Pretty in Pink

Little Miss Piper Renae


All decked out in pink.


Hey - - - babies don't have a corner on cute, I've got my OWN going on!


Great Grandma Heavilin meets Piper.


Great Grandpa gets his turn too!!


Great Aunt Pam met Piper in the hospital, but I didn't get a picture then, this is a re-meet!!!

A Letter to Eily

Little Eily says: "Did you hear? I was actually hatched from a huge egg!?"

Dear Eily,

you weren't exactly HATCHED from a HUGE egg. BUT, there definitely WAS an egg involved in your creation. It wasn't huge, nor did it have a shell, but it was an egg nonetheless and part of God's mysterious gift of life to you.

When you are a little older, ask your mommy about this, and if she WANTS to, she can bring you to "the old science teacher" who will give you ALL the details. wink wink.

Love, Auntie Keetha

Find out more about Eily HERE

This Time You're Gonna Hafta - - -

Read lots of words because there are no pictures in my next post.

If you are like me, you will be tempted not to read.

I don't blame you - - - but maybe you will find it worth the read if you try.

Enjoy.

My Friend is Selling her Roots

Recently my Long Lost Twin began posting on her blog about selling her house. Just reading that they are selling filled me with profound sadness.

Before I even knew I HAD a twin, much less lost her, she and her hubby purchased a small one story two bedroom (if memory serves me right) "starter" home. This was well over twenty years ago.

Her hubby, being an architect of wisdom and renown, made plans for that little house. They did something I've never heard of before or since - - - and which they say even THEY would never do again because of the mess and difficulty - - - they put on a second story. But what a house it made.

They proceeded to raise their family of five - - - four boys and one princess - - - who is all lady and yet can "whip" the toughest boy at basketball - - - in that home. Between child four and child five is where I met my twin. We were between child three and four ourselves at the time, and our children were closely stair-stepped in age, cementing the bond between us.

This is also where I "met" my friend's house. And what a house. There are pieces of themselves and their children around every nook and cranny. Every wall, every stair, every nail a memory. They took a boring little two bedroom ranch and made it into a family heirloom.

Now it, this lovely heirloom, is for sale. And my heart is breaking.

I understand all their reasons (well, the ones they've stated anyway) and my brain can agree with them and even wish them God Speed and blessings. They are wise people, my twin and her hubby. They would not make a hasty decision.

And yet my heart is breaking, and I ask myself, "why?"

And I know what it is. It is the ROOTS. By selling their home they are selling the ROOTS. And even though they are THEIR roots to sell - - - those roots feel like they are in part also my roots. Vicarious roots.

This, lovely though it be, is the 15th house in which I've lived in my life. That does NOT include my college dormitory nor the house I shared with a friend for a summer NOR the camp I lived and worked in for the next summer.

While there are certain "perks" to having lived in many places - - - like the possibility of collecting many dearly cherished friends and experiencing many places - - - there are no roots. No longevity. No continuing history of setting.

I was born and raised in a parsonage in Wisconsin. No - - - not A parsonage, rather FIVE of them in three different communities. So I cling to Wisconsin as being a root - - - and the tendrils I cling to most are our vacation cabin (which we RENT BTW) and my beloved Badgers.

After high school graduation I spent the summer of '72 (1972, not 1872) traveling around Africa and Europe before settling in my college "home" in South Carolina where hubby entered my life. Since then hubby and I have lived in four different communities and ten different homes.

I find myself with no roots - - - except those I vicariously cling to.

So dear Long Lost Twin, I am grieving the relinquishing of YOUR roots. They are beautiful roots and though since I've returned to the full time work force I have not come to your roots to enjoy them WITH you (and thus the Long Lost part) I have known they were there, and I have LOVED them. And I love you. And I do not wish you to turn back - - - I only grieve your turning.

And now tears are welling in my eyes - - - -

Barely Alive at Fifty-Five

I'm not 55 yet, but hubby is and it rhymed - - - works for me.

You KNOW you're barely alive when your Friday nights go like this AND you find it is as much excitement as you want or need for the entire week:


First supper at La Charreada. I've talked about this place before - - - great food and the waiters remember us and greet us at the door with smiles and "Hola, Senor y Senora!!"

This is hubby, el Queso Grande, and our waiter, Poncho.

For over a year Poncho vowed and declared that his real name WAS Poncho. Our wise-in-Latin-American-Ways friend, Gerson, was not convinced so easily. Come to find out - - - Gerson KNOWS. This is REALLY Ramiro, ever to be known to us as Poncho!!!

The food was GREAT and we waddled out the door full to the gills and beyond.


Once home, el Queso Grande decided to soak a fly or two in the neighborhood pond. This is the most excitement he can STAND on a Friday night. Don't know that he'll get to stay long - - - those are storm clouds building in the south western sky beyond him. I told him at the first sign of lightning to come back so his fly rod wouldn't become a lightning rod.

Heavy risk takers we.

(As if to HIGHLIGHT this threat, the weather bug on my computer just gave me a warning clap of thunder.)

Slightly later addendum: He was back in about 15 minutes - - - but caught three bad little bass before the storm settled in.


And my after-dinner Friday night excitement so far includes blogging and chocolate. They didn't have my NORMAL milk chocolate Doves, so I'm trying something recommended in a blog comment by one of you - - - Hershey's Bliss.

They'll do in a pinch!!!

I'm almost finished with this blog post, and unless your comments start pouring in I'm afraid I'll have to look for excitement on TV - - - which for me will probably mean rewatching my DVRed Badger football game from last November. Can't get enough of that, ya know!

Still later addendum: I'm too slow. El Queso Grande has the remote and he won't be looking for DVRed football games I can just tell ya. Honestly, the man CLAIMS to be a football fan but never wants to WATCH it. I think that means he IS NO FOOTBALL FAN!!!

So - - - - what excitements are going on over yonder in YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS tonight?

I Just Watched - - -

A rerun of the 2008 Scripps National Spelling bee, which a young man named Sameer Mishra from West Lafayette, Indiana won. Hooray for our side!!!

But the WORDS. Most of these I've never heard of, let alone SPELLED. Here are some of the last words of the competition:

parfleche - hairless preserved rawhide
huapango - Mexican folk dance
rhyton - drinking horn
sheitel - Jewish female wig
nacarat - vivid red
ecrase - crushed texture
posaune - trombone
thymele - Greek altar
oxylophytic - acidic soil loving (plant)
sinicize - modify by Chinese influence
aptyalism - absence of saliva
opificer - skilled artistic worker
hyphaeresis - omission of a sound or letter from the body of a word
kulturkampf - conflict between civil and religious authorities
taleggio - creamy cheese from whole cow's milk
introuvable - impossible to find
esclandre - incident which causes a scandal
prosopopeia - absent person speaking as if present
guerdon - reward

Whew - - - no WONDER I never entered a spelling bee!!!

Look Who Came Over - - -

Mark and Annette, our pastor and his wife.


On a Harley, no less!!


Just check out these "goggles" on Pastor Mark!!!


Snazzy safety glasses!!!

I'm Drowning in a Sea of - - -

Techno-illiteracy. I just want to know how to do some simple things like change my picture file size so I'm not filling up my blogger space so rapidly.

When my techno-geek-bum-college-student son came by for a few days visit, I begged him for help.


He promptly began uploading, downloading, and overloading my computer with things that would help me in my quest for more knowledge.

I TRIED to follow his lingo - - - but it was all GEEK to me. I mean, I'm barely swimming around in a Kindergarten Pool of "Dick and Jane" and he threw me a Tolstoy "War and Peace" lifeline!!!!

When I cried out with tears of frustration - - - -


All he could do was hang his head at my total ignorance.

And I still am - - - - ignorant. :-(

But hey, Kyle, THANKS for trying!!!

Not To Be Outdone - - -

By her older sister, our younger daughter, Korie, brought us her BABY, Buckley, to keep overnight.


Buckley scampered all over our house - - -


From room to room and - - -


Up stairs and down.

In an astonishing turn of events, Buckley loved his Kamma and rejected his Papoo!! Who'd a thunk it? An animal that didn't gravitate to Greg??? Unheard of!!!

So - - - Kamma got to have him cuddled up on HER lap, and Kamma got to take him out for his little walks and KAMMA got to take


For her swollen eyes when Buckley went home. Who KNEW anyone could be allergic to a little wiener dog????

Everyone's Back Where They Should Be

Little Miss Piper came home from the hospital today.


She brought her mommy and daddy with her. Mackinley ran to meet them in the yard.



Kamma and Papoo made sure everyone was settled in, and then they returned home too.

Grandpa Heavilin brought Grandma home from the hospital EARLY this morning.

Now everyone's back where they should be. :-)

Mom

For those of you who know and have been following my mom's progress, she did get to go home from the hospital last evening. Dad said they had a comfortable night and she was up at her normal hour and eating breakfast.

Please keep remembering them as we believe this is the beginning of her "home going."

More Macky-Antics

This kid has plenty of "ham" in his genes,

And when he saw my camera,

He posed himself

For these pictures

As pretty as you please!

Shoppin' with Papoo

Bummies = Summer!

Nothing says summer like a good old fashioned drive-in root beer stand complete with car hops.

And there is not a better drive-in than Bummies.


Mackinley agrees.


He especially enjoyed the part where Papoo let him "drive" while waiting for the food to arrive.


"Hey, look at me Kamma!"


Macky sat on the floor between the two front seats to eat his hot dog and shake. I told him to smile and this is the face he gave me. Oh, don't worry - - - he wasn't angry OR pouting - - - he KNEW he was doing the opposite of what was requested, and even this little two year old knows that God wrote a permanent sign on MY forehead that says "Pick on Me."

A Boy and his Granpaw

Once upon a time a very cute and very silly little boy decided he would have an adventure with his Granpaw.

This is that boy.


First he helped his mommy open presents for his new baby sister, he even put part of the present on his head. Now that wasn't REALLY part of his adventure with Granpaw, but it was just way too cute and silly to be saved for later, so it became part of his adventure anyway.


Granpaw took the boy fishing.


Granpaw did MOST of the fishing, but the boy didn't care because there were lots of things to see and something to climb on.


The sun was setting and there was a cool breeze which ruffled the boy's hair. How could it get any better than this?

Then suddenly it did! Granpaw caught a fish, a little bass.


Granpaw showed the boy what all great fishermen do when they catch a prize fish. The boy didn't really like the wet slimy lips - - - but Granpaw said this was a cool thing to do, so he did it anyway. Granpaw's have great influence over little boys and should always be very, very careful of what they teach them.


Next, while Granpaw was throwing Mr. Bass back in the pond and washing the slime off his hands, the boy stopped to smell the posies.


Granpaw took the boy to a tire swing in the park. He pushed him high in the air.


The boy felt just like a bird.


Granpaw surprised the boy by swinging too - - - just like another kid.

But even the best of days must eventually come to an end. This one was no exception.


The boy snuggled down in his car seat and slept all the way home.

The end.

Or, is it just the beginning?

Tales of the Pied Piper

Today we met my sister, Pam, and her daughter, Misti, at the hospital before we went up to see Piper.


We found our little Piper - - -


Even more content and- - -


More beautiful than yesterday. Though mommy tells us she wasn't a very happy sleeper until about 4 this morning.


Cousin Misti settled her right down.


Papoo held her when she was all snuggled in and cozy. He's calling her his little Piper Cub.