January 1, 2011 @ 10:49 am | Filed under: Family,Friends,Pure Sunshine
“Life gives us brief moments with another…but sometimes in those brief moments we get memories that last a lifetime.”
2010 was chock full of those type of moments.
Brief little pockets of time that swept down, wrapped us all in their warm grasp, and then left us changed for a lifetime.
We celebrated with MJ’s mom as she turned 90 years old.
We hosted a Mystery Dinner Party and laughed until the tears rolled.
We spent lots of time doing fun things with the little people that make our life so GRAND!
We celebrated the major milestones…
and the tiny sliver of moments that took our breath away.
We welcomed new family members with joy, and we said good-bye to others who left footprints on the pathways of our hearts.
We enjoyed time with friends, drinking in all the joys that come with these type of friendships.
We cruised the deep, blue sea…
and enjoyed road trips with our nearest and dearest.
We had epic sleep-overs, complete with McDonalds, popcorn, and movies, with all the littles in our life.
We took in Game 5 of the World Series…and had so much fun that we didn’t even mourn when the Rangers lost that night.
Most of all, we lived a year full of loving this family. The family that God has so mightily blessed us with.
2010 was an amazing year, filled to the brim with amazing people, amazing events, and amazing moments.
Moments that have left us forever changed. And forever grateful that lived them.
America's favorite pasttime, Family, Friends, grandkids, memories
October 4, 2010 @ 5:26 pm | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
of a weekend well-lived…
1.) Carter’s FIRST football game since having his cast removed! BIG DAY!
2.) Next up…Madie’s volleyball game. The girl’s got game, y’all – she made us PROUD!
3.) Moments I treasured when they didn’t even know I was looking!
A weekend well-lived. A weekend well-loved.
contentment, Family, grandkids, nieces
August 19, 2010 @ 6:30 am | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
Family, grandkids, memories, summertime memories
August 18, 2010 @ 6:47 am | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
Carter: “Nana, if you could be any animal in the world what would you be, and why?”
Me: “Like…a zoo animal, or an animal in the wild?” Because – really – wouldn’t that make a difference?
Carter: (shrugging) “Whichever. If you had the power to change into any animal, what would it be, and why?” He was persistent, I’ll give him that…
Me: “A monkey.”
Carter: ” Seriously. Seriously? A monkey. And why?”
Me: (suddenly doubting my choice just a tad but not able to think of a single animal on the planet I’d like to be…) “Um…because they are the most like humans, they are entertaining, and they are basically non-threatening. What about you? What would you be?”
Carter: “A bald eagle.” His answer slipped quickly and easily off his tongue. “Because it is able to soar high above everything else, it is the national bird, and no one can touch it.”
Suddenly I felt this eight-year old was the wiser one in this conversation.
Who wouldn’t want to soar above it all, secure in the knowledge that they cannot be touched?
Family, grandkids, life lessons
August 16, 2010 @ 8:46 am | Filed under: Family,It's funny!,Pure Sunshine
Carter and Kendall arrived yesterday.
So much can be read into that first sentence! We’ve been anticipating this week for over a month now, counting down the days until the grands come for their week-long stay. They radiate such energy and sparkle and unconditional love that me and my trusty camera have a full-on love fest anytime they are around.
There were a few welcome goodies waiting for them on their beds when they arrived yesterday. After all, what’s a trip to Nana & Pops’ without a little bit of good ‘ol fashioned spoiling, right? Some NFL trading cards and a novel for our boy, and a bucketful of craft beads and a couple of readers for our girl.
There is no lack of conversation with the four of us. They are lively and fun and – quite often – informative. For Pops and I, that is! Carter, fresh off of a week of sleep-away camp, was full of stories and funny antecodotes. The kind of things that fill up rich, full little boy memory banks in the most wonderful ways possible.
Stories of the unlikely Bible superhero, Gideon, and how – through him - we learn all about faith and trust in God. Carter’s eyes sparkled as he excitedly said, “Hey Nana, did you know…” about four hundred jillion times. But I never once grew tired of shaking my head in wonder. “No, buddy. Tell me.”
Kendall is six going on sixteen. Like, quite literally…talking about “when I turn sixteen I am going to…” Pops and I cut our eyes at one another and mentally sent notes to one another to be sure to send up lots and lots of prayers for her parents over the next decade! She is a fireball of animated conversation that always keeps me laughing and always has her Pops muttering beneath his breath, “She is just so beautiful.”
Kendall: “When I am sixteen I am going to have a Jeet.”
Nana: “You’re going to have a what?”
Kendall: “A Jeet. You know. The cute cars. It’s going to be really, really cute.”
Carter: “You know you’re going to have whatever I have. You do know that, right?”
Kendall: silence
Carter: “And I’m going to have whatever Mom has. That’s how it’s going to be.”
And there you have it, in a quaint, precious nutshell. Our two grands.
A cute combination of dreams and realism. I told them last night they are absolutely perfect, and what an amazing brother-sister duo they make…
With a head in the clouds and feet firmly planted on the ground, these two will no doubt do amazing things!
They are grand, after all!
Family, grandkids, laughter, summertime memories
August 11, 2010 @ 6:15 am | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
“
A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you’re at home.”
There is something about the smile on the face of someone you adore – with a cRaZy kind of love – that makes every single thing just a little bit better.
That smile can make cloudy days appear sunnier, heavy loads a little less cumbersome, and the darkest of nights a bit brighter. It can melt shyness, dissolve anger, and restore feelings of pure goodness.
Saturday was a day saturated with these smiles. Just thinking about them now makes me start smiling all over again. My camera wasn’t fast enough or good enough to capture all the smiles on display. Of course, one of the problems may have been that I was just too busy holding babies, chatting with Carter about his first-ever tag football practice, hearing about Amy and Paul’s vacation, and laughing with my brother and sister-in-law.
One big, long table during the middle of the day – filled with some of my favorite people. Sounds of laughter, kids playing, shared stories…
It’s in these moments – when I am sitting sandwiched in between my brother and Amy, with the sound of the grands playing with Andi, and the sight of my husband loving on the nephew across the table from me – that I feel so completely surrounded by all that is good and sound and right in this world.
It arrived again on Saturday, that feeling of perfect contentment. Of fully appreciating living this life of simplicity. Of daily making the choice to see the beauty in the everyday, in the people we love and in the life and home we’ve created.
Because no matter what stress we may face from time to time, no matter the challenges that almost certainly lie ahead, and no matter what changes sometimes detour us, the reality remains the same.
It’s these individual moments that make up a lifetime.
I don’t want to miss a moment. Not one single…
smile.
Family, grandkids, living simply, memories
March 4, 2009 @ 7:24 am | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
February 18, 2009 @ 2:22 pm | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
February 7, 2009 @ 5:57 pm | Filed under: Family,It's funny!,Pure Sunshine
Kendall and her Pops
Before Carter was born, Mike and I had several fun conversations as we “tried on” all the various names for grandparents.
We ultimately tossed most all of them out on their ear, since at least one of us (sorry, honey!) was way too young to be called grand anything yet…
We would find out soon enough that those two kids could very well call us anything and we’d answer.
Yep – grandkids really do have just that kind of power over you.
We finally decided on “Pops” and “Nana” since these seemed to best define, both, the traditional and the fun side of how we saw our cute little grandparenting selves. From the first time that Carter first uttered “Pots,” (the precursor to Pops) these names have been indelibly engraved on our hearts since.
It’s no doubt that Carter and Kendall have very firmly established our roles as Pops and Nana. I promise, you’ve never seen a big strapping man like my husband melt like hot butter the way he does when one of the grandkids says, “Pops, will you…”
So imagine his joy when Amy informed him a few days ago that Paul had an important meeting and would be unable to attend Donuts for Dads at Kendall’s school, and would he like to go instead…?
Would he? Are you kidding me?
And imagine my laughter when he returned home a few hours later and was telling me all about his time at the school. Kendall had marched him right up to her teacher and in her very best, big-girl way she has about her right now, she’d introduced him.
“This,” she indicated Mike, “is my grandfather.”
January 19, 2009 @ 5:03 pm | Filed under: Family,Pure Sunshine
We just had to share this clip!
