she was raised by a mother from the south

and she has an elegance about her that she inherited from her southern mother.

 when you're with her you are treated to the kind of hospitality and generosity of spirit 

that i just don't think those of us born and raised in the frigid north country can quite pull off.

we can't help it, it's just not in our half frozen DNA. : )

*think mint julips, wide brimmed hats, confederate homes, wide front porches

and collard greens.
v.s.
 tator-tot hot dish, jello, ice fishing and moon boots.

today i'm talking about my friend leslie.  we've been friends so long now that

we don't quite know where our stories begin or end. we've 

spent over half our lives sharing each other's lives and families.

it had been over a year since i'd traveled the 2 1/2 hours to spend 

time at her house, so in November we both carved out a few days and 

up the interstate i went.

i wish i could bring y'all (that's southern talk) with me sometime so
you could experience what it's like to stay with a friend who treats you like royalty,
but since that's not really possible
(come on people, she's great and all, but she doesn't really want to wash that many sheets and towels) i walked around their beautiful home so

i could share a bit of my experience with you once again.

she and her hubbie's home is always changing and always endlessly interesting.
it takes me forever to see every little detail (and i do so love the details) and of course
i've got questions and i have to take pictures.
these two are retired and they love to travel around the usa, stopping in
every little mom and pop antique shop and church basement sale so
you just never know what new treasures they'll have to show me!

anyhoo, here we go,
here is the tour i took so I could share their delightful home with you.

both sides of the front entry hall are lined with treasured family photos and i

always love to stop and look at them all. 

(i'm honored that some of mine are even included.)

walking into the kitchen the coffee was on and i loved her reindeer bowl (target) that she'd filled with coffee beans and tea lights. she lights candles everyday. (see? she's got this appreciation

for the little things one can do to make life more pleasant).

this house was leslie's parents home. it's where leslie and her two sisters grew up.

when bob and leslie bought it they did quite an

extensive remodel, adding on to both sides, but keeping the original middle of the house

like it had always been. it was great before, but they made it work a little better

for them and we all love the nostalgia of it still feeling a lot like it did when

her wonderful mom and dad lived there.

in the hall right outside the guest room I slept in hangs this embroidered

picture that 3 of leslie's grandson's made for her.

isn't it dear?

here's my bed and here are my bed prizes! 

leslie introduced me to this wonderful tradition many years ago and now it's a

given that she and i and her two girls look forward to 

when we stay with each other. 

*it's like mini Christmas's throughout the year. : ))

hohoho

love the simplicity of the white rocker with the white polar bear pillow.

my little brother does these european mounts with deer and leslie wanted

one real bad, so he gave her one.

*he's nice like that and she may have sent him a nice tip.

the studio

leslie made this beauty!

so many interesting things line all the shelves- it could take a whole day

just to explore in there.

tiaras for everyone!

we've both got a thing for vases.

another vase? why yes! thank you~

after a lovely dinner out, we decided to stop at a friends to forage for things

to make an ice lantern. it was a beautiful foggy night.

so handy that our phones are also our cameras now. always there when you need them.

: )

I was assembling her ice lantern here on the kitchen counter- and made a big mess

but she doesn't care about stuff like that- it's all about the fun.

*in case you'd like to try making one, an empty ice cream pail works great and you

just fill it with whatever you want, we used bittersweet vine, cranberries,

various evergreens, sliced oranges, nuts, pinecones and cinnamon sticks.

then you fill with water and tape a small plastic container down in the 

middle (this becomes a place to put a candle) and freeze till solid.

to get it out of the pail you just set it in some hot water for a couple minutes 

and it pops right out.

now don't you feel like you've had a tour of a house in the south?

leslie's decorating style is very much like her mothers and

we all just feel cocooned here in this beautiful space.

 leslie has lived in 6 different homes in the 35 years we've been

friends and no matter which of those homes she's lived in,

some teeny and some grand, the feeling is always the same.

come on in, all are welcome here.

it's almost Christmas now and i may or may not be back but

if i'm not, 

blessings~  many, many blessings to you and your family.

xox beth

it's thanksgiving~

every year at about this time I start to think about my grandmother

irene isabelle (hardwick) baldwin.

she was born on November 25th, so celebrating her birthday at 

thanksgiving was special.
like her.

I've written about her before, but i'm going to go back a bit further

and tell you more about her life. (*these memories are my own... 

if my family is reading this and has corrections please leave them in the comments section). : )

irene was born in 1913, the 5th of the 6 children born

to dora (cordeman) hardwick and james oliver hardwick.

dora and james had 5 daughters and one son.

edith

earl

leona

evelyn

irene

& opal

my great grandmother dora died of pneumonia quite young leaving her husband,

a farmer in central minnesota, with no one to help with his children.

this led my great grandfather to marry not one,

but 2 mail order brides from the southern part of the 

united states.

i used to love when my gram told my sister and i stories about her childhood.

some of the things I remember are that the children were expected to work hard and their father

was a stern disciplinarian. there was NO talking allowed at the

dinner table, he believed children were to be seen and not heard. 

she told us that their life was happy and playful when her mother was alive, but

all that changed with the 2 stepmothers. they weren't nice to the children and

i'm guessing they were probably overwhelmed by moving so far from their families
and living in the frigid north country + having all those children to take care of.
*both the mail order brides

ended up divorcing my g. grandpa and they got most of his money,
leaving him quite poor at the end of his life.

my grandma met my grandpa when she was 17.

her sister was dating a guy with a brother. They invited my gram to go on a double date
and the sisters ended up marrying those brothers!
(gram told us once that my grampa was "the catch of the county". )

eventually my grandparents found themselves expecting a baby and
even though they were young, they were in love and had a baby on the way so they

married and started their life together.

they went on to have 6 more children, including a set of twins of which my

mother was one.

my grandpa was a farmer and they rented a big 

two story farm house on the banks of a river.

can you imagine how our generation would feel if we had no running water
or indoor bathrooms,
if we had to raise most of our food and wash clothes with
a ringer washing machine, with no dryer?

can you imagine how many potatoes my gram must have peeled to feed her 

family of 9 all those years?

it seems like a hard life but when my gram told us stories of those years

she was never complaining. i always felt

like she loved her life. i remember her saying that her sisters, (who were her best

friends) would tell her that they felt soooo sorry for her with all those kids but

she loved having a big family.

in 1966 my grandparents lost one of their 30 year old twins (my mother) to a brain tumor.

 that left me, my sister and two young brothers with no parents.

(my dad had deserted our family) and suddenly my grandparents had to decide

who was going to raise the 4 young children.

it turned out that they decided they would raise my sister (9) and i (7), and

one of my gram's nieces adopted my two little brothers who were

4 and 18 months.

although my mom had been very ill for a few years, her death was not expected.

my gram was 53 years old and her youngest son still lived at home and farmed with my

grandpa and now all of a sudden they had 2 more children to raise.

~ seriously.

 my grandparents were strict  (down right scary at times-truth be told)

and they expected obedience from my sister and i, but they also provided the

structure and stability we surely needed after we'd lost our mother.

so here they were with 2 more girls.
2 girls who weren't going to be any help in the field or milking cows.
*our uncle paul nicknamed us "the  houseplants".     : )))

 2 more girls that were going to need acne cream and tampax,
bras and braces,
prom dresses and class rings.

they worked hard their whole lives and never had a lot of money.
my grama ended up a widow living on nothing
but her social security check.
all $200 and some dollars a month!
 she never talked about money or complained
or ever appeared to want what anyone else had though.

my gram loved her simple life.
she went to church and she gardened.
she refinished a ton of furniture. she sewed and knit and made quilts. she fed the birds.
she had a dog to keep her company-
(she had no time for cats btw),
she had a fun group of girlfriends and a great big family
that loved and admired her.

she could whip up a meal to feed surprise company with nothing
but a can of beans and a lemon.
(i kid) but she really did continue to feed us all the most delicious meals,
right up until she left us too soon, at the age of 73.

gram's life was certainly not without struggles and heartache, after all she lost her
mother when she was young and a beloved daughter (and that was
just the biggest hurdles they overcame.)
she wasn't perfect-she was human- but she was one tough cookie who focused
on her blessings.

gram said many times that she felt like she was already in heaven
here on earth, because of the life she'd been given.

 how absolutely wonderful is that?

it's thanksgiving week and like most of you i am just more consciously
aware of what i am thankful for right now. i read an article in a magazine
(magnolia journal) that really started to churn up memories of the life i had
with my gram and gramps and all the subtle ways they taught us to appreciate
the little things.


family is our greatest blessing.

if you have people to love, that love you back, you
have what the whole world is longing for.

i have been blessed and hope you feel that way too.

happy thanksgiving dear ones,

xo, beth

this is my beloved gram, holding my precious baby girl on the day she was born.
this woman started out as my grandma, but became my mother and even though it's been 31 long years since she left us, the treasured memories
of her are stuck fast in my soul.

all of God's grace in one tiny face~

you guys~ he's here

our grandson is here!!!

 one month ago today, little colton james was born.

:  ))))))))))))))))))))))))

my daughter is a momma!

our son-in-law is a daddy,

 lars and i are grandparents

&

cole and eric are uncles -aka "funcles"!

*pretty much our favorite names ever.

i read a quote that said

"one day, right in the middle of an ordinary life, we were given

a miracle" and that's pretty much how this precious little boy feels to us.

our little bubbie was due on oct. 16th so we were all pretty dang surprised

by his early appearance on sept. 27th.

                                                    one month before the birth.

                                     

the evening of sept. 25th  Ad text me and said " mom, my water broke at home

and we're at the hospital"...

eeeeeeek! it was happening!

i went to bed all nervous, anxious, excited, happy, 

full of anticipation and it was hard to sleep (but i did). haha

the next day we got a couple texts from the kids saying that 

things were "progressing as expected".

: )

at about 7 p.m., one last text came that said she was

about half way there and that maybe baby would be born

around midnight.

so i stayed up till midnight, 

praying, reading, scrolling thru pinterest and instagram

and waiting for "the call".

i know it's not all about me, but hey this is my version of the birth story. ; )

i woke up a couple times during the night and checked my phone

and finally at about 4:30 a.m. i saw a text

that said that the baby had been born and was in the NICU.

well~ i sat up and just started sobbing. tears of joy and also fear because

we didn't know what was going on but I heard NICU and I was scared.

turns out baby's beginning was rough and he needed extra care

for the first several days of his life.

a. ended up having a C-section and she and chris were both worn out and worried,

but you know what else they were?

freaking amazing!

can i just repeat that?

they were freaking amazing.

the grace, gratitude and strength they showed in the week they were

in the hospital, is something

i'll never forget.

(grampa tim and i may have cried more tears than c. and a. did).
hey we can't help it, we're extra emotional!

i'm not going to completely sugar coat things.

it obviously wasn't the sweet beginning they were expecting.
the kids didn't get to hold their little love or really see his whole precious face
until the 4th day when he got off a cooling pad and a bunch of the tubes came out.
one by one though they came out and our little bubbie showed us how
remarkable and resilient babies can be.

colton had an amazing team of compassionate nurses and doctors that

cared for him and got him over the hump and ready to go home and 

we can't thank them enough. let's fast forward to day 6 when they were finally given the good
news that they were being discharged.
Woo Hoooooo~
colton had met all criteria to go home!

a. did tell me that she said to the nurses,
"you'll be by every 3 hours to check on us though right?"

things are going great now and mr. big has gained enough weight
that momma says his little legs are getting some "chub" on them. : ))
we're all pretty much in complete love and mom and dad
text photos of him to the one who's not holding him (but wants to be)
from the opposite ends of the couch.
hahaha

so here we go- with no apologies whatsoever this time-

 here's a million photos of the beginning of our little colton's life!

**************

                                      me seeing my girl for the first time after her delivery.

*i was getting over a cold so i wasn't able to go in the NICU
and see baby C. for a few days.
thank God they all took photos for me and chris even went in the
nursery and face timed with us so i could see him.

i was worried about the baby, but i was also worried about my girl.

she'd just had a major surgery, but man she was a trooper.

i never heard a single complaint from her about her recovery.

grampa meeting colton for the first time. 

he looks big here, but he really wasn't.

6lb. 8 oz. of pure love.

i love this photo. on the left are grampa tim (in front) and lars.

 on the right are uncle jake (in front) and the proud new daddy.

these 4 men are going to be a huge part of colton's life and i just love

the 4 of them surrounding him with love (and emotion). 

this is day 4 when i was finally able to go in the NICU.

all i wanted in the whole world was to see my daughter holding her sweet baby,

*someone bring us a box of kleenex already!

the two grandmas took care of kenzie, their fur baby while the kids were in the hospital

and we brought a. down to see her for a few minutes

and get the only whiff of fresh air she had in a week.

smiles all around!!!

colton already had a job chart from day 1~
: )  

a little jaundiced, and a whole lot precious.

we were moving mom from her own room to colton's room on the NICU floor here.

luckily she got to stay the extra days baby was hospitalized.

when i got this photo via text, i cried again.

homeward bound.

****************

99% of those photos were from cell phones, but of course when you are a

photographer and the brand new gram you swoop in to take newborn photos.
the rest of these are from our newborn session and there's not a lot

that needs to be said other than,
maybe this is a peak at what heaven's going to look like.

day 16

so it is with the utmost joy that i'm sharing adria, chris and colton's story.

every day is better now with this little boy in our lives.

he is our wonder boy and we feel completely blessed.

*i also want to say thank you for the outpouring of love and support

for our family and especially for

 all the prayers sent up for this little love. it comforted us

greatly and we love you.

xo,

grama b.