Connect
Wednesday, July 2, 2008, by Leigh Anne
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Both college boys are home this week - yea!! Even though my grocery bill triples I love having them home.
We are spending the week at the beach - my favorite week of the year. (In fact we are there right now, while you are reading this!)
This time Logan is bringing a friend with him, a female friend. We are excited to meet her and we hope she likes us!
We decided that we should put a Wilkes Family Survival Kit together for her - a kit to help her survive us!
Before you get the wrong idea - we are NOT the Family Stone but like every family we do have our quirks.
We put a few items into the survival kit that might help her get to know us a little bit better.
The kit includes the following:
A cute beach bag - how can you go to the beach without a cute bag!
A pair of sunglasses and a rain poncho - you never know which one you will need in Oregon in the summer.
A First-Aid kit - Logan has a bit of a history of causing injury to past girlfriends. He broke the shoulder of one and crashed a motorbike with another one. (All were accidents of course!)
Flip Flops - We hope she’ll Flip over us - and that we won’t be a Flop!
Kit Kat Bar - in case of emergency remove wrapper and eat (her favorite candy bar)
Popcorn with a package of M & M’s - the only way the Wilkes family eats popcorn!
Sand bucket and shovel - We hope she’ll have fun playing on the beach with us.
An Oregon baseball cap - She’ll fit right in!
Deck of cards - You can’t spend much time with the Wilkes if you are not a card player - if she’s not, we’ll teach her how!
A scented candle called “Beach House” - Welcome to the Beach House
Welcome to Oregon Becca!
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Categories: Connect, Family
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Thursday, June 5, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Fourteen years ago when we moved into our current house the first person we met in our new neighborhood was three year old Hannah. We met her as she was riding her bike with training wheels out in our cul de sac. With a pacifier in her mouth she introduced her self as “Hannah Banana.”
My three year old daughter Cali and Hannah became fast friends and soon were inseperable. They did everything together!
They played for hours together…
They celebrated holidays together…Halloween, Easter, Christmas ……
They started the first day of Kindergarten and every other first day of school for the next 12 years together…..
They lost teeth together….
They made music together….
and they competed together….
They vacationed together…
and then the scary day when they even learned to drive together…..
This past weekend they graduated from high school together….
…and we celebrated their success and achievement with a joint graduation party. The highlight of the party was a special DVD my sweet friend Lorri put together for us. It was a compilation of the many, many photographs we have of Cali and Hannah together over the years. Accompanied by music we watched these two beautiful girls grow up before our eyes. As neighbors, friends and family watched there were many tears!
Tears of happiness, tears of gratitude for the opportunity we have had to watch these two sweet girls grow into such beautiful young woman and tears of sadness that the time went so quickly.
Both girls are ready to start a new journey and adventure in their life as they leave for college in the fall. Hannah is off to Oregon State and Cali to Brigham Young University in Utah. Although they will be miles apart they will also be connected, their lives have been changed because they have known each other - changed for good.
I chose the song “For Good” from Wicked to accompany the pictures on the DVD because I love the message of that song. Here are the words….
‘I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason
bringing something we must learn
and we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them
and we help them in return
now I don’t know if I believe that that is true
but I know I’m who I am today because I knew you…
like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun,
like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood…
who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you I have been changed for good.
It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime
so let me say before we part
so much of me is what I have learned from you
you’ll be with me,
like a handprint on my heart
now whatever way our stories may end
I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend…
Like a ship blown from it’s mooring by a wind off the sea
like a seed dropped by a skybird in a distant wood
who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you… I have been changed for good.
We love you Cali and Hannah!! Happy graduation!
Our lives have been changed for good because we knew you!
The journey begins……
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Categories: Connect
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008, by Leigh Anne
“The people in our lives”
I love text messaging. As a mother of teenagers and young adults it comes in quite handy.
After a few lessons from my teenage daughter I have actually become quite good at it! I am a two finger texter!! My husband is a different story, he actually sent his very first text message not too along ago. We were all very proud.
But the thing I really love about text messaging is the connection it creates between my children and me.
They send me the normal text messages….
“I’m on my way home”
or a quick message to let me know where they are.
Then there are messages like the one I got the other day…
“I think I’m getting pink eye.” (high school daughter who was scheduled to have her picture taken that day!)
or
“I need 20 bucks for a test - can I put it on the credit card?” (sweet college boy)
I love messages like this….
“When you get home, come tuck me in” (this from my sweet 14 year old who still likes me to tuck her in each night!)
And that camera phone comes in handy too. One of my sweet college boys sent me a picture of his pantry in his apartment at school when I gave him a “mommy lecture” on eating healthy. Wanted to show me that he had bought some fresh fruit.
Then there was the picture of two ties and the accompanying text message asking me which tie matched his suit!
I love it when one of my sweet college boys texts me and asks me for a recipe.
But the other night I received one of those text messages that makes me know that it is all worth it - one that warms my mommy heart.
As any mother of teenagers knows - moments of appreciation and gratitude can be few and far between and I will take them when I can get them. Sometimes they come in the form of a text message.
The following text message arrived the other evening while I was cleaning up the kitchen….
“Thanks for being such a great mom.”
Usually those type of text messages are then followed by another one asking to put something on the credit card but this time it wasn’t…
“We threw a birthday part for my roommate today. I had no idea how stressful it is.”
Of course I picked up the phone and called sweet college boy. He then told me how much he appreciated me and had never realized how much work went into putting on a party. He had spent the day cleaning, shopping, preparing and then cleaning up again afterwards while the rest of his roommates sat around!
Finally - he gets it! I guess waiting 22 years was worth it!
Do you have a funny or favorite text message one of your children have sent to you?
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Categories: Connect, Family, Motherhood
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008, by Leigh Anne
If you are reading this post in an email update or your rss reader - PLEASE click over to the actual blog. I want you to see my blog’s new look - isn’t it beautiful!!
Do you like it? I LOVE IT!
It is so pretty - I love the picture of my family, I love the colors (my favorite color green!), I love the beautiful graphic on the header - it looks like it’s right out of my garden. I especially love the little house icon.
I have my awesome friend Sherra to thank for my new look. Isn’t she amazing!
So take a few minutes and click around the site and get familiar with it.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think!
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Categories: Connect
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Monday, April 7, 2008, by Leigh Anne
“The people in our lives”
Checking the mail each day use to be an exciting event - especially as a child. Would there be a card or letter from Grandma, a birthday invitation, a thank you note or a letter from a friend that had moved away?
Today so much of our correspondence is done via email, fax, cell phone, blackberry etc. Even my mom who lives two blocks away will email me to ask me a question! Invitations come electronically via E-vite and I now correspond with friends who have moved away via their blogs or emails. There are lots of advantages to electronic correspondence and I can’t imagine living without it.
It seems the only things I find when I check the mail these day are bills (although a lot of those come electronically too) or junk mail!
But this weekend when I checked the mail there was Happy Mail! There were TWO surprise packages waiting for me! Yes , two!
The first package was from my sweet friend Deb in Michigan. She and I are kindred spirits and have a lot of things in common - one of which is our love for shoes.
The inside of the cute card with all the shoes on the front said the following….
“Clean living paid off, and Leslie ended up going to Heaven.”
I am convinced heaven is full of beautiful shoes - that don’t hurt your feet!
The cute luggage tag said “The journey of a thousand miles begins with cute shoes.”
And the other shoe is actually an emery board - how cute is that!!
Thank you Deb for bringing a smile to my face - love ya girl!
The second piece of Happy Mail was a package from one of you! Karen, one of my blog readers, sent me this thoughtful and fun gift after reading my post on Words of Inspiration
Create is one of my favorite words - those of you who know me understand! This new word of inspiration will be sitting next to me on my desk. Thank you Karen for your kindness and thoughtfulness.
Can you think of someone who deserves some Happy Mail this week -a fun little surprise or a few kind words to brighten their day? Think Happy Mail!
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Categories: Connect, Friends
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Thursday, March 13, 2008, by Leigh Anne
“The people in our lives”
Another new blog post category - Connect.
Connect posts will share ideas and suggestions for ways we can Connect to the important people in our life whether we are Connecting in person, over the phone, through the mail or over the Internet.
The important thing is that we Connect and that we do so on a regular basis.
Today I have been busy putting together a care package for my two sweet college boys. This is something I do every couple of months or so.
A care package is a way to say - “Hi, I was thinking about you” without being there in person. When I send a care package to my two sweet college boys it is a connection to home for them - they know they are loved.
Yes, those are football, baseball and basketball shaped Easter eggs - aren’t they cute!
The first “official” care packages were sent back in 1945 by CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere) an organization that would send food relief to Europe when large numbers of people were at risk of starvation in the wake of World War II
Come to think of it - there are probably times my sweet college boys think they are at risk of starvation too - hopefully those care packages from mom come in time!
Since 1945 the term Care Package has been adopted as a generic term for a package of food or supplies sent for relief or comfort purposes.
One of my first memories of receiving a care package is from my childhood. Our family lived in Wisconsin but all of my mother’s family was in California so each summer my mother, my sister and I would make a trip to California where we would stay for a month or so. My mother was terrified of flying when I was a child (she has gotten better with age) so we would travel from Wisconsin to California via train. It was actually a very fun and memorable way to travel.
The thing that I really remember though was when we would be ready to leave California and board the train back to Wisconsin our Aunt Lulu (not really our aunt, just a good family friend) would bring us a care package to take on the long train ride home.
This care package was full of fun little gifts that were individually wrapped. We were to open them each day of the trip - most of the gifts were toys/games to help keep us occupied on the train ride.
Honestly, I don’t really remember specifically what the gifts were but what I do remember is that connection that was made - our Aunt Lulu loved us and cared about us. Each day, as we opened one or two of the gifts we were still connected to her even though she was hundreds of miles away.
My Aunt Lulu has passed away but I never send or receive a care package without thinking of her.
When was the last time you sent a care package?
This week find someone near or far who just needs a little connection, someone who needs to know they are loved.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Once when I was sick in bed with a terrible flu a sweet friend brought me over a can of chicken noodle soup wrapped with a bow - I knew I was loved.
Remember you don’t need to spend a lot of money. I made a quick trip to the dollar store for most of the things in my boy’s care package and picked up a few bags of candy from Target.
Since this care package had an Easter theme I also made them a homemade treat - some Bunny Munch.
So have fun with this little project and come back and let me know what you did by leaving a comment below. Have fun connecting!
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Categories: Connect, Family, Friends
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