Hoping For A Starry Night

Today would have been my mother's 67th birthday. She has been gone since January 2007 and for some reason I have been finding her in my thoughts much more often during the past several weeks. Maybe it's because of it being her birth month or maybe it's just where I am in the process of it all, I don't know.

Life does have a way of just moving forward and it's easy to push things to the back of your mind in the everyday hustle and bustle of just getting by.
I think that I let myself grieve just enough when she passed and then I just got on with things. That seems to be what I do. I am a great listener, but not always so good at opening up about myself and my own feelings. It seems like only now am I really feeling the true feelings of loss and having these moments of just missing her. It's not entirely a sad thing though, in some ways it's almost a comfort to just feel the emotion of it; if that makes sense? I actually had a dream about her for the first time recently. I have always thought it was strange that I never dreamed about her after she passed. I don't really remember what the dream was about, but I remember that she was in it, and that it was nice. It felt peaceful. I miss you Mum...............      

"Perhaps they are not
stars in the sky,
but rather openings
where our loved ones
shine down
to let us know they
are happy." 

(Unknown)
_________________

My Blog's New Look

I started poking around online several weeks ago to see if there was some way to make this blog feel a a little bit more like my own. I found several sites that gave good examples of how to change the code to get more of a personal look. I have been mucking around with things for a while now and have finally managed to get things working, and learned how to include some of my own graphics. Now it feels more like "home." Hopefully this will also mean that I will be inspired to update more often! Anyway, I had fun making my new header. My goal is to change it up a bit now and then, maybe go with the current seasons and holidays. Hope you like the new look.

This Year's Apple Adventure

Ahhhh, it's that time of year again! Al, Mandy and the kids went out last week to pick apples at one of the local farm/ orchards. It's a small family run place that grows and sells various fruit and vegetables throughout the Summer and Fall months. Depending on what they have, the kids also get to see and interact with some farm animals as well. The kids always enjoy the horse drawn wagon ride out to the apple orchards. Mia wasn't too sure what to make of the horses, but she did remember their names and as soon as she got home she told me that they were Abe and Abbey.

Maddox seemed to emerge as the apple picker of the family, while Mia made herself known early on as the official taste tester. Maybe this could be a potential career for her since it is rare to find anything that this girl won't eat or at least try!

I'm not too sure what was happening here. Maybe it's best for a Nana not to know. All I know is Mimi looks really determined and Maddox looks like he's thinking, "Uh oh, she's gonna fall and I'm gonna get blamed!"

ABC's & 123's

Maxie started a new preschool this fall and so far he seems to really like it. They have been going over all of the usual Fall things, learning to recognize their own names in print and most importantly how to be good little preschool citizens and classmates. So far there have been none of the teary mornings that Mandy had to deal with last year- and she hasn't had to peel him from her leg in order to drop him off. What a difference a few months make!