Should be famous quotes

Cleaning up my laptop and came across some fabulous family quotes.

Enjoy.

"Do you think we should go to the store that will be the crowdedest later earlier?"   Grandma C, December 2009

"I didn't know that angels snored..."   Cara

"Well we're all heathens for the day..."  Great-Grandma C

"Don't get old, you'll live to regret it."  Great-Grandpa C

"Alyson, you have a mouthful of face again."  Grandma C

"Three klutzes playing badminton in the backyard, without a net."  Grandma C

"Let's hope he's not kidnapping those children!"   

At a loss for words

I have two things to admit.  They do not make me proud.

They even confuse me a bit, but here goes.  Healing comes with acceptance and sharing.

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I went for years without eating a Snickers bar.

Because I didn't think I liked nuts in chocolate.

I went all through high school without eating one.  Until I was a senior.  And then I ate one and realized I'd been a fool.  A fool I tell you!

I've been making up for lost time.


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Next, and related to the above.

I went for years without eating my parents' glorious spaghetti sauce.  Oh, I can taste it now.  Savory and fresh, chunky and smooth - just a little bit of fire to keep you coming back for more.

And I rejected it for years in favor of cheese because I didn't think I liked onions.  Well, let's be clear - I didn't like onions, but one day, we were out of cheese.  I remember thinking to myself - come on Mom, how could you do this to me?  You know I don't eat that stuff.  But I grudgingly tried it.  And the same thing happened (although, I'm pretty sure this happened in early middle school).  I realized I'd been a fool.  A fool!


I can't get those years back because I can't find my copy of the recipe.

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Mom?  Dad?  Please, look kindly and mercifully on this, your wayward daughter.  I'd like to come in from the cold and enjoy a feast of thanksgiving.  Give me the recipe again?

I may even share some with my family...  but only if we're out of cheese.

Merry Christmas part II

OK, so I know I'm doing this a bit out of order since I haven't even got the pictures from Christmas up yet, but here are the pictures of MayLee and Alyson in the jammies Gma & Gpa got for them. You'll see in their arms the little bears they also included who are wearing little aprons.  The girls have matching aprons to wear too.  :)

Confession

Dear Mom,

Do you remember that Sunday when we were trying to leave the house to go to church?  And I couldn't find my dress shoes?  And we were late because we were all looking for them?

I have a confession to make.

I hid them underneath the table.  Do you remember that fancy round table we were going to re-varnish?  It had a really long table cloth over it.  It was green with a lacy white over cloth.  It hung all the way to the floor.  It was the perfect place to conceal something.  I don't remember if I ever used it for anything else intentionally, except for that one day. 

So why did I hide my perfectly good (probably adorable) Sunday shoes underneath a dusty table?  I was hoping you'd notice the super adorable strappy heels you didn't really wear anymore.  I'd conveniently laid those out somewhere conspicuous after Rachel or I were done playing with them. I think I must have been a tween or early teens at that point.  And man, but did I want to be wearing some more grown up shoes. 

Incidentally, if you don't remember - you didn't take the bait.  I gave up and then "found" my shoes underneath the table. 

Though I didn't think it was awesome at the time, I appreciate it now.  Thank you for not letting me grow up too fast.  I'll have to put the brakes on for my own girls all too soon.

I love you,
Cakle-berry.


PS. Yes, I do know that "and" is not supposed to start a sentence.  I like it anyway.

Dose 4 - The Roadtrip within a Roadtrip

In addition to hanging out in town, we decided to go on a mini roadtrip while we were in Topeka.   The girls have never been to the Cosmosphere space center and it's been years and years since we've been.

Before I give you the meat and potatoes though, here are some appetizers.

Grandpa C on a walk with the girls

MayLee playing at Aunt Amy's house

Alyson playing at Aunt Amy's house

MayLee with one of her cousins

Here we go now...


To be honest, we double dipped.  On the way to Hutchinson, we stopped in Abilene to see the Eisenhower Museum.

We waited for a while before our tour of his boyhood home.

At the Cosmosphere, they have an entire HUGE airplane in the lobby.  I can't believe I didn't get a good picture of the whole thing, but here we are at the tip of the airplane. 

It's cool - there are no ropes - you can touch it, take pictures with it...

...or even sit your kids on it.

MayLee is looking at what we soon found to a lunar module.  Pretty cool.

Alyson was kind enough to share her chapstick (tap-stitch) with Grandma C

The girls got to learn about Mars explorers

Aly got to sit in an ejection seat

Grammy, Grandpa C and MayLee next to the Apollo 13 space ship command center.  Uh yeah.  I said the Apollo 13 command center.  The one they made a movie about.

MayLee fell asleep in Grammy's arms

Grammy and MayLee (asleep) in front of a the Lunar Module

We had a blast - an awesome, exhausting and memorable day!  Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, Grumpy and Aunt Rachel!

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thank you,

For the piano, violin and voice lessons.
The braces.
Buying me those horrible choir dresses and telling me I looked beautiful.
Letting me use your embroidery floss for friendship bracelets.
Tutoring me in math when it probably wasn't fun for you either.
For teaching me how to be kind and how to love myself.

I never realized that you, as parents were and probably are still proud of me - as I am of my girls.

For what it's worth, I'm proud of you too.

I love you.

Dear Mom,

I remember one time I was getting ready to go over to Heather’s house (when we were living on Mayo) and I just started walking and didn’t stop. Didn’t even warn you that I was going.  When I got there, you'd already been on the phone with Heather's mom and I'm pretty sure I got an earful from both of you.


I used to just drop my backpack on the front lawn when I got home from school. Not sure why. But I did.  I think I was about 6 or 7 at that point.

And then of course there was that time that Rachel, Bonnie and I decided to go look for cans to recycle. And we decided to go look at the Expo Center. Without telling you. That's the only time I ever remember being grounded.

And there was one time in Middle School when I had detention (for eating a caramel in history class) I didn’t wait for you to come pick me up. I just started walking home when I didn't like what the other kids were talking about.  Of course I didn't think about going inside.  Nope - I just packed up my backpack and violin and headed out. But of course, I didn’t take any normal sort of route home. Because when Burlingame meets 29th, there’s no really good place to cross on the southwest side of the road. No sidewalks or crossing signs. I didn’t realize that soon enough, so instead of backtracking, I started walking west on 29th to find a better place. And you found me. After who knows how long of looking and how much cursing and praying.

So, uh. Thanks for always letting me live to see my next birthday. I didn’t always deserve it. I love you.

Cara as a Kid

Cara in Sundance

Look look!  I was a super blondie!

My Mom at home in Cali

Just like my Mommy.