Rest In Peace Grandma Flo

Last week my husbands grandmother passed away.  She was ill, and we know she's in a better place, but of course it's still hard.

I delivered the eulogy at her service over the weekend...I hope I did her justice.

We are here today to grieve, to mourn, and most importantly to celebrate. When I think of Flo, so many things come to mind...sitting around a table for hours playing rummy--you'd better not win, or else you MUST have been cheating! Bobby & Julie acting crazy in ...Bob & Denise's kitchen and Gram dropping an "Oh hells bells" OR "Oh geez, oh Pete", what's wrong with these kids?!?! Or the famous, Hey Mark, can you get me a shake?...just tell them, "not too thick, not too thin!".

Gram was such a character, she was a mother, a friend, a grandma, most recently she became a great grandma, and she was always a fighter. We did the math and realized she'd been fighting for over 25 years...can you even imagine?!?! That's almost as long as I've been alive. I have trouble imagining having that much strength or that much faith. They say, "Faith is the knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof." Grandma's faith was strong...so, so, strong. In the Bible Jesus tells us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in My Father, trust also in Me. In My Father's house there are many rooms, if it were not true I would have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you." I know that our Lord had prepared a place for Grandma and she is no longer suffering, she is no longer in pain, and she is smiling down on us.

I want to take a moment and address her children, Denise, John, Steve, Mike, & Dave...if there's one thing I can say to comfort you it is that your mom loved you all so much. I know that she'd want to thank all of you for taking such good care of her over the years, and if there is one thing I can say with the utmost of certainty it is that your mom knew how VERY much you all loved her.

I ended with a poem titled, God's Garden.

God looked around his garden
And found an empty place,
He then looked down upon the earth
And saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God's garden must be beautiful
He always takes the best.
He saw the road was getting rough
And the hills were hard to climb.
So he closed your weary eyelids
And whispered, 'Peace be Thine'.
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you didn't go alone,
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.

Gram, we love you. We will think of you often, remember you always, and look forward to seeing you again.

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

Last weekend we had the kids monkey themed birthday party.  O.M.G. it turned out GREAT :)  You can see the invitations here, and as I stated in this post, I had been planning this party for quite some time.  I had a bit of trouble finding things that weren't exclusively pink or blue so I either made or special ordered pretty much all of the decorations. 

I got these ADORABLE potted centerpieces and cupcake picks from this store. 

 

I made these...

 

and these...

 

and this.

I'll be putting up DIY's for all of the things I made in the coming weeks. 

I ordered personalized shirts for each of the kids from this store...they turned out great (you'll see them in pics below).

Our food was typical...chicken, salad, macaroni salad, rolls, baked beans, green bean casserole, etc... But the desert was where I had lots of fun--we had: Mini Monkey Breads (i had to put mine into cupcake papers after they came out of the oven to keep them from falling apart), Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Bites, PB Banana Bites, and Homemade Banana Pudding...and cupcakes...'cause kids gotta have cake :)

This was the first year Beckham had a request for something fun at his birthday party...he want a jumpie at his birthday.  This was a toughy...I had to tell him that since he has a winter birthday we couldn't have a jumpie outside, but that we could have something else at his party...eeeek...but what?!?!?!  My mom had seen a balloon twister (or artist?!?) at a restaurant and she thought he was doing some awesome stuff and grabbed his card.  I contacted him, found out the prices were pretty reasonable and booked him...Beckham was thrilled!  The kids had a blast with him, and even the adults thought it was fun!  I'm pretty sure he may become a party staple for us :)  You can find Joe w/ Balloonerrific Creations here!

Here are a few of my faves from the party :)

The kids had a fantastic birthday!  They had so much fun playing with all their cousins and friends, and we had so much fun getting to see and visit with everyone :)  Of course, they were completely spoiled and got LOADS of great gifts!  Once again it's been made quite clear that we have the most amazing friends and family!

E

P.S. I've already started planning next years party...here's a hint: Chirp-Chirp, Tweet-Tweet! (I know...it's like a sickness!)

Beckham is 4!

Today is my little man's birthday.  I swear, I have no idea how this happenned, it doesn't even seem possible that it's been 4 whole years!  He has already opened presents and cannot put down his new Innotab...hopefully, we'll get to keep our phones to ourselves now, LOL :)

I'll put pics up here a little later in the week!

Happy Monday (no weigh in this week!), have a great day!

Monday Weigh In 3/12

What a good morning it is...I'm TWO pounds lighter :)

YAY! 

I am officially half way to my goal!!!!

Have a great week-
E

Kendall is 1!

Last Tuesday my baby girl turned 1 year old!  I can hardly believe how quickly the past year has gone by.



Kendall's 1st Picture



Our beautiful girl, 7days old.

I took the day off for her birthday and we went to lunch with my Oma :)

In the evening we had a little cake with the in-laws and she got to open up her presents from Momma, Dada, and Brother :)



I'm 1!

Hanging out in her new chair...Beckham may have been squeezing a little too tight!

Monkey slippers!

 (If you're ever looking for a great gift for a young child...check out these chairs from Pottery Barn Kids.  They start out at around $100 w/ free monogram and shipping.  Beckham got one for his first bday and still uses it, 3 yrs later, on a daily basis, it's terrific.  We bought one for our very good friends sons first bday and it was a real hit :) So, naturally we had to get one for our Cutie Girl!)

We had a fun day!  Can't wait for the kids birthday party this weekend!

Monday Weigh In...two days late, 3/7

I was sick the past few days, so I did my weigh in a little late.

Good news, I lost the pound I gained last week!!!

Now, I'm BACK ON TRACK :)

E