Catching up a bit..

Saturday----our little guy turned one!   It was a fun filled day....bittersweet knowing he has grown up so fast!    We are blessed....

Happy Birthday! (Now late)

Happy Birthday to my sister!!!   (and friend!)   I am blessed.   I hope you have an awesome day, Jolyn!!!

I love you!

**this post was scheduled to post on August 30, but blogger somehow changed it to draft...sorry Jolyn!

Birthdays...

Well, our first little guy turned 11 today...the 21st ( I am writing this post ahead of time...to post on the 22nd).

I cannot believe he is 11!      We always tell each other that we are each other's birthday gifts!  He was born the day before my birthday!     He got a fun gift for his birthday and I think he was pretty excited!

 

We gave him his gift before he went home from his summer visit.   It sounds like he had a great weekend with his parents and friends this weekend to celebrate!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, dear daughter Chrissy!   We love you so much, and you deserve all the happiness in the world!! xoxoxo

FOR SOME REASON this didn't post as scheduled on June 29, ( I had set it to post on June 29)  but I am going ahead and posting it today....Love you, Chrissy! 

Happy Birthday!

Today is my mother in law's 88th birthday.   You may recall we celebrated recently.   She is a very special person, who treats me just like a daughter, never an "in-law".  We are blessed to have her.  Here she is pictured with the kids...that's hubby in the middle back (brown Wyo shirt!)

Happy Birthday!!!  We love you!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad!   I love you bigger than the sky! 

(My sis, Dad, me)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you bigger than the sky!

I wrote this about my mama a couple years ago...and I cant' say it any better today....
My Mom

My mom is special. She has never been "mother", always "mom".

She amazes me with her strengths, courage and faith.

She is one of three sisters, the youngest by quite a few years. She later became the mother of four daughters...I think she is probably pretty in-tune to the female world.

She credits many of her attributes to my Grandma (Elsie), and I can say that we are blessed to have her be the same in many ways as Grandma. But, she is her own person, and one that I admire greatly.

Mom grew up in a small town, smaller than my hometown, and moved upon her marriage to Chicago...what a change. Her stories of the differences are just enthralling. I would have been scared to death upon such change.

Later, my father worked for CB&Q railroad and we moved often. She seemed to take all this in stride and always managed, even with him away at times, or on odd shifts, and being far away from her own parents and siblings.

She gave birth to me fifty (oops-now 52???) years ago (yet she remains at about age 35 to me, always), then had still born twins, followed by the birth of my younger sister. Mom was to suffer later the loss of her husband, my father, to cancer. I don't remember a lot about my younger childhood, probably due to the stress of the loss. But, she remained strong and took care of her daughters. It was much later in life that I read a journal she had kept writing about my father's illness, her feelings, and various stages of the cancer. In those days, cancer killed, and it usually was painful and hard on the person and those around him.

The journal enlightened me to let me know how much she truly had suffered while not showing us girls how scared and alone she felt, by crying in the middle of the night in my grandmother's arms, by calling a friend just to hear her voice. She never showed that fear and loneliness to me. I was a child. I depended on her fully.

Later she remarried a wonderful, man, Dad. He has been a blessing to us all, and I love him with all my heart. My father's family welcomed him and they became his extended family as well, which was so giving and wonderful. I had lots of grandparents and extended family between Mom, Dad and my father. How lucky!

Mom give birth to two more daughters then, my sisters, who are 14 and 12 years younger than I am. I am so lucky to have the three sisters. I love having sisters.

I am not going to tell her life story, I couldn't even begin to get all the details!

I sometimes still feel like a young child, calling my mom for advice, or just to share, or just to cry or laugh. And, she lets me.

When I am happy, she shares my happiness, and loves me...
When I laugh, she laughs with me, and loves me...
When I am sad, she comforts me, and loves me...
When I cry, she dries my tears, and loves me...
When I succeed, she congratulates me, and loves me...
When I fail, she encourages me, and loves me...
When I falter, she lifts me up, and loves me...
When I am lost, she helps me find a path, and loves me...
When I lose faith, she enlightens me, and loves me...
When I forget, she reminds me, and loves me...
When I need, she gives, and loves me...
When I give, she appreciates me, and loves me...
When I make mistakes, she helps me find answers, and loves me...
When I talk, she listens, and loves me...
When I ask, she answers, and loves me...
When I am lonely, she consoles me, and loves me...
When I am frustrated, she helps me, and loves me...
When I need forgiveness, she forgives me, and loves me...
When I fly, she hangs on and flies with me, and loves me...
She loves me.

She has taught me so much about life, about the importance of doing for others, about faith and family and friendship and love.

I feel her love...all of the time. It envelopes me, and wraps me like a warm blanket. When I feel blue, I just need to grab that blanket a little tighter.

I am thankful for Mom. I hope that I can be even just a little bit like her.

Happy Birthday!!!

Our little Chloe Bean turned six today! I can't believe she is six! It seems like yesterday she was just born!

WE LOVE YOU CHLOE BEAN!

Happy Birthday, my friend

Happy Birthday to my friend, S.

She is my rock, my shoulder, my friend. She encourages me, cries with me, laughs with me, and she is always there for me. My life is better having her as my friend, and I am so lucky. I hope she has the bestest birthday ever.

I love you, S!

Happy Birthday to my Sis!

Happy Birthday Jolyn!
Love ya!

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Our baby boy is 9. He won't want me calling him my baby boy. He's all grown up already! But, he's still our baby boy. (I tell him he is MY birthday gift, as his birthday is the day before mine...and then he says...and you are MINE!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! WE LOVE YOU!!

Fun...

Brooklyn picked out the cake for his grandpa's birthday. I thought you may get a chuckle out of a grown man getting a "transformers" ice cream cake for his 54th birthday! We had this on Friday, my hubby's birthday...

Brooklyn is making one of his "photo faces'''....love that stage, huh?

Happy Birthday!

Happy, happy Birthday to our Tina! Hope she has a wonderful day! We get to see soon! We Love You!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Chrissy! We love you so much! Hope you have a great birthday!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Happy Birthday to Crystal, my baby girl is now 20!

(Video from 2007)
We Love You!

Funday Sunday

I had another "funday" Sunday today when we met my parents for lunch halfway between their hometown and ours. One of my sisters was able to join us, and Tina went along. An additional surprise was having my mother in law travel along with my parents. We met and had a nice lunch at Applebees where we celebrated my dad's upcoming birthday. It was so nice to see them!

View the slide show here, or go to my photo album link and click on Dad Birthday, 2009:






I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I'll be writing about my recent road trip this week.

Birthday Party

We attended Chloe's birthday party on Saturday. She was so cute and excited. We are still reeling from the fact that she is already five!

View more photos here: Chloes' Birthday Party.

Brooklyn's Birthday Celebration

Brooklyn turned 8 on August 21. We had a family celebration, with a couple friends over, too, over Labor day weekend.

For photos, go to: Brooklyn's 8th Birthday Celebration



We can't believe he's already 8 years old! And a third grader!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday this week to my baby sister, Jackie on the 19th, my li'l sister, Jill on the 21st and my sis-in-law, Pat, on the 23rd! Then, Happy Birthday to Adam on Friday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday today to my Mom! She is special! I wrote an earlier blog about her...find it here.