GRANDparents
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Christmas Babies
For me there is nothing that can touch the feeling of watching the watching the wonder of Christmas in a little child’s eyes! They embody the joy we are to embrace, the excitement of anticipation, the awe of the simplicity and humbleness of the true meaning of Christmas. I may be a little bias to “Christmas babies,” or December babies, because I am one and so is my nephew. But there is something so special about a newborn baby at Christmas. Holding a Miracle. Embracing and studying their tiny attributes. I believe is holy. And of course, as the picture today shows, every year there is more and more twinkle…
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Music… one of my favorite things
“We teach our children how to behave by: 1. What we allow. 2. What we stop. 3. What we ignore. 4. What we reinforce.” Take a minute to think about this quote. It is really an indicator of what habits and boundaries we allow and don’t allow in our daily lives, also. But today, let’s talk discuss music and videos/dvds that are exciting gifts! I will give you a disclaimer, when kids are exploring and discovering music, this is one of those kid sounds that doesn’t phase me. Now a car thumping past my window or obnoxiously loud and vibrating my insides, I can lose my cool. So we all…
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Paints, Pens, and Paper…
“Sometimes the best learning environment for students isn’t a bunch of devices powered by wi-fi. Sometimes it’s a huge pile of cardboard powered by PURE IMAGINATION.” Krissy Venosdale Oh the smell of new play-doh or a fresh box of crayons! These make my heart smile. A little fact about something that I have a hard time resisting, any craft supply on sale! Hobby Lobby is literally a money pit for me, but of course supporting a great store 😂 I could place the blame on my grandparents who always liked taking us to five and dime stores, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. I just love having craft supplies ready…
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Some May Call it Hullabaloo
As the gathering season is approaching, there is a lot of talk about how to avoid certain topics of conversations with family and friends. Allow me to make another suggestion, that has nothing to do with those adult talking topics… rather something, hopefully, light hearted. Unless you get too competitive and need to dial back some relatives. Which can happen, so be prepared to have a cool down spot for children as well as adults who get too competitive 😂 Games. Now, I was the kid and now the adult that does not have the patience for monopoly or any game like it, to those who can play these games-…
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Christmas is Always
“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas. Christmas is ALWAYS!” Dale Evans Rogers Two weeks. That’s when I last wrote. There has been a lot of head spinning life decisions in the in between. Needless to say, we may agree or disagree, like or dislike the leaders that won the elections, but most importantly we must respect the good work all presidents have done. Every president has done at least one thing to better our country, and this is something we must focus on in this transition. We can be excited or disappointed/discouraged at the outcome, but we are still…
- "Life" Books, Adoption, Aunt-ing, Children, Family, Friends & Neighbors, GRANDparents, Grief, Memories, Mommy, Siblings, Single Parenting
Savoring the Memories
“Give me the WILD children with their BARE feet and SPARKLING eyes! The RESTLESS, churning climbers. The wild ones using their outside voices, singing ALL THE WAY HOME. Give me the WONDER-FILLED glorious mess makers DREAMING of mountains and mud, and aching to RUN through the field of stars.” Nicolette Sowder Just this week my mom and I were talking about how much we miss children. Where I grew up there was plenty of space for children to play and explore, it was a child’s dream come true. I can say this because that’s exactly how I felt there. If children were not at our house, we were still close…
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Crisis of Truth
A few reasons I share this today: The excitement of guiding children to learn to open themselves up to a vast array of experiences, however that may look or sound or feel, is overwhelming to me. To get to know them, the way they learn, and then engage them – whether it be through books, or pictures, or music, or items from a certain place to explore with our senses – these moments are untouchable, irreplaceable. For me as a kid magazines kept my attention. Both sets of grandparents gave me a subscription to a magazine every year – Highlights and American Girl – were the two I chose. And…
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Storm Warning!
Let me start off by saying, I love a good rainstorm! Some of my favorite days and best memories are days with my parents, grandparents, brother, kids I kept, my little girl, my niece and nephew and cousins, just dancing in the rain or simply watching the rain and clouds pass over. Sweet front porch sitting, one of Lucy’s and my niece and nephew’s favorite activities when they were little 😊 Tornados… Hurricanes… these come with the wonderful place I call home. I have watched and lived through many. Loss is always a part of storms and the news coverage and stories afterwards. In 2018, there were two hurricanes that hit,…
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A Resting Place.
How do you release your grip on something that is so close to your heart, soul, and holds years of memories? Letting go of the Physical, Holding on to the Memorable. Loosening our grip on material things, especially when there are memories attached, I find is an extremely difficult thing to do. It is bigger than the place or the object, it’s the things and the people we remember that are connected. This summer is the first summer in my entire life that I have not visited the lake house pictured above. For many reasons my parents decided to sell this lake home this year, and as hard as it…
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Learning Alongside
I’m Back! Today, I have some statistics and some general ideas that I have gathered in my love of history and longings for my generation and the generations to come. I’m not one to dwell on the past or look to far into the future, I tend to focus on the present or near future, simply because life has dealt me experiences to remember this is all we are guaranteed. That’s a fact and a discipline that doesn’t come naturally to my body or brain. However, I do love seeing where we have come from and the hope of where we can go and the impact we can have. Disclaimer:…
