Another Nice November

Bob and I were beginning to realize the blessings of having three of our children living in Texas.  We had grand-kids popping over for visits, and we were often found in their homes, with dad helping them complete their  "honey-do lists".  Examples: Paige and Emma making lip-balms and painting nails with grandma, and going to the Home Depot build-a-craft; watching Bennett play football and earn the MVP award for the game; walking our neighborhood trails with the Johnson family with a stop at the playground; helping build a gate into Michael and Kristin's backyard fence.

With a variety of plans with in-laws for Thanksgiving this year, we (Houston Goodmans) decided to celebrate together a little early.  On the 15th, the Bosen family came over for the weekend, and the Johnsons and M. Goodmans came up to join the fun.  We had a cookout and swim in our backyard.  Thomas incited a "Polar Bear Swim" challenge and several of the grand kids took him up on the chilling feat!  Afterwards, they warmed up in front of a movie while Grandpa enjoyed getting acquainted with Jude.

 On Saturday morning, we went to Bennett's football game.  It's so much fun to see the cousins having fun with each other!

Stephanie and Ben invited us all over to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast in their new home.  It was easily apparent that their would become the Goodman Family party house.
 

A decade has passed since I first created my Thanksgiving tablecloth, which was put into storage when we moved to Korea in 2011.  It was fun to pull it out and add to it this year.  We reflected on the tremendous blessings our family has been granted:  Michael's new job and his family settling in Katy; Ben's miraculous recovery from a stroke and their family's relocation to Houston; Baby Jude's healthy birth and a job offer for Thomas.  We feel very blessed!  We missed having Bobby and Jill's family here, but were grateful for the blessing of seeing them in July.

 

Michael, Kristin, Eve and Brady came and stayed with us for Thanksgiving Break.  We didn't have any big plans, other than to be together.  With no intention of cooking another big meal, our "Thanksgiving Dinner" was enjoyed at a nearby restaurant.

 It had been another nice November.

 

Ode to October

 'NATURE XXVIII. AUTUMN' by Emily Dickinson

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry's cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old-fashioned,

I'll put a trinket on.

October is one of my favorite months of the year.  Maybe it's because of the welcome crisp cool air and vibrant autumn leaves that gently blow across my sweaty summer brow. It is the Fall Festivals, pumpkins and parties?  Perhaps it's because October is the month of my birth - and a birthday month shared this year with the arrival of another grandchild!  Or could it be the scary but sweet celebration of "Saints Evening" - Halloween - when "trinkets" of every kind are put on?  For all these reasons, as you will see, October 2019 was a great one for me.

My birthday was celebrated early when Stephanie invited Bob and I to spend Saturday, October 12 at a Fall Festival and Corn maze with their family.  We had not been to a fall festival since we had young children at home, and I was excited to relive with our grand-kids the fun experiences we had with our children many years ago.  P-6 Farm was a photographers paradise, and was equipped with all kinds of fun activities. It was a blast, and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

Chelsea was due to deliver her baby on October 16, but was beginning to feel a little uneasy knowing there was always a possibility of things happening sooner.  So, I decided to drive over to stay with them on Monday, October 14.  After a doctor appointment the following day, it was decided that if things didn't progress on their own, Chelsea would be induced on Friday, October 18 - which is exactly what happened.  But until Friday, I had lots of fun play time with Holly, Knox, Chelsea and Thomas.  We made funny faces and delicious homemade ice cream.

Shortly after noon on Friday, little Jude made his grand appearance,  Weighing 8 lbs 1 ounce and just over 20 inches long, he had dark wavy hair and was a cutie!  I took Knox and Holly over to the hospital later that evening, and they were thrilled with their new baby brother.

The next day, Thomas came home from the hospital to go to Knox's soccer game with Holly and I.  And then later that afternoon, Chelsea and Jude were released from the hospital and arrived home.  Could there be anything sweeter than this?!

Grandma had gifts for all the kids, and Knox searched far and wide to capture some bugs for his new bug habitat.  Knox and Holly liked to pretend that they were having babies, just like mom.  They were so sweet with little Jude.  On Tuesday, the 22nd, we all decided to get Chelsea and Jude out of the house for a little change of scenery.  We went to the movies to see "Abominable", and were the only people in the theater, so it was a perfect situation.  Jude even slept through the whole thing, and Knox and Holly had fun making hand shadow puppets on the screen during the ending credits.

With Thomas home for the week, I decided to head back home and prepare my talk for our Conroe Stake Conference that weekend.  I was grateful to be able to take a little piece of heaven home with me.  We were able to go celebrate Paige's 7th birthday with her family on the 29th. 

An Ode to October would not be complete without mention of Halloween.  Bob and I didn't do much to celebrate this year, but our kids make up for it.  Bobby and Jill are the Halloween fanatics in our family and even have a tradition of sending out Halloween cards in lieu of Christmas greetings.  They are THE Halloween house to visit, and in these photos you can see why.  They put on a pretty big Halloween party each year and set up a spook alley for trick-or-treaters to experience in order to earn their treat.  The Johnson kids had a blast celebrating Halloween - a tradition they missed out on for the past couple of years while they were in Paris.  Chelsea and Thomas used the story of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", not only as their costumes this year, but as a way to reveal to the Bosen family the birth of Jude.  I still can't believe they kept the whole pregnancy a secret from them until Jude was born!

 

 

 And that's my Ode to October 2019.