It's all fun and games until...

My grandchildren are here for two days, they arrived last night. I had planned on their whole family being here for dinner (parents included), however plans change. As soon as they were in the door, my son asked if I would be upset if he and his wife didn't stay. "We just want some adult alone time." Never mind that they were going to have the next two days of adult alone time. Okay, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know this means, "Hey Mom, we really want to go home and have sex, lots of it, and we can't wait to get started."

The meal that I had fixed was soup beans, this was at my son's request (you know the one who chose sex over dinner). I also had cornbread, cheesy muffins, and chocolate silk pie on the menu. In the process of the children exchange, my son did manage to wolf down some beans, eat two muffins and lick the beaters from where I had prepared the pie. I am glad he wasn't going into his night of debauchery on an empty stomach.

The outcome of having less people than expected was leftovers. More specifically, one half of a chocolate pie. Today, after lunch, the kids asked if they could have pie. The result of three young children imbibing in sugary chocolate decadence, is three wild indians, running amok around my house. Complete with whoops and hollars and charging each other like mad bulls. "Settle down, before someone get hurt." The words had barely left my mouth when the whoops turned to crying. A head on collision, between the two boys, confirmed that the three year old, indeed, has the hardest head.

bilingual

My grandchildren are here tonight, their parents are out celebrating their anniversary. The older two are sleeping, they went to bed hours ago. The youngest is still awake, fighting sleep and softly singing to himself. Even though it is very late, I am sure he will be the first one up in the morning.

Earlier this evening, the dogs were whining to go out. After I let them out, I waited by the door, it is in the single digits here and I didn't want them to stay out too long. When I came back to the living room, H, the six year old, asked me a question...

"Grandma, do you speak dog?"

"What?"

"How did you know what they were saying? Do you speak dog?"

"Well...I guess I do."

"Wow, I didn't know you were bilingual."

So there you have it, another one of my amazing talents!

My two sons are extremely different from one another. Growing up they never seemed to get along. They do not fight now, but they are not close. This week they touched my heart. In several small ways, they showed much love and respect for each other. That is the kind of thing that makes a mother smile. It was nothing they said to each other, it was a few acts of kindness that they both did, I guess they are bilingual too. Their communication is rarely verbal.

I'll wrap this up with my all time favorite music video. I have definitely been in an Alanis mood for a while.

Post-Halloween-Post

I love, love, love Halloween! I always have. Last night was trick-or-treat night here. The grandchildren came over and their parents took them around to collect loot, while I stayed home and passed out candy.

I sat on the front porch with our little hound, Tucker. (He is the calmest of the dogs.) I love seeing all the kids in their costumes. I love it when the "big" kids dress up and come around as well. I remember trick-or-treating even in Junior High. We would hit the streets and keep going for hours, ending up miles away from our house. Times were different then. We would get homemade treats, popcorn balls and caramel apples, and yes, we would eat them. I remember once visiting with an elderly gentleman, who was lonely (a stranger to us at the time). He told us that he had lost his wife that year and he didn't get many visitors, when we left, he asked us to return. Which we did and formed a friendship that lasted for years. I know there were dangers, even then, but it was easier to trust in the goodness of people.

I like the homemade costumes better. For years, I always made the boys costumes each year. I sewed devil suits, vampire capes, scarecrow outfits and Davey Crockett, frontiersman garb. Last night I saw fairies, butterflies, ghouls, sports players and even a Twister game costume. The grandchildren were knights and a kitty. I dressed up for work (we do dress up on Halloween) and was a zombie bride.

We had a late supper last night of tacos and apple cider. I did manage to limit the candy intake. Though, from the level of hyperness today, you would not believe me. This morning we baked muffins for breakfast. The kids brought their small pumpkins from their field-trip. We cut them open and scraped out the seeds. The kids are coloring and I am writing this, while we wait for them to bake so we can make pumpkin pies.

Thanksgiving is next, I am already planning the menu. Of course it is pretty traditional and doesn't change much from year to year. Thanksgiving will usher in the Christmas season, decorating, baking, making presents, wrapping...but now I am getting way ahead of myself.