WhiteDoom Photos: October, 2004

October, 2004

Playgroup at Megan's. This was the calmest playgroup ever. For some reason, the kids were all perfectly happy playing on their own, and left us mothers to sit and chat about (gasp) politics, religion, sex, the weather, and rock and roll. We touched on each of those subjects for at least a moment. I was interested to find out that I am the only Democrat in a group of Republicans. I didn't think I knew any Republicans. They only ganged up on me (not really) for a few minutes and we're all still friends. It was a lovely morning. We were all very relaxed, I think... everyone kept commenting about how calm it was. Excellent food, excellent friends.

Grandma and Xander played outside a lot, of course, and I got some cute pictures of them playing on the play structure.

A few more outside pictures, and a group shot of Lynn, Melissa, Jen, and Xander.

The theme of the business meeting was 'Fall Festival', so the kids were dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Xander wouldn't leave his lion head up, but he was still cute.

We went to Young's Dairy again, because it had been so much fun last week. Many many pictures.

Just pictures of playing around outside, including some cute ones of Xander bundled up in his winter coat. It was really cold out in the morning! "He lay there like a slug. It was his only defense."

Mackenzie came over to play for a few hours while Megan went to lunch with some friends.

Xander and I went up to stay with Grandma and Grandpa White for a few days. On the way up, we stopped at the waterpark to really tire him out for the drive. It worked, he slept nearly the entire way. That night, we played around outside the house, saw the Huffs and their dog, Summer, for a few minutes, and I got a really cute picture of him kissing Melissa through the front glass door.

We spent Friday just hanging around the house, which was very nice, but I should have been working on course work. Oh well. That evening, my dad and I played duplicate bridge with their bridge group, which was SO MUCH FUN. My mom stayed home with Xander, and was just in heaven.

My grandparents came over today to see the baby and spend some time with me, which was wonderful as always. My grandpa just loves Xander. My grandma doesn't really know who he is, but she likes him anyway. It always triggers her to say to me, 'I remember you when you were that little.' She actually called me by name a few times... that was nice. Oh, there are some cute pictures here of Xander wearing my other Grandma's joke sunglasses, which my mom had saved. Very funny. Later that evening, Grams and Papa Doom came over, as well as Uncle Troy, and Cousins Kaden and Draven. Lots of really long (big) videos here.

Another family day. My Aunt Rebecca, my Aunt Teresa and my Uncle Jack all came over. Teresa and Jack were just getting ready to leave for Florida (they're snowbirds), so they wanted to get together. This was the original reason that I headed up north. There are some great pictures of him played 'so big!' up near the ceiling, all of us with napkins on our heads, reading with Teresa, doing a puzzle with Grandpa, and a few of us (notably my mom and dad) with clown hair.

My dad stopped by unexpectedly and we got to go ball hunting in the ravine. There are some lovely pictures of our backyard here. I also got some pictures of my dad and Xander at the sandbox. We went to Mike and Delia's that night, hoping to play bridge. That didn't really happen, but we did get some cute pictures of the kids. They are going to be fast friends.

Nearly all the kids were there, and we had excellent 'take and bake' pizza. Yum!

Travis had a conference to go to in Columbus, and for some crazy reason I thought it was a good idea to drag myself out of bed at 7:15 to go with him. I thought I'd spend the day at the zoo and COSI (science museum). I had been having a rough week, and really didn't want to spent what amounted to another work day alone at home with Xander. As it turned out, I wouldn't have had to, because I was supposed to go to my friend Holly's annual pumpkin party, but in all my stress, it had slipped my mind. Argh. Anyway, we headed to the zoo and had a great time. Xander loved the animals this time, I'm happy to say. He roared at the lions, he got to get in the pen with the goats, and he enjoyed seeing the bears and the gorillas. OK, maybe he didn't enjoy seeing the gorillas... they were a little too big and they came at him a little too fast. Funny, though. 18 months old, and I was still able to carry him in the sling. d:04-10-24:Julie's Baby Shower and King's Island:

Playgroup at Greenewood Manor Club members works at an assisted living facility, so we all went to take our kids there in their Halloween costumes. I would have liked to stay longer.

We went to Xander's 18-month checkup, then went to the park to make him forget the shots. Afterwards, Delia and Connor came over to play in the sandbox, which Connor loved!

Megan left Mackenzie here for an hour or two so she could go to a training class at work. Pam, Delia, and I watched the kids.