A Tribute to Nan and Pop on their 60th Anniversary

You read that right; it was no typo.  Today marks the 60th wedding Anniversary for my Grandparents.  So first and foremost let me say Happy Anniversary to Nana and Poppie.

For 60 years you have shown dedication and love to one another, been there for one another, accepted each others faults, and loved each other even on the days you wished you didn't.  You did not give up when things got too hard. 

Many people may think that to make it to 60 years you just had an easy marriage but that is not true.  They had their fair share (and then some) of struggles. 

It would be impossible to tell their story in a blog post and in fact impossible for me to tell it simply because I did not live it.  I can however share a few quick stories about their beginning and then pictures of it all the way threw. 

Let's start with this photo....this is the first photo my Grandfather gave to my Grandmother.  If you look real close into the car behind him you will see another girl.  Hahaha...leave it to pop to give Nan a photo of him that has another "date" in it.

Now that wasn't really a story but this one is and it is one of my favorites because it really set's the stage for the marriage.  This really tells you just who they are and is so typical.

Nana told me the story of when her and Pop went to the court house to get thier marriage license.  She said they both had off on the same day one week (I believe it was a Monday but don't quote me) so Pop said let's go down and get our marriage license.  Mind you this was his idea and that he picked the day.  So there they were walking up the steps to the court house when my Grandfather turned to my Grandmother and asked if she had any money because he didn't bring any.  So my Grandmother paid for their marriage license because my Grandfather forgot to bring his money.  She told me she should have known then what she was getting herself into. 

She also had told me that her Father had not wanted her to date but he let her go out with my Grandfather because he knew him (or his family...again don't quote me) so he gave them the go ahead.  On the night that my Grandfather proposed my Grandmother she went in to tell her Dad good night like she did every night but she said, "Daddy I have something to show you".  He saw and said, "I knew this would happen....this is why I didn't want you to date".  I guess he knew dating would lead to his little girl getting married. 

My Grandmother and Grandfather did get married and boy were they young.  Just look at them.  Nana was only 18...I can't imagine getting married at 18.  

Click to play music while you look at the photos.

From a blushing bride and groom to beloved parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. 

Congratulations....you are an inspiration to us all.

Leaves, Love, and Laughter...

That pretty much sums up my Sunday.  The weather was beautiful, the skies were clear, and  the house smelled of warm fresh baked pumpkin roll.

Since the weather was so nice I took Ava outside to play in the leaves.  We have a forest behind the house but not many trees in the yard so I had to rake up under our big tree and form a pile for her.

While we played everyone else busied themselves with this massive weekend(s) project.

Isn't fall beautiful....

O and did I mention a pumpkin roll....yummm!!!!

I have made it a new tradition to try to bake a fresh desert on Sundays.  If we are home and aren't busy running errands I like to bake or prepare a desert.  Even if it's simple like store bought cookie dough it is still nice to have.  Recently I have made apple cake, apple dumplings, angel sugar cookies, cupcakes, and now a pumpkin roll.  I can't wait until valentines day to get to make the red velvet cake again...so yummy but o so fattening.  I had to make that a special occasion cake.

Today's weather makes yesterday feel like an eternity ago.  It is cloudy and dreary and now the trees that glowed yellow, orange, and red in the bright sunlight look leaveless, dull, and dead.  Amazing how the lack of sunlight can affect the mood.  Today would have been a good soup day...making I'll run and heat up some of my leftover butternut squash soup from Saturday.  Have I also mentioned my obsession with making soups when it's cold.  This year I plan of extending my repertoire.


I think I need to add a few things to my Christmas list....


This cupcake courier which is tall enough to house cakes and cake pops...

http://www.cupcakecourier.com/pages/page_layout.html

and a large dutch oven

Girls just wanna have fun!!!

While I was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework, little Missy came out of her room with a tutu in hand and asked for me to put it on her.  I did and she spun on the spot and ran back to her room.  I could hear her in there talking and carrying on so I grabbed my camera to see what she was up to.

The hats were for me....apparently I needed to dress up too ;)

Then I put on a movie for her hoping she would settle in for a nap.

She settled in but she didn't take a nap

She even started to nod off a bit so just to prevent any accidental Zzzz's from being caught she switched her seat.

So like a lot of days here lately we are going without a nap.  This never bodes well for my doing homework which I had to give up around 3pm because she was in quite the mood.

An example of said mood is shown in this picture.  I had asked, "Ava, can I see your horsey" to which she responded "Ugh".  I think the look tells it all.  We see that look A LOT on no nap days.

Here's to hoping there is an early (before 10pm) bedtime tonight so that I can try to finish up what is due tomorrow.  There is nothing like trying to finish homework in my car in the 10 minutes I have before class starts. 

Little Bitty Smart One

For your Monday morning...well not quite morning...viewing pleasure, I bring you a few videos courtesy of my phone.  Ava gets smarter and smarter everyday day.  It's amazing at how much they absorb at this age.  I encourage learning during playtime and we go over our colors, shapes, numbers, letters, etc every chance we get.  I'm hoping to have a nice day this week to go out and pick some leaves that are different fall colors and do an art project with them.

The first two videos are just her playing and doing her best to ignore me and the fact that I'm taping.  Don't you just love how smart toddlers are already.  They already know to stop what they are doing if they don't want it taped...grrrhhhhhhhh.

Here is silly Ava with silly Daddy.  Before I turned on the camera she was making hilarious noises but of course as soon as she saw me she all but stopped.

Here she is playing with a necklace she found in her dress up box.  I was hoping to catch more of the chatter box but she turned the key and tossed it away since the camera was on. 

Here she was telling me her shapes.  I was trying to get her to tell me the colors too but she wasn't interested in that portion.

Then we played with her animals.  I swear these little plastic animals are her absolute favorite thing to play with.  She is way more into animals then dolls at this point which reminds me a lot of her Aunt Katie.

Finally, she told me her colors.  I threw in a cow at the end because I couldn't find anything else brown.  I think I confused her though...oops.  Next time I should just use her markers.