Pumpkins

A much needed girls trip to the Dallas Arboretum with smiling faces and beautiful weather.

Mary de Wolfe; Grams

My dad's mom passed away this past Friday and I flew up to Pennsylvania on Sunday to attend her viewing and funeral. Leaving to fly there this time felt so strange because for so many times, I flew to see her and my grandfather (and all the de Wolfe family), to celebrate, listen to stories, share memories, eat and laugh. I was pleasantly surprised to find that in the middle of all the somber emotions and floods of tears, it was a joyous celebration. It was a wonderful tribute to my grandmother and her life and the lives that she leaves behind. The weather was glorious and the funeral service captured the very essence of Grams.

My image of Grams is picture perfect because I got only glimpses of her since we lived so far away. She was not this; she was flawed as all of us humans are, but in my eyes she was a sweet, loving, quiet, God-fearing woman/mother/wife who raised 8 children. It was heart breaking watching Chief (my grandfather) speak to her, sit at her funeral and kneel over her casket after 66 years of marriage. The picture perfect image wasn't so complete anymore.

As the priest explained, Grams has left the land of the dying and entered the land of the living. There is not a doubt in my mind that her life in Heaven, the land of the living, will be just as impactful as it was here with all of us, especially me. Until the day I see her again, I will strive to live my life creating a legacy as beautiful as hers.

Mary Ethel Meeks de Wolfe 1922-2014

Gentle woman, quiet light, 

Morning star,

So strong and bright;

Gentle mother, peaceful dove 

Teach us wisdom, teach us love

Obituary for Mary E. Meeks deWolfe

Mary E. Meeks deWolfe, 92 yrs., of Bethlehem, formerly of Hawley, PA and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, N.Y., died October 24, 2014, surrounded by her loving family. She shared 66 years of marriage with her husband, John R. deWolfe. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late John and Ethel (McDonough) Meeks.

A graduate of Hunter College, her career as a dietician managing the dining services at the NY Telephone Company was traded for classrooms full of second graders at Our Lady of Angels School in Brooklyn. To this very day, her children hear stories of gratitude from her former students for her kind guidance and gentle teaching style.

While lovingly managing a busy family life, she was also actively involved as a volunteer in her communities. Mary loved her family and shared her enjoyment of reading, cooking, sewing, knitting and crochet with them. Demonstrating life-long fidelity, Mary maintained friendships made in high school and cherished gathering numerous new friends wherever her journey took her. She was a model of quiet devotion to her Lord and personal prayer life through spiritual reading and attendance at Mass. Mary was a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Bethlehem.

Surviving with her husband are her eight children: Stephen (Luann), Joan Doherty, Paul (Traci), Christopher (Debbie), Patricia Rescigno (Robert), Mary Beth Rucker (Dan), John and James, 16 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren, and her sister, Joan Meeks, Sisters of Charity, Halifax.

My Grandmother

My grandmother, Grams, has just been released to hospice care. They are not anticipating her living for much longer at all. For the past year, her and my grandfather's health has drastically declined with their old age. We pray for them both continually and are blessed to have the most amazing relationship with them even though they live so far away. Today, I looked back at few awesome memories I have of her meeting my sweet girls for the first time!

Summer 2010 with Brooklyn 

(who was a goofy girl with Grams)

Summer 2012 with Cayleigh

(who loved playing with Grams' necklace)

Summer 2014 with Morgan

(who took in the moments like I did)

This past summer was a very emotional trip for me with Morgan, but God is so good and my heart is full as we reach this very difficult time. 

Goodbye Car Payment

We are so thrilled to be back to no car payments again. We hammered away at the old Accord and then the Explorer to have no payments for almost 2 years. But since last July, when we bought the Odyssey, we obviously acquired that one. Since then, we have continued to go above and beyond to get it paid off in just 15 months!! We received the title to it in the mail and are very blessed to be able to work towards debt-free living. Back on track and just our mortgage to tackle next.

Pee Wee Rodeo Videos

Hopefully, these post in order. First one is Cayleigh tipping over the cow and then Brooklyn barrel racing, followed by her getting the trophy.

State Fair 2014

The State Fair this year was low key and fabulous! Aaron sporadically decided to take the day off the morning that the girls and I were going to head to the fair with Nana and Papa de Wolfe. It was such a pleasure to all get to go!
They had a new section this year called the Children's Boardwalk that we went to first. They had loads of cute things for young kiddos to do for free. Brooklyn and Cayleigh painted a small pumpkin, got tattoos and an arm painting and drew pictures with chalk. We waited around for the stallion show which turned out to be people dressed up like stallions; super disappointing for everyone there :(

Nana and the biggin's

Papa and the biggin's

I guess that's the stallion :(

Daddy and Morgan

Butterfly Brooklyn

Butterfly Cayleigh

Nana and Papa with the big girls in front of Big Tex

We walked around the Midway and stopped here and there to try some different fried foods. The Fried Spicy Gulf Shrimp was really good. We had Fletcher's corny dogs and fried S'mores. The girls wanted to do the petting zoo, so Papa bought them some feed and they walked around feeding various animals.

The girls were so well-behaved and such troopers with all the walking. We went into the Food and Fiber Building to see Elsie the Cow but after fighting the crowds, she happened to be taking a break by the time we arrived. It was a bummer. We walked through the Car Show areas and sat in different vehicles, enjoying a break from the heat. We all had such a great time. So much to see that my people-watching children were very content.

The highlight of the visit was when the girls got to enter in the Pee Wee Rodeo!! We just happened to be sitting down after the petting zoo and heard the lead lady calling for any children ages 3-6 to come be a part of the rodeo. Papa and Daddy took Brooklyn and Cayleigh over and they willingly wanted to participate. We didn't know what to expect but it was by far the cutest thing ever! They began the rodeo by riding their stick horses around the outdoor arena. Then, the boys competed in stick bull riding and the younger kids got to rope (tip over) the hay cow...this was what Cayleigh got to do! The older girls did barrel racing...this is what Brooklyn did! They randomly chose a child from each "competition" to name as the winner and get a small trophy. Brooklyn won first place for barrel racing!

It was the best experience ever for my sweet cowgirls and they couldn't have been happier!

Just love these sweet cowgirls of ours!

Getting ready to begin the rodeo

Cayleigh tipping over the cow

Brooklyn barrel racing

Brooklyn holding up her trophy

It was a blessing to spend the day as a family and with Nana and Papa. It really was a lot of fun and the girls had a blast! I took all the pictures, but Aaron got a few videos of the girls at the rodeo and I will post those soon.

Fall Festivals Begin

Brooklyn's t-ball game got cancelled Saturday afternoon because of rain the night before, so we went over to Roanoke for their annual fall festival. The girls enjoyed train rides, games, bounce houses, got prizes and stickers and got a balloon animal made for them by a clown. It was really fun walking around and the weather was in the low 60's! We ate yummy BBQ for lunch and later had homemade pizzas at a friends house for an early dinner.

Leaving for their train ride

Brooklyn wanted a weenie dog and Cayleigh wanted a silly snake...so cute!

Morgan's face cracks me up here! She enjoyed people watching.

After church Sunday afternoon, we went to the Hall's Pumpkin Patch in Grapevine. We walked through the corn field maze, the girls played in some of their little activity spots and of course we stopped for too many photo sessions. The girls picked a few pie sized pumpkins and we called it a day. More fun and more amazing weather.

Well, we tried on this one. One day this will turn out to be a cute picture!

Corn Field Maze

This little pumpkin is such a sweetheart!

The best big sisters I know!