Papaw

The boys and I were able to visit my Papaw in North Carolina one more time recently.  I am so glad we did because we lost him 2 weeks later.  I am so blessed that Papaw battled Alzheimer's with the grace and dignity he lived his life with and that my boys were able to get to know his kind soul and his generous spirit even though he was suffering from this disease.  He always wore a smile and he always lit up when Adam and Caleb entered the room. 

Sorry these are a bit blurry, they're the last ones I have.

 

We went on a walk around the building and found a lonely piano.  A and C jumped on that thing and started "playing".  We could tell Papaw wanted to play with them so we wheeled him right up beside the boys and all 3 had a blast playing the piano.

 

Papaw filling in the rhyming blanks in the story. 

 

Caleb reading a story to another resident:) She was very interested and Caleb was very intent on getting the story right. 

 

Adam joined an intense game of bocce ball among the residents.  I kid you not...a verbal fight did erupt between 2 of them on the ethics of the game and who had a better lawyer. So funny. 

 

Leaving N.C., we were delayed by 24 hours due to airlines and sickness.  Adam threw up in the rental car on the way to the airport.  Everybody running fevers.  I had strep throat all week.  This is how we looked waiting for the airplane home. 

Two weeks later, we returned for the memorial service for my Papaw.  It was a beautiful, poetic, and overwhelmingly loving ceremony filled with relatives, friends, students, co-workers, and community members that wanted to honor him.  He lived a full and rich life, devoted to his faith, his community, and his family.   I was blessed that I got to spend 33 years with him and that my boys got to know their great-Papaw. 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam Starts Kindergarten

We're here.  Chris and I watched Adam walk into a classroom for the first time and we looked back at him playing with play-doh as we walked away.  From here, he will have good days and bad.  He will gain friends, learn the hard lessons of rejection and hurt feelings, and find his strengths and weaknesses.  He will be away from us for more hours of the day than he is with us.  He will make many memories that maybe he will share with us or maybe we will never know about.  He will start to take others' reactions into consideration.  I hope he will question and make up his own mind.  I hope he will take pride in himself and stick up for others.  I hope he remembers to zip his pants!  I hope he is challenged. His expression as we said goodbye seemed to say, "I got this mom, you can leave now."  I knew he was ready and that he was at ease with this new phase, even if I was still holding on to the last five years as tightly as I could.   I know that as I waited and paced by the windows on that first day for his bus to bring him back to me, I prayed that he had a great first day and that he wasn't overlooked by his teacher.  I want everyone he meets to see him for as special of a person as we know he is. 

Got the school supplies!

 

He's a fish!

 

Summer Ice Cream??

It's not really summer until you buy ice cream from the ice cream truck right?  But, check out this version that rode down our street one day...questionable to say the least.  Chris went with the boys to make sure they weren't abducted.  Notice the cardboard window you order from. 

Chris and Beer

Chris finally researched enough to begin his own homebrewing beer label.  He has transformed a section of our already overcrowded garage into a beer brewing section.  He's done 3 batches so far of about 15 gallons of beer (sounds like a lot, but will go fast with LSU football starting back) and we've yet to taste anything b/c it takes months to finish off.  Exciting stuff!! 

 

 

 

So after a couple beer batches, Adam wanted to brew his own root beer.  Chris ordered the kit and they brewed it together.  Caleb and Adam and Chris are loving this root beer.  It only took 3 days to be ready.

 

 

 

 

 

Vacation 2012

More fishing!! Yes, Adam wanted to eat them even though they weren't quite big enough.  So, Chris did his best to fry them up. 

 

Adam did not enjoy the public restroom smell. This is how he solved that problem.

 

Caleb was loving the maps. 

 

 

On our last hike, we got caught in a storm.  Kinda neat. 

 

Top the vacation off with some lake swimming...

 

And hunting lightning bugs and we had a fantastic vacation!!

 

 

 

 

Vacation 2012

Follow me guys!  I've got the map.

 

Looking out over the Talullah Gorge

 

 

 

Oh yes we did!!  The boys did great on their first "Strenuous Trail" of 620 steps.  However Caleb cheated, he got a ride down part of it and then back up. 

 

 

 

 

 

Vacation 2012

Waterfalls everywhere!

 

Being Silly in the toy shop

 

Eating Candy!

 

Playing pirate golf while we waited for the 4th of July fireworks to start

 

Ahhhhhh!!