In Memory

My Grandpa Kelly passed away over the weekend so I wanted to write a post in honor of him and what he meant to me. I have very fond memories of the time that I spent with him. Most recently with Jackson and what a kick he seemed to get out of him. I make an annual trip home around the fourth of July and I recall two summers ago watching him and Jackson sit on the front step of their house and do firecracker "poppers" - something I remember doing with him as a kid myself. Over and over Jackson would throw them to the ground in delight and then come running back to Grandpa who was fishing out the good ones from the sawdust like substance that they come in. Fishing was something Grandpa enjoyed and not just the fireworks kind. He would take us shopping as kids for the plastic worms that he used as bait. Always letting my sister and I have one or two worms of our own. We weren't going to do anything with them but we thought they were cool and he loved giving them to us. He would bait our hooks for us and I remember too the first time I saw him clean a fish in the backyard. He also had all kinds of contraptions to do things, most notably for me, smashing cans for recycling. We didn't have a lot of pop around our house growing up but for sure when we went to Grandpa and Grandma Kelly's house there was plenty of it, which lead to plenty of can smashing later. One of my very first and favorite memories of him was when I was really young and we had went to their house for a visit - probably in the summer. We had taken a bath and put on pajamas and I crawled up into his lap in the kitchen, probably for a bedtime snack that I'm sure we weren't supposed to be eating. What I remember is putting my hands in his and telling him "Grandpa look, it takes two of my fingers to be as big as yours". He had big hands - those of a really great football player and they were strong and tan, a contrast not lost on me even as young as I was at the time. Soon after my first child Jackson was born, a preemie, we took at picture of Grandpa holding him and I saw the contrast of those big hands again as Jackson's foot was the size of Grandpa's thumb. These memories and countless others like it are the things I am finding the most comfort in these days along with the peace that comes with knowing that God has graciously taken him into heaven and made whole the body that was so changed by his recent battle with dementia. No, now his hands are once again tan, strong, and looking like those of a great football player. I heard my dad had said recently "I don't know the name of the team, but somewhere in heaven, that team just got a really great fullback" and I would add - one with great hands.

He was always loved and will always be missed. I love you Grandpa!

Attitude is everything...

So I am headed to work this morning and I pull out of the driveway at the usual time of 5:20 am. My nieghbor is apparently headed out of town and catching an early flight at the airport so we give each other a strange stare through the darkness - him because he probably didn't realize that I leave the house this early every morning and me because I never see anyone else leaving their house this early and was surprised by the company. Better to be surprised by him than a snake.

SIDE STORY: Eric comes into the bedroom last night around 9:45 and announces that he just did battle with a snake in our garage which of course prompts me to immediately pause CSI NY (come on people seriously - who doesn't love DVR) and get the full scoop. To my horror he starts the story with "I found him by the Highlander..." (which is the car I drive) and ends the story with "...and so I scooted him out of the garage". While the full story is not important or necessary to tell I will say that in the middle somewhere were words like "he was practically hopping around" and "he was lunging and hissing at me but I don't think he had fangs" and "he was about 12" long and about an inch around". Okay so basically what you are telling me is that in the dark of the morning when I go out to the car for work I need to be sure that the snake you found by my car did not come back which ever way he got in the garage in the first place and now he's really mad so maybe he has tried to make himself even more comfortable by curling up on the seat of the car and all of course while trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake our sleeping children!?!? I suppose next you're going to tell me to make sure he's buckled up for the ride to the office!?!? Amidst my barrage of questions, he tried to comfort me with words like "well it's not a rattler" and "I don't think it was poisonous" and "it isn't the bad kind, it will eat mice and bugs". So he only kills the bad kind? The BAD KIND is the SNAKE KIND and the good kind is the dead kind (certainly NOT the "scooted out of the garage" kind)!! Needless to say, I have never gotten into my car and out of the garage so fast in my life....actually now that I think about it, that was probably the reason for my neighbor staring at me - not that fact that it was 5:20 in the morning!!

So back to my original story...On my way to work once, maybe twice a week I go to a Starbucks that is too convenient not to stop (my side of the road, before the freeway, drive thru, love it, etc...). At any rate, it is usually the same person at the drive through window, her name is "JoJo" and she is a sweet lady that is probably in her late 40's/early 50's if I had to guess. She is always in the best mood and this morning was her usual chipper self and while I waited for my tall, non-fat, extra hot, caramel macchiato she engaged me in some very polite conversation about my kids (my two car seats give it away) and winning the Starbucks giveaway (which we are both hoping I do). As I pulled away, I realized how truly rare it is to get such pleasant customer service particularly for that time of the morning....sad commentary on today's world. Makes me think of a comment my mom said this past weekend "you know, I'm getting tired of tipping people for just doing their job" - and this from a lady who has made customer service an art form. She is a "JoJo" for sure! Contrast my pleasant start with JoJo to the second half of my morning commute which included not one, not two, but THREE cars whizzing around me going at least 90-95 mph and giving me a stare like I was a 90 year old grandma who can't see over the steering wheel and out for a Sunday stroll. I watched them frustratedly cut in and out of traffic for several miles...I'm sure giving several other safe drivers the same irritated glare that I got. Now I know it is early in the morning and I know what it is like to wake up late or need to get somewhere but when you live in the DFW metroplex and you commute - you should expect and prepare for traffic. I found myself saying (almost out loud) that those people could use a little JoJo spirit this morning. I guess it just proves the old saying "Attitude is everything and everything is attitude"!! Here's hoping we all have more JoJo's in our day and manage to BE a JoJo to everyone around us (except of course the snakes).

There a 1st time for everything...

I was truly hoping that things would start calming down in my life since work hasn't been quite so hectic as of late. I have decided instead that the "calming down" plan will have to wait until maybe August. I have made that assumption by looking over my planner and determining that in the next nine weekends I have a sum total of TWO that are "free" and even those have tentative plans in the works. While it is filled with exciting trips and things I look forward to doing, it does not help with the "calm down" plan and my desperate need to get organized and have a fresh start (something I have been looking for since the birth of my second child). Since I hadn't posted in a while and hadn't posted pictures in the last several posts I thought I would just at least do that.

This past weekend we went to San Antonio and celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary as well as my mom's 60th birthday. Below is a list of a few "firsts" that occurred over the weekend...

1st time in a highchair

Site of 1st National Championship in 20 years - ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

1st time in water (other than the bath)

1st night in a hotel (and a GREAT one at that - Hyatt Hill Country)

1st time feeding dolphins

1st time making and eating s'mores

1st family vacation - what fun!

There is nothing...

There is nothing and I truly mean NOTHING more frustrating then taking a day off work, starting at 6:15 am and never stopping to sit down, and then realizing at 6:15 pm that in spite of my extremely diligent pace, I have not completed my list of things that have to be done!?! Grrrrrr - makes me mad just thinking about it. BUT....

There is also nothing and I truly mean NOTHING like having a husband who comes home from work and dives right in to finish off the remaining items on your to do list. Especially when the remaining items all start with the words "Clean the...". By the time the kids went to bed, I had nothing and I mean nothing (okay I promise that is the last time I will say that) left in my tank, my back was aching and my attitude was rotten. With a dinner party at our house tonight and my parents and grandparents coming this weekend, the house needs to be clean. Cue the husband of the year and that whole other gear that he finds when it comes to cleaning in crunch time. When he sent me to bed, he was still cleaning and when I got up at 4:30 this morning for work, I walked into a clean shower and got ready in a clean bathroom. Praise God for giving me such an amazing man - CLEARLY I need him like nothing and I truly mean nothing (sorry one last time) else in the world!!

Faith and Football

In a day and age where athletes are getting convicted of everything from drugs, assault, DUI, and illegal contributions, how refreshing is it to see a young person like Tim Tebow with his head so squarely on his shoulders. My husband sent me this article and I have to admit that my opinion of Florida football (which was pretty poor) did change. If this young man can stand up for his faith in the midst of the self absorbed, self promoting, corrupt world that college sports can sometimes be....what is my excuse?

Just another manic Monday....

It occurred to me as I started this post out with the title that I am a musical learner. If there was a way to teach brain surgery through music, I think I would be the best brain surgeon in the world! Why is it that I can remember every.single.word. to some random (and some might argue - bad) 80's song by the Bangles and I can't remember my own schedule and events that I have had planned for months. I could blame part of it on the fact that as I get older time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the future...see - there I go again with the music (although I have regressed to the late 70's now)! Time really does go by faster these days and I am having exceedingly more trouble keeping up. It is extremely frustrating for me as I consider myself a fairly organized and "non-flaky" person. My life has been pretty hectic recently but let's be honest - who's hasn't!?! We are all running around like a bunch of headless chickens, squawking all the while. I will say that I am still managing once in a while to stop (all be it for a millisecond!) and enjoy the things around me. A couple of examples from this weekend...we had a block party in our cul-de-sac and I was reminded of how wonderful it is to have good neighbors. When my husband and I first got married, we thought there was no way we would raise a family in such a big city (I'm from a mid size town and him a super small one). When we moved into this neighborhood a year ago though, I could finally get that smaller town feeling of kids playing in the street or walking down to the neighbors house, etc. At the party I was looking around and just really feeling blessed to live where we do and thinking that maybe it would be possible to capture that feeling of my childhood neighborhood. Another example this weekend was our 5 1/2 month old Gavin. He is at such a great age and just makes me smile at even the smallest things. First, he has started being quite the little roller. "Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river". Seriously - somebody stop me! It is very entertaining to watch because the process is slow and deliberate and he seems almost surprised when he makes it like "wow that's what I was trying to do and hey look - I did it". The other funny thing he is doing now is finding his voice. He will open his mouth and let air pass his vocal cords until a precious little (but loud) "aha" comes out. The tones go up and down and you can tell he is really trying to say something... SO funny to watch and listen to him exploring sounds. Those are the times when the world seems to slow down and you wish "it was Sunday, 'cause that's my fun day, my I don't have to run day...but it's just another manic Monday". (sorry...couldn't help myself) :)