Jamie’s Blog

I can’t believe it’s already November. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday Sarah was born and she’s now 10 months.

She is growing up so fast. She can cruise around the furniture. She be bops to music. If you sing Christmas songs she will do her version of singing too.

My girl loves to eat! It won’t matter if she just finished with her own food. If she sees someone with food she wants a bite. LOL! I guess she thinks they might have something good.

Sarah will crawl up to you, pull herself up and just smile at you, giggle, and give you that look. You know the look, the one that most dogs have mastered. LOL!

Justin said he can’t refuse Sarah because she gives him the puppy dog look. LOL He’s such a push over.

I guess thats it for now. Take care everyone and remember to hold the ones you love close to your heart.

Siggy by me

I am honored to present to you my granddaughter, Claire Maxine Vaughn!

She was born at 1:55 am on Oct. 26th. Weighing 6lbs 11 ozs, and 19 1/2 inches long!

I had no idea that I could love someone as much as I do my children, but I sure do. She is my first grandchild and I try to spend as much time as possible with her.

Jessica did such a wonderful job with the labor and delivery and I feel honored to have been there for the entire thing.

It was so magical seeing her be born. Being able to be a part of that, seeing Justin’s face as his little girl came into the world. He went from being a boy to a man in a matter of minutes.

One Proud Grammie,

Talk about being indecisive. Election day is just a few weeks a way and I still don’t know whom I am going to vote for. In all honesty I just don’t like my choices.

With election coverage every where you go and in the schools too, the following convo happened between my kids and I.

Emma: Mom who do you want to be president?

Me: Neither

Emma: But if you had to vote for one which one would it be?

Me: Emma, it’s my American right to vote or not to vote.

Sophie: Mom, what about your American left?

Emma & I: Laughing are butts off.

Sophie: What? What about your American left?

Emma & I: More laughing

Yeah, you gotta love kids!!!!

Huggles,

Siggy by Katie

Have you ever had one of those days? You know the kind, were nothing seems to go right.

Well, I had that day on Thursday. To top it all off, I was beyond angry at someone. No point in even rehashing it. It just goes to show how my day was going.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of my entire day. Just a few things that I look back on and I just have to laugh. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at?

I had to go to Rockwell and drop off something. Keep in my mind I’m so hot, not the sexy kinda hot either, the livid hot. So as I’m getting out of the car what happens? I tripped over a curb, and fell flat on my face. If that alone wasn’t bad enough, it was a shift change. So there was a throng of people coming out of the building and a line of cars waiting to pick up people. Of course, where I fell happened to be right in front of the building. Entertainment for all, I guess. Nothing sadder or funnier then a big girl falling on her face and cussing up a blue streak. I stood up and brushed myself off and quickly left the parking lot. Looking around to see if anyone was laughing their ass off at me. All the while Liz is trying very hard to be composed and not bust a gut laughing. I just mumbled to myself and cursed those whom I was pissed at.

Later that night I’m home and sitting at the computer telling my woes to a few friends. Sarah drops a toy and I lean down to pick it up for her. The next thing I know, I’m on the ground for the second time that night. The chair is no longer under my butt but tipped over next to me on the floor. I look up at Sarah who is grinning from ear to ear clapping her hands. She is thinking “my Mom is the most talented mother on the face of this earth. Do it again mommy”

After the second fall I thought I better just go to bed for the night. I wasn’t going to risk it. After all, I had entertained Rockwell, and my baby. It was time to go to sleep and pray that tomorrow was a better day.

We didn’t do much to speak of last weekend. However, that seems to be the norm for us. Brian is always so busy with work, chores around the house or lately helping his Dad that we just don’t get time to do a whole lot as a family. I suppose it makes it that much more special when we get to.

Brian went over to help his Dad work on his new shop on Saturday. He brought Emma and Sophie along with him. Apparently MS. Sophie was a little pistol that day. I don’t know whats up with that girl. She used to be so well behaved. Now she’s 6, with a mind of her own.

She got in trouble at school on Thursday of last week. They had a substitute that day and for whatever reason the teacher left a room full of rambunctious 5 and 6 year olds alone in a class room. Not a good thing with this particular class room. The entire class is pretty much like Sophie or worse.

Well, the little boy next to her asked her to cut his hair. So she did what any 6 year old would do. She did it. She did it so well he had a bald spot. Sighs…The poor kid had to get his head shaved. I don’t know what I’m going to do with that girl. Thinking about selling her to the circus. LOL!

Emma and Sophie have free tickets to the playstation that have to be used up by the end of this month. Going to try and talk Brian into going this coming weekend. It will be good to have a family day.

However, anyone that knows Brian, knows he would much rather be helping his Dad in the shop. LOL!

Full moon tonight. It’s so hard to believe the Harvest Moon is already here. Where did our summer go?

Oh well, I hope everyone has a wonderful day/night.

Huggles,

above siggy by Karen

We went to the Mark Twain Caves last weekend. Brian and I had been there before about 7 years ago, and we thought it would be fun to take the girls.

When you first walk up you see this beautiful tree.

Of course this picture just doesn’t do it justice. I couldn’t get the whole thing in the shot.

Then next to the tree is a gorgeous fountain that they were just in the process of building 7 years ago.

I just love all the rocks surrounding it. All they need is a little bench so you can sit and enjoy.

We got there just as a tour was about to start. How lucky are we?

The girls really had no idea what to expect and of course we show up completely unprepared for the coolness of the cave.

Because of the narrow walkways Brian carried Sarah the whole time. Poor guy handed her off to me the second the tour was done. *giggles*

Sophie and Emma both got very excited as the tour began. We were able to see signatures dating back all the way to Jesse James. We got to see where his hide out was. All very cool!

Of course what is a cave without bats? Ugh, a necessary evil I suppose. Thankfully none got to close to my head. However, a few people back someone yelped because of a bat so of course I yelped in response. A very comedic moment let me tell you.

At one point our guide had us all stand real still and she turned out the lights. (Yep, our guided tour was in fact a lighted tour. The have lights strung along the cave walls.) When the lights were out it gave us an idea how dark it really was. I couldn’t imagine getting lost in there with no light. You would never find your way out.

Then we came to the “parlor” where we all got to sit and listen to a few stories from the guide.

If you look above Brian’s head you can see one of the many lights they have strung through out the cave.

All in all I think everyone had a wonderful time. We are hoping to get back next year as there is so much to do in that area.

Huggles,

Above siggy by Karen

This is a long overdue blog. It just seems since I got back I am so far behind in everything. I can’t believe I was only gone for two days.

Grandma Helens funeral was very nice. They did a wonderful job on her. She looked so young again. She looked a lot like the above picture.

Someone had done a montage of pictures of not only her but her children and grandchildren. It was put together very well. There was even her old Rockwell badge. To think she kept it all these years.

I remember when I met her for the first time. We had an instant connection. She told me stories of when she worked at Rockwell and I told her about my job I had then.

The love she had for Brian was always so evident on her face when she looked at him. The same goes for him. He was always so patient, and loving with her. I loved seeing him with her.

When we went to see Jeff Graduate we stopped by and saw Grandma everyday that we were there. The first time we walked in she was sitting in her chair staring at a picture of Brian. How sweet is that? She told us that she was just thinking of us.

When Grandma saw Jeff in his Army Class A’s she was just beside herself. She went on and on how nice he looked. What a fine young man he was. She just went on and on.

I found out later that her husband was in the Army and they had met at a dance at the same base that Jeff received his training. I’m sure he brought back a lot of memories for her.

Brian and I brought the girls with us as we had no choice in the matter. Sarah did amazingly well. Emma being an Empath had problems keeping her emotions under control. She didn’t just cry she sobbed. I felt so bad for her. I’m going to have to work with her on blocking others.

Sophie, did well for Sophie. I guess thats about all I can say about that.

After the funeral we all went to this amazing restaurant that I can’t remember the name of. I think it was Chicken Scratch or something along those lines. They had a huge chicken sitting in a car outside of the restaurant. It was pretty cool actually. Wish I had gotten a picture of it.

It was so nice to have dinner with everyone. Brian was able to see cousins he hasn’t seen in years.

The highlight of dinner was this woman who had a bun on the top of her head, towards her forehead. She had a stick in it. I swear she looked like Betty Rubble only as an elder. *giggles* I gotta say thank you to Kelly for pointing her out. Because if she hadn’t then when this lady came to the table to ask how many generations were there I would have had a hard time composing myself.

After dinner we all went our separate ways. Brian and I decided to drive to Hannibal and stay the night then go to the caves the next day. That I will save for another blog.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day/evening.

Huggles,

Above Siggy by me

Last night Sophie came up to me. (she’s 6) She said, “Mom, are our fish fixed?” I said “What?” So she again repeated the same question. I finally got what she was saying. I said “Sophie, you don’t fix fish.” “Well, then why don’t they have babies?” she replied. I just looked at her and tried to not laugh. “It doesn’t work like that with fish Sophie”
She thought for a moment and finally she said, “Well, you know they are gonna have babies since they are not fixed.” Then she beboped out of the room and went to play. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in a long time.

So here is a pic of our fish. *grins*

I had the honor of attending Justin’s wedding this weekend.

It was beautiful. Justin looked so handsome and Jessica looked so beautiful. She was just glowing.

Jessica’s Mom and I lite the candles to start the wedding. After that came Aidan and Sophie. She was a flower girl and he was the ring bearer. They both looked so cute and did such an amazing job. After that came Emma and Sarah. Emma had a flower basket in one hand and carried Sarah with the other. It was so sweet.

Jessica’s friend Tiffany and Justin’s friend Steve came right after that. They both looked so serene. Then Justin’s Dad and Liz came down the aisle arm in arm. I got a vision of what it would look like when she gets married. Sighs….So breathtaking.

After that came my handsome son Jeff and Jessica’s sister Terrin.

Finally the big moment. Jessica came down the aisle with her Mom walking her.

Justin seeing Jessica in her wedding dress for the first time.

Jessica and her Mom. Jessica was beautiful blushing bride.

The reception was full of family, laughter, love and fun. What more could you ask for?

Saturday Jeff came home on leave from Iraq. I have never been happier to see him in my life. I had planned on taking a bunch of pictures of him walking through the gate.

Well, the second I saw him that all went out the window. I snapped one pic and said screw it and ran to him. I threw my arms around him and just started bawling like a baby. He said “Mom, it’s ok. Really Mom.”
Of course there were a slew of people behind me waiting to hug him. I had gathered up anyone and everyone that I could get to come.
Jeff leaves to go back August 17th. I had the fact that he has to go back. So I’m enjoying him as much as I can.
He’s at the movies with some friends at the moment so I’m jumping on here while I can.