Mourning

My cousin Pat passed away a week ago today. He was 49, so young. I still  don't believe it. Here he is holding and playing around with Jenileigh when she was a babe. He really liked little kids and got a kick out of their antics. He had a good sense of humor and loved to make you laugh. He will be missed.

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Happy Birthday Jenileigh!!!

Nineteen years ago my belly was huge. I had been feeling quite miserable for about a week. Hard to sleep, couldn't roll over in the bed without great effort. I had been off of work for about two weeks, taking an early maternity to get things ready around the student dorm we were living in. I was 24. It seems so young by today's standards. So many women put off having their first kid until their 30's. Anyway, I was ready. Was she ready to come? Was she a she? We didn't know. By around noon I was feeling some tightness and sharpness so I thought...This is it. As it turned out, I wasn't in active labor but the OB decided she wanted to hit close to her projected due date of January 31 so she induced me. In retrospect, the labor was not bad at all. She was born by 8:27 pm, welcomed into the world by her Daddy who promptly took her swaddledness out to meet Grandmama, Granny and Papa. Tim said, "Everyone, meet JLW". Our good friend Gary was also there. It was so exciting and Tim claimed, "We need to have six of these!" That first baby, especially a sweet little girl, will always be a warm, happy memory. She has been a joy and is such a precious young woman. I love her so. Ahhh, memory lane.

In other family news, Michael lost a front tooth. This was more traumatic than the last two on the bottom. He sounds funny now trying to talk.

Yes, that is just one tooth missing on top. It looks like almost enough room for three teeth. The famous Hammock gap I guess. LOL. :)

Jen's Gone, My Back

Well, here I am missing my girl. She's only been gone a weekend but it seems like a month. I know she's happy to be starting classes again, keeping herself busy. She likes to keep busy. She is taking 18 hours this semester, a full load. She made the Dean's list last semester. Keep it up girl!

In the mean time, I have pulled my back out, although it is much better today. I must have improved due to watching a bunch of old movies yesterday. Actually, while in the shower this morning I felt it go Pop! and all was well. My muscles are sore from all the weird movements I've made to compensate, but I am on the mend.

The movies I watched yesterday:

Breakfast at Tiffany's(1961)-still love this one...Audrey Hepburn is exquisite.

Sunday in New York(1963)-Jane Fonda was beautiful, Robert Stack gorgeous-frank sexual talk for that time I would think, cute though.

The Tender Trap(1955)-speaking of Frank, Sinatra that is and Debbie Reynolds, lovely costumes, ah the fifties

Trip to Bountiful(1985)-Geraldine Page, what a wonderful actress, just wonderful

All of these were on Turner Classic Movie Channel. It was delightful. I imagined what my parents were doing at that time in their lives and how old they were when the movies were released. Bountiful was released in my time, however this was the first time I had seen it. I don't know what it was about yesterday, but there were a lot of good movies on.

Tim got a new motorcycle. Lord help us! He has already ridden John to get a haircut. He and John plan to utilize it for middle school drop off next year. Should be fun.

Notice how you can see two of the dogs in the reflection and me?

The Day Before the Night Before...

It has been a busy fall. John graduated from DARE program at his school. DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. The DARE officer was so nice and sweet and all the boys had crushes on her. Here she is giving John his diploma:

Here she is giving her speech:

Here is the keynote speaker, a Charlotte morning show host from Fox News Rising, Steve Lyerly. He was very good and joked that after hearing the essays from these kids he was, "definitely not smarter than a fifth-grader". He was actually filling in for his co-host Beth Troutman, who was a Miss Cabarrus County years ago and is now a Charlotte celebrity too.

...and finally here is our very local celebrity, the principal, Mr. Cochran with John:

It was an exciting day for everyone. These kids learn so much from the DARE officer and have a good basic knowledge with which to fend off offers of drugs. I hope they can all remember what they've learned and take it with them into middle and high school. Sadly, there are rumors that this is the last year that DARE will be offered to our school due to funding, which I think would be a huge mistake. I remember when Jen and Dave had it and they still remember their DARE officer very well and what all he taught them. I will find out more about that after school starts back up.

We also did a lot of hiking this fall. Here are the boys hiking...I was there too, taking the picture. I made it almost to the top. What a beautiful day that was. I love the mountains!

 The boys made the walking sticks. They made me one too! We were such hikers...we looked just like the signs that indicate hiking areas all over the parkway.

This past week we had parties at school. Here is John and one of his friends at lunch before they got all hyped up on sugar. I think they were anticipating it though...

Jen came in to the school to help out with the parties since we had two at once and her Christmas break started a week and a half ago. Here she is helping Michael build his gingerbread house.

Jenileigh gave Michael some really good ideas and I was able to go around and help some of the kids whose parents couldn't make it to the party. Sadly, there were quite a few.

 

I wanted to share this with you all...what a difference five years makes...

I cannot believe how young the kids look in the 2002 photo. Why does the time have to go by so quickly?

Merry Christmas to all!

Rain, Rain Come Today!

Evidence of the drought in this area. It looks pretty bad around here. Luckily our lake looks better than most. These pictures are the large lake (left) and a smaller one that feeds into it. Pray for rain for us please.

November is Upon Us!

November is here with Thanksgiving only 16 days away. Time for turkey and the fixings. Jenileigh tells me she is looking forward to coming home for all that. We are all looking forward to all six of us sitting down to a big dinner again.

Recently we spent a few days up near the Boone area where Jen is in school. It was beautiful. The trees were in peak fall colors and it was crisp and cold. They had just come off of 5 days of rain which they badly needed as do we in the Concord area. I don't know if the rain helped or what but I thought the colors were the prettiest I've seen since we started going up to that area annually 6 years ago.

Jen is so happy at Appalachian. Her grades are great and she is staying very busy. She gets to travel around with Gospel Choir and that's been fun for her. I'm so happy she's happy! Here are a few pictures of when she was home for her fall break.

Some fall color in the Boone area.

Pretty tree in the mountain neighborhood.

Appalachian State

 

Our little cabin in the big woods in the mountains...no really, our new house...no really.

There is the cabin upper left. We already have a driveway too. :)

Toothfairy Visits Wax Family Again

*By the way, in case you couldn't tell, this was his first lost tooth.