Easter in Southern California

My little men spent their first Easter at their cousin Thalia, Uncle Joshua, and Aunt Erica's house in Southern California. On Easter Sunday morning, they decked out in their overalls for church.
It was so much fun having the family together. I was one happy Mimi!

Emerson has a few new tricks! Here he's drinking out of the cup...not new... but after he took a sip...
"Ahhh"... well, he makes a sound like he's satisfied with his drink...like it was so refreshing!
I think Donnie may have been making the same noise! (just kidding)
Emerson
Benjamin
Papa was only too happy to be holding his little men...
When their Mimi (that's me) saw this little photo op, she jumped into the photo...


Benjamin and Mimi
Emerson and Papa
It was a beautiful day on Easter Sunday...and I love this picture of my baby boy, Joshua!
and so as not to hurt Blu's feelings...I took a photo of him!
The plan was to get a group shot after church...and my models were Emily and Gabe. Unfortunately, the sun was just too bright to take it outside. I decided to wait until dusk... but I do love picture!
When outside didn't work, I tried using my timer on my guy and I... to maybe take a group shot inside...before everyone changed clothes...which, as I now see, my guy had already done!
Benjamin wanted to make a call...not sure who he was going to call... Saddie? He had been watching his cousin, Thalia, on her cell phone, so he was trying his hand at texting....
Unfortunately, Saddie doesn't text..
He got so mad at his Saddie for not answering his text!
His papa asked if he wanted to ride a horse.... well, Blu was the closest thing we had to a horse!
Benjamin absolutely LOVED Blu! Blu would bark, Benjamin would laugh. Blu would startle Benjamin with a loud, deep bark, and Benjamin would laugh even harder!
Emerson wanted to know if Benjamin wanted to play...
He was showing what a great cousin he is...by giving Benjamin the first toy out of the bag...
In return, Benjamin gave a toy to Emerson...
Benjamin was happy....
We told him we loved how he and Emerson were sharing....
He wasn't sure what we were talking about...
Emerson, (thank goodness he's insured by State Farm) had a number of crashes as he raced along with his walker. He asked his cousin to repair the damage Benjamin was only too happy to check under the hood...
Emerson...well, he was... well, I don't know what he was doing... but he was cocking his head for some reason... probably just because he's so cute!
Benjamin repaired the damage, and had Emerson try it out.
"How do you turn this thing around?" Emerson wanted to know.
"Um????" was his cousin's answser.
Emerson decided to take a break from the walker. He and Benjamin had other things in mind...
"Let's chew on strings and straps!" both of the cousins decided.

After a while, this little man fell asleep in his mama's arms....


Thalia was texting away to some of her buddies... texting on this sweet, sweet phone!

Erica, sweet Erica, was busy in the kitchen. Their home had been all peaceful and quiet until the tornado hit... the tornado called 'family'....
Gabe decided to relax a bit...
Erica and Lindsey had some quality sister-in-law time discussing wheat grass...or something like that...
Joshua spent some quality time with the Pub Mix...
Thalia told her Daddy to get out of the pub mix...
She was doing a little clean up...
Her Uncle Donnie is proud of her...we're all proud of her...for lots of reasons...mainly because she's such an absolute sweetheart...

and did I tell you she won an award for her art? Yep, an award and a cash award. One of her drawings won 1st place out of all the 5th grades in all the schools in her town! WOW!!!
Benjamin decided to play a while....
Erica and Thalia...
Looks like Thalia was busy on her phone again.... she wasn't texting her Mimi...since I was there ... but she does text me a lot ...sometimes just to tell me she loves me...or to tell me good-night!
Joshua was a master chef while we there...he and his sweet wife both! Joshua barbequed chicken... and one night we had "Josh-burgers"... not to be confused with "Ron-burgers" which we have when the kids are at our house.
"How big is Emerson????"
THIS BIG!
Thalia... she told me to stop taking so many pictures of her.

I didn't listen...

Me and my camera...kind of like the song, "Me and my shadow".....
Ahhh, I love these pictures!!!
Well, circumstances happened...and we never got our outside photo...so we went to plan B... taking a group photo inside. Joshua was ready...

My guy was being his usual hammy-self.... a little 'rabbit ear' action on Joshua....
Here we are... on April 5th... the day after Easter....
I needed to get another shot of my awesome granddaughter....
Emerson was making his noises... he and Benjamin both do that where they move their finger or hand in front of their mouth while they make sounds...it's so cute!
Ahhh... Papa, Benjamin, and Donnie.... some of my men...
On Tuesday, Gabe, Emily, and Emerson left early...like 4 a.m. early...to beat the LA traffic. We hung around until about 11 a.m. Thalia and Benjamin decided to put on a concert...
I think it was Bach...(just kidding!)
It was beautiful! (just kidding again...)
Thalia and Joshua...relaxing after we left...after peace and quiet was once again restored to their home...

Of course, this is not true since I'm taking the picture....

What a great time we had... have I said how happy it makes me to have all my kids and families together?

Happy 83rd Birthday, Mom!

(Disclaimer: We are actually a bit older than this photo)

She's 83 today!That's getting up there in years...but then so is 55, which is what I am...and so is 1, which Emerson and Benjamin almost are...
Mom on her 1st birthday

I can say that because she, who is now turning 83, has always shunned people saying anything about getting older. "Age is just a number," and "You're only as old as you feel" have been her opinion for years. Um? Do you still feel that's true when you're 83?
Regardless, my mother is 83 years old today...April 12th. My dad would have been 88. I always thought it was cool that they shared the same birthday...when I was younger, I also thought it was neat that they shared the same anniversary! Wow!






I'm older now...like 55...so having the same anniversary as your spouse is not nearly as unique.

What has my mom taught me?

A lot....

I don't have room to list everything here...I know I couldn't even begin to think of everything...but looking at some of the photos, I realize she taught me a lot about family... about loving your family. My mother is happy when she's around her family...I'm just the exact same way.
I wish I could be with you on your 83rd birthday...

But know I'm thinking about you...loving you...thankful that God gave me to you...
Happy 83rd Birthday, Mom!

Emerson's taking some steps

My guy and I were out all evening...and when we got home, Gabe was on the answering machine telling me to check my email. I told my guy, "I bet he sent us some video and that Emerson's taking some steps."

Maybe I'm prophetic?

Oh, how cute this is!!!

I have lots of photos to post of our trip to southern California...but since we've been home, I've been busy helping get ready for Marvin's memorial service - which was late this afternoon.... more photos to come soon... hopefully this will tide you over!

Our Marvin

Twenty two years ago, we met Marvin and Nell. We were both having our homes built by Harry... We would kid around about who was getting more building time. I don't even remember who actually moved in first, but it was about the same time.

Marvin and Nell were living a busy retired life...always on the go...trailering with their friends...traveling...taking walks...playing golf...

In 2004, Nell died and we became even closer to Marvin. He became more than our neighbor, more than our friend....Marvin became family to us. We have loved him for a long time.
He and my guy were great buddies...great buddies...
During the week, my guy would just announce he was heading over to see Marvin. It would always be around 5 - 5:30, because that was the time for a beer and some nuts. Marvin, as he would describe himself, should have been a squirrel since he liked nuts so much! He also was a Miller's Genuine Draft guy.
We loved to have Marvin over for dinner and just to visit. He taught us to play cribbage, even giving us the first cribbage board he ever made...one he made when he was living in Alaska. Marvin was a master cribbage player...able to count the cards before I could even blink.
Marvin found out he had cancer not too long ago. He had been slowing down a bit, to be expected when you're 96 1/2 years old! But after going to the doctor, he found out it was cancer. Marvin chose to undergo chemo and radiation...thinking the effects would be minimal...just 5 weeks of treatment. After 2 1/2 weeks, the toll on our Marvin was just too much. He was just too weak...going into the hospital to get some pep back into him so he could finish his treatment.

On Thursday morning, a week ago today, Marvin made the decision he was ready to go Home. He wanted to have all the IVs stopped...he said he wasn't getting any better...he was ready to go to Heaven. My guy and I saw him Thursday night before we left for southern California on Friday. He told me it had been a hard, emotional day...

As much as I grieve for our Marvin, I can celebrate the extraordinary life he was given. 96 1/2 years! He saw so much in his long life...always saying his 'memory was too long' when it came to the extraordinary prices of things today. He was the man of incredible stories, of which my guy and I had the absolute pleasure of sharing in. Here are some old blogs featuring our Marvin. You can read here about his 96th birthday, here about Our Favorite Musher, here , here, and here about more of his birthdays. Other posts you might enjoy about our Marvin can be found here and here and here.

It has been such an honor, such a joy, to have known and loved him for 22 years...

but our heart still hurts...