This year, I will do a better job keeping up with this blog. That is one of many resolutions I need to make. So, I'm only like a week behind on that...good start. And yes, I'm starting this on January 7th, but it might take me a while to finish it. We have a
lot of catching up to do.
I'm going to begin at the end of 2012 as it is most fresh in my memory, and I'll go from there.
We drove to Virginia on New Year's Eve for Grandpap's funeral in Arlington. He was 89, a retired Colonel in the US Army, father of 4, grandfather of 7, great-grandfather of 2. He passed away on September 28, three days after his 64th wedding anniversary with my Grandma. The visitation in Huntsville was amazing. I was so touched by how many people came to support and to be withGrandma, and my mom, aunts, and uncles. My
grandparents have always been so involved in our lives that when I told my close friends about his passing, they all had something personal to say about him in their condolences, which is really nice because if I ever mentioned one of those friends to him, he would ask how they're doing with whatever it was they were involved with at the time. I try to be that way, and it is because of him; I learned so much from him, whether it was from something he said or something he did. He would take us to the recycling center to get the change from taking in aluminum cans and things, and unfortunate as it is, that smell will always remind me of him! Anyone who's been to a recycling center knows what I mean. Also, he and my grandma would take us to Mr. Gatti's pizza after church when we went with them, and we'd always get the apple pizza. Then they'd give us each a dollar to play the arcade games in the back, but I usually hung on to it, because he told me that "In ten years, that dollar will be two dollars!" He was always full of advice, and glad to give it, to share his wisdom
and try to help us. The pool in their backyard was always perfect if he had anything to do with it, ready for anyone to come enjoy it, anytime. I am so glad that he met Sawyer and Greyson and that they met and actually got to interact with him. Hopefully I took enough pictures so they'll remember it. I'll never forget his stories about walking to school, uphill both ways, in the snow in Pittsburgh, or his Daffy Duck impression, or how even when he was 87 years old, he was in the driveway scrubbing the bugs off my car's front bumper while I was in the pool with Sawyer, and told me afterward that I needed to stop driving so much at night. (Although I wasn't really, it was just from the drive from Charlotte to Huntsville, I promise!) Which is ALSO why I'll never own a black car, and neither will anyone in my household. You wouldn't think about it, but in the dark, if a black car is coming over a hill or around a corner, you don't see it till the headlights come into sight, which could take up to a couple seconds, in which time someone might have already pulled out in front of you. He told me that. Always thinking...about everyone else. Not to cut this short, but I could go on forever, and I think I might start sharing Grandpap's wisdom on here every now and then, so I need to save some stuff! :)
So, the ceremony in Arlington was beautiful. Again, I was so happy to see how many family members came from Pittsburgh. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I am glad I kept forgetting to grab my camera, or just never had the chance to use it because of Sawyer and Greyson, because now I feel like I really remember everything from experience. Not concentrating so much on getting good pictures to look at later allowed that. I will always remember that cold gust of wind that came right at us while they played "Taps", and the look on the man's face when he handed Grandma the folded flag. Thank you so much to everyone who made that trip and who made it easier for everyone to deal with, especially the young men who densely populate the grounds at Arlington National Cemetery, putting into perspective how lucky we were to have so much time with Grandpap, how many wars he came home from, (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) and how many fulfilling years he was able to live, serving our country throughout his military service, and with his family and friends afterward.
For Christmas we drove to Bluffton to celebrate with Pat's family. The boys had a great time opening all of their presents, and Pat and I enjoyed seeing everybody. We played pickleball with his dad and brother, who were good sports to let me play and even be on a team with me a couple of times, because I was awful, but I think I could get better with practice. Look out guys, because I'm gonna getcha next time!! Ha!
We drove to Huntsville for Thanksgiving, which was a really short visit, but worth being with family. We went to Grandma's to help get her Christmas decorations out and Greyson got to go for a ride on a big dolly after we got all the boxes out...wish I'd gotten a picture of that. He's so funny.
A couple of weeks before that, Pat was accepted to Wake Forest's graduate school, and he will be starting his MBA this Fall! They have a small campus here, so he won't be commuting or anything. He'll be separating from the Marine Corps this summer, and it is going to be strange for him I think. I also think he'll enjoy it, though. I'm trying to find a job somewhere, doing just about anything in the field of design, so I've been applying like a crazy person to everything I find. Of course I've heard nothing back from anyone, so that's a little disheartening, but I'm just going to keep trying! In the meantime, though, my friend Angie and I are going to try to start a little something. Stay tuned. :)
Speaking of schools - we also went to the first Auburn game of the season, in which we lost against Clemson, but it was still fun to get together with our friends. My amazing sister and her just about equally amazing boyfriend, Paul, watched the boys while we were gone. I owe ya!! War Eagle!
After that trip, I took advantage of Amanda and Paul driving back to Huntsville to take the boys to see Grandma and Grandpap and to help out with whatever I could, which was just about nothing except for making dinner a few times. But it was worth the trip. Grandpap had some really amazing reactions to the boys and was always really excited to see them. On the way home, I didn't have Amanda in the car with me like I did on the way there, so we stopped outside of Knoxville for an hour or so to play at an awesome playground and meet up with (half of) a family I used to babysit for, Sarah Kate, and her mom, Suzanne! They were so great to help me burn some of the boys' energy for the rest of the trip home to Charlotte. Thanks, ya'll!! That is definitely the way I will be traveling to and from Huntsville from now on. That playground was so cool. It was HUGE, there was NO dirt - just that chopped up rubber stuff, AND they had a splash pad!!
So we got back home from visiting Huntsville and then almost immediately turned around and went to Virginia for Pat's grandparents' funeral in Arlington. They called his grandmother Mere, and his grandfather Pans. It was really cool and probably pretty rare that they were able to be buried at the same time. Sawyer and Greyson got to play a lot with their cousins, Bobby, Charlotte, and Sam, who all totally entertained them for hours on end, and Ryan, who the boys absolutely love. That ceremony was also lovely and it was really cool having everyone there together to just celebrate their lives. He and Grandpap both had horses pulling the caisson, and then the horse behind that with the boots on backwards, which symbolizes the leader looking back on his troops one last time. That was so neat, and experiencing that kind of ceremony really makes you proud to be an American (not to sound cheesy or anything), and might even make you want to do something for your country. I feel like DC in itself makes you realize how big the world really is, then you come home and feel like you're back in this tiny little box called your life. Crazy.
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| Yup, that's just about everybody. |
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| My bests from high school. I miss y'all so much! |
Before that, we went to Huntsville for my high school graduating class's 10-year reunion. Has it really been 10 years?? It didn't seem like it until we all met up at a playground, and quite a few people had multiple children running around. Then I was like, oh...yeah, it's been that long. That was also really nice to see everyone and it made me wish we lived closer to our friends, but I really do love Charlotte, the people we've met, and our house, and now we know we will be here at least two more years while Pat is in school. But I'm sure I'd love anywhere we "ended up", except maybe if it was like, Lawton again. Ha!
Oh gosh, and in October I took the boys down to Florida to visit with my "Designing Women", Kimberly, Sydney and her daughter Eli, and Kate and her daughter, Grace Anne, who we picked up in
Atlanta and drove the rest of the way with. Three car seats across the middle row of the van proved to be an interesting trip for the kids, but they did really well. I love that stinkin van. The boys LOVE the beach. Greyson kept running off, chasing seagulls and then it was like he was shocked that they'd fly away.
I literally followed him for about ten minutes, a few times, as he just walked down the beach looking for birds. People were seriously laughing at us. Sawyer just loved being at the beach. We ate lunch at a pavilion before going down to the sand, and Sawyer was so anxious the whole time to just get out of there and go to the beach. He kept pointing at it and saying "Beach, Peese???!?!?!" I'm glad they had fun, because I love the beach and will take them as often as possible. Thanks for coming with us, girls!! And thanks for hosting us all, Syd and Eli, and thanks for helping me somewhat contain the wild boys, EVERYBODY!
Also, we hosted the Memorial Day reunion at the house again this year, and it was the biggest turnout we've had in the last three years that we've been doing this. We had 19 people here, including the 3 kids. (This picture has everyone except for Sawyer, who was napping.) This is a hugely impressive feat for everyone to get together at the same place at the same time, especially with 7 of the 9 guys being in the military, and I am so grateful for the friends we have. They are such troopers to drive or fly here (from as far away as Yuma, AZ!) and sleep on couches, couch beds, air mattresses, folded out futons, the patio chairs for all I know, and to bring their kids with them, and to not complain about a single thing even though we were totally disorganized this year!! "We" being Pat and me. Everybody else that had a hand in cleaning up, cooking, organizing the ladderball tournament, grocery shopping, child wrangling, etc. was awesome. Looking forward to doing it again this summer!
In April I went to Birmingham for a girls' weekend with the "Designing Women" sans children. It was so fun, and I felt like I got to just be CAROLYN for a while...didn't have to do any laundry or make any meals for anyone or clean up messes before I went to bed, I got to wake up, lay in bed for a few minutes...take a shower and not feel like I had to hurry...aaaahhh it was so awesome. Just driving my Camry from here to there was so much fun. How lame does that make me??? hahaha, I don't even care!
Beyond our social life, which is what I feel like has dominated this post, the boys have gotten SO big and smarter every day. It is amazing. Sawyer is drawing and coloring all the time now, Greyson speaks SO WELL and will repeat just about anything anyone says very clearly. They both love their musical instruments and are constantly making noise, I mean music. They both sleep really well; Sawyer tried to give up his nap for a while but we got over that. They remember people now, by names and faces, and after we leave somewhere, they'll be asking where the people they just hung out with have gone. We are constantly asked, "Where Uncle Dan go?", "Where Mimi go?", "Where Ama (Grandma) go?" and "Where GG (Great-Grandma) go?" It's so funny and random when they ask.
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| Feeding the fishies and duckies |
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| We love Aunt Manna! |
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| In Grandma's backyard |
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Pat's mom's parents' grave at Arlington
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| Arlington in September |
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Arlington in September
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| Halloween Super Heroes |
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| Our Christmas Tree(s) this year...still not brave enough to do a big one! |
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| At the neighborhood park in December |
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| Sawyer starting a puzzle he got for Christmas. You see one is missing, because he'd already put it together in the other room. |
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| Sawyer coloring their Christmas present from Miss Sara, a giant cardboard pirate ship! |
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| The family at Granddad's surprise party! We really surprised him! How fun! |
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| It was a "Survivor" themed party, complete with buffs, a REAL alligator, a challenge (that did not involve the alligator), and the immunity necklace! |
Okay I think I've just about recapped everything from Easter, which is where I think I left off last year. Wow, what a slacker.
Here are some of my favorite things Sawyer is saying (and yes, Pat and I might be the only ones who can understand it.)
"Hey! I have an idea!"
"What are you doing?"
"Hey! That's not right!"
"Momma go nite-nite in Sawyer's room, please"
He is so smart. Here's a funny example: Last night I was trying to get him to eat his green beans, after he inhaled the stroganoff, and he was being stubborn, not eating them...so I said, "Do you want a cookie for dessert?" Which usually works, I mean he'll eat anything for a cookie or ice cream. And he looked at the green beans, then at me, and said "NOPE", loud and clear. He hopped down from his chair, went into the living room, and started coloring his pirate ship. Didn't even ask for a cookie later, because he knew he didn't eat his vegetable. Ha! I can't believe he'll be THREE on Saturday!!! Crap, I gotta go to the store and get cake mix. Someday I'll get my you-know-what together.
Here are a few pictures of Grandpap with the boys. You can tell how much he loves them!
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| July 2012 |
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| December 2011 |
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| July 2011 |
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Amanda made this pillow out of one of Grandpap's flannel shirts. We always joked about how his shoulders could just put babies to sleep. Well, it's still working!! |
grandparents have always been so involved in our lives that when I told my close friends about his passing, they all had something personal to say about him in their condolences, which is really nice because if I ever mentioned one of those friends to him, he would ask how they're doing with whatever it was they were involved with at the time. I try to be that way, and it is because of him; I learned so much from him, whether it was from something he said or something he did. He would take us to the recycling center to get the change from taking in aluminum cans and things, and unfortunate as it is, that smell will always remind me of him! Anyone who's been to a recycling center knows what I mean. Also, he and my grandma would take us to Mr. Gatti's pizza after church when we went with them, and we'd always get the apple pizza. Then they'd give us each a dollar to play the arcade games in the back, but I usually hung on to it, because he told me that "In ten years, that dollar will be two dollars!" He was always full of advice, and glad to give it, to share his wisdom 
and try to help us. The pool in their backyard was always perfect if he had anything to do with it, ready for anyone to come enjoy it, anytime. I am so glad that he met Sawyer and Greyson and that they met and actually got to interact with him. Hopefully I took enough pictures so they'll remember it. I'll never forget his stories about walking to school, uphill both ways, in the snow in Pittsburgh, or his Daffy Duck impression, or how even when he was 87 years old, he was in the driveway scrubbing the bugs off my car's front bumper while I was in the pool with Sawyer, and told me afterward that I needed to stop driving so much at night. (Although I wasn't really, it was just from the drive from Charlotte to Huntsville, I promise!) Which is ALSO why I'll never own a black car, and neither will anyone in my household. You wouldn't think about it, but in the dark, if a black car is coming over a hill or around a corner, you don't see it till the headlights come into sight, which could take up to a couple seconds, in which time someone might have already pulled out in front of you. He told me that. Always thinking...about everyone else. Not to cut this short, but I could go on forever, and I think I might start sharing Grandpap's wisdom on here every now and then, so I need to save some stuff! :)
Speaking of schools - we also went to the first Auburn game of the season, in which we lost against Clemson, but it was still fun to get together with our friends. My amazing sister and her just about equally amazing boyfriend, Paul, watched the boys while we were gone. I owe ya!! War Eagle!
After that trip, I took advantage of Amanda and Paul driving back to Huntsville to take the boys to see Grandma and Grandpap and to help out with whatever I could, which was just about nothing except for making dinner a few times. But it was worth the trip. Grandpap had some really amazing reactions to the boys and was always really excited to see them. On the way home, I didn't have Amanda in the car with me like I did on the way there, so we stopped outside of Knoxville for an hour or so to play at an awesome playground and meet up with (half of) a family I used to babysit for, Sarah Kate, and her mom, Suzanne! They were so great to help me burn some of the boys' energy for the rest of the trip home to Charlotte. Thanks, ya'll!! That is definitely the way I will be traveling to and from Huntsville from now on. That playground was so cool. It was HUGE, there was NO dirt - just that chopped up rubber stuff, AND they had a splash pad!!
So we got back home from visiting Huntsville and then almost immediately turned around and went to Virginia for Pat's grandparents' funeral in Arlington. They called his grandmother Mere, and his grandfather Pans. It was really cool and probably pretty rare that they were able to be buried at the same time. Sawyer and Greyson got to play a lot with their cousins, Bobby, Charlotte, and Sam, who all totally entertained them for hours on end, and Ryan, who the boys absolutely love. That ceremony was also lovely and it was really cool having everyone there together to just celebrate their lives. He and Grandpap both had horses pulling the caisson, and then the horse behind that with the boots on backwards, which symbolizes the leader looking back on his troops one last time. That was so neat, and experiencing that kind of ceremony really makes you proud to be an American (not to sound cheesy or anything), and might even make you want to do something for your country. I feel like DC in itself makes you realize how big the world really is, then you come home and feel like you're back in this tiny little box called your life. Crazy.
Atlanta and drove the rest of the way with. Three car seats across the middle row of the van proved to be an interesting trip for the kids, but they did really well. I love that stinkin van. The boys LOVE the beach. Greyson kept running off, chasing seagulls and then it was like he was shocked that they'd fly away. 
I literally followed him for about ten minutes, a few times, as he just walked down the beach looking for birds. People were seriously laughing at us. Sawyer just loved being at the beach. We ate lunch at a pavilion before going down to the sand, and Sawyer was so anxious the whole time to just get out of there and go to the beach. He kept pointing at it and saying "Beach, Peese???!?!?!" I'm glad they had fun, because I love the beach and will take them as often as possible. Thanks for coming with us, girls!! And thanks for hosting us all, Syd and Eli, and thanks for helping me somewhat contain the wild boys, EVERYBODY!
Also, we hosted the Memorial Day reunion at the house again this year, and it was the biggest turnout we've had in the last three years that we've been doing this. We had 19 people here, including the 3 kids. (This picture has everyone except for Sawyer, who was napping.) This is a hugely impressive feat for everyone to get together at the same place at the same time, especially with 7 of the 9 guys being in the military, and I am so grateful for the friends we have. They are such troopers to drive or fly here (from as far away as Yuma, AZ!) and sleep on couches, couch beds, air mattresses, folded out futons, the patio chairs for all I know, and to bring their kids with them, and to not complain about a single thing even though we were totally disorganized this year!! "We" being Pat and me. Everybody else that had a hand in cleaning up, cooking, organizing the ladderball tournament, grocery shopping, child wrangling, etc. was awesome. Looking forward to doing it again this summer!
In April I went to Birmingham for a girls' weekend with the "Designing Women" sans children. It was so fun, and I felt like I got to just be CAROLYN for a while...didn't have to do any laundry or make any meals for anyone or clean up messes before I went to bed, I got to wake up, lay in bed for a few minutes...take a shower and not feel like I had to hurry...aaaahhh it was so awesome. Just driving my Camry from here to there was so much fun. How lame does that make me??? hahaha, I don't even care!
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