Another funny thing about my mom

Above is a poor picture of her hydrangeas-really they looked so happy and fun when I bought them just a few hours before I took that picture.  At least they were on her dining room table that is now mine and I am enjoying having a place for in our house here.  We have all of our breakable travel souvenirs in the china cabinet-nice and safe!

My camera was also acting up.  So here is a better clearer picture of one of Mom's pink gerber daisies that still look good!



This Christmas bowl and tray and the gingerbread man dish was bought here on a shopping trip with a new friend here from Texas.  We went to this place called Uni Wide and didn't really know what to expect.  It was sort of a mall kind of place that didn't have too much and then we found the big store-we could have wandered there for days!  Lisa said that it reminded her of Garden Ridge but it also reminded me of The Pottery Outlet in Commerce-dishes and all kinds of housewares and decorations.  I bought a bunch of pretty paper plates-something you don't usually find here-paid for them by weight-about $7 and got this bowl, platter, and gingerbread plate for about $5 total.  When I was little my mom and her dear friend Theta would want to meet halfway in Commerce and visit and wander at the Pottery.  Theta has a daughter my age and we HATED following them around the pottery-we just wanted them to let us stay and play on the McDonald's playground.  Silly childhood memories!

By the way, this morning it felt a tad cooler than usual walking home from the bus stop so Ashley was thrilled when I suggested she ride her bike.  Then we had to go inside and get bug spray and 2 Hello Kitty stuffed animals to ride with her.  Then we had to pick up flowers on the way.  She had a fun ride and it is so humid now that I seriously need another shower!

I just think I am used to living here. . .

Today I was walking around in the grocery store, looked into a cart that someone had left in an aisle and was startled greatly, when I looked into the eyes of the fish in a plastic bag, laying in this person's cart!

Then as I was in line, paying for my groceries, I heard a lady from a nearby food stall calling out to people to buy "squeed" balls.  I would have to be extremely desperate to eat a squid ball.

On the other hand though, I was sorely tempted to buy a beautiful poinsettia that I saw for sale in this same grocery store and it is ONLY OCT 15th!!!!!!

Mom's birthday

My mother's would have been 68 last Wednesday.  She would have thought it fun that Ashley and I spent the day showing one of my cousin's and her husband around Manila-more on Alison and Pat's visit in another post.  Of course, I have some memory things to share.

Last week at the grocery store-I saw a BEAUTIFUL huge stem of gorgeous blue-y purple hydrangeas that reminded me of Mom.  I bought them and a few hot pink gerber daisies-which are still pretty.  Sadly I did not get a picture of the hydrangea before it was sad and wilt-y-unfortunately just later that day after bringing it home.

Another funny thing that always reminds me of my Mom is a stainless steel mixing bowl-that I would take a picture of for you, but it has food in it and is in my refrigerator now.  I remember that she always mixed up meatloaf in that bowl, she and I made many desserts in the bowl-I can hear the noise the beaters made in it.  She let all of my little ones bang on it in the floor of her kitchen when they were little.  I remember that it was a wedding present of hers and Daddy's and she could tell me who it was from, but I don't remember.  

Below is one of the few pictures of Mom from her childhood with her brother, my Uncle Benny.
 

 The next 4 are church directory pictures from throughout my childhood

 Mom and Uncle Benny with their mother-my Grandmommy-who would be mad at me from Heaven :) if I told her age!

Happy Birthday Mom!  I love you and miss you!

My little piece of Fall

 I bought this tree at the American Women's Club Bazaar last week because it looked like what Fall is supposed to look like.  It is about 5 x 7 and cost me $10 which is amazing to me as you look more closely and realize how many teeny weeny little beads make the fall colored leaves and the trunk is all wire.

 So this is my enjoyment while reading about people going to Sky Top and picking apples, climbing trees, and going on hay rides!  I laughed at the Bazaar because in the hundreds of people there, I realized that a child was talking rather loudly and trying to get my attention-as it turned out, he was a classmate of Ashley's who had not gone to school that day but was shopping with his mommy.  I didn't recognize his mom but the little boy recognized me as Ashley's mommy-yes we do still stick out a little here.

 United Nations day is coming up soon at Brent so when I saw these for about $3 each at the grocery store with the Halloween stuff.  I just bought 2 since you can see that it is a little large for Ashley's head, but of course she wanted to try it on.

 Now you can see her face!  Will show the boys wearing them in the country parade in a couple of weeks with their American flag shirts!

 Here is my dining room table before I put my fall tree on it.  I bought these aqua and white pieces for myself, from Bev, for my birthday and wanted a yellow tablecloth to put them on.  I couldn't find one here so I bought this one while at home over the summer.  They show up much better on the yellow than on my other white cloth-I like these they are animals and shells that we dive with that I could keep! 

The fall tree won't be here long-Greg and I have been joking about getting the Christmas stuff out soon-it is already out in all the stores here-having been hearing the music in the mall for a whole MONTH already.  I think we will wait until at least after Halloween though!

Several posts ago-craziness here-I mentioned seeing an orange Christmas tree that Em and Jo could decorate with Auburn stuff-sorry girls I walked by the store again and some nut bought it!  I guess you won't be getting an orange tree after all!

Ashley funnies

She LOVES to draw and color these days!  If I saved everything that she drew our large house here would be FULL!  She also tells me that they are all very IMPORTANT papers.  I would get in trouble if she knew that I throw some of the away-actually send them to our ALIG charity donation collector.  I tell myself though that maybe they will get re-used by someone to fold into Christmas ornaments maybe.  I wouldn't feel so bad if I knew that what she had drawn ended up like these

 Ryan chose the bell for himself, Scott the multi-colored tree, I bought Greg the snowman since green is his favorite color, Ashley's tree is the pink one, and I chose the red and white star.

 I can't imagine the time and patience it would take to make these-and I paid 50 pesos each for them-that is just over $1.

 Below are some extras I bought to give as gifts and I need to buy a bunch more at the next American Women's Club bazaar

Here is the site for the group who made these-

http://mynifftycrafters.multiply.com/


On Wednesday and I took Ashley to school and while we were coming back home, got a text from her teacher that the Mayor  had called off school for the day.  So we went back to get her.  As we were driving home, Ashley pointed out the window and said "is that him?"  I said "who?"  The man who is in charge and decides about school.  I told her that I didn't think the mayor would be out riding on a motor scooter in the rain but he was probably in an office somewhere.  So then we came home and have looked him up on the internet and found his picture so now Ashley knows who the mayor is.

Ashley called it our secret day because there were no boys here just us girls.  We read a bunch of books, colored, played in the playroom, sorted out and organized toy food in the play kitchen, made a scrapbook for Hannah's birthday party, and had a lunch picnic in the den while watching Madeline-all while it continued to rain outside.  A very fun day!  I think our rain gauge was empty over the weekend and now is up to 5 inches.  I think it was at just 4 inches first thing this morning.

Ashley's class and the bees

They have been learning about bees and had a field trip last Friday to a bee farm.  I visited her class on Thursday and read them The Giant Jam Sandwich story about the town invaded by wasps that were caught in a huge sandwich and then the kids made sandwiches of their own.  On Friday, Ashley's friend Hannah went with us to the bee farm and we all had a very nice time in spite of the rain.

They talked in class about the types of bees and Ashley told me there was only 1 queen bee.  Ashley told me that the queen wore a crown/tiara and then went on to ask me if there was also a king bee!  I told her that she should ask her teachers and they got a good laugh about it.

 a good picture and a funny face!

 Serious about making their jam sandwiches

 Friday morning, We went to Brent to pick up Hannah and got to play on the new Nursery and Pre-K playground

 2 sweet little friends

 a jeepney turning around in front of us-taking up the whole road

 getting ready to watch a movie about how bees make honey

 Hannah was brave and touched the frame from the bee box-when you push your finger through the wax, you can feel and then taste the honey

 Ashley would have no part of touching it-said she didn't want to be sticky!

 Hannah was too busy watching the bees behind us to look at the camera

 In this grassy area there were about 25 bee boxes-each box has about 10 THOUSAND bees living in it!

 Ashley with a couple of classmates for a picture

 There were also some goats to pet

 and a fun sign that I saw on our way home-it was a fun field trip day!

Joy in the little things

A friend of mine posted something on fb recently that she had seen on the Proverbs 31 site about really enjoying each day with your children because they will never be that exact age EVER AGAIN!  As I saw someone else write "when they are little the days may sometimes be long but the years are short"  I am trying to really take advantage of not having to spend my time on laundry and cleaning the house and using that time to spend with the kids.

Ashley and I spent one morning recently playing Hi Ho Cherry-O (my Dad's least favorite game in the world-because it seemed he was always having to put all his cherries back on his tree and it took forever for someone to actually win the game), Chutes and Ladders, a spelling game, and blokus-she just likes to make pretty designs with the colored blocks.

We have spent countless hours since our time in Manila began painting toenails.  Our almost all tile bathroom makes a good place to do it.  Recently she wanted a different color on each toe and the pattern repeated on the other foot so that's what we did.  When I was finished and going to put the 5 bottles of polish away, the nearly full RED bottle slipped out of my hand and broke on the tile floor.  At least it was tile and keeping her on the stool so she wouldn't step in the red polish or broken glass gave her colorful new toes time to dry!  She kept saying "mommy, you made a BIG mess!"  In case you ever need to know, nail polish remover works well on tile.

I have read before in parenting books to "say yes whenever you can"  Ashley asked me one day recently if she could help me make a new pitcher of lemonade-we were just stirring the Crystal Light mix into water.  When I said yes, she acted like I had given her a million dollars-it was so funny.  Her day was made because she got to stir with a plastic spoon in a pink pitcher and pour in the lemonade powder!

Ryan and I were going somewhere just the 2 of us recently and I told him that I would read to him in the car.  He said to me while we were riding along "Mommy when we leave Manila, I will miss you reading to us in the car!"  That made me smile and I will miss that too!

Good reminders to enjoy how precious they are no matter how that particular day of being a mom has gone!