babies

Cherish the Moments

/ Jodi / 69 Comments

gfc-gs

I am so fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful friends.  Earlier this week, my sweet Bubby, who lives two hours away, asked if I wanted to meet the GFC Gang halfway between our homes for a holiday lunch get-together.

Well – invite me to lunch… or coffee… or dinner… or whatever…. with friends, and I’m pretty much one to drop whatever task at hand is on my holiday staycation schedule and do it.

And so I did.

And before I left, I decided to see if my daughter-in-law and granddaughter wanted to join us.  After all, among the many other things my Bubby and I share, we became first-time grandmas only five days apart several weeks ago when each of our eldest children (sons) blessed us with grandchildren.

My daughter-in-law (much like me), said “what time are you leaving?” and happily joined us.

Well – of course Bubby immediately called her daughter-in-law, and invited her and her grandson too.

gfc-gsj

How sweet to watch these two new moms so lovingly care for our new little loves.  (Though our cute little “C” was not in the mood to pose.  She wanted to sleep.)

gfc-g-1

What a joy it was to share this time together.  The babies were passed around between all the ladies, and we sure enjoyed the snuggles and squiggles.

gfc-gss

Until the phone rang – about halfway through lunch- with the sad, sad news of the passing of my brother, who is just 13 months younger than me.

The blessing in disguise is that I was surrounded with love…
surrounded with support…
allowed to process the shock, the grief, the anger, the sadness, the anxiety…
by being with some of the people
who have grown to become family to me,
who understand the circumstances,
who help make up for the family I’ve lost.

Friendship is truly a gift to cherish.

And I sure do cherish
these sweet special ladies.

I believe life is truly all about relationships.
Please take the time to cherish the ones you love,
the ones you call friends,
the moments you share.

Those moments can be taken away from you
in a blink…
in a moment.

Today is my birthday.
I am cherishing the moments.
I hope you will too.

gfc-g-2

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

A Grandparent Shower!

/ Jodi / 43 Comments

grandparent shower burnt almond torte cake

One of the highlights of our weekend was attending a “Grandparent Shower” for some very dear friends.

Kathleen and Jack have waited quite a long time to become grandparents, and we are so excited and happy for them.

So a small group of very close friends got together to SURPRISE them with a Grandparent Shower to celebrate how happy we are for them.

Many in attendance are already grandparents.  Once couple even great-grandparents.  But what we all had in common was our love and joy for our friends who have been through a lot and are so excited to become grandparents.

Grandmas Survival Basket Card

I put together a little Gramma’s Survival basket for Kathleen.

Grandmas Survival Basket gift

And Hubby created the cutest ever Grampa’s Infant Assistant Kit – all on his own!  One Ziploc baggie was filled with “equipment” and “instructions for Diaper Changing…

Grandpas Infant Assistance Kit for Changing Diapers

and the other was filled with Nap Time Supplies, including a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey for “medicinal spirits” for our new Irish Grandpa.

Grandpas Infant Assistance Kit for Nap Time

We also gave them a keepsake book to work on to fill with Memories for their grandchild and a couple of books to read with their grandchild that are so adorably written and illustrated on How to Babysit a Grandma and How to Babysit a Grandpa.

grandparent shower gift books

I wrapped them up and added a little watercolor card I made.

A little birdie told me watercolor card and grandparent shower gift

Our hosts had delicious beverages…

grandparent shower sangria

and treats.

grandparent shower caprese salad

And fifty pink roses were displayed all around.  Can you guess what sex the grandchild is going to be?

grandparent shower pink roses

We started with a toast.

grandparent shower toast

And so enjoyed watching them open the few little gifts we bought for them to celebrate their joy.

grandparent shower kathleen and jack

Kathleen and Jack shared reading glasses,

grandparent shower kathleen and jack 2

and it was fun to watch Kathleen explain finger puppets to Grandpa.

grandparent shower kathleen and jack 3

Supplies for bath time at grandma and grandpa’s house included more pink…

grandparent shower kathleen and jack 4

soft and fuzzy stuff!

grandparent shower jack

And hubby enjoyed one of his first showers with two awesome hostesses!  Thanks Cindy and Sally.

grandparent shower marty and hostesses cindy and sally

And all under the pretense that Jack was bringing some of his amazing homegrown heirloom tomatoes to a picnic where Gary and Cindy needed them.

heirloom tomatoes

We love you Jack and Kathleen and can’t wait to celebrate and love your bundle of joy!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi