Birthdays galore!

As I was waiting for the blog to load so I could start typing, I thought about how much we've been celebrating birthdays lately. And then I realized all of those parties have revolved around - to some degree anyway - Miles' birthday. His day is traditionally celebrated with Auntie Angie, then again in Green Bay at Thanksgiving time and in conjunction with his Great Aunt Donna's birthday, and is finally topped off with a party for friends at our house. Oh yes, and we throw a party in at school too. Today was the topper. The icing on the cake. The final blow out of candles. I planned to blog about all of the aforementioned parties, but let's be honest....I'm exhausted. After hosting 8 preschoolers (and an overwhelmed 2 year old brother), mama and daddy are calling it a day.

These kids are pretty darn cute. And very energetic.

More later!

Happy Birthday to Cousin Linda!

Happy Birthday Linda! We hope the sun was shining warm in NC for your special day!

Weston is growing!

Good news on the home front: Weston continues to grow! We were never really worried, what with his milk, goldfish cracker, and bean soup consumption...but it is nice to see that he's holding his own in the world of 2 year olds. Here's the breakdown --

Weight: 29 lbs 12 oz (70th %ile)
Height: 36 1/2 inches (91st %ile)
Head Circumference: 19 3/4 inches (85th %ile)
Chin Dimple Depth: .20 cm
So in the last year, Westy has added over 5 pounds and 5 inches to his little frame. His head has grown by an inch (mouth by at least 2 inches), and his chin dimple has remained the same. The only healthy shot he needed to get was for the flu -- lucky boy! Daddy was with him and said Weston sat up and watched the nurse poke the needle into his little chicken thigh. His face turned bright red and he looked away and pouted. That was it! Amazing.

Miles and I decided we better get immunized against the flu bug too, so we went to the clinic after school/work. Weston came along for support. We opted for the nasal mist and it was slick. Literally! A little sniffling and we were done. Easy peasy.

Here's the happy two year old, proud of his newly documented dimensions --

And here are the brothers being silly on the stairs. A great place to play!

Until mommy intervenes and demands attention.

All in all it was a great day. Then someone lost his pants in a wrestling match and life came to a crashing hault. Bummer! Better luck next time, kiddo.

We love you, Westy doo-daa. We are proud of you for growing but it does make us a little sad to watch you become a big boy.... Thanks for being our happy little howler monkey!

Halloween: Take I

We got a jump start on Halloween tonight by attending a big party at the Owatonna Country Club. It was a spooktacular time! There were a few games, hair spray/painting, nail painting, pumpkin decorating, a hayride, haunted house, and plenty of food. Best of all, there were lots of friends!

Who invited the zoo animals?? Watch out for the monkey on the run!

Weston was so excited to be there with his best buddy, Jae the Pumpkin (or "ponkin").

Miles did a great job playing games, including this one that earned every kid a piece of candy regardless of which square they landed on...or didn't land on. Pretty sure a four year old created those rules.

It was about 65 degrees outside -- perfect for a hayride!

The kids quickly piled in the middle. Wise choice.

Cute little Finley (who ditched her elephant costume before we could even see it) and her cute little mom (dressed as Flo from Progressive Insurance) helped keep order on the wagon.

And now we have a pile of candy that needs to be eaten. I better get a start on it. As Miles pointed out, Halloween is only 8 DAYS AWAY! Isn't October going by SO FAST? (another Miles-ism)

Happy birthday to WESTY!

Weston celebrated his birthday in style today! His real birthday isn't until tomorrow...the 15th...but we got an early start. By late morning he was finally convinced that he is indeed having a birthday. Whenever we'd ask him whose birthday we were celebrating, he'd exclaim "Bapa!" He clearly forgot that both Grandpas already had their birthdays for the year :)
He was also a little confused over the whole age thing. With a birthday comes a new number. It's a hard concept to grasp, I know. So for the last several days, whenever he was asked how old he's going to be on his birthday he'd exclaim "ellow!" The cute little guy is so busy learning numbers and colors that he's getting them all mixed up. By this evening, though, he had it straightened out. Mostly.

We had a house full of family today and it was wonderful. We missed several key participants, though, including Hannah & Vivi, Uncle Evan and Auntie Beesie, Uncle Charlie, and Auntie Anne. But we talked about each of them on several occasions, so that helped make up for it :)

These pupcakes got everyone in the mood to party.

And these pupcakes were most certainly the life of the party!

They built towers -

and did their best to hide from parents who wanted them to sit quietly with their hands in their laps. It sort of looks like Grandpa Dave was suckered into their mischief over there in the corner....

The party animals also ate a nice lunch (this is the pre- shot, of course).

And sang a beautiful rendition of HAPPY BIRTHDAY! for Westy. Notice Auntie Angie clasping her ear to help keep the tune...

Then it was pupcake time!

Weston did a great job blowing out his candle with the help of his big brother.

And this photo is worth a million bucks even though it's a messy blur....Weston's going in for a smooch on mama! He's so stingy with his kisses. This was probably the first kiss mommy had gotten in days from the little stinker.

Nummy!

Sharing some chocolate frosting with Uncle Will.

And offering to share with others. Believe it or not, there were no takers.

Finally -- present opening time!

Weston took his sweet time, as evidenced by these faces.

The boys couldn't take it anymore and decided to get things moving. They were so efficient, we might encourage them to start a gift opening business together some day.

Toot tooooooot.

I noticed this pile of socks and had to take a picture because their socks won't always be this small or clean. Nearly every time the boys are all together, their socks end up in a pile. Wait until they're 15. As Grandma Doreen said, we'll be lucky if it's still just socks in the pile when they're that age. Eeeeek!

Weston Charles Grimmius, you are a sweet little boy. Thank you for bringing so much happiness and fun to our family -- we are so glad you were born! We are eager to see what your 3rd year brings....new skills, new words, new silly games, and hopefully a quieter voice. We love you, baby. Happy, happy birthday!

Touring Spring Valley

My mom and I went to Spring Valley a couple of weeks ago to see Grandpa Charlie's house and check in on the hot spots around town. I hadn't been there since Grandpa's funeral -- hard to believe it was over 2 years ago already. Not much has changed and it certainly didn't feel like so much time had passed since my last visit. It was strange to drive around town without seeing Grandpa or having him in the front seat offering up humorous one-liners about famous SV residents. I do miss him. A lot. I miss Grandma Bene a lot, too. I wish they could both be here to enjoy the happy silliness their great grandchildren (all 9 of them - wow!) bring to our family. Miles still talks about Great Grandpa Charlie. He asks a lot of questions and tells stories about visits that I can't believe he remembers. He's also been asking about his Great Grandma Bene -- thinks her name is great, of course. Bene! I can hear her laugh over it.

On to the grand tour. We drove past the house on Hillcrest Drive at least 4 times. Maybe 9. I lost count. Part of the reason why we kept driving around the block was because we would forget to look for something - like the shed in the backyard, or the garden or the mailbox - to see if it is still the same. For anyone who'd been here before, the most obvious change to the house is the color. We love it and think Grandma and Grandpa would have appreciated the fresh look, too :) Anyway, we also circled the block multiple times because school had just let out and kids were getting in our way. I wanted to snap pictures but was getting glared at by teenage girls who were probably texting their friends about the creepos stalking so-and-so's house. Little did they know we have an in with the Chief of Police of Ostrander just up the street. He's got our backs. Next time we'll just get out of the car and walk around the yard like mom suggested. Sorry I chickened out, mom!

After seeing the house and overcoming the urge to peep in the windows, we headed out to Saint Ignatius cemetary. Here are the old gates that once graced the main entrance --

Mom noticed the letters have probably been replaced many times over the years. It's neat - adds a little character, don't you think?!

Here's the "new" entrance. Much more modern :)

Here's a look at Grandma and Grandpa's headstone. Uncle Mike couldn't have created a better design for them...it's perfect. The cemetary was quiet as usual while we were there. A couple of school buses drove by and stirred up some dust, but otherwise a lovely and peaceful place.

The back side. Nice tribute to C. Reps!

And this is what's etched into the headstone of another resident of St. Ignatius cemetary...I left his name off because it's quite possible someone reading this blog would have some kind of connection to him and I hate to cause weirdness (believe it or not), so I just captured the line that we always go read for a good laugh before leaving. Better here than the post office. What would yours say?!

Grandma Bene's spirit was with us that day and forced us to drive through dog town. She always told stories about "dog town". Over the years I picked up on bits and pieces.... One might think of it as the south side. I swear I used to see trailers double stacked. Maybe triple stacked. Mom suggested I take some pictures in dog town so people could get a sense of what it's like (as if there's a line that's crossed -- and if there is, it's quite blurry now!). Again, I was concerned that maybe there are some O-town Blog followers in dog town and I'd hate to offend by posting a photo of their...ummmm....yard. I know, the odds are probably pretty slim. But never say never! So here's the look into dog town. That's all I'm gonna say about it. Ask Lar if you want more details - he always laughed at Grandma Bene's jokes about the place, so she fed more lines to him than anyone else.

Next up - downtown! Since when did Main Street become a one-way street? Okay, it's been a while. But still. What's the deal?

Best. Bakery. Ever. Every town needs one of these shops. Grandpa and Grandma always had snowflake rolls and garlic toast from the bakery for holiday meals. Grandpa kept the tradition going after Grandma passed away, but he added a few more donuts to the mix. He also made us cookies from his own kitchen, but the last few years he was alive he filled our bellies with donuts more than anything else. He'd bring dozens of them to us. Dozens. Dozens. He quickly learned Tanner's favorite flavors, and would bring an extra bag of them along and give them to Tanner when nobody else was around -- he'd instruct Tanner to hide them and not share. I think Charlie caught on and was a bit irritated, but what can you do? Per a request from several children (mostly Tanner, but a little bit me and Charlie), mom called ahead and put in a special order for crescent donuts to pick up during this particular visit to SV. They were delicious. As were the other baked goods we purchased!

Down the street is the Community Center. I remember a celebration here once upon a time. I want to say it was a retirement party for Grandma...but I feel like there was a lot of hoopla about Grandpa too (surprise surprise), so maybe it was an anniversary party? I would call my mom and ask right now, but that would be cheating. Who remembers the occasion? It was the late 80s. Karla and I ran around and made friends with people. I think Matthew was a baby. Elisabeth was a smarty pants and Charlie was a brute - that much I know is true. We had a big family picture taken on the stage. It was a fun retireversary party :)

Here's the hotel that has changed names (and probably owners) more times than we can count over the years. It's right across from a gas station where the Amish like to stop, which is odd because I don't think their horses run on gasoline. Hmmmm. Charlie also likes to stop at the gas station to buy a DMD on the way out of town. I suppose Grandpa filled up his car once in a while there, but when I was with him he always stopped in at a smaller filling station closer to downtown, near the Subway. He'd get gas and check his tire pressure. Well...not his tire pressure...but the tires on his car. Then we'd usually stop at the DQ across the street and get a blizzard. But now I'm wandering off topic.
Back to the hotel. What is so sentimental about this place? It's where Charlie and Elisabeth lit up some stogies the night before Grandma Bene's funeral. What rebels. I was horrified. They just laughed in my face. I couldn't believe it! They were probably drinking as well, and I was just too naive to realize it was really vodka in their water bottles. Look at it now - the sign says it's a smoke free Inn. Probably thanks to those hooligans back in 1999.

See that little wooden fence in front of the entrance? They sat near there, on the curb, and smoked away.

And finally, we kept up with our tradition of driving past Reps Field on our way out of town. The Boys of Fall were practicing hard, just as C. Reps would expect. He'd settle for nothing less! Our assessment of the team? Just as he'd always say... They may be short, but they're slow.

Hugs and smooches to you, Grandpa C. Reps. And to you too, Grandma Bene. We love you. Thanks for the wonderful memories.

birthday adventures

This month is filled with lots of happy celebrating as there are 5 birthdays in our family. First comes daddy...

He requested a lemon cake and we did our best to fulfill his wish.

Hip hip hoooooray for daddy! And cake!

Grandma Jill and Grandpappy helped us spoil daddy on September 14th. Unfortunately there's no photographic evidence of their participation, so you'll just have to trust me that the gift he is opening here came from them.

We continued celebrating daddy's birth on Sunday when Grandpa Dave, Grandma Doreen, Uncle Will, and Auntie (finally auntie!) Anne joined us.

Grandpa Dave got to blow out a candle too, as his birthday is coming up on September 19th.

Grandma Doreen brought her famous carrot cake. Westy swiped several bites of Grandpa's piece. That stinker.

This makes me want to cry. How is my oldest baby old enough to write "Grandpa"?

And when did my husband get so handsome?

Here's proof of the rest of the party attendees today, courtesy of M. J. Grimmius Photography, Inc.

The door was there, too. Looks like it even brought a gift :)

We look forward to celebrating Grandpappy's big day on September 22nd, then Auntie Beesie on September 24th (OMG! Already your golden bday, sis! hahahahaha), and sweet lil' Vivian Claire on September 27th! Hooray! We're so glad ALL OF YOU were born :)