Happy Birthday Michael

I seem to keep focusing on how time is flying but I just can't help it. Today my son turns 26. I feel like the days have slipped through my hands just like sand. I try to hold onto the moments as tight as I can but I have no control over them and I have come to realize that. I have not accepted it but I do know that it is not in my power to make the moments last longer. It is only in my ability to make the most of them and make them happen. Okay, so my son is now 26 and I have to say that he has made his moments count and has become a very upstanding young man. I don't think I know a person like him who makes good choices and lives a life full of good. He has done all and more of what I would have expected from a son so I am sooooooooo proud of who he is and am so blessed that he is mine :) Since today is his birthday, I want to share this with all of you and allow him to sit back and know how much he means to me :)


Here are some pictures of Michael through the years. They all make me smile when I remember the moments. What a wonderful son!!!!! I love you Michael :))))) and of course, Happy 26th Birthday :)

Here is Michael when he was only 4 months old :) Look at those arm rolls and the beautiful blue eyes :)

Easter of 1985............look how handsome :))))))))

Michael's 3rd Birthday with his Mickey Mouse cake :) This was the year where he was blowing out his candles and the tip of his hair got burnt while he was doing that (yikes).

I think Michael was 7 here and we were at the beach boardwalk :) We have always loved going to the beach for our vacations :)

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and Michael :)


And this is another favorite of mine :) Emily adores her brother and he is so good to her :) He teaches her so many things and she just loves being with him and playing games. He's an awesome brother :)



And here he is today :) We took this picture this past weekend for his Visa that he is going to need for his trip to Brazil. That is another thing about Michael....he is very adventurous and loves to travel the world.

The Times, They are a Changin'

I know it's been a long time and I do apologize to all of my readers :)))))) My vacation took me and spun me around a bit. I have been fighting to get back on track with a routine ever since. Life is becoming more productive and my motivation level has kicked in a bit so hopefully, the waves will be crashing a lot more often.

Today's blog is about how time is flying and how I am constantly trying to keep up with it. Well, sort of............Emily turned 12 years old in September and this has been a year with a lot of changes for her and for me. Halloween was one of the unexpected changes. I can remember the days when there was no question what we would be doing for Halloween. This year was a little different. Emily couldn't decide whether or not she wanted to trick or treat. She was still into dressing up and that was fun but just looking at her (almost eye to eye now) and realizing that she is growing up so much faster than I am keeping up was a real eye opener to me. It's very bitter sweet because on the one hand I am happy to see her growing into a lovely young lady but on the other hand I am not happy with her growing into a lovely young lady :) I know that it's what they do and what we need to accept as parents but it isn't easy. I can remember going through this with Michael and it was just as hard then and it really doesn't go away because this life is set up in stages. He is now 25 and living on his own and doing wonderfully (without me :) I am so proud of him and know that he is making a life for himself. I feel wonderful about Michael but it still doesn't make it any easier.

As I watched Emily trick or treat this year knowing that she is REALLY growing up, I wanted to hold onto her and keep her stuck in a moment that was very special for me. Instead of holding her back from the growing that God has intended for her to do, I will turn to my photographs and fill my heart with the joy that I can remember from all of those special moments that I hold dear :)

Emily this year just before we headed out to trick or treat :) The photographs following are just some Halloween moments from years past that I am tucking in my heart and I am not letting go :)

Introducing Cocoa Puff Purington

Not sure if I have introduced Cocoa yet. He has been in our family for 2 years now :) I have to admit that I never wanted to even think about having a dog. I know that they require a lot of attention and they restrict you from going places. But somehow Cocoa found his way into our home and I am going to tell you just how that happened :)

My daughter Emily has a very good friend Abbie. Abbie's grandmother breeds Yorkshire Terriers. Emily would spend a lot of time at Abbie's and she would see lots of dogs and puppies over there. One day she was visiting Abbie and she was told that one of the dogs was expecting a litter :) Abbie's grandmother told Emily that she would gladly 'give' her one of the puppies (haha). Thanks Grandmom!!!! Well, Emily told me this and I told her that we aren't getting a dog. We are getting ready to move and it will be too much to deal with and it's just not a good time. Well, Emily continued to visit Abbie during this dog's pregnancy and the day came when the puppies came and Emily got to see these little babies that fit in the palm of your hand. She was so excited and always wanted to go see the puppies. I kept telling her we couldn't take one. We got a call from the grandmother one day and she told us that the puppies were ready to find a home and we could come and pick out the one we would like to take home. I was confused because I was clear that we weren't taking a puppy. I think my daughter was telling the grandmom that she still wanted one (cute, right??) I got off of the phone with the grandmother and sat down to talk with Emily about this dog and how we couldn't bring one home. All I saw was this look on Emily's face like life itself had stopped and I couldn't do it to her. So I told her I would talk to her dad about it and all along my heart was pounding heavy because I knew she had to have this dog and I wasn't ready. As you can see, we did take a puppy and now I am so glad that we did. Cocoa is the life of our family :) He does need a lot of attention and he can be a bad boy sometimes but he is so full of love and always wants to kiss and play :)

We did ask Abbie's grandmother for a girl puppy and when we went to pick out our puppy she separated the girls from the boys and we picked one of the girls :) Emily actually did the picking and she had planned to call this dog Cocoa Puff. Unfortunately, Cocoa Puff wasn't eating and a vet visit was necessary. The vet was the one who informed us that our sweet little puppy was a male :) Cocoa Puff had already been adorned with a fluffy pink bed, dog bowls with roses on them, a pink leash, and plenty of other frills :)))))) It was a little disappointing for Emily to find out Cocoa was a boy because she planned on primping Cocoa with bows and I even think there was talk of prim and proper dog shows (haha). Cocoa proved all of that wrong and is proud to show his masculine side by thumping on the cats, splashing through puddles and rolling in the mud..........he is a true boy!!! And we couldn't be more thrilled with him and are all attached like glue to this little boy :)

We head off to vacation this weekend and we have to leave our little boy for 2 whole weeks. Another thing that makes it hard to have a dog. Nobody wants them in their homes.......so Cocoa wont be able to join us in our beautiful beach house. It makes me sad because we will really miss our little baby :) And I know he will miss us too. We are so lucky that Jim's mom is willing to care for him for all of that time. I think she has become attached to this guy too...........the last time she watched him, she didn't want to give him up :)

A Visit With Michael :)

Jim, Emily and I spent the last weekend of June visiting Michael. Michael lives in Virginia and has been living there for a year and a half now. We see Michael but he usually comes to visit us. We wanted to get a glimpse of his life in Virginia so we decided to go check it out. We had a great visit and I am going to share some of it with all of you :)

Michael lives in Lansdowne, Virginia which is very close to Washington DC so we added a trip to DC as part of our get together. Michael introduced us to the metro and that rode us right into Washington DC. We spent all of Saturday touring those 'oh so famous' monuments and memorials. One thing I noticed about Washington DC is that it is a very clean city. It looks like a movie set, that is how clean it is. We spent the day walking through Washington DC, taking pictures and walking and walking and walking. We walked so much that my legs felt like rubber when the day was over. Michael led us to a place he had been to before for dinner. It was so nice to sit down and enjoy a meal in the air conditioning. Oh, I forgot to tell you that the weather was so hot that day........somewhere in the 90's!!! We took the metro back into Virginia and spent a few hours swimming in the hotel pool. Emily would never allow us to forget about the hotel pool :)))) Swimming, I think is one of her reasons for existence :))))

Sunday, we visited Michael's church and met some of his friends. His church is so beautiful and welcoming. I really enjoyed it and his friends were very open to us and very welcoming as well :) We did have a little excitement after services but I wont get into that.........the possibility of embarrassment is there and Jim would kill me (oops.........I almost spilled the beans :) It was a small, little fender bender in the parking lot of the church (oops, did I say that?).....and Jim was driving.......oh my goodness, I think I said too much :))))) It was a very small scrape and it held us up a little but no worries. The other person who was hit was not concerned at all because the car they were driving was soon to be passed on to their college bound daughter. They said that they expect this car to get a few bumps and bruises so they wouldn't take anything from us. Wasn't Jim lucky????!!! I think so :))) And MY car, yes, you heard me correctly, MY car only had a small scrape on it and isn't too much to have it repaired :)))) I am expecting it home today all back to it's beautiful self :))) After that we enjoyed a lunch with Michael and all of his friends. It was refreshing to sit with all of these young people and be a part of their day :) Lunch was finished and we headed over to Michael's apartment to spend some time in his pool :)))) Yes, more swimming :) Michael has a great little apartment and it has plenty of amenities that are all very nice. The pool was beautiful and a great way to just relax and cool off. We ended our visit with a visit to Jim's cousin Eddie's. Eddie and Gina, his wife, live 5 minutes from Michael. They opened their home to us and had a meal waiting for us. It was a fun time for everyone.

We enjoyed being in Michael's environment and spending time with him :) I look forward to doing it again and next time I want to see the Smithsonian Museum. We didn't have time for that this time but hope to next time. I haven't been to that museum in so long and from what I remember it was a pretty amazing place to see :)

I included some of the photo's I took while on our visit.............I will give a little explanation for each photo..........Take a look!!!

We started each day at the IHOP :))) How could we not????

Here is Michael being silly :)

The Metro....and if you look close you can see Jim, Emily, and Michael's reflections.

Jim and Emily riding the metro............Jim very happy to have his new GPS who we call Jill :)

First stop.......The White House.....This is as close as we could get to it. We asked if they give tours and they said yes but it takes about 6 months to get clearance for it :) No grand tour for us :)

Second stop the bench outside of the White House and Emily was already getting tired (haha).........we have a long and hot walking day ahead of us.

A White House Fire Hydrant!!! I really was surprised it was green........thought it would be white :) I took this for my dad because he likes to see these :) *just kidding*

A close up of the Lincoln Memorial..........that place was packed. The steps to go up were probably 50 steps and everyone was racing inside because it looked like it was going to rain. I am sure there are that many people visiting there even if the rain isn't coming. A popular memorial :)

This is the view of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial with the reflection pool in between. It was really beautiful!!

This is what I really wanted to visit........the Vietnam Memorial Wall. It is very amazing to see. Sooooooooooooooo many names and the way it reflects everything is so pretty. This is me in the reflection here :)

Another view of the wall............

Emily and Michael having fun in the hotel pool :))))

We loved Virginia :)

Mom is Making Friends at the Beach

My mom is making friends at the beach :) She sent me a picture of one of her new friends yesterday :) hehehe!!! Her and my dad took a trip up to the beach early in the morning and this guy paid her a visit :) Luckily she had her camera to capture the moment (way to go mom). I encourage the camera, haha, as most of you already know :) And she did quite a good job with her photography skills. I am proud :)

This little guy is actually called a ghost crab and it is rare to catch him out like this. I can remember when I was a kid and we would vacation at the beach. Whenever we would go to the beach around sunset these little guys would come out :) They used to give me the creeps because you would catch them from the corner of your eye, turn your head and there would be nothing there. Creepy right???!!! That is the reason they are called ghost crabs :) When you did get a quick glimpse of one, they'd be scurrying and always traveling sideways so fast it was hard to see them. And then they would disappear in the sand. And not the sand by the shore, the dry sand where you would lay your blankets down. Don't think that my mind wasn't wondering about those little critters while I was laying on my blanket :) So, these little buggers are not easy to capture with a camera (another way to go mom). She doesn't know what she captured here. She told me he was moving fast but would stop like he wanted her to take his picture (how funny!!) He is cute but I still get the creeps. Keep that camera handy mom, we all enjoy seeing your new friends :))

Sketch

Several people have asked me to post Cheryl's sketch of Emily. I have to tell you that this sketch of Emily looks exactly like her and Cheryl did a beautiful job :) It's one of my favorite photographs of Emily that she used and the sketch is even better. I will cherish it for my lifetime :) And I am sure it will be an heirloom in our family :) Now the photo that I took of this sketch has some glare because it is under glass. It doesn't take too much away from the sketch :) I just adore it!!!


I am also going to post a photograph of Cheryl :) This picture is one that was published in her local newspaper :) She is shown here with her grandchildren and some of her artwork. The newspaper article was recognizing her as their local artist :) Doesn't she look great...........not much different from high school right? Lucky her :)

Showcasing Talent

I'd like to take a minute to showcase a friends talent. Her name is Cheryl and she has been a friend to me since we met in high school :) The years have moved us apart physically but we do manage to keep in touch mostly by email. Once you have a friend like this, no matter where you are or how far away, that friend will always be in your heart. And that is where Cheryl is with me. She has recently been able to touch on some talent that she has and the results are amazing. The first talent that she shared with me was her drawing. She surprised me with a sketch of my daughter and I was just blown away. It's one of my favorites and I have it hanging in our family room. Everyone asks about it and always has wonderful things to say. Next, I hear that Cheryl is making wooden birds. I had no idea how one goes about doing something like that and I never saw her work but was happy that she was able to enjoy spending time with another new talent. Not long ago Cheryl gifted my parents with one of her wooden birds for their new home at the shore. I had only heard about it until last weekend when I went to visit them. They showed me the bird and I was stunned. I looked at this piece of wonder and was in total amazement at how perfect this was. That's another thing......Cheryl doesn't throw anything together, she perfects what she does with the most pleasing of ways :) I asked her how in the world does she begin a project like this. And she told me that you start with a piece of wood. Please take a look at the picture of this bird that she created and look at the detail and preciseness that is put into this beautiful piece of art. Some of you on my blog list know Cheryl and I am sure you will be quite amazed at her special talent. Cheryl, I hope I haven't embarrassed you too much. I am happy to showcase your gifts and thank you for sharing them with me and my family. You are truly a blessing and I am happy to have you as MY friend.