Blast from the past

Happy Halloween.  Lets go back seven years and revisit Halloween 2013.  The neighborhood was full of little kids...now those little kids are growing up and some have their license to drive!  Many are teenagers now!!   

Chance loved Halloween...he got to see some of his favorite little people.

Going in for a kiss

What fun to see these old photos...

These little girls now have a little brother.

This little monkey now has two new brothers and a sister. It has been fun to watch them all grow up! 

I asked her are you a good witch or a bad witch? 

So many smiles! 

Chance wore the hat and stood still enough for one photo before the hat went flying off! 

Far Side

May Day Deliveries

We began our deliveries in the afternoon with a basket for my parents and then two of my favorite cousins. 

After supper we continued our deliveries.

The four princesses and the little prince were not at home so their baskets ended up in grocery bags tied to the plant hanger.

One of the little neighborhood gals had a big smile for us.

Then we stopped by one of the neighborhood bachelors, and then over to Steve and Jo’s where Chance got a May Basket!

He wasn’t very polite about it, he just wanted to rip it apart to get to the jerky treats!

Our last stop was at Lumber Masons…his adorable sister was not home so he assured me that he would save one basket for her!  He is growing like a weed and is taller than me now.

Thus ends another sucessful May Day!  I hope some of my readers days were brightened by a basket, a kindness or just a smile.

Leaves and apples

My niece has apple trees in North Dakota so she graciously sent back apples for us.  I made an apple crisp at the retreat…it was wonderful!   Fall seems to be the best time for apple desserts.  I still have a few more of those apples…so I may make another apple crisp or maybe a pie.  

Crabapples at the house with the blue shutters.

The tree was loaded with crabapples.  Years ago I would have been tempted to cook some up and hang the cooked apples in a bag and let the juice drip…perfect for some jelly.  We rarely use jelly, I like it on pancakes or French toast…so one jar of jelly lasts us a long time. 

The Maples were beautiful this year.

With the help of my other baby brother and my nephew we got the gate up on the other driveway.  The mobile home that my niece and her husband used to live in was sold after she moved to North Dakota.  It was moved out last week.  They had to cut down a couple of trees, we will get them cut up and the brush hauled away this week.  It seems lonely over that way…they were neighbors for about nine years. Even Chance misses them, all those little kids were happy to throw his ball.  One time he even kidnapped a child…Jordan I think…the dog walked home and brought along a child. Luckily the dog and the child were safe and together.

May Basket Smiles

Teddy was the first to get his May Basket…just a few days early cause that is when his parents brought him by.

The rest of the deliveries were made after school.

Brooke, Hailey and Olivia.  Their little sister Ava was napping.

 

Mason, Anna and their dog Bailey.  Look no snow!

Aubrey, Jordan and Gavin. Mable was running around so there is no photo of their dog.  They threw the ball for Chance and tired him out!

Hailey a neighbor gal…who has her very own chickens and a horse named Foxy and she talked Far Guys ear off. 

Here is our May Basket from Mason and Anna!

I hope you all had a wonderful May Day!  It is one of my favorite days of the year.  I am anxious to hear if you made a May Basket or if you got one!

Chance: Bored

I am so bored.  Yesterday, it rained all afternoon and all evening.  No one went for a ride, my routine is all messed up.  Didyaknow that I can sigh just as hard and long as Far Guy?  Yup it is a fact, when bored we sigh exactly the same way…according to someone we are a quite a pair.

I like to play ball every evening and then go for a ride and then I am content to settle down for the night.

Like this… my tail gathering leaves to drag into the house later.

Not like this…  me hiding under the bench and Far Side throwing the ball only so far with that black clicky thing in her hand.  I think she missed our evening ride too.

Not much is new here, some guys were here digging a trench, they had shovels and I was ordered not to help herd any dirt.  The little kids came over a couple of nights and ran around the yard playing hide and seek.  Sometimes when we are out for our RIDE I see the kids on the road and we stop for hugs.

Tonight I think I will just dream of hanging my head out the window with the wind flopping my ears around and drooling down the side of the car.

May Baskets

We were surprised with a May Day basket!

What a great basket these two delivered!

We gave them their baskets.

Chance helped deliver to these three.

Can you see a theme?  May Baskets = Smiles!

Some girls were not at home.  So we hung their baskets high on the light fixture so the dog would not eat the candy.

I still have to deliver Teddy’s May Basket.  I didn’t get it to a drop off point today.   It is his first May Day!

I hope where ever you live..you got a bit of a May Day surprise.  What a fun day! :)

Meeting Teddy!

Last evening I got to visit my newest Great Nephew.  He is beautiful so handsome. So little..but big..he still weighs over nine pounds.  He was resting happily on his Grandfathers chest when I got there. Teddy is just five days old.

He was more awake when I first got there..I was able too ohh and ahh and meet him properly and then he yawned, closed both his eyes and went to sleep..after that he would only open one eye. (Boring old Great Auntie’s anyway!) Look at that hair!

Some of his cousins came to see him too. Of course they all wanted to hold him! Everyone had a turn..twice!

The girls are getting ready for their very own new brother or sister any day now. ( They are going to be such good help for their Mama.)  Teddy scrunched up his brow at the girls and their giggling..but he didn’t cry. 

This is grandchild #9 for my other baby brother and his wife. They now have four grandsons and five granddaughters. I am lucky..that five of them live within walking distance:)

Wistful Wednesday: May Day

I grew up celebrating May Day. Making baskets and delivering them to the neighbors.

This is an old photo of me..I would have been almost 20 months old.  My first May Baskets.

The deliveries went well.  Far Guy and Chance went along!  These children are my Great Nieces and Nephews!

Skittles and Fruit Roll ups were inside the Bees!

Far Guy asked the kids “What day is today?”  The reply “The day we get candy!”

The  girls knew right away that it was May Day!  Because they had a previous May Basket delivery a few minutes before we arrived.

I was making the baskets one evening when Alaska Guy was here visiting..he asked “What in the world are you making?”  I replied May Baskets he said “Gosh that was fun when we were little.”  Adam and Noah were visiting over the weekend..Adam said “Whatcha making Grandma?”  I said “May Baskets”  He said “My Mom likes to make them too.”  So next year God willing and the creek don’t rise we will celebrate May Day again! I hope you all had a wonderful May Day! :)

Waiting for snow..

We are waiting for snow..no I have not heard that any is coming.  The ground is barely white. My prediction of no measurable snow until February is getting closer to fulfillment every week…

Next door there is some big time waiting happening.

New shovels ready for three kids to shovel some serious white stuff.  They told me that they love to shovel.  Their Mom told me “ We only had one shovel and they were fighting over it.”  She did what anyone would have done..she went out and bought three shovels, one for each of the little darlings. Now there will be no more fighting over shovels.  I told them to come over and shovel at our house if they run out of snow at their place. 

It is below zero here.  It was –5F or –20C at 10 PM last night.   It was a cold damp day yesterday, the air was bitterly cold.  If it would snow it would feel warmer…at least I think it would. 

18 more shopping days until Christmas..gifts purchased 2.  Ornament project completed. Trees decorated..0.  Decorations up..one carved Santa from a garage sale, I cleaned out my wood carving bag :)

Armed and Dangerous

The neighborhood is undergoing some changes.  The boys are getting bigger, and turning older, three of them will go to school this fall.  Recently the twins were given guns for their sixth birthday.  They loaded them up and began to shoot almost everything in sight.  I cannot believe that they are six already, it seems only yesterday that they were born and so very tiny.

The re-loader kept hollering "No fair shooting anyone over six."  

No one was safe..I survived, they were pretty poor shots, it was almost impossible for them to aim while running and giggling.

Aubrey was armed with a bucket, I was rewarded with a huge smile when I turned on the hydrant to give her some ammo..which she promptly dumped on my foot.

They also beheaded a cow, they whopped her with a stick until she lost her head and spilled out candy into the yard.

 Yup it is a pretty exciting neighborhood, I am thankful to just be the old Great Aunt watching from afar:)