My amazing Grammy passed away on Thursday....I am so glad I was able to go see her a couple of weeks ago even if she wasn't really awake while we were with her. She lived 96 full years....3 children, 6 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren with one more on the way! I think what has comforted me the most is knowing that she is with my grandfather again. He passed away almost 50 years ago, they were only married about 15 years and she never re-married. In my mind's eye picture of Heaven, I have a vision of the grandfather I never met standing at the front of the line with his arms wide open to welcome his beautiful wife Home....Oh the joy she must have felt to be with him and of course in the comfort and peaceful arms of our Heavenly Father, I can only imagine!!
The boys and I are headed up to the Big D on our own tomorrow and Matt will meet us up there late Monday. Praying they sleep most of the drive tomorrow since I will be on my own!
Grammy was the last living grandparent I had and definitely the matriarch of our family and there will be a hole without her. Everyone called her Grammy, even if she wasn't their own!
We will be singing one of my all time favorite hymns at her funeral (one of two I want sung at my own some day far far away...On Eagle's Wings is the other)
Rest in peace, grammy...you will be missed but I know I will see you again one day!!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Most wonderful time of the year
Or at least that is what my hubby would say! The Madness of March known at the NCAA basketball tournament started today. Matt LOVES basketball and looks forward to this all year....starting with putting "One Shining Moment" as his ring tone about a month ago for all you other bb fans ;-)
Back in the day (aka-pre kids), we would actually take off work to go sit at a local pub so we could watch all the games at one time somewhere and watch our brackets go up in flames! Haven't done that in awhile but I do still like to fill in my bracket. Something about marking off that win with the yellow highlighter and scratching out the losers with my red pen.....I have actually won a few times which makes it even more fun, especially since it makes the boys so mad. So far I am doing pretty good but there have only been 4 games so we shall see! :)
Hope everyone is having a Happy St Patty's Day too. I will be celebrating at home with the fam tonight and watching some b-ball, of course!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Puddle Jumper
What does a crazy mom of 2 boys do when it rains and pours all day when the sun finally comes out??? Why she packs up their rain boots, a couple of towels, and the camera and heads to the park! :)
I think the boys didn't believe it when I told them it was okay to get in the puddles and make a mess and get as wet as they wanted, but that's what life is about, making memories, right? I hope to be the kind of mom that when the boys are older....they will remember that when all else failed...we had some fun!! (and let them mix play dough when they wanted to too!) ;-)
here are a couple of pics from our play date with the puddles! I hope you will go out and make a splash sometime soon too!
I have been working on a couple of crafty things too so hopefully I will get back into the swing of things and back to blogging! Stay tuned!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Home Again, home again, jiggity jig!
We had a wonderful little weekend tucked away in small town Texas. The lake house was beautiful, the company was excellent and the shopping was oh so fun! I am anxious for St. Patty's to pass so I can start busting out all the Easter decor I bought! :) We all had such a great time and definitely will have a girls trip again like this planned in our future.
What was even sweeter, was coming home to my little critters that missed me OH so much. I think on Monday Markey hardly let me put him down and the Z Man told me how he was "happy again now that you are home from your mommy's meeting". Oh yeah, and the hubs was pretty happy to see me too! :)
All and all it was a really wonderful trip and I got lots of treasures. There was something for everyone for sure out there!
here are a couple pics of all our fun!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
To Market, To Market
This weekend I am headed on a girls trip to Canton, TX for the famous First Monday Trade Days. I have never been before and am SOOO excited for the shopping and for the fellowship with some of my girlfriends! Imagine nutcracker market, flea markets, craft shows, antique marts and garage sales all mixed together! Well at least that is what I am imagining after hearing about it from others who have gone. I have a list of things I will be on that hunt for.....plates, frames, shutters, vintage sports stuff for game room, wood, and some kind of nightstand or occasional table to refinish. And some vintage sprinklers for my cousin, Sarah, if I can find any! Any one gone before and have any tips to share?
We will be staying at my friend's Aunt's house in one of the nearby towns. The last couple of days we gals have been emailing about our plans, who is bringing what food (and drink), and where we may dine out for a meal. Each email we have exchanged I have just gotten more and more excited about. I am really really looking forward to a low key weekend hanging with my ladies and actually being able to chat without the interruption of the kiddos or having to head home from book club. Watch out, Canton, here we come!
I think another thing that has really made me excited about it is I just finished the book The Girls from Ames by Jeffery Zaslow. (he is the guy who co-authored The Last Lecture, another really good book). It is a non-fiction account of this one group of women's 40 year friendship. It was really good and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a great read on women, relationships, and life! One of the things the women in the book do is take a yearly retreat together so to speak just to reconnect and relax with one another. Totally has me wanting to start this tradition. Let me know if you are interested, friends...let's get this going! ;-)Would be especially great for my pals who live out of town and we don't get to see as much.
I am off tomorrow so after that, only a day and a half of work to get through....then let the girl time begin!! :) Thanks in advance to all the hubbies for watching the babies this weekend so we mommas can play!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Happy Handmade Birthday
In efforts to practice and learn how to sew or other crafts, I am making handmade gifts for my girlfriends for their birthdays! So far I have 2 down and they turned out really cute.
For my be-fri, Susan, I made a laptop sleeve using this tutorial. It was pretty easy actually once I got going and I love how it turned out. I used some of Amy Butler's new fabric which probably would make anything cute! What do you think? My mom gave it a good once over and besides my shoddy use of sticky velcro, she said my lines were really good!
"Home is where your story begins" and then their names and wedding date. I really liked it, I hope she did too!
Now onto the March birthdays! I better get busy!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The Gramster
Took an unexpected visit up to the big D this weekend to visit my Grammy. She fell on Christmas and broke her shoulder and just hasn't quite bounced back this time. She is 96 years old and a totally amazing and awesome, strong and independent woman. She seems to have taken a turn for the worse this week and I wanted to make sure I saw her. It was really hard to see her this way (she is basically just sleeping these days) but I was thankful for the time to sit and stroke her hands and back and tell her how much I love her. Growing old can be really hard sometimes and it seems almost cruel to have her be this way. She does look peaceful and I think even smiled a few times. I like to think she is just tired from her very long and full life and maybe ready to see her husband that she lost so long ago...but that surely doesn't make it any easier for those of us that love her here. She has been the matriarch of our family for so long and I don't even like to think of life without her around. I just pray for her comfort and peace right now but I surely would like her to wake up again too...
Grammy is really the only grandparent I have had for most of my life. Her husband (my mom's dad) died when she was a teenager. My dad's mom (my muzzy)died of cancer when I was really young and my dad's dad (my popsie) passed I think when I was in junior high? So for a long time it has just been the gramster! Anyway, I remember growing up in my prayers I would always say (I pray my grammy lives to see me get married....have my first child, etc) and I am beyond grateful that she has been around for these big moments in my life. Zachary actually came with us to visit her today (matt stayed back with Mark) and he was so sweet. He patted grammy, told her he loved her and gave us all some much needed laughs at times too with his funny and innocent comments and questions.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Arrrr....the pirate party!
I didnt get the camera out near enough....too busy visiting and bouncing I guess! I forgot to take pics of a lot of the decorations too but oh well. For the favors, I bought beach pails for the kids and with my silhouette, put each of the kids name on them. Perfect for the summer trip to the beach! Inside it had a pirate hat that I made, along with some candy, tattoos, mustache and stickers! :) All and all, it was a really fun party and the Z Man had a great time which matters for than anything else....I cannot believe my baby is THREE!
Little Red Wellies
Don't mind mark and his tongue, it's his new thing! ;-)
