"Don't cry because it's over, Smile cause it happened" ~ Dr. Seuss

I have been delaying this post.  I know I need to as the purpose of this blog is to write about our lives so I can look back and remember what we were doing at any particular point in our live since I am terrible and keeping records anywhere else.  I just haven't felt like writing or talking about it but each day gets easier.
My Grandma, as many of you probably know, died two weeks ago.  She was sick for awhile and I knew it was coming and the waiting was terrible but it did not make her passing any easier.  I lived in a haze for about 3 weeks waiting for her to pass, then when she did dealing with her loss.  There were days I didn't even know where I parked my car.  I left the Y one day and walked around the parking lot for at least 5 minutes thinking my car was stolen before I realized I parked in the other parking lot. 
I have fond memories of my grandmother.  The younger me remembers her as this sweet grandmother who always had sugar cookies in her middle kitchen door in her house with the blue door and the yellow sun room.  I would stay with her occasionally during the summer and she would roll my hair and take me out to the farm.  She always looked so put together.  Her hair was always done, her makeup always on and dressed to the nines.  I remember hiding in her bathroom putting on her red lipstick thinking no one would notice that I was wearing it.  The older I got either more the more I realized or the more outspoken she became.  I am not sure which one it is.  Grandma Lenore would tell you exactly what she thought, if she thought you gained weight or were showing too much cleavage she would be the first to tell you.  She would also be the first one to tell you how great you looked after losing weight or how beautiful your child was. 
I miss her.  I miss her when I think about her and I know that will get better.  The hard parts will be holidays, weddings and showers.  The hard part will be not hearing her say how beautiful my child is when I send a Christmas card or a "hey just thinking about you" card or email. 
The funeral was on a bitterly cold day but it is over and she is gone.  It is weird to realize that she is gone and the silence of her not being there.  Sitting next to my grandpa at lunch you realize that it is oddly silent and that it was Grandma that always carried the conversation.  My grandpa has loved my grandmother since they were 7, I bet the silence for him is even louder than it was for me.

That same weekend while we were mourning the loss of one loved one we rejoiced in the life of another.  Brian and Rozlyn baptized little Mr. Kemper that Sunday and it was so nice to have something positive to celebrate.  Oh little Kemper, he is so sweet and so easy going.  Sigh, so unlike Thatcher who is a hurricane no matter where he goes.  Needless to say he did not make it through any mass that weekend.

Update on the toddler bed front.  We are still working on him staying in bed.  He has pretty much stopped getting out of bed right when we put him down but he still wants to get up so early.  We are inching closer to 7 but I would like to be closer to 8.  The other night I found him in his recliner, he is so sweet when he is sleeping.