Happy Birthday, Graddy

Happy Birthday, Graddy!

We miss you lots and think about you often. I wish you were here to see Trevor now and the babies. You would love to pick on James. His name is, in part, after you. It couldn't be more fitting for him. Everyone always tells me that "James" is a wild man name. I can only say that knowing you and him, I must agree. You will never be forgotten!

Gone to California

The California State Flag

Todd left this afternoon .....again! This time, he has gone to Riverside, California. Riverside is about 60 miles south of Los Angeles. He should be home Monday, if all goes well.

We don't have any big plans for this weekend. Trevor is having two friends (Bryce and Josh) spend the night tomorrow and I guess we will just hang out around the house Saturday. I drug out all of our Christmas decorations today. I will probably be working on that all weekend.

I'll be glad when Todd is finished with this project. He has been gone a lot the past few months. He is going to Colorado in a week or so, but I think that is his last trip for a while. He will be back just in time for all of the holiday events!

Back in North Carolina

Monday was a lazy day for us. We made it back around 10:00 PM Sunday night. James and Lilly slept until 10:00 AM this morning. I didn't even bother to wake James up for school. They were so wiped out that I knew they just needed to rest. We have spent most of the day unpacking and messing around. Today was a very lazy day!

More Family Visits

Trevor gets a math lesson from Dad

Lilly isn't so happy about having her

picture taken with Grandpa Tom

On Saturday and Sunday, we visited with more family. We had our Thanksgiving lunch with Nana, Susie, and Grandma Phipps. After we ate, Greg decided to stop by. It was good to be with everyone. I don't get to visit with Grandma Phipps and Susie that often. I enjoy the time that I do share with them.

Sunday, my Dad stopped by and spent the day with us at Mom's. We ate (again) and watched football most of the day. Trevor and James played outside but the rain drove them back in. Trevor had a math test on Monday, so he did some practice problems. Dad was curious to see what sixth grade math was all about. Trevor enjoys spending time with Tommy. James and Lilly haven't quite figured him out yet. I think there is just too much time that goes by between the time that they see him. As they get older, they will not forget so quick. Rick and Wanda stopped by to visit with us one more time before we left, too. Lilly is crazy about her Grandma and PaPa!!

We packed up the car and hit the road around 4:45 PM. We didn't want to get home too late because Trevor had school on Monday. Traffic was horrible, as expected. It was stop and go until we got out of Georgia. I think it took us as long to go 100 miles and the entire time of the rest of the trip. It took us almost 3 hours just to get to the South Carolina line. Luckily, James and Lilly slept most of the way. The were so worn out from our visit. Since we arrived at Nana's house on Wednesday night, they have been going nonstop. It finally caught up to them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Todd and Nanny

Trevor on the ATV

James on his ATV

Lilly and Emily color

We spent the morning at Nana's and had Thanksgiving breakfast with her. We were pretty lazy getting the day started. We were all tired and wanted to sleep in after the long ride down. Once we got moving around, we got ready and headed to Nanny's house.

We ate a big Thanksgiving lunch with all of Todd's side of the family. Last year, we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with Nana, Grandma Betty and the rest of Todd's immediate family. Nanny was happy to have everyone at her house this Thanksgiving. She cooked lots and lots of food, as usual. It was good to see everyone and let the kids visit with family and play with their cousins. Trevor and Jake rode ATVs and James rode a John Deere power wheels. He wasn't going to be left out of the action. Lilly helped Melanie and Emily color and mess around in the house.

After our long day at Nanny's, we decided to spend the night with Grandma and PaPa. It was nice to visit with them and spend time together. The kids were exhausted by the end of the day. They finally hit the sack and fell asleep after a long, long day!

Home for the Holidays

We left this afternoon and headed south to Georgia to be with our family for Thanksgiving. We are staying with Nana until Sunday and then we'll go back home. The traffic was terrible and very heavy. James and Lilly fell asleep about half way there. Trevor watched a DVD and listened to his i-pod most of the way. They are all pretty good travelers. It was a slow go, but we finally made it. The kids were (almost) stir crazy by the time we got to Nana's house. They were so glad to get out of the car and run around!

In Loving Memory

Three years ago today, my life was forever changed. I lost my great-grandmother and the world lost an angel.

Gingee was the sweetest, kindest, most gentle person that you could ever meet. She taught me so much about giving, caring, and loving. I give credit to her for the person that I am today. She influenced my life in more ways than I can tell and words could never describe the love that I feel for her.

When I think of Gingee, several things come to mind. General Hospital, Chick-fil-a, and "Sugar Pie" are to name a few. I use to go up to her house after school or work and we would go eat at Chick-fil-a and then stop by the grocery store to pick her up some things. After we made it back to her house, we would watch General Hospital. I would visit her once a week and we would talk every single night (at 9:30 ) on the telephone. I would call just to be sure that she was ok and see how her day went. One of the things that I miss the most is our nightly telephone ritual. Every night, she would call me "Sugar Pie", would tell me to take care of Trevor, and tell me how much she loved me and how proud she was of me. I could always count on her to cheer me up, no matter what kind of day I had. I always knew that she was just a phone call away.

I could go on and on forever with all of the things that I loved about her and all of the things that I miss with her being gone. I always said that if I ever had a little girl that I would name her after my Gingee. About two tears ago, that finally happened and I made good on my word. Lilly is named after her great-great grandmother. If she lives up to be half the person that Gingee was, she will be a fine lady. I just wish that she was here today to see Trevor, James, and Lilly. She always got so much pleasure out of her babies.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about Gingee and the influence that she had on me. I am so grateful that she was a my great-grandmother and I had the privilege of having her for the first 30 years of my life.