The Link
10 May 2012 1 Comment
Here is the link to watch the ceremony online tomorrow May 11th at 7:30 pm
It’s almost time!
08 May 2012 Leave a Comment
Meagan will be graduating with honors and receiving her Associates Degree on Friday from Riverland Community College. She’ll actually graduate from college before she graduates from high school. Her Riverland ceremony will be streamed live online and begins at 7:30 pm local time on May 11th. I will provide the link when it is given to us.
Easter
06 May 2012 Leave a Comment
Excuse me while I go back in time a little bit.
I finally got the memory card situation taken care of and the Easter pictures off the camera. Easter was spent at my Mom’s new house this year. Unfortunately for me it was 4 days after I broke my ankle so I was confined to the couch. But it was a nice time. The house was loud and busy and full of siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, inlaws and future inlaws. It was great.
My family is awesome. I look forward to the next time we’re all able to be together. Hopefully though I’ll be on two feet and able to join my cousins at the “always a kid table”. It’s funny how most kids fight and can’t wait to join the adults at the adult table. Not us, we’re lifelong members of the kids table. When I picture us in the future I see our parents at the adult table, us at the kids table and our kids eventually at their own kids table. It’s going to be awesome.
Take a picture of my model pose.
02 May 2012 Leave a Comment
Annie has a big trunk filled with princess dresses, Halloween costumes, tutus, and an assortment of fairy wings, jewelry, hats and other sequined items. At some point during most days she ends up in that trunk and then shows up next to me demanding that I take a picture of her “model pose”. She also has a “model walk”. This girl, I tell you she is too much.
Here are few pictures from the past couple of days. You’ll see, she’s got quite the flair for drama.
This is while we were waiting for Meagan’s Grand March for prom. Which by the way, I do have pictures of but my card reader has decided to stop working and I can’t get the pictures off my SD card. The Easter pictures are also on that card. Ugh.
Later at home after finding Meagan’s stash of heels.
And tonight.
Never a dull moment, that’s for sure.
The one where I get all mushy and nostalgic. Again.
15 Apr 2012 1 Comment
Meagan’s senior pictures came back yesterday. Over 400 pictures were taken and narrowed down to 80-something that the photographer showed us in her studio. Meagan and I now have the chore of narrowing those 80 down into just a few to use for announcements and prints for friends and family.
This is one of my favorites for a couple of reasons. One, it’s the shy half-smile that I’ve seen come across Meagan’s face all her life. In that little half smile I see the little girl that tries so hard not to show her emotions too much to the outside world. But no matter how hard she tries, her eyes give her away every time. I see the girl that is super proud of herself and wants to scream to anyone that will listen all that she has accomplished, but she remains quiet not wanting to call attention to herself. I love this picture because it’s black and white, and simple, and because it’s my girl – and she’s beautiful.
I also love this picture for a not so obvious reason to the average person. Her earrings. As we were sitting in the photographers studio and this photo came across the screen, I let out a little audible gasp and my eyes were instantly drawn to Meagan’s ear. As a little girl, and while I can no longer remember the specific events, I remember my Mom wearing those earrings often. Every time I see them I think of her. I remember them being in her wooden jewelry box, or in the bathroom drawer, or laying on the counter next the sink. I remember them and how they looked and how they felt and the sound that they made when they “clinked” together. Heck, I remember borrowing them myself more than once.
Not long ago my Mom passed those earrings on to Meagan. When Meagan told me that she wanted to wear them for her senior pictures I knew my Mom would be happy when she saw her wearing them. I was right, it was the first comment that my Mom made about the pictures.
Over the years, I never knew where those earrings came from. I guess I always assumed that my Mom had purchased them somewhere. Tonight I learned that my Grandma (my Dad’s Mom) gave them to my Mom as a Christmas gift many years ago. My Grandma has been gone for almost 28 years. Those earrings are the only tangible things that I have (or that Meagan has, actually) that are tied to my Grandma. While I will always remember them as the earrings that my Mom wore and they will always remind me of her, now they are even more special. I was a very young girl when my Grandma died, but I remember her. My memories are few, and I often wonder if I am remembering actual events, or if I’m remembering only the images I have seen over and over in pictures through the years. But I do remember her. I remember talking to her on the phone from Minnesota, I remember visiting her in California, and going to Disneyland and feeding the goats. I remember swimming in her pool, and drinking Hanson’s tangerine lime soda and I remember even as a little girl thinking it was weird that she poured her beer into a glass over ice. I remember visiting the beach and her burning her foot.
I feel sad for myself and the relationship that I was robbed of with both of my Grandmothers but I am so thankful that Meagan has so much more than fading memories as proof that her Grandma was here on this Earth and that she loves her. She has more than a handful of old snapshots. My Mom and Meagan have a real and genuine bond -their relationship is special. It makes me happy that my children and my brother’s children know just how important they are to their Grandma. They’ll never wonder if they matter, if they are good enough, if their Grandma is proud of them-they’ll just know without question.
So in less than a month Meagan will walk across the graduation stage for the first time. Her Grandma will be there, cheering loud and beaming with enormous pride. And who knows, maybe Meagan will be wearing the earrings that she’ll one day pass on to her granddaughter or heck, even her great granddaughter. Meagan will also be wearing that same shy half smile on her face. But her eyes, look at them closely as they’ll tell the real story. That she’s proud of herself, and that she knows she’s loved.
Lunch!
04 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
Every once in a while I surprise Annie with a lunch that is a little more exciting than her sandwich cut into triangles. I made this owl lunch a few weeks back:
“Owl” turkey sandwich with cucumber and sweet pickle eyes and a cucumber and pretzel “tree”.
And this was Monday’s lunch:
PB&J Bunny sandwich (I know, his mouth is upside down. Oops!) with cheese whiskers and apple ears, carrots and Annie’s Organic Bunny fruit snacks.
And Tuesday was ice cream for lunch! Actually, it is a grilled cheese sandwich with banana slices and a tomato cherry.
There are some really cute and easy Bento lunches on Pinterest and other food blogs (a link to my Pinterest is on the right sidebar) that I hope to recreate one day.
Spring Break part 3
03 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
A few more pictures from my phone…
This was approx 4am on the lightrail to the airport.
Somewhere between Denver and California
Donald the Duck – Not to be confused with Donald Duck. Annie insists that his name is Donald THE Duck.
Nemo’s Underwater Submarine
Smile Joe – You’re in the Happiest Place on Earth!
Goofy’s Kitchen
Downtown Disney Shopping
Phineas and Ferb Dance Party at California Adventure
Headed Back to Reality
02 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
So Annie was a little weirded out by the googly eyes in the fridge yesterday, but she thought it was funny. I haven’t talked at all about April Fool’s Day so she was totally confused when she went in looking for breakfast. She kept referring to the day as “Tricking Day” so I think she got the jest of it. I didn’t do anything mean – just made some fun food items.
Snack was a little bowl of grapes and cheese cut into teddy bear shapes. Her glass of “juice” was actually jello with a straw inserted. She thought it was really funny to give this to her Dad to trick him too.
The weather was beautiful yesterday so we were outside mowing the lawn, cleaning up the garage a little bit and pulling out the patio furniture and outside toys that have been stored for winter.
Dinner was meatloaf “cupcakes” with pink mashed potato “frosting”.
Before going to bed Annie asked several times if the googly eyes would be gone in the morning. I admit, they were kind of creepy.
