The Mothership

It's happened.  One more of a great generation has died.  My Julio. So precious to me.  So many people can affectionately call him "My Julio."  That's how awesome he was.  I feel especially sad because such a huge part of my youth is forever gone.  No more memories to be made with him.  But how fortunate I am to have as many memories as I do!  He was the true "American Dream."  And such a wonderful man for so many reasons that he left a legacy. Everything he did, he did with intensity and correctness. Julio was awesome because... he came from another country and became very successful...against all odds. found THE BEST wife God could have ever made for him. he would help just about anybody. he put 22 people through college. he kept me every weekend. he did the best "run under the swing". every time I saw him he told me how beautiful I was. he knew how to feed the geese and even call to them. he could summon a whole neighborh...

The fall and into the holidays I feel like we go not stop speed with trying to get everything festive in before the end of the year.  Plus I love to do all the festive things.  I was planning to do a creative post of 25 days of Christmas...but, that never happened.  So I'm just going to give some highlights with maybe a few comments (funny ones if you're lucky) in between. Luke was super into Christmas this year.  He is so enthusiastic about most things, but the morning he woke up to a house full of Christmas decorations he was especially sweet.  "Mommy mommy mommy!!!  I just LOVE my Christmas. I just love it!  It's a special treat for me!,"he says jumping up and down with his eyes tightly shut and mouth moving faster than his little brain synapses could connect. I have always loved Christmas, probably because my mom tried to do as many festive things as she could.  I'm glad he's just as excited about it as I am.  I mean someone else ...

One of my most favorite memories, "when I grow up"  will most certainly be Tim, Luke and I dancing, singing, clapping and looking like fools together (if anyone was watching in the windows Tim and I might look like something you see on Yo-Gaba-Gaba...hopefully not as annoying :/). There is nothing that brings our little guy more joy than music.  Ever since he was an infant, music has calmed him and made him smile.  You can just see the music overtake him and then eventually, after he comes out of a musical trans, a great smile comes over his face and he begins bobbing, dancing, waving all at the same time. Who woulda thunk?  I mean, it's not like Tim enjoys playing music and I certainly could not ever dream of dancing!  RIGHT?!?!?!  That would be a big NO!  I've been dancing and singing since I can remember.  I used to dress up in my slips (which looked like tu-tu's to me) and put on my ballet slippers and would dance thru our hal...