Four is a great age to be.
You’ve seen her pop bubble wrap. Eat cake. Pose with Murphy the Airedale. Run with her siblings across the lawn, carrying an Easter basket or a doll, wearing a red hat. Gardening!
It’s been a fast four years!
And the most recent shot below
Happy First Anniversary Laura and James. It was a happy wedding. There’s a list of traditional and modern wedding anniversary gifts for each year here. I knew that the first anniversary was paper.
Laura took this photo of the paper items I sent to them to mark the occasion. James said he came home from work to find some large boxes on their front porch and had no idea what was in them. I know I had fun thinking about sending the paper products and figured it would be a gift that would get used. Actually, used up! Shipping was free!
James had the idea to call me on SKYPE and here they are at home talking to me.
Last week at breakfast in Columbus at First Watch
and the weekend they came to help me with the House Concert in Pittsburgh
The Six Months Photo Shoot in Short North Columbus Ohio
I just got off the phone with my sister in NYC. Good thing she has a landline. And not one that sits in an electric powered charger cradle. Just a plain old phone. She is still without power. We were talking about phones. The cancelled Halloween Parade in NYC. Our Pittsburgh Halloween postponed until Saturday due to the weather, residual hurricane effects.
I started thinking about the ET costume I made for Mark years ago. (There is a McCall’s pattern 8311 on Ebay for 29.99, I just checked) Here he is in Germany(1983) with Matthew as Robin Hood. Yes, I made that too. Mark wore that when he was four in Clarion, PA Thinking about Halloweens past.
And then years later Laura wore the ET Costume. It had a Day-Glo finger that matched the heart appliqué on the chest. The date on this photo says 1996.
And here is the costume head in the dining room tonight. I painted the eyes. The head is lined with a piece of blanket. It looks like it did when I made it! When I put on the mask this past weekend, Penny the Goldendoodle (Laura and James’ dog) growled and turned and left the room. My daughter-in-law made the ceramic jack-o-lantern in grade school and I saved it from the trash when she pitched it.
When I visited last week in Columbus, Laura had a Mumkin on her front porch. (James,too)
A pumpkin decoration with the top off and filled with a chrysanthemum plant. Do they have mumkins where you live? It was new to me. I guess you could turn it around after Halloween for Thanksgiving time so the Jack-o-Lantern face is in the back. I thought it was cheerful.
When I googled the word Mumkin, I came up with a totally different definition from the Urban Dictionary.
Anyway it was cute and the mums were all still buds. Maybe it has since bloomed. I will have to ask. What will they think of next?
Last week when I was in Columbus visiting the family, I noticed my youngest granddaughter Maura’s baby dolls all lined up on the ottoman in the family room.
There wasn’t much available light and the auto flash went off on the iPhone as I shot the picture.
It wasn’t until I looked on the screen, that I noticed the middle doll’s expression on her face! I ‘d just been trying to capture the tidy line-up of little doll bodies. 
On the way back from getting coffee with a colleague last Thursday, before the evening session of Open House, S. showed me this statue. Today I returned to photograph it in the sinking October sunlight.
As I drove home, I was thinking about a mother’s love for her child after spending a little time photographing the sculpture.
Overbrook Boulevard and Ravilla Street intersection.
Here’s a link to the story about how Boy Scout Troop 224 rediscovered this statue beneath vegetation, when just the head was showing through. 
The weekly photo challenge this week is a multi-photo challenge using one of the new gallery formats that WordPress created. The suggestion was to include a gallery of nine photos. I was talking on the phone with my friend V and she said Oh, that’s an easy one. Your family!
I added fireworks and raspberries for celebration and summertime. Seeing Michael so happy receiving a medal at a dive meet this summer made my nine photos tally an even dozen.
The family numbers added up quickly. I decided to show what really makes me happiest!
Witnessing my family love one another. Watching Erika enjoy her children ride the Merry-Go-Round at the zoo, James catching Laura in his arms, celebrating Anna’s First Holy Communion weekend with the family. And Steve playing with the grandkids.
All of these photos make a mom’s heart sing.
Mark married Erika. What a beautiful bride. But more importantly, a beautiful person. That was ten years ago.
Bill McC gave me lessons on how to to be a mother-in-law, or how to NOT be a bad mother-in-law…
The very words (MIL) can send a shudder through you-there I said it- mother-in-law!
We all know how the older generation (me) can annoy the younger generation.
Even if you try your best to not be annoying or try to not give unwanted advice or commentary. Joanne B suggested Duct Tape.
But this post is really about my daughter-in-law, Erika.
She is a lot of fun and tolerant and loving towards me, teasing and trying to update my wardrobe and style constantly. In a good way! She is one terrific mom, too. An organic gardener whose specialty is Japanese Eggplant, Kale and tomatoes and now has a new found interest in photography.
Today’s her birthday.
I wish I had the photo of her in the hot air balloon last May with my sister. She is brave and adventuresome.
Here’s Erika as an amazing mother to my four grandchildren and a loving wife to my son Mark and a terrific sister to my daughter and son Laura and Matthew and James. She’s really patient and is always thoughtful and kind to me, calling me up and telling me about the family happenings, keeping me up to date.
Love to my DIL Erika from your MIL!
(MIL sounds less awful than Mother-in-Law) and thanks Bill for the handy tips. You’ll have to ask Erika is I learned from you on how to be a good MIL.
A guest blog by Mark and Erika and a special nod to a dear family friend!
My son Mark has been wanting to photograph this sign for years.
When you’re driving on the turnpike, it’s fairly impossible. This weekend as they headed to a Chicago wedding, with Erika driving and an iPhone camera, he was able to capture this special road sign for his good friend’s father who bears the same name.
Although Mr. Wozniak doesn’t write comments on the blog itself, I receive the loveliest of emails in response to many of the daily photos as they trigger a memory or story from his growing up.
and since we are talking Polish heritage (see info on the Jacob Wozniak from Indiana who was a wagon painter here)
Erika sent a photo of the wedding dinner from the Polish wedding they attended in Chicago this weekend while I watched the grandchildren. They said is was delicious and served Family Style.
St. Stanislaus Kostka
Murphy sat on the back porch before bed. When I went to let him in, I saw a popcorn looking sky from the moon and the glow of the porch motion light- on and off, on and off- as he turned his head. The deck wood looked red.
No time to get a remote cable and eliminate camera shake.
A deep breath as I propped the camera against the edge of the sliding glass door. Depressed the shutter button while I held my breath. No worries that WordPress forgot to issue their weekly photo challenge.
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