Rice Cereal...Yuck!

We gave Landon rice cereal for the first time last week. He doesn't really know what to do. He keeps looking at me like "why are you putting this nasty stuff in my mouth". We are slowly trying to get him used to it. Carter has his first soccer game this weekend. This is after only one practice for 45 minutes. This should be interesting!
On Sunday, we are going to help Clay and Alicia load their Uhaul. They are moving back to Savannah...boo hoo hoo!

What a relaxing vacation!

Sorry I am just now posting these. I am posting them in a hurry, so I apologize for any grammatical errors.

Rich had some vacation days to use up, so we went on a little vacation. We started out going to Bullard for my Mom's bday. For Christmas, Dad bought her a photo package so we had family portraits on Saturday. Here are some pics below from that.

Afterwards we went to eat lunch for Mom's bday. This is Carter and Madeline below. Madeline was Grandma's neighbor and she LOVED to come over to Grandma's to hug Carter, so we invited her along.

The two pics below are of Carter and Dad (AKA Papa). They are tractor riding!

Next we went to the lakehouse. Between Carter, Rich, and Granddaddy, they caught 100 pounds of fish. Carter had a blast and is more excited about fishing than ever. He spent 3 days doing nothing but fishing.




Grandmother and Landon at the local joint, "Floridas".

You can see the most magnificent sunsets at the lake!

This was the big monster Rich caught.
The fish...cleaned and bagged!
Rich's monster!
Where's Landon?

On Wednesday, we headed to Aggieland to start brainwashing Carter. Here are the boys at Wings-N-More...yum!
We met an old Ag (Class fo '57) that took us out on the field. It was so neat!

Our last stop was to our favorite college hangout...the Dixie Chicken!
If Carter only knew how much time Mommy spent leaning up against that bar!

Don't worry, it is only IBC rootbeer!
I'll try and do a longer post later, but wanted to get these posted ASAP.

Happy Valentines Day!

"Love doesn't make the world go 'round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
Franklin P. Jones

More pics tomorrow...

Landon Update

I have tons of pictures from our vacation to Bullard and then to the lake, but I do not have time to post them right now. I'll get them done later tonight or tomorrow. I did want to update on Landon's 4 month appointment today. He weighed 15 pounds and was 25 inches long. This moves him from the 5-10% (what he was at 2 months) up to the 50-75%. Way to go Landon! The Dr. was VERY impressed with his progress. He also gets to start cereals this week....he will like this!
More later....

Photo Shoot

Or should I say failed attempt at a photo shoot. I got the boys all dressed and before I could get anything good, the camera died on me. Oh well, we will try again another day...

Grandma Part 2

This is a continuation from yesterdays post.

Okay, so I have to tell a funny Carter story...about death. This is a conversation that took place between he and my Mom (Gran). After a conversation about Heaven and how we will all go to Heaven one day, it went something like this...

Carter: My Mom will go to Heaven one day.
Gran: Yes, she will...but it will be a long time. We all will go to Heaven one day.
Carter: Not my Daddy.
Gran: Yes, one day (a long time from now, he will too)
Carter: No he will not...he makes cardboard with me (one of Carter's many obsessions).
Gran: Well, your Mom feeds you and takes care of you too.
Carter: Well, Daddy can learn to do all of that too.

My Mom came and found me and said "Susan...I think you need to start making cardboard with your son".
I stayed home from work this year so that I could spend more times with my kids...and this is what he thinks of me...ha ha!

I started this blog for several reasons. One was that I wanted to keep family posted with pictures. However, the main reason was because I am not good at writing things down. I figured I could include things on this blog that my boys could one day look back on and see all the funny things they said and the special things we did. It is basically a Memory Book for my sons.
Since I started this blog after Grandma passed away, I would like to add her Euguly to this blog. Not only for those to read that did not attend the funeral, but to also have it on here for Carter and Landon to look back at one day. Grandma was a special lady who was loved by SO many. You couldn't help to like her...she was so kind to others and so much fun to be around. I can only hope that I will be like her one day.

This Eulogy was read by my cousin Kyle, who did an excellent job delivering it. It was written by all the cousins and then I added the introduction and closing. Grandma planned a lot of her own funeral and one thing she said was "Maybe my Grandkids could say something nice about me". We could of talked about her forever, but had to keep it somewhat short.

If you have made it this far reading my post, thank you. Next post will be more "up-beat". I took some pics of the boys today and as soon as my camera charges, I will put them on here.

Betty Lou Nordyke was born July 13, 1925 in Parkland, Washington to Christian and Selma Olsen. She had one brother, Fredrick Olsen. Betty met the love of her life, Warren Nordyke, while volunteering at the local U.S.O. in Olympia Washington. Warren was stationed at Fort Lewis during World War II. They married in 1946 and shortly after moved to Springfield, Missouri to be near Warren’s family. Their two oldest children, Greg and Chrissy were born in Springfield. Central Ohio Breeding Association brought Warren and Betty to Tyler in 1954. Tyler is where their two youngest, Pam and Mike, were born and is where they have since called home.

Betty’s grandkids, me being one of them, decided it would be nice to share some of our fondest memories of our Grandma. We have so many, but these are a few that were so special to us.

Susan said…

“When I think of Grandma and growing up, I always think French onion dip, fritos, and iced tea. To some of us, buying chips and dip seems so simple but to me, eating them at her house was special. It was a treat she would buy when she knew I was coming. And we can’t forget that she made the best iced tea and always served it in her brown pitcher. I also share Grandma’s love for Wheel of Fortune and would often call her at the end of a show to discuss the contestants wins. I was even fortunate enough to attend a live taping with her last summer. My husband, Rich, and I feel blessed to be the mother of Grandma’s two great grandchildren, Carter and Landon. Carter loved his Grandma Nordyke and couldn’t wait to visit her because she always kept lifesavers in her candy bowl just for him. He reminded us yesterday that Grandma will always be in our heart. My youngest son, Landon, was born October 8^th. It meant so much to me that Grandma got the chance to meet him just 12 days ago.”

Kyle said…

“Some of my earliest memories are of holidays at her house. Thanksgivings and Christmas’s were always a special time. Holidays at the Nordyke’s meant plenty of food, usually a good laugh or two, and always a lot of family. One of my most cherished holiday memories however came just a couple of years when my wife, Katie, and I were blessed with her presence in our tiny one bedroom apartment outside of San Francisco for another Thanksgiving meal. The quarters were tight, but it didn’t stop us from watching the Dallas Cowboys. The visit touched Katie and I; that our family would travel that far to spend the Holiday with us and it will be a memory we always cherish.”

Clay said…

“She was a great travel companion. She and I shared many adventures together but one of my fondest memories of grandma was just down the road in Noonday. I would ride with Grandma and Grandpa out to the lake place in Grandpa’s old blue truck to feed the cattle. When we would hit the fork in the road he would let me and Grandma out to walk the rest of the way to the lake picking wildflowers and blackberries. Once we would get to the lake we would get the fishing poles out and take a few cast, it was a special time.”

Kara said…

“One of my favorite times with grandma was breakfast at her house. I don’t consider myself a breakfast person but Grandma’s was different. There was something about her bread, her toaster and the way she toasted it that made it good. Of course we always had to share with her dog Saxon; it was his favorite too.

Bryce Said…

“Some of my fondest memories include summer afternoons playing in the hayfield at Grandma’s house in Noonday. After the sun had gone down and dinner was served I would dig through the back closet at her place and pull out a game that was a tradition for Grandmother and I. Candy Land was a colorful game for children in which the entire objective is to reach the finish line first. Grandma would win every time, and she would throw herself a victory celebration; complete with improvised song and dance. Betty Lou Nordyke loved playing Candy Land with me, and loved winning the race, but there was a much more important race she was running. More than winning and more than playing games, grandma loved her savior. And once again she reached the finish line first. But this finish line is only the beginning.

This year Grandma was blessed with the addition of three more grandkids. Cameron, Schieler and Emily joined our family when Grandma’s youngest son, Mike, married Candice on October 5th. Grandma was so happy.

Grandma… This past year you have proven to us just how strong you are. You fought the battle hard and never complained. You always had a smile on your face and right up to the end you reassured us that you were okay. There is so much we will miss about you but we know that you are in a better place. Give Papa a hug for us. We just know that you are running around with Saxon, playing mahjong with friends, watching your beloved Cowboys, and enjoying your 5 o clock glass of wine. We love you and like Carter said, “you will always be in our heart”.

Missing Grandma

Yesterday Carter came up to me (out of the blue) and said "Mommy, I want Grandma to come back". He said "She saw Jesus and now she needs to come back home". What do you say to this? Death is so confusing to a four year old. All I could say was me too, sweetie...me too. Missing Grandma today and everyday...