Just cause....Feel Good pics #4 & #5

June 2009
I was in Georgia visiting Michelle and her family last June. Time for Toby's 3rd birthday.
We all had party hats on, and went outside to see Toby get on and ride his new "Gator". (pics of that later)
Tate Steven Pieracini - just a hair before turning one, is ready to party! He just plopped right down on the cement driveway and couldn't be happier.
Now, he's pushing two years old and learning a new word every day, and getting ready to be a BIG brother in just a few weeks.
Nana loves her Tater Tot.


February 2007
Shamrock was her real name, but she was always Shammie to us. An absolute snow dog. If there was any white stuff on the ground, she wanted to LIVE outside. I thought she was beautiful when she "squinted" whenever the sun hit the white blanket of snow.
Shammie - in this pic she's almost 12 (and a senior citizen in dog years, but always a puppy when it snowed)
We miss you, Sham.

Feel Good Picture #3

Just a pic shot at the side of our garage on Thanksgiving weekend 2009.
Everyone was here. Everyone. A taste of heaven for me.
In this shot, my "single" kids at the time.
In this pic: Megan - age 20, Josh - age 16, me-age (cough-cough),
Kelly (older than dirt) and Laurie - age 25.

Feel Good Picture #2

Had about ten pictures that caught my eye tonight...so I shut my eyes and randomly put a pencil with an eraser against the screen. This is the picture that was under the eraser.
It's a good one.





July 2008 - Hillendale Park, Harrisonburg - Alli, age 5, almost 6

We were at Steph's baby shower for little David. After the festivities, I played with Kimmi and Alli on the playground. I captured this picture of Alli. (I usually call her Alli-Bee)
Love her smile.
(notice the little foot kick. Alli is my girly-girl)

Weekend is Getting Closer!

I am so ready for a three day weekend! Two more work days, and then the glorious Memorial Day weekend. It will be busy, I need to get a lot done, but I know I will get some fun in there, too!
Kelly left early this morning for training in Richmond, where he is staying at the Hilton near the Richmond Airport. He thought he may have to share a room, but he has a room to himself. He always calls me and says that I should come and join him, and while he is in meetings during the day, I could explore, sleep, swim, read, write, whatever. In the evenings we could be together. Tonight I really wanted to take him up on it. Sounded great.

Josh and I had a quick bite at El Charro before he went to church for youth meetings. I love our dinners there together. It's fun to catch up with my almost 17 year old. I always learn something We share the chimichanga dinner, and munch on the tortillas and salsa. We get water to drink and the bill comes to $8 and some change. That with a tip isn't a bad price for an hour out with my son. Tonight was different, though. We drove separately, so he could drive to his meetings and drive home. DRIVE! Do you hear me??? This is my BABY!! The youngest of six. How did this happen? How is he allowed to drive all alone? Who pushed the fast forward button?

Watched American Idol final tonight. Great show. Would say more, but don't want to spoil it for any who haven't heard the winner yet. I will post more about that tomorrow, perhaps.

Feel Good Picture #1

Do you LOVE looking at pictures that you have taken, or others have sent you? I love it. In fact, my own pictures are my screen saver and my desktop background on both my home and work computers.

Seeing them just makes me feel good. I wonder how many hours I've spent sitting on my bed with different members of my family while picture after picture comes across the screen as my changing screen saver. We can waste some serious time looking at old pictures and talking about good times.

So...I thought I would share one of my good time pictures whenever I blog.

Today is the first one. Picked out a great one. Random feel-good pictures. Absolute treasures.

Enjoy.

October 2008 - On our way back from Griffin GA, after we visited with Michelle and her family. Griffin was only 2 months old, so we stopped a few times for Jessie to feed him. Noah would take these pit stops as times to play and explore. Laurie and I were happy to oblige. This stop, somewhere in South Carolina, was one of his favorites. (Noah - age 2, Laurie age 24)

Kelly Goes to Camp

I have been a mom for 33 years now. In fact, come to think of it, after doing some quick figuring in my head, I seriously think I have been a mother for just about 33.3 years plus 3 weeks.

In all that time, I have had many opportunities to take my children to camp. Six grade camp, boy scout camp, girls camp and all kinds of camp.

Last night, I got to take my "big" boy to camp. Kelly went to the RMH Sleep Clinic for the night. He brought his favorite pillow, his jammies, a book and a toothbrush. I got to spend some time with him in his room, and this camp is NICE, complete with a fun, sweet nurse and some ginger ale before going to bed. Except after I left, she wired him all up with electrodes and things on his head, temples, legs, with sensors on his chin, in his nose and on his finger. Then she reminded him that he would be video taped all night. Sleep tight! (He actually slept fairly well, he said.)

I picked him up this morning at 6:30 am, and he did just fine. He was sitting on the step with a big smile and a strawberry PopTart that he was given for breakfast. What a camper.

All ready for camp. Bye!

Kelly got to try out different C-Pap masks in case he needs to wear one. (ok...he's STILL cute)

Stepping Back into the Blog-Mobile

Hi my family and friends,
All is well. Wish I would have been blogging more. Thought about it just about every day. So much in my mind right now, so much I'd like to write about. But for now, I'm just going to share a couple of things I found while going through some papers.

the first.....from Megan, at about age 9 ~


It's a little hard to read, but I love her little girl handwriting.


It's titled:

HOW TO MAKE MY PARENTS HAPPY WITH ME

(and I'll write them just as Meggie did)

1. Ask if they've lost weight.
2. Keep your room clean.
3. Do chores they didn't ask you to.
4. Feed, water, a take the dog out.
5. Do my chores very well.
6. If they're tired & your hungry make your own food.
7. Don't talk to them when they're getting dressed or going to the bathroom.
8. Watch Josh.
9. If they're not in the mood to cook you cook.
10. Love them.

*******
I just love this. I've always loved cooking for my family, but obviously when Meggie wrote this, I might have just had enough of the kitchen for awhile. #1 cracks me up. And #7 is still true. And she has #10 down pat. She's a winner at #10. As far as #2? Well, we all need something to work on.
~~~~~~~

Ok, this next tidbit is from some daily ramblings I was keeping in my Franklin Planner. This is from Monday, October 25, 1999. Meg would have been 10 years old. This is the beginning of what I wrote that night:
".....sitting with Meg on the couch tonight. Meg says, "Mom, do I have issues?" I asked, "What are issues?" (wondering what her concept of them were) She says, "No clue. But Dad says I do."
**********
And, at the end of that journal entry, I was writing how Kelly was in New Jersey for some training and how much we were missing him. He had called that night, and Josh just couldn't wait to talk with him on the phone. (he was six) I thought it was so sweet. Josh got on the phone, and asked, "Dad? What color hair does your roommate have?" Kelly told him that his hair was black. Josh was completely satisfied. I wrote that "it's funny to see how Josh's mind works".

(And you know what? ...ten years later, it still is.)

~~~~~~~~~

And another treasure found.....again from a six-year-old Josh.

He used to love to draw. He drew his family a lot. And many times, Jesus would be amongst us.

I absolutely love this. Yes, Josh, Jesus is real. And what a good reminder this picture is of keeping him as the center of our family.
(and by the way, I think Dad and I are looking pretty snazzy here)