I've got my love to keep me warm. (Rochester)

So last weekend we left this mellow, mild Southern November...

Goodbye, beautiful Blacksburg!

...and drove overnight, about 11 hours, north, to the land of the Icy and Snowy November. As I pointed out, though, it sure beats the Muddy, Windy and Sulky November that is usual in Rochester.

We attended church with Dad in the morning for Christ the King Sunday. That evening, we double-churched and visited the South Wedge Mission , my cousins' start-up, which is celebrating it's first anniversary! If I had a good camera, I might be able to show how this lovely little church how it really looks. Instead, I have this, the BRIGHTEST of all the dim images my poor camera was able to capture. You'll have to visit their FB picture album instead.

The visit to SWM was extremely centering for me. Matthew's sermon gave me The Flash (any Emily of New Moon fans out there?). For an infinitesimal moment, the point is, sometimes, we can see Beyond.

Monday morning found us driving past The City, westward,

to the border. To Canada, where my Grandma lives. The whole family had updated documents this time and got to have a visit with my Grandma and Grandpa in St Catherine's, ONT. It was cozy, quiet, and lovely to look into their eyes again.

On Tuesday, we made up for all our time in cars by spending most of the day outside.

Here we are at Wild Wings, the raptor sanctuary at Mendon Ponds Park (that park being one of my very favorite places ever).

The only non-avian animal was a rescued bobcat. Someone had tried to raise her as a pet and had declawed the poor thing!

Above, she chases Miles, to his delight.

There wasn't too much snow on the ground for most of Tuesday, maybe an inch or so. But things picked up that evening, as we frolicked in Dad's backyard.

All my snow dreams were coming true, two years in a row! I couldn't contain myself.

The snow on the ground at that point wasn't much, but it was top-quality packing snow. Perfect for snowballs, snowforts, and snow men!

His eyes are Coke bottle tops. His nose is a baby carrot.

His mouth is peppercorns.

And the kids made him, mostly, by themselves. I was like a really lackadaisical Artistic Director.

He has a hat made of leaves and "shoes" (skis) of sticks. His name is BarbaqueMan (M's choice) and he wants to hug you.

We tucked into the utter coziness that only a good snow can produce, that evening.

Here is one snapshot of bliss. I've got more.

Grandparent Birthday Visit

While Jon's parents were in town, on the weekend before Adele's birthday, we realized we didn't have many pictures of Grandpa with his Grandkids. So we snapped a few while Adele was receiving her presents:

I love her Tongue of Concentration. 

These jeans have a dalmatian on one leg that looks just like Adele's beloved toy, Spot.  WIN. 

Lookit the dress! One of three adorable ones she received this year. 

Later, Miles & Grandpa get a bit silly:

Blue-eyed buddies, for-ever.

November Baby

My second born is two today.

(Warning: dangerous quantities of sentiment to follow)

I realize that due to second child bias, Adele is much less known to my family and friends than is my firstborn. This is a shame, because her personality is pronounced and delightful.

It is a weekday, so she spent most of her birthday at daycare, where she is no doubt at this moment partying with her little toddling mates, high on cupcake buzz and staining her clothes gleefully.

(The cupcakes)

But we started the day with celebration. When I went into her room in the morning I asked her what day it was. "BIRTHDAY!" she shouted. How old are you? "TWO! EAT CAKE" She actually screamed.

Something to know about Adele is how much she loves to eat. It is one of the first impressions she gave us (besides that she is clearly focused and in a hurry! Hello 5 hour labor!).

 I got her dressed in a fluffy blue skirt and festive blouse while singing her the birthday song. We put sprinkles and candles in her pancakes (one of her favorite foods).


We even had time for a present. She's already received one: from Grandpa and Grandma Grunert, sundry adorable and elegant clothes, and her own TRUCK! She's so happy. I need to get a video of the two kids clamoring down the hall with their dump trucks. It's a beautiful sight.

This morning's first present from Mum & Papa was....

("Hmm, what is it?")

"DINOS!!"

The roaring began soon after these pictures. Adele is an excellent roarer.

She's recently become very opinionated about what she does and does not wear. So, her birthday hat only got a couple seconds' use at breakfast:

I thought this would be a good time to remind you all that two years ago, I had just experienced this and Adele looked like this:

It has been a joy, darling. Happy happy birthday.

10 Things to know about Adele, aged 2:

1. She's fast becoming a communicator of whole, opinionated sentences. Recent additions include: "I bouncing" "I make a diamond." "I over here!" "I angry!" "I don't want to go car!" "No Miles MY TURN" and "Papa! C'mere!" 
2. She loves to climb, dance, hang, bounce, and run (saying "I run!" etc). 
3. She LOVES stuffed animals tenderly but doesn't seem to care much for dolls. We've tried.
4. She will sing Twinkle Twinkle, ABC, and Swimming Swimming over and over until you feel nothing exists but those songs. 
5. She loves her crib. When it's bedtime, she points to it and flops about delightedly for a while before falling asleep on her own and staying asleep all night. This is a decided virtue, if you ask me!
6. She is generally independent. Even when being dropped off at the totally unfamiliar nursery at the church in Charlotte, she let us go without complaint. 
7. Still, WOE BETIDE YOU if you try to take either Blanket or Spot from her without skilled negotiation! Adele is much more attached to her soft toys than was/is her brother.
8. She is still a thumb-sucker. 
9. She swims in the bath and blows bubbles skillfully, but she is terrified of pools, lakes, and the ocean. It's a mystery. 
10. She loves her family, and we're all in love with her too.

Adele is someone to watch! Here she comes, everyone!

Readers: You may be waiting in vain for Jon to get around to blogging about and sharing pictures of his trip to Oxford. A popular outcry might hurry things along, but it's hard to say. He persists in being "busy" with "grad school." It's worth a try, though! Begin campaigning! 

The very air is full of spirits

Our Halloween observance was simple but enthusiastic, cheerful, and full of spirit.
Pumpkins were Kroger-bought. I regret nothing. Kroger is a five minute walk from our backyard, so it was kind of like a neighborhood pumpkin patch!

Miles insisted that his look friendly, not scary:

Adele just wanted there to be triangles on hers:

We have twice subjected the kids to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

I can't get enough of that soundtrack:

It's full of instruction on trick-or-treating, social realities, our human dependence on luck and chance (rocks in the pillowcase) and the importance of imagination to beagle life. A must-see.

Speaking of our human dependence on luck and chance, chance brought us....ready...a stomach bug this week! We're big winners. Adele succumbed on Tuesday, followed by Miles late Wednesday night. He had just stopped being visibly sick when evening came. Jon was starting to go downhill last night, so he opted out of trick-or-treating.

I had just enough energy from my half nights' sleeps (night-nursing each in turn) to push them in the stroller. Still, they perked up once they'd gotten some fresh air and we had a good old time!

The squirrel costume Miles requested turned out... okay. We thought he looked kinda like a Squirrel under Stalin with the grey uniform & hat.

Shout about it Little Comrade!

Adele took a while to warm up to the idea. This was really her first trick-or-treating, since we opted for the carnival option last year. So she had trouble letting go of any of the candy to put it in her bag for a while. At some point, I told her, in life, you have to let go of things if you want to get more. She absorbed it with her usual solemnity, and soon afterwards was observed to say "TrickATreet" very correctly and put her candy in her bag herself.

The kids insisted I be a princess, to go with Adele, the dragon. They didn't like my monster costume nearly as much as I did! It scared them a bit, I'm thinking. I'll have to save it for next year. It's fun; very hairy.

Adele got a good haul!

Well, they both did! I would like to thank Gillies for giving out oatmeal raisin bars so I could say yes to one item before dinner.

Alas, we had to miss the party at the library. It was a library swing dance! As if designed just for me! But with two sick-ish kids and a sick-ish husband and no sleep, it really wasn't an option. Home we went for a simple meal and some more Great Pumpkin.

I love Halloween and won't give a full defense of celebrating it, but here are some observations I've made about the importance of celebrating this particular half-pagan half-sacred holiday:

1. We need to face the fact that fear is a part of life.
2. We need to face the fact that death is a part of life.
3. We need to face the fact that the human experience contains supernatural, unexplained phenomena.
4. We need opportunities to look at supposedly scary things full in the face so that we recognize the limits of their power. 
5. We need to remember the dead, contemplate our own deaths, and commune with those we miss and love. 

I've got more but this is, after all, a family blog.Suffice to say that we are decidedly Team Halloween.

A blessed Halloween, All-Hallow's Eve, Dia De Los Muertos, Samhain and All Saints Day to all my readers!

Please note: this might be my last entry for a couple of weeks. Jon leaves on Tuesday for six days in England for a conference! Do keep us all in your prayers.