Just Like Their Daddy (but with a little more bling)!

NPayne's favorite shoes are Chucks, Cons, Converse...you know the tennis shoes that come in a variety of colors, low-top or high-top, worn by females and males. He use to have a plithera of colors, and he use to mix it up when he wore them....blue on the left foot, black on the right foot, etc. When I met NPayne, he was a mere 19 years old and very hippiefied. The only shoes he owned were cons, and he wore them everywhere with everything. Today, under our bed he still has a pair of red high-tops, black low-tops and blue low-tops. I may be forgetting a pair in there somewhere. I bought Drew some pink low-tops last spring, and she loved them. Then Addi wanted some...she got black low-tops, then B...she ended up with the pink ones (that were Drew's when they wouldn't go on Drew's feet any longer) and Drew ended up with some white low-tops. Then came Elli....she got some light aqua high-tops, and they are take my breath away cute. A few weeks ago, Addi asked if she could add a little bling to Drew's shoes (while Drew was camping) and surprise her when she got home. I said...why not? So off we went to the craft store to get the jewels and glue. Addi and B worked that evening on decorating their own cons, as well as Drew's cons and Elli's cons, and I must say the results were fantastic. Their shoes are all so cute and unique. The following weekend, when I was on the retreat, there was a street fair going on; and I saw a vendor selling cons decorated just like my girls had decorated theirs. Of course the vendor was selling hers for 3 times as much as we paid for our beloved cons. Since then, we have had several people tell them how cute their shoes were....one of my good friends commented on Elli's today; so I thought I would post a picture of Elli's and Drew's. This was really fun for the girls, and they created something really unique; and I know their daddy is happy to see them sportin' some cons...bling and all!

NOT ME MONDAY

1. I did not get completely giddy at the fact that I filled up my suburban, with gas, for $55....yes $55; but I am not one bit excited about that. And I do not continue to drive by all the gas stations, in my area, comparing prices; so I'll know where to go for the "cheapest" gas next time I fill up.
2. I did not feed my girls popcorn for lunch...I wouldn't do that.
3. I did not go to my son's school and talk to his class, about his autism, and leave there wishing I had more time to spend with those curious and sweet children.
4. I am not one bit excited about having dinner with some girlfriends tonight....Not one bit excited.
5. I am not limping around, like an injured athlete, because I have some strange injury which has occured; and I am not hoping it goes away all on its own.
6. I am not one tiny bit excited about Thanksgiving.
7. I am not dreading and looking forward to starting my "new" tutoring job tomorrow....not me!
8. I am not already completely overwhelmed with the Christmas holiday which is right around the corner.
9. I did not enjoy a nice date night with NPayne on Friday night, and I DID not sleep until 9:30 on Sat. morning; since our children were spending the night with his sweet mama.
10. I am not thrilled to have cleaned out the dress up closet and gotten all the dress up accessories, shoes and clothes organized. NOT ONE BIT! And the girls....they're not one bit excited that now they can find their dress up clothes when they want to play dress up. And they really enjoyed cleaning it out (wink...that's their NOT ME MONDAY).
That's it for this Monday....stay tuned next week!
To go to MckMama's blog, the originator of Not Me Monday; click on the link on the right side of my blog

My Child is A Genius....Is that boasting?

Yesterday when Drew was getting into the car after school, Ms. Norwood a 4th grade teacher (she was Addi's 4th grade teacher), was telling Drew that she had heard that Drew had written this great paper; and she wanted to read it to her 4th graders. I asked Drew about it, and she said she had written this paper at school; and her teacher asked her to read it to the class. Of course she gladly reciprocated the request. Apparently the gifted teacher, who Drew sees a few times per week for classes, also got wind of the paper; and she too thought it was pretty flippin' fantastic. She made a copy to read to her 4th grade gifted students. Then the assistant principal got in on the scoop of the, now infamous paper, and she too said it was superb; so Drew was feeling like all that and a bag of chips by the time I had heard about the paper. Me, being her mother and an English major in college and grad school, immediately said to her...."I'm going to need to read that as soon as possible."

So she brought the paper home today with the stipulation that it be returned on Monday (so more marveling could occur), and when I read it; I completely understood what all the hoopla was about. It's magnificent, if I say so myself, I scanned a copy of it (red pen marks and all); because I loved it so very much. It will definitely be displayed in my home somewhere.....I forsee another project coming on. I wanted to share it with whomever may read this post. I have a picture of the original scanned copy, and I'll also type it out; so it can actually be read. Remember although my girl is in gifted classes and is apparently a great author, she is only 7; and it seems as if she can't be bothered with spelling and grammar, much less, neat handwriting. Nonetheless get ready to be amazed, moved to tears and completely spellbound....or maybe just really impressed....or maybe simply impressed. Either way, it's my 7 year old girl's creation; and I AM ONE PROUD MAMA! I am going to post it below with the more legible typed words accompanying it.

EVENING BY DREW PAYNE

Pretty colors show up in the ocean blue sky as the sun sinks to where you can't see it anymore. It gets quiet as children go to bed and eat their dinner. The birds fall asleep, and day animals go away as it gets darker and darker. The beautiful white glowing moon starts to peak from behind the clouds as if it has been there all day long. The sun goes to sleep as the moon wakes up. The outside slowly becomes chilly. How about them apples? Maybe she is all that and a bag of chips, at least she is to her mother.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK-Bryna Mae and Her Buddy

This is my sweet buttercup Bryna Mae and one of her really sweet friends, B (I didn't list her name, since I didn't actually get her mama's permission YET). I took a gazillion photos of them, one day last spring, dressed alike in their cute skirts and cowgirl hats and boots. At some point, some of their other photos will definitely be featured on my blog; because these little cutie patooties photographed beautifully. They are both quite the posers, and I will definitely be using some of their shots in an upcoming project.

IN MEMORY-Part 2 My Melancholy State and More Treasures

Three years ago today, my sweet dad lost his short but painful battle with cancer. Yes that is one day after my mamaw passed away. My grandmother's passing was unexpected, but my father's passing was undeniable. Three years ago... I lost my mamaw on a Sunday morning, my father on a Monday evening, buried my grandmother on a Wednesday morning; and buried my father on a Friday afternoon. I was truly living in a surreal and foglike state at that time.
My dad had gotten sick that previous summer of 2005. By the time his cancer was diagnosed, it had spread from his lungs to his bones and then to his brain. Those next 5 months went by very fast and very slow. Before I knew it, he had lost his hair to radiation and was losing his fight to this monster of a disease. At first I prayed for healing for my father, and then I began to pray for peace and comfort for him and my mother. The pain he was suffering was almost unbearable to witness.

My dad, Papa, as my children referred to him loved being a grandfather as much as he loved being a father to me. He loved his wife, my mother, with his heart and soul and cared for her better than anyone could. She has been disabled for many years, and he would work all day and come home and take care of his bride. He loved NPayne as if he were the son he never had, and NPayne loved my dad as if he were his own father. He repected NPayne and cherished the fact that NPayne loved me, his one and only child. Papa had a very special relationship with his grandkids especially my boy, Cal. It wasn't that he loved Cal more than the girls, but it was that Cal loved his Papa so very much. If you know anything about people with autism, you know that relationships are very hard to build; so this relationship was one that we celebrated greatly . Papa would take Cal (and the girls) to the movies and to get french fries, and he would sleep with Cal when the kids spent the night. When NPayne and I found out we were expecting a boy, it was right around my dad's birthday; so for his birthday we bought him a little tiny baseball glove. The minute he opened it, a huge grin spread across his face; and he immediately knew he would have a grandson. Papa had a baseball hat, that NPayne had gotten for him, that said Cal on it which he wore every chance he had. It was made to stand for University of California at Berkley, but he proudly word it to show his love for his grandson. When his sickness began to take over his body and frame of mind, I sat down with Addi and Drew (who were 8 and 4 at the time) and told them that he was sick. They asked a lot of questions, or I should say Drew asked a lot of questions, and I answered them as honestly as I could. I never even attempted to explain these things to Cal. After my dad lost his hair, Cal would say to him "Papa, you got a hair cut". This always made my dad smile, and he would agree that he had indeed gotten his hair cut (all of it). Having autism kept Cal from understanding the seriousness and severity of his Papa's illness (so I thought), he defintiely knew something was different; but I didn't think he realized what (but I think I was very wrong in my assumption). As my dad's life began to end rapidly, I would take the kids over to see him. Two days before he passed, I took them over one last time. I knew it would be the last time they would see him alive, and they would have to do the talking; because he was no longer able to speak. The girls kept their distance but waved at Papa, and he smiled. I could tell they were uncomfortable seeing him that way. Cal, however, walked right into the front room, of my parents' home, where my dad was lying in the hospital bed with the hospice nurse beside him. He looked right at my dad and said, "Papa, you got a haircut". Again my dad smiled a big smile, which was the last smile I ever saw. By the next day (the day my grandmother had passed), he was in a comalike state and except for one brief time when he opened his eyes and his blue eyes met mine; I would never see him awake again. He passed away the next night. As I planned his funeral, picked out his burial plot, and attended my grandmother's funeral;over those next few days, I was living in a fog. Addi and Drew knew that their Papa had died and gone to Heaven. Bryna was barely 2, so she didn't know what had happened, and then there was Cal....how would he ever understand this. How? The night before the funeral, we had a private family viewing (not a fan of these but honoring his wishes). As the family came and went, and they were all heading home; there was a moment when nobody was in the viewing room with my father. At this time, Cal got up and went in. He closed the door behind him. After a few minutes, he came out of the viewing room and blew a very gentle kiss to his Papa. It was one of the biggest "God moments" that has ever occured in my life. I have thought about that scenario a lot, and it gives me such comfort. I wonder now if maybe Cal doesn't understand with his very "untypical" brain better than we with our very "typical" brains do or think we do. Since my father's passing, Cal will not go to the movies; and he would not spend the night with my mom that is until this past summer when she finally moved out of THEIR house and into a "new" house (as Cal refers to it). I think that's how he handled the sadness of missing his Papa by refusing to do things he did with Papa. My father's passing has brought many "God moments" to my life....I'll share those in some upcoming posts. But for now, I live in a melancholy state around this time of year; and although it gets easier with each passing year....it will never be the same! I do have the wonderful treasure of being reminded of my son's love for his Papa every night when I kiss him goodnight and see that little tiny baseball glove and that baseball cap that Papa so proudly wore on his head with or without hair. When I ask Cal if he remembers his Papa, he will say "Who's Papa?" and then he will say "YES"!

TIDBIT OF INFORMATION - New Nickname

NPayne sent me his horoscope today. It read as follows....

AQUARIUS
January 20 - February 18
It isn't just princesses who get to live happily ever after in fairy tales, dear Aquarius. You have this right as well. The conditions are ripe for attracting a special person into your life. There is no need to rely on "expert" advice for attracting a soul mate. It is your own unique qualities that will beckon to Prince Charming.
Sounds like he might have a new nickname added to the list....Prince Charming!

IN MEMORY-Part 1 of My Melancholy State and More of My Treasures

My mamaw, Clara Mae, passed away 3 years ago today. She was the most instrumental person in leading me to Christ. She lived her life for the Lord! I can honestly say that her funeral was one where I truly felt joy. It was a joyous occasion. I was sad, because I was going to miss her; and I still do miss her a lot. But I knew where she was going, and I knew that she had lived her whole life to get there. Mamaw always took me to church when I visited her, and we always went to church when she visited us (and pretended like we went every week which I'm quite certain she knew to be untrue). Anytime I had a question about something in our society, our world, our lives; and I couldn't find an answer on my own....I would call her. She would almost always lead me directly to scripture in The Bible. Sure there were times when she couldn't give me a yes or no answer, but she gave me her thoughts and why her thoughts were as such which were always linked back to our God. My mamaw was a deeply religious person with a quick wit and a strong will. I cherished spending summers with her and Papaw on their cotton farm in West Texas. I LOVED the fact they lived in the modest house that my grandfather built with his own hands, and that we ate food we got straight from the garden. I enjoyed the fact that they had just enough stuff and didn't want or need a lot. I enjoyed going with her to her garden club meetings, bowling with her lady friends and to the beauty shop every Friday to get her hair done....I told you I have an old soul. I loved walking down to the railroad tracks and putting a penny on...only to go back the next day to see how flat it had gotten. I loved sleeping with her at night and having her tell me all sorts of nursery rhymes. I loved playing with her felt Bible stories that she used when she taught Sunday School. I loved making homemade peaches and cream with the fresh picked peaches. I loved that we hung the clothes out on the clothesline to dry. I loved helping her with her vegetable garden, her flower garden and her rock garden. And let me tell you...her gardens were something to be admired, especially her rock garden. We would go on long walks and collect all sorts of rocks, then bring them home and carefully arrange them in her large and beautiful rock garden. I always liked finding the rocks that I had contributed, to the garden, when I would visit.
Mamaw is one of the reasons that I am thrifty and really enjoy making something out of other people's junk. She was very frugal....she lived through the depression, so there was nothing to waste. At mealtime, she served only enough food for you to have one small spoonful of each item served. When NPayne and I married and would visit her, we would secretly have to stop at the ONLY hamburger joint in town to get him a burger before dinner; otherwise he would be starving (not literally of course). When I was cleaning out her house, I came across so many treasures....her old vanity set that I had always admired and loved, her Bible, some of her really sweet and vintage dishes, her little wooden pew and podium set, and many other things. One of the things that I treasure the most is finding the notes of encouragement, complete with scripture, that she had written to herself. They were tucked into her Bible. I found many other poems and prayers and letters that were written in her handwriting. I kept every single one, and I will treasure them as long as I am living. I also discovered where my sentimentality comes from. If you read my previous post: Sentimental, Absolutely....Sympathetic, Not So Much! then you know that I am extremely sentimental; and I have kept every card I have ever received. As I was cleaning out her house, I found every single card that I had ever made for her or bought for her. I found every single school picture or drawing that had been given to her. At that moment, I realized I was a lot like her. It made me smile and cry to know that many of her treasures that were given to her or made for her or written for her were by her grandchildren and great grandchildren. I am sad that my children won't get to know her and experience her and life on the farm as I did. Those experiences shaped me as a person, and I treasured spending time with my grandmother. I hope that my grandchildren will enjoy and experience the same treasures with me.

NICKNAMES

I decided to share some of our nicknames and how they originated. I looked up nicknames in the dictionary, and it gave the following definitions: a descriptive name added to or replacing the actual name of a person, place or thing. The other definition was...a familiar or shortened form of a proper name. Here goes....

Neil...daddy, dad, NPayne, Mr. Payne, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love, The King, Nigel (given to him by his friend Lance), Dear, (I have a few more for him, but they are for his ears only)!

Lorie....mommy, mom, Dear, Lo, Mrs. Payne, The Queen, Hot Mama (NPayne has a few more for me, but we won't go there; it would be TMI)!

Addison Jo....Addi, Addi Jo, AJ, Sissy (given to her by Cal, because he confused Addi and Daddy), Dear, Princess, Buttercup!

Callahan Leigh...Cal, Cal Leigh (pronounced Cally), The Boy, Our Boy, Your Boy, My Boy (what can I say, he's our only boy), Brother, Dear, Prince, Buttercup! When he was a baby, I referred to him as my Chunk of Love; because he was a giant of a lad!

Drew Michelle....Drewby, Drewby Lou, Drew Boo, Boo, Sister, Dear!

Bryna Mae....Bryn, B, B-Nut, Princess, Buttercup, Dear, Little Sister!

Elliot Ann...Elli, Elli0000(that comes from a refrigerator toy that sings a song called Annieooooo which we translated into Elliooooo), E, Princess, Buttercup, Dear, Baby Sister, Elli Cinderelli!

I call all of my children and NPayne the following on a daily basis....Dear, as in Yes Dear, What would you like Dear?, How can I serve you Dear? (I'm cracking myself up about now). I refer to all of my children as my Buttercups, as in What's up Buttercup? I refer to all of my girls as princesses (see former That Princess Thing post) and my boy as prince. As for some of the other nicknames, they just sort of happened either by someone in our immediate family or a friend who gave them that particular nickname which happened to take hold or suit them to a tee.

WORDFUL WEDNESDAY (and it's still Tuesday)

This is what happens when you get carried away while pirouetting....Elliot immediately started to pirouette after she discovered she was wearing her beautiful new tutu. She was spinning and spinning and spinning and when she went to take a bow, her bum was facing the crowd; and they were applauding wildly (it was her mama and her sisters, so what would you expect). As you can see from the photo, her hands are still in pirouette position. I do wonder how one 2 year old learns to pirouette and do it so precisely! Maybe if you put on a beautiful new tutu, the pirouetting sort of takes over your body. I've always wanted a tutu, maybe I'll get myself one and see if it has the same effect. I bet NPayne would enjoy watching me pirouette especially if it involved a tutu.
To visit the creator of Wordful Wednesday, go to http://www.angiescircus.blogspot.com/