I love my blended family.  All of our children are adults with families of their own. The ones that live in town keep us busy and we miss the ones that live in other parts of the country very much. My Dad lives in Ohio, so he's not as close as I would like.  Cec's Mom lives with us and she will be 92 years old in April. Cec's brother Andy lives in town.

We currently have 11 grandchildren, the oldest is married and the youngest is 8 months old. From the youngest to the oldest, each member of our family plays a unique and important role in our family. The young ones keep us on our toes and the oldest share their wisdom.

My life as a granny is like being on a wobbly merry-go-round and I love most of it.  I must admit though there are days I plead, please stop the the merry-go-round and let me off!

Being able to experience seeing many of my grandchildren born, taking an active part during and after, has been awesome for me. I remember the special things about each one and then as I build a unique relationship with my grandchildren I think back to my childhood because I didn't know my biological grandparents. I remember is the great people that stood in their place.

MawMaw and PawPaw were always so happy to see me.  I can remember the smell of the house, especially the kitchen and Pawpaw always read or told me great stories, while I sat on his lap. Then there was Mr. and Mrs. Snow, they lived next door to us when I was only 4. Mr. Snow always used to tinker in his garage with lawn mowers and things, but he always had time to smile and say hi. 

Mrs. Snow, used to make this wonderful chocolate chip cake with white granulated sugar icing.  SOoooooo good.  The most important thing though, was she had a garden, and our house was on a little hill above the garden.  I used to send a fishing line over the hill down into the garden when Mrs. Snow was there and she used to put small vegetables on it, then she would yank on the fishing line and I'd pull it up. 

Mae and Chester; Aunt Minnie and Aunt Nett were also caring people.  Aunt Nett used to take me in her bedroom and let me look at all her beautiful jewlery, hats, and things. They also used to stack up all the phone books in the house and put them on a dining room chair so I could sit comfortable at the table.

Wow, such great memories of such special people.  I can see them as well today in my memories as the if it were today.  These kind, loving, people were ordinary people that took time to give a little girl, much needed attention.  They gave me a sense of security and a sense of belonging.  It didn't matter to me that they weren't my grandparents.  This is a lesson I'm trying to remember not only with my own grandchildren, but also with children I come in contact with day to day, even though I might only see them once.  I want them to remember a nice older lady that smiled at them, chatted with them, or did something with them.

It is important for us to remember to take time out of our busy lives to spend times with our family. These experiences help to build strong families and relationships. It encourages conversation with our children and shows them how important they are. What wonderful memories we have to share.

Grandpa and Granny

Great Grandma Broom

Great Grandpa Hogue

Uncle Andy

	Cec is a techie and is devoted to mostly computer related subjects, however, he has some great links to other interesting information as well. Visit his web site, be careful opening that closet door.

Rodney, Cec's son is a great perl programmer and has a consulting business. Visit his web site.

	My brother-in-law Andy works for Geyer Instructional Aids.  They provide: Aids • Supplies • Equipment for the Classroom and also a Math and Science Catalog for Grades 5 -12.

Some friends web sites:

Chuck Shoecraft, he's a techie like my husband, he is a consultant and he and his wife Laurel are great realtors in Phoenix, Arizona!