January 28th

This beautiful little girl is our Great Niece! Don't go jumping to conclusions 'cause I am 100% not OLD enough to be a GREAT AUNT haha!! I just love this little lady bug, she is adorable, happy and always smiling. I used to get to keep her quite a bit, but she is not living as close by anymore so I don't get to see her that much :( I can't believe that she will soon be 2 years old! Wow, seems like she was just born yesterday!

January 26th

LOVE this picture! This was 1 of a collage of pictures I took of my Niece Alexis (AKA LuLu) when she was about a year old. It's hard to believe that Miss LuLu is now 5 years old and is on her way to Kindergarten this fall! I love the expression on her face in this shot!! It has been fun to watch this little girl grow up!! Alexis is such a smart and expressive little girl, it will be interesting to see who she becomes.

January 21st

Me & My Super Daddy...total, 100% Daddy's girl...always have been, always will be.

January 20th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILLY PIE!!! Today my picture of my beautiful little Lilly, she is my BFF's little girl & today is her 5th Birthday. I love this little girl, she is so cute it hurts! To know Lilly is to know that she is a strong minded little lady, I can only imagine how she will be as she grows up. If she doesn't want to talk to you she won't no matter HOW much coaxing you do. She LOVES animals and I wouldn't be surprised to see her as a Vet one day. She also is a BOTOMLESS PIT when it comes to SNACKS! It's funny because she is a total peanut, you would never know that she can out eat anyone else in the house! She has the biggest, roundest Brown (almost black) eyes. David often jokes that she is like "Puss in Boots" on the "Shrek" movies. Even if she does something wrong she can always stare at you with those chocolate drop eyes and you feel yourself giving in! I have been in her life since before she was born and I love her like one of my own. She can ignore me like nobody's business in one breath and in the next breath she will climb in to my lap and fall asleep or give me a makeover. She is her own little person and while she can frustrate her Mom to no end you have to love her for it. She is such a cutie patootie and I can't imagine my life without this little girl. I can't believe she is 5 years old today!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILLY PIE I love you!!!

January 19th

LOVE this picture! Looking at all these old pictures makes me feel very lucky! I am pretty sure not everyone has pictures like the ones I am lucky to have. This is a picture of my Great Grandfather "GaGa" with my Dad when he was a baby. I never met my Great Grandfather, he died before I was born. This picture was taken on the front porch of my Great Grandparents home, sadly, it burned down, another reason we are lucky to have these pictures. I love this picture because it is just too sweet the look on both of their faces.

January 18th

This picture is of my Great Grandmother Leota Mays Cash & my Great Granfather Richard Smiley Cash. This picture was always in a frame at my Granny's house and I always thought it was so cool because it was so old! My Great Grandmother "Big Granny" and Great Grandfather lived with my Granny from the time my Mom was a kid. They moved in with my Granny and Babe because my Great Grandfather had been diagnosed with Cancer and was very ill. I never knew him as he died when my Mom was still young. I did, however, know my Big Granny, she lived to be 94 years old, I was in middle school when she died. This picture kind of sums up my Big Granny...she was a very serious person. I rarely ever saw her smile, she was also pretty particular about things and not one to offer any kind of affection. She had really bad asthma from the time she was a child and was always "Sickly" as they called it back when she was young. She was one of 14 living children (2 of her siblings died as infants/toddlers). I have heard stories that because of her health she was pretty pampered as a child. When she married my Great Grandfather he kept up the pampering. She always had "help", meaning a house keeper and a nanny for the kids. She had 3 daughters and 1 son. When her Son was born she had a very difficult delivery and ended up with what we know now was most probably Post Pardum Depression. My Great Uncle lived with another family until he was almost 2 years old! I never remember my Big Granny being sick, other than the normal cold etc. I never remember her seeming to be "sickly", but after all those years of growing up and being treated that way it must have just stuck. People waited on her hand and foot her entire life. She never went anywhere or did anything, she stayed at home and rocked in her rocking chair and watched TV (very loudly), she had "selective hearing" and would be deaf one minute and then next minute she would have heard everything you had been talking about. I loved my Big Granny, but I always wished she would have smiled more. She is so beautiful in this picture, but I imagine how much more beautiful she would have been with a smile!

January 15th

I had forgotten about this picture until last night when I was searching through some old albums at my Parent's house. I LOVE this picture! This is me on the left with my Nana (Dad's Mom) in the middle and my cousin Sarah on the right. My Nana was reading to us. I LOVE to read, I have a passion for reading and I can 100% credit my Nana for helping instill that in me. Nana would read to me all the time. When I started to read she had an entire treasure trove of books and she gladly let me read anything I could get my hands on. A huge collection of Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys books and a huge collection of The Box Car Children books, I'm pretty sure I read every single one. She would also give me books for all special ocasions...A collection of "Classics" Black Beauty, Heidi, Hans Christian Anderson, Little Women etc. One of my most prize possesions is a leather bound first edition of "Jane Eyre" that she gave me on one of my Birthdays (we always celebrated our Birthdays together, because hers was on 6/20 and mine on 6/26). I have probably read that book 10 times in my life. I also have this copy of Pinochio that is really, really old that she gave me. It was pre-owned when she got it for me...the illustrations in it are really old and almost creepy, and the book, even after all these years, has this really distinct "wood" smell to it. Funny considering the story!

I loved my Nana and because she lived next door to me I spent a lot of time with her growing up. She was a beautiful person and one of the smartest people I have ever known. She was the Vice President of a bank and I remember vividly how she used to always dress "just so"with beautiful jewlery and matching shoes. She was always so "put together". When I was a young teenager we were given the devestating news that my beloved Nana was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. A tragic diagnosis that had no cure, and still doesn't. My Nana progressed slowly in her disease for the first several years. She stayed at home and was cared for at home. We would still walk to the country store down the road from our house and buy "Nabs" and "Little Cokes" (the small ones in the glass bottles) together, even after she had to retire from her job. There finally came a time when it became very difficult for me to visit her anymore. It was so hard for me to see her in the state that she was in. She had regressed to the point of not caring about her appearance, not eating unless she was made to and she didn't recognize us most of the time. Then when she did recognize me she would say my name over and over again 100's of times, as if willing herself not to forget! I admit that the last couple of years of my Nana's life I was not around her as much as I should have been. My Nana started getting sick when I was about 13 years old, she did not die until January 1997 when I was 20 years old. She was in a nursing home at that point, but she had only been there for about 2 months when she passed away. I went to see her the night before she died and it is a decision I question myself for to this day. I can't even describe how sad it was without opening a huge wound in my heart.

I loved my Nana, she was larger than life to me. I was her first Grandchild and I have often been told I look like she did when she was younger. We have the exact same skin tone and eye color! I gave my first born child her name to honor her. She was a wonderful, loving, person and though I was an adult when she died I lost her many years before that when she and I were far too young. I have many special memories with my Nana, from her taking me shopping and buying me beautiful clothes, to all the wonderful books I still have, to her baking the best chocolate chip cookies and fudge at the Holidays, to her always making me drink and finish my milk at dinner time. She remains present in my heart.

Shirley Page Eubank Chenault

January 14th

Going Retro! Facebook (did I mention I am pretty much addicted to FB??) is having retro week, and everyone is changing their profiles to pics from "back in the day". It gave me an excuse to pull out my scrapbook and post a couple pics from there. Also gave me the idea that I should do some more of this, going to get albums from my Mom's house tonight! Anyway these are 2 of the pics I found!

#1 was taken at my Granny and Babe's house. This chair I'm sitting in was my Babe's leather recliner chair. He passed away when I was only 6 years old, but I have very vivid memories of him sitting in this chair or me sitting with him. The robe I had on was my FAVORITE, it was a patchwork quilt robe. I can't remember who made it, but I know by the time I grew out of it the poor thing was a tatterted mess! I wore it ALL the time! How do you like my lovely hair cut? I sported this "do" for a long time. I didn't like my Mom to brush or fool with my hair...she was a hair stylist! To solve the problem she always kept my hair cut "boy short" Lovely!!!

#2 was taken in the "old" (since remodeled) dining room at my Parents house. I am on my "tryke" which I apparently also wore out! Notice the hair cut, a little longer with an attempt to make me look more like a girl by adding a bow LOL!

oops

Already a missing day of pictures...I am having computer issues and all my pics are on puter not the one I am currently using. I am going to try to get back to it tonight, but thought I would at least come here and blog!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks and I am tired! There are so many people going through so many things around me I really can't complain. It makes my state seem trivial when I think about the really sad things people I care about are going through. Maybe that should be my unspoken New Year's resolution...cause I know if I said it out loud I would never actually DO it! I should try to complain less about stupid, piddly crap!

Ok, so hopefully I get back to the pictures later today or tonight...don't give up on my, just yet! Oh, and I really need to change my header...I will put that on my "To Do" list as well!

January 11th

This is my beautiful bed!! Funny picture to share, but since I am currently laying in it, watching TV it's a good one HAHA!! This is actually the first "Brand New" bed I have ever owned (as in ever in my entire life)...it is a beautiful King Size bed and has a wonderful, soft, cloud like mattress on it. This has been one of the best purchases, I feel, we have ever made. I get the best sleep ever on this bed, much better than any bed I have ever slept in! I honestly could spend a few days just chilling in my bed, of course that really isn't happening!

January 9th

No kids today, WOW, isn't that a rare thing? So, with that being said, I have a little extra time to post another picture!

This is a pic of our big boy kitty "Yoda" he is a BIG SPOILED BABY BOY! He is just over a year oldand already huge! Yoda or as I lovingly call him "YoYo" LOVES to lay in front of the fire place! He really loves ANY place warm behind the computer, the TV, a heat vent, but his most favorite place ever is right in front of a roaring fire in the fire place! He is one happy kitty lounged out in front of a warm fire...actually he is a lot like his Mama, cause I LOVE a nice fire!! I love how Yoda lays on his back, all stretched out! He is a sweet boy!! Love him! Oh, and isn't it sooo cool how his eyes glow BLUE in pictures? Almost every picture I have of him his eyes are glowing blue!

Friday, end of week 1 picture of the day blogging!

Not too shabby, I managed to post a picture every day, I almost forgot on Wed, but go one in just in time :) I am not promising I will do the blogging on the weekends, we usually have too much going on around here. I am excited to start next week, going to break in to my E-Book and see what gems are hiding on there!

January 8th

More snow last night GRRRR, so today I have a beach picture, to remind me there is warmth in the future HAHAHA!! This is a picture from this past summer, David, Dylan & Brody had a fun time digging a hole. Then they enjoyed sitting in the hole, doesn't take much for these boys to be entertained! I love this picture of all 3 of my "boys" at the beach! I am soooooo ready to go back there!! Can't wait for June 5th!!!

January 7th

I have to admit I'm enjoying this picture of the day thing! It's fun to go back and look through my folders at pictures! This is another picture I love. This was taken in the Fall at a get together at my Cousin's house. This is her boyfriend tending the fire we had. I love this picture for a couple of reasons, but one of the main reasons is that he is an actual fireman. Cool guy, cool picture

January 6th

I need a laugh today, so this is the perfect "picture of the day". This is a picture of me with my very own, personal, makeup artist! This is my BFF's daughter, Lilly. She got a make up kit before Christmas and one night when I was at her house her Mom had to take an important phone call. Lilly asked me if I would like her to do my makeup and of course being the sweet Aunite I told her "sure". I settled on the sofa where Lilly placed a crown on my head and began to very gently and sweetly and SERIOUSLY do my makeup. I got so relaxed I literally almost fell asleep. She was very serious that I was NOT allowed to look at my makeup until she was done. When she finished about 30 minutes later, she turned the mirror around. I was in TOTAL shock! I really thought the makeup she was putting on me was little kid play stuff and probably barely going on or at least really, really light! As you can see, I was totally wrong...of course I didn't want to hurt Lilly's feelings by being shocked about my new "makeover" so the only thing I could think to say was..."I think I need more blush" she obliged me by adding more blush and then we had to have our pictures taken! I also drove home like this to show David my new look. Lilly also told me I would be just fine to go to Walmart with my new makeup! I love this crazy little girl!

Undecorating

Kids are back in school today, so I am taking the day to take down all the Christmas/Holiday decorations. It's kind of sad to take all the stuff down, but it will be nice to have the house back to "normal". It kind of sucks that it takes much longer to take down and pack up the stuff than it does to put it out! I do enjoy looking back at each of the ornaments and decorations though. We have a TON of decorations...the inside decorations take up 4 totes and a Tree box...the outside decorations are in 5 totes and about 5 boxes! Of course we are having to relocate and store all of our stuff at my Parent's house this year. The gigantic snow storm we got a few weeks ago caved in the roof of our shed, where we normally store all the stuff! It won't be fun dragging all this stuff down to my parent's and up all the steps to get to the attic. Fun Times...

Just another reason I continue to HATE SNOW!!!

January 5th

It's still cold outside, so another picture from another cold day! This picture I took last year in March when we had the biggest snow of the Season. My Brother, Jon, came and took all the kids sledding. Of course he had to get in on the action with his snow board. Jon may be 31 years old, but he is 100% kid at heart. He always makes sure the kids get taken out sledding as soon as we get any snow. I love this picture of him, it is one of my favorites...

January 4th

Since it's COLD AS ASS outside! First "Picture of the Day" post can reflect that. Well, 2 pictures actually. Last year we got hit with a pretty decent ice storm. These are pictures of the ice on the Maple Trees in my Mom's yard. As you can tell the trees had already started budding when we got the storm! I can't remember 100%, but I think this was mid March. The trees seemed to be unharmed by this, as they all had plenty of leaves etc. come Spring. I thought these were some really cool shots when I took them...they were the only 2 pictures in the folder. So here are my Pictures of the day. I don't know if this picture of the day thing is supposed to be an actual picture taken on the actual day you blog it, if that's the case, I am going my own route with it.

Picture a day?

6 months, wow! That MIGHT be some kind of record for me not blogging.

I have been reading in various places about blogging a picture a day...hmmm, sounds fun and interesting. I know I have enough pictures on this pc alone to do that, and if I break in to my E-Book the possibilities are pretty much endless. I think I will try it. I sure as heck am not promising a picture every, single day, but I'm going to try. I will just have to add it in to my "routine" such as it is LOL!

So, there ya go...6 months of absentee blogging and now I am going to try something new. We will see how it goes!