Happy Birthday, Austin!

 Good morning birthday boy!!!  Holy cow, I can't believe Austin is now 10 years old.  Austin began his day by rummaging through all the balloons and door decorations to get to his breakfast.

 We started the morning off nice and early since he had to go to school.  His request for breakfast was eggs and bacon.  I think he would have been happy with just the bacon!!  

 I enticed getting ready for school by telling the kids Austin could open a present before school if they were all ready.  Addie and Ashton were just as excited about him opening gifts as he was!

We like to spread out the opening of gifts through out the day so it isn't all over with at once.  He opened another when he got home from school, and then another before dinner.

Austin's absolute favorite eating grounds is Buffalo Wild Wings.  We were joined by some of our friends for dinner.  After that we went home for one more gift and off to bed.  I think he enjoyed his birthday!  This boy is such a joy to Randy and I.  I think he was prepared before he came to this world to be a brother to all sisters!  He's so laid back and chill with all (well, most) of the girl drama.  He is so imaginative and I'm still surprised at how he can make something out of nothing!  He's great a sports but he also loves to just relax.  He's very well-rounded and we are so proud to have him as our son!  Happy Birthday, Austin!

Margie M. Maze

 My grandmother meant the world to me.  She was right there, along with my parents, routing me on with everything I ever did.  I was always so happy that I had strawberry blond hair when I was a baby because with that and the middle name of Kathleen, my grandma gave me the nickname of her "Irish girl" and I always treasured that.  I always wanted to make her happy.  She was a very clean person... even though she loved her knickknacks!  So anytime I knew she was coming over I always made sure my room was clean so she would be pleased with me.  Her family came first along with her love for God and her country.  And she made everyone feel loved and accepted who joined the family... especially her great-grand kids!  She always made holidays special for each of them.  Individual cards (no one loved giving cards like my grandmother) and then either holiday window stickers or holiday socks or jewelry or something to know she was thinking of them.  She went from attending all her grand children's events to attending all her great-grandchildrens events.  I had such a hard attending the first soccer game after she had past... knowing that I would never be looking across the parking lot again for her and her little walker with my mom right next to her.  I would always spot them and then send one of the kids over to let them know exactly where we were.  She was such a sports fan!  I think that's where I get it.  

 Right when I got back from Florida, I began helping my mom with all the funeral arrangements.  Amy and all of her family came and helped with the program.  Joe and Lindsay were not far behind... but their journey was much longer than our short flight from Florida.  They drove the 24 hour trip!  I was so glad they did though- it meant so much!  We had a good time sharing memories with each other.  Here we are all sitting around my table folding the programs.

 We put together a nice little table of pictures- my grandma was always taking pictures!  Her camera sat right next to her and her rocking chair so she could grab it at any moment!  And we included some of her treasured knickknacks that she would have loved too.  

 We all took turns taking pictures of our families in front of her table.  Here is our picture.

 My grandma was a Wednesday Cook at her church for years and years and loved doing this and loved the ladies she worked with.  This time, the cooks made a meal for our family.  The pastor said how happy they were to do this for Margie's family, and how her service as a Wednesday Cook had gone full circle.  It looks like the beautiful ladies have an all-girls table.

 Which must mean this is the guys table!  Kyson, Austin and Randy enjoying their lunch.

 And here is my mom with my grandmothers sister, Iris June Winget-Brown.  There were six children in my grandmothers family, and Auntie June was the youngest and is now the last sibling alive.

 The service was beautiful.  As I mentioned before, the past summer was such a struggle for my gram.  Sometimes I would sing to her to help calm her down.  She mentioned to me at least 3 different times that she wanted me and my sisters to sing at her funeral.  She loved the song we sing at our church called Love At Home, and that's the one she wanted us to sing.  I told her I would try... but when the time came it just wasn't something I or my sisters were strong enough to do.  Instead, our children took our place and sang.  They did so great!  Ashton actually started if off all by herself... we were so proud of her and I know my grandma was beaming down on all of her great grandchildren.

 My cousins were also all able to come back to town and helped serve as pall bearers.  My brother Jordan was in Singapore so Austin stood in for him.  The pall bearers were my brother in law Todd, Randy, Austin, my nephew Kyson, my brother Joe and then my cousins Charles, Frank and Vincent.

 

 The pastor had a few more words to say at the graveside and then allowed anyone to say a memory they had.  Sara took this opportunity to read a poem that she wrote about our grandma.  It was so great and really pinpointed so much of our grandma.  Afterwards, Joe was able to dedicate the grave.

 My mom had picked daisies from by grandmothers backyard... her pride and joy and sanctuary!  She loved gardening and put so much time and love into her back yard.  It seemed very fitting to have these flowers bloom just in time for her service.  

 Everyone grabbed a daisy and was able to put it up on the casket and say their last good bye.  

 And of course our children didn't forget to give some respect to their Great Uncle Arthur, my mom's brother who passed away in 1995.  They are together in the ground and together in heaven now.

My grandmother actually had almost everything picked out and paid for with the funeral which was such a blessing to us!  The grandchildren enjoyed that there were two limos and were especially happy to be able to ride it back to the church after the graveside memorial.  We love you forever Gram/Gum-Gum!  We know you will be with us helping us along the way until we can see you again!  

Spring Training

 Randy had a conference down in Orlando that he was going on and with a few phone calls to some grandparents, I managed to sneak along for a little get away!  It had been a while since I had seen my brother Joe and his wife Lindsay, plus the weekend after his conference was the start of Spring Training for the MLB.  This was something Randy and I were dying to be a part of!  So Joe and Lindsay came over from Tampa to meet us and go watch the Atlanta Braves.  Our first stop was Downtown Disney... top on our list of priorities was finding something for the kids of course!

 After that we headed on over to where the Braves play their games.  The ESPN Wide World of Sports Stadium.  Spring Training is awesome because it's more laid back, they play at smaller stadiums so you get the small town atmosphere.  

 The next day Randy and I traveled to the Houston Astros Spring Training stadium.  They were playing... you guessed it... our Atlanta Braves!  Our seats were just a couple rows up from where Randy is standing right here.  It was so exciting!

 After the game we kept on driving over to Tampa to met up with Joe and Lindsay.  It was fun to see where they lived and worked and went to school.  Tampa is very different from Orlando... more of a town and less touristy!  We went out to dinner and stayed the night at their house.   

The next day we headed over to the Yankees Spring Training Stadium.  Now that was a nice stadium... not as much of the "small town" feeling though.  But they were playing the Braves and it was fun to see all the different stadiums.  Three days, three different cities and stadiums, three baseball games!  We'll check it off our bucket list... but I doubt if this will be our last time to attend!  It was a blast!

Till I see you again

This past summer was all about my grandma.  I lost count with how many trips to the emergency room we visited... tears running down my cheek each time wondering if this was the one that would get her.  My grandmother has always been such an incredibly strong person.  In her old age she became diabetic, but as special as she was to us- so was her diabetes to every doctor she visited.  No one could ever figure her out!  But this summer was worse than others.  She'd spend weeks in the hospital, get released just to be back in a few days.  She ended up in a nursing home for some time but even with someone on hand all the time she would still find herself back in the emergency room.  Summer was coming to a close and we had to come up with something because my mom had to go back to work.  If we left her in the nursing home, the state would basically take over her and all she had.  But more important than that, she didn't want to be there.

After my mom went back to working at the schools and my kids all went back to school, I took over the responsibility of visiting my grandma over lunch and getting her ready for her nap and then my mom would come up after work.  I will always treasure those moments... some good and some bad.  There was one time I was helping her eat and her physical therapist came out and told her she was supposed to be trying to do that herself.  Her response was, "I know, but my granddaughter likes to do it for me.  I don't want to hurt her feelings."  We all started laughing.  But there were other times that I would walk up to her and she would burst into tears and I would just hold her.  She wanted out of there so bad.  And luckily for all of us, our blessing came in the form of my sister Ann.  Ann was in a unique position that enabled her to come help and we are all so grateful for this.  With Ann and Hospice, grandma was able to come home and somehow Ann kept her going strong all the way until March.  It was no small miracle.  I remember telling my sister Sara during the summer how I didn't think it was fair that some of our family was able to come from out of town and say their goodbyes to grandma.  Because we lived in town, I felt like I could never say goodbye, and I was afraid one day she would just be gone.  However, grandma became bedridden a few days before Randy and I were taking off to Orlando for a work conference.  The night before we left, we all went over to say goodbye to grandma.  

 I remember telling her how much I loved her forever, and that she was my angel.  I told her that Randy and I were going to visit my brother Joe down in Florida but when we got back we would come over and tell her all about it.  She wasn't talking much by this point, but she told me she loved me... and that "you don't have to".  I knew at that point that this was my last goodbye to her.  Grandma passed away March 9, 2013.  It was the night before Randy and I returned from our trip.  I treasure these last pictures with her and I'm so glad I remembered to take my camera.  I love the one of her looking up at my kids, because to me it resembles how she will be watching over them their whole lives.  She loved them as if they were her own, and they knew that.  At night, I will ask my little girls what they want to dream about tonight... and they will answer "I want to dream about Gum-Gum."  There was a song by Carrie Underwood that started playing on the radio not long after I lost my grandma, and I think of her every time I hear it.  For Avery and I, it's our song to our grandma.  "Said goodbye, turned around and you were gone, gone, gone.  Faded into the setting sun, slipped away.  But I won't cry cause I know I'll never be lonely, for you are the stars to me, you are the light I follow.  I will see you again, oh, this is not where it ends.  I will carry you with me, till I see you again."