Life's Goodbyes

We got the call this morning that my husband's mother had passed away in the early hours of the morning. She had been sick the last few weeks and just placed in hospice care the day before. So we knew it was coming, it just happened quicker than we were thinking. However, this morning while I was sitting and working on crafts, I kept reliving the past years in my mind that I had known my mother-in-law. I think because she was so much on my mind, that the phone call was not unexpected.

I could not have asked for a better mother-in-law. I hope that when my turn comes, I can be the kind of mother-in-law that she was to me. From the very beginning, she made me feel like one of the family. I never felt like an outsider at any time. My husband and I were young when we were married. We had not worked for years to save for a big fancy wedding. Both of our families worked to provide us with a wedding that we look back on with great memories. My mother-in-law got the ladies of her church to make finger foods for our reception. A lot of the finger foods set out at our reception were made by her.

This was just the beginning of the past twenty-nine years. When I gave birth to my first son, she was so excited. She arrived at my house the day after we got home from the hospital. What a help she was. Being a first time mother, I was worried about everything. She just jumped in and helped, and showed me that babies really do not fall apart.

Since that time, we have had three other children. Elsie always wanted to know how they were and worked hard to give them goodies while they were growing up. I remember my older two boys wanted a television to have in their room to play their nintendo games. Elsie saved aluminum cans until she had enough to cash in to be able to buy them a television. Davey and Chris shared that television until Davey was well into his high school years.

My children loved her cooking. My daughter was so excited that cookies were actually made by scratch and didn't come out of a package. I remember a trip a few years ago where Brittany just sat on a stool in the kitchen watching her cook. Elsie knew that my youngest son Adam loved her stuffed shells. She always made a point to make those whenever she knew that Adam was going to be with her. Chris loved her cheese cakes. Our last visit to see her, Chris was not able to go with us. Elsie mad him a cheese cake for us to take back to him. Of couse, she always had crab cakes for us. There was nothing like her crab cakes. My oldest son is a Marine and he loved her cowboy cookies. Whenever he was deployed, she always made her cowboy cookis and sent to him while he was in Afghanistan or Iraq.

These are just a few things  that will always be in my memory. She was always an encouragement to us. What a great teacher she was in her quiet way. I am sorry that we lived so far away and did not get to be around her more often.

The last few months were filled with pain for her after a painful surgery. We know that now, she feels no more pain and is in a better place. We have shed tears today because we will miss her and her presence in our lives. As I look through pictures and think of her grandchildren, not just our children, but all ten of them, I think of the legacy that she has left behind. She will not be forgotten. This week as we prepare to say our earthly goodbye to her, I only hope that through the years, that we can carry on and pass  the life lessons that she taught us to those younger members of our family. Even these last few years when her health was beginning to go down, she would sit in her rocking chair crocheting blankets to donate to cancer patients. What a legacy we have to live up to. So to Grandmom, we say thank you for your never ending love and service that you gave to all of us. We love you and will miss you.

This is Elsie with four of her grandchildren. This picture was taken about a year and a half ago. We had just picked up our son, the Marine at the airport. He was in the process of moving to a new duty station. Elsie took us all out to dinner that night. Even though it was a quick trip, we had so much fun that night. 

Proud Mom

I have to say that I am so proud of my youngest son Adam. He auditioned for and got a solo in this year's half time show with his high school band. I cannot wait to see the first performance. He is being so secretive and will not tell me the name of the song he is playing. He loves making me wait for these things. I am still so excited and proud of him. Way to go Adam!

This is Adam playing for one of his games last year.

Happy Birthday Alyssa

It was my niece's birthday this past weekend. I had so much fun making her gifts. A friend of mine has recently introduced me to making paper beads out of recycled paper. I made Alyssa a pair of comic strip earrings using a newspaper comic strip. I then made her a bracelet using the comics out of a newspaper. The bracelet did not turn out as colorful as I would like, but I am learning as I go. I also made her a letter with her name and decorated it. My husband actually cut the letter out of wood for me. I got the idea for the letter off of Pinterest. So overall it was a very productive weekend. However, my living room is a mess. I have also been making lots of paper beads while watching the Olympics. So maybe lots of bracelets, earrings, and necklaces coming up.

This is the bracelet with the comic strip beads. The beads did not turn out as colorful as I wanted, but I am still pleased with it.

The letter that my husband cut out for me. He builds furniture, so lots of scrap wood around. I modge podged scrapbook paper on it and just printed the letters off of my computer. After I had everything glued on it, I put three coats of modge podge on it.

These are the earrings that I made out of pictures cut out of the comic section. So much better than just throwing it away and taking up landfill space.

After School

Well I have finally graduated! Actually this event took place a few months ago, but I am so excited that I finally have completed my degree. It just goes to say that you are never too old to go to school. I am still teaching preschoolers, and I have to say this year has been a challenging year. I have students who just turned three before school started and students who are five going into kindergarten next year. They are all very active. This class really has to be kept busy with no down time. I am constantly on the internet looking for new ideas.

So now that I have graduated, I am enjoying getting back into crafting and spending lots of time with family. I also have a house that I feel never got cleaned during the time I was in school. So lots of catching up with house work (or not). I am also going to work on this blog. I really want to create a blog that I am proud of. I am definitely going to try to post at least once a week.

I still have two children at home. My daughter graduates high school this year and is frantically in the process of deciding what is next in her life. My son is enjoying his high school years. We had a great time getting together with family during the Christmas season. It was great seeing family that we haven't seen in few years at a wedding and visiting my husband's family over Thanksgiving. Now that we are into our second month of 2012, we are really deciding on our goals for the year. I saw on a friend's blog that she went to a couples event at her church and learned about setting goals with your spouse and doing things together. This could be planning a garden togethe, a vacation, or maybe just planning meals together. I really believe this is great even for those of us that are not young couples. I find now that our children are older, we really need to work on just being a couple again. So I believe this will be a big goal for me during 2012. Just learning to enjoy being half of a couple and finding common ground again.

Well I hope everybody has a great weekend and hopefully many of you have long weekend. Get out there and have fun!

This is a picture of an ornament that my class gave me that I student taught in. I will treasure this through the coming years.

This is a picture of our family at a family wedding over the holidays. It was great seeing family members that we haven't seen in a few years. We really shouldn't wait for major life events to get together.

Thanksgiving

Well it has been a few months since I have been on here. It is the week of Thanksgiving and we are making a trip to visit with my husband's family. We are excited about the trip and seeing everyone. I also am in the last few weeks of schooling. I have to finish my teacher work sample and professional portfolio. I feel like there is so much to do and so little time. However I will graduate on December 10th. I am so excited! It is a life long dream to get my college degree and I am almost there. You are never too old. Hopefully, after I graduate there will be more time to give to this blogging. Well I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoys their family and friends!

Getting Started

Well here I am getting started again in the world of blogging. I am a 48 year old wife, mother, college student, and preschool teacher. I have tried blogging before but have not succeeded because I just haven't kept up with it. Blogging is something I would really love to get into. I have so many interests and feel that blogging would introduce me to a whole new world to learn and share. My trouble has been time management. Hopefully I will get better at this.

I love getting and sharing ideas for teaching preschoolers. I also love making things, especially crafts that I can turn into gifts. My daughter and I have gotten into decorating picture frames and knitting with the knifty knitter. I really do not have a lot of spare time, but I graduate with my bachelors degree in December, so hopefully then I will have more time to dedicate to crafts.

I am so excited about getting my college degree! This is a major life goal, and I am finally achieving it at the age of 48. It just goes to prove that you are never too old to accomplish your goals. I would love to hear from others who have done this. I am going to look into getting my masters degree but will take a few months off after graduation to just enjoy being.

My daughter graduates from high school just a few months after I graduate form college. We are planning on taking a family cruise together to celebrate. This will also be another first for me. So excited about this experience. We have been having fun looking up cruises on the internet. I think we are going to go to the Bahamas!

Well this is all for me today. I am going to spend a little bit of time in researching about blogging. I would like to know if you can add other pages with tabs, or does it all have to be the same page? So much to learn, but I am going to have fun learning.

I am including a picture of my family with this post. They are the loves of my life. My oldest son will not be in the picture, because he is a US Marine, and was not able to be home on Mother's Day when the picture was taken. Hopefully more pictures will follow. The picture does have three of my four children, my husband, mother, plus a few more extended family.

Well I hope everybody has a great weekend. It is hot here in the south, so we are going to try to stay cool!