Thankful Friday

Apparently, aside from my post yesterday, I haven't done a Thankful Thursday post this month. Let's fix that! Here's my list of some things I'm thankful for right now...

1. Tromping through leaves. I love fall. I've said it before. :) One of my favorite things lately has been walking (and very occasionally running) through the leaves. I love how they look and how they sound.

(I took this picture last week during a walk around the neighborhood simply to enjoy the sunshine.)

2. My neighborhood. Relatedly, I so appreciate my neighborhood and how lovely it is in the fall...how easy it is to go for a nice walk or run (great trails so close)...how terrific my neighbors are (it's always fabulous chatting and catching up on all the neighborhood gossip whenever we happen to see each other, lol)...how many great businesses are within walking distance. Truly, I love where I live.

3. Firepits. So, I may have talked Nathan into buying this Solo Stove Bonfire. After seeing others sitting in their driveways on Halloween with portable firepits, it seemed like an excellent idea. Yes, we have a firepit area in our backyard already. But. We haven't been using it because of...fire bans during fire season, recommendations/requests to not use fire pits due to the smoke and the affect that can have on people with respiratory issues (such as Covid) and the lack of easy seating around the (recessed) fire.

Fortunately, we're out of the fire bans. And, the Solo Stove is specifically designed to minimize smoke and ash and burn more efficiently. Plus, it's portable so we'll be able to sit out front with it next Halloween. :) An added benefit, we found, is that it's fabulous for making s'mores (thanks to the secondary burn from the holes in the bottom to feed heated oxygen to the top)...

And we can set it right on the patio where the rest of our seating already is. It's also really easy to get started and to close down for the night and puts off a good deal of heat...perfect for socializing outdoors these days. :) 

4. Habitat for Humanity. Yesterday, Micah and I finally volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. He'd been waiting for his "turn," having watched both brothers volunteer but not being able to until he turned 16. Then, thanks to the pandemic, volunteer opportunities have been harder to arrange for a good number of reasons. But. Yesterday, the kind people at Habitat (and Micah's flexible class schedule) helped make it happen. Micah and I helped install front porch posts, and Micah got experience using a number of tools. Aside from the wind, we had a wonderful time and so appreciated the other volunteers and the crew who worked with us.  

I've been out to this work site a number of times now with all three boys and with Nathan. It's been awesome seeing the progress!

Okay, that's my list for the moment. Many more things I'm thankful for but I want to make sure to actually post this before the weekend. :) Happy weekend to you all!

Thankful Thursday: Veterans Day

Back in May, I posted the following pictures and notes for Memorial Day, recognizing that Memorial Day is for honoring those who died in military service. My pictures are of relatives who served, even though most of them did not die during active duty. Veterans Day, today, is for celebrating the service of all US military veterans...so today is another day for showing respect and appreciation for all who have and are serving. So, I'm sharing my pictures again...and have added a couple. 

First up is this picture that says it's a relative of my mom's mom (James Waterman) after the Civil War:

And, this is a relative of my mom's mom (Chester "Chuck" Robertson) during WWII: 

And my mom's aunt (Edith "Fern" McKie Robertson) during WWII:

(I don't remember exactly when she died, but I know that I met and spent time with Aunt Fern and that my gram loved her sister dearly.)

And this is Nathan's mom's dad (Blair McLean) during WWII:

This picture was probably taken in 1944. He died in 1984 so I never met him unfortunately.

And here's his brother, (Nathan's mom's uncle, Rod McLean) in 1942:

He drowned while fishing shortly after the war and had been engaged to an English woman he met while stationed in England.

And this is Nathan's dad's dad (Al Probst) during WWII:

Grandpa Al was able to meet and enjoy all of my boys before he passed in 2009, which makes me happy. He was such a joyful and kind man.

And here's my dad's uncle (Jack Smith) in France during WWII:

And that same uncle a year later:

I never met him, but I've heard stories about my dad's uncle. After my dad's mom died (when my dad was 5), uncle Jack helped my grandpa raise his eight kids.

And this is my mom's older half-brother (Gilbert Duran) in Vietnam:

I know I'm missing family service members from my list here. Regardless, sincere respect for all those men and women who have served or are serving...whether they're related to me or not.

Gratitude.  

21

Yesterday my Noah turned TWENTY ONE. Twenty one, y'all. Wow.

Twenty one years ago, we met this boy...this 9lb 4oz bundle...  

Yup, he was large. While unexpected, it was actually really nice that he was so big. There weren't worries about him being overly fragile...he was hefty...he was healthy...lugging him around helped burn off the weight I'd put on while pregnant, lol. 

These days I don't have to lug him around any more. :) Today, he's a mostly self-sufficient young man working toward graduating college next spring. He's enjoying this final year and being able to be more involved (now that things aren't all remote)...working with his senior project team and continuing with his grading position through the school...making his own budget and learning about financial decisions...cooking for himself and handling the adulty things. He's always been fairly comfortable in his own skin. It's a pleasure watching him figuring that all out.

Given that his birthday fell on a Tuesday, we didn't celebrate hugely...just picked him up at the end of a long school day (for him), grabbed some dinner and ate at home. We had a cake (technically, Whole Foods says it was a gateau basque...we're not sure exactly what that is, but it was delicious). We played some games. And then we took him back to his apartment to finish some homework. Exciting stuff. ;) 

But. Maybe that's all appropriate. Now that he's legally an adult and all, he gets that adulting isn't always fun and games. (Honestly, he's always gotten that.)

I am bummed, though, because our evening gathering means I wasn't really able to take decent photos and we didn't do any group photos. Alas.

Regardless, so proud to celebrate Noah! Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for him!

Halloween present

Woohoo! We actually had trick or treaters this year! It's definitely varied from year to year...with the last couple being rather pathetic. Given that, we only got one box of candy to hand out...30 full size candy bars. (I prefer handing out the full size ones because it's much less tempting to me to snitch from those.) I ran out, though, and had to scavenge from a stash of other candy I had hidden for myself for that last group of kids, lol. And then we turned out the lights and the sleet started anyhow, so all was well. 

While I was handing out candy, Nathan made us dinner and we had a little picnic in the front room to make it easier for me to answer the door. It was actually pretty fun. :) Micah went to hang out with friends around a fire pit and enjoyed s'mores and such. The other two boys tell me they just did homework. :)

Oh. And in case you were wondering, yes, my neighbor still celebrates Halloween:

These are almost entirely all new this year. (Another neighbor and I asked, lol.) He still has all the ones from last year and says he'll switch them out from year to year but these were just such a good deal he had to get them. For the record, there are no children living at that house. He just really seems to like Halloween. Also, after I had Nathan take these pictures yesterday, he actually did add more (on his driveway). 

So, if you want to see a LOT of Halloween inflatables, come visit. :) I don't even want to know how many extension cords were involved and appreciate the festivity and enthusiasm. 

Halloweens past

Since I don't appear to have anyone dressing up this year and since I recently found these in the bins of photos from my mom's house...I've decided to share pictures of Halloweens from my childhood. :) These are the years I have pictures from:

Yes, apparently I was Wonder Woman for my preschool Halloween party. :)

This pumpkin costume is from 1981. I know that Zach was a littler pumpkin alongside me that year but can't seem to find a photo of that. I remember, too, that my mom stuffed our pumpkins to make them fuller and keep us warmer but that then our little arms stuck straight out and we couldn't reach things, lol.

Halloween 1982 was the year of cardboard, lol. I don't know why mine got spray painted and Zach's got wrapped in tin foil and I'm not clear why there's a red rectangle on my chest, but we seem pretty happy about it all. :)

Again, can't find any pictures of Zach for 1983 but I went as a belly dancer/gypsy.

Yay, a group picture for 1984! I'm not sure what Bekah's supposed to be (aside from adorable) but Joe and I make cute clowns.

Yes, there are perks to being the oldest and getting the new costume, lol. Princess in 1985 apparently. (Notice how Bek didn't have to get her pumpkin stuffed so she could still use her arms...)

In 1986, I see an Optimus Prime, a two year old who didn't want to wear a costume but did want to get her face painted like everyone else, a vampire, a witch and a punk rocker.

Joe was a tiger, Cas was Mickey Mouse (not Minnie! lol), Zach was a zombie, Bek was a bunny and I was a mime. And this is the last year I can find a Halloween picture of from when I lived at home. I know I trick or treated at least once more during high school (as a ghost, so inventive, lol). I remember going with my friend, Vanessa, and she pretended to be the older sibling taking me trick or treating since I was as short as the kids and the ghost costume meant no one could see me, lol. Beyond that, I wonder why there aren't pictures of my sibs after this for Halloween. I have plenty of pictures from all the years for other stuff, but none for Halloween. Alas. 

Anyhow, I was just loving seeing these old pictures and thought you might enjoy them, too. :) Thanks, Mom, for all the costumes and happy memories!