we have lots more to do yet. He was out helping a friend take down an antenna tower. We did make a trip (annual event) out to Ferguson's Orchard for apples and hot cider - Helen had fun on the rope swing and traumatizing the animals. We cheated and didn't pick apples this year - I was too knackered by then!

Trip to Milwaukee

The ballet was lovely and Helen and I had a wonderful weekend in spite of it not being exactly as planned. Mary and her step-brother Kevin went with to the ballet as unfortunately Aunt Irene had broken her pelvis in a fall and was in the rehab center (she is moving into a new apartment next week- one without stairs!) She is a grand lady and I was sad that she wasn't with to experience Helen's first ballet. Sleeping Beauty was a good one to see as the story was pretty easy to follow (even for me!)

We also had a fun visit to the "Domes" (Mitchell Horticultural Observatory) which was beautiful, educational and of course fun! The rest of the time we spent eating :-) and shopping.......very good girl stuff. While we were in K-Mart looking for a Halloween costume for Helen I happened to mention to Mary I felt like we were in another country (I think we were the only people shopping speaking English). At the check out the friendly cashier was chatting to Helen asking if she was trick or treating the next day (apparently that is when they were having it there) and Helen informed her "no, we are just visiting". So the cashier asked her where she was from, and without missing a beat Helen replied "America." The cashier was quite amused!

Hometown Heroes Night Coloring Champ

Just wanted to share one lucky little girl. She won a coloring contest through the Piggly Wiggly (all the first graders drew pictures of their heroes - she drew a picture of her daddy) and had to go to the Hometown Heroes Banquet to collect her prize on Tuesday night. Tom and I were already going as he is a volunteer fireman (all the local police, firefighters, first responders and veterans were invited).

I could not believe the size of the trophy - plus she got a basket full of goodies (cheesey puffs, candy, pop) and a $50 savings bond (well - it matures to $50 in about 12 years) We didn't even know about it until Monday night! They called her up in front of about 300 people and paraded her around giving her high-fives with her picture - she was in her element after she got over her shyness! She behaved so well in that room full of adults - it was a proud mommy moment. I really couldn't believe how she strided up to the front when they called out her name.

Sorry if this is a little over the top - I figured you'd get a good laugh out of the trophy if nothing else!
Love,
Kathy

Happy Birthday Helen!

Helen's Birthday Party was on Sunday at the Gym - she had 12 friends help her celebrate (all I can say is thank goodness it was at they Gym and not my house!) Katie and Stephanie did a great job of entertaining the girls and boys and everyone had a great time. So much for a small birthday party though! Well, you're only young once!

We all survived one very busy weekend. Dan was home and really didn't see too much of him, but was nice to see him since he warned me I won't see him again until Thanksgiving.

Tom was over at Goose Island camping and participating in "Islands on the Air" amateur radio contest with friend Jim. They had lots of visitors - just not Helen & I. We spent our visiting time with Sarah who was stuck in the hospital this weekend. Thankfully she is home now and hopefully to get some relief from her pain soon.

Helen celebrated her birthday on Saturday with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Three of her friends that could not make her party on Sunday met us there and we celebrated a belated birthday for Clayton (since he got poorly and had to cancel his birthday party) and welcomed back the Veraguth Family from their trip to Ireland! Thankfully, Teresa, Debbie and I had breakfast together and had wonderful conversation on Friday morning - there wasn't much chance of it at the Chuckee Zoo!