Wedding

Finally the wedding was on. The great wedding of LouJones and Guy.
Papercup Mixmaster got to be one of the best men
Exploding Poptart got to perform the ceremony
And Wuggy Norple was the best flower thrower ever. [Gosh he looked sharp in his orange tie]

The cold afternoon in the Marin Headlands melted into a warm yellow glow that felt like the world's longest hug. What an auspicious beginning. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Guy-Jones. We love you.

Our little band of travelers could not stay to close the party down, as we love to do. We had to catch an early morning flight back to the great white north. (mostly fog so far, the snow didn't stick). After being surrounded by people we love for 10 days, it was sad to leave. But as Wuggy Norple said in his thanksgiving toast "I'm thankful to spend time with friends, and to enjoy them for as long as I can before we go back."

Sunny Thanksgiving

For years we have celebrated Thanksgiving with Papa Saxophone and the boys. It feels sad not to be pulling giblets out of a turkey with them on a cold and damp Seattle morning, but we sure have enjoyed chopping and mixing with King Me and Mlle. here in California, where the sun streams down into their hillside home. Yesterday (after a sweet and too-short visit with Happy Potterer and Another-Other-Mother and my GuideDaughter Mookie) we spent the day making too many pies: Apple Walnut, Pecan and Pumpkin. ("That's half a pie per person!" said Papercup Mixmaster. I didn't tell him there were actually 2 pumpkin pies...)

Wuggy Norple made Cranberry sauce this morning, and is now the timekeeper for our thanksgiving schedule:
"It's 10:02- I think we are a LITTLE bit behind schedule for the Cranberry Sauce."

Sweet smells from the kitchen, football on the TV, and good friends all around. It's a Happy, Sunny Thanksgiving.

Finding the Scone

Here we are in California to witness the wedding of Lou Jones and Guy. We drove through snow (real one-inch-deep, draping the ground and rooftops, scenic-postcard snow) as we left Ithaca last Friday, and arrived Saturday to a beautiful, Sunny, California afternoon. When Mlle. met us at the airport, she was decked in flipflops and shorts.

I hope there will be time later to tell the story of the Bachelor party and our other adventures, but now I just want to say that after our slumber party at Drama Mama's we (expectant and filled with trepidation) went to the neighborhood Starbucks in hopes that they would have Wuggy Norple's favorite baked-good and symbol of life-as-it-should be: the mini vanilla scone. And there they were, sending their sweet sweet love to us from the pastry case. We ordered 3 and a Kid's milk filled with glee. Once again we were eating vanilla scones with Drama Mama and Princess Punk. Wuggy Norple is very happy to be back.

Woog is born!

Today, November 9, at 11:01 am, Woog was born. Son of K-nob and King Waffel, brother of Boog. He was a wopping 9 lbs 9 oz. As you can see he is very beautiful. We are told that when Boog first saw Woog in his mother's arms, it blew her mind. She stood in the doorway open mouthed processing for 2 whole minutes, says King Waffel.

Waiting very excited...

Right at this very moment K-nob is being prepped for a surgery according to plan, and we all anxiously await the birth of the newest member of our family. While we are starting our ordinary day of work and school, a whole new life is ready to begin. Wow.

Snow!

Real, live snowflakes falling from the sky (without actually piling up on the ground or anything) witnesed in the Ithaca sky and on our windshield on this day, Wednesday November 7. Our first New York snow!

Halloween

[pumpkin design by Wuggy Norple]

This was one of the all time great Halloweens. We made a pilgrimage down Philadelphia way to attend the Eagle's Kids Club Halloween party at the Linc, where Eagles cheerleaders gave away candy to costumed Eagles Fans, and let us try on Eagles gear as a band of devilish musicians roved the Linc playing "Fly Eagles Fly". Most importantly Uncle Clutch, Aunt Sunny D, Cousin Tiny Hings and Cousin Smiley Walker met us at the stadium to tour the Eagle's locker room and run out the very tunnel our favorite players run through before each home game. It was worth the rainy gloomy drive down route 81.

When we arrived at Godmama Q's place she had left Halloween treat bags on our pillows, and made us the most delicious chili and corn bread to chase the chill away. We even got to see our old friend MadDog, and his beautiful new home in Philadelphia. We miss our California friends, but we take comfort in the fact that that even in our brand new home we have old friends nearby.

The weekend closed with another pilgrimage- this time to watch the Eagles' Sunday game on local TV at Uncle Clutch's childhood home. (Boy, his mom and dad sure know how to make you feel welcome!) After all those years of watching Eagles' games with Clutch and Sunny D, it was a kind of reunion, and chance for Wuggy Norple to spend the afternoon playing tackle football with Adventure Gramma and Tiny Hings (the ball was invisible I believe- but the tackles were real).

All that, and we haven't even gotten to Halloween itself. Wuggy Norple dressed up in his Jango Fett jumpsuit, and we walked through our neighborhood on a beautiful fall evening, replete with crisp autumn air and traditional fall foliage. We got all the way to his Arts Camp Friend's house where we stopped to rest, and then headed home (Wuggy Norple is the rare child who is satisfied with one bucket of candy). Exploding Pop Tart sat in the big wicker chair on the front porch with a giant bowl of candy and talked across the porch rail with our next-door neighbor (Dallas Cowboys fan though he is). Because the surrounding area is so rural, some folks come by vanload to our neighborhood to trick or treat. It was the friendliest neighborhood we've ever trick-or-treated in.

Afterwards Wuggy Norple had invited some neighbor friends, along with the Boog and her family over to play "Pass the pumpkin" and eat halloween cupcakes. It was so nice to drink wine and cider with our new neighbors and read Halloween books with the children. Exploding Poptart and Papercup Mixmaster were delighted. (Wuggy Norple says- "It wasn't what I expected." It never is, Wuggy.)








[pumpkin design by K-Nob]

Thoughts from Wuggy Norple

On our cold early morning walk to the bus stop:
"We can't be late for the bus, it's still dark outside."