. . .In A Box

You know what they say: With age comes wisdom. . . 

and then again, they say: Great things come in small packages. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I guess you could say both of these statements are very true. 

Just last night my mom and I were talking about my dad. Mary Elizabeth was there and she noticed just how very  sad  " the best Nana ever" was getting while the best Nana talked about her beloved husband. 

In a very wise and mature voice Lizzy said: " Nana, you don't have to miss Grandpa. He lives in your heart."    

~ "See, I'll show you."~ 

Because our wisest and littlest one didn't know how to draw a heart, Elizabeth asked "the best Nana ever" to draw a heart for her. 

So Nana drew the heart and Liz goes on to say in her wisest voice. . .

"See, just like this Nana." "He's little, tiny." "In your heart." and Liz drew a little, tiny man. . . in Nana's heart. 

Liz then says. . ."Oh! but, In a box." 

and then she lovingly drew a box around her grandpa. . . in Nana's heart.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

You see, the last time Mary Elizabeth saw her grandpa it was at his funeral. She had just turned three years old.  She knows her grandpa has died and has gone to heaven "to be with the Saints and Angles".  We tell her this all the time. 

What she can't figure out is  ~ why in the world he has gone to this place called heaven. . . and. . .Why?. . .  In a box of all things.  

and the house broke out into laughter and the Best Nana Ever said. . . 

"Boy! Would Grandpa love that." 


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Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Busy Bees & A Birthday

Remember this? The suite not the kid.

 The kid is Stephen, my 16 year old gentle giant. He stands at 6' 5" and has a heart filled with gold.  I always say, Stephen needs a big body to hold that big heart of his. He is just a super kid. 

Enough about Stephen ~ I want to talk about the Bees:

Sunday it was time to see what the bees were up to all winter long; to see what T.V. shows they have been watching, to see what they had done with the place they call home. You know, just to see what's been up. 

And maybe just maybe to ask them nicely if . . . gee, I don't know. . . If they have any honey to spare?

So that's what we did Sunday. . .We checked on the bees. 

And just because I am so very brave, I went with Stephen when he went "a knocking".

I stood a heroic 25 feet away and used the zoom on my camera to take pictures of Stephen us checking on the bees. 

 Because I am such an awesome mother and I would do anything for my son ~ I gently put the camera down. I backed up another ten feet while Stephen walked towards me to get the camera so HE WE could take close up pictures. 

 Now, can't you see just where his gentle heart comes from? 

Speaking of me. . . Today is June 21 ~ The first day of summer and most importantly the beginning of my birthday week. 

Just so you know: It has become my person policy to accept Birthday wishes, card, letters, gifts all week long. 

Linking up with: Communal Global & Sweet Shot Tuesday 

Boy! Oh! Boy!

Over at I Heart Faces today the challenge is to take a picture with boys in it. 

AND 

BOY! Oh! BOY! Do we have boys in this family.  

So let's hear it for the boys as my brothers kid slides down the railing into the pool. 

Just because it's fun. 

Yay! For the. . .

It's Father's Day tomorrow and "The Paper Mama" is having another photo challenge: This time the picture has to have a father in the photo. The father I am featuring today is my brother in law. As far as brother in laws go -  He's okay, kind of nice, really great. Actually, this man is many, many things;  we just won't go into ALL that today. That's just not the kind of blog I'm running here.  I just want to win a button.  So back to Riener and my photo. 

As I was saying before you distracted me ~ Reiner is  many, many things. 

The one thing Riener  IS - is a good Father.  So it just seems natural I would use this picture today. Plus, Lizzy said she really liked this photo. I keep on losing these contests so yup! that's right. I'm depending on the four year old to help me out.  


I tell myself it's okay I lose these.  I really don't care.  I'll just get better AND I just do these for fun. It's all just fun. See? It's all in how you play the game. . . Yup!    I'm happy for those other people. . .those stupid winners.                    OKAY!             

 I'm happy for them ~  Darn-it!  ~  Just plan happy about the whole thing! ~  

Yay! for the stupid winners. 

Bigger then Themselves

On this Fabulous Friday we are redefining the finer things in life while we embrace every moment in the Studio of our Lives. . .

as all three of our older children volunteer through out the week for VBS and for a cause that each one of the three knows is much bigger then themselves. 



 

Mark, Me & An Anniversary . . .

A life time ago on this day, I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance, a church filled with family and friends.

I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for.

He said, "He didn't care. He would marry me anywhere.  He only dreamed of a wedding that would make me his wife." 

This is Big!

Guess who's swimming by herself. . .

 under water and everything. 

YUP! 

It's Mayree-Lizzy-Beth! 

Playing along with: communal global 

Bright & Vivid

So, I heart faces is looking for  Bright and Vivid photographs today . . .

I ask you... can bright and vivid be defined in our body language too? 

Bright and Vivid. . . I Heart Faces

Not Easier

So, here's another attempt at yet another photo challenge. This one has to have the color green in the photo.   Today I am thinking . . . Geee, trying to win these things is quickly becoming an obsession for me.

 It's almost like when I would see a trophy for a kick-boxing tournament. 

In those days, when I would hear about a tournament, my first thought was always "No, I am not going to enter. It would be crazy for me to enter. There is no way I'm going to do it."  Then I would see the trophy and something would click. It always happened. I couldn't help but drool a little and think "Ohhhh! That's nice..." Before I  knew it, I was playing.  Funny thing about those trophies, each time I won one I gave it to my kids. They collect dust on their shelves. I guess these challenges are a little safer and not as intense. But, I tell you, they are not easier to win. 

My Sunflower

On this "Fabulous Friday" we are redefining the "Finer Things in Life"  as

"We Live Every Moment"  "In the Studio" of our lives carefully growing the treasures we hold so dear in our hands. 

Playing along with: 

    

"Take Pictures"

I know.  What can I say? She is the only one I have left that will let me take her picture over and over again.              ~  And yes. . . there is another contest. ~

This one is over at "The Paper Mama".  The contest is called "your best shot". This contest is being judged by some of my favorite bloggers. With these woman ~ I feel comfortable enough to give this contest a try. 

You see, I love snapping pictures.  AND. . . I am told I take a lot of pictures.  There are times I think, they might be right: I just may be taking way to many pictures and I should give it a rest.     

That's when some of the last words my father  said to me creep into my mind:   

He whispered ~ "take pictures."  With those words always on my mind and the sheer facts that I not only want to please him,  I really want to improve on this photography thing: I snap click. 

The only way to improve is to practice, practice, practice. Right? Oh! yeah, and have fun while your doing it too.  So here is my attempt of my "best shot" of yours truly from last week. We were just about to have a swimming lesson and she couldn't have been happier . . . dirty face and all. 

A Day without the Best Nana Ever

Mary Elizabeth and I went to the Scottish Games at Furman University last weekend to see the activities and in hopes to meet up with "the best Nana ever" and Auntie, her sister. 

We saw men is skirts doing all kinds of things like: throwing sand bags and polls, playing bag pipes and flutes to beautiful dresses for woman.   ~ Sadly, we never found Nana or Auntie.

Without finding "the best Nana ever and her sister",  quite honestly Mary Elizabeth was not very impressed with the Scottish Games or the men in skirts. 

She wanted to feed the Swans. Now to her, that is something to see. Everyone knows Furman is the place a person should go to feed ducks.  We left our hopes of finding Nana and her sister: We left the Scottish men in skirts and went to the ducks and swans.  

Although the swans were very exciting the day was hot.  We decided blue ice cream was in order and thought just maybe Nana and her sister might have the same idea.  They like ice cream.             But, it ended up just being the two of us.               One of us was happy about that ~ the other one. . .well. . . she just wanted to see "the best Nana ever. . . that was all."

When we saw balloons in the distance our hearts soared with pure joy . 

We thought it would be fun to call Stephen to ask if he wanted to join us in our great balloon chase. After all, everyone knows,  if you can't see "the best Nana ever. . . and her sister" "the best big brother ever" IS . . .well. . . second best. 

So we quickly picked up Stephen and began our adventure (( with our second best))  "the best big brother ever" by our side.

 and we  "chased balloons ALL. . . Night. . . Long" ~   as my youngest daughter tells the story. 

The End! 

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In the Distance

 The theme over at I Heart Faces this week is Distance.

I took this photo of balloons in the distance last week when Mary Elizabeth, Stephen and I went out "to chase" balloons that flew from Freedom Weekend Aloft.  


In this photo, if you look closely, you can see a person in the basket of the balloon releasing the fires. You can see the excitement of people running around as the balloon takes flight. You can see the Carolina sunset sinking into the trees as the balloon and it's passenger reaches for the sky to bid good night.