Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Brody in the Light

Yes, it's another Brody post, brought to you by a bereaved me.
I'm so glad I have these photos from his last months of life. They're a big comfort to me now.

Like most warm-blooded animals (and humans), Brody liked to lay or sit or hang out in a patch of sunlight, even if it was on a hardwood floor. I got some good pictures of him on a few different days doing this last May.


A cozy scene...

It's fun to play around with the shadows and light and angles when taking pictures likes these.




 

This one's my favorite.

Monday, February 26, 2018

John's 6th Grade Graduation

John "graduated" from 6th grade and from elementary school on the last day of school, Wednesday, May 31st. There was a nice ceremony in the gym that I took videos of, so no pictures of that. But I do have pictures from afterwards.

I'm so glad that John went to the same elementary school from kindergarten through 6th grade. I loved watching him grow up with these kids. There's something special about it that I think builds stronger bonds between the kids and in the community. I wish I'd had that growing up, and I'm glad that he did. 
John's on the left end of the front row, second from last.  


With two of his best friends. These guys are goofballs together.

Shimek was a great school and John grew so much over the years there in many significant ways. 
 

Our little boy is growing up and moving on!

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Selfies with Brody

One of the benefits of finding out about about a serious, life-threatening health problem (as opposed to a sudden, surprising death, which is what devastatingly happened with Yogi) is that you make sure to do things in the time that's left that you might otherwise leave un-done. I made sure to get plenty of photo-ops with Brody in what sadly turned out to be his final months, and I'm so glad that I did. These photos are so dear to me now! (There are some other pretty silly ones, but they shall remain safely tucked away in my photo files!) 


  

This is one of my favorites! 

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.
-Anatole France

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Bike-riding and the Beauty of Spring

Last spring Sam was ready and motivated to learn how to ride a two-wheeler bike, so when Peter taught him, he picked it up quickly. He also quickly gained the confidence to do daring things like ride down the gently sloping hill on our street.

I love these pictures not only because of the boy on the bike but also because they show how green and lovely springtime is in our Iowa neighborhood. 

 


"The spring is here, young and beautiful as ever."
  –Henry Brooks Adams

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

"Feline Fine" in Our Sanitarium

I'm so glad we have a screened-in patio. It's a safe and secure outdoor haven for the cats when the weather is nice, and it's so good for them to get fresh air. It did Brody a lot of good when he was recovering from surgery and then recovering from the side effects of the chemo drug that I ended up taking him off of last spring.   



 
 
I got a kick out of it when they wrestled with each other. 
It was also a good sign that Brody's strength was coming back!




 Feline fine, indeed!

Monday, February 19, 2018

An A-MAY-zing May 2017

May is always nice, with spring in full bloom and the unofficial start of summer at the end of the month!

I got this Casper pillow because I'd read good things about it. I wasn't disappointed, and ten months later, I'm still not. This is a great pillow!

John had his final elementary school band concert. This was his second year playing the trombone, and he enjoys it much more than he did piano. He also happens to be quite good at it! He was the second-chair trombonist in 6th grade. 
 Can't see him? He's on the right side, second row from the back, second one in.

 This is as close as we got to Hawaii last year--a tax bill. 😔  
Meanwhile I'm still dying to go to Aulani!

I love this picture. Brody liked resting on the loveseat in the living room and looking out the window. 
It was one of his favorite spots. 

 Storytime! John read Walter the Farting Dog to Sam. Hilarity ensued. Silly book and silly boys!

 Brody under the table. He liked it under there because it was hard for me to catch him, and when we ate he could be close by for any falling scraps of food. This was the cat who really wanted to be a dog! 

My baby doll, all bundled up. 

My baby doll, helping in the kitchen.

My baby doll before his swim lesson.

We went to see Peter Pan performed by Theatre Cedar Rapids. John recognized one of the actors as a (very mischievous) boy he went to summer camp with a couple of years ago. Lost boys indeed!

I got a box of delicious chocolate-covered strawberries from Edible Arrangements for Mother's Day. 


The included note was pretty funny.

For Mother's Day I gifted myself this Willow Tree "Mother and Son" figure. I love it!

Two of my favorite dresses on the drying rack. I love wearing navy blue, elegant little polka dots, and pretty flower prints. 

This was during a tornado watch! We just got heavy rain and wind, thank goodness.

We hung out in the basement during the tornado watch (except for when I ran upstairs to snap a few pictures from the back windows--see above).

 I caught Brody reading the paper again. He's so smart.

I love miniature roses! They usually bloom better and last longer than bigger roses.  

I took the boys to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. I thought it was pretty dumb and not nearly as good as the other three movies with the original cast. The boys liked it, though. 

We went to Orchestra Iowa's "John Williams at the Movies" concert, where they played popular music by John Williams from movies like Star Wars. It was a really fun concert and we all enjoyed it.

The Paramount Theater is beautiful!

One of the musicians wore a dinosaur costume for the second half of the concert because they played the Jurassic Park theme. It made me LOL! Some of the others wore costumes, too, as you can see in the two pictures below.


The boys built an epic car track down the stairs.

Fidget spinners were all the rage and were pretty hard to find, so I ordered two from amazon and they finally arrived after a couple of weeks.

A pretty sunset stripe in the sky over the church on a Wednesday evening when we were there for Scouts.

I liked the cover of the Bas Bleu catalog (again).

 Last day of school!
John was dressed up for 6th grade graduation that morning. 
 
 

This was the last day the boys went to the same school together. 😢

💙💚💛