Easter at Grans

This was Easter at gran's house, they were holding their Easter baskets and really happy to have what they did. In the top right corner you can see great gran's red dress standing next to them and in the back ground are two aunties! We had some really great times at grans when they were small

At the museum

We had spent the day at the museum and they wanted a picture by the deer to pretend that they were next to some real deer but the deer did not show up in this picture only the important subjects did! My sweet babies

Bridge

I love this picture.... who am I kidding lol I love all the pictures of my baby's anyway they were climbing over the bridge and I told them to stop a minute so that I could a picture. I love the way Mandy is standing she is cute and always sweet to any one and everyone. She loved her brother bunches too.

Peek a boo

My little sweet baby girl loved to play "Peek a boo" One of my favorite things she did as a baby

Barbie Cake

This was one of Mandy's birthdays and she wanted a Barbie cake so this is what she got! I purchased a dress form baked a cake mix inside and then frosted it myself. I was kind of proud and she loved it that was the most important thing for me.

Grandparents

Mandy was so happy this day she was just jumping up and down everywhere we went. Mandy's grandparents went with us on our trip and they had to sit down and rest... Mandy ran up next to them and sat down and put her head on her grans shoulder I thought that it was awful cute! and gramps is being a silly man....teasing us with his ice cream cone. They were so tired trying to keep up with us but they did their best and that was good enough for me. I was happy that they could make it they are the best! This was a trip we took before she started her cancer treatments

Mandy, Gramps, Gran and Brother

Here is Mandy with Gramps, Gran and her brother. This picture was taken shortly after my parents moved to California. We had come for a visit and was trying to help gran unpack. They were both so tired. Gran had a big back yard and they spent a lot of time in the yard playing. Gramps had a dog that the kids had missed when they had moved and now they were able to play with him. 

My baby girl's hands

I had forgotten that I had taken this picture of Mandy's hands while she was doing a word search puzzle. I was going to use this picture as a post on FB about Mandy and what she was doing at that time with an update about her while she was in the hospital. I never got around to it. I look at these hands now and remember all the times that I would watch her doing a project with me or watching her help me fix something. She was my helper, my inspiration, my comforter, my all... my baby girl
I miss these hands and the sweet baby girl that belonged to them. This was a hospital stay that she had after her brain surgery

Mandy and friend

Here is Mandy and a really good friend of the family from some years back. He was always really sweet to her and she loved him and his family and they loved her. I will have to find some pictures of her at their house. My sweet baby girl she was so loved by many

Mom, Mandy and Brother

This first picture is just after night time bath, we would then get a snack and book read before bed. Look at the sweet smiles they both have on their faces......aw

This picture was taken on M street my parents old house. I think that Mandy's brother here is only a year old. Mandy is waving hi but brother is not too sure what is going on lol

Sun Down

I do not have a picture for today of Mandy but a picture of how my life is without her in it. It's kind of like the sun has gone down in my life. And the ocean represents the wide open chasm in my heart.... I know, it's a little strong but there it is.

Baby Girl

Sweet baby girl....... I miss you

Mandy is taking a picture of me and I of her. I love my baby girl she was so much fun. I use to tease her by sending her a txt with a funny picture of me and a rude sound or funny sound on the cel phone. She would then do the same, it sounds weird but it was a lot of fun and made us laugh. Then there were the times that we would both be in our own rooms watching TV and we would be watching the same program and I started sending her txts with comments and she thought that it was so funny that we would be in the same house and sending txts but then she started txtng me back and it was a fun thing for us. Our husbands would just shake their heads at us but we did not care it was all about the fun of just being mom and daughter. I did so many things with my sweet little girl from shopping to creating projects and just hanging out with her. She was my everything (although my family left behind fits that same category but she was my only Mandy) and I miss her so bad. Time has only made me miss her more and not lessened my pain but I have a friend who lost a daughter and she said that it takes a long while before you get to where you do not cry every time you think of her. Talking about her makes me cry, thinking about her makes me cry, looking at these pictures makes me cry but my tears are just emotions welling up out of control from my intense feeling of loss and emptiness I now feel with out her sweet bubbly personality here on earth with me 

Halloween 1990

 I made these two costumes for my babies. Mandy was a princess bride and her brother was a teen age mutant turtle

 Standing in front of gran and gramps house in California getting ready to go trick or treating.

Fairy Town Trip

 This day was sweltering hot but we had a great day. There were a lot of other people around and it was crowded

 Oh man....... This seems like a life time ago that my baby's were this small. Time sure does fly by quickly

 Mandy baby girl climbing on mother goose 

 Mandy's brother trying to be like his sister

My sweet baby's I love them to pieces...... Mandy being gone now is too hard for me. 

New house

Here are Mandy and her brother in our new house and on their new beds that Aunt Alicia and Uncle Lloyd had given them. 

There is a really funny story here! As we were moving in our stuff I was unpacking and Mandy and her brother were playing in their new room and jumping on the beds. I had already told them for the umpteenth time to stop jumping on their beds because I did not want broken skulls. So at one point I had passed the bedroom they were in and saw them once again jumping on the bed but I did not stop or say anything. I passed their room and went into mine and then came out again and passing their bedroom and went into the kitchen putting things away. Once in the kitchen I hollered to them to stop jumping on the bed now or there was going to be time out! Okay this is the funny part. Mandy and her brother come out of the bed room peeking around the corner at me and just standing there. I stopped unpacking and asked them what was the matter. Mandy said "Mommy do you have eyes in the back of your head?" I am smiling inside because I know where she is going but I said "Why?" She said "How did you know that we were jumping on our beds?" I said "because mommy's not only have eyes in the back of their heads they can see through walls and I saw that you were not listening to me" They both looked at each other and said "Oh" and went back to their room. To this day I smile when I remember that day. The look of wonder on their eyes and how I could see them jumping on the beds through the walls. But after that they would come in and say did you see that mommy? and I would say yes and again they would say Oh..... Now it became a game and so I tried to pass the room without them seeing me and sometimes I could fool them and sometimes not. I love the sweet and very cute smiles on their faces.

Cal Neva

(Sorry again about the picture quality, these came out of my scrapbook.)

We loved to go to State line in Tahoe. One of our favorite places to stop was Cal/Neva. They had a nice little restaurant inside that looked out over Lake Tahoe and had large windows so that you got a really great look out at the Lake. 

 Here is Mandy, her brother and father standing in front of the statue outside of the casino. 

Here are Mandy, her brother and me. Mandy has bunny ears over my head, I have bunny ears over my sons ears and my son is being extremely silly here. I know it looks funny but he was posing a dance pose that he had just stopped dancing in the street there, you know like the end of a production. Any way both of my children took dance in high school all four years. They loved to dance and Mandy even choreographed her own dance that the City used one year in their tree lighting ceremony. They were dancing in the middle of the street in costumes........ I was so proud of my sweet baby girl. I love my baby's

Amanda at age 17

I have a lot of pictures in scrap books and this is one of them. I did a page when she was seventeen and added in the corner a birth picture. I did the same for my son in the same style. Mandy was such a little sweet woman, I loved her sense of humor and style. She had great imagination and I could count on her to help me with a project or two when I was stuck. She seemed to know what I wanted to do and help me achieve it. 

I miss my sweet baby girl......

Baby girl and me

My Mandy was such a beautiful young woman.... I am so proud to have been called "Mommy" by her. She was a example to me of being sweet of heart, generous, kind, loving, nurturing, charitable and my baby girl. I told her that she came to me from God already like she was and she continued to be this amazing person in spite of the fact of being raised by me and her papa. I am the one that is truly blessed! Blessed to be able to say "Look world, this is my baby girl" I love you baby girl. This mommy misses you terribly

Great Gran

Here Mandy is in the arms of her Great Grand Mama. Mandy was a month old here...... They are both together in Heaven now..... I miss them both terribly

Laundry day

Here we are doing laundry at Grans house in Sparks Nevada. Mom had a clothes line in the back yard and we would go over and do laundry and then go home again. I am pregnant with Mandy's brother in this picture. I was helping Mandy as she was walking because the wind was so strong that it had already knocked her down a couple of times. Aw, sweet baby girl

Sad Mandy

My mother gave me this picture. She said that Mandy had just realized that granny and gramps were moving out of the state and that is why she was crying. WELL!!!! I told my mother that there was another reason and that her reason was not it. I told her that Mandy's face tells this mother (me) that she is not sad.......She is angry and very hurt, hurt to the point of this face and the tears rolling down. I gave this picture to Mandy and asked her what had happened to her that day and she told a much different story and I KNEW! I was right (a mother knows these kind of things! at least the ones who pay close attention) Each time I look at it my mothers heart hurts and wants to grab her and make it all better.

Time to eat

Mandy said as I was taking this picture "Eat mommy eat" this little red attachment on the table was the seat that she sat in when she ate so that she could reach the table, it was really quite handy we could take it everywhere. She was very ready to eat! lol

Birthday party

Here is my little princess and baby girl I love this picture because she reminds me of 'Cindy-lou Who" from "The Grinch who stole Christmas" with her cute little pig tail on top of her head and the tiny sandals on her feet

It is so sad the picture is washing out, I am happy for people today that have digital cameras to record life and will not have to worry about photos washing out after a couple of years

 I remember that sweet, heart melting smile with her big hazel green eyes talking to me in a sweet voice

 Mandy was always a happy baby.....I know I ALWAYS say that but it is very true!

Same day but later in the night, Mandy loved to bounce and thought that she could bounce on me but I had to stop her because her brother was growing in me and we could not squish him lol

 Mandy was getting ready to jump out of the door...... Little jumping bean

 Here is grandpa holding her hands as she spent a while jumping up and down, and up and down

 and up and down, and up and, well you get the idea lol

Poppy

Here is Poppy with two of his three favorites girls, Brandi and Mandy, sweet Angel was not born yet

All together

This is a picture of our sweet happy family at Christmas time. We all have smiles and were pretty happy. We were living in California and starting new jobs, schools and making new friends. Aw.....I miss that time or even any time with my family and my sweet baby girl

Wearing papa's hat

I love this picture but it is so bad quality. It has ink spots across the top of Mandy's head too grrrr

Granny Pj's

 I loved this really cute pj set it always made me think of granny from little red ridding hood. 

Mandy was a month and a half here. So tiny, so cute very cherished and terribly missed