2011

As 2011 dwindles down to mere hours, I thought I would take a minute and look back over the year that was. I'm going try to just hit the high spots.

Grandad had yet another cardiac ablation last January. It has taken all year, but the good news is that finally, after so many procedures I've just about lost count, his heart has healed. He's feeling tons better. Now we just have to work on his stamina and endurance. Our kids got us new bicycles for Christmas, so we'll start with those and move on to walking.

Grandad assembling the new wagon while OLP strikes a pose. He would not have been able to do this a year ago.

In April we welcomed the newest member of our growing family, June Frances. Named after two of her great grandmothers, she came into the world on Monday, April 11, while I ate lunch. Seriously, I left the labor unit and went downstairs to get a sandwich for me and for Travis. While I was gone, Katy delivered her without the benefit of an epidural. It seems the doctor "missed" when he injected the medication.

Katy with June Frances ... Her Highness ... Kid Destructo ... can't really settle on the nickname

In June our daughter-in-law, Marie, received the sacrament of confirmation. We spent the weekend in Houston to witness to this beautiful ceremony. It was held in a beautiful new church in the Diocese of Houston where the ministers dressed in traditional Philippine vestments. We were delighted to see Marie finish this step in her faith formation.

Nick & Marie at her confirmation

At the end of June, we traveled to North Carolina for the wedding of my niece, Andrea in Charlotte. We went a couple of days early and visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. I had long wanted to visit the Biltmore Estate and it did not disappoint. I was amazed at its size and grandeur. The gardens were spectacular! Well worth the trip.

Andrea & Louis

Grandad and I have made a concerted effort to enjoy living in Corpus Christi. We saw the 4th of July fireworks over Corpus Christi Bay, we attended the annual free performance of Handel's Messiah, Katy, Travis and I walked across the Harbor Bridge, we've attended several local theater performances, and we took Our Little Princess to the Texas State Aquarium. Corpus Christi really is a great place to live so we've decided to embrace living here.

Our Little Princess at the Texas State Aquarium

Late summer was a time for reunions. In August we gathered with members of the Morgan Avenue Baptist Church Youth Group from the 1970s. It was great to reconnect with old friends ... so much better than a high school reunion. In September we gathered with the Skelton Family for our second annual reunion. Getting to know these cousins has really been a blessing. It's kind of funny how alike we are even though we haven't seen each other for years.

Around the first of October I launched my Etsy shop. It's been more successful than I expected. I've sold all but one of the dresses I started with and I have an order for quite a few more. Stock is very low right now, but I expect to have more dresses for sale soon.

I've been working hard to de-clutter and reorganize my house. It's a much bigger job than I expected, but we had a fairly successful garage sale earlier this month and hope to have another one in the next couple of months. We also packed up quite of few boxes of "stuff" that our kids left here when they moved out and delivered them to their houses. I reclaimed both of their closets and am in the process of organizing my sewing and crafts utilizing the newly reclaimed space.

We have been blessed with good health for our children and grandchildren. It's been a tough year for some of our dear friends. We have two friends who have children who have serious illness. My good friend Sandy's 6-year-old grandson Liam is now in hospice care. And my friend and neighbor Deanna's 16-year-old grandson Jack has had relapse of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He's already beat it once and is now fighting it for the second time. Both of these families are on our hearts and minds daily.

Christmas was wonderful and we're ending the year with Grams and Pop-Pop's Rockin' Toddler New Year's Eve. It's the first year and will hopefully become a family tradition. We're keeping the kids this weekend while their parents enjoy a weekend without kids, culminating in New Year's Eve celebrations. We've had a lot of fun so far. The weather has been perfect. We've toured the neighborhood in the new wagon we got the girls for Christmas. Today we went to the park for playtime. And we finished up tonight with a trip over the Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge. Our Little Princess has named it "the rainbow bridge." We'll take them to church and breakfast tomorrow morning. Sometime tomorrow afternoon, we'll meet Katy and Travis in Three Rivers and make the exchange.

New Year's Eve with Our Little Princess and Her Highness

I mentioned "the rainbow bridge" above. It is Our Little Princess' favorite Christmas thing in Corpus Christi. It was lit with a partnership between the Texas Department of Transportation, the City of Corpus Christi, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority and American Bank. It is spectacular. Every night Our Little Princess asks Grandad if we can drive across the rainbow bridge. I took a few photos with my cell phone. They don't do it justice, but you'll get the idea.The entire show takes about 15 minutes to watch.

Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge - Our Little Princess' Rainbow Bridge

It's about 11:10 p.m. and both girls are finally sleeping, almost time to pop the cork on the bubbly and toast the new year. There are fireworks going off very nearby even though there is a burn ban in almost every county in Texas. Burn ban or not, if they wake up our babies I'm going out to kick some serious butt.

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year, a safe and fun celebration tonight, and a prosperous, healthy, and happy 2012.

Summer Recap

It has been a long hot summer here in South Texas. I mean it ... really long and really hot. We've broken records this summer for heat and drought and there hasn't been any sign of a break in the weather yet. Although, our local weather guys are reporting that we should not have any more days over 100 degrees this summer. For the past couple of days its been a little bit cooler in the mornings, although the fires in central Texas have sent enough smoke our direction so that it's not pleasant to sit outside.

I thought it might be fun to celebrate the end of summer with a little photo recap.

In June we traveled to Houston where we spent an evening at Minute Maid Park watching the Astros lose to the Braves. But the evening ended with fireworks so it was fun. We were also honored to be there when our beautiful daughter-in-law, Marie, received the sacrament of confirmation that Sunday evening.

Early in the summer, while the rest of her family went camping, we had a week-long visit from Her Highness. We've seen her several times this summer, and she's really growing fast. Her mom reports that she's teething really hard right now. So even more changes are in store. I'm planning to hold her as much as possible this weekend.

Then we spent several days in North Carolina where we visited the Biltmore Estate and attended the wedding of Andrea and Louis. Andrea is my sister Jan's daughter. It was a beautiful wedding and we were so glad we made the trip. Bylinda, my other sister, traveled with us. We especially enjoyed the two days we spent in Asheville where both the mountains and the weather were absolutely lovely.

In August we visited Katy and Travis in San Antonio and attended a long anticipated reunion with my high school church youth group. It was a day to remember spent renewing old friendships and reminiscing. I had not seen most of them since the mid 1970s. And, of course, a trip to San Antonio naturally means spending quality time with the Grands and their parents. (By the way, Our Little Princess snapped the photo of Grams and Travis. Is it possible we have a budding Annie Leibovitz?)

When we returned from that visit we brought Our Little Princess home for a week of Grams Camp. We had so much fun just spending time together. We played with the water hose, we went to the mall, we spent an entire day at the Texas State Aquarium. It was so much fun that we're planning to make Grams Camp an annual tradition.

Now that summer is winding down, I've gone back to work as a substitute teacher; so summer is over in practice although not in reality. I've worked the past five working days in a row. I will admit that getting up at 6:30 a.m. has been a bit of an adjustment for me. My natural body rhythm is more along the lines of going to bed at midnight and sleeping until 8:30 or 9 a.m. Last week was really tough, but I'm doing better this week. Thank God for coffee!

We have several events coming up in the next few weeks. The annual family golf tournament will be held this weekend in Navasota, which means we'll be traveling to Nick & Marie's house on Friday where Katy, Travis and the grands will join us for the weekend. The men will golf on Saturday while we have a girls day out. I can't wait!

The next few weeks are going to be really busy for us. We'll be traveling to Tyler for the Skelton Family Reunion coming up on September 17 and then in October we'll go to Corn Hill for the Annual Valenta Fall Family Gathering. It is, hands down, my favorite family event. Every October the descendents of Adolph and Louise Valenta gather in Corn Hill for a day of family fellowship. I'll tell you more about it later.

I've been sewing like crazy and am just about ready to launch my Etsy shop, which will also be called Grams Made It. I'm finishing up some behind the scenes details like a separate bank account and photographing my creations. I expect to launch next week. Watch this space for a formal announcement and sneak preview.

I'm sending positive thoughts and prayers for all those in danger from the terrible fires that are burning across Texas. It truly is horrible and resources are stretched to the limit. KRIS TV, our local NBC affiliate, will hold a benefit on Thursday.  Details are available on their web site. Please do what you can to help. I'll have more information on how everyone can help in my next post.