Grandma Vi

For any of you who don't know, my great-grandma, Violet Matheson, passed away Tuesday, October 12th at the age of 90. We will always carry so many memories of her, but one I know will stick with me is this:

Grandma spent a lot of time at her piano in the last several years. She had a few songbooks in her apartment that she especially loved to play from, and whenever she came to our house at Christmas, she would sit down at our piano and sightread every song out of the Christmas singalong book that we always had sitting out around that time of the year.
When my grandparents went to her apartment after she passed away, they found her 'Sound of Music' songbook open on her piano to 'Sixteen going on seventeen'.
I'll always think of that with a smile.

One night, when I was lying in bed and thinking about her, I got a picture in my head of Grandma,
Wearing a beautiful dress,
In a gazebo,
With the rain pouring down outside.
And she was dancing,
and twirling and making her skirt poof out like a little girl,
and leaping from bench to bench without a care in the world,
and singing, 'I am sixteen going on seventeen',
and dancing with Jesus.
And though it's sad that she's not with us anymore,
Grandma got her wish to be sixteen again.



I don't have a date for this picture, but we know it was before she was married. Isn't she beautiful?






 

fun blog

I came across this super-cute blog the other day and wanted to share it. Hopefully it will give you something fun to read, since I never blog anymore :)

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

Why the vikings had no mums and dads.

Dad: Miles, how many days...let me rephrase that: How many days and nights have you been wearing that shirt?

Miles: Umm, I'm not sure...maybe six? I'm trying to wear it until it falls off, like the vikings.

Dad: Miles, please go change your shirt. And while you're at it, change you underwear too.

Oh, brothers.

A conversation from my house

Me: Eli, when you're 20 will you still sit on my lap and give me hugs?
Eli: Well, when I am 20 I might squish your lap.
Me: Then, can I sit on your lap and give you hugs?
Eli: Well, ok, as long as you don't give me kisses!

yahoo!

Yesterday me and my trusty highlighter made another mark on my list. I finished reading The Kite Runners in two days. I got it out of the library on Friday and finished it Saturday. It was great.

I have a few choices for what to read next, I got several from my list out of the Library.

Books left on list: 80

reading...

Today I printed off a copy of the book list and highlighted all the ones I have read. I love keeping track of goals this way. I do the same thing with school sometimes. The satisfaction that comes from that little stripe of pink neon is unmeasurable.

Anyways...today I highlighted 'Notes from a small island" by Bill Bryson. It was terrific. A very funny book about all the quirkiness of Britain. I recommend it, but it has a bit of colorful language you may want to avoid. I loved reading it.

I haven't decided what to work on next. Because I am requesting most of them from the library, I have to think about it in advance so it has time to get to me :)

There are brothers...

who are nice to their sisters

There are 13 year old brothers who say to their mum "Emma's done enough of the dishes, she can go on her walk. I'll finish up."

Even my mum said "Really?"

I had to pipe in with "Aaron and I like to be on the same team."

And we do. We're not always like that. We have spats just like everybody else. But I would say that most of the time, we like to be on the same team. And teammates help each other. I have to admit, however, Aaron's probably better at it then I am, but I'm working on it.

So, when I tell people that I have 5 younger brothers, and they gasp and say "oh my gosh" and "I feel sorry for you," I usually feel really sad. Brothers and sisters don't have to be the enemy. If you can be on the same team as your siblings, it really is the coolest thing.

There are brothers and sisters that love each other
There are siblings that are on the same team
We don't have to follow the 'normal' family pattern
So there, world.