Since I haven't posted in a while, I am going to post some recent photos from my phone.  

Kevin and I took Daniel and Laura to visit The Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens: 

Sweet Laura

Kevin's family on Father's Day

My dear cousin, Annette

Aunt Zell and Buddy took me for a ride on their golf cart

Dad turned 87

Daniel turned 13

Laura completed another year with the Mitey Riders

Proud Dad 

Blossom was unable to move off of the couch by herself on her last days.  Scott bought an air mattress and slept beside her ever night.  

Our sweet baby Balto

Next post:  Whatever happened to Not Mom and Dad's Cat?  

March Madness

Howdy Stranger!  It's been a while since I last posted.  Let me do a quick recap.  

Rana's mom passed away in her arms.  After spending around 6 weeks in Syria taking care of her mom and then her mom's affairs, Rana is home.  

Dad came over to watch the Super Bowl.  This was HUGE!  Due to his health, he had not been to my house in many, many months.  Not only was he able to come over to watch the game, he walked up and down the stairs to our basement.  This is something he could not have done for well over a year.  

Did you notice that Balto is sitting in the chair beside Dad?  

Balto sees his groomer every 10 weeks.  She posted this photo on Facebook after his last visit.  

She made a whole 'nother dog out of his hair!  She also did this with a Golden Retriever that she groomed the day before with a post that it is now "shedding season".  

Mom's birthday (her first in Heaven) was on the 21st (February).  Dad and I ate lunch in Sun City with 2 of their very best friends, Joann and Jerry Stoker.  Later that day, I picked up some flowers that I had ordered for myself from a local florist.  

For supper, we ordered out Five Guys and had a special birthday cake for Nana.  She would have wanted her grandchildren to have cake!  Oh Mom, we miss you so much.  

Now that spring is here, we gave Blossom a much needed bath...

I had my first colonoscopy.  It's so true what everybody says about the prep being the worst part of it.  Thankfully, I don't have to do that again for another 10 years!

I love teaching Laura at church on Sundays.  

There you have it.  A very quick, yet boring, recap.  I promise to do much better next time!  

 

Merry Merry!

Only 6 more sleeps until Santa Claus comes!  I'm sure he is checking over his list at this very moment.  

So much has happened in the past month and yet, so little.  Deanna, Christy, Miranda and I met yesterday to plan the Parkwood High School class of '91 30th year reunion.  Technically, it is now 31 years but you know...Covid.  Afterwards, we ate at Emmet's Social Club which is in the historic old mill in Waxhaw.  It was a great day.  

Christy took this photo of me and when I see it, I see my Mom.  Is it just me? 

Yes, I'm wearing my "Go Jesus, It's your birthday" shirt.  I'm sure that is only funny to people over a certain age.  

I am loving wearing Mom's socks...

And...I even broke out one of her most favorite coats.  She wore this one all of the time the past few years. 

Scott received a 15 year service award from Charlotte Radiology.  They asked him to send in a photo of himself holding the award.  He wanted the dogs in the photo.  Blossom obliged.  Balto had places to be. 

Deanna, Christy and I went to Waxhaw for a fun afternoon of food and shopping.  Miranda was supposed to join us; however, she was under the weather. 

For your photo viewing pleasure, I recreated my infamous (only to me) crawl across the Waxhaw Bridge during a 1978/79 class field trip to the fire station.  I was the only one in Mrs. Crawford's kindergarten class who was too scared to walk across.  I stayed in the back and crawled the entire way across.  My teacher assistant, Mrs. Hemby, and another student (Reagan Blythe) stayed with me.  

Mom's grave marker is in.  It is close to what I wanted except that the dogwood is just too large.  I wish it were smaller to look more proporationate to the cross.  I hope Mom would approve.  

There were so many things I wanted to say on the marker.  This like how she was the best mom & grandmother ever, her favorite Bible verse, that she and Dad were married 62 years.... I didn't.  The marker wasn't big enough to do her justice.  

Some photos of Laura just because.....

Daniel is still spending a lot of time with Dad.  He likes to sleepover on the weekends and now that he is out for Christmas break, he will be staying over a lot, I'm sure.  One morning I went over to wake Dad up and and I found this in his room.  This is so my Dad...

I hope that everyone is having a happy holiday season.  Work has been busy and Dad has been, well, Dad.  We have had a trip to the ER, the doctor and even a sigmoidoscopy.  He is a full time job on top of my full time job but I wouldn't change a thing.  Well, I wouldn't hate it if he married a Nurse.  LOL.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy day after Thanksgiving Day.  I hope everyone had a day of good food and lots of thankfulness.  The heart of my family is no longer with us physically but due to the way she raised us we were able to move forward and have a great day.  I thought I had forgotten my phone so I didn't get any pictures to show you.  

Last week, Deanna and I visited UNC Charlotte to do a little Christmas shopping for the kids.  

I was so surprised at how large the campus had grown!  We had a great time exploring the grounds and seeing how beautiful it had become.  Sometimes it seems like I might be the only one I know who didn't graduate from UNCC.  

While working with Laura, I found out she had a surprising new school I didn't know about.  

What a glorious surprise!  Rana met with Laura's teachers for her IEP meeting this week and she has met all of her goals this semester.  How exciting; we are so proud! 

Wednesday, I received an email from Gaulden Monuments that the cemetery marker for Mom (and Dad) is in and will be placed on Tuesday.  I feel excited and nervous.  I'm just not sure that the design is exactly what I wanted.  On the rendering, it wasn't how I had pictured it in my head.  I hope that I love it.  I hope that it looks ok.  There will be pictures next week.  

4 weeks until Christmas, here we go!  

A Mid-November Night's Dream

November.  Where the daylight hours are shorter and so is my hair.  

This is the shortest my hair has been since High School and I am loving it.  

Since I last posted, Kevin's entire family tested positive for Covid19.  Seeing as how I took these pictures only hours before the kids tested positive, Dad and I had to quarantine as well.  

Despite being fully vaccinated, Kevin and Rana had a few rough days.  Daniel and Laura's symptoms were a little easier. Rana was able to return to work on Friday despite a lingering cough.  Kevin and Daniel are allowed to return to work and school on Monday (tomorrow) while Laura returned on Wednesday.  Thankfully, Dad and I did not catch the virus.  Thanks be to God that our vaccines did their job! (Me: Pfizer; Dad: Moderna) I was surprised as I was very close to Laura for hours while she was coughing on the day before her test.  

Lately I feel stuck in rhythms and routines that just aren't working for me.  There are things that are non-negotiable like being my dad's caregiver and caring for a dog that is partially paralyzed.  I need to figure out new habits and routines where I can balance caregiving, my paying job and the things that I need/want to do for myself.  I find it overwhelming at times and I'm asking God for help.  

Coming soon:  Thanksgiving Day!