I guess the most exciting thing that has happened to me since my last post is that I have a new granddaughter! Lorna Violet was born on July 31st, a healthy, happy baby, weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces. We didn't go out for the birth, but in September George and I flew to Portland to see her and the rest of the family. She's a cutie! And Shanna was a hoot! She LOVES to dance - every time we heard music she would start dancing! We also enjoyed seeing Shanna in her pirate Halloween costume.
I've enjoyed buying the girls matching outfits. It's fun being a grandma, even though I really wish we lived closer. Oh well, it's fun making packages up to send. I keep in touch with Renee often by phone and sometimes Shanna even "talks" to me. I can hardly wait until she can really talk and maybe even come visit Grandma Melody.
Our next exciting thing was to take a small road trip to St. Louis to attend a memorial for my Uncle Bob. We enjoyed seeing the St. Louis Arch and meeting Bob's family. We also enjoyed going to Land Between the Lakes on the way home. But the best part was afterwards when my aunt Susan came to visit. We always have such good times together and this visit was no exception. One highlight was going to get our nails done, including hand and foot massages.
School has been pretty good too. There have been some ups and downs - it is still hard sometimes for me to be working in the public school setting with all the emphasis on testing, testing, testing. But I have some awesome colleagues to work with and hopefully I am doing some good both for students and teachers. One highlight was going to a conference where I met Carmen Deedy (author of The Library Dragon and Martina, the Beautiful Cockroach). She is Cuban and it was great to hear her stories with Spanish sprinkled in after my Costa Rica summer.
Thanksgiving is going to be very quiet at our house this year - just George and me. But it will be nice to have some quiet time before the holiday "rush" season before us. (Like 2 holiday parties coming up next week already...) We've got a turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and cranberry relish and logs for the fireplace. What more do we need?
