RedBarn Studios

Entries Tagged as 'family'

mY heART sMiLes

i realized recently that these lazy days of summer are the last all of my kids and i will spend together living under the same roof
(barring any emergency “mummy help me puh-leeze” phone calls).

one of them, #1 child, will be off on his own life adventure (basic training) come september and it’ll be only a short while before #2 child heads back to college for her next phase in life. that leaves one more left to make the house feel lived in.

i’ve been looking through photographs old and new of late and reminiscing, not believing how much they have grown and changed, remembering each one’s entry into my life. what are journey! guess it’s time now to really test those wings and the pull of my heart.

here’s who makes me smile each day..

what makes you smile?

♥

who fills YOUR heartspace?

toodles,

Tags: family, life etc., ponderings by grace
5 Comments »

TRaVel TiMe

My girl…she’s all grown up now.

Yesterday she left for a trip to England…her first time on a flight by herself….AND it’s across the Atlantic.

Yup…she’s putting another step into the adult pool.

Sigh…..

Tags: family, pic of day by grace
4 Comments »

Easter 2011

hope everyone enjoyed their Easter Celebration!

today, before prepping dinner, we headed out for a drive. after all the bank and forth weather we’ve been having it was wonderful waking up to a beautiful easter sunday morn.

in fact as we were eating breakfast we noticed outside the window, on the green across from the house, a family with their young son flying a kite. magical indeed!

only last night my neighbor, originally from Guyana, told me that on easter sunday, Guyanese from all over, to celebrate the risen Christ, fly kites…the skies are chock full of them. had never heard of that tradition before and it just so happens that we see a kite flying this morn.

anyway…i’ve been working on a new thing. youtube has issued a challenge that members vlog (video blog) every day for the month of april (got this from Tam over at willowing.ning.com). so i decided to chime in on this. with only nine days left in the month it seems an easy feat.

so go go check out my youtube channel and see what’s up. it’s weird being in front of the camera but i kinda like it….it’s not as hard as i thought it would be….much like talking to you guys thru this blog.

wish me luck with keeping up with it.

toodles,

p.s. on our drive we ended up at university of nc at charlotte’s botanical gardens where I proceeded to take lots of pics..the orchid above was one of them…gor-gee-ous!

Tags: family, monday posts, pic of day, road trip, video moments by grace
1 Comment »

The Interview

so i got this idea from cathy zielske about interviewing your kids at different ages, each time using more or less the same questions.

the other day connor and i were sitting at the table doing our own thing. he had just come home from school and was was busy doing his homework. perusing cathy’s blog at the time i thought there’s no better time, so i decided to go for it and started to ask him questions (the questions i asked are in bold and his commentary is in italics).

Be aware…..he has a dry sense of humour.

Connor at 10

favorite colour: blue

favorite song: we will rock you, jerk

favorite subject: reading books and writing stories

favorite time of day: afternoon and night
‘morning is NOT my favorite’

favorite thing to eat: cookies and cream hershey bar

what do you want to be when you grow up: soccer player, engineer, artist
‘I have three cause I’m a kid and I don’t have to make my decision yet’

if you could change your name, would you and what would you change it to: (pondering answer then…)
‘I like my name but if I changed it, it would be Dylan or Jordan’

what’s your best trait: my kindness and humour
‘that was easy’

if you could spend the day with anyone who would it be: my best friend Will i am.
‘not the other william…..i mean William Y

what is something that frightens you: spiders
‘definitely spiders….spiders really get me frightened up no matter what size….I don’t like spiders’

what is the BEST show on TV: avatar the last air bender, sponge bob, my wife and kids
‘sorry….i have 3 again’

…’are the questions done now……..no, it’s fine, let’s finish it’

who is the coolest person on earth: (after asking the question below) my family and Will i am
‘don’t have one but can it be my family?’

the one food that makes me want to puke is: eggplant
~ i had to put this one in…..he’s a boy after all ~

when i was little i used to: (no answer)
‘that’s a trick question…gotta be a trick question’

what was the last, most awesome book you read: Warriors…Into the wild

what are my parents too strict about: (no answer)
‘not answering this one, think it’s too rude’

and that’s my boy

or rather….that’s all i could get out of him in one session.

Toodles all,

Tags: Art, captured moments, family, life etc. by grace
3 Comments »

His Future is Strong

this past thursday was a wonderfully special day. i watched my son fulfill a dream. he was excited and nervous all at the same time.

on that day my son joined the air force. the smile on his face as he finished the swearing in was priceless.

this is one proud mama

congratulations hon…I am so very proud of you.

Mummy

Tags: family, pic of day by grace
3 Comments »

Reminiscing the Past

I had such a blast at home celebrating my elementary school’s 50th year of education. Yes, sigh…..I grew up in the Bahamas, I was a lucky girl indeed.

Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic School was founded by Wallace Groves (a local developer) and Bishop Leonard Haggerty in 1960 and has been going strong ever since.

Both my Mother and my sister taught there for years and now my sister is Vice Principal, so the school itself holds lots of personal and family memories.

Over the weekend I saw a few of my classmates and we reminisced about old times and long ago teacher. One of my old teachers who attended this weekend was Mr. Percic. Believe it or not but I couldn’t call him by his first name, even after all these years.

Part of the Saturday evening’s events include a fashion parade of the school’s old uniforms. The one I wore is the light blue and white polyester (2nd from left). Can you say ugg?? Polyester in heat…ugg again!!. BTW…I sewed all my uniforms including the ugg one below. Ha!

The school’s first teachers were nuns and a few them found us on Facebook and made it back to Freeport to celebrate with us. Here is Sister Francis at the Beach Party doing a little hula hooping. My niece, Caitlyn (on the left) found it a tad easier to do than Sister.

One of the other things we did for the Saturday night event was to perform “Sister Act”. Costumes were made for each of those participating. We walked solemnly from the back of the room to the front, our hands hidden in our sleeves like nuns did way back when. That started the audience rolling already.

Here we are on stage. Needless to say we had everyone laughing, with the nuns laughing the hardest. There I am 3rd from the right in my nun costume.

We had a celebratory Mass on Sunday and then we all went to brunch. At one point we’re all sitting there talking after eating and looked over to find my nieces, dressed in their Sunday best, embroiled in, of all things, a staring contest. Can’t even remember who won.

I’m glad to be back in North Carolina but found it oh so sweet to be home with family memories pouring in. And still, after all these years, I cry as the plane takes off for the US but am glad to get back to the family and life I’ve created.

Tags: down time, family by grace
6 Comments »

Letting Go

It seems such a long point till this time and this post. we all go thru hectic, busy times but it seemed that I just could not gather the oomph for a long while to write any post, far less about art and, i must admit, it was starting to get to me. with a boost from my friend nancy a couple of nights ago, here’s an update on life.
small yippee!

one of the things that has happened recently is my daughter’s transition into college.

oh my what a transition! but I was so very surprised at the extent that this event would affect me. i can honestly say that the last few weeks adjusting to her not being at home has been one of the hardest things i have had to endure.

i hear from friends who’ve experienced this already that it is far from being over but i feel i am coming out the other side (ehh). still tearing up when certain memories creep in or thoughts about our daily life that’s now different hits me. A new normal i have to learn to adjust to.

the crew

before we hit the road that friday i asked a neighbor to help us commemorate the day. the sillyness in this picture is so telling about us as a family. did NOT know, however, that hubby had fingers behind my head as well!!! also notice college student’s tongue sticking out. . the other 2 were totally oblivious to what was going on. Ha!

car packed to the tip top

should have been a sluggish car ride cause car was totally packed with no room to move. believe it or not connor was sitting right behind cheney in this shot..poor thing.

her place of residence for the next 4 yrs…

cheney is adjusting well to life as a college student. just like she did when she was home, she checks in with me almost every day by phone…funnily enough, it’s the same time she did before…right after classes finish for the day.

one of the good things we’ve taken advantage of is getting her a camera for her pc so we can skype with her (another one of those words like “google” that’s turned into a verb).

it’s strange being in this big house with only 3 of us here now…fells like a cavern sometimes, especially when hubby is away on business and just 2 of us are here.

my only question to my mother after having experienced this all-consuming wave of emotion is why didn’t she ever tell me I would feel like this. in her wise Mavis voice , she said there would be no way to describe what would happen but knew when it did, that she would be there for me when i needed her.

WoW! and the baton has been passed on.

Tags: family, this 'n that by grace
5 Comments »

Birthday Wishes

hubby’s birthday is today.

every year it’s a milestone for him cause he finally turns the same age as me.

for 8 months out of the year he gets to call himself a “younger” man….then August rolls around and his ship has sunk. Poor thing seems to get all caught up in that age thing the older he gets.

as for me, I am loving where I am…..don’t take no crap from anyone anymore, do what’s best for me so that I can do whats best for others around me and am just all around enjoying my actual age….who knew!

need to get him to loosen up bout the number thing but until then….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!!!

may you have many, many more to come (even tho it upsets you just a wee bit..hee hee)

Tags: family by grace
2 Comments »

Being a Mother

I wish all of my family and friends, local and far away (and in blogland) a…

Mothering

Today I also wished my best friend a Happy “Mothering” Day. She is such a rich influence in my kid’s life that I wanted to recognize all that she does for our family.

She has no children herself but is always willing to help my 3 children, guide them and love them like they were her own, that I decided that she too will be honoured today. The kids have officially and lovingly dubbed her M2….for Mother #2.

Is there someone in your children’s lives who does for your kids as you do, who is such and inspiring and influential person in their lives? Let’s not leave them out today. Wish them a happy mothering day too.

Tags: family by grace
No Comments »