Skelly's Big (Last) Day

Brain cancer is...

...sorry to see you go, Skelly.

Happy Halloween, Team D!

Halloween is Skelly's Big Day.  On November first, Skelly heads back to the attic until October comes again.  As do all skellies.

Our Skelly spent the day thoroughly enjoying a grand finale.  In the morning, Skelly quietly enjoyed pictures of Nova.

The two won't meet face to face until Nova's second Halloween, when no doubt she'll have some good ideas for skeleton activities.

Skelly was ready for the trick or treaters by early afternoon.

To confirm:  a bow tie, angel wings, and a zebra print witch's hat.  Way to mix things up, Skelly.

We were afraid that Skelly would get all dressed up and then have no kids to bid farewell.  Fortunately we are having a steady trickle of admirers now.

We'll miss you, Skelly.  Thanks for making us laugh, and for bringing us all together in the love of play.

Speaking of play, here's one last shot of other skellies' recent antics.

Thanks for always being willing to play with us, Team D!

Windy Wednesday

Brain cancer is..

 ....braving windy Wednesday.

We were so glad to head to the park for a walk today that we ignored the pesky "high wind" and "poor air quality" warnings that kept rolling in to Andi's phone. 

We were literally buffeted by the winds.  Our skin was was peppered by the dirt in the air.  The geese were grounded.  It was so windy, Andi had trouble texting.  (Gasp.)

Above you see the still version of our windy walk.  Here's a video snippet:

Alternate YouTube link here.

Next up was lunch with Matt, who contributed so much to the shower.  (TK too, but that dinner is in the future.)

Brave, brave Darrell chose to sit on the patio at FBC, despite the winds.

A few hours later, I commended him on his decision.

Gotta love great friends and good conversation!

Wind update:  Yes, still windy.  And now things are burning.  Here's from the drive home:

We aren't sure if this is the Brea Fire, which shut down the 57 freeway.

Be safe, Californians.  And maybe be a little less brave.

“Cheers Me!”

Brain cancer is...

 ...(in the words of Darrell) “cheersing me.”

Cheers:  verb. To congratulate someone. Not to be confused with cheer,  as in "to shout in joy."  Example:  "Let me cheers you for your accomplishments."

Today saw a couple nice endings in Andi’s work world (hence the cheersing).

It was the final session of my math methods course with Block Four.  They encourage me for the future. Now they go student teach.  Just the grad students remain in Andi's schedule.  Cheers me.

The math methods class was held on an elementary site.  Here’s Darrell helping me vacate our classroom.  (Yes, Christine.  Darrell was dragging wagon and cart.  Bill me. But first verify that he met all safe driving specifications.)

Also...Look at the size of my lunch note today, Team D.

An old note is top; today’s is bottom.  Free lunch note upgrade! Cheers me!

Andi also attended a final reflection meeting for Summer ELD Camp. It’s time to maximize summer time with family.  Camp has been great, and the team members even better. Cheers me!

Final cheers?  Thanks, Word of the Year:  Perspective.  This time last year I was exiting my final class session at different elementary site by spilling gallons and gallons of black paint on the classroom carpet.  (Love misery?  Click here for the post.) I lowered expectations for success that day!

Today I left nothing but doughnuts in the teachers lounge.  Expectations exceeded.  Cheers me!

“Walgreens has everything!”

Brain cancer is...

 ...increasingly appreciative of Walgreens.

We have a Walgreens right down the street.

We’ll spare you the details, but today we needed a new plunger...time sensitive.

Darrell was back with our great new tool in 10 minutes flat, which made me remark “Walgreens has everything!”

That sparked a conversation about how many surprising Walgreens purchases we've made in recent history.  Here's a list intended to demonstrate the breadth of our Walgreens appreciation:

• Plunger
• Skeletons
• Dry erase markers
• USB adapter for the car
• Pedicure kit
• Cheese
• Prints for the nursery
• Shower chair
• Christmas cards

We had to circle back after dinner to catch Darrell's "thumbs up" (above).  When we did, we saw that Walgreens claims to be Flu Shot Central.  As ultra vaxers, we're wondering if Walgreens might have things Ralphs doesn't...

Yay! Fireplace!

Brain cancer is...

... happy about Sunday. 

Brunch with Beth and Geoff was awesomely long. Oddly...we can still discuss politics for three and a half hours.

We made it home in time for the Packers game.  It’s cool enough to light the first fire of the season. (Tomorrow will be warm again.) Yay! Fireplace!

Shhh. We need to concentrate on the game.

Yay Temecula!

Brain  cancer is...

...enjoying Saturday with Beth and Geoff.

Life on Lock

Brain cancer is...

 ...satisfied with Friday.

Gordon and LuAnn both have life on lock.

Thanks for the inspiration, both of you!

The Mayfields Welcome Twins

Brain cancer is...

...trying to enjoy happy hour.

Really, Christine and Lennie? They were well behaved, but could you maybe think twice about bringing the twins next time?

"We Never Go Out Anymore!"

Brain cancer is...

...placating Skelly.

Darrell and I were a couple good hours into our work at Computer Stations 1 and 2 when, from the other room, Skelly's whining finally reached a fevered pitch:  "I'm bored!"  "You guys are always busy!"  "I like adventures too!"

So we took a break from work and took Skelly to the park for a walk.

The swan boats were a big hit.

Laughing about good times

And home we go, riding on Darrell's shoulders.

I won't name names, but someone's sitting on the couch, grinning.   

Now can we get back to work, Skelly?

Yippee! Boxes!

Brain cancer is...

 ...happier now than earlier today.

We were like many other Southern Californians today:  Cranky.  Everyone continues to be underslept, and to run around with busy days.  And lunch came late today, so we were hungry, and it was 98 degrees at 2 p.m.  Grr.

And then?  Yippee!  Boxes!  At first we thought purple shirt had come earlier.  No!  Something better!  These boxes came without our bidding.  They were presents...for us!

Thanks for turning our frowns upside down, Donna, Gail, and Melanie!

Cooler temps tomorrow.  Let's all aim for more sleep and an earlier lunch too.


  

Two Kinds of Good Monday

Brain cancer is...

 ...satisfied to spend the day puttering.

Darrell and I led primarily separate lives today, but as a result we accomplished two kinds of good Monday.

Darrell enjoyed puttering, doing things like laundry and yard care. He did some seeding for the dry patches in the backyard.  However, I took the picture, above, just because I think Darrell's yard is so pretty. (And it's my only glimpse of the outdoors today.)

I spent my day at the computer.   It's crunch time for all the grading that comes with college teaching.

We did spend some time together in pursuit of a new purple shirt.

Click!  See you in two days, purple shirt!

And now we'll close the day with our favorite:  Holding-hands-on-the-couch time.

Hope you had your own kind of good Monday, Friends!

Southern Skellies

Melanie is at Air Force school in the South.  She notes that Air Force school appears to be hard on skellies.

Point taken.  Also in the South, Roene's tiny skellies seem to be focused on greeting her guests with a little of that famous Southern hospitality.

Love 'em.

The Tracks at Brea

Brain cancer is...

... adventuring.

We were up quite early to get Zach and Summer to the airport for a 6:30 a.m. flight.  They are back to Colorado safe and sound and ready for their week.

When we woke up the second time, we sensed a distinct absence of family and excitement.  So we went adventuring.  We covered most of the trail called the Tracks at Brea.

Nice!

More About Lil Skellies

Thanks to Franceen, we have welcomed a Lil Skelly into our family.  Here’s what we have learned thus far.

The good news:

Lil Skelly is enthusiastic dinner companion.

The questionable news:

Lil Skelly is a really enthusiastic dinner companion.

 Really, Lil Skelly?  You saw the straw, right?
 

Four Generations for Granny's Birthday

Brain cancer is...

 ...celebrating Granny's birthday.

LuAnn's birthday is on Tuesday (a workday), so we enjoyed a perfect California Saturday (above) in her honor today.

Tiana, Nova, and Alex made the party complete.

We took our first (ever!) four-generation family shot today.

Happy Birthday, Mom!  Congratulations on Gen 4!

Family Friday...Finally!

Brain cancer is...

...maximizing family. ❤️

Finally (!!) we had mimosas and breakfast with Gordon.

Finally (!!) we had lunch with LuAnn.

And finally (!!) we picked up Summer and Zachary at the airport for a wedding weekend.

They were so happy when the road from Colorado ended at In N Out in So Cal.

Finally...family. ❤️

Thumbs Up, Thursday!

Brain cancer is...

 ...having a perfect Thursday.

Andi has pretty much curbed her one-click shopping habit, post baby shower.  Darrell has not.  Above he welcomed yet another shirt.  Yippee!  Our email today said that two-hour delivery for Amazon Prime is a reality.  Danger!  Danger!
 
When we shared the recommended vaccination list for the Cayman Islands, Dr. Alex said the Hepatitis A shot was a good idea.

We took care of it today.  Vax on, Ultra Vaxers!

Scalable Skellies

We received news of pocket-pal sized skellies today.

Literally a pocket pal in Curt's case:

And a coffee addict pocket sized skelly from Sherrie:

We hope your day is perfect too, pocket sized or not!

“Four and a Baby”

Brain cancer is...

...having lunch with Tiana, Nova, and Alex. 

Darrell and Andi filled Tuesday so far over the top that we could spend most of the day today with kids and grand kid.

When the hostess checked us in at the State, above, we heard new words from our son’s mouth: “Four and a baby.”

Nova is eight days old today.  Here are some other sweet moments of the day.

To finish, Nova's love of literature has grown exponentially, as you see in her appreciation of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Poor Nova and family...overexposed already.  Good thing it's an hour's drive, or this blog would become, "Nova Is..."

Happy Wednesday, everyone!