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Watch this from THIS year
That is my sweet daughter, Tara.
Watch this from LAST year.
This is my sweet daughter Tredessa flanked by my wonderful s-i-l, Dave and the irrepressible Luke Bodley.
Category Archives: 2 Mi Familia
Summertime…and the livin’ is easy
Fish Tacos, Sort-of-Ensenada-Style Mexican Slaw and all the fixin’s
Summertime and the living is easy
Fish are jumping and the cotton is high
Your daddy’s rich and your mama’s good-looking
Hush, little baby don’t you cry
don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry
no no no no don’t cry, don’t cry
Uncle Joe has a cabin by a lake near Aberdeen. Rocky fished there and brought home 12 of the best-ever walleye and we had a family fish fry the night after we all got home. Delish! {soft fried corn shells, guac and sour cream, cheese, the slaw with jalepenos, fresh tomato and cilantro salsa…omygosh…yummmmmm!}
No, these aren’t ours. These are google-images. We ate ours too fast to photograph them…but these? Bring back goooood memories!
Gavin and Guini spent the night and started asking for lunch 20 minutes after breakfast was over. You know what they wanted? That leftover fried walleye! They know a good thing when they taste it.
Gavin did a self-portrait photo shoot while here.
Good food with people you love intensifies the enjoyment all the way around. You may quote me on that!
So, thanks for the fish, Rocker-Bo. Gotta get you that boat so we can enjoy more-more-more!
Food + above-average company = Lots
and lots of LOVE!
P.S. And look: http://asoftplace.net/2010/06/hello-summer/ I found THESE after I posted about creating a SUMMER SANDBUCKET LIST the other day. Creative mommy/design blogs out there! I LOVE it!! Now I must make my own display like this! Good times in the summer!
NOTE TO SELF: Add {Mexico!!} to Summer Sandbucket List!
HAPPY x 7 to Gavin
I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow And each road leads you where you want to go My wish for you is that this life becomes all you want it to Your dreams stay big and your worries stay small… And while you’re out there gettin’ to where you’re gettin’ to I hope you know somebody loves you… Yeah, this is my wish…*
Sigh. Happy sigh. Satisfied sigh.
The first one. The first grandson, the first grandbebe. I wonder how long I can keep calling him my grand-bebe? Forever, I hope?
And wow, God gave me a good one. Gavin is only 7, yet he already possesses and incredible work ethic. He is caring and watchful, a leader, but a servant, too. He shoulders responsibility and loves little babies. Spongebob Squarepants makes him laugh and superheroes inspire him to fly.
He’s got red hair and freckles and boundless energy. He is respectful and has a great outlook on life. He believes the best in everyone, thinks school is great and even his sisters sing his praises, “Gavin is a good brother,” Gemma May recently told me. They love their big brother.
I love you, too, Gavinators.
I hope you never look back and you never forget I hope you always forgive and you never regret And you help somebody every chance you get That you’ll find God’s grace in every mistake And always give more than you take…*
The day you were born, Gavin Lee Kelley, the company I worked for was in crisis and I was working another 16-hour day, firing people, closing down locations in the area, responding as needed. It was hard to tell people, some who’d mentored me earlier in that job, that they wee no longer needed – we were going to make it go without them. I came home that day on my crutches with my broken foot, and could barely drag myself up the stairs when I was told, “Stephanie is at the hospital having the baby.” I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be a grandma yet, and I had just had the saddest, most draining day but you were on your way.
And didn’t you just change everything? You made me a Nonna. And you made my heart explode with hope and joy and love. You made what I thought was the worst day ever the BEST day! And you still do that – 7 years later. When Gavin is around – it is a good day! A really, really good day!
Thank-you for the hugs and kisses even though you’re such a big kid now. Thanks for gardening with me and for loving tomatoes as much as me. We are going to have a great gardening year, Gav! I love you for always. I will never, ever get over you.
Happy, happy Birthday!…Love, Nonna
This is my wish, my wish for you I hope you know somebody loves you May all your dreams stay big…
* LYRICS: portion of “My Wish” by Rascal Flatts
In the Spring of Fields
SW Missouri.
Visiting the mamala and the papala with two of my sweets, Tara and Tredessa. Avoiding Branson on Memorial Day weekend, though I do want to do Sight and Sound’s Noah’s Ark show soon, and maybe tour the “Titanic.” Just not THIS time.
I plan to drive my new car home. $795. Oh, yeah, baby. {just dreaming}
I will strap Tara’s new tub on the top of my car.
Tara is THRIVING on the humidity and believes she was born for it. Ay-yi-yi!
It took us awhile to get this right.
Mom and dad (grandma and grandpa) took us to their favorite Chinese/Mongolian restaurant. It IS good.
Need a tub or shoeshine chair? I know where to find them.
Just mom on her average grocery-shopping day.
Pretty junk. Good prices.
Tredessa hit the jackpot: Her Knight in Shining Armor AND a perfect Director-of-Operations for Heaven Fest vehicle. Vrooooom….watch out!
Beautiful morning in Springfield, MO. Birds chirping, breeze blowing. Swing swaying, sweet moments. Home.
Even though I have never lived here, home is, at least partly, where mom and dad are. Always.
M. Night’s Village
I am in Springfield, Mo!
Tara, Tredessa and I are visiting my mamala and papala. We are making them watch M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village (2004).
Ten Reasons to watch it again:
- The “bad” color. Red. M. Night and his symbolism!
- Adrian Brodey. And Bryce Dallas Howard (little Ronnie Howard’s daughter).
- Joaquin Phoenix. Tredessa wants to marry him. As this character.
- It isn’t a horror movie, but it will get your blood pumping.
- Over time, you come to understand and empathize with the thought process of the villagers.
- Because being blind doesn’t mean you can’t see.
- See it for when Ivy stands in danger, holding out her hand, knowing that Lucius will save her.
- Because everyone has secrets, everyone has been broken somewhere. Heartache is part of life.
- Because our monsters keep us all within limiting boundaries until we get the courage to venture into the unknown.
- And because of this scene on the porch:
Ivy Walker: When we are married, will you dance with me? I find dancing very agreeable. Why can you not say what is in your head?
Lucius Hunt: Why can you not stop saying what is in yours? Why must you lead, when I want to lead? If I want to dance I will ask you to dance. If I want to speak I will open my mouth and speak. Everyone is forever plaguing me to speak further. Why? What good is it to tell you you are in my every thought from the time I wake? What good can come from my saying that I sometimes cannot think clearly or do my work properly? What gain can rise of my telling you the only time I feel fear as others do is when I think of you in harm? That is why I am on this porch, Ivy Walker. I fear for your safety before all others. And yes, I will dance with you on our wedding night.
Seen it? Do it again. Haven’t? What on earth? Netflix it now!
Happy-Happy-Happy, Gemma May!
GEMMA IS THREE NOW!
Gemma with her 1982 collector’s doll that her fabulous grandparents (us!!) found at a garage sale last week!!) and with Sandy-the-family-dog, who is way less shaggy now, but is still, in fact, actually “Sandy!”
The sun will come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow ~ there’ll be sun!
Gemma wanted an ANNIE! Party
She LOVES Dora, too but Annie won out. She plans to play Annie onstage someday and is hoping Poppa will reprise his role as Daddy Warbucks. She is learning all the words to all the songs and does interpretive dance to the soundtrack. And she has naturally curly red hair. Could it be anymore perfect?
Gemma/Annie with her daddy and with her mommy.
Even though Gemma’s mommy and Aunt Stormie were getting ready to fly to New York, we found a little time to gather and bat around red balloons, eat lots of good food including fruit skewers the grandbebes made. There was a wrapping-paper-wad war instigated by Rocky and a silly-string attack which paid him back. The birthday girl’s mommy made her an Annie red dress and curled her hair up tight. The little were girls trying on all of Gemma’s new shoes and gardening boots, and of course, there were bubbles.
Just thinkin’ about tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow ’til there’s none
Gemma stayed in character pretty much the whole party!
Poppa sang “Something was Missing” from Annie-the-musical to Gemma and they danced together. Gemma performed several numbers herself, especially shining on “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” with her old-time bucket.
Gemma is three. And she is sweet. And she is sunshine. And she is joyful and has a very upbeat outlook on the future. She smiles easily, she is kind and sweet and she gives big hugs and lots of kisses. Always ready with a song, GemGem delights us all everytime we get together. And she is the epitome of the classic Annie song, “Tomorrow.” No matter what happens, “Aw, it’s OK,” you’ll hear GemGem say.
When I’m stuck with a day that’s gray and lonely
I just stick out my chin, and grin and say
Gemma wanted a strawberry cake. Buttercream icing.
I love you Gemma-roo! You’re Nonna’s sweet puddin’. I love your face, I love your blue eyes, I love that curly red hair and I just LOVE YOU! Oh, yes, I do!
Happy Birthday, sweetie-pie. You keep on singing, baby-girl, and dance and jump and twirl! Ok? Never ever stop dancing. You were born to dance us into happy. So go, twinkle-toes!
Remember ~ I will love you for always. I love you today and I’ll love you tomorrow. You make the sun shine in my sky!
Love, Nonna!
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow
You’re only a day away!
Went to Sleep with YOU on My Mi-i-ind!
“I woke up in love this morning I woke up in love this morning Went to sleep with you on my mind!” ~The Partridge Family
The Pay-off for the Diaper Days
We did Mother’s Day a week late. My children make everyday Mother’s Day, though, naturally. Nevertheless, I got flowers and CDs and hugs and kisses and eye cream that will erase every wrinkle guaranteed and other stuff to make me pretty. I got the colorful new dishes I have been wanting – all sorts of them and a shopping spree already with one daughter and another to come with another and handmade stuff and an orange ring to die for and this <SO neat> cool-cool-cool hook rack made with heavy-duty outdoor faucet handles (each unique in color and design) for the pool area, and time with my grandbebes and a big family meal surrounded by the people I love and a cool case for my iPod Touch and flowers and plants and shrubs for my garden and more. time.
Time in a Bottle
{Sigh}…I love time.
There is nothing more valuable than some one giving you the gift of their time. Nothing. So, my kiddos gave me theirs and they stayed late and were loud and it makes me happy. There was dancing and merriment and videos of the olden days when the kids were little and singing and prayer and love and kisses and grandbebes jumping from the stairs and on couches and into pillows. There were ping-pong-gun games which did not pan out because the balls just sort of blopped out instead of actually shooting, which was probably safer for us all, anyway.
We were also celebrating birthdays with Tara and Stephanie, so it was a wonderful occasion of good stuff. Eighteen of us, together just to love and honor one another.
“Do dreams come true? Well if they do I’ll have you Not just for a night, but for my whole life through” – David Cassidy
Birds of a Feather
But the pièce de résistance? The thing that wowed me most?? My kids did my second-favorite Partridge Family song, “I woke Up in Love this Morning.” YES! They did! Sooooo sweet and hilarious. They had a little fun with it. They didn’t do it like last time, during which they pre-recorded my FAVORITE P-fam song, “It’s One of those Nights.” With that, they sang it and then taped themselves lip-syncing so it would be truly Partridge family-ish, a little off and marvelous!
This time, they just gathered in the family room and sang it live looking at pieces of paper with the words. But I? STILL. LOVED. IT!! And I will now share it with YOU!
The daughters: Jovan, Tredessaa, Tara, Stormie and Stephanie. The sons: Dave, Tristan and Rocky
Mother’s Day 2010 Patridge Family Cover: I Woke Up in Love this Morning
Blast from the past ~ Mother’s Day 2008 Partridge Family Cover: Yes, Love (It’s One of those Nights)
My kids have made life great. The babies they’ve given me are making it divine!
Gemma, Hunter, Gavin, Guinivere, Averi and Baby Amelie Belle
I woke up in love this morning Went to sleep with YOU on my mind!
Thanks, kiddos! I L O V E this! Keep covering the Partridge Fam for me, ok-ok-ok???
Happy Birthday, Stephanie
It is your birthday, dazzling daughter~
Really? Is it possible that exactly 28 years ago today you were born? That 28 years ago this morning I awoke to the certainty of my baby arriving on. this. day. even though you weren’t due for at least 5 weeks and the whole sha-bang had been started on a ridiculous carnival ride where I taunted the operator for it being too tame and he, in turn, decided to show me how rough it could be and our course was set? Oh…I was young and stupid. Can you imagine, Stephanie? Can you forgive me from jolting you from the safe place too early? I was only 22, naive, untested, and very ill-equipped in my mind – and yet, God was about to place the most fragile, tiny amazing head-full-of-hair, cutie-patootie ever in my arms. He trusted me. With you! I am still awed.
I want you to be remembered as the girls who sang their songs for Jesus Christ
Who were willing to lay down their lives, And do His will no matter what the price
We celebrated both Tara and Stephanie’s birthdays just a few days ago…a picture of Steph by Stormie
You’ll be singing for the deaf man who will hear about salvation through your song
You’ll be singing for the blind man who will see the light in you and come along.
So, here you came: this itty-bitty thing with underdeveloped lungs and not an nth of fat under your skin. You arrived to a smashingly handsome and proud daddy and a big sister who’d just turned three and you were her utter delight and joy. She took to that role like bees to my flowers and referred to you as “my baby,” when she told people about anything you’d done or happy she was. During your extra-long 12-day stay in the hospital, we sewed and prepared and cushioned and made-ready. I wanted everything to be perfect when you came home. And even though they’d told me in the middle of the night, after you were born, to expect a 3-month stay in the hospital, 12 days later, we wrapped your 4 1/2 pound sweet self up and brought you to the charcoal-colored house on Armstrong Street in Kokomo. We brought you home praising God, grateful that He heard our prayers.
“For this child I prayed and the LORD has granted me what I asked of Him.” 1 Samuel 1, an amazing chapter!
His.
And back when baby dedications were more personal, before the designated days of them, our home church allowed me the honor of singing to both you and Tara as we dedicated you to the Lord, His to use and live in and work through all the days of your lives. And we stood there, young and naive and full of hope for our two little girls and this tiny, tiny little thing we called Stephanie May (May for the beautiful month in which you came), and I sang Evie’s song, Live for Jesus over you.
Live for Jesus, that’s what matters
And when other houses crumble, ours is strong.
Live for Jesus, that’s what matters
That they’ll see the light in you and come along.
And whether God honored my prophetic words over your tiny self that day, or whether I had just unknowingly tapped into His heart for you already, you became, along with your sister, such a songstress. You started singing so early, I can hardly remember when or how. You started singing as a baby and you sang your way right into the funny, delightful little girl you became. You sang first thing in the morning and you sang while the rest of the household was going to sleep. You sang silly and you sang well.
Well, I know you’re not the only girls who can sing His melody
But He’s chosen you to bless you
And to bring you into all that you can be
And you never self-promoted. So when your song would go public, people were wowed (Remember high school? His eye is on the Sparrow!?). I can remember hearing you sing in your room and hitting those Mariah-highs and have heard you level those Kim Walker lows now and I have still never heard enough of your song.
I laugh now because I can actually remember, when you were supposed to be taking a nap as a youngster telling you, “Stephanie, quit singing-go to sleep,” because you’d sing ’til the cows came home if we’d let you. Well, I take that back. Don’t quit. Never stop singing, Stephanie. You are dazzling and deep. You are gifted and you are Miriam – singing the song of triumph. Your voice was meant to proclaim: in your face, devil! Your lungs were healed to give power to proclaim enemy defeat. So sing, Miriam, sing!
And sweet Stephanie?
Live for Jesus, that’s what matters
And when other houses crumble yours is strong
Live for Jesus, that’s what matters
That they’ll see the light in you and come along!
The family legend is true.
When you were 3 you’d fall asleep in the middle of singing a song and when you’d start to wake up, you’d pick that song up exactly in the place you’d left off. You are full of song. You are song. And I love you. Happy Birthday, Steph.
Love, Mom
SONG: Live for Jesus was an Evie Tornquist song waaaaaay back in the day. I adapted the actual lyrics for my purposes in singing it for the dedication in 1982.
Happy Birthday, Luka!
Just for YOU, Luke Bodley!
I have NO IDEA who ANY of these people are, but when I googled “HaPPy BirthdAy, Luke,” they showed up. SEE? Everybody LOVES Luke Bodley – the great brains behind Heaven Fest!
And here is my card and it is almost right (30-2=28, which is really what you are). So save it for 2 years, will you?
Seriously, Luke – you make life an adventure. You make it crazy and adrenalin-filled. In fact, it is so exciting and frightening hanging out with you and doing Heaven Fest, you have probably shaved 3 or 4 years off my life expectancy. But what a ride! Loving it. Love you, too!
Dang! I have gum in my mouth again. But you look great in your purple shirt, Luka!
You are a genius, Luka. I hope I live to see you become the crazy, eccentric billionaire you are destined to be! “I knew him when…” I’ll say!
Why do they call it Ovaltine?
“The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it Roundtine.”
Rocky and Jovan were at The Denver Zoo Monday and they saw a familiar face. Rocky finally summoned the courage to go meet the guy. It was Steve Hytner, whom we know and have often quoted from the Seinfeld series, Kenny Bania.
Somehow in the excitement of meeting a big-time TV star, Rocky didn’t think to ask if he’d pose for a picture with my granddaughters, Averi and Amelie. I mean – why wouldn’t he want to be seen with those beauties? Especially if he knew to whom he was speaking. I mean it was Rocky. Rocky Rhoades who once auditioned for the movie Indian in the Cupboard. Come on.
But honestly? The whole family is star-struck via Rocky and we didn’t even see him! Just know the guy who did.