Generations - Part 2

As promised, here is the next installment of my favorite pictures.

These are all pictures of my dad's parents, Bob and Maggie. I'm so blessed to have known and grown up with all 4 of my grandparents! My Grandpa Johnson was such a sweet man and had a wonderful sense of humor. My Grandma Johnson, who just passed away last summer, was a firecracker! She loved gardening, cooking, sewing and watching birds. She was great at all of those things!

This is a picture of my grandfather and his brother-in-law; my Grandpa is on the right and SO handsome! He was born and raised in Tennessee and moved to Detroit with his brother when he was just a teenager.

A neighbor friend of theirs took this picture of them and it's probably my favorite.

Grandpa served in the Coast Guard during World War II and my grandmother followed him from station to station.

Some of the things I remember most about my grandmother are: her plastic covered ottoman, polyester, playing solitaire on said ottoman, and when she would go through weeks and weeks of cooking batches of zucchini bread, bran muffins, caramel corn, etc..



I wish I knew where this picture was taken. I just love that he looks quite at home with these two silly statues!

This one is probably one of the last ones of them together in their farmhouse in Addison, Michigan. They worked so hard on that house and in that yard! He leveled an old rotten barn in the back and together they planted an enormous vegetable and flower garden. It was a wonderful place to spend the summer! We loved the baby chickens and riding with Grandpa on the riding lawnmower.

Generations - Part 1

I'm borrowing an idea from Mandy Thrasher (kind of) and posting some of my favorite pictures. The trouble is: I'm having so much trouble narrowing it down. So, I'll start by posting my favorites of my grandparents and move my way down the family tree.

I'm so grateful to whoever took these photos of my great-grandparents and grandparents and they are some of my greatest treasures!

This one is of my Great-Grandfather, Samuel Gibson and my Great-Grandmother, Kathryn. He is my mother's grandfather and I never got to meet him. He suffered from alcoholism and my grandmother separated from him for quite a while but never divorced him. I wish I had known her and been able to talk to her more about her life but she passed away when I was only six.

This is a picture of my grandmother, Madelyn on the far left and my great-aunt Kathleen on the far right. I don't know who the other girls are in this picture but I love it because they're so cute in their shorts and tied off tops! They must all be teenagers in the shot.

This is my grandfather, Winston Allen Robinson. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II in China.

This is absolutely one of my favorites of him in China! I love seeing my six-foot+ grandfather in that rickshaw surrounded by all the locals! I wish I could read the newspaper headlines in the window behind him.

I don't know how old they are in this picture but they are clearly in love! And now, even after 61 years together, they still are. I can't wait to say the same about Brian and I!


This photo is of my grandfather and his best friend J.F.. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of this man! Every time I smell pipe smoke I think of him!

This picture was taken on their wedding day more than 61 years ago!

I love this one of my grandmother! She looks like a movie star!

Tag!... I'm "IT".

Christi Hain "blog tagged" me last week. So here are 5 random things about me. That is, if I can think straight today.

1. One of my major pet peeves is when people use an apostrophe when spelling plural nouns. For example: "Merry Christmas from The Smith's" or "There were 85 ladybug's in the house". To properly spell a plural noun you don't need the apostrophe. For example: "Six dogs ran through the yard." An apostrophe is to show possession or conjunctions. For example: "That is Mary's house." or "Waiter, there's [there is] a fly in my soup." This is 3rd grade grammar. Sheesh!

2. I have an overactive imagination.

3. I quite often leave an event or gathering thinking, "Gosh! Did my voice get really loud or am I imagining that it got really loud?" If I'm talking especially loud and you notice, please save me from myself and tell me to tone it down. : )

4. I gave birth to three of my four children without the use of an epidural or drugs! I love the looks on people's faces when I tell them that.

5. I love blogging because it gives me an outlet to vent, brag, or otherwise run my "mouth" and saves me from doing these things quite so often in public settings. So, even if no one reads this crazy thing, then at least I've been able to get it off my chest. A journal of sorts.

Okay! Now I tag,...Stephanie, Leah, Hollie and Ali.

Christmas

Wow! How did I manage to forget a Christmas blog?! We had a wonderful time with our families and the kids. Anna was especially sweet this year! For weeks she'd been talking about taking Santa some popcorn so we waited 3 hours at North Point Mall to give him his popcorn present and to get their picture taken! But not without incident! I'm just glad that other Mommy in line saw my Anna girl before she got too far and hung onto her until one of us found her! I may need one of those tracking systems for this one!

Our annual family picture. I told everyone to make a silly picture first so I could get a serious one next but I ended up liking the silly one even better!

Decorating Christmas cookies at Aunt Robin's house.

Visiting Santa at North Point Mall. We (Brian) had to wait 3 HOURS! Next year we'll make an appointment at Perimeter!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

"Anna Banana Montana" rockin' it out!

Grey Hair

Quick survey: How many of you enjoy going grey? Raise your hand if you look forward to getting new grey hairs.

I'm raising my hand! Am I the only one?!

"Why?" you ask. I'm not exactly sure but I really like them. Now, mind you, I've only got about half a dozen but I'm not plucking and I'm not coloring my hair in order to cover them up (I just like coloring my hair and I usually hope that the color hasn't covered too many). I call them my own personal "bling." I can't afford any "bling" on my fingers or in my ears or around my neck so God has given them to me on my head. Also, maybe the personality of grey hairs matches my own and so I identify with them. They're kind of unruly, hard to manage, want to stand out in the crowd and they don't match. ; )

I guess most people don't like them because they think grey hair makes them look older. I don't mind looking older...if I'm older. Maybe I didn't enjoy being young enough to miss being young! Maybe I didn't have enough fun to realize what I'm missing now. : ) And, after all, thirty-three is still young. But I thoroughly look forward to each new year and each new birthday and to getting older.

So bring on the new grey! Raise your hand, people! It's not like you're the only one it's happening to!

Worms, Rain and Toddlers

The last couple of days have been very wet around here. I didn't have to work on Thursday and instead of using that time to clean house I decided my time would be better spent playing with A and L and doing things we don't normally do. Like playing in the rain! They had a great time and so did I! We played with Play-Doh and painted and played in their rooms too. While we were outside we found some worms on the driveway. The kids were fascinated and they picked up all the worms off the driveway and put them back in the dirt. Of course, we may have to do it all again today since we've gotten even more rain today. Enjoy the video. I've probably watched it a dozen times and it's still just as funny to watch L picking up that worm!