and now there are eleven...

Happy weekend, family. No doubt there's no news that tops what's going on in Utah this week. I'm so very proud of Julie and Brandon, and so very anxious to meet little Gavin. He's had a rough time, as have his parents, and seems faced with yet a few more days in the hospital. Here's hoping his appetite picks up and his family can all go home.

We're picking up the loose ends of summer. I still need to deal with a few more storm windows and screens. Pop's been clipping dead stuff out of the garden for weeks and is nearing the end. Just Swiss chard and Brussels sprouts left to harvest. I have buckets of green tomatoes, as well as a lot of ripe ones. After I post this, I plan to go up and make a pot of stewed tomatoes. We have lots of green and hot peppers also. The weather is supposed to get sharply colder by Tuesday.

Gram is recovering nicely from her bronchitis. Dr. Kurt got her on some powerful stuff that started helping right away. She's thrilled about little Gavin, and like me, terrified at the thought of all that he and Julie went through.

Got a call from my brother yesterday, offering congrats, which I offered to him as well for their new little Henry. He also told me that they're coming for Thanksgiving. It will just be Bob, Mary Ann and Julie, and they plan to drive down on Wednesday night. Can't believe that it's only 2 1/2 weeks from now. I'm formally inviting all of you who wish to and/or are able to come. Let me know if possible. I have a lot to do around here between now and then, and we're also preparing to go to Utah on the 2nd of December through the 9th, so we lose a week of Christmas preparation time. Pop is busily cutting the last of the Christmas card puzzles, and right now there are a half dozen on the dining room table awaiting assembly.

We had a very pleasant day last Monday, meeting the North Aurora branch of the family on the train, then taking the CTA to Navy Fear at Navy Pier. It was a beautiful autumn day and we wore ourselves out walking all over the place.

Note to my 2 boys: have you considered phoning your sister with some good wishes? Her cell number is 435-245-2837. She'll be at the hospital for the next few days, pumping milk and delivering it to the nursery every 3 hours, where it's currently being fed to Gavin through a tube into his stomach, until he starts feeling better and develops an appetite.

Sue and Tom have officially taken their house off the market and cancelled the contract to buy the new house in Hampshire. She's happy to be re-hanging her personal stuff on the walls that the realtor had her remove.

Pop's Pontiac is in the shop :( - he thinks there's a problem with the transmission but they can't seem to find anything wrong. Since we can't afford another car, it might become somewhat inconvenient but we'll be driving the PW when we have separate destinations.
Doesn't make any sense to buy another car to take us to jobs that pay less than a car costs.

Brandon, that was a super blog post on Saturday. Thank you so much for all the info and of course for the pictures of your little family. Julie told Gram that she gets tears in her eyes when she sees you holding Gavin. Joyful tears, of course!

Love to you all - hope to hear from some quiet corners of the world....

Mom