Happy Birthday dear GG

I am so happy!

I guess I better back up and do some "real" sharing. I have a large and close family, and my cousin lives on the same piece of property that we do. That makes for lots of time watching each others kids grow. Being around at a drop of a hat if you need anything. The best of neighbors. A few years back my cousin and his wife divorced, it was not nice. All visitation stopped immanently. It has been so pain full.

I saw those little girls almost daily. Watched them constantly. I had a play room for them. complete setup for little people.

(My kids are 10 years older so not the same development level as they are)

My nephew is 9 days younger so I referred to Dom and GG as the twins.

Made their 1st birthday cakes.

You get the idea, they were (are) two of "my" kids.

The divorce happened. All contact stopped. Nothing. It broke my families heart.

Then a blessing happened

My Aunt (their Grandmother) was granted a 3 hour visitation each month.

It was given by the courts so it can't be taken away!

The first one is this Sat.

We are not aloud to be there, it was only for her.

(To make it less traumatic for them)

But I don't care, She get to see them. And 3 days after the older ones Birthday.

So I asked if I could bake a cake.

Decided that a whole cake for 3 was over kill.

So today I lovingly made cupcakes.

I poured all the love that I could into them.

They are not perfect, but every detail was made with love and

they will know how much their Aunt MeMe loves them.

So today I went shopping for inspiration and came up with...

Cherry chocolate cake with a cherry chocolate mouse filling.

Whipped cream cherry frosting

and white chocolate cherry rose on top.

My mom thought she had lost the kitchen to cupcake wars!

But I think the mess was worth it.

Tummy Troubles...

So this "little girl" has been having tummy troubles for a while now. She has a habit of getting sick a lot, and then some more. For as long as I remember she has gotten sick easily. if she was too anything she would get "sick" I just thought it was her being extreme and a cry for attention. Well 2 years of counseling and a few Dr. appoints and some test that show that the food doesn't go to the tummy, but comes right back up we are going to see a G.I. Now the ironic thing is last week I got fed up and put her on a liquid diet and started to introduce proteins, fruits and veggies. She has not vomited any in the past week. We also started a new stronger anti acid. So something is helping. Good, but now I get to guess which. The Dr. is a sweet man but never thought of a food intolerant issue. So we now have her not sick all the time, the damage that has been done to her esophagus is getting a chance to heal, but why. And how much damage was done because I tried not to give her attention for this issue thinking it would go away. oh well, I did what I thought was best, got her counseling and now am looking at physical reasons why. I wish I could just get answers. I do feel some guilt, but that doesn't help anything, so I am moving past that. If you are a praying person, please pray for solutions so I can teach this child how to take care of her body to be a healthy adult.

Our Christmas Angles

This year my family had the best Christmas ever. I feel that my kids had truly felt the meaning of Christmas, and we were rewarded for it.

It started off with Christmas eve (which is when I celebrate Christmas with the kids) I normally cook all day and then have all my family over for dinner. We listen to Christmas music all day and after dinner we open presents. This year was very similar in the schedule, which helped alot for my child who has a thing for continuity. We has a big difference in the location, we held dinner at our church. It was so wonderful to spent the day at church, we were given the privilege of cooking for any one who wanted to join us, and then taking dinners to the local "camp" for the homeless. This was the best part. My children were able to join a few to take meals to the homeless in our little community. This was a great learning experience for them. They were able to reach out and help some who needed the help. So cool! We stayed for the candle light service, then visited for quite awhile with our family. I saw some "family" who I hadn't seen in years. the girls were even enjoying it, not whining that they wanted to go home and open presents, that wasn't their focus. I felt that we had truly taught them the real meaning of Christmas. We were on our way home and Josie shared how much fun she had and she was happy we wanted to do this next year. That really surprised me, for she is the more judgemental of the two and she was very resistant of the two. This made me proud. We got home a bit before my dad so the girls started to clean up the wrapping debris with out asking and rearranged the furniture to better able accommodate our growing family. The opening of presents went off with out a hitch. It was so sweet to see the thoughtful gifts that both girls had picked out for each other and family members. They have really learned that when shopping for someone else think of what they would want and not what they want the other person to have. This seems to be a trait that many of my family might not have mastered, but I feel that they really have. This too made me get a bit teary eyed.


Christmas morning comes and the girls slept in and then they brought me their stockings so they could open them up with out me having to get up. I thought that was nice of them. We headed off to their other grandparents and that was a pure delight too. No snapping, put downs yelling or other traditional bad endings. It really was wonderful.

I have spent many Christmases in tears, and I never cried for hurting only tears of joy. I feel that we were truly blessed this season because we blessed others. So my question is this what have you done to bless others?

Bittersweet

After closing our boutique, I did a complete change of careers and started to do in home health care. I have started caring for a couple in their late 80's. I loved it! He was just pure sunshine and she was very grouchy. Some days she would keep telling me to go home she didn't need me, but when she asked me to help, or we would do something together it was just heaven.

Last night was my last shift working with them. Their health has deteriorated and they now need 24 hour nursing care, so they are moving into an assisted living facility. This is sad for me because I will miss them terribly. I am comforted that they will be getting the care they need, because in the last month that I had been with them I had started feeling inadequate to provide some of their care. So this is a bittersweet ending. l will miss working with them, but I know they will be getting the care they need. That made loosing them as a client a bit better.

Yesterday I processed 10 pumpkins into puree, and roasted seeds. Today I found a Sim card laying tossed on my desk. I put it into my computer to see what it was. It was a full card with many adventures on it, one of it being when I took my niece and nephew to the pumpkin patch to get the pumpkins from yesterday. It was a fun afternoon. Check it out for yourself.

I just Love trees with leaves.

Many of the trees in the area are evergreens, so I go out of my way to find trees that have falling leaves. Goofy I know, but it is a thing with me.

Here is the the modern day buggy & driver.

You don't see it, but this was taken from the hay ride. The kids had so much fun.

They went on it three different times that day.

Truth be known, I loved it too. Sitting down meant not running around.

You get what I am saying?

SHHHHH

Wonder what is going on here?

UMMM, I don't know if I like the looks of this.

Look at my little boy, and his new friend.
His mom kept trying to get him down but he wanted into the picture.

Wonder what he sees?

Dom is just lovin the camera!

Such deep thoughts, or serious plotting.

Dreams of Carmel apples are dancing in her head.

I Just love how well my camera and him got alond this day.

Waiting for the hay ride to start.

Don't they look sweet?

Looks are definitely deceiving.

My goofy grins!

I am thinking about making a collage for Christmas.

Which ones are your favorite?

Hosting

Warning:

It seems that no matter how many different ways I write my post and upload the pics. I still have not learned how to get the pics. and post in the order that I want.

So the pictures are in opposite order and my post is last.

Have fun reading!

After the concert we took our kids, and my "taxi" kids to our local

Golden arches for their first Mac Donald's in the U.S.

So much fun!

Our two exchange girls, Laura, Sarah, and Josie after the concert.

( both choirs singing together)

This past week the local High School choir hosted a choir from Australia.

We were one of the few families who were lucky enough to have 2 girls stay with us.

(Well not actually us, my house is FULL but my in laws have a spare room with two empty beds)

It was one of the BEST experiences EVER!

The girls were so polite.

Listening to them talk, was just lovely.

Hearing them perform, so amazing.

I was also the "taxi mom" to two other boys.

They were a lot of fun too!

They did teach me many things.

The most important was ......

ALL teens forget!

For a long time I was under the belief that I messed my kids up.

I had some how not taught them the art of bringing your stuff with you.

Then I noticed other moms bringing forgotten items.

It it a national epidemic?

I started to believe that we were doing something wrong.

But...It is not me or our nation.

It is a global problem.

I think it has been diagnosed as adolescents.

The day of the concert 5 of the 6 kids I drove forgot their things.

And guess who remembered all of her stuff?

Josie.

Did you ever think that would happen?

Nope not me either.

If you are ever approached to host anyone please do it.

This experience was wonderful and the girls made new face book friends.

I Loved that no matter how different the cultures were they found common ground, For them it was music. They found common music and filled the car with their singing. Harmonies, and giggles were the radio this week.

Now if you have ever sat in a car with Josie you know she sings.

I also have the pleasure to transport Shasta, who also sings.

So to say that my car gets a little loud sometimes is an understatement.

But with 6 singers in the car I was able to sing along and no one knew,

no one could hear me.

So Much FUN!

Today

Today is the last day that we are open for business.

I know this is what is needed for me my children and my family,

but that dose not make things any easier.

I feel like this is just another thing to add to the ever growing list of my failures.

I have been trying to focus on the process, not the actual ending.

But today I can not do it.

We are closed. The End.

I know this is my choice, and I know we needed it. but it hurts so much.

I can't even begin to cry, I would just break down and I am not sure if I would stop.

I just can't start.

So I need to go do my hair and put on my makeup,

hoping that those small comforts will hold me together today.

Butterfly Boutique will be open today for the last time from 10-5.

If you are in the area please stop by say Hi and pick up some really good deals.

All recycled clothing is $1. So just swing by and get some really good deals!

Gotta go get to work.