Sept 2011 Harvest

We went to visit Grandma J and Grandpa H at their house.







They asked us to help them harvest fruit.








Grandma had baskets.








Grandpa had tea.








We picked a lot of apples. And grapes








The dog helped. She thought the apples made good balls.








M discovered the Single Miracle Kiwi.








Then we had to cut the apples.








And peel them.








And boild and smoosh them. And somewhere along the line a Little Too Much Cinnemon was added.








Grandma did a lot of cutting.







And peeling.








Luckily, there was one of those mechanical peelers.








There was some talk of adding grapes to the sauce, but I don't think we did.








Then A wanted to play Battleship.



 But all Grandpa could find was the old Sub Search game.






We had to download the rules, as J couldn't remember them all after thirty-something years.








Obligatory tired dog picture.

A New Generation....

Scene: outside. J has emerged from the house with a cup of tea. A is prancing in the yard with a large squirt gun.

J (noticing A's stockinged feet): "Bud, put on some shoes. Where are your shoes?"

A: "My shoes are wet." (Prances over grass and pavement while waving gun.)

J: (thinking, 'And how did they get wet?'): "A, you're going to wear out your socks that running around outside with no shoes."

A: "Okay..." (Puts on cowboy boots)

J: (thinking, 'I'm sure that somewhere there are at least three ladies over 60 who are enjoying this....')

Two Knights Practicing

A won a blue ribbon at the fair for his painting.

He seemed surprised.  

Missle Crisis?

J (Entering the backyard from shopping. Sees A): "Hi A; whatcha doin'?"

A: (animatedly waving a shoe around): "I'm making an effigy of George Bush!"

J: (recalling the morning's discussion of a certain foreign reporter...): "Ummmmmm...."

A: (Running off) "M said it was OK."

J: (continuing into the house and the kitchen) "Honey, our child is throwing shoes at an effigy of George Bush."

M: (looking up from salad) "Well, he went into his room to clean it before videos. But then I heard these bumping noises from his room and he said, 'I'm throwing shoes!' I made a mistake earlier when I told him about that reporter. But he was throwing cabbages at William Howard Taft first...."

I guess this is the sort of thing we can expect after reading "So You Want to be President" to A.

Solstice T-Ball

A has been playing T-ball.







He bats well. And he likes being a baseman instead of an outfielder.






We want a pitcher, not a belly-itcher.

Post 2011 Birthday Report

We made a giant Seal of the President of the United States so we could play Pin the Eagle on the Seal.

The guests colored their own eagles. There were lots of variations; the most memorable eagle was bright green and the most memorable shield had a pirate skull and crossbones on it.


We made a poster of Mount Rushmore. Originally, it was going to be mounted onto a cardboard box so kids could stick their heads through and have photo opportunities. It sort of didn't happen that way.

 President Lincoln didn't come out well, and we were at the eleventh hour on this project.

And then there was the cake.  The 2007 cake was a train.  The 2008 cake was a pirate ship.  The 2009 cake was chocolate cupcakes and a chocolate anvil cake as the Sword in the Stone.  Last year's Monopoly Extravaganza featured a catered ice-cream cake.


 

J had told A that he would make a White House cake.  This required carefully measuring out the ratios in the actual building and taking a tape measure to the store to get the right marshmallows.  And trimming out round parts with saucepans. 


 

The pillars were marshmallows on toothpicks. The collumns were the most coveted part of the cake during the party.... because... well, J got a little carried away with late-night baking and there was probably a timer-set problem and not all of the cake went in at the same time and... so... some of the cake was a little over-done.


The pound cake held together fairly well.   Thank goodness for toothpicks.

And then there was the icing.  It was an orange sugar-icing.  It should have been a butter icing.  It made the cake resemble the Casa Rosada more than the White House.   No pictures to protect the guilty.


Grandpa was a Very Good Sport, rented a costume, and came as George Washington.

Grandma came as herself.

J dressed as a Secret Service Man and "scanned" the guests as they arrived with his camera.

The guests came as presidents, with two pirate exceptions.





M shaved his moustache, kept his beard, and was the best dressed Abraham Lincoln there (and there was some pretty fierce competition).

In addition to pin the Eagle on the Seal, we played Pirates and Presidents (a variation of Cranes and Crows), and Elections (they had to pop balloons for the electoral votes inside).  The games went fast, so we added on a few rounds of Dragon's Tail (form a conga line, the front has to grab a hanky out of the tail's back pocket).




"Uh, what did that recipe say again?"

Field Day at School

Guess who was waiting at school after today's field day?