On His Own

We did a lot of yard work this weekend at both houses, so Solon had to spend a good amount of time entertaining himself.  I found him in the cabinets with his lantern, in the ottoman and sitting at his picnic table.

Something Only She Would Do

This is Pockets. He was my stuffed animal growing up, and I haven't seen him in probably 15 years. His right eye is hanging off, and he is worn out and dirty.  But there he was sitting in my mom's storage unit.  I found him while we were packing stuff up, and it gave me a pang in my chest.  Because I just imagined my mom packing him up so many times over the years as she moved from one place to another.  She held onto him for reasons I know well.  Because she was sentimental. Because it brought back memories of me when I was little.  Because she wanted to give him back to me at some point.  And because she was a momma. 

Momma's are the ones who hold onto all the little treasures in our lives.  As Sally, Janie and I slowly worked our way through boxes a few weeks ago, it was amazing some of the things we found.  Our baby blankets looking almost brand new.  Little letters we wrote when our cursive was way too curly and superfluous.  Our baby bed.  Our high chair.  Little trinkets we got when we were first born.  Our Cabbage Patch dolls and My Little Pony's. Every single thing that was connected to us she kept.

I sit here tonight thinking about Momma.  It is hard to believe it has been a month.

Camp Shirt

Muffin wears this shirt everyday when he goes to day camp at the YMCA.

Giving The Hand

Solon got a  treat when we checked the mailbox yesterday! A package from St. Louis:)  Aunt Mary found these cute little "hands" you suction cup to your shower/bathroom wall.  The can hold all sorts of cool things.  Solon however didn't want to hang his up quite yet, and took it to bed with him last night and is currently holding it while he eats breakfast.

Captain Viola

We haven't seen Pinky in a while, so we all went by her house for a short visit on Saturday.  She couldn't take her eyes off the boys and Ansley and her red-hair.  Pinky was my mom's aunt, and she has been a big personality and influence on all of our lives.  She was named Pinky because of her red hair, and she was tickled to hear that Ansley had the middle name Sanders.  Pinky's last name.

Crazy In The Blood

Mary is my mom's younger sister by nine years.  She sent Solon and Luke "Monkey Mail" via email late last week, and Saturday night while we watched the video mail she came into the room dressed the part of Monkey.  Lots of blue eye shadow! The boys loved it of course.

High In The Sky

This is the highest the boys have ever swung in big-boy swings!

Behind The Scenes

I promised Nanna I would take photos of all of us when we were at her house.  It was so hard for her not to be there with us in the early morning and late at night.  She made sure we were well taken care of though.  Letting us know where the wine was stored and the toys as well.

Monroe Street

How long is this house? Well, a few of us fought about this fact for quite a while.  Jay said 120', and Sally and I said 140'.  Regardless...it was a verrrrry long house.  It was fun going by it.  Some things have changed.  The slate roof had been removed, some live oaks chopped down and an addition had been put on the front.  Julie said she felt protective of the house, and I had to agree.  I think it is a trait that exists on my mom's side of the family.  We love our homes.

Old Vs New

On Saturday, we took the boy to our old playground.  It is up the street from Nanna and Poppy's old house on Monroe.  It was so neat because they had built a new addition but still kept all of our old equipment.  I haven't seen a merry-go-round in a hundred years.  So the boys tried out the new one, but we all eventually ended up on the stuff made of metal and chains:) Mary and Julie actually took a swing out of commission.  Mary was showing Julie a game she used to do when she was younger...and before you knew a swing was broken and Julie was lying in the dirt.

This trip was so needed.  Being back in Atlanta has been hard.  It is just too quiet.  Being around family helps ease the pain of missing Momma.  We spent time visiting, cooking and talking late into the night.  We laughed and cried while sharing stories of Momma.  We took trips to the farmer's market.  We visited Pinky.  We ate too much fried chicken.  We visited old stomping grounds. And we all took flowers out to Odd Fellows Cemetery for Momma, Granddaddy and Poppy.  Like Sally said..this weekend was one for the memory bank.

To The Hotel

The boys got to know the way to Nanna's "hotel" room pretty quickly.  Better than us (Margo & Julie) adults.  I will admit that it was confusing.  Nanna got tons of visits from all of us.  We spent some time with her while she was doing her physical therapy, and hanging out in her room.  She had the nurses pile in a bunch of chairs, so she was circled by all her family. 

Delta Bound

It happened quickly.  I got a phone call from Sally early Friday morning, and she said that the Hughes were coming down to Greenwood from St. Louis to see Nanna.   Sally thought it would be good if we traveled over as well.  Nanna hasn't been doing great for the last week and a half.  She went into the hospital shortly after my mom's funeral, and we all thought it would be good medicine for her to have us all in town.  So Jay took off work early, and we arrived in Greenwood around 7 pm.  Just enough time to stop by the hospital and spend about an hour with Nanna.

We all were staying at Nanna's house, so Jay, Solon and I had the place all to ourselves for most of the night. Sally and crew rolled in around 1 am. and the Hughes about an hour after that....we stayed up and talked for a bit before all of us were too tired to see straight.  So early the next morning, Jay took over as chef and made pancakes on the griddle.  He did the boys initials in honor of Nanna who used to do that for us when we were little.  Nanna was so impressed with his skills:) that she gave him a griddle she had stored away in one of her closets. So there will be some fun breakfast cooking in the future.

4th of July pics

It is bittersweet to post all of these photos from the weekend.  It is especially hard seeing us playing with sparklers knowing what was about to happen, but I wanted to show all the cute pics of the kids and us having fun with our friends/family.  When I talked to Momma that weekend, she said "I just LOVE picturing all of you there together."  She loved how close us girls are, and loved everyone who was there that weekend.