Moments to Treasure: Our Last Thanksgiving with NaNa

It's been about four months since my last post. As usual, life gets busy, and much has happened since then. So, without recapping everything, I'm only going to mention the most significant moments of the past four months.

The first meaningful event was our family's last Thanksgiving with my Mom's mother, NaNa. NaNa raised me for about a year when I was about 4. She took wonderful care of me and put up with quite a bit because believe it or not, I was nothing short of an AWFUL child during that period of my life. NaNa was a loving teacher, mother, grandmother. She loved Janet Evanovich books, shopping, and jewelry. She always looked put together even if she knew she was just going to be around the house. She lived in Houston, TX and was dearly loved and taken care of by Roger whom she was together with for about 20 years even though they never married. She took care of a little boy the last year of her life named Josh and she loved him like one of her own grandchildren. She would always send the girls Christmas cards if we couldn't see her and she would always give us money even if she couldn't afford it. She had a laugh that I always thought resembled a cackle, but it always brought me comfort because I remembered hearing it as a child. She was naturally brown headed and had curly hair, but she started bleaching it blonde and straightening it in her later years. Some of NaNa's mannerisms reminded me of Mom, even though they were no blood relation. NaNa had a gentle nature and a great sense of humor. She always spoke her mind and had NO filter whatsoever. That's one of the things I'll miss most about her. We lost her to cancer on February 10, 2014.

Below are some of my favorite pictures from Thanksgiving, 2013 which we celebrated at Mom and Dad's house in Sherwood.

The night Rhyan and Sam arrived, one of the first things Rhyan did was serenade Reagan with the children's classic "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." This was the first time she met Reagan.