I Heart Macro ~ Remembering

One of a dozen roses from a grocery store bouquet.

  I know everyone has a story to tell about where they were, what they thought, and how they felt when they heard the news and saw the images of September 11, 2001.  I don't think any of us will ever forget that day.  The families of the victims will certainly never forget.  So today, I will remember.  Today, I will remember to pray for the families and the survivors of that tragic day.  Today, I will hold my loved ones close and tell them I love them.  Today, I will remember that life is short and I should live as if it were my last.  

God bless you today and every day!

I'm joining Studio Waterstone for  I Heart Macro

Thankful Thursday ~ Memories of Grandma

Every Thursday I share something I'm thankful for.  In the midst of our everyday lives, the ups and downs and the negative, we sometimes forget there are things to be grateful for, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem.

Today I'm thankful for the memory of my Grandma.  Yesterday would have been her ninety-sixth birthday!  She passed away four years ago after suffering from dementia.

I didn't grow up living close to her.  My dad was in the army and we lived all over the country but went to visit her and other relatives in California every time we moved.  I can remember her coming to visit us everywhere we lived.  She loved to fly and never passed up the opportunity to do so.  When I left home and got married, I didn't see her very often until she retired and moved to Arkansas to live close to my mother.  So I got to spend time with her when I would go home or often times when my parents came to visit me and she came too.

Grandma made the best ever banana nut cake with a hard caramel frosting.  She made it for me every time I came to visit.  She LOVED strawberry ice cream and her freezer was always full of it!  She loved to have her picture taken, loved to be complimented, and worried about how her hair looked when she went out.  The one memory I will never forget is when she called me after my first miscarriage.  It was the one and only time she called me and she wanted me to know that she had a miscarriage many years before and she understood how I was feeling.   She is the only person who told me it was okay to mourn the baby I didn't have.

I miss her, but I have good memories and I'm thankful for every one of them!

I'm also thankful for
     an understanding husband
     the kindness of strangers
     a/c in the car
     ice cold water

What are you thankful for today?

A Most Un-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

It was Thanksgiving of 1987.  We were living in Ft. Bliss, TX and had been there 2 months and would be leaving a month later.  The kids were two and three and I had a monstrous sinus infection that took three rounds of antibiotics to clear up.  Michael, being in the army, ended up having duty that day.  That meant he was manning the phones and checking on the troops.  In other words, he was not home!  He got to eat Thanksgiving dinner at the mess hall, and a nice soldier brought him a plate from her homemade meal.  The kids and I had a frozen pizza!  A Thanksgiving to remember!

What was one of your most memorable Thanksgivings?

Christmas and Birthday

Another Christmas come and gone.  We spend so much time preparing for Christmas day and then it's over.  Things go back to normal the next day and all the exhausting hard work is finished for another year.  Well, in our house, the day after Christmas is my daughter, Erin's, birthday....we get to celebrate another day!!  Erin turned 25 and I'm so proud of the woman she has become.  Happy Birthday, baby doll!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and made some great memories!  Shylee loved her rocking chair, so my Christmas was perfect!

       

Memory Makers

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  I love when my kids are here.  The house is filled with laughter and good times that make for great memories.  This weekend had it's share of memory makers!

Shylee had two 'firsts'.  I love having tea parties and I collect teapots and tea cups.  Erin and I were having a cup of tea and Shylee wanted a drink of the tea.  Erin gave her a drink and Shylee loved it!  This grandma was just thrilled that not only did she love the tea but her first try was from a tea cup and not a mug (which I use for just me most of the time)!

Hmmm....Shylee might get a tea set for Christmas!

Her other first was climbing the stairs!  She had made it up two steps when I found her and she was proud of herself and scared at the same time!  She could go up but couldn't come down!

Annie also made a memory this weekend.  She loves popcorn as much as I do.  Erin and I spent about four hours stringing popcorn to put on the Christmas tree.  It was 1:00 a.m. when we finally decided to go to bed and put the popcorn garland on the table.  We specifically made sure it was out of reach of Annie.  Imagine my surprise when I came down the stairs in the morning and found this....

I should have known something was wrong before I even came down the stairs.  She wouldn't come out from under the bed and when I finally coaxed her out, she wouldn't come down the stairs but laid down at the top and watched me go down!  She knew she was in trouble!  We decided the popcorn on the tree might not be such a good idea.  Never mind that I've done popcorn for most of the past 30 years!  I didn't do it the last two years because working retail this time of year doesn't leave time for such time consuming things!  We were doing good to have a tree up at all, so I was looking forward to my popcorn garland this year.  No, I'm not bitter....

What great memories did you make this Thanksgiving weekend?