Archiving Memories

This blog is a long time coming. I've spent years trying to document our life, envisioning that one day my kids will look back and marvel at "the way things were"...how they grew up...how we spent our time...what our home was like...how we laughed, cried, and played - how we played the music that was scored for our five voices. 
My method of choice has always been photography. I have always loved taking pictures. I remember my dad buying me my first camera at K-Mart, a little black Kodak, film of course, that I used for *years* - until long after the rest of the world moved to digital. If only I had the money I've spent on little yellow vials of Kodak film and its development. I must have been in junior high because I recall taking the first of many pictures with that camera at Oakland Junior High. Pictures of good friends (best friends you'll ever have), pictures from my cheerleading days, pictures of family and my cats - Murphy (Jersey looks so much like Murph, I would inadvertently call him "Murphy" the first few weeks we had him) and later Annabelle, my little white albino kitty and a gift from my good friend, Shan. 
The love for photography grew, not that I'm any sort of pro on the technical side, but I honed my skills on the emotional side. I love to capture the essence of a person or a setting - timing really is everything. More importantly, I love to look back on a photograph much later and be swept back to the moment.  Discovering Baby Jared in his room, all his books scattered around him as he searches for just the right one. Feeling the crisp Autumn air as little Jenna kicks up her heels at her YMCA soccer game. Breathing the salty fresh air as Baby Jules discovers warm, grainy sand for the first time. When my kids were younger, I didn't have much extra time to write about our life - images were the substitution for words. Click, click, click and there you have a blog post. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is cliche for a reason: it's so true. 

You can never have too many books!

Jenna is truly a rock star!

Discovering. 

 I have a vast collection of photo albums; the books of our lives. I've made each baby a scrapbook detailing their first year of life and kept a baby book for each of them. I've made memory books, photo calendars, photo cards. Pictures are my thing. But eventually I knew I had to jot things down: little things the kids would say or do that would crack us all up, small accomplishments and major triumphs, details of a holiday or birthday. I think I began by writing little notes in the back of baby books, then in a notebook that I think is now full of words and buried in mom's old cedar chest, and sometimes on any random scrap of paper I find hoping that I'll remember to permanently save it somewhere safe. Many times I've thought that I needed to start a blog. Nothing poetic or particularly insightful; just a place to jot down the mundane details of our everyday Life. I thought this when we took our totally awesome Christmas vacation to Florida in 2011. I need to write about loading Farrah to the brim with clothes and gifts and snacks and pillows and toys and movies and music, making the 2-day drive, Grandma in tow, to Melissa and Todd's house in Satellite Beach. I need to write about the kids racing out into the salty waves; Christmas Eve morning with my girls, Tiffy, Missy, and Starbucks on a beach walk; Jenna driving Todd's boat while dolphins played around us and Christmas lights reflected on the water; not having the foresight to bring swimsuits our first day at the beach (hey I know it was Florida, but it was *December* - I didn't know!) so Julia was left to her vices and chose to greet the waves in her pink and white polka dotted panties; Jared going a little too far out for comfort and Grandma vehemently explaining SHARKS to him; Julia holding DD's hand for reassurance against those overwhelming waves. I need to write about taking the kids to Kennedy Space Center; about the un-convincing Santa we were so looking forward to and his too-skinny wife; about the girls looking forward to the much-touted ice skating only to find it was a small, square patch of some strange, anything-but-smooth substance...but they did try. I need to write about Aunt Tiffy's delicious lasagna we had just before Uncle Todd proposed to Aunt Missy on Christmas Eve, and about the kids opening gifts under Aunt Missy's tree on Christmas morning, unwrapping the tickets to Disney World and to Universal Studios Islands of Adventures; about the girls' breakfast with the princesses in Cinderella's caste; about Jared attempting to conquer Space Mountain and not quite succeeding; about the fact that my kids got to ride Splash Mountain with their grandma, grandpa, aunts, cousin, and mom and dad (despite Jeremy's fear of heights, he did look Splash Mountain in the eye and lived to tell about it); about not being sure if Julia was big enough to ride it but the first thing she said when she got off was, "I want to go again"..and she did, two more times; about Julia meeting Rapunzel and Jenna blushing and grinning when she met Mickey. I need to write about the ninety-seven billion people that chose to go to Universal the same day that we did and how we spent most of the day shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone around us; about Jared being chosen for a wand demonstration at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (maybe with a little help from Uncle Todd).

"...And a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4:12

Not sure how well he could see without his glasses, but this boy LOVED the ocean waters. 

Little Girl...BIG Ocean!

Livin' the life.

Aww...one of my favorite pictures ever.

Christmas Eve Morn'

Waiting patiently on Christmas morning. 

We're going to Disney World in the morning...Universal the day after that!

"The taste of salt, the dance of waves...and my soul wells up with Hallelujahs." 
Christmas Morning 

And another fav. See why I love pictures? 

Entertaining each other in a LONG line at Universal.

The Girls meet The Mouse. 

I need to record these memories; so one day the kids, even their kids, can read about this time in our lives; after all, I love any glimpse I get into my own childhood, and that of my parents and grandparents. I wanted to write again when I got to take a fairy-tale trip to Jekyll Island, Georgia, driving with mom and dad and picking Tiffany up at the airport in Nashville, to see Todd and Melissa marry. How the island was beautiful and its history fascinating. How we got to stay the night in Nashville on the way home and it all felt like magic to me, like it could be my hometown. How Jenna missed me an awful lot and wouldn't let me out of her sight for weeks once I returned (bless her heart). 

Mr. & Mrs. Allen

Driftwood Beach

I love those sun rays peeking through the clouds. 

I was very excited to spend the night in Nashville on our way home: view from our hotel room. 

Before taking Tiffy to the airport the next morning, we got to visit the legendary Ryman Auditorium. Images of Loretta and Patsy, Johnny and June danced in my head. 

"The polished wooden pews sat glistening in the afternoon sun that filtered through the windows

 and gave the aroma of a thousand old guitars."

A blog also seems like the place to save some posts I make on Facebook. Posts like:  


Today we'll celebrate Jenna's 10th birthday. She's the perfect "middle child" - takes care of her little sister and humors her brother. She's sweet, tough, Miss Independent and works hard. She's a bright light in our lives! (01.06.13)

and

My little mancub is becoming more man and less cub. 12 years old today, he's taller than me, smarter than me...but he'll always be my Baby J. (01.15.13)

and from yesterday's dinner at the Farm, Julia helping Grandpa wash (and pick feathers off!) the quail he fried for dinner (sooo takes me back to my childhood- eating fried quail, *not* touching it, but go Julia!): 

The chefs are preparing quail this afternoon: 



So I've finally started. One post down. This post has taken me much longer than anticipated, and I'm still learning. I hope to drop in to talk about our lives at least once a month. I hope to touch base on our everyday lives too, not just all the exciting stuff. 

I suppose I should at least give a little intro as to Where We're At in our lives. Jeremy owns and operates Jeremy Grgurich Trucking and I handle all the paperwork involved in that. Sometimes I don't want to after working full-time myself and managing a household, but I do it. I'm working in grants in the Sponsored Programs Dept. at ATSU; I've been at ATSU since Julia was 7 months old, but only in Sponsored Programs since March of last year; before that I was in Financial Aid. I'm still adjusting to the job; the verdict is still out as to how I feel about it (other than I'm very grateful to have it). Jared is in 6th grade at Kirksville Middle School. He likes to hang out with his friends, swim, play video games, and is interested in technology. He's smart and witty. He allows himself to become aggravated by his sisters as much as possible but overall is a good big brother. Jenna is in 4th grade; she transferred to Mary Immaculate School this year and really likes it there. She's a tough girly girl: likes to play sports, run and climb, dig in the garden with Grandpa...and get her nails done and dress up too. She is a big helper; definitely has a servant's heart. Julia started Kindergarten this year (Mary Immaculate); she is working on learning to read and spell that long last name of ours. She's funny and makes us laugh but she is the baby and she knows it - milks that for all she can. What's going on right now: Jenna has started basketball and practices on Wednesdays; games on Saturdays. Both girls are in dance and go on Monday nights to Melody's School of Dance. Jared, for all his height and the comments be constantly gets about playing basketball, has chosen not to play this year. He doesn't seem to be very interested in it. He is very interested in music and wants to learn to play the guitar and piano, and is learning percussion in band this year. I'm going to have to find someone who can teach him; that is on my to-do list. So for the  most part right now its work and school, chores and homework, practices and games, and much yearning for Spring so the kids can get back outside and play!