The Party's Over

Our Princesses

Well the Party is almost over!  This has been such a crazy year starting with Kim's wedding in March, just one fun event after another! 

Kenny and Katherine at
8th grade graduation

Sweet Isaac
Wedding showers, then baby showers, birthdays, my grand daughters graduation and yesterday Kaitlyn's big graduation open house! 

Our Own Chef

Party fit for a Chef

Today for Father's day we will hang low key. No cooking because we have so many good left overs and no big event because Erik wants to have a day of rest.  Caleb wants to treat his Dad to a movie and the rest of us can tag along...       That will be fun.

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Collegiate Class Gold Graduation Announcement

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LIVESTRONG

"We Believe in life. Your life. We believe in living every minute of it with every ounce of your being. And that you must not let cancer, (or anything) take control of it. We believe in energy: channeled and fierce. We believe in focus: getting smart and living strong. Unity is strength. Knowledge is power. Attitude is everything. This is LIVESTRONG."

The above quote is from the Lance Armstrong cancer survivor group livestrong. I love this.  

My family has gone through a lot this last year, even the last few years. I guess with eight kids, spouses, grandkids and a large extended family there is bound to always be something brewing.  

People often ask me "how do you do it?" and I can honestly say I don't know, I don't even know what "it" is. Life?  Yea, that's it life, how do I do my life, crazy, busy, mixed-up, life?  

This morning when I read this it hit me, I Believe In Life!  

God has put me here for a purpose and to not be in the moment, energized and ready would be a terrible shame. I don't know why things happen the way they do but I know that what happens next depends on how I respond. When I am focused, and positive it is always better.

And, In Unity There Is Strength, lots of strength. Family and friends are such an important part of that.  Just this week as our most recent drama unfolded I was moaning to my daughter Kim and she reminded me, "we will get through this, we will ban together, be there for each other and we will get through this too." She is right!

Thank you to all of my friends and family for being in my life and for your support, prayers, thoughts and kind words, my life is a better place because of all of you, I am humbled by and grateful  for all of your love and support.

Today is going to be a good day, Attitude is everything!

Let Them Eat Cake

Last Sunday, Feb 13th was a fun filled day for family and friends. We had a wedding shower for Kimberly, actually more like a 'party'.  Thirty five wonderful people showed up to give their love and best regards to Kim and Edward.

We held the party at Kim's house in Indio so all of her friends from the desert didn't have to drive way up here, instead we drove that a way. No problem, it's an easy drive right?  UNLESS your bringing the cake!  That's right, Katie, Crystal and I made the shower cake here in Lake Elsinore.  That meant we had a 100 mile delivery to make...

Katie got 'Caught Red Handed' making fondant  roses

Crystal giving the thumbs up to our original design

Now years ago I took cake decorating class and always made fun cakes for my kids parties, Katie of course is our culinary student and has had a couple years of baking and decorating classes and Crystal is the families resident artist and design queen of all things crafty, so we had a great time with the design and baking and decorating.

Katie had instructions to be the human shock absorber.

Our ride down to the desert was something else. First we padded Kaitlyn and gave her shock absorber lessons then we were off.  I made sure to drive on the 'slow' side which is not my usual.  We decided to stay on the freeways so to avoid as many stop and goes as possible and were doing great until we got about half way and Katie realized the sun was melting our frosting! Whoa, time to rotate!!  Then we noticed the lean, yes we were now carrying the leaning tower of Piazza.  Well to make a long story short we made it just fine and Kimberly was blessed.

A great big Thank You to everybody who made this such a fun day!!

Kim had a great day, Thank you everybody!!

Winter Solstice 2010 Marks Shortest Day

This highly oblique image of northwestern African captures the curvature of the Earth and shows its atmosphere (Photo credit: NASA)

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Updated: Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010, 9:57 AM EST
Published : Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010, 9:56 AM EST

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Today at 6:38 p.m. EST marks the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter.

The winter solstice is the start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the point when the north pole is tilted farther from the sun than at any other point in the year.

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, though the exact hours of daylight will vary according to region. The number of daylight hours depends on latitude and the day of the year. For example, New York City will have only 9 hours, 15 minutes, 5 seconds of daylight, according to the Math Forum .

Daylight hours will begin to increase each day going forward.

The celebration of the winter solstice has been observed for centuries, predating Christianity and celebrations of Christmas. As The History Channel reported, cultures in Europe and Scandinavia celebrated the dark days of winter and the winter solstice.

The Norse of Scandinavia commemorated the winter solstice with the men bringing home large, wooden logs and setting them on fire. Traditionally, the family would then feast, until the fire burned out. That could take up to 12 days.

Ancient Romans would celebrate for a full month surrounding the winter solstice, honoring what they referred to as a god called Saturn with the holiday of Saturnalia. Today, the Winter Solstice is still observed and celebrated by many cultures and by people of various faiths throughout the world.

This year, a lunar eclipse fell on the winter solstice for the first time since 1638, according to National Geographic . This morning the earth passed between the sun and the moon, creating a reddish-yellow, bronze-like shadow over the moon, which was best be seen from North America and South America.

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Old Sally

Rest In Peace Sally 

Our old dear friend Sally left us today to go where all very good and loyal pets go after they have given everything they have to improve our lives.   Is that place Heaven?  I don't know for sure and really do not want to debate with anyone.  I remember years ago when a Catholic school teacher really upset my oldest boy after his cat died.  I had suggested to him that A.J. (the cat) was now in Heaven with Papa Gus (my dad), that thought comforted Kenny and when he shared it at school this particular teacher sent my 9 year old son home in tears with her theory. Not nice..  What does it hurt to believe that your very best friend in the world is in the best place you can think of?  

Sally and her boy a few years ago

I myself am choosing to think that Sally, who let everyone of my grandchildren pull her ears and kiss her nose has now met Olivia in Heaven and that both of them are happier and healthier than we who are left behind here can imagine.

Sally was thirteen years old and has been ours since her and Caleb were both babies.  Crystal brought Sally and her 8 siblings home in a laundry basket, from the pet store she worked at so they wouldn't be turned into the pound.  We worked real hard to find homes for all of them except little Sally the runt.     She was always what we called soft lipped, a very gentle spirit and perfect family dog.  She was Caleb's best friend and always slept in his bed until this last year or so when the jumping became too much for her old bones but she still slept in his room.  These last 3 nights she when was just too weak to make it up the stairs, Caleb slept downstairs with her instead.  He hand fed her left over turkey and helped to carry her outside to go potty.  I am very proud of him.  

Sally will be missed.

Laughing for the camera...  :-)

   

Heaven

Jesus, the loving Shepherd

Growing up in the Catholic Church I was always surrounded by pictures of Jesus and for the most part I found them very reassuring.
Being an animal lover from my very earliest memory made this picture of Jesus loving the little lamb  always my favorite.  I had heard and understood the story of the good shepherd leaving his flock of 99 to search for the missing 1 early in my childhood and it left me feeling safe and cared for.  I also had a very sweet Grandmother who lived with us until I was ten and she loved to make Bible stories come alive. She had a French Canadian background and always spoke Jesus in French which sounds so sweet and endearing.
So the thought of Heaven being some awesome family farm in the country where a very kind French Jesus tends to all the animals is the sweet picture I had for most of my young life.

Laughing Jesus!

I love to laugh.  Some of my best memories are of times where I laughed till I cried at a story being told by someone in my family, we all love to laugh.  I know my Mom taught me how to see the humor in life, she would just look at me and raise an eyebrow in a questioning kind of way and I would crack up, then we would both crack up and oh how good it would feel to just let the endorphins flow.  We laugh a lot at this house, it's probably the biggest thing our in-law children have had to get used to, hardly a dinner goes by without some old (or new) funny story, usually about a sibling, coming to light then it happens, loud, head tossing, knee slapping laughter.  Nothing is better.
I like to think about Jesus laughing, sitting around a fire with is dearest friends and telling some funny story, (did you see that Pharisee trip over his robe today?) and everybody laughing until the tears rolled.  Sometimes you just have to laugh, even in troubled times.


Our sweet baby Olivia went to Heaven 73 days
 ago, she has been gone as long as she was here and I still miss her so much. I catch myself looking at babies in the stores and thinking "she would be that size now", "she would be doing these things now".
 I still think about her a lot.  One of the things I think about is what is she doing in Heaven? What is Heaven like for a baby?
The Bible does say some things about Heaven but nothing I can really wrap my head around, streets of gold, diamond and sapphire cities, many mansions, winged worshipers. Nothing I can really get a picture of, nothing I can relate to. I just really wish I could get a glimpse.
Yesterday I got this picture in an email from one of my cousins, I really like this one.  So today when I think of Olivia being in Heaven the picture I have is of a very happy little girl sitting with a very kind and loving Jesus, I think maybe he is telling her a story about a little sheep on a french farm and any minute now they are both going to burst out in uncontrollable giggles.  That sounds like Heaven to me.

Shamu Family Fun Walk

Team Livie's Heart!

Today was the Shamu Family Fun Walk to benefit Rady Children's Hospital.
Rady is where Olivia was treated.
We are Team Livie's Heart;  we are 88 strong and we raised close to $4,000.00 for the hospital.
What a Kick!
We are not special or famous, we are just a family that had a very sick baby, who went to heaven after only 73 days with us.  But she inspired us and look what has come of it!
Old friends reunited, Cary it was so great to see you again and to meet your family. New friends like Heather and Brooke who are now just like family.  Family that has been absent but is now back like Tiffany and her beautiful children and new friends like Beka and Rachel who we share a special spot with as they continue their journeys and challenges with their special little ones, and really way too many more to mention here.
Thank you all for being a part of my life

My beautiful daughter, Crystal my hero...

Papa and Evie, ready to Go!

Now that the "race" is over I'm a little numb, not only because I've been up since 4AM!  But, what next?  Olivia's journey has taken me places I didn't know I could go, I have learned things that I didn't even know I didn't know! These last seven months have been so consumed with so much emotion and now it seems so quiet.

Crystal, Kim, Me and Heather

Next weekend we start looking for a place for Kimmie and Ed's wedding in the spring.  I am so happy for them and so excited about another wedding (aka a GREAT reason to party).

So I guess for now I will try to appreciate the lull in activity and rest up, the adventures are never too far apart at "Mammy's House".

"Mammy, I don't feel good"

Every mother knows the feeling of being woken up with the words "Mommy, I don't feel good"....  Oh how I hate those words!  It has been my experience over the last 33 years that that statement is the preliminary to at least 24 hours of agony. Yes for both the child murmuring and Mommy, or in this case Mammy.
Erik and I have 8 children spread over 19 years, we categorize them into two groups, the "big" kids; Kenny, Crystal, Kelly, Mike and Kim, and the "younger" kids; Shawn, Katie and Caleb.  We really have raised one family and are now raising another one as well as now being pretty active with grandkids too.  All that to say, I have heard this statement many times.
When my "big" kids were young they were great about being sick in the right spot.  I had them trained to run to the bathroom BEFORE they came into my room to announce their tummy troubles.  I was very spoiled.
Our younger kids have not been so kind.  Shawn and Katie could never make it to the bathroom to save their little souls, maybe they were such sound sleepers they just woke up too late.  

Feel better soon Macen....

Caleb was born with an immature esophagus and that is just a whole other story but we were able to train him to grab a trash can on his way.

This morning my grandson Macen, who is spending the weekend here, woke up early.  I was already up and just knew my day had taken a turn when his first words were "Mammy, I don't feel good"!  He was telling the truth.  So here we are 4 hours later, Papa has already made the emergency run to the store for 7-up, the washer and dryer are in full force and sweet, sweet Macey Boy is back asleep on the couch.  I seem to be having a lot of Dejavu lately, I wonder if that is just what happens when we get older.

Four Funerals and a Wedding!

Kimmy and Ed are getting married!

It is with great excitement that I can now
say Kimberly, our child # 5 is engaged!
Ed has been "in the family" for a while
now so he knows what we are all about
and still his love for Kim won out.  ;-)


We (as a family) have gone through and done a lot this last year, I absolutely can not believe it was barely a year ago that Crystal and I ran the Disney Half Marathon, that Erik and I flew to Tenn. where our grand daughter, Selah was in Children's Hospital, that 10 months ago we found out that Crystal was pregnant with Olivia, that 9 months ago we remodeled two upstairs bedrooms and 19 year old Shawn moved back home, that 7 months ago we found out Olivia was coming with a heart defect, that 5 months ago my sweet cousin Debbie passed away, that 3.5 months ago Olivia was born and that 4.5 weeks ago she went to heaven, that 2.5 weeks ago we found out Crystal was expecting again, that Jerry K and Uncle Hank were both laid to rest this month, that just 5 days ago we found out Kelly is expecting again and tonight Kim got engaged!
Holy Moly!

I think having a big family is fabulous, eight children, all wonderful sweet kids with awesome spouses and perfect children.   I am so blessed.
This last year has been harder than most but I feel the tide turning now, thank you Jesus for the change of seasons, not just wonderful fall (my favorite) but the seasons of life too.
I am excited about looking ahead.

Kim and Ed, engaged!

DeJaVue

Selah Jo at almost 1year.

Happy 1st Birthday Selah Jo


Today is my grand daughter Selah Jo's first birthday. Unfortunately Selah lives in Mississippi so we can't join in her big party,but we will have our own party for her when she visits in November.

Selah's "birth" day!

Last year when Selah was born we were all so happy, Kelly and Nathan already had Judah and Eli and were so happy to get their little princess. We had had a scare early in Kelly's pregnancy when the Drs thought there might be a problem but she had been cleared of those issues and things were looking rosy.
At least for 24hrs; everything was going just fine  but then the Drs. discovered Selah had a heart defect. Oh how I remember getting the call that she was being air lifted to a children's hospital. Kelly was so scared and so were we.  Erik and I and Kimberly were able to catch a red eye flight out that night to be with Kelly and Nathan while Selah went through all the tests.
Poor baby Selah, poor Mommy and Daddy and poor us.  There is nothing fun about having a sick baby.  

Judah and Eli 

We did have a little silver lining in getting to see the grand boys again after about a year. Oh how I love little boys, so full of life and energy.  It sure isn't easy not being close to them.

Well the Drs decided that Selah didn't need the surgery they thought she would and they were able to fix her main problem in a cath lab procedure.  What a relief, she may need more attention as she grows but for right now Selah is OK.  After a tearful goodbye Papa and I were back on a plane to California, leaving a little piece of our hearts in Mississippi.

The following weekend after we got back Justus and Crystal celebrated their anniversary weekend and I stayed with Ezra and Evie.  I love staying with my grandkids for the weekend. We always do things that Mom and Dad don't do!  Usually the first night we skip the bath time routine, we stay up late eating popcorn or pizza or something fun and watch movies until everybody is asleep on the floor. Being a Grandma is really the BEST thing ever.

Well it wasn't too long after that anniversary weekend that we found out Crystal was pregnant with our precious Olivia, little did we know then that in less than one year we would be sitting in a Children's Hospital again.  Most of you know that Olivia's story did not go like Selah's, Selah got to come home after 3 weeks and Olivia went home to heaven after 73 days. We lost more than just a little piece of our heart this time.

Mammie's Ez!!

Now, I am sitting here again at Crystal and Justus's, they are on their anniversary weekend get away, Selah Jo is one year old and doing well, Crystal is pregnant, Ezra and Evie got a new puppy and yes we did skip the bath routine tonight and we ate pizza and everybody fell asleep on the floor.
This last year we have been through a lot as a family
but right this very minute
 "Life is good".

Oh Happy Day

Oh the Joy!  The joy I felt when I opened this little box.  Crystal and Justus are having another baby.  She hasn't seen the Dr. yet but calculates the baby to be here in April.
We are all rejoicing!

And today as well as rejoicing we were also painting.  Evie's room got a fresh coat of "purpleishis and twinkle toe".  Oh my goodness it is so cute and sweet in there you could get a toothache!

Evie is wondering what part of "Princess " I don't understand..

That sewing machine is old but
still get the job done!

Of course in this family nobody gets a free pass
so Ezra and Evie got busy with the brushes helping
daddy while Crystal was sewing new curtains.

Ezra, daddy's helper.

Next week the new toddler bed and reading tent should be here.
I can hardly wait to curl up on the new purple pillows and read to these cutie pies..
I am a lucky Mammy!
Proverbs 17:6 "Grandchildren are the crown of old men (and women)"

The Big Tree Falls (Aug. 3rd)

Yesterday at home in Lake Elsinore the day started with a crack, a rumble, a crash and a horn and that is never a good combination. 

Penelope on our roof

As most of you know we live at the base of the Ortega Hwy, we actually have a country feel about our area with a lot of wildlife (remember the baby hawks last year and Penelope Peacock?) and huge California Oak trees all around our property.

A few months ago we had a very large limb of one of the trees split, in slow motion and come to rest on top of our garage!  We were so fortunate that the split took a couple of days and there was no damage to any of our properity.  We have some pretty great neighbors that came to our rescue with chain saws before the tree came all the way down

Big limb coming down on our garage

Well yesterday we weren’t so luckey, or should I say our neighbors weren’t.

About 8AM the five hundred year old oak that sits exactly on our fence line split, and half of the tree came down on our neighbors garage, our back shed, fence and about a six foot section of our eves. There garage is a total loss, the car had to be towed away but is fixable, our shed and fence are done but our eve and and roof are reparable.

Kelly who was just visiting from Mississippi thought we were having an earthquake and headed for a door jam, Kim who was sitting on the couch about four feet from where the tree landed in our side yard will probably never be the same. Erik who was up stairs on the other side of the house thought a car missed the cornor and went through our neighbors house! I guess it was pretty exciting!  Praise God no one was hurt!  

We have been told that the oak had beetles, Yikes! We have three more huge trees on our property!  Definitley time to call in an expert.  The problem is these California Oak Trees are “protected”!  Yup, it is criminal to cut one down and you have to have a special permit from the state to even trim them!  But try to obtain a permit and its the big  government run around.  Several years ago we had to have one removed because it was lifting our foundation; after seven months of letters and phone calls to everybody from Lake Elsinore to Sacramento we finally had to find a trimmer who would “just do it” and come to find out, Keven and Shelly, our neighbors had a trimmer come out for an estimate a few months back and were told “its to hard to obtain a permit”, the guy didn’t even want the job.  Crazy huh?  These trees are so “protected” that peoples lifes are in danger, the government has made it so difficult that our hands are tied, trim and be fined, don’t trim and be squished!

Now Erik is in the midst of 3 different property owners and their insurance companys as well as the government trying to figure who is going to be responsible for and pay for cleaning up this huge mess.  

Good luck Babe!

July 30th Happy Birthday Baa!

Today is my mom's birthday, she is 71 years young and I am so thankful that God gave me to her and her to me.  I am an only child born to a young mother and I grew up with her not only my mom but a good friend too, we've been through a lot together and through all of this with Olivia her and my dad have been right here with us.  They really are amazing, now this week she has gotten the bad news that her older brother is very ill. Knowing someone you love is suffering is not easy if they are 85yrs or 58days. I wish I could be with her today I am praying for her stay strong and faithful and to be blessed today.

Earthquake

Well today we had another good sized earthquake here in southern Cal. 5.9 centered not far from here in Borrego Springs.  Definitely an eye opener but such a funny story to go with it.
Ezra and I were sitting on the bed watching the movie "Good Boy" it starts with a space ship landing and the boy hero thinking there was an earthquake.  Ezra wants to know "what was that?" I answer an earthquake and Crystal explains "Ezra  probably doesn't know what that is, he's never really felt a big one. " Not two minutes later Ezra got to feel a BIG one. Hahahaha
The Ronald McDonald House sits on top of a six story parking garage that was built with earthquakes in mind I'm sure, this place sways like a hammock.  We had a good sized quake last month but it wasn't as loud or as shaky as this one and the kids were sleeping.
During today's quake we saw people scatter like bugs outside our window, some of the Hawaiians that are staying here went running and we laughed that they were probably waiting for the volcano, wrong thing to say in front of Ezra, now he is convinced "a volcano is coming". 
Anyway, all is well and now we have something fun to talk about.