Weekend Update

All the parents from my daughter's softball team got together for some tailgating followed by watching the Chicago Bandits.

These girls are awesome to watch.

Afterwards, our girls got to take their picture with the Bandit girls.

and get autographs, too. The Bandit girls were so sweet, and made it a lot of fun.

I also worked on my other daughter's rag quilt. We are taking her to college in a couple of days, and I'm hoping to get this done in time. Well, gotta get back to sewing!

Hope you had a great weekend.

Lilacs

I am sad to see the Lilac blooms come to an end. Did you know? Lilacs are:
The 8th wedding anniversary flower and the state flower of New Hampshire. In the language of flowers, purple lilacs symbolize the first emotions of love, while white lilacs represent youthful innocence.

Their short appearance is a reminder of how I need to take the time to enjoy the people and things around me at the moment, and that is what I've been doing........

 I love the smell of lilacs!

 They remind me of my early morning walks to school as a little girl. When I would take a short cut to school and cut through the fields, there was a house that was lined with Lilac bushes. The sweet smell would greet me and then linger on for a few blocks, before arriving to school.

Did I mention.......I love the smell of Lilacs!

A Happy Easter

Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.

Since my kids are older now, we don't color as many eggs as we used to. Since two of my kids couldn't be home for Easter, the decorating was left to the three of us.

We still use the traditional PAAS egg dyes, plus I like to bring out the paint brushes and a few other tools to challenge us to be more creative when decorating the eggs.

I still hold an Easter Egg hunt for my kids. Most of the eggs are plastic filled with age appropriate goodies. Did you know a travel size package of Kleenex fits into one of those plastic eggs?

Then it's time to sit around and eat hard boiled eggs, chocolate bunnies and do a little trading of the goodies.

A Broken Heart, A Heart Shaped Tear and St. Christopher

I know a lot of mothers go through this.....a broken heart when a child leaves the nest and goes off to college or moves out on their own. I didn't realize how painful this event would be.

My son left for his first semester of college, and I know he will do great. I pray that he will be safe and no harm will come his way.

As we were hugging and saying our goodbyes (I'm still composed) he assured me that he would be back in 4 months.

To him, yes, it was only four months. What he doesn't understand is that it's four months of not being able to give him a hug or see his beautiful smile or have breakfast with him. All the things that have been a part of our daily lives for the past 19 years.

I started to feel a sharp pain in my heart as I watched him pull away.

It was at this point, that I broke down. I felt this huge wave of sadness come over my heart.

As if I wasn't hurting enough, I decided to sit in his bedroom while the sadness consumed me. My daughter came to give me a comforting hug, and as she leaned over to hug me, a huge smile come over her face as she looked at me and pointed to a heart shaped tear stain on my shirt. I couldn't help but smile.

On a happier note.....My son has never kept a journal and is not much of a writer. He will be doing a lot of traveling during his college years, and I wanted to make him a special journal just in case he gets the urge to write about his journey. 

I placed St. Christopher (the patron saint of travelers) in the cover. I used a piece of Mica to cover the medal, which moves freely. Even if he decides not to write in the journal, at least St. Christopher will be by his side.

I know my broken heart will mend, slowly.