Ham and Happy!

We're not dealing with a ham at all! We're just dealing with a little girl that knows what a camera is for and knows what she wants...I guess this explains why she sometimes ignores me and the camera now...hmmmm.

We were outside when Daddy came home from work this day, she immediately reached for him so she could get in the car and drive. Of course, she had just finished playing in Grandma's car.

Swing Swing!

After Grandma's funeral we took Sidney Kate to swing. She LOVES to swing! As you can see, she wouldn't let us have her spoon back either. When we removed her from the swing she threw a Venable Fit!

When we visited Grandma and Papa Hauser we took her in the wagon to swing some more. This time we let her swing until her heart was content.


We've got one happy girl on our hands!

Our Grandma

All grandmas are special but Etta May "Bill" Marion had one thing on all the other grandmas-style! And I mean the kind of style that doesn't care what she looks like or worries if it matters! Grandma, born May 25, 1916, lived through enough hard times to know what really mattered in life and she took care of what she had-be it clothes, a house or family.
We should all be so lucky to survive this world with that lesson!

To honor Grandma, we wore some of her clothes (that ironically may totally be coming back in style!) Grandpa laughed when we did our modeling at the house and at the funeral he said he hoped she was watching this. We know she was and laughing too!

From left to right: Carrie, Lindsey (LP), Mindy and Melissa

My Funny Grandma

Grandma and Papa didn't leave the house much as they got older, but Grandma jumped on the opportunity to come see her beloved Buster! I could beg Grandma to come see me and our new house (when we first moved in) and she wasn't much on the idea until Buster came to live with us.

Grandma always had dogs and loved them dearly (expressed by her stiff pats on the head that would knock a grown man out) and when Tipsy died all she talked about was having another dog. Melissa's step-dad, Steve, ran across Buster in the animal shelter (I believe) and brought him to Grandma. The problem was, Buster was a frisky and excited lab puppy with sharp teeth and claws and Grandma was almost 90. It didn't turn out a good mix and I told Grandma I'd take Buster and let him grow out of his puppy stage (biting and pawing) and then bring him back. Well, Indy (along with Kevin and I) fell in love with Buster and couldn't give him back...he's also STILL in his excited, playful puppy stage, and grandma knew she probably couldn't handle him.

Grandma's favorite story to tell on Buster was about the day she was in the yard raking (or something of that nature) and fell between the handbars of the wheelbarrow. Buster was off playing in the yard, but quickly ran to her rescue when he saw she fell. He tried to help her up (in her words) and was really hurting her with his teeth and claws. So she thought to throw her shoe and he went to chasing it, allowing her to get up. (Smart thinking!)

Uncle Tony and Susu were the ones that brought Grandma up to our house, anytime she came. Uncle Tony said he'd asked her if she wanted to come see Sidney Kate after she was born and Grandma really never said no, so he knew she wanted to. You can all think she came up to see her 13th grandchild, but I know that she really wanted to see her Buster! He's the first one she asked about when she got up the stairs! haha! She didn't mind seeing Sidney Kate either...I asked her if she wanted another one (talking about kids) and she was quick to say no...I guess those five gave her a run for her money! haha!!

We'll kindly ignore the plump chick to the right and say "Awww, what a sweet picture." :-P

Here we are visiting Grandma and Papa for the first time. Our little 4 generations picture!

One of my favorite funny face pictures! She's looking at Papa asking, "Who are you?!"

Oh What Fun?!

It's Blake!! Sidney Kate took to Blake rather quickly and enjoyed every minute she got to spend with him.

Every child needs to grow up with a grandma like Grandma Marion. We all have so many funny stories from being at her house or talking with her. I hate Sidney Kate won't get those same experiences, but she'll make her own with her 3 grandmas I know. Here she is crawling around the carport, a place we all spent so much time!

Uncle Tony really likes this chick. He and Susu visit as often as they can to "smell that baby!" He walked around the house with her, fed her some sugary sweets and swung her in the air.

He started to feel the burn at one point-haha!

More Family!

Friday night Uncle Tony went and got A LOT of KFC so we could all eat together. Papa and Grandma usually eat between 3 and 4:00...I think he had to wait until 5 this day, but I'm sure he didn't mind.
From left to right (going around the table): Sandy, Aunt Frances, Papa, Uncle Tony and Uncle Donald. Grandma and Papa had five children, from oldest to youngest, John Franklin (Frank), Donald Wilson, Tony Gene, Wanda Joan (who was called Wanda until school where there was another Wanda in her class-been Joan ever since!) and Danny Clay.

Since Grandma and Papa didn't have AC, we all sat outside to 'cool' off...nevermind there was more room out there too. Grandma was cold all the time, so you can imagine Christmas with five children and their spouses plus 29 grandkids coming and going...it got warm (HOT) in there...but you'd still see Grandma wearing a jacket and feeling just fine.
Grandma kept this carport as clean as she could so some of the grandkids washed it off and swept it while we were all there making slight messes.
From left to right: Uncle Donald, Andy, Joan, Frances, Sandy...1/2 of Tony.

From left to right: Frances, Sandy, (all of) Tony, Susu and David.

Sidney Kate was not without attention. Jan fed her some yummy strawberry pound cake with icing. She even gave a bite of her pre-chewed cookie to Sandy so she could eat more cake.

Family Makes Things Better

Sidney Kate's Great Grandma Marion passed away Thursday, June 11, 2009. I hope to write more about her later, but this blog is about how family makes things better!
Here is our little one enjoying the globe that so many grandchildren before her have enjoyed (29 total!).

Here she is enjoying the company of boys! Casey, Blake (one of her favorites!), Corbin and Chase.

Grandma had style that was all her own. Being 93 years old, married for 73 years, mother to five, grandmother to 14, great grandmother to 13 and great great grandmother to two she didn't need fancy clothes or things to make her special or pretty-she had enough love and family to do that for her! Here are Mindy and Lindsey (LP) modeling some of her most well known pieces.
*To honor grandma, four of us wore her clothes to her funeral: Grandpa commented on how she was watching it all.

I think Sidney Kate wanted to formally introduce herself to her cousin David with this little handshake.

Girly Girl!

I did not grow up a girly girl but I'm raising one! I don't know where she gets these girly moments, but she's having more of them than I ever have! (However, she seems to have her rough and rowdy moments too!)
Jill, from work, gave Sidney Kate this purse. Talk about new fun! We immediately how to see how many balls she could fit in there! This is the first purse she has worn on her shoulder...she normally puts them halfway up her arm.

I'm amazed that she can walk all around without it falling off! That's skill at an early age!

Grandma Mary was visiting and Sidney Kate found her purse. It was too heavy to tote around but she sure did try! Somehow she got caught up in the act of putting on lipstick. Grandma Mary had to give her many layers of it!

Amen!

Kevin and I always hold hands before we eat eat, pray, kiss then begin our meal. Well, when Sidney Kate came along and was able to eat with us we involved her in our tradition. We try to hold her hands, but sometimes it ends up being an arm (see Kevin's hand in picture below), pray and then kiss her...I'd say she's been doing this with us for quite sometime. One day in the past two weeks we looked up from praying and noticed she was ready for her kiss. The next day I had my camera ready to see if she'd do it again...she did!

Yes, that's spaghetti already on her face-she's not so skilled in the waiting to eat part. But she has all the other steps down pat!

Ahh Memories...

At our recent play date, Grayson gave Jill and I a memory back that we had lost. Senior Week 1999! Josh and Andrew had graduated high school, I had finished my freshman year at ASU and Jill and Grayson had finished their junior year of high school. Off to the big MB we went! Apparently we hit up one of those photo booths...

10 years later we've remade the moment...as children play among us! Stay tuned 10 years from now for another update...

I Wanna Stay!

Write this down!!! Today was the first day Sidney Kate ignored me as I entered her daycare to pick her up. She looked at me and went about her playing. She and Kaleb were in a corner talking to each other and banging on Kaleb's crib. She had no intention to leave with me or even acknowledge my existence. I guess I could have been sad over it, but I was so happy that she enjoyed her friends so much that she'd rather stay and play.

I made several attempts to pick her up-her response was to quickly squat and let out a fake cry. Or I'd ask her if she wanted to go-to which she'd say, "Uh uh." Anita even called Kaleb over to her so I could better reach Sidney Kate-still she just stood there and played as though I was no where around. When she saw Kaleb getting further away she reached for him and did her 'Come back' hand motion.

I finally picked her up and dealt with the fussiness. It subsided quickly and we made it home so she could play with GG. What a moment!

Forever Children Photography

Ann Katherine Welch, of Forever Children Photography, has taken all of Sidney Kate's first year pictures. She even took my maternity pictures. Click here to go to her website. If you watch the slideshow you'll see one of Sidney Kate's One Year (Cake) pictures. She does great stuff!!