Evans and Son Grocery

My grandparents owned a grocery store in the small town where they lived from 1947 to 1960 {almost 14 years}.  As they would say, "People traded with them."  Growing up I heard numerous stories about the grocery store and their customers.  It was a significant part of their life.  Many items from the store were sold, given away or thrown away after they closed the store.  A few things were left behind, and I am lucky enough to have some of them at my home. 

The seed display box was  in my grandparent's shed.  One weekend I was home from college for a visit and my grandma was cleaning out the shed.  She was about to toss this in the burn pile.  I didn't know it was special and had ties to the store..  I just thought it was a neat old box, and I asked her if I could have it since she was going to burn it.  She said sure and told me it was an old box leftover from the grocery store.  I'm so glad I came home that weekend for a visit!  You can tell it has been used and it's a little worn in some places, but that makes me treasure it even more because I know it was once used to display seeds in  my grandparent's store.

This ledger book was used in the store.

The calendar was given to me by one of my grandma's nieces, Sarah.  My grandmother's sister, Ruth, was Sarah's mother.  She passed away several years ago and when they were cleaning out Aunt Ruth's house she found this calendar from 1954.  Sarah knew I would appreciate it so she gave it to me.  What a treasure!

Shopping basket that was used inside the store.



I'll be linking up and sharing my special family treasures from Evans and Son Grocery with Cha Cha at Sit Relax and Read.  I'm so thankful that she started Sentimental Sundays.  Since I started blogging I wanted to share these special pieces and stories, but I just didn't know how to go about it.  Sentimental Sundays has given me the perfect opportunity to reflect and share.  Each post is easy to write and takes little effort. I think it's so easy because it's written from the heart about things I hold dear.  Thank you Cha Cha for helping me find a way to share these special memories.

He's Not A Robot

Here’s a photo of Will in his favorite robot t-shirt.  This photo was taken back in May. Doesn’t he have the sweetest little grin? He’s such a cute, fun, outgoing and smart little fella. My husband and I are blessed to have him. Will is our oldest and first so as Will grows and enters new phases we adjust and change, too. We are most certainly learning as we go! We’re rookies when it comes to this whole parenting thing, and I'm not too proud to admit it. Sometimes we feel like we have no idea what we are doing.  It seems like as soon as we get a feel for how to handle the current phase we are in, the phase changes, and we’re on to a whole new set of challenges.

Mark was 32 and I was 29 when Will was born. We weren’t the first to have kids among many of our friends and family. Since we were a little older when we had our children, we’ve had the benefit of observing others and learning what works and doesn’t work with the children of our friends and our nieces and nephews. One of the best pieces of advice I have heard was in a women’s bible study. My friend, Shana, said, “Children aren’t robots.” As a parent of young children, I think it’s easy for me to have unrealistic expectations about how my children should behave and act. I can be guilty of expecting my little ones to be perfect and that’s just unrealistic. They aren’t robots that can be programmed. Another piece of advice came from my friend, Jami. She told me in raising children, the two hardest things when they are young are when your child is sick and dealing with discipline. She’s right! I feel helpless when either one of my little ones is sick. And, the discipline issue is why I’m writing this post. We’re challenged right now with a strong-willed child who doesn’t listen.
What do we do?

We had our first big discipline issue with Will last night. One of Will’s teachers at church told me that he acted up and didn’t listen in class. Wow! It’s humbling! Mark kept Ben at home because he wasn’t feeling well, and he wasn't at bible study/church. After church Will's teacher caught me and gave me the low-down. So, I came home and told Mark about everything. It was definitely a learning moment for both of us. We want to approach this united. We want to be thoughtful and fair in our discipline and punishment. We also want Will to behave and be respectful of adults. How do we accomplish this? I don’t know! That’s what’s so humbling!

I asked his teacher what she did with her children when they acted up. I figured she had advice and wisdom to share because her kids are several years older than mine. She suggested implementing a rewards system with rewards for good behavior and meaningful consequences for bad behavior. It sounds so simple and makes complete sense. It’s funny how all logical reasoning goes out the window when you’re emotional and trying to discipline your own child. I plan to write another post about Classroom Management, which I think I’m pretty good at. Go figure, I can control a class of 25 rowdy 7th graders, but my 3-(almost 4)-year-old is giving me a run for my money!

Here are the goals that Mark and I have set for the next few weeks in hopes of improving Will’s behavior:

Be consistent in our discipline.

Reward good behavior.

Correct and punish bad behavior immediately.

Punish bad behavior with an appropriate consequence.

Reinforce expectations and clearly explain expectations for good behavior.

In the meantime, I'll remember that Will's not perfect and neither are his parents!  He's not a little robot.  Thank goodness!
I'm open for suggestions from those of you who have been there and done that.  We'll see how it goes, and I'll keep you updated.

Baby Elin's Baby Shower

This weekend we had a baby shower for my cousin's wife, Jacquelyn.  My cousin, Jared, and I are the same age and grew up together in the same small town.  We even ended up attending Texas A&M together.  He's a dear friend, and I'm so glad that his wife and I have become such good friends, too.  They are expecting their second little girl in December.  Some of Jacquelyn's friends and I decided to throw her a diapers and wipes shower to welcome the new baby.  I only knew one of the three other hostesses before the shower, and we planned the entire shower by email.  All of the other hostesses are super sweet and we ended up having a lot in common.  We've even become facebook friends since the shower.

The shower was held at the lake house of Lindsey's parents. (Lindsey was one of the hostesses.)  I didn't really know what to expect when I was told "lake house" and when I arrived at the house I was amazed.  It was beautiful!  They built a true dream home, which leads me to a really funny story.  Lindsey's mom, Pam, was giving me a tour of the home and showing me the outside of the property and she pointed at the neighbor's house and said, "That's the dream home."  I said, "No, your home is a dream home."  She said, "No, that's the HGTV Dream Home."  I had this look of No Way! Seriously!?!  I thought it was so cool that they are neighbors to the 2005 HGTV Dream Home.  Lindsey's mom was so nice and made a country bumpkin like me feel welcome and at home.

 We all had such a good time showering Jacquelyn with gifts and enjoying each others company.
We look forward to the arrival of baby Elin!

The table was decorated by Pam. She and her husband were so kind to welcome us into their home. 

We served mini quiches, blueberry scones (made by me), fruit, dips, crackers, cake and punch.

 Too bad this is blurry.  A photo of all of  the hostesses, Angie, Lindsey, me and Ema.  Such sweet ladies!

Hostesses and Jacquelyn and Emerson 

Pam and Jacquelyn 

Personalized banner that a friend and I made for the baby shower.

All of the ladies enjoyed visiting and talking with each other.

More fun chatting.

Jamie and Ema 

Big sister, Emerson, and the cake 

Jacquelyn opening the personalized chenille bib and burp cloth from us. 

Two more sets of personalized bibs and burp cloths from our grandparents. 

Emerson really liked the new cuddly teddy bear. 

Many of the ladies at the shower were friends from MOPS.  This is Jacquelyn's MOPS mentor mom and Pam.

Lindsey's cute daughter, Reese.  She's the cutest thing with the best personality.  We may be working on an arranged marriage to one of my boys in the future :)

I told you the house next door was the HGTV Dream Home.  Here's proof.   I took a photo of the Dream Home Boat House.

View of the lake. from the house.

View of the back of the house where we had the shower.

Another view of the back of the house.

I thought the front door was very pretty so I took a photo.  I'm a dork! 

If you are interested in the personalized chenille bibs and burp cloths, check out my friend's website.  I don't purchase through the website since I'm a friend and she lives locally, but she ships all over the U.S.  

Little Missy Boutique (it's an ebay store not an etsy shop)

Family Mirror and Framed Prints

I'm so thankful that Cha Cha at Sit Relax and Read started Sentimental Sundays.  It's a place to share the special and meaningful things in our homes that we hold dear.  It's the pieces that hold memories and bring a tear to the eye when thought about.  Each piece has a special story.  Each story is unique.  Each piece is irreplaceable.

This mirror was my grandmother's mirror. She told me it belonged to her grandmother, Mama Crawley. My grandma is 87 so you can imagine how old this mirror would be. As I told you last week, I lived with my grandparents growing up. I was surrounded by sentimental family heirlooms. The family heirlooms may not be Antiques Roadshow material, but they are valuable and special to us.

The prints below belonged to my husband's grandmother, Mamaw Morrow.  When he was little he remembers looking at these prints at her house and wondering about the writing because it was in a different language.  Mark's grandmother passed away just before we got married, and when the items in her home were being divided among the family these were given to us.  It's so special that we were able to have something from her in our home.  We treasure them and have had them hanging beside my great-great-grandmother's mirror in our living room for the last eight years.

Please join in the sharing of special memories at Sit Relax and Read.  Thank you, Cha Cha, for welcoming us to share.

Flashback Friday: October 2009

Because I love to reminisce I've started Flashback Friday.  I've only been writing this blog since May 2010, and I want to document special pre-blog memories.  Flashback Friday is my attempt to do that.

Last year in October we took the boys to the Fort Worth Zoo.  It was our first family trip to the zoo.  Will was about to turn 3 and Ben was  4 1/2 months old.  I know it was just a year ago, but the boys have changed so much in a year.  It's truly amazing the difference a year makes.

This photo cracks me up. Someone offered to take our photo by the kangaroo statue.  Will decided to hold hands with the kangaroo.  Cute!  The look on his face is precious.

Mark and Will looking at the animals.

Mark and Will checking out the fish.

Will, Ben and I posed for a photo near the elephant exhibit.  Ben was about 4 1/2 months old.  I loved carrying him around in the Baby Bjorn.  I was so sad when he outgrew the baby carrier.

Autumn at the Arboretum

This weekend we went to the Dallas Arboretum.  I've been every season and it never disappoints.  I'm always overwhelmed by the beautiful flowers, trees and plants.  In the fall they have over 40,000 pumpkins on display.  It's a pumpkin paradise!!!  The weather was perfect and we had so much fun. 

Here are my little pumpkins!

This is my favorite photo of Ben and Will.
This is going on our Christmas card.  It's rare to get a photo of both boys smiling and looking in the same direction.  I know that anyone with little ones can relate.

Look! A pumpkin! 

This pumpkin is as big as Ben.

 It's the Great Pumpkin!

 Mark is trying to get the boys to pose for a photo.  It's a lost cause.  He's such a good sport when it comes to family photos.  He's very patient and humors me while I try to get the perfect photo.  I love my husband!

 Will looks so big in this photo.  I can't believe he'll be four in just a few weeks.

 It looks like he's thinking Aw-shucks!

 Will is so silly!

 Pumpkins everywhere!

 My cute little pumpkin, Ben.

 I love this one. His expression is so sweet.

 Cutie!

For some reason I really liked this photo.

This house made of pumpkins is so neat. 

 Will was tired and decided to sit down to rest in Ben's stroller.
And my handsome husband :)

 Ben and I posed for a photo in front of a house made of gourds.

 Can you see Will?  He blends right in.

We thought these colors looked really pretty together.  Very fall-ish!

 My three favorite people in the whole wide world.

 Our little family.  Fall 2010

Autumn at the Arboretum 2010.