being a grandma

I love the blog Girls Gone Child. Besides the fact that she is funny and honest about being a Mom, she also has her own mother do posts once a week. Her Mom posts recipes and talks about healthy food {which I love}. She also writes about what it is like to be a grandma. I so feel like she is in my head. We both live close to our grand-kids but not so close that we can just run over to their house whenever we feel like it. Here is one of the posts I loved that she wrote about her grand-kids. 

"The day Archer was born, Larry and I, Rachel and David, drove up from San Diego, arriving minutes after his birth. We held and stared at him all day, but when I left that night I cried wishing I could hold him longer, be there, breathe him in. I remember feeling betrayed that no one had ever told me that the hardest thing about being a grandparent is the heartbreak of leaving behind babies you love more than life itself. I had only heard the very popular adage that “the best part about being a grandparent is you get to spoil them and love them and then return them to their parents.” What a bunch of baloney, I thought, aching from the pain of separation. With your own children, you don’t experience this ache until they leave your home or go away to college. But with your grandchildren, it’s continuous."

Yes so true! I too, have to hold back tears every time I leave my sweet grandchildren.

new years fun

Wow it has been a while since I have been on here. Since getting on Pinterest about a year ago, it is a lot harder to blog. I do want to keep up on the family happenings and a few other things I wouldn't want to pin. That brings me to New Years. I love holidays and always have lots of fun celebrating them with Noah and Emeri.  When I was little on New Years Eve my parents would let us stay up late and when the clock turned midnight they let us bang pans together. It seems so funny now but it is one of my vivid memories from childhood. So I didn't want to let New Years go by without having a little party with my grand-kids. 

I got them both a New Years hat to wear and luckily Emeri couldn't feel her's and never touched it. She was quite fascinated with Noah's though.

They loved the blowers. I will be heading back to Party City to get a bunch more of these. It turned out to be the best trick to get Emeri to smile. Every time I blew it at her she broke out in a huge smile. This will come in handy to take pictures. A lot of times she gets serious when we are taking pictures of her and Britt and I can't get her to smile. No more of that now that I can use these.

A sweet little kiss from big brother.

Then we went outside to see if Noah would do some poppers. He analysed them to death but decided he would let Mom pull the string.

He loved watching her do it but the noise was a little scary.

By this time we were getting thirsty so it was time for Noah to break open the Martinellis.

A delicious sip of  Martinelli's. He quickly polished off 3 glasses!

 Party Time!

Emeri agrees :)

Confetti falling, as we say Hello to a brand New Year!

nashville wedding

 This sweet wedding caught my eye on Style Me Pretty not just because it was beautiful but they managed to put it together in 2 weeks.  Their families lived in different parts of the world so they just had a few friends attend. As we are planning Danielle's wedding and trying to find a venue it seems amazing anyone could put a wedding together this fast!
photography: Kristyn Hogan

christmas moments

Britt got Emeri her own little pink Christmas tree for her room since this was her very first Christmas. She had fun pulling all the ornaments off!

I got Noah a silver tree for his room. He did a great job decorating it all by himself. We also made some ornaments{reindeer and penguins} which he added later. I brought a few little presents to put under it and he  surprised me by not touching any of them until Christmas morning!

My tree that I enjoy just as much as the little ones do theirs.

One of Noah's favorite things this year was Elf on the Shelf. In the beginning he even went to bed super fast because he couldn't wait to wake up and find out where he was hidden. I was in Crate and Barrel one day and saw this cute Elf mug. I knew right away Noah would love to drink his hot chocolate in it with lots of marshmallows on top. 

The last time Noah sat on Santa's lap was when he was 6 months old like Emeri is here. We tried every year but it was a no go. This year at 3 1/2 success! No more fear. I don't think it hurt that Emeri was fine with Santa. Of course next year she will probably be the one that is not to into Santa.

Noah riding the carousel. We went around and around quite a few times. He never gets tired of this ride. 

The best 6.00 dollar toy. He decorated his wooden train and then he and Emeri both had fun playing with it.

Mommy's favorite gift this year. That's for sure!

Emeri working on opening her present. She got the bow part undone and then it seemed to be stuck! 

Loved having Danielle and Tom living close by now so we could spend more time with them. The day after Christmas we spent looking for venues for their upcoming wedding. We saw quite a few in Orange County but Danielle is still checking more out to be sure she finds the one they both love.

Matt spent 3 whole days with us. It's hard to pry him away from his friends. So great to get some long visits with him. He did get some of is favorite home cooked meals from his mom so it wasn't too bad.

Love this pic of mommy and daughter :)

Christmas morning in their PJ''s

Emeri' first baby doll. I loved playing with dolls when I was little. Every kind of baby doll, paper dolls and all of them. I had the first Barbie dream house made out of cardboard in the 60's. I will never forget the Christmas I got it, spending hours putting all the furniture together. Can't wait to have fun playing dolls with Emeri!

Love  Emeri's first Christmas dress!

My handsome little man. Love him!

Emeri and Brittany at 6 months in the same dress. So happy I saved a few of my kids clothes.

A Happy Christmas with all my loves! 

real food for mother and baby

This book looks good. I read her other book Real Food What to Eat and Why and liked it. Emeri is just starting solids now so Britt would probably enjoy this book too.

Matt

So happy we got to celebrate with you on your Birthday last Wed. My favorite thing about you

"your kindness." So grateful to have had you in my life for the last 25 years. 

Love you!

a poem

I have been meaning to post this poem Danielle wrote when she was about 18. I couldn't believe she wrote this when she was so young. She is a really good writer but now she has to do most of her writing for work. When she was going to school she was able to do a lot of writing in her classes and this is one of my favorite pieces. A tragic poem, with beautiful descriptive images.

a most visible warning comes

in the glare of headlights approaching

I squeeze my eyelids shut

place one hand on window glass

imagine the accident happening

I do not think the blood would scare me

in fact I might like the rush

of steel crashing all around us

car consumed by the awesome light

of flames, blooming against a midnight sky

I would sit like a pincone in a fireplace blaze

watching our own personal fourth of july

we could have a summer holiday

in spring. death, a courtly host for our party

I imagine him dressed nicely in black

serving lemonade and asking for a dance

looking just like you the night we met

I remember your cologned approach

anthracite eyes, and knowledgeable hands.

all these less visible warning signs

I should have known you but I ignored.

with you, all collisions are carefully planned

and there is no such thing as an accident

you chose me for firewood, pinecone lady

wrapped up in your sheets,

or sitting in your front seat.

where now I open my eyes to find

your swerve to the right was successful 

you celebrate your save with a sigh, and thank god.

but I am quiet, the other party sounded fine to me

a glorious party in hell. we could make the deal final

a wedding of sorts. remove and eye

set it on a band of gold

a fitting ring for a devil bride