A big man who had an even bigger heart.

Last Friday, I went to a funeral for my Daddy's oldest brother, my Uncle Pete.  A man that I, along with just about everyone else he encountered, looked up to.....literally, because he was well over 6 feet tall (maybe 6'5" or so) and figuratively, because he was a man worth looking up to in so many ways.  Sadly, as the years go by, it gets harder and harder to find such men you can look up to in life.

He was the oldest of 7 boys.  7 boys who lost their mother to tuberculosis at an early age and were raised by their father, grandmother and aunts.  Uncle Pete was around 16 when she died, and he was determined that all the brothers would stay together.  That was in the 1940's and it was still a very evident trait he held dear to his death.  The closeness of family.

Our family is extremely close.  There are many of us from my father's side, scattered across different states, even different countries.  But we all come together each and every year to celebrate FAMILY.  We gather for small things like cousins camp, beach time, birthdays or anniversaries, football weekends, etc. and we gather for the big things like holidays, weddings, births, and yes, funerals. Sadly, we have had to gather more often for funerals in the past 12 months than anything else. 

I was blessed to have taken my Mom and Dad to visit Uncle Pete just days before his death.  I was blessed to have stolen a small moment of coherent time with him in his hospital bed....where he may or may not have admitted I was his favorite niece. I was blessed to watch him raise his hand ever so slightly, maybe an inch or two, to offer it when his brothers entered the room.  Shaking their hand as firm as he could and making eye contact with each, affirming his love for them without a word needing to be spoken.  I was blessed to hear him chuckle with his eyes closed, one last time over our family favorites game.  I was blessed to watch his wife, my Aunt Jenny, take care of his every need. I was blessed to bend down to kiss him goodbye and have him pull my arm when I lifted away and gently hear him say to me, "I love you".   And all those blessings came within just a couple of hours. 

 At his funeral, I was blessed to hug family a little tighter for these fleeting moments.  I was blessed to have a husband who knows full well the importance of this family he married into, and he loves them like they are his blood not just mine. I was blessed to listen to my cousins, Uncle Pete's daughters, offer amazing eulogies, standing strong before us, telling stories of their father that defined his character.  I am indeed blessed to have been given the great golden ticket of being allowed to be born into this family.  I am blessed beyond measure to have had Uncle Pete in my life. 

This month's scripture verse to memorize was chosen because of him and the man he was to all who knew him. 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might." 

~Deuteronomy 6:5

Because if there has ever been a man who walked this earth that tried to live out that verse, it was my Uncle Pete.  He loved his parents, his wife, his brothers, his sister, his children, his grandchildren, his nieces and nephews....he loved his family and friends with the love we all crave.  And he was only able to offer that depth of love because he knew from whence it came, from the giver of all.

Yes, indeed, he was a wonderful example of a christian man, who loved his family to their very core, and loved the Lord even deeper.  He was a giant and I guess now it's clear the Lord made him that way in order to hold the big heart he gave him.  A heart that we will sorely miss here on earth, a presence that we will ache for at family gatherings.  But be certain, we would not want him back....he's having too much fun with his daddy, his mama, and his brothers in heaven. 

Instead, I'm going to try to live out that verse from Deuteronomy just as he showed us.

A 1st birthday that was finger lickin' good!

Our nephew turned the big ONE shortly after the holidays.  We were blessed to get to be in Tennessee for his birthday party....and see him enjoy a pile of chocolate, one tiny pinch at a time.

Hey Mom, gimme that cupcake......I really like the pretty fire on top!!

Do you see that cupcake right there? The one with all the chocolate? 

  

Do you see my fingers right here? 

Let me just show you what they can do.

Can you believe they just let me have it?  Just sat it right down in front of me.  Nobody even took it away. They just all stared while I ate it.  Chocolate is good, friends. Really good. In fact.....

....it's finger lickin' good. 

I can hardly wait 'til I'm old enough for fried chicken.

Generations.

Family visits are always fun, especially when you have a house full of cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, parents, grandparents, a great-grandmother and a breakfast table filled with her great-grandchildren!

Family coming from near and far and even farther...it was certainly a "most wonderful time of the year"!

2 very good reasons why I love my sister....

Exhibit A: 

White Chocolate and Blueberry bread pudding....hot and fresh from her oven when I visit.

Exhibit B:

Bunny Bread....a great surprise gift!!

(she knows it's not carried on the shelves of any grocery stores around my neck of the woods....and she knows I love it, so she buys me a loaf every now and then. )

Summer is here! Let's get this party started!!

Finally, after what seemed like for-e-vah, the school year came to an end.  Did you have to go to school in June when you were growing up?  Not me. I've never been to school in June in my life, except of course, when I attended summer semesters in college (which was really just to prolong the party season, classes were a side dish).    

But let me just tell you, and I think I can speak for children everywhere not just those who reside in my household....school in June is for the birds. FOR THE BIRDS.

Anywhoo, to celebrate the arrival of our summer and to kick the previous school year to the curb, I made HAPPY END OF SCHOOL buckets for the kids. No, I didn't come up with the idea on my own.  I did what any good mother would do....I stole it from a smart, creative mom, who happens to be a bloggy friend of mine, and doesn't mind when I steal her ideas.

The kids were really excited to learn of this new tradition we would begin to kick start summer each year.  I tried explaining that it wasn't going to be one surprise but rather a series of events, a series that would last all summer. Some added fun to look forward to amidst all the other chaos that is involved with our usual summer.....football workouts, gymnastics training, camps, vacation, reunions, vbs, basketball, weddings, sleepovers, etc.

And so, the buckets (individual color coded popcorn buckets) were filled with:

•  telescopic marshmallow sticks
•  giant bubble wands (who doesn't love bubbles?)
•  tennis balls
•  shrinky dink sets
•  free summer movie schedules
•  craft kits
•  grow your own (legal) herb kits
•  badminton
•  new earbuds for the ipod
•  water balloons
• a calendar of our events
• you get the idea

I had already bought cards for each of them and included a personal note from their Daddy and I about how proud we were of them and how much we enjoyed watching them grow this year in academics, sports, programs, church and life. 

Then I had a revelation about 5 hours before school ended.....wouldn't it be fun to have a picture collage of highlights from the school year, various sporting events, field trips, school plays, etc. And I'm so glad I did that....the kids LOVED it, and had fun remembering their year through photos....and mama has her a nice little keepsake too. I hope to find time to go back and make one from all the previous years as well. Kind of a "year at a glance". Great for sparking conversations and giggles.

Since everything wouldn't fit in the popcorn buckets, I bought fun plastic boxes (which for future use will make for great storage spots for each of them) for their coupons. They had no idea there was more fun waiting inside.

Each box was filled with coupons and gift cards to be used this summer.

• Movie passes (theater and drive-in--we love $10 carload night at the drive-IN!!)
• Family camp outs (to make good use of our telescopic marshmallow stix)
• Picnics--at places locally around our little rural neck of the woods
• Mommy and Me date (they get to pick everything!)
• Swimming (hey Mrs. Joy!! hope to visit soon! :) )
• Baby Girl had a coupon for a pedicure
• Elder Son and Middle Child wouldn't go for a pedicure, so they have multiple passes to the batting cages
• Trips to Aunt Karisa's
• Tennis (my only rule was that we couldn't go during the heat of the day....mama might have a heat stroke)
• Family game night (I can bring a mean game on bowling for the wii)
• Hi-Ho Hi-Ho off to work with Daddy you go (they love, I mean LOVE, spending time at Daddy's office)

So, hopefully I'll be updating throughout the summer as we cash in our coupons for fun galore. And pray right now they don't make me play tennis in the heat. Or choose paintball wars as their date with me. Or camp outs in the rain. Or choose family game night to include two hand touch football. I may not survive. There should be rules. Mental note....Next year I need to print out a set of rules for the buckets. :) 

Celebration.

Recently, Nana had a birthday, that means it's time to celebrate.  What's more fun than having all  5 of your grandkids surrounding you on your birthday?....Except, EEK.....would you look at that, your firstborn grand is now TALLER than you.  Oh, my, how time does fly.

AK is enamored with all of her cousins....but I think she has a little crush on Elder Son...she loves to give him kisses. And he loves that she reaches for him to hold her. :)

And what about the latest addition....that sweet little newcomer....the cutest baby boy with his plump cheeks and amazing disposition.  He never fusses. Stick around these other kids and he'll grow out of it, I'm sure! :)

Donuts with Dad....a springtime school tradition.

We had a little problem this year....Dad was out of town.

Never fear, PawPaw filled in for him.  He likes coffee and donuts and just like Baby Girl's Dad, he doesn't mind catering to her every whim.  Because we wouldn't want to upset Baby Girl's apple cart, now would we.

The Miracle Worker

This past weekend, Mom took "anyone who wants to go" to see the play, The Miracle Worker.  Helen Keller has long been my mother's favorite heroine.  Her senior year of high school, 1958, she gave a speech in the County Oratory contest based on Helen Keller.  She did not win, but placed 2nd against a young man (now a prominent banker in the area).  His mother took the medal that was given to her son for winning the oratory contest and gave it to my mother saying she thought she deserved it....apparently she loved Helen Keller too!  :)  

You can ask my mom about that speech today, some fifty something years later and she can still recite a paragraph or two without hesitation. In fact, Baby Girl just a few weeks ago did a social studies project on a famous Alabamian--Helen Keller, and she quoted a few lines from her Granny's speech.  Sometimes things really do come full circle. 

When I was younger, I remember going to Tuscumbia to see her birthplace, the famous water pump and watch the live play they held there.  It was wonderful.  As was the play this weekend.  My kids sat on the edge of their seats the entire show...they loved it.

Seriously, my mom adores the life of Helen Keller. So much so that it's the only time in my life I ever remember her raising her hand to strike me.  We were traveling down the highway with my MawMaw sitting up front with mom driving and myself in the backseat.  I was in elementary school and had just heard some really funny (what I thought) Helen Keller jokes.  You know them, you heard them too. Apparently they still circulate the hallways because 30 years later my kids are hearing them.  Anyway, I didn't even get the punch line out of my mouth before I saw my mom's right hand leave the steering wheel and start flailing in my direction across the seat.  I dodged under the diress and promised to never tell Helen Keller jokes again. Ever.  And I haven't.  I don't want Mama to slap me now either. :)

Since I no longer wish to corrode my brain with such trash as those jokes, I read her famous quotes instead.

A few (although she has many I adore) of my favorite Helen Keller quotes: 

• "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."
• "I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world."
• "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."
• "The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart."

Helen Keller was truly was a phenomenal lady.  Her story is remarkable.  Her abilities outstanding. Her perserverance inspiring.  And my mom is a pretty great lady too. I think Helen would be proud of her as well.

We live in the south where snow is a rare find.

But we love playing in the white stuff when it comes around! :)  We played in it until almost midnight---it was so powdery and soft!  And I'm so glad we did, because overnight a layer of ice pellets was atop the 2-3 inches of snow. It made it harder to make snowballs and play play in it, but the sledding was still fun! 

I took these photos the first night of play....it was SNOW much fun!

The boys had made snow slushies using a cup full of snow and pouring Mt.Dew and Sunkist over it! YUM!!

Just like the saying goes...."Nothing runs like a Deere".  We didn't have a sled, but with some good southern ingenuity, we managed to find a suitable replacement....a John Deere lawnmower hood turned upside down worked like a charm!! It also doubles as a snowboard! :)

Hope you all had fun in the snow too....until next time, which will probably be in another decade or so!!

Sledding the BIG HILL.....

I know it's a lot of photos....but they tell a story, so I had to include them all.  Here's the storyline.  We live on a hill.  We have a driveway that is a long hill which ends at a main highway.  It took us a few hours to get up enough nerve to let the kids try to travel down it....with folks on the lookout at the bottom to watch for any traffic.  Fortunately, there was limited travel on the roads. So off they went, one by one, down the BIG hill, repeatedly. 

 I just want you to notice in the photos how different their respective rides are....Baby Girl was most cautious, while she loves the thrill of the ride, she is careful to keep her hands placed gently on each side of the "sled".  Kind of like a break check, keeping her right on track and alsom keeping from flying down at too high a speed....and you will notice she practices saftey....looking both ways as she approaches the highway. :) 

Then you'll see the photos of Middle Boy's run down the hill.....a wee bit different.  He lays out one hand in the snow....but only because it helps him complete a 360 while speeding down the hill.  Yes, he was able to make complete turns and keep sledding. That child. And you will notice that he practices what his Daddy preaches to them all summer on the water slides...."lay back into it, put some weight back there, and the speed will follow".  And so he sped right across the highway.....

As to not imply that it was a perfect round of sledding each and every time, there are photos showing a wipeout from Elder Son.  Who had several great runs, but I just happened to get pics of the snow plowing stop mid-run that plummeted him overboard. And it's memories folks, fun snow memories.