A few weeks worth of pictures...

I know I have mentioned it before... but Blogger is KILLING ME!! It has been so finicky. I have tried to post a few times the past couple weeks but I get so frustrated that I give up. 

Let's start about 3 weeks ago... Gibbie's great adventure came to an end (he traveled from VaBeach to Fairfax to Pennsylvania and all the way back again) when my parents brought him home.  It was nice to have him back. 

Grammy and Kenley played outside, enjoying the cool spring day.  This was right before the weather turned, now it's at least mid 60's every day.  Yay!

We dyed Kenley's first Easter eggs, she helped by reading the instructions to us.

She tasted the final product and gave us thumbs up... Ok not really, she hasn't had eggs yet.

She sure was cute though playing with her eggs and new egg cup her Grammy got her. That afternoon, the house was quiet again. Everyone had gone home, Gibbs was back and we just hung around and enjoyed each other's company.

Kenley loooooves to try to get Andrews attention when he is outside grilling.  She smacks the glass over and over, yelling Da! Aaa!!  I think I have like 20 pictures of her like this.  The only difference between them is what she/Andrew is wearing.

Andrew had to work the night shift over Easter weekend, so Easter morning was Kenley, Gibbs and myself just hanging out - playing with Kenley's plastic eggs and her new stacking toy. It was really quiet and didn't feel much like Easter... We have yet to find a church to join so the whole day felt off.

Kenley, Andrew and Gibbs enjoying the warm spring day... on their way to the swing set.

The rest are pictures from yesterday. We played in the backyard a bit, trying to soak up the last hours of Andrew being around.  He left for Nova Scotia this morning and will return in a month or so.

I am leaving this post short of fun stories and other news because once again, Blogger is getting on my nerves and I am on the verge of just deleting the whole post!!! I really hope they get this worked out...

In Remembrance.

The day before we left for Texas, my Grandmother passed away.  She had not been well but the decline was rather quick.  The last time I had seen her was in October and the quiet, tired lady who I visited is not the Grammy I will remember. I am grateful that I was able to visit her then but my memories will consist of this amazingly strong woman who loved to bake, had a knack for sewing and crafts, enjoyed the yearly visit to "grammy camp," went to church and enjoyed participating in the choir, loved being with her family.

I have many many memories and as my Mom and her siblings spend the next few weeks going through her estate, I find myself remembering some great family holidays spent at her house.  Lauren and I would always have a good laugh at the ham candle, if only I knew where to find one now we would all be getting one for Christmas; the time Mom tried 3 times to make gravy for Thanksgiving dinner but it just kept turning into this weird mess of gelatinous lumpy brown stuff -- from that year on, we always brought jarred gravy, just in case;  I loved the corn roast we had one summer, orange soda in glass bottles, corn on the cob, the gigantic roasting pit, lots of family;  when Andrew and I got married, her house quickly was nicknamed "Andrew-land," it was like his Disneyland.  Guns galore,  open land for shooting squirrels, lots of birdwatching, plenty of fishing spots... I could never find the enjoyment in these things but my happiness came from knowing there would be good home cooking and always homemade cookies.

I also feel regret. I regret complaining so much about how there were only 4 stations on the TV and no internet or cell phone service up on the top of the mountain where she lived.  When I think that the house will never be the same or I may not visit it again, I regret not soaking it up more.

It was awful to miss her funeral and not be there to gather in remembrance of her with the rest of the Menne family.  Andrew and I had a commitment to fulfill in Texas. During this trip there were times I was filled with a tremendous amount of guilt.  As my family was mourning the loss of my Gram, I was participating in celebratory events marking the coming together of two lives.  It was extremely difficult, I was so happy to see my sister-in-law marry the man she has loved for 7 years but I was sad and upset to think about what my family was going through. 

I almost wish that Kenley had come into our lives a year or two earlier and that we could have brought her up to see my Gram more, when she was well.   

This picture is from our visit in October.  I am not sure if she remembered after we left that Kenley had been there but during our visit it was clear she loved Kenley. 

Blogger is killing me this week.

The Blogger site (for those who are unfamiliar, is where I write my posts) has been very mean to me this week. I had all sorts of trouble when creating the previous post, adding pictures and typing.  It's not like I am new at this either.  I have had this video ready to post all week but my upload video feature was missing.  Wtf!  The video is kinda long, I left it that way in case someone just felt like watching Kenley do nothing.  Listen closely, I swear after I say "Hellooo" to her she responds.   If you want to hear her say "heddooo" then just watch the first 30 seconds...  or you can watch the whole thing and be amazed like I am that she is such a big kid now.