Nana's Visit and the 4th of July

ma·tri·arch/ˈmātrēˌärk/Noun

A woman who is the head of a family or tribe.

That definition is only the tip of the iceberg that is Nana.  She is loving, she is kind, she is salty and sweet.  She always lets you know what she thinks, whether you want to hear it or not.  She always knows the national weather forecast, and the scoop on each member of the family. 

She'll send you a card to share in your joys and sorrows, and lifts your spirits whenever you need it.  She's seen it all--literally, the great depression, the wars, civil rights, you name it.  She has a direct line to God, St. Anthony and St. Jude.  When Nana prays, someone is listening. In her own way, she has taught me so much about faith and prayer. 

What a blessing it is to have someone so special be a part of your life for so long.  Some great-grand parents get tired of playing with children, let's face it they are loud, whiny and sometimes generally unpleasant to be around--but Nana thrives on the family she's created.

While she was visiting, Nana squeezed in some quality time with Elle watching TV and playing with her hair.


She also played games on the iPad with Tom-tom.


She's always game for story time with Elle-belly.


No one rocks a napkin better than Nana.


She's either telling a story about a crazy person or dropping some serious knowledge here.


Nana knows best, you know.




No one tells Tommy what to eat or when.......except Nana.  He actually listens--I think we should fly her down here so she can help him gain some weight!




I love the generational photo...


Nana would give you the shirt off her back if you needed one. When I was in college she came and picked me up when I had a flat tire, while the car was being fixed she took me to Frisch's for lunch to make sure I had some food in my belly.  A new tire is worth about a month's worth of ramen noodles!  She probably has no idea how much that meant to me, I guess I should tell her. Nana is one of the richest people I know and am so blessed that she's adopted me as one of her tribe.

We had a great 4th of July. GJ, the girls and I headed to the UA Parade to check out some of the floats.








The girls were really happy at the end, I'm not sure if they were happy they saw the parade or that we were going home.




Uncle Rob came up to hang for the 4th, and the girls were glued to him.


I love this one.


That night the girls went to the fireworks with GJ and Brooke in their PJs, here they are trying to make a "thumbs up".


Daddy and I decided to stay home and relax while GJ and Brooke braved the fireworks with the girls. It was a first for the girls, I was sort of sad that I didn't go, but glad that GJ and Brookie got to witness their first fireworks display.

Brookie took a mobile video of them so we could see how much they loved it-she's good like that.

All in all, I think it made for a fantastic 4th! Next year I think I'm going to do a little less late night partying and maybe more crafting, baking, and red-white-and blue-ing everything around me, maybe not, sounds like a lot of work! I've seen so many good ideas on pinterest.com lately I HAVE to try some of them out!