Modern Day Mama: Cold Weather, Fall Break and Intensive Care...

I've officially been a blogger slacker. It's been over a week!! Jeez, that's a new record for me. Half the problem was that we were without Internet from last Wed. through Monday morning. The other problem was that work was crazy and I didn't get a chance to blog on my lunch hour like I often do.

So that's my excuse. Let me catch you up:

Both boys had parent/teacher conferences last week. And both boys had sterling reports!!! Yes, allow me to brag because the past year has had its challenges with both of them and they have never had reports this good! And it made me feel great that we're working through the challenges and they're both enjoying learning and school. Bo's preschool teacher reports he's at the top of the class! He's in a learning frenzy right now. He points to every letter he sees, tells us the sound it makes and then names a couple of words that start with it. It makes me SO happy to see him excited and enjoying school. And Mazy is doing great as well -- he's become a classroom leader and excels at math and reading. Hooray!
Last Saturday my mother-in-law came down for quilt shopping and lunch at Centro. It was a beautiful day and we had such a fun time looking at patterns, fabrics and eating gourmet pizza at Centro. Thanks for coming, Belinda! And she bought the pattern book that has the ruffled baby blanket I would love to make if this baby is a girl!
Mazy has been on fall break since last Thursday. We sent him to the after-school program all day last Thursday and Friday, and this week I'm working from home and taking some vacation time. We're having lots of fun together.
Yesterday we took the boys to Carroll's Pumpkin Farm in Grinnell, Iowa. What a blast! The weather was freezing -- the coldest day we've had this fall. But we dressed warmly and enjoyed all the awesome activities they have. Stay tuned for some photos tomorrow.
And finally, my dear Grandma Maxine has been in the hospital this week. She was moved out of intensive care today into a regular hospital room. She's doing better and is anxious to get home. Since she was doing better, Mazy and I drove my Grandpa Pud to Ankeny today to meet with one of his old World War II buddies who was in town from West Virginia. It's a pretty cool story -- they had not seen each other since the war ended, and one day about 8 years ago, one of his daughters was online and came across something I had written about Grandpa serving on the USS Rocky Mount. I think I had included his phone number, or at least the town he lived in. Anyway, they were able to track him down and he and Grandpa have been corresponding and visiting each other ever since. It was so fun to meet him and all his family. One of his sons-in-law is a former ISU basketball coach who coached with Johnny Orr. He showed us all his ISU photos and his floorboard from Hilton Colisiseum, which he received when he retired. It was really wonderful to see Grandpa and his friend together and hear their stories. As we were leaving, Grandpa's friend stopped me and said, "I want to give you one more hug. It's because of you that I found this ol' guy again and I can't thank you enough for that." Well that just made my day and I'm so glad I was a part of that reunion.
Whew. And that's the news. Halloween Party at the Farm this Saturday. Mazy and I might watch a movie on Friday afternoon. My sister is in town to see Grandma and I think we'll take her to lunch tomorrow at Fong's Pizza.

And some photos from the past couple weeks:

Bo in the woods behind the DM Art Center.

The boys at the World Food Fest (Mazy had an international favorite -- a bacon cheeseburger...)

A really nice World Food Fest volunteer walked by and offered to take our picture! The last time the five of us had a picture together it was in Door County, Wisconsin. (Thanks again for that awesome vacation, Jane!)

The 40th Annual Wirt Picnic. Marla and the boys.

My brother Bandy and his youngest, Imersyn.

This was one of the smallest Wirt Picnics we've had. Just over 20. Quite a difference from last year's that had more than 120 people! But it was a beautiful day and lots of fun.