Now the healing has begun...I think...

Well, Dad's memorial service was nice. We did it at the house and while it didn't seem as formal as maybe it should have been, it was all I could do. His sister and her husband came down from Mississippi and my Mom and Dad came down from Groesbeck along with my brother and his family. It was intimate but small. Actually it turned into a weekend event since everyone stayed at the house all weekend. Our house was full, but I am glad that they were able to be there!

The slideshow/movie I made was a big hit so I am happy about that. And while I didn't think it would be possible, I do feel better having the service behind me. I actually put some pictures in a frame and brought it to the office. That says alot since it hasn't been that long that I cried just at the sight of him in a picture or the thought of him. Now, I am able to start getting my heart to understand that he would want us to miss him but he would want us happy.

Thanks to Aunt Mert and Aunt Bev for the beautiful plant. Also thanks to Dad's girlfriend Denyse for the flowers. They sure did help to brighten up the room! Thank you also Laura for your kind thoughts. These have been some pretty dark days in my life and I look forward to putting them behind me.

The weekend ended with Amy going home with Granny and Brad going home with my aunt. Anyone like to have a 4 year old for a few days????

Now, it's time to start gearing up for school to start. I would sure like to be able to take some time and not have to always be preparing for something....will that ever happen?

It has been one of those weeks!

It seems like I say that more and more these days. I am not sure if it's just the fact that it's summertime and the kids need to be entertained or my emotional state since losing dad.

Brad and I left on Sunday for scout camp. Boy that was an experience...and not one that I am ready to do again. But, Brad had such a good time that if he asks to go again I am sure we will go. I took Brad and 2 other scout friends with us. I have pictures to upload, but I don't have them here now.

I have been working on getting my pictures transferred to my new Mac computer. I am so glad that I bought it! I have had the best time playing with it. Of course, transferring information is a pain but I am getting there. I am now going to make slideshows of the pictures and put them on DVDs so the kids could actually see all the digital pictures that we take.

I get so frustrated because we take all the pictures and I am either not smart enough or not patient enough to figure out how to do the digital scrapbooks and stuff so I can put these pictures in albums for the kids to see. Now, with my new computer, it makes it all so easy! I have a sharing site so I will post a link once I get things up there that others might want to see.

Tomorrow is the memorial service for dad. I am both dreading it and glad that it's almost over at the same time. I never could have imagined the pain and how long it can last. I was able to make a movie/slideshow with his pictures finally but it has been tough. I am not at the point of feeling joy when I see his smile. I do feel his love, but I still just get incredibly sad when I see his face. Hopefully tomorrow's gathering will help with that some. Anyway, if you want to see the movie (it's kinda long) it is at www.gallery.me.com/pamgriffis.

Here's hoping that a houseful of guests make the weekend bearable.

Life has been so crazy!!!

I realized on Monday just how long it has been since I have posted. Although I am glad to see that summer seems to get busy for everyone. One thing I have not quite understood is how summer gets so busy for our house since Jeff and I both work? I guess it's because I am obsessed with making sure my kids don't just sit and vegetate (sp?) all summer. So there is a high school girl that comes by and runs them to their various camps and other things to do (and I might add...make sure that Amy and Brad don't torture/kill each other).

Last week was cub scout day camp with 200 boys all week. Boy! That was fun! Actually is was fun and was made even more enjoyable by knowing that I will most likely not have to do much with the camp at all next year. There are so many pictures from that camp that I would even be able to post them. Although I did manage to get a few pictures of my own children this year...

even Amy gets to go to Cub Scout camp...although this year she was big enough to be a junior volunter....

and apparently, I didn't get any pics of Connie at camp. She loves camp so much that every time we even drive past the fairgrounds, she asks if it's time for camp yet.

On Monday, we got a really nice surprise...Bra and Uncle Doug came and spent the night with us! We had a great time visiting with them. I did get a picture of Connie this time...


And yes, that is my 4.5 year old daughter in a pullup before bed with no jammies. She just about refuses to wear clothes to bed. I guess it's because she is so hot natured and I am usually just happy to have her going to bed at some decent hour and staying in bed all night. As for the pull up, I am hoping that she will grow out of it. About half the time, she doesn't wet, but the pull up is easier than the mess.

And now for more fun pics

As Laura has said, baseball is in full swing. Brad and Connie are playing for the local little leaque and Amy is playing tournament ball. Connie's first game gave me a little scare. She hit the ball ok but she didn't care for those other players to be standing on the bases as she was running. She she did what any kid would do...she pushed them off! And I don't mean she lightly pushed them off...she ran at them with her arms stretched out and palms up and just basically ran straight into them! Boy they were surprised! It just didn't occur to me that I should have told her that in practice there is no one standing at the bases, but there will be during the games. Now that we have a few games under our belt, she is better. Then the other night at a game she ran up to second base and when the baseman wasn't anywhere around she left her base to go tell him that he should be over there watching the base. It was too far to get a good picture, but she was standing there with her hands on her hips telling him all about it. Of course, we have to keep in mind that she does not particularly care for the part of the game where she is in the field. She spends that time flirting with her coaches, picking flowers or just dancing around singing. So I am not sure where she gets the authority to tell anyone how to play. But she is having so much fun! And that makes it all worth the effort...(just remember that our Connie is always the clown, so I hardly ever get pretty pictures, but they all make me smile)




And I actually have a few pics of Brad playing too....

Thesnthe bottom fell out...

Not long after the Lexington trip, I got the call that I have been dreading for months...well, actually years. Dad had just been here for 3 weeks in February but reluctantly I had to send him home to see if they would be able to give him his chemo treatment in California. We were so trying to get something worked out so he could stay with us but the stars just weren't lining up for us. Anyway, his girlfriend called on Sunday, March 15th, and said that he was not doing well at all. So, off I went to California to spend what was the worst and yet somehow the best 10 days I have ever spent with my Dad. I am still not even close to be able to deal with it, and I am not sure I will ever be able/willing to deal with the loss. I knew as soon as I picked him up at the airport in February that his time on earth was much shorter than I was ready for. We had known that he wouldn't survive his cancer, but there is never enough time to spend with the ones that you love. He passed on March 23rd and I still have not been able to organize a memorial service for his friends and family on this side of the country. That just seems to final and I'm not ready.

He made peace with himself in those last days and that is all we can ever hope for someone. He accepts Jesus into his heart and finally felt that he would be forgiven for his sins and that Jesus would take him home. That process was a miracle in itself and I truly feel blessed to have witnessed his journey to forgiveness.

Anyway, I made a memorial site if anyone is interested...http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/alanross/homepage.aspx

The site has been good for me to have a virtual place to see his pictures. I can't take down his picture on our refrigerator, but I can't look at it either. Somehow on the internet, it doesn't seem so sad.

So my words for today....give everyone you love a hug, a kiss and a prayer every day because you just don't know how many days we have.

The boys trip to the USS Lexington

I really hadn't realized how long it has been since I have posted here. I guess there goes another New Year's Resolution down the tubes.

Anyway, back in early March, Jeff and Brad went with our Cub Scouts and spent the night on the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. They said it was loads of fun...and I agreed that it probably was...for them. The girls and I stayed home and just spent some time painting fingernails, doing hair and watching movies. Yes, folks, that's my idea of fun. So here are some pictures...

Connie's T-Ball Practice

OK. Now that I have had some time to think about it, maybe giving Connie a bat wasn't such a good idea. But she's just so darn cute playing ball....



And her she is trying make contact with the ball. It's a cute picture, but if you look close enough, you will see that she actually hit the tee and the ball fell straight down. Oh well, she ran to first anyway.

She had to hold the batting helmet on because the straps were too long and she thought it was going to bounce off.

I know no one will believe me here, but this is a picture of daddy about to distract her from the game. But you could tell that she loved her daddy being right there with her on the field. I wonder what will happen on game day?

And this is just Connie and Daddy playing around.


And I just had to post a picture of all 3 of my children acting like they like each other, even if it was only for a brief moment....

What a crazy life we live!

I knew it had been some time since I had posted, but I hadn't realized that it has been a month! Where did the time go? Unfortunately, I know where the time went...

Amy has finished up basketball, started practicing with her select softball team and begun track practice. The first track meet is this Saturday. She is going to be running the 100M dash, I think. We will see for sure on Saturday.

Brad is still going strong with his cub scout stuff. He had his banquet Saturday and received his Bear badge, along with a ton of other awards so he was proud. He has started the practices for baseball as of last night so that will keep us busy too.

Connie is about to get regulated on her medicine, I think. Hopefully that will help to ease the frustration in our household. She starts practice tonight for T-Ball. She is so excited that she can barely contain herself.

Jeff has taken a new position with the Scouts so his stays busy with that. He is also trying to find some time to finish up his degree with the Masons. He sure doesn't want to start over at this point.

As for me, I am just hoping to keep my wits over the next few months. The spring time is always busy and my Dad is really struggling with his cancer. He has been here for almost 2 weeks. I am so thankful that he was able to make it here to see us and to meet Connie. We are stuggling now to find a way for him to get treatment at MD Anderson. Because of the stage of his cancer, palliative treatment is our only option, but it is certainly better than nothing. It is so tough to see the amount of pain is endures.

So that has been our life for the last few weeks. I will post some pictures soon. It was great to log on this morning and see the pictures of all of the cousins.

Amy's Last Basketball Game

Well, Amy's last basketball game was last night. They ended the season undefeated so they were really excited about that. Of course, there was that tournament that didn't go so well for them, but the girls say that doesn't count....

I am so proud of her. She really did what she could this season. I was a bit worried about her in team sports because I was afraid she would have my coordination skills...but she did great! Last week's game was awesome for her, but I was so into the game that I didn't take any pictures.

Here is a picture from her last game....the movement is so fast and the gym was a little bit dark so the pictures aren't great. Her jersey number is 2.

She is the cutie all the way on the right.

Brad's Spelling Bee

Brad studied so hard...he was the classroom spelling bee champion last week. So yesterday was the grade level spelling bee. He was so excited! It's hard for me to get off work sometimes, but I refuse to miss these moments simply because I work. There were twenty two students in the grade level spelling bee. It was funny because most of the kids had to sit out because of silly mistakes. They would spell the word right except for getting excited and either starting off with a totally unrelated letter or adding some totally unrelated letter at the end. They were just all too excited and nervous. Here are a couple of short videos of Brad spelling.


And my Brad is still little. I just hate that all the kids are growing up. I was almost happy that my little boy's feet didn't even reach the ground when he was on stage waiting his turn to spell....

Connie is building a Pinewood Derby Car!

Ok, for those that don't know this already....our lives our completely submersed in Cub Scouts. This coming weekend is our Pinewood Derby Car race with the Cub Scouts. The siblings are allowed to race in their own race if they want to participate. Last year, Connie wasn't all that into things but this year, she is making her own car. You can see her here in the background working on it. (There aren't any pictures of Brad working on his because Dad forgot to take pictures and I was at a meeting about our Cub Scout day camp this summer.)

Connie takes a ride

OK. Several weeks ago, I saw a video of Lilly being dragged down the hall by her dog. And as Laura told the story, she went to check on them because of all the laughing the kids were doing. Well, a few nights ago Jeff and I were doing something and heard Connie just laughing hysterically. The first thing I did was chuckle remembering Laura's blog post. Then we go into the kitchen to find Connie riding the dog!

Connie singing at Aunt Mert's in Pecos

Connie is an absolute fanatic about Taylor Swift. I couldn't find her at one point and when I went outside she was dancing and singing all by herself. Of course I think she was deliriously tired by then and none of us were feeling good.

In this video she is singing "Teardrops on My Guitar".

I watched her for a bit and then gave her my phone to sing by. I just love it when the kids are in that quiet kind of mood. It happens so rarely in my house.

Is that Connie cleaning the kitchen floor?

Ok. First let me just say that I already know I am a monster of a mother. I have been working on getting the kids more into chores and housework. I mean it surely can't be bad for them to learn what it takes to keep a house running...and exactly how that laundry gets from the middle of their floor back to hanging in the closet.

Unfortunately, Jeff and I leave for work so early and we do so much during the week that our current housekeeper/nannie has been showing Amy how to clean. Well, over the New Year's break I was doing something (very important, I am sure) and really noticed just how filthy our kitchen floor was! I mean I knew it wasn't getting as clean as I would like it, but I hadn't realized that the baseboards hadn't seen water in who knows how long.

So Amy and I spent New Year's Day and the day after cleaning so I could show her how I wanted things done. She really did it all in good humor, considering. (That should probably be a clue that I don't spend near enough time with her if she's happy even cleaning house with me.) Anyway, as we were almost finished cleaning the dining room floor, Connie wanted Amy to come play with her. I explained to Connie that Amy couldn't go play until the floor was done. She she asked if she could help her. Of course, I said yes!

And yes, that is a toothbrush in Connie's hand. But in fairness, we weren't cleaning the floor with a toothbrush. We were using scrub brushes to get up the dirt that had found itself in the linoleum. We were only using a toothbrush for those crevices in the corners the get the baseboards clean. Really, I am mean but I don't even think Cinderella had to use a tooth brush....

Connie is a ham!

Well we took the kids for some family pictures last week. As usual, Amy was interested in participating, Brad was in a goofy mood and Connie was a hamming it up! The photographers are friends of ours and they spent a great deal of time trying to get Amy to at least pretend that she liked her siblings. But, it wasn't happening.

The picture below is a picture AFTER we spend almost an hour in the shooting room trying to get at least a few good shots. Amy and Brad have school pictures of course, but it's so hard to get them all together and clean so I thought while I had Connie up there getting hers, I would throw Amy and Brad in too. I also kinda thought that if Amy was a little surprised then she would be better, not. Maybe next time.

Christmas in Pecos

Well we are home after several days in Pecos. We got there Wednesday afternoon for all the Christmas eve activities and left about 6am this morning. We finally got home about 3:30pm this afternoon. It wasn't really all that bad. I usually really don't look forward to the drive because it is just too long to have Jeff and Connie cooped up in a car! But this trip was so much better.

Christmas eve was a blast! As usual Aunt Mert and Aunt Bev went way beyond and made it so much fun for the kids. After church, everyone gathered for some ham, sausage and brisket with lots of sides (and more importantly, lots of desserts).

After everyone ate, it was time for the pinata in the back yard. This year it was Thomas the Train. I guess Clay likes Thomas the Train. I think it was a great idea that went a little south when everyone started hitting Thomas. Clay was not really thrilled with this idea. He spent quite a bit of time talking about how Thomas was broken. Poor little guy. And I am sure that Kelsey will expand on this, but it seemed that Clara wasn't really very happy about hitting Thomas with a bat either. Of course Clay and Wyatt had a turn with the pinata as did Connie and Clara. The bat was a little too heavy for the little ones, but they gave it their best shot.

Thomas was a tough one to break. After the kids had their turns, Jeff, Cody and Mason got a shot at bringing him down. I am going to try to post the video to my blog...it was a tragic ending. If the video won't work online, I am already making copies to be sent out for everyone to see.

As tradition has it, the pinata ends with a special visitor. This year he snuck up behind the fence! (I wonder where his reindeer where?)



Then we went inside to visit with Santa and see what he had in his bag for everyone. It was so much fun. It a great time for all. Although I must admit that Connie confronted Santa because she didn’t get the only thing the had asked for this year. Right after she opened her first gift from Santa she made her way up to him, stepping over those in her way, and told him that she was mad because he didn’t get her what she had told him she wanted. She continued to tell him that she had asked for a DS gameboy with two screens and a pen just like her brother. It was pretty hysterical, but I have to admit that I was a bit embarrassed and felt like I had messed up with Santa. But it didn’t take long to redirect her and get the fun going again.

On Christmas morning, we stayed at the farm for awhile and opened our stockings. About mid-morning we made our way to Mert’s house for more food and cookies. We really enjoyed the time to visit and play with the babies. I have pictures that I will try to post also of them. All the kiddos are getting so big!



On Friday afternoon, Johnny and Lola Kay came for a visit. It was nice to get to spend some time with them as well. Connie was so happy to spend some time with her “Grandfather”. (I really don’t know why she has taken to being so formal with her grandparents. She does it with my family too.)

By Friday afternoon, some of the cousins were heading out other directions. Saturday we just hung around and visited. I got some really cute pics of Connie on the trampoline singing all by herself. I personally think she was delirious by this point.


I am so thankful for the entire Griffis family. It is so nice to be able to enjoy the magic of Christmas with such a great family. I know the kids love being able to play with so many cousins. And maybe even play in Aunt Mert’s pond if no one is looking….

OK. That is pretty much the details. I am making a few copies of the pictures and the video of the pinata in case anyone might want a copy. There are just too many pictures to post here and I am sure that others will be posting pictures too.

I hope that everyone else had a wonderful Christmas holiday and continues with a very safe, happy new year!

We will continue praying for Larry and hope all is well in Abilene.

Santa is coming to town!

We had our cub scout Christmas party this past Saturday. The kids all had a great time and were able to spend some time with Santa. He was a great Santa and really got to spend some quality time with him.

We went to the mall to see him just before Thanksgiving because there was no line and Brad and Connie seemed to be in a good mood. Well that may have been correct right until the time Connie realized that she was supposed to get at least in the general vicinity of this big man in a bright red suit! She was none to thrilled about that idea. I don't have those pictures in the computer to compare, but needless to say, she liked this Santa so much better!


Once she watched him with the boys for awhile, she decided to go up and talk to him. Of course she must have known that I wanted a picture of her with Brad because she flat out refused to go talk to Santa with Brad. But since Austin is her boyfriend, she decided he could take her to Santa. So here is a picture of Connie, her boyfriend Austin and Santa. (And for the record, I tried relentlessly to tell her that Austin was not her boyfriend, but she wouldn't stop calling him that.)



And here is one of Brad with Santa:

And then while the boys were off playing together, she went back to see Santa AGAIN! And in case you don't know Connie too well, she really isn't in to hugging people and certainly not into kissing people. Here is a small video of her getting snuggly with Santa:

It's snowing!!!!

OK. It hardly ever happens in Houston, but it actually snowed yesterday. It wasn't much, but it was something, at least. It snowed for several hours yesterday afternoon and into the evening. Although most of it didn't stick to the ground. I am sure that Laura in Oregon won't be impressed with our little bit of snow but the kids had fun talking about it. I wonder how much snow Kelsey got since she's a little further north from us???


Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of our snow....

Jeff and Allen

Here is a picture of Jeff and Allen when they went hunting a couple of years ago.

And here is a picture of Jeff and Allen with their Kingfish last spring not long after Jeff got his boat.

And thanks Kelsey for telling me how to put my pictures where I want them.

Amy at her basketball game...

Last night we attended another of Amy's basketball games. In the picture above, she is 2nd from the left. She has had a great time playing basketball and I am so happy for her. She obviously didn't get her abilities from me. I was worried when she tried out for the team because she is not very tall and hasn't really shown any hint of the competitive agressiveness needed for the sport in our hometown. I must say that she is growing in her abilities at each game.

She is pretty proud right now because although she is on B team, her team remains undefeated. I am so proud of her.