Downtown Charlotte

When my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were here the week before Christmas we took one evening to explore downtown (ironically also called uptown) Charlotte all decorated for Christmas. It was freezing cold (literally), but we lasted from late afternoon until the Panthers/Vikings game ended. No small feat with 5 kids and their 4 parents!

A Thank You to My Mom

Thank you for having me. I loved it when you used to tell me that you wanted 3 kids and you just knew I was a girl because that is what you wanted.

Thank you for feeding us a healthy diet, even before healthy was cool. ;)

But thank you also for knowing when a good excuse for chocolate or ice cream was.

Thank you for spending time teaching me to sew, I still use that skill and you would be proud if you could have seen some of the cool costumes I have made for the kids.

Thank you for all the times you walked with me around Balboa Island, took me out of school for a ditch day to Knott's Berry Farm, and took me shopping. Some of my best memories.

Thank you for being willing to bend your rules when you knew we were worthy of your trust and for not bending them when they were there for good reason.

Thank you for letting us be involved in all kinds of activities from sports to plays to youth group.

Thank you for allowing us to do the things we could afford to do and thank you for saying no when we couldn't afford them.

Thank you for giving me a love of the beach, but also for putting lots of sunscreen on me.

Thank you for sharing your love of little kids with me. I know you would just adore your 5 grandkids.

Thank you for reading to me every night, taking me to the library, and buying me books on special occasions.

Thank you for the summer trip we took around the whole west side of America. It was so fun to explore together and have you all to myself for a couple weeks.

Thank you for teaching me to bake chocolate chip cookies and I'm sorry about the time you got on the phone and I just started adding ingredients by myself.

Thank you for letting me crawl into bed with you when I was scared or hurting, even though I am sure you slept much better when I wasn't there.

Written Mother's Day 2010, my 11th without my mom.