I do it every year. I bought too much candy for the Trick or Treaters. And as usual, I wasn't smart enough to buy something that I didn't like such as Skittles or Laffy Taffy. So now I'm stuck with a large bag of Nestle Crunch Bars with Caramel. Stuck. Stuck.The kids were all wonderful and the costumes were terrific. Mr. Eris Jr. won a prize at his school for the "most creative". He was a bottle of ketchup. Yup. Last night he told Eris that he no longer wanted to be Harry Potter because his friend Kelsey was going to be a hot dog. Okay... I don't know how long it took Eris but the resulting costume was great, especially when the hot dog joined him.
Little Ms. Eris was Luna Lovegood and Littlest Ms. Eris was a perfect Dobby. Eris was stunning as Ugly Betty, a costume that she claims cost her $4,000 (braces). Jubee was a football player.
Trick or Treating started out at Athena's office where they really know how to throw a party. No cheap mini-Tootsie Rolls at this place! One guy was handing out dollar bills, which really impressed the kids.
After we got back to the house the Princess, dressed as a ladybug joined us, along with the Duchess and Duke. It was a particularly stressful day in their kingdom due to the new cast that is on the Princess' left arm. But that is for another post.
To see a few more photos you can go over to the Shooting Blog.
Eris as the Bride of Frankenstein
Friday I took photos of nephew Deke and his growing family. Yesterday afternoon Jan and her grandchildren were the subjects of my often-obnoxious zoom lens. Then tonight I got to pick on the Duchess and her royal family. The Princess has grown up with my camera pointed at her so she's not impressed when we try to get her to sit still for a 1/250th of a second. Special thanks to Eris for standing behind me and being the entertainment for the little one. She has done this a number of times and is excellent at it. Maybe a backup career if teaching (or whatever she will do) gets boring down the road?
The photo above is my mother's favorite. She was about three years old and was having a ball in the back yard blowing enormous bubbles. 
I have many memories with Jubee. She was the first of my grandchildren to share weekly Grandma days. Our routine usually involved going up to the hospital to have lunch with Grandmama in the cafeteria where the volunteer ladies would all ooh and ahh over her beautiful dark hair and eyes. Sometimes we would visit Athena at work. We also had fun times baking cookies and playing with Grandpa, who by the way was putty in her hands from day one.
This was taken while having lunch at the hospital with Grandmama. She had been warned to quit playing around on the chair. Sure enough she got her cute little head stuck in the chair. All of the little lady volunteers thought I was an awful Grandma because I wouldn't get her out before I took her picture. The chair had to be tipped upside down to free her! 
The past three days in Berkeley brought all kinds of unexpected "what ifs" to my mind. I'm still sorting through them, but here are a few. I grew up in the 60's and 70's. The mantras were "Free Love", "Make Love, Not War", and "Peace". Granted, here in Utah there was not much of that going on and I led a pretty sheltered life. Marriage and children happened shortly after high school graduation. 
As I wandered around the campus of Cal State Berkeley and through the downtown area I couldn't help wondering how different my life would have been had I gone on to college and immediately experienced what all of the students I was observing were going through. How much did I miss? Would I have been one of those arrested for protesting the war in Vietnam? How serious would I have been about education? Partying or working three jobs to pay for tuition? All of these questions and many more ran through my head.
A teenage Zeus.
This is the way I will always remember Zeus, the good looking new teacher at my high school that coached the Debate Team.
Here's hoping that you have a wonderful birthday. Thank you for being a part of our lives. We love you so much! 
We were in the car for about eight hours exploring San Francisco, seeing the lovely parks and being entertained by the locals. This guy had two empty beer bottles in his shopping cart at the wharf and was more than happy to pose for me!
In the middle of the snowstorm Mr. Eris, Jr. had a soccer game. A temperature billboard at the school showed 37 degrees. The cold by itself doesn't necessarily bother me, especially if I'm out running, but this was a wet, blowing snow and we had to just stand still and watch the game.
Littlest and I have a special bond. She spent much of her first year teaching me patience. The second year was spent recuperating from the first. Now comes the fun part. Three years old is one of my favorite years. Everything is new to her and she is eager to experience anything that I suggest.
The photo above is one of my all-time favorites. While trying to get a picture of the girls in their Easter dresses two years ago Littlest just wouldn't cooperate. She refused to look at the camera and instead wanted to play with the tulips in the front yard. Later while culling through the photos I kept coming back to this one, not really understanding why it appealed to me so much. I nearly deleted it a number of times. It took a few days to realize that this was an unintentional likeness of Sunbonnet Sue, a very old quilt pattern that I have made many times.
Often I have heard the comment that it must have been unfair to have to share my birthday with a sibling. Nope. Not at all. It just makes for bigger parties! Also, with two of us on the same day it was impossible to forget. While growing up the rule was that we got to have a party with friends on the even number years. We still celebrate every year, although the family has grown enough that this year will be just cake and ice cream next weekend at her house.
Thanks Paula for being such a great sister and I hope that you have a Happy 26th Birthday!
