Just Checking in....

Howdy All!

This is one tired mother checking in....We have had a really busy couple of weeks, and the pace is not slowing any. I have found, too, that it is harder to keep up in the hot summer months. My age is really showing now, and I am feeling my age for the first time in my life.

I don't have time for a long update tonight...hopefully later in the week. We had a good 4th of July/Anniversary weekend. I did not get my fill of fireworks, as I had hoped, but the rest was nice. Dad used his new grill to make some luscious burgers. He is just THE BEST griller in the whole wide world, among his other numerous talents. Just look at these babies:



Everyone seemed to enjoy time in Mom and Dad's pool. I have commented on here before that we always wanted a pool so badly when we were growing up, but Highway Patrolmen don't get paid what they are worth, and so we never had one. Now, we are all making up for lost time!




Even though I had a shirt on over my suit, I got burned in the back around my neck! I forgot to lotion up there. I made sure my arms and nose and cheeks were protected, but I forgot that one little spot just under my hair in the back. It is amazing how excruciating one burnt spot can be. It has itched, peeled, blistered, burst, etc. O.k., I know, T.M.I.! Sunday, in church, I thought I would die for itching, and I could not scratch it! I could not have reached it if I tried! Boy, that is fun!

My dad sent me the picture of my grandmother that he found in his inbox. It had been left there until he apparently found it. I cherish it, because we never made many pictures of my grandmother in the nursing home. That is a shame! She looked so pretty on this day, with the Christmas sweater that my dad gave her for her birthday that very day, December 6, 2003. It was to be her last birthday. She died in November, 2004. Like my maternal grandmother, she died at age 82, just about two weeks shy of her 83rd birthday. My maternal grandmother (Nanny) had died on Mammaw's birthday in 1987, just one day shy of her own 83rd birthday. My first son's birthday is December 5th. So, the 5th, 6th, and 7th will always be special days to me--days where life began and life ended--all intertwined.

Enjoy the pictures below of the 4th and all my babies, nieces, nephew, and my grandmother, who is always with us in spirit every time there is a gathering with family, good food, and a lot of memory-making going on!