Hurting Hearts.

We have had quite the heartache around my neck of the woods lately. Some of this post is going to be from months ago that I just haven't felt like talking about. I LOVE to talk about happy stuff on here but sometimes life is just sad and hard and I for one need to get better at accepting that instead of ignoring it.

In February we lost my Grandmother, my Mema S. the grandmother that lived with us for many many years and took care of my brother and I as a 2nd mom. We stayed with her after school and during summers, she made our dinners and did our laundry, did all the house work, and taught me so much about life. My mom worked full time and my Mema loved doing that stuff so it all worked out well. We miss her so badly, she was my best friend when I was growing up, she meant the world to me.
After about 3 years of cancer, surgeries, lots of chemo treatments, and in and out of rehabilitation clinics she had fought for so long and I think she knew it was her time. It was the day after Valentine's Day.



Then this Sunday we lost Brent's Grandmother, his Mamaw. She had just been diagnosed with cancer a few weeks earlier. But not 5 weeks ago she was babysitting Lucas for me, which is no easy task! It all happened so fast with Mamaw. We are still not over the shock of it all. We will miss her so badly. She loved her family more than anything and it showed.
I feel like the "backbones" of both Brent's and my families are gone, if that makes since. The ones that made everyone come together.

This Thursday is Mamaw's funeral, it's going to be hard for everyone. I am just so thankful we have the little ones to keep us smiling.
Please pray for us as we take on this new season of our lives.

Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

Birthday Party Weekend!

Saturday we went to Carter's 3rd birthday party and it was great!! They rented out the church gym which has basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, big yoga balls, a game room, and a party room! They also had a bounce around for the kids! Lucas and Brent had a lot of fun playing basketball!

I have never seen Brent play basketball like that it before it was fun!

Lucas had to "shoot it" a few times!

Lucas in the bounce around!

Monster truck volcano cake that Liz and her mom and sister made! They did such a good job!

yummy home made cupcakes!

Birthday Boy blowing out the candles!

Lucas waiting on his cake and ice cream.

We had a lot of fun and went home after getting some dinner for the night the boys were exhausted! ha!

I am so glad I have been able to get to know Carter and his family, they are so sweet.





Sunday I got up and went to mom's house to clean out my new to me dresser and get it loaded up!

I found these crayons inside it, my Mema was notorious for hiding stuff from us kids! I have been helping mom go though some of her things for a few weekends now and I am always finding old toys and things. She was always so worried we would write on the walls with crayons, markers, and paint and always afraid we would break something with bats, balls, and other stuff. It's so funny now that I think about it.
Needless to say I kept the crayons :)

Sunday night Ethan and his family came over for dinner! We cooked cheese burgers on the grill it was a lot of fun! The boys definitely had a blast!

Lucas all snuggled in Monday before I had to wake him up for school, I just had to take a picture of this bedhead!

He is so sweet and in the evenings when I'm watching t.v. and he is ready for bed he will say "Mommy I wanna snuggle" it melts my heart! He is so rambunctious and "all boy" doing crazy stuff during the day but he loves us so much and is so sweet at night. I tell him " Your so sweet Lucas" and he tells me back "Your so sweet Mommy" ah I die!

And!

This isn't necessarily weekend stuff but yesterday Lucas, Chloe, and I were outside playing in the yard, we haven't really had a chance to play outside lately with 110+ heat but I decided you know what we are not going to watch t.v. this afternoon. And what do you know, Chloe found ANOTHER snake! I couldn't believe it! I was on the phone with Cox about our new DVR (whoop whoop!) and I tell Lucas to gather his cars we are going inside, of course he didn't want to so I had to put my "do what I tell you right now mommy face on" I yell at Chloe to get in the house and get the Cox lady off the phone (mind you she was trying to sell me something else, why do they do that!?). We all get up the deck and by the door and a bee starts attacking us!! Now I know to most people this sounds crazy but I am way more scared of bees and stinging bugs than I'll ever be afraid of a snake so at this point I loose it! I am almost in tears and now Lucas is upset. But I get Chloe to stop snapping at the bee and we all get in the house (without Luke's cars)! I tell Lucas we are not going out there anymore until fall! He said "Ok" in his little scared voice, ha!



After all that I send my friend this text. Ha! I guess we are going to have a few more t.v. days ahead of us because it so hot here and I can deal with the heat but I can't deal with critters AND the heat!

Tonight I have my board meeting that I love to go to and Lucas is going over to his mema's so they will have a lot of fun :)

Have a great week everyone!

Before and After Bedroom Dresser

I'm going to do a weekend post too, I just couldn't muster the energy yesterday, Brent was outta town and it was just one of those days.....

But this weekend I switched out dressers in my bedroom to go along with the rest of the room redo! One new thing gets me going on all kinds of other stuff in the room!

This is the before! My old white dresser I bought when I first moved out of my mom's house don't let the cute dog and candle throw you off ;) It was definitely to short!

Here is the after!

Much better don't ya think? I may or may not be changing out the pulls I really haven't decided yet. You may have noticed the mirror on the floor, I took it off the stand (as you can see in the first picture) I think I am going to paint the frame white and hang it next to the dresser, kinda different but that's how I roll :)

This was my grandma's old dresser and I am so happy to have it!

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick Before and After Party!

Mema's Dishes

Here are the dishes I was talking about in yesterday's post.

Mema loved all things flowery and all things homey. How I miss her :(.

But I am so happy I have some of her things to remember her love. Mom has been so generous with letting me have whatever I want of her dishes and linens, she knows we both share a love of making our home pretty. I learned so much from Mema about "keeping house" and a lot of the times when I am making a bed or hand washing dishes I am thinking of her.





They are now some of my most treasured possessions.

Home Sweet Home!

I know it's Wednesday and I should be doing a "Wordless Wednesday" but I can't wait any longer to post these pictures, for more reasons than one ;)
All over the "decorating" blogs I follow the ladies are showing their houses "un-kept" you know just the way they are, without throwing stuff out of the shot or zooming in to keep stuff out, ha! I have never done either of those, wink wink.

I personally wanted to post some pics so I can look back and see how my style has changed and to look back and see the big mess or not so big mess, depending on the season of life :)



My living room most days, this is the space Brent and Lucas spend the most time in.


Un-fluffed cushions, throw pillows every where, ottoman pulled close for awesome movie watching ;), blanket, jackets, and in the left corner is "Chloe's spot that I keep covered with a pillow case, ha! But I think it looks perfect!

My kitchen.



At least there aren't any dirty dishes in the sink!

Kitchen table where we eat, play, computer, etc....

That is all for this messy home tour!

I've been wanting to change out my hutch for a while now. Let me jot down the history of this thing!

It is at least 180 years old, Brent's great,great grandfather made it for his wife out of an old boxcar. He worked on the railroad and wanted her to have something nice. Isn't that so sweet. We have all the details hand written on a piece of paper Granny wrote before she passed. I love this piece of furniture and it will always have a place in our home.

But I wanted to change up the stuff in it. I wanted to do all white dishes I have always loved white, I like to wear white and I love to decorate with it! And since seeing the Nester and Home and Harmony's blog about their homes, I feel it is ok to do white even with a 2 year old!

Anyway on with the show....

Here is the before...

Chip had to make an appearance ;)

And here is the after!

I love it so much more like this! Most of the white serving ware was my Mema's that my mom recently gave to me and I have a beautiful gravy dish,serving bowl, and platter that are very old from Mema, they have a really light floral pattern on them they are just perfect!

I will have to add pictures of those! And then a few other pieces I have picked up over the last few years, I've always loved to buy white dishes mainly because you can use them for an occasion!

This Friday evening I am having a Tastefully Simple party and I am getting excited about it! I can't wait to have some special ladies over and eat some yummy stuff! And show off my new couch!

Big Ol' Birthday!

After the recent passing of my Mema a few weeks ago (Feb 15th) I needed a good time, I think we all did and who better to do that then Lucas!

Lucas turned 2 on Feb 25th and man did we party! He had a GREAT time and from the pictures I think everyone else did too!


The morning of his Birthday before School! He was not to happy about having his picture taken ;)


Blowing out the candles! He did so good and didn't need any help!


Pinata time!



Get the candy!! They thought this was the funnest thing! 2 year olds and candy falling from the sky- priceless!!



Present time! He loves his Mickey that Mema C. got him!


Keyboard that Papa got him! (Thanks Papa, ya meanie)


Had to sneak in a picture of Mommy's awesome decorating ;)


Eatting off the "Nerd Buffet"
Aunt "Melmo" Kristin got him a big box of nerds so he decided to share with everyone! This was so cute and someone started calling it the nerd buffet! Hilarious!




After the party inside with is new train and hat that Miranda made him!

He had the best Birthday Party! He has no idea how spoiled he is and how many people love him I truly thank God for that!

Lucas,

You are the joy I could never have imagined! You are so smart and so full of personality just like your daddy, which can be hard at times but I love it! You never meet a stranger and love everyone I pray that never changes. YOU are the one who has made me want to know God I will forever be grateful to you for that. You look just like me and have my chubby cheeks and I can't imagine you any other way. You are my brightest light and I hope you always know that.

I am So, So grateful to be your mommy.

Generations

This past week I have been reading "Her Mother's Hope" and "Her Daughter's Dream" both by Francine Rivers. The books follow 4 generations of women starting in the early 1900's and going through modern day with all the trials and tribulations women face the books are wonderful! Reading them makes me think back to my own mother and grandmother's relationships. How they are so different but still the same. Lately when I'm in a hurry and glance in the mirror all I see is my mother. I wonder how many women have had that same thing happen to them.

But it has got me thinking about a lot of things with the women in my family, we have such a un-talked about bond that is truly amazing. We have always been very close. My grandmother moved in with us when I was five to help take care of my brother and I since my dad was nearly out of the picture. It was like having 2 mom's then, I learned a lot of stuff from my grandma and we've always shared a special bond. She is the one who taught me how to keep a house clean and neat and pretty, one of my biggest passions today. I know I got that from her and I love her for it! I remember she was always teaching me "how to be a lady, cross your legs, ladies don't do that, etc." I am so glad she did, I've see girls in my generation that are less than ladies! ha! She was also a stickler on lying, she knew when we were lying and it would crush her! She always told us "I've never told a lie" I didn't know weather to believe it or not as a kid but I think I can see that now.

My mom worked a lot when we were growing up so we spent many days with my grandmother (Mema) she was the one there after school and in the summer, looking back I see what a blessing it really was having her there. And what a weight that had to be lifted off my mom by having her there.

At 86 Mema isn't doing to good these days. She has been battling cancer for almost 4 years now and it is taking it's toll. Sometimes she is in her "right mind" and some days she isn't. My mom is her primary care giver now and that is hard on both of them. I think this year will be a rough one.

Makes me so sad that one day she will not be here anymore and she probably won't get to meet my daughter but I take comfort in knowing she will always be with me and I can't wait to teach my daughter the things Mema taught me!