Images of Christmas 2008

Gingerbread House Crafting

This was a great day and a great craft with Kylah, Grandma, and Great Grandma! Fun, fun, fun!!!

Kylah as Mary

What a night! Kylah was asked to portray Mary in her pre-school play. You can imagine how proud we parents and grandparents were! She did an awesome job! And she asked her teacher if she could say a pre-show prayer (not a part of the original program... all her idea!!!) and although she forgot her practiced prayer, the heartfelt prayer she did say was INCREDIBLE!!! (Of course I'm grandma, but I still think it was very impressive!!!) And yes, all our bouquets may have seemed a bit over-the-top, but why not? She's our girl, and we were proud!!!

... thought provoking

Do They Know It's Christmas?

If you can get beyond the mullets, make-up and interesting personalities, it's such a great message!

Snow in Tennessee

It may be hard to see, but it was snowing!

Here's my beautiful Mother and equally beautiful Sister!

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

Here's just one image from my amazingly beautiful Mother at her front door, all decorated for the holidays! It was GREAT in Tennessee, not only with Mother, but also with my sister, her husband, and my niece and her family. It SNOWED while we were there, nothing stuck, but that was rather fun! It rained every day except Thursday, so that was a bummer, but rather than be able to take a drive through the beautiful Smokies, we played games and drank hot apple cider! It was GREAT!!!

Weekend Update and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The neighbor kids came knocking on the door this weekend... I LOVE it when they are up for another photo session! Here's PART of the gang all together. And the top image is the new addition to the family... Billy... two weeks old!

I also had a colonoscopy on Monday... that's not such a big deal, but Sunday trying to keep the horrible concoction they make you drink on an empty stomach was. Awful! No results yet. Tomorrow I leave for Tennessee to have Thanksgiving with my Mom, Sister and her Husband, and my niece and her family. I'm really looking forward to this, I haven't had Thanksgiving with my Mom in about four years.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all, we all have so much to be thankful for!!!

Robin's Home - A New Color

Here's a picture of my boyfriend Robin and his home with the new paint on the outside (he's there on the bench in front recuperating from cataract surgery. He's been doing a lot of redecorating in preparation for me (he's so sweet and good to me) and we both worked on painting the outside. The second picture is a view from the front yard, looking out west at the 75 acres of cattle grazing land. Looking southwest are 35 acres with cattle grazing, and behind him is a new neighbor with about 5 acres and a home. It's rather cool to be surrounded by so much land... it will be a very peaceful and beautiful place to live! Hopefully that event will happen in the spring, or as soon as I can get a job transfer or change!

Change is Hard

My co-worker Abby has gotten a new job, and has left our office for greener pastures. She's become a friend forever, and I have confidence that this is not the end. But not seeing her beautiful, bright, face and wonderfully fun personality every day in the office will be hard! Abby, I kept saying "this is not goodbye, just see you later" and I meant it!!!

Happy Birthday, Mother!

2007

as a child

Happy Birthday, Mother. I wish I could be spending it with you in Tennessee!

My dear Mother. When we were growing up, she sewed all our Halloween costumes,

then my Dad would take us out treat-or-treating, and she would be at home alone passing out candy. Not much of a birthday! Even now she says she's always resented the fact that her birthday is on Halloween! She's always been an incredible role model!

There's no Mother who is more awesome and talented and beautiful in her 81 years!!!

Weekend Photo Session

My neighbors are SO GREAT and the kids so accommodating. Here's a few from my photo session with one of the girls this weekend... she's fourteen going on twenty! We had so much fun! They love having their pictures taken. They often come and knock on my door to see if I can take their picture. I usually print some for them to pass around to family and friends, and I often have popsicles in the freezer to bribe them to be good (the little ones)!

Tag 2nd generation

Ok, I've been tagged by quite a few people lately, and there are two different "tags" rolling around. Here's the second one, which is quite fun, I think:

1. I LOVE wind and severe weather. I love watching the leaves fall from the trees as the wind blows, the sounds it makes whirling through the trees. I LOVE snuggling up on my couch in my flannel blanket on cold winter days. I would love going out to play (or shovel) in the snow if I still lived in my mountains, but unfortunately that's not the case anymore. I LOVE my nose going purple from the cold but the rest of my body being warm under layers of clothes.

2. I LOVE the fact that I'm a flower child, or I was anyway. I LOVED the sixties and that I was a part of that remarkable season... cheering on returning soldiers (and wearing a bracelet with a POW's name on it to be reminded of our soldiers' sacrifices - my guy - unknown to me - spent seven years as a POW but came home!!!) but protesting the war. I actually passed out flowers at the local park when I was a teenager and said "make love, not war." It was a tumultuous, invigorating, sad, wonderful time to be a teenager.

3. I LOVE to write letters and send cards. The old fashioned way. I still do it, just because.

4. I LOVE rock and roll - loud. I love all kinds of other music too, and I'm even starting to get into country.

5. I LOVE blue cheese dressing... on everything... hamburgers, salad, in mashed potatoes (instead of the milk), on veggies broiled.

6. I have a few things I can't stand... people multi-tasking when they are communicating with you... so rude... hey, call me back when you can give me your full attention. And being late. Again, selfish and rude. Is your time more important than mine?

7. I LOVE taking time to smell the flowers... meaning, I LOVE to lay down on the grass and stare up at the sky. I LOVE to stop my car at random moments when I see something gorgeous. I LOVE spending the day with my camera photographing beautiful and interesting things. I LOVE breathing in deeply, exhaling slowly and intentionally, and taking in all of God's wonders.

There's so much more, obviously... I didn't even mention PEOPLE. But the rules said seven, and those are what I thought of first.

Ok, and now I tag Jolene, Jessica, Crystal, Rhonda, Christy, Chelle.

Tag!!!

You asked for it! This is a picture of my great-great grandfather, with his second wife. If I showed you a picture of my great-great grandmother, you might not question why he took a second wife 21 years his junior so quickly after her passing (oh, that was bad). She was a rather sour looking person in her pictures... poor thing! Maybe not in good health... I shouldn't judge!!!

Here are the rules of the tag:- Go to your Pictures folder- Go to the 6th folder- Go to the 6th picture- Publish it to a new post and tell the story of the picture.I tag: Susan and Rhonda and anyone else who wants to play!

Dorothy

Here's my little Dorothy with her Toto! We had a picture session this weekend with Kylah in her Halloween costume. I couldn't decide which image I liked best, so I uploaded all my favorites. Which one is yours? She's such a great poser!

Above are two images from this weekend's photo shoot. Thank you for your patience, Crystal, you are a gorgeous model!

What a great weekend! Crystal and I got to do lots of things we love... talking, of course, shopping at some interesting, sometimes quirky, places, having brunch together at a sidewalk cafe, enjoying a new dish for dinner (one of my old family favorites that Crystal wanted to try... and she did GREAT... it was so yummy), taking photographs, looking at pictures, discussing plans for my wedding, specifically the flowers and centerpieces which Crystal is going to do for me, and giggling like teenagers at midnight. An awesome time and weekend!

At The Lake

I was invited to join Carl, Chelle and Kylah at their Dad's vacation home on the lake, it was great fun, a gorgeous day, and so relaxing! Here's some pictures of Kylah enjoying herself and posing for Grandma:

There's also a pool, as shown above! We had a great time!

The Impressionists and The Kimball Museum

Eileen Hart's London Street; Rainy Day - 2008

Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street; Rainy Day - 1877


Carl, Chelle, Kylah, Bryan, Joanna and I had a blast at the Kimball last Friday night. I won first place in the Van Gogh Impressionist Photography Contest, and our prize was free admission, a private tour by the curator of the Impressionist Exhibit and dinner for six. Unfortunately Robin couldn't make it; he had an appointment that ran late. But we enjoyed it, and felt privileged to have a personal tour. The photograph that won was my impression of Van Gogh's still life of grapes, pears and lemons, but shown above is the photograph that I entered in the "other" contest sponsored by the same museum, this time I won second place! The resemblance to the original painting is amazing, and was not planned. I took this black and white photograph of my sister and her husband Ken while we were in London this past May.

Affirmation

I think this is an extraordinarily important word. I befriended a guy once who was going through a divorce, and I asked him what he felt was lacking in his marriage. He thought for a moment, and said "affirmation." Wow, I didn't expect that answer. There were many other choices he could have made that I don't need to list. I've never forgotten that, it was a very valuable lesson for me. I realized then how important it is to affirm all the people in our lives that we care about. Here are the official definitions:

Affirmation:
1 a: the act of affirming
b: something affirmed
c: a positive assertion
2 a solemn declaration made under the penalties of perjury by a person who conscientiously declines taking an oath

Affirm:
1. a: validate , confirm
b: to state positively
2: to assert (as a judgment or decree) as valid or confirmed
3: to express dedication to

Feeling blessed...

No special reason for this sentiment, just feeling especially blessed at this season of my life... in remission, living near my children and grandbaby, debt free, and with a special someone to share life with.

For the Love of Mud

That was my Grandfather's favorite saying. So here's what's muddy in my world... whose idea was it to have another type of internet connection service, like "Facebook?" - It's not that I mind Facebook so much, but now I have to belong to it, Myspace, and Blogspot. What's next? Come on, people, can't we just learn to get along? Seriously, what's the deal? And some of my friends say they only do Myspace, and some say Facebook, and most say they don't even know what Blogspot is. Phew! I love the internet, but I'm afraid before the decade is out, I'll belong to a dozen of these things just so I can stay in touch with all my friends. Am I just an old fuddy duddy?

My Favorite Movie of All Time

Has everybody seen this movie? To Kill A Mockingbird should be required reading and movie watching for every adult. It is absolutely my FAVORITE movie of all time. I watch it occasionally, a couple times a year typically, because it moves me so, and I think it is so relevant to the history of the United States, to America's race issues, injustice, and a single dad's relationship with his children in the 1930's. Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch is AMAZING... it was the role that he considered his best and he was quoted as saying that he most admired this man over any that he ever portrayed. The American Film Institute recently voted Attitus Finch the number one hero of all time in film. Wow! The performances of the children actors portraying Scout and Jem are amazing; as are all the actors in this film. And the cinematography is incredible. Have I said it enough to convince you? I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!

Precious Angel

I know, my posts lately are all about Kylah! Do I love being a grandma or what? Here's my sweet little one, pretending to be a sleeping angel.

It is so fun to find out where your stock photos go! I rarely know... but here's a particularly interesting one. Carl emailed me this advertisement which includes Kylah. Carl works for Lockheed, his Dad does as well, and this is an employee relations club, apparently, that was announcing a cookie party. Of the thousands of little girl images with cookies available on stock sites, they picked this one!!! Too funny. I took this of Kylah over a year ago.


The picture below is of my very wonderful (and willing) co-worker Abby, posing with her son Ethan. This was also taken over a year ago, and one of her friends called her to tell her she was in a magazine ad (and then mailed her the magazine)!!! I'll never forget that photo session with her and all three of her kids. A blast (thanks Abby)!!!

Grandma Time!!!

Grandma had another overnight with Kylah... what a blast! We went to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro in Dallas. I was worried about Hurricane Ike, because it was supposed to touch down at the same time as I would be driving to Dallas, but fortunately the eye of the storm decided to head a bit east, and although it was raining, the storm was much less than predicted and the roads were not bad at all. Kylah and Nikki were dressed to match, and a lot of the shoppers in the store were commenting on how cute she looked and where did I get that outfit? (can't take credit for it, though). We had lunch - Kylah had cheese fondue for her appetizer, with mac & cheese and fruit. I had spinach dip with crackers, panini sandwich and tomato soup. All yummy, but WAY too much food, we hardly ate half of it. It's all one price regardless of your age, and the portions are the same for EVERYBODY! I let Kylah pick out one outfit for her doll, and after looking through the whole boutique and all the amazing choices of every aspect of life offered, she selected a gorgeous indian leather dress with moccasins, choker and feather hairpiece. All of this girlie stuff is new to me, and is SO MUCH FUN!!! I loved watching all the other patrons with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. It was a perfect weekend with my precious girl!

A Day With Kylah

I know... it isn't Christmas yet and I'm exactly four months ahead. But I'm shooting seasonal holiday shots for my stock work! Isn't this one fabulous? Kylah is so darn cute! And such a good little grandbaby! We had a day together yesterday; we went to Central Market (a high end market - a little bit like Trader Joes) to pick out what she wanted to eat while she was at Grandma's house. She knew just what she wanted, and at one point I had to tell her that we had more food than we could eat in a day and we needed to stop!!! When I tell her "you can pick out ten little fish" (the mini candied ones) she counted out ten and no more. She is SO GOOD, no demands or tantrums. We went to the National Cowgirl Museum, watched Shirley Temple in "The Little Princess" and played together. She sang and danced for me (she's REALLY GOOD... got the rhythm going and knows the words to the Jones Brothers and Hannah Montana (and other) songs). At one point early in the evening she started to get a little tired; she climbed into my lap, layed her head down, and was just quiet for a bit. She's a mover, so this was a surprise treat! I was in heaven!!! A perfect day with my precious granddaughter.

I was working on some Christmas pictures for my stock collection, and Shadow decided he wanted to be in on the act... TOO FUNNY! My babies don't like to pose when I want them to, but are curious and want to get in on the act when I'd prefer they be sleeping peacefully someplace else!!!