nuff said...

Howdy, Friends!

Our month-long tribute to Mothers/Moms/AllWomenMotherly(andmaybeevensomemen!) is about to officially come to an end. Yes. We know. This is a sad, sad day. (Try to keep it together. Try to move on.)

“It’s not easy being a mother. 

If it were easy, fathers would do it.”

Dorothy from The Golden Girls

Until next time…we cherish Y'all's faithfulness and friendship...

forever friends...

For the past several Christmases, ELC has gifted me a "Curly Girl Calendar." It's one of my most favourite treats. We LOVE Leigh Standley's artwork. It's quirky and cute and has such sweet little messages of hope, encouragement or general silliness.

This is the 2014 calendar:

Here is May:

And the truth is, I WOULD go out of my way to be friends with ELC. She's simply remarkable.

I pray Little Leighton will feel this way about me someday, too.

Happy Friday Eve Eve, Friends!

Seventy? Seriously?

That’s how old My Sweet Hubby (MSH) will be in a few days. Seriously. As surprised as he is (and he really, truly is...), he couldn’t be as shocked as me. There is nothing about him that seems 70. Heck, there was nothing about me that—to me—seemed 60! Apparently I live A Life of Denial.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our time together—me and MSH. I’ve been thinking about how we met. Thirty-Seven years ago. Our tiny (and cheap), but tres sweet, wedding. Our first six years together. Then TLC’s birth and the next eighteen years after that. Soon we'll celebrate our 36th Anniversary. Yikes.

I've also been thinking about single Moms. Wondering how they do it. How do they raise one or two or more children without the love, help, support, encouragement, loyalty, devotion, and energy of a spouse? What if they don't have family members that can help them? What if they don't have many friends that can help?

Because here is The Honest-To-God’s-Truth:

I couldn’t have been the Mom I was—or am—or the grandmother I’ve been—without MSH. He goes above and beyond The Call of Duty. The Call of Love. The Call of Responsibility.

I’ve stood by and watched him be the most wonderful father to his four sons. I then got to experience his fathering of TLC. I’ve watched him learn the ropes of GrandPa/Pa-Dad/Pa-Pa (Yes, the poor man has three “grandfather” names, bless his heart…). He’s cooked. Cleaned. Been a chauffeur. Been an encourager. Waited at hospitals. Mowed. Cooked some more. Spent hours and days and months and years at schools. He’s listened. He’s laughed. He’s taught. He’s cried. He's teased. He's lectured. He's given his time, energy, money, faith, hope and trust to his children and grandchildren. And to lucky, LUCKY me.

During this month of May—that TLC and I have, as you know, designated “Mothers’ Month”—MSH deserves recognition. From now until the 31st, he shall be called Pa-Dad-Ma. He'll love it. Trust me.

(We’ll be toasting MSH on his 70^th birthday—but he should have a toast made to him every night of his life. He's just that special. Annoying sometimes, yes. In a silly, precious way. Still, he's definitely an inspiration to me.)

Have a FABULOUS Friday, Friends, Wherever in the World you are! 

the little girl who cried bug

My Sweet Hubby (MSH) and I were sooo lucky, this past weekend, to have Little Leighton (LL) come stay with us! TLC and her hubby had lots of things to do and needed to be able to do them sans their almost 2-year-old.

We met TLC in Ft. Worth to pick LL up Friday and took her back to Ft. Worth yesterday.

She reminds MSH and me so very much of TLC when TLC was a baby/toddler. Each time we see LL there is a new “thing” she does/says. This time, after learning about “bugs” a few weeks ago while two of our other grandchildren were visiting, we had “bug” alerts! (Our almost 4-year-old granddaughter showed her some bugs while they were playing on our front porch.) LL would be looking out the French door in our master bedroom or our guest room (her Mama’s former room…) and then she’d come running. “BUG! BUG! BUG!” she’d scream in her tiny little voice. Mostly it would be roly-poly bugs. But we did see some wasps and grasshoppers.

It made me remember the slight problem we had with TLC “crying wolf.” I don’t really know how many times I asked TLC, from her ages between one and, oh, probably, twelve: “Do you remember the story about the boy who cried wolf?” I have a feeling LL might have inherited a teensy-bitty-bit of her Mama’s drama and exaggeration. (I will concede TLC is all about NO DRAMA, PLEASE, DEAR LORD, and rarely exaggerates...promise...)

LL also learned about “buzzards.” We have a lot out here in the country! So I must add Buzzard Alerts to LL’s Repertoire of Cuteness.

This month of May, as TLC and I honor “Motherhood,” I simply cannot understate how FABULOUS being a Grammy is!  It is positively, absolutely, cross-my-heart THE BEST.

Here’s a picture of Princess Little Leighton helping her Pa-Pa water some ivy on our front porch. Like most kiddos, she’s all about water!

Hope y’all have a Wonderful Week—Wherever in the World you are…

Smooches and Hugs…

my heart...

Making a decision to have a child --

it's momentous.

It is to decide forever to have 

your heart

go walking around outside of your body.

Elizabeth Stone

Here is my heart on Mother's Day. ELC took this picture. She was "striking a pose" for her Grammy.

No one can explain the overwhelming love you will have for your own child until they are placed in your arms. She is my most precious gift, this Little Leighton.

We love her so.

Happy Wednesday, Dear Readers!

bless the heart...

Bless the heart

that gives.

The heart that loves.

The heart

that’s open to others.

Bless the heart

that makes time.

The heart that

mends hurts.

The generous heart

of a mother.

(from a 2014 Hallmark card)

Happy Mother's Day from ELC, TLC and Little Leighton...

Incredible Women

We love love LOVE this quote:

What can I tell you about this woman, this incredible woman? It’s that here’s a woman who I still look to when I want to know how to go forward with courage and strength. That is so fascinating to me—that as an adult, you can still turn to somebody—I don’t know if it’s because she’s been on the planet longer or is just wiser—but you can still turn to an adult who is your mother who’s still teaching you how to live.

                                                                      --Kalinka

                                      American fashion designer

ELC says it’s BOTH: Moms have been on the planet longer and, yep, a significant number of them are wise. (Of course, it should go without saying that she's one of the wise ones. Teeheehee.)

(It’s almost Friday—and only three days until Mother’s Day! We are happy Happy HAPPY, Sweet Friends…hope Y'all are, too.)

the dream...

TLC has a fashion merchandising degree—although she spent eight years working as a banker. I always worked (I won’t bore you, today, with all of the jobs I’ve had/work I’ve done)—from the time I could babysit, at age eleven, until I became a mother to TLC at 30. I chose to be a stay-at-home Mom until I went back to school to get a Masters’ degree in Counseling (TLC was sixteen when I received my degree, at which time I went back to work full-time.) TLC is a stay-at-home Mom currently—and hopes she’s able to continue to do this (HARD) job for several more years.

In honor of TLC’s love of fashion, our “Mothers' Month” Quote is from Betsey Johnson, a designer TLC and I have both admired:

Lulu is kind of the dream of wanting to hang out with your daughter the rest of your life. It’s the closeness with your kid that no one else, nothing else could come close to.

I feel exactly this way about TLC. And I’m certain she’ll always treasure her closeness with Little Leighton, as the years fly by…

Hope Y’all are having a Marvelous Monday!

ta-ta for now…

Mother, may I?

Yes. You may.

And…it’s May of 2014. Seriously? How???

TLC and I have decided we’re going to spend this entire month celebrating MOTHERS. WooHooandYippee!

We’ll be posting quotes from famous peeps about their Moms—or being a Mom. We’ll also probably have to be obnoxious and share some thoughts/stories of our own. Maybe force you to look at a few more annoying pictures. Y’all know us by now, right? We’re pretty shameless.

Our first quote (Drumroll,please…):

I feel as much as any mother does that you wish you could fight their battles for them and spare them pain. But I very much like the fact that [my daughters] are all independent—which, accompanied with stubbornness, can be a pain to deal with when they’re younger. But it’s a virtue when they’re older.

                                                                           --Enid Johns,  American Social Psychologist

(Remember this, TLC, as Sassy/Fiesty Little Leighton challenges you, okay?)

Happy FABULOUS Friday, Sillies...