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The boys and I left on Friday afternoon after school to spend the weekend at the farm, while Adam went down to Wabasha with Papa Minnows and Ryan for the annual deer drag. Now I can add, "best weekend of the rut" and "opening gun weekend" to my list of unique birthday attributes.

Grandma EIO and I were quite the team. While she played with the boys (and Aaron's favorite cousin, Tyler), I applied the three coat Manda Mudd product to the lower backdoor staircase hallway and painted the upper hallway with a color that matched the darkest color in the Mandell series, completing the work we began the weekend of Oct 22. The dark brown butterfly wallpaper and spackled walls are history. Finally.


It was a blessing to celebrate another year's passing (or as Auntie Ellie would say, the beginning of a new trip around the sun) at the farm...with a traditional family party. There are fewer faces now, which was apparently a little disturbing for Aaron based on our conversation at dinner.

Aaron to Mommy while eating his supper, before the Tvedts arrived:

"I'm sorry, Mommy."

"Aaron...what are you sorry about?"

Silence. "You only had 3 people come to your party...Great Grandpa Orville, Great Grandma Darlene, and that other guy...this morning..."

"Do you mean Great Uncle Gordon?"

"Yeah...him."
Silence.
"I'm really sorry!"