another month goes swiftly by

October appears to be nearly over. We have one more birthday and, of course, Halloween, and then we can seriously devote ourselves to The Christmas Pageant. So anyway, we did go Apple Picking. We picked the very last apples off the trees and also gathered in one large pumpkin.
 The baby was no help and Romulus, after picking half a bag of apples, lay on the ground and moaned that he was too exhausted to do any more. Fortunately he was able to gather his strength to play in the little playground before we left.

  And here they sit, still not made into anything, except a one pie. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to them. But really, someone needs to lend me their clever apple peeling/coring/slicing contraption. 

     Oh look! A baby caught in a ray of light, pushing herself along on her little bike. 

Gladys turned five last Monday. She felt that the day wouldn't go well when we insisted we had to go to Wegmans or we would not be able to eat for the week And Then we made her go in the play place by herself so that we could be alone to each buy her a present. She cheered up only when we gave her a large doughnut and a large pink balloon. Unfortunately for all of us, her wretched sister Marigold sat on the balloon On Purpose and popped it and so, as you can see, life goes on being a veil of tears. Here is her new bike, with bear sitting in the front. And then the bike with matching pink outfit and red boots.

 

 And then Wednesday was the Harvest Dinner. A brilliant time was had by all. The food was fabulous. The company was scintillating. And then afterwards the dog got locked in Marigold's room, and very foolishly, when I was running around in a panic looking for him, I sent Alouicious up to check the rooms instead of going myself. We searched the neighborhood for half an hour before checking upstairs again. Next year (note to myself) I'm scheduling in the Harvest Dinner as a Day Off from school. Better just to plan ahead instead of trying to pretend you're going to do something that clearly you're not going to do, like school.

 I realize that these pictures are grainy and uninteresting, but I was waving my phone around in no clever attempt at true picture taking while keeping children from smacking into the tables, trying to convince them that they would eventually be allowed to eat food but that, no, they couldn't be the first in line, and that, yes, they would have to run back to the house and have a piano lesson in the middle but that, no, the piano lesson would not ruin everything and that therefore, they could stop crying and just cope with the reality that exists in the present, for, says our Lord, Do Not Be Anxious or whining, but in everything Give Thanks.

Marigold is especially thankful for this cool new shirt that her Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather (GGPa, GGMa) sent her. The shirt says '100% GOOD 10% of the TIME' and is exactly the right expression of her immortal soul right now.

 

This morning she, Marigold, came crashing down while it still seemed very very dark and shouted, 'Turn On The Light. Its So Annoying!'

And finally, here we have the baby trying to break my computer. She was properly dressed and ready to be taken somewhere and in about 30 seconds she stripped everything off and got in my bed and started smacking the keyboard with her fat fat fat fists.