PopPop

Their Poppy and my dad.

I am so happy about how my babies love their PopPop... or their papaw, poppy and grandpa Don. 

He loves them unconditionally and always waiting to spoil them rotten.  Their grandpa is amazing.  They know it and love him with all their hearts.  I am so very lucky that I get to call him dad.

When you are 15 years old, and your dad is grounding you - again... it is so easy to forget.

You forget the love, the concern and the whole "your child is your heart beating outside your body" issues that make things crazy.  You think that his job is easy, until you have it.

So thank you dad...

for all the early mornings, late nights, crappy jobs, middle of the night store runs, the hours in the ER or urgent care, car hunting, driving lessons, home repair, babysitting, pick-ups and drop-offs, baby holding, grand kids loving, hardware store runs, broken window repairing... I could go on for days, but you get the idea.

You told Michael the other day how much you love, appreciate and respect him.  He was a little speechless but tried to say how he feels about you.  I know we could never tell you, but you and mom mean the world to us and our gang.  Watching you and mom - the unconditional love you guys have for each other - it has taught Michael and I the most about being married than anyone else.

We love you to the moon and back... and back again.

Happy Father's Day!

evidence: goggy and poppy

Evidence that love can come in multiple forms... grandparents, liquid and cookies.  

Eva and Theo say thank you and they love you back!

surprise

Poppy surprise visits are the best.  All the kids are saying it.

donut day

There was a day when my dad and I had the greatest idea.

He was over helping paint my kitchen, and I was picking up Eva from preschool. 

We both decided it was a great day for donuts, and stopped in to two different local shops to load up.

Jelly filled was a favorite.

Their Day

I am sitting on the porch, looking at the ocean and listening for a sleeping Theodore to wake.

Everyone else is down at the beach, playing in the ocean.

Things can't get much better.

The only thing I can think of to make today better....

would be for a Goggy and Poppy to be here.

Grandmas and grandpas at the beach would be awesome.

I really miss my parents on days when things just can't get much better this.

So many times in their lives, things could have been better.

They gave up a lot, sacrificed things and worked really, really hard all the time.

Michael's parents too - had less so now we could have more.

Just so their kids wouldn't have to work as hard or give up so much...

so we could have a day like today.

I don't think Eva and Theodore will be able to say that we sacrificed like that for them.

There isn't much Michael and I have had to give up to make their lives great.

We don't have to work as hard.

But I will never stop telling them that their grandparents did.

All the things they did for us... 

and now really for them.

Because on wonderful days like today...

having them here would be the only thing that it would take to make it completely perfect.

Happy Grandparents Day.

First catch

We went out over the weekend to the closest fishing spot.

Eva had been excited about it since she practiced her techniques in my parents side yard.

The water was lined with people.  

There other families and some serious anglers.

I spotted a guy with 4 poles in the water and another with a 3 foot high tackle box on wheels.

Poppy and Eva picked a spot.

The very first spot with room.

A little plastic tub of worms, a simple rod and reel with a bobber Eva called a marble.

And then there was Eva.

Ecstatic about fishing, but having no clue what that meant.

I really thought we would be standing on the edge, tossing in the line a few times...

and then heading to a playground.

No one else seemed to be catching anything.

People were really quiet. 

There were even a few nappers asleep in their folding chairs.

Eva watched my dad bait the hook and throw out the line.

Then she took over.

Reeling in the line and marble.

Handing it to her poppy to toss back out and then she'd slowly reel it back it.

A toss or two and the bait started disappearing.

You could see a few fish darting around now right in front of us.

Then she caught a fish.

It was her forth cast and third worm.

A little guy.

We had been there barely 10 minutes - probably closer to 7.

We cheered and jumped. 

My mom and I clapped and cheered more.

Eva was over the top excited...

 and also afraid of her fish.

People looked.

A few smiled.

Eva petted the fishes tail and clapped when it swam away.

Right away she caught another.

Again we all cheered, hooped and hollered.

We might have been a little annoying.

I saw the closest guy to us sigh and roll his eyes.

He had huge tackle box, cooler and chair.

I bet hadn't caught a thing.

Eva waved bye to her little fish.

She was done.

15 minutes.

Ready for a peanut butter and jelly.

Grateful

A little Eva and her Grandma.

I just got off the phone with my mom.
I didn't have a lot to say...
 I had just talked to her this morning.

I called again just to hear her voice...

Almost week ago I came really close to never hearing it again.

She had a little tiny blood clot that caused a great big heart attack.
Her organs had started failing and things were really grim.

She is a fighter and really stubborn.
No one told her how stacked the odds were against her thank God...
and she decided to get better.

You can ask my dad, once my mom decides something...
you had better just back up and get out of the way.

Bit by bit, one hurdle after the other, and day by day...
her body is healing itself.
Her recovery has been nothing short of a miracle.

If one little thing had gone differently on that day...

 she wouldn't be here with us.

One teeny-tiny thing.

I am so very grateful.
This mom of mine, well she is an amazing lady.

She's compassionate and selfless.
She looks for the good in things, in others.

She's dedicated and a hard worker.
She never complains.

She sees lovely things everywhere.
Beauty where others would miss it.

I have learned a lot from her...
by listening to her, watching her, emulating her.
She has taught me so much.

I just couldn't imagine a world without her in it.

And worse than me not having her...
I couldn't imagine a world where my little ones didn't know this amazing lady.
She has a lot to teach them.

So today I am grateful.
For all things tiny and enormous.

Thankful for my mom.
And even more thankful for Eva and Theodore's Grandma.

Favorite Mother's Day Photos

This photo...
proof as to why grandmas are the very best.

My parents Skyped us tonight.
Just to see Eva.

Hilarious.
I never imagined how fun it would be to see my parents as grandparents.
It is great.

I saw this photo for the very first time yesterday.

I think someone might have shown me before, but I didn't like it then.

I still had Bells Palsy, my face was numb and my smile was weird.
Dark circles and glazed over eye balls.

We were so SO tired, we could have slept where we were sitting.

But it is amazing to me now.

Us, as a family.
Brand new.

Eva so tiny and red.

Hours old.

Just bathed beside our bed and asleep.

Both of us shell shocked.

I love it now.
Our faces crack me up.
We have no idea what we have just gotten ourselves into to.

I never thought that tiny creature would turn my own mother into a horse...
and she would grin and laugh the entire time.

Love you mom.

PS - this was supposed to be posted earlier...
but with my amazing husband becoming a pirate,
I got sidetracked.

  
   

Great day

After all the pie and bluegrass...

we braved the misty rain.

Grammy, mommy and you.

We were the only ones on the trails...

us and the animals.

It smelled like spring...

green and clean.

You saw owls and hawks.

Living there to get healed and mended... 

or to stay, rest and spend retirement.

There was one special little guy that you spotted before we did...

a little red fox.

He was shy at first.

But after a while he was just as curious as you.

Wittle Foxy.

Cute wittle foxy guy...

you called.

The hour flew by...

watching you look at everything.

You slept the whole way to grammy's.

Didn't bat an eyelash as we dropped her off.

And then slept the whole way back home.

Good days make you tired.

And it was a great one.