Friendship

Ellie and her friend Rachel are such close friends. They attend preschool and the same sitter together each day. We were lucky enough to have Rachel come play at our house when I had a snow day. It was so funny to watch them play together. They literally played Plah-Doh at the kitchen table for over 1.5 hours. I would be lucky enough to have Reid sit still for 1.5 seconds. Girls are soooo different from boys, that is for sure! I hope their friendship continues to grow as they do. Here's to Rachel and Ellie!

Taking a moment to pose for the camera before the fun began.

Pretty cute! They made me "dinner". Love the "peas" towards the back right on the plate.

This was also part of my "meal". I think it was some kind of ice cream sundae concoction with a yellow cherry on top, of course!

Ahhh, yes....girls will be girls.

Friendship.....nothing better.

Angels Among Us

I totally believe in angels. I believe that signs are given to us all the time and it is up to us to open our eyes up to see what is being said. Now, I know that not everyone is going to share in my belief, and that is ok. Just let me share some things with you, if I may.

First, a little background. When my dad passed away on Sept. 30 of this year, it was a day that would change our lives forever, of course. Being there with family at the time of Dad's passing was a gift to us all. As my mom put it, "Dad made dying very easy on us all." And he did. He was his fiesty self until the very end. He never lost his humor, his compassion, or his faith. He knew where he was going, and he was not a bit afraid. He hated the thought of leaving us behind, but he also knew that we would be in good hands, and he would see to it that we were watched over. Before he died, Brian and I were in the room with him alone for a bit. I felt that I really wanted and needed Dad to know that it was ok for him to die. At this point he was in a coma and non responsive to us. But, I was hoping and praying that he could still hear us. I whispered in his ear how much I loved him and how proud I was of him. I told him that I wanted him to go when he was ready, and that we would be ok. I told him that I was so glad that Ellie and Reid would be watched over by such an important angel to us all. Nothing meant more to Dad than family, and in my heart of hearts, I just know that he surrounds us every day.

My dad passed away less than an hour after I told him that we would be ok. Less than one hour. My brother was not in the room at the exact moment when Dad passed. He was in the hallway. We got him in to the room right away to be with us. Kevin was sitting opposite my mom and I on the other side of Dad. Kevin did not share his story with me about this time until quite a bit later. I want to share it with you. You need to first understand that my dad and brother became very close through this illness. Kevin was always there with my mom for dad. Kevin was the only one who could make dad comfy in that less than comfy hospital bed. Kevin was the only one who could rub his legs to make the pain cease. Kevin was the only one who could pick the music that eased Dad's heavy heart. My dad was so very proud of Kevin. And I am so glad Kevin got to hear Dad say this to him. That was important.

Kevin told me a few weeks after Dad's passing that he saw something about 10 minutes after Dad passed. Kevin said that he saw 3 bold, circular, swirling bands of light that encircled Dad over and over again. He distinctly saw 3. He watched the clock and estimates that this went on for about 10-15 seconds. Then, they swirled to the ceiling, encircled the room that we were all in with Dad, and then disappeared. Then, at the funeral, Kevin again saw just one beam of light that encircled the casket several times during the prayer portion of the serivce right before the choir was to sing. It then circled the choir and disapperared. (My dad was the Minister of Music at our church for over 30 years). How appropriate, right?

Well, then recently we have been going through and putting away pictures. I just want to share 2 of them with you, and show you that our angel is indeed taking good care of us all. Miss you and love you, Dad.

Psalm 91:11-13 For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways.


This picture was taken at Thanksgiving. I am sitting, my sister in law is in the upper left, my brother next to her, and my cousin, Ben. Look at Kevin's shirt on his upper right side. See the perfect circle of light there?

This is my dad's side of the family that we got together with for Christmas. As I said, family was everything to my dad. Look in the upper left hand side of the photo. Above my Uncle Larry's head.....see the perfect white circle? By the way, this was our candid shot of the family. Look how cute my mom is....right smack in the center with the blue sweater on. I think she is the only one posed normally. My cousin Lori noticed the circle. I never even noticed it.


Brian was taking this picture showing how easy Reid can escape from our basement if he would like to. He has mastered the door knob, as Sophie looks on. Look past Reid above the little blue chair and on the back wall. Do you see 2 round cirles of light? These pictures were taken with 3 different cameras. No lens issues are present. One camera is brand new. It comforts me to know that Dad is not as far as he seems after all. What do you think?

Finger Painting.....Reid style

I asked for it. I know. I am one of those moms who enjoys crafts and artsy projects with the kids. We do a lot of them, and I enjoy them. Most of them, anyway. Well, my dear, sweet inlaws got Ellie and Reid some finger paints for Christmas and had the nerve to send them home with us! : ) I thought it would be a great project for their house, but needless to say, we ended up with them. And here is how our night of finger painting went....Reid style.

All started out sweet and calm fingers painting away. Life is going great here....

Reid getting the tenchique down to a science after watching Ellie.

Ellie is very precise and methodical about things. She takes her work seriously, and you can tell she is concentrating hard here.

Why just get the fingers messy.....hands seem to work great in the stuff.

Oh, and the kit came with some great stamps for the paint. Reid enjoyed dipping them in paint, soaking them in water, then squeezing the mess onto the paper.

More dumping of paint. Finger painting just was not cutting it for him. At this point, I was starting to see why the box said 5 years and up.

Oh, yeah....a goopy, gloppy mess.

Big sister next to Reid was doing just fine. Lool at her hands and look at Reids in the top right corner. Quite a difference in technique!

"MESS" he said to me!

He eventually moved his construction paper that he was using and just went all out on the newspaper that I had as my "catch all". At this point in the game, why stop him?

The "Ski" tongue even came out! This is a lovely trait that my husband exhibits. Anytime he is working on something or concentrating, we see the tongue sneak out of his mouth. (I am sure he will love me posting this!) Ellie definitely exhibits this trait. Constantly. This is the first sneak of the tongue that I have seen from Reid. Looks like both the kids got the "Ski" trait very honestly.

A paintbrush was also involved in the process for awhile. But, as you can tell from the looks of Reid's hands, arms, and pretty much upper torso.....it didn't last for long!

Gotta love those, finger paints.

The end results were nice. Well, at least Ellie's. Reid's were unsalvageable. We had some good laughs, and a large clean up job, but that's what it's all about, right? And how I see it.....Reid may be wanting a drum set one day. I think Grandma and Pappy's house would be a lovely spot for that, don't you????