Mom's birthday weekend re-cap

This weekend, we celebrated my Mom's birthday with a cookout and crabfeast in my parents' backyard.

My Mom's two sisters Fern and Valerie drove down from Boston with my Nana, Nana's boyfriend Mr. Raymond and a family friend. My Uncle Michael and Aunt D'Jenne came from Knightdale, N.C., with two of their 3 kids (their oldest just went off to college in Texas), and my cousin Alexis drove in from Richmond. Add those folks in with my family, Kadija and her family, and a bunch of other cousins, neighbors and friends, and there was a big crowd of people happy to help Mom bring in year 59!

Who is that beautiful woman who looks waaaay younger than 59? Well, that's my amazing Mommy!
And who took that beautiful picture of that beautiful woman? My friend Angel!

Didn't she do a great job? My Mom was thrilled at this photo -- thrilled! -- and that is saying something because she hates all pictures of herself. And my Dad was psyched that the yard looks so nice in the background. (Dad would be excited about something like that.)

I asked Angel to come take portraits of my Mom, her sisters and her mother since they'd all be together, and to also maybe try to get one or two nice photos of my Mom and Dad, since we have no decent photos of the two of them (seriously, the last good photo of them was taken in like 1985 or something). Angel did that, but also took some lovely off-the-cuff photos of just our family milling about being messy and unorganized and loud. She's processing the photos now, but sent a few for me to steal a sneak peek.

It's my Cary! Actually smiling in a photo. Awwww.

Me and my little sister Kadija. Isn't she a pretty girl (when she wants to be)? I love her!

Nana, Auntie Val, Mommy and Auntie Fern. Aren't they beautiful?

It was soooo great to have so much of our family in town for Mom's day. I love having family around. But it is made that much nicer when you can look back at really great pictures of everyone who was there. I'm so grateful to Angel for documenting this special day!

I saw her take some super cute photos of my nephew Matty, and of Clair with Lester, and of Dean. I can't wait to see those, and also see the shots she got of my Dad (who fought me tooth and nail to change out of his working-in-the-yard clothes to go get his picture taken.)

OK, really, I can't wait to see ALL the pictures! The sneak peek did its trick. My appetite is sufficiently whet! I'm so glad to have such talented friends!

P.S. Happy birthday today to my dear grandmother, Rosyth White, who I miss every day. I know you would have been at this party, dancing and laughing and eating all the ice cream. I love you Grandma. I miss you.

Mom's birthday/my anniversary/Angel-takes-photos weekend!

My wonderful Mom's birthday is on Sunday. She'll be (cough, cough, ahem!) years old, but she doesn't look a day over 40.

To surprise her, my Nana (her mom), and her two sisters Fern and Valerie drove down from Boston today!

Aunt Fern is on the far left, my Mom's in the middle. Auntie Val is on the far right and my Nana is in the middle. The other two dudes are two of my Mom's brothers. (Uncle Mike didn't make this reunion.)

With all that family in town, we knew we needed to do something fab. So we're having a party this weekend!

I'll be busy, busy, busy (what else is new?) cooking for the party, dealing with the kiddos and basically being hostess-with-the-mostest, because my Dad has made me Chief Party Planner.

But I am so excited because my girl Angel C. is coming to take photos of the party, and some portraits of the Jackson girls (that's my mom and her sisters and Nana)! The photo shoot is my gift to my Mom and to Nana, whose birthday is on the 10th.

I get to see my family! And hang out with Angel! And get some kick-ass photos!! (You can see some of Angel's beautiful portraits at asc-images.com.)

And...tomorrow is me and Lester's 6th anniversary! 

AND...Nana and my Aunties brought LOBSTAH! (Gotta say it the Boston way!)

So this is going to be a great weekend! Can't wait!

Friends and family-fiiled weekend recap

This weekend was the last weekend for the President's Cup, so I decided to get the kids out of the house again.

This time, we met up with our friends Jason and Kelly and their twin girls Maya and Abby, who are a month younger than C & D. If you remember well, you'll note that this is the same couple with twin girls who I met at the fall "vegtival" back in September - -and then we discovered they were also in the boys' music class. I wondered aloud then if we would be friends, and so far, so good!

Smiley girls; stoic boys.

 The boys are getting so much bigger and the Science Center is, therefore, becoming even more interesting. I really love this museum -- no matter how many times we go, there's always something new to see. On this visit, for example, we:

Played with water and didn't get soaked.

Measured dinosaur feet.

Did something with sand and goggles that made the boys look very scientific-y.

Disrupted a mini-tornado.

As we were leaving, Dean said to me (unprompted): "Mommy, I had a good day at the Science Center."

Be still my synapse-lovin' heart.

And then, on Sunday, my sister Tahira and her husband, Russy and Matty came to visit! As a bonus - -they brought my mom! The boys were so excited to see Nana!

We cooked dinner and ate crabs and had some spirits and it was a wonderful, fun-and-family-filled day.

Now, it's back to the old grind. The BIG boss is here in my office the next two days, so I need to be on my Ps and Qs. So -- later gators!

:-)

Happy Birthday to my dear Grandmothers

I have been so, so blessed in my life and sometimes I have to stop and really think about just HOW blessed.

One thing that I often take for granted is that I got to have both my maternal and paternal grandmothers in my life well into my adulthood. I know that's not something a lot of people can say.

My paternal grandmother, who I called Grandma, died from complications of pneumonia in June 2008, a day before my 35th birthday. I still miss her. Every single day.

My maternal grandmother, who I call Nana, is alive and well and living in Boston. She tries to get to Foxwood (the casino) every chance she gets, and still hosts a Friday night poker game in her apartment every week. I wish we lived closer so  we could eat lobster together and she could whip my butt in Pokeno.


Grandma would have celebrated her birthday on Oct. 8. Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Nana celebrated her birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday, Nana!

I love my Grandmothers so much; they both showed (show) me nothing but unconditional love my entire life. And I've learned so much from each of them. I can't even start with the list of what I've learned. I'll be here all day.

My Grandma, Rosyth L. White and my Nana, Earline G. Morris. Weren't they beautiful?

I just hope that one day -- even though I waited so late to have my kids -- that I'll be blessed to love Cary, Dean and Clair's kids the same way. <3

How I know I am not cut out to be a photographer

My Mom stayed the night with us last night. She had a conference nearby and elected to stay with us, instead of in the hotel the final night.

The kids were in HEAVEN! They adore their Nana so much it's ridiculous. Dean gave her unsolicited kisses, and both boys insisted on holding her hand when they were on their way to bed. (So sweet!)

Of course, I forgot to get photos of them laughing and smiling with her all night long, so I was determined to get one of Clair this morning, before Mom left for her conference. (The boys were still sleeping.)

I took a bunch of posed pictures that turned out terrible, because Clair refused to look at the camera, playing with her toes or staring at the comforter instead. So I was so proud of myself that I thought to snap a couple pics while she was lying on the bed, cooing at my mother, and wrapping her more and more around her chubby little finger.

Here's the thing. Even though these are basic B-level iPhone pics, a good photographer would have taken these two nearly identical photos and chosen the very best one to show here. But I cannot for the life of me figure out which is best. What are the criteria I should be using? Photo-people, please help me. Which of these two pictures would you throw out, and which would you keep -- and why?

Photo A

Photo B