Myah's Preschool Christmas Program

Myah's preschool class put on a special breakfast for their families and serenaded us with their sweet little voices! It was just precious. My mom was able to come down, at one point my mom was singing along (in her seat) and Myah put her finger up to her mouth to shush my mom! It was hilarious (and embarrasing at the same time)! She presented us with a Christmas cactus in a special pot that she had made. She was very proud to be up on the stage. My sweet little cactus.

They even played the bells.

Taking it very seriously!

Just adorable!

Grandma and Myah enjoying breakfast.

In the evening she sang for the school Jingle Jam, a few of our good friends came to watch her.
She loves Ms Kym!

Ken and Pam are home from Florida so they came too! They are expecting their first grandson any day now!

Dayton's Confirmation

Dayton was confirmed in our church yesterday, it was a lovely ceremony and very touching. The Pastor asked all of those who have had a part in raising our children to come forward and pray with/for them. It was so special to be surrounded by Dayton's Grandmothers, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins, our family has been so supportive this year especially. We are so proud of Dayton and thankful that he wants an intimate relationship with God. Congratulations Dayton, you are becoming such a fine young man! (I love the song playing, it is one of my favorites, they played it in church yesterday during communion right before Dayton was confirmed.) It was also a special day because it would have been my Grandma's 82nd birthday as well, this was her first birthday in Heaven, I was glad our family could be together. Dayton does not like to be the center of attention, we had a small party at home afterwards with our family. He thought I was going overboard because I ordered a cake! So funny!

When you are good friends with the Pastor this is what happens when you try to get a nice picture! We are so thankful that Dayton has a personal friendship with our church leaders.

Karen and Luke with Dayton and I, Luke is our Pastor's son, and good friend of ours, they were only 2 of 3 boys being confirmed with the rest being girls! Pretty good odds for them I'd say! Even with 2 inch heels Dayton is taller than me now!

Proud parents! Poor Daddy had a late arrest the night before and wanted to get off early unfortunately he only had about 3 hours of sleep, he even had to stay up all night and work again! Bless his heart!

Our family picture

Dayton's verse that he chose was on the screen and Pastor is reading it aloud for us, he said it was his confirmation verse when he was confirmed as well.

We loved having our family over to celebrate!

Happy Halloween!

Sunflowers

I love sunflowers and after my photography class a few months ago I took Myah to my favorite spot to practice some of my new techniques on her. The last few photos I took of her were in front of a few sunflowers that were planted on the side of a historical home. The flowers were so huge and just looked so happy. I would love to plant a field full of just sunflowers...and take lots of pictures.

Heavy Hearts

Photos of Chippy courtesy of Special Olympics.

I really feel like my blog is becoming one big obituary notice lately, and frankly, enough is enough. My heart cannot take much more sadness. My Aunt Mary and Cousin Tammy read my blog faithfully, they are my biggest blog fans without a doubt. Aunt Mary used to print off my blog pages and take them to my Grandma who did not have internet access, she is so sweet that way. My heart goes out to them and their immediate family this week, my cousin Johnny's son Johnny Jr. passed away suddenly at school on Monday. He was 14 years old, the same age as my Dayton. My Aunt Mary just lost her sister (my grandma) 2 weeks ago and now she has lost her grandson. Little Johnny (Chippy) was involved in the special olympics, they did a very nice tribute to him on their website this week. Chippy's visitation is today and his funeral is tomorrow, would you please hold this family up in your prayers, I know it will be very difficult for everyone. My heart is so heavy lately, so much tragedy. On Sunday we are going to spread my Dad's ashes in his favorite places, I am preparing myself for an emotional weekend. I am loving the new song by Mat Kearney, Closer to Love, I feel like it is my theme song for my life right now. We all are one phone call away from hitting our knees. I feel like every time the phone rings lately it is with more bad news. I am trying to see the good in all of this, I know our loved ones are in a much better place, I am so thankful that I have that comfort.

Dayton's Homecoming

Dayton hangs around a large group of friends, this was a few of them, such good good boys! I am still amazed at the size differences at this age. My sweet young man

Ordering at the restaurant

Such a fun group of young people.

The men in my life

We were so glad that Grandma could be here for this, she had a hard day, losing her momma and all.

Me and my baby boy! Notice how I have to look up at him now!!! (excuse my puffy eyes, it was a rough day for me too)

Of course Miss Myah is never far behind when Grandma is around!
On top of everything else going on this weekend, it was the Chinese Moon Festival as well. Myah's little Chinese angel, Shan sent two beautiful moon cakes over for her. So while Dayton was at his dance we had our own little moon festival.

This weekend was so crazy, we were getting ready to take Dayton to his homecoming parade and game when we got the call that we should gather our family together for Grandma. Before I even had arrangements made to send my kids with others we got the call that Grandma had her own Homecoming in Heaven. Dayton ended up going to the game with friends and Myah stayed with the neighbors so we could go be with our family. On Saturday we spent the day doing funeral stuff and my mom came down to gather some pictures and things from me so we were excited that she could see Dayton before his big dance. Dayton had the bright idea to sit/lay on his bed after he was already dressed and his fuzzy blanket got all over his black dress pants. Thankfully Grandma came to the rescue with the lint brush and no one knew better. Dayton and 10 of his friends met at a nice restaurant in town and we let them have dinner (without parents around). My friend Debbie and I volunteered to be the drivers from the restaurant to the dance. It was so nice to have such good friends to share this day with. Four of the boys were my cub scouts years ago. Three girls joined the group, it was very funny to watch the interaction between them. The boys could not wait to get into my car after dinner, the girls were all in Debbie's car. I was laughing to myself at their conversations. Only one boy had a date that he was meeting at the dance, this is all so new to them. So funny!
Sounds like Dayton had a nice time at the dance, he said it was very crowded probably over 800 kids were there. My little boy is growing up. It was a very emotional weekend for our family but Dayton seemed to keep his cool and I feel that he was able to enjoy himself despite our heavy hearts. If there is one thing I know for sure Grandma would NEVER want to stop anyone from enjoying good music and dancing. We sat in church on Sunday morning and Dayton kept complaining about how badly his hips hurt from dancing. I think he did Grandma proud!

(thanks for being patient Aunt Mary and Tammy!)

Grandma's Gone to be with Jesus

My sweet Grandma passed away on Friday around 3 pm. She started having mini heart attacks around noon and after reviving her several times she made the decision to let nature take its course. We are busy preparing for our final goodbyes, but my heart is aching to see her and talk with her again. There are so many things I am missing about her already. She was a strong woman with a few weeknesses (mainly sweets!), she fought very hard the past few weeks while she was in the hospital. I loved her so much and she will never be forgotten. It has been a hectic weekend around here, Dayton had his first homecoming on Friday and Saturday. I feel bad that I wasn't able to enjoy the whole weekend with him but he understands. He had a fun time and I will share pictures later. Please continue to hold our family up in prayer, it has certainly not been an easy 3 weeks for us. Rest in peace sweet Grandma.

To view her 80th surprise birthday party go here