Family Visit

This past weekend we spent visiting with my brother and sis-in-law and my cousin Jeff and his wife Angela whom I haven't seen in 40 years!  Steve and Judy came first.  Here is Judy showing mom pictures she has on her laptop. 

Jeff and Angie came all the way from Chicago to visit.  I was about 18 the last time that I saw them.  Jeff is my mothers nephew and is originally from California.  We got to see each other every few years usually when our family was moving from once place to another.  Here is an old picture I found of us.

From left to right -  Me, Leslee (Jeff's sister), Jeff (short guy), and Steve.

Front - My brother Dick (the dog whisperer) and Buff (the dog)

I thought it was pretty cute.  Jeff and I are looking at each other and I imagine I said something like "Leave it to my brother to kiss the dog."

Jeff still has his sweet baby face but he's not so short anymore!

The cousins and mom.

We had a great visit and spent the whole weekend talking, catching up and vowed to see each other much more often.

She's Back

Most of you know that my mom has been through quite an ordeal.  Three weeks ago, the morning after my last post, she was hospitalized with a stroke and a heart attack. 

She was sedated and put on a ventilator to help her breath for a few days. 

She developed pneumonia, and a intestinal bacterial infection.

She went to a rehabilitation hospital.  Five days later she had another heart attack.

She went to the Heart Hospital. 

 I should say she made sure she went to the Heart Hospital after instructing the paramedics to take her there several times!

One Stroke

Two Heart Attacks

Three Hospitals

Three Weeks

and

now

HOME!

Before she came home she told my nephew Chris that she has not been able to read any blogs or twitters for two weeks!  I told her when you get home you will have to tweet something.  She said I could say

"I'm Back!"

She Certainly Is! 

First Days Of School

The first day of school is always exciting.  Picking out what to wear, buying new supplies, the anticipation of who will be in your class and especially who your teacher will be.

The hardest part as a parent was letting go of their little hand as they walked into the classroom.

This is the little girl that had to practice her spelling words over and over and was not interested in doing homework. 

1st Day of Kindergarten

1st Day - First Grade

My little girl is not so little any more.

She graduated from college in May 2009

Last summer after graduation she had a "light bulb moment" and found her direction.  She moved home and took over our computer and dining room table. 

10 months later, with much determination and a lot of Red Bull,  she finished her course work for her Masters Degree with a 3.88 3.9 GPA.  (I have to brag!) 

This is the young woman who will have her "First Day" of teaching her own class tomorrow.

I won't get to see this "First Day" but I did get to help with buying lots of school supplies and clothes.

She will be taking many hands in hers tomorrow and my heart is just busting with pride!

"Mother's hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever." -author unknown

Hot Summers

When it gets hot I turn into a slug.  My body just does not tolerate the heat well.  You know how some people get the winter blues in January?  I get the summer blues.  It slips up on me when the temperature starts climbing above 90.  Today we are supposed to hit 105. The rest of the week is looking bleak too.  Triple digits as far as you can see.  I'm working on snapping myself out of this slump. 

I'm trying to keep good thoughts instead.

A big butterfly landed on a golf ball in our yard.

Blackeyed Susan's down the street.

Cold Refreshing Watermelon.  I'm drooling already.

"REAL" vine ripe tomato's from Jacksonville Texas

A ballet of sprinklers out back.  Makes me want to run in them like a kid.

Speaking of kids.  This was many years ago probably 16 or so.  Jackson is the chub in the front and of course Molly has the white bowl on her head.

Stay cool any way you can!

Pictures of Pictures

I have been very slow about putting pictures on the walls in our home.  Partly because I didn't want to put a hole in the wall ( I worked hard to get the right color of paint)  and I wanted to be sure I put something up I loved and not to just put something up. 

We have a very long entryway. 

On one side is my mothers buffet and a bookcase with family pictures.

The opposite wall has been bare since we moved in.  I finally decided to put some pictures of us up.  I used our wedding picture, 2 favorite pictures of the kids and their graduation pictures.  I put them all in identical frames and between me and Tom we were able to hang them evenly and straight.  The straight was the hard part.  The frames were inexpensive and the brackets on the back of them were not in the same place on the frames.  This called for a lot of measuring and eyeballing.  I have to credit Tom for having good eyes.  He did a great job.

Side View

Front View

Further down is a painting of Princes Lilywalkalina. 

She was in the entryway of my mom and dad's home.

I've always loved this picture because:

My Grandma Kelly used to call me Princess Lilywalkalina. 

My Grandpa Martin told us grand kids we had Cherokee blood in us.

When Jackson was little he looked at this picture and said "Mama".

This is really weird.  I just realized that while I am writing this I have my hair in braids for the first time in 24 years. (Trying for the summer wave instead of my normal Rosanne Rosanna Dan frizz.  To top this off I spilt a whole container of cornmeal all over the kitchen counter and floor this morning.  Whoa!

I swear this true!

Call my mom if you don't believe me.

Don't ask Tom.  He didn't notice.

I always knew I was supposed to be born a princess.

Two Birthdays

This month we celebrated 2 birthdays. Of course the most important of all was my son Jackson. He was 19 which also happened to be on the 19th, or Juneteenth as it is called in Texas. It's hard to believe that this will be the last of his teen years! We celebrated at the Texas Roadhouse. Delicious food and fun atmosphere with peanut barrels at every table and shells all over the floor.

I made cupcakes but by the time we stuffed our faces with steak and potatoes there was no room left for cake.

I just realized how pitiful this cupcake looks. I could have at least picked one that wasn't lopsided.

Rosie one of our cats was 20 on June 1st. She refused to look at the camera. But tolerated her birthday hat I made her.

Look who else wore the hat after his sister forced talked him into it.

Charlie felt a little left out so we took his picture too.

Doesn't he look happy now!

I've been trying to catch Rosie on video because she has started this crazy howling.  I think she likes to hear herself talk!  This is my attempt at a video and please try to get past all my baby talk.  It's just for fun.

Sweet Summer Faces

We had visitors over the Memorial Day weekend.  My nephew Kenneth, his wife Valerie and their three children (my great niece and nephews) came for a visit. 

With their Great Grandma

Together

We had a great visit with a lot of talking and laughing.

Doyne

Graham

Mackenzie

Sweet Summer Faces