Remembering Her...

This past weekend was spent at my Grandma Vance's house, to begin the process of cleaning everything out and getting it ready to put on the market.

I knew this would eventually be the process for her house, but sort of hoped we could keep it just so there would be a great gathering place for everyone when we got together.  The plan was to head down Saturday morning early, so that the cousins and my Dad and uncle could sort through the items they wanted and start packing things up.  Anthony came down later in the day so that Nolan would nap most of the time and would be somewhat entertained.

We all had a great day, and it was so nice to be with my cousins and their kids.  Our family is very much alike personality-wise, and so it's usually very loud and chaotic :)  We initially planned to go through each room one at a time, and separate things together, but apparently, our group had a major case of ADD so we jumped all over the place.  I know Grandma would have had a heart attack seeing her place upside down like that!  It was a complete zoo.

Her beautiful scarf collection and tons of makeup bags! I get it from her :)

 

It was decided that I would take her set of china and crystal, and I so thankful to have this type of family heirloom.  The set must of had at least 20 place settings, though, because everywhere we turned another plate or cup showed up!  It ended up being a running joke by the end of the day!

 

I tried/wanted to be selective about what I took with me, but some things were hard to just "let go" of.  You end up wanting it just because it was "hers," not because you really had a use for it.  Eventually, we made it to her hope chest and I was just blown away by the fascinating things we found.  We all took a quilt, and some were as old as at least 90 years (one note contained information that my Grandma's dad?/brother? sheared the sheep that lent the wool used to be woven for the quilt). It was really amazing.

 

 



Testing out some scarves (see "chaotic" reference above...)

 

Last but not least, we discovered my baby items that I never even knew existed.  This amazing woman, had saved so many things from my childhood that I thought I never had.  She had notes on everything (one note was inside a book I read all the way through by myself and she was so proud...)  I was moved to tears - there was my baby book, my first little cap, my one year calendar, everything. 

 

She had a box of baby clothes, and so many pictures I had drawn for her.  Pictures of my mom and her wedding announcement, framed pictures people had given me when I was born.  She cherished me, and now I cherish every little memory I have of her.  She was the TRUE embodiment of a doting grandma, and being able to have these memories of her to keep and hold is such a blessing.  This makes me even more passionate to continue this blog and to make things special and keep things close for Nolan...its for even the joy you can bring to someone after you are gone.  A legacy, and true testament that you love them and hold dear all the things that they do.

 

 

Looking at the snow Sunday morning!

 

The Moment I Dreaded...

It may seem completely dramatic for some, and completely overdue for others, but we finally got up the courage to get Nolan's hair cut (for the first time in 27 months) this past weekend!  I really, really did not want to do it, but for various reasons, we decided to bite the bullet and do it.

Trying to get in my last few "hair" shots!

I booked his cut at a local kids' place that only does kids cuts and has those little cars they can sit in and caters to everything kid-related.  It was quite the hike for us, so we had breakfast at our favorite spot and then left straight from there.  The salon was really cute and Nolan had a blast playing on the indoor slide while I tried to control myself.  The even let him pick out a movie to watch while he was in the chair, which is funny because he never watches movies and had no idea who half the characters were!  He decided on an old (and hilarious) Elmo tape.

And you know it's a hard decision to give your kid a hair cut when even the lady cutting it said she wouldn't do it!  Arrgh!  I wanted to run out the door right then and there, but Anthony already had his mind made up so we had to do it.

Nolan hopped up on his chosen motorcycle, and did so good!  I had to walk away when they cut his pony tail off, and I am sure the ladies working there thought I was a NUT, but I didn't want Nolan to see me cry and get freaked out so I tried to control myself :)  The lady that did his hair was great and worked super quick.  Nolan sat and did what she told him to do and was a complete trooper.

 

The dreaded moment .... :(

 

In the end, he got a cute little cut and looks like such a little man now.  I made them get me a bigger baggie so that I could keep his entire ponytail that they cut off (again, nuts) and it's tucked safely away in his baby box.

 

Still the most adorable boy ever!