Making Memories

Here's one more blog post that I wrote AGES ago but never shared for some reason. I wrote this long before my Godson wore the costume that I had written about. Sometimes life is so fascinating.





It's hard to believe that Halloween and our annual S'more Roast was a week ago! I can't believe how fast time passes. The older I get, the faster it goes! It's hard to believe that I had such good intentions to write this post last Tuesday. Oh well!

The season of Halloween has turned into a wonderful time full of traditions for me and my family considering I grew up thinking it really is little more than a silly little 'holiday' for dressing up and a great excuse to eat a lot of candy! As a kid, I dressed up every year and went to my share of Halloween parties over the years but I wasn't one of those people who couldn't wait for Halloween and I certainly never planned ahead. Our costumes usually consisted of what my Mom could find around the house - we were gypsies and hobos and cowboys and witches. 

I do remember the year that I started to look at Halloween through different eyes. My son was eight months old and I made a pumpkin costume for him. I am not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination but even though I just stitched along the seams of a fabric-printed jack-o-lantern, I thought I had made something wonderful! Each year after that I started to look forward to Halloween in a way that I never had before. Now my kids are grown and I am experiencing Halloween through a new set of eyes because I am blessed to be included in the Halloween traditions a new generation is carrying on and making their own. 

I tried to find a photo of Rob (Bobby back then) in the pumpkin costume that I made for him but I will admit I wasn't the best at keeping photos organized. I had every good intention but life happened. So, I'll share this photo of my nephew Ryan and great-nephew Connor wearing the amped-up quilted version of the original pumpkin costume that my son wore so many years ago. 

Maybe my sister Sandi can find a photo of Rob in the original costume. She's the best photo organizer on the planet, with all of her photos in albums and duplicates filed away.



Old Friends

Below is a post that I wrote many years ago (maybe in 2011) but never published for some reason. Since it was written, Katie and Marbles have both crossed the rainbow bridge but we will never forget the impact they had on our lives and the memories they left behind. Katie loved babies and baby feet. She was here to greet each of our grandchildren after they were born and she was surrounded by family in her last days. What a good girl she was. 

💙💙💙💙💙💙

Just about 16 years ago we returned home one evening, opened the garage door, and saw a little bitty ball of black and white fur who had somehow managed to scoot in and find shelter during a storm. He was a sick little kitty in pretty bad shape.  We took him to the vet and found out his ears were infested with ear mites and he had an upper respiratory infection to boot.  It didn't take long before his soft wheezy purrs won our children's hearts and Marbles became a permanent member of our family. He got his name because my husband thought he looked like 'Italian Marble'. 

For many years Marbles was ruler of the roost until about seven years ago when we got a puppy. A puppy! Oh, the indignity of it all. At first, Marbles wasn't so sure about this new addition to our family but after Katie outgrew before long we would find him curled up for a nap next to Katie. In the years since, Marbles has become an old man and it has been amazing to watch Katie keep a watchful eye over him. Who would have guessed, all those years ago that a cat and a dog would become such good old friends.