Family Bizness

It's been a wild and crazy time these past two weeks.  Old friends Rick and Patti came in from Colorado to visit for a week.  We had a great time catching up with them, trying to solve a few of the world's problems, and running around to restaurants and to catch up with other old friends.

Then there was all the hubbub of Halloween.  This year we had 220 trick or treaters come by the house on Halloween evening.  That's a bit less than last year, when we ran out of treats and had to shut off the porch light after 275 treats had been given.

I always get a kick out of the kids' and grandkids' Halloween outfits.  Oldest daughter Rachel had perhaps the most bizarre look we've seen in a long time.  It appeared as if her face had zippered part way open.  Will her children have nightmares?  Probably not, but I certainly will.  You gotta admit, she's creative.

Rachel, on a bad day

Just for comparison, here's Rachel (and a friend) on a good day.

The grandkiddos are always excited to dress up for Halloween, and this year was no exception.  Twins Tori and Brianna came along following another group of kids trick or treating, and I honestly didn't even recognize that they were my grandkids.

Brianna was a "dark angel" and Tori was a cat.

Like I said, they both had to get right up into my face before it dawned on me I was looking at my own granddaughters!

Here are those two on a recent day, after getting some new hairdos.

Granddaughter Ellie is enamored with all things PRINCESS, and so she dressed as one of the movie princess characters, the gal from the movie "Tangled." Her little wagon float is all bedecked for the annual town Halloween parade.  The way she handled all the attention and did her little wave to the crowds, you'd think she really is a princess on her little throne.

Parade night

Ellie's brother Jarrod did not go trick or treating, to my knowledge.  He recently got his driver's permit, so he's been spending some of his time behind the steering wheel.  (That's scary enough!)

I'm still trying to figure out when and how he got so grown up.  Seems like just yesterday he was a little guy!

Son Caleb attended a Halloween party given by a friend.  This year he was a monkey.

Flashback to Halloween a year ago, now.  I particularly liked Caleb's costume then as the old man character from the movie "Up."

Is it possible that that old guy there is the same as this young buck?

Grandbaby Gabriel enjoyed his first Halloween.  He's now almost six months old, and the report is that he just laughed and thought his very own dragon suit was quite hilarious.  Isn't he simply the cutest thing ever?

And finally, just in case all this other stuff hasn't been exciting enough, this morning my mother had rotator cuff surgery.  Whew!

Mom fell about three months ago, dislocating her shoulder and tearing her rotator cuff, apparently pretty badly.  After three months of therapy, surgery was decided to be the only remaining option.

So now I'm playing nurse, and doing what I can to help her and my dad get through these next few recovery days.

Never a dull moment....