Grandma Margaret

Alan's Grandma Margaret turned 99 years old this month, and the family all converged in Iola for a big party!

Coop hugging her hello:

More hugs and stories:

Great grand kids:

Goofballs:

Everyone's exhausted on the drive home!

Maple Leaf

Cooper and I enjoyed another lovely Maple Leaf Festival this year.  We bought fudge and a cinnamon roll and a marionette puppet.  We saw the parade.  And for the most part, we avoided the crowds.

One of my favorite traditions of Maple Leaf is that on Sunday evening, when things are starting to shut down, Coop and I have been involved in taking a home-cooked meal to the carnival workers.  It's the same crew year after year, so we've gotten used to seeing some familiar faces.

But this year, the woman who usually was in charge (i.e. -- made buckets of soup and dinner rolls for the crew) wasn't going to be there.  So.... my turn.

I opted to make sloppy joes for 40 people:

THAT is a crapton of ground beef.

But we got everything set up -- sloppy joes, chips, apples, and cookies:

One of the carnival workers was talking with Coop and expressing his appreciation for Coop's help, and then he gave Coop this ginormous stuffed shark:

Coop was beyond thrilled!

AND THEN another worker offered him a hermit crab.  Which meant I had to run to the pet store the next day to be a "crabitat" for Hermie the hermit crab.  He seems quite happy now.  As does Cooper.

A week of Cooper

Trying out the Halloween costume (John Wayne):

Saturday morning legos:

Coop made nachos for lunch for Alan:

Bike riding in south Lawrence:

Recent pics

Coop and I grabbed lunch down on Mass St. one Saturday afternoon:

A craft project (making a parachute for the green army guys):

We joined Madeline's family for her birthday at an escape room in Lawrence.  We rocked it!

With a light saber and a glitter microphone?

Ready for class picture day:

Fun (and not so fun)

 Playing Simon at Grandma Joan's:

Making a hot pad on one of those metal weaving loom:

And in the not-so-fun category, a trip to the dentist for sealants on his back molars.  It was the first non-cleaning appointment he'd even had.  Lots of implements and funky smells and tastes.  But he did great.

Weekend with Alan

First up, KSU football game:

Then to the shooting range with Molly:

And then to Cavendar's to shop for Halloween costume accessories:

(He's planning to be John Wayne.)

Hobbies

Practicing piano:

Professional karate photos:

Coop came home one day and announced he wanted to cook supper.  A Cooper version of empanadas (which he had in Argentina):

His were filled with sausage and cheese:

Pretty tasty!

Netflix

Coop wrote a letter to Netflix, asking them to bring back MASH, Gilligan's Island, and the Brady Bunch.  He got a letter in response:

 And shoestrings:

That quickly turned into a lasso:

School work

Doing extra math practice online:

Working to solve the mail order mystery clues:

Coop and his friend Eliza showing off the science report they wrote following an experiment:

New grill

Over Labor Day weekend, Coop and I bought a new grill, that we then had to haul up to the back deck and assemble:

Coop inaugurated the grill with a meal of hot dogs for our friends Gus and Eleanor:

Success:

Coop also assembled this new locker for his room at Alan's house -- a place to store his BB guns:

Coop and I (not grilling) playing with the iPads at Applebees:

Piano lessons!

Coop has started piano lessons at the Americana Music Academy!

Practicing at home:

Our new Halloween decoration friend practicing:

At his lesson:

Recent activities

We watched a ton of Olympics.  And Coop ran laps around the house.  Hundreds of them.

The karate studio invited a professional photographer in to take pictures of the kids.  Coop wanted to pose with a sword (even though that's not something he's trained on during lessons).  Looks pretty cool!

Homework and paper-grading:

Baking Grandma Farm's rolls: