This ones for you!

This post if for my bingo-lovin, "I'll only remarry if he's young, hot and rich", spunky, one-of-kind grandma.

The one who taught me my first cuss word (on accident) which she has also, almost, taught my boys. I caught her just in time.

The one who has always been my secret keeper. The one and only time I ever peed my pants was when I was playing at her house. Mortified and crushed, I asked her not to tell my mom. She promised she wouldn't and she never did.

The one who has always been one of my closest and best-loved friends.


The one who will pee her pants when she sees that I've put a picture of her on my blog.

My Grandma is everything I want to be when I grow up. She knows how to have fun and how to laugh loud when she finds something to be funny. She sets goals for herself and follows through with them. She is a world traveler and loves to dance. She is willing to try anything once and I have inherited my love of learning and reading from her.

My Grandma is the yardstick by which I measure all other grandmothers. None have ever come close. Growing up, my grandma let me pick her fingernail polish off when I was bored in church. She met me for lunch at least once a month during elementary school. She was the loudest cheerleader at every single one of my volleyball and basketball games. I often spent the night at her house and we would go for walks and bike rides or just stay in and read books or simply visit.

She took me with her on one of her bingo cruises a few years ago and we had a blast. We went out snorkeling and sailing and our personal favorite, boating in the mini-boats. I'll never forget her yelling at me to go faster! faster! as I'm driving this little boat across the ocean. My knuckles were white as I clenched the steering wheel (mind you - I have never driven a boat in my life) and I was freaked out for both of us, but grandma was at the front of the boat laughing and having a great time. I of course went faster just to make sure she got the most bang for her buck.

My Grandma is one of the luckiest woman alive. She wins more bingo money that anyone I have ever heard of. Grandma and I have played a lot of bingo in our time and I can already see me continuing the tradition. Her luck rubs off onto me and I occasionally strike it rich also. We always split our winnings 50 50. That's the kind of friendship we have.

Yes, my Grandma is lucky, but truly I am the lucky one. She has always been a bright spot in my life and I treasure each and every memory that we have made together. I always share "My Grandma... " stories and my friends love it. "I need a Grandma like that" is a popular response to most of my stories. Sorry friends, she's spoken for.

I love you Grandma - Happy Birthday!

My Little Cannibal

Owen's question of the day:

Do we eat the meat of people we don't like?

October

I'm actually embarrassed by how little ( or not at all) blogging I've done since school has started. I actually sat down once and just stared at the computer not sure how to begin. Tonight I decided that I'm just going to pretend that I have blogging faithfully this whole time and it will be like a conversation picked up by good friends who haven't seen each other in a long time but it's like no time has gone by at all. Did that make sense? Good - I knew my good friends would get it!

October is always one of my favorite months. It seems to turn some switch on in my brain and I get out my fall decorations, which are in my favorite colors - red and orange and my baking urges kick into full gear and I just get giddy with excitement about all the holidays and get togethers that I know are right around the corner.

Last weekend, I finally let the boys in on the secret that Halloween is coming and they are still coming down off the high of that news. Caleb wanted to be a spy but changed his mind to an army ranger once he found out they sometimes paint their faces. Owen has switched from a dinosaur, to a puppy, to a hunter, to a police man and I think he has finally settled on being a race car driver. My friend Melissa brought over some clothes her son had outgrown, and a race car driver costume was in the bag. Owen fell in love with the mask and has been faithful to that costume ever since.

I decided to make my first set of treats last weekend too and my little helpers were right there with me to do all the hard parts. Like putting the eyes on the ghosts. (Side note - Caleb's eyes were all perfect where as some of Owen's ghosts were sporting up to 11 eyes, not including the ones that "fell into" his mouth).

Next came our pumpkin treats and the boys had to sprinkle orange sprinkles and then add the green stems as well. Once Owen ran out of orange sprinkles (a new container mind you) and he only had 3 pumpkins done, he was delegated to just putting the green stems on.

Here is a finished plate of treats. Now, I know some of you see ghosts and pumpkins but if you look closely... even closer... you can see my children's personalities peeking out at you as well!