A tribute to… “Babah,” (which is how I pronounced the word "Grandma" when I was a baby, and the name definitely stuck)!
1. She has a strong attitude and always stands up for herself and her family! :)
2. She used to bake and decorate cute “smiley-face cakes” for us when we were little - we were always excited about them! ...When I think of my childhood favorite foods, I remember Grandad's mac n' cheese and chocolate-chip cookies & Babah's butterscotch pudding and smiley-face cakes! =)
3. Also makes the best sugar cookies around… and we always had fun decorating the Christmas trees together (see picture above of her and Rach)!
4. She was always willing and happy to sew clothes and fun costumes for Rach and I... whether at Halloween or just because we randomly wanted a fun princess dress to twirl around in! We once got to draw and design our own dresses and have her make them, which was probably not the easiest project for her, but was super exciting for us... (mine was white with three rows of red ruffles, and I thought I looked awesome!) #stylin
5. As of last week, she’s been through 15 surgeries, but she never gets bogged down in self-pity about the pain she’s going through... she always recovers pretty quickly, and I think it’s largely due to her attitude about the whole thing!
6. She is also a breast cancer survivor... (I wish I remembered more about that season and had been old enough to be more helpful and compassionate - I had no understanding of how serious cancer really was at the time).
7. Now that we're older, she’s decided these last few years to get the grandkids super-practical gifts for Christmas, so we all get to unwrap boxes of Kleenex, chapstick, Neosporin, etc. It’s become quite funny, and we really play up the reactions now! :)
8. Me, Rach, and Emily decided to return the favor this year and gave her 3 pocket packs of Kleenex for her birthday! Lol
9. She was there whenever we needed her help with school projects, and she and Grandad attended several of our school programs and events!
10. She currently watches Frasier and Two and a Half Men… which I found surprising, but funny. We've laughed about a lot of the stuff on Frasier... such a good show!
11. She was on the board at Royal Neighbors Insurance and got frequent flyer miles from all of her travel. She took all the grandkids on a few awesome vacations with her… including Florida, my only trip to Hawaii, and my very first trip to Las Vegas! =)
12. While in the limo ride from the airport to our hotel in Hawaii, we were seated across from a random couple passionately making out. So she said, at full volume, “Oh, look, girls. Here’s us a lesson on how not to act in public.” Wow… mortified! lol ...They did kinda deserve it, though.
13. When mom was little, she once made a bet with her friend that she could make my mom change seats without saying a word. Mom sat down at their kitchen table, and Babah gave her the eye, then eyed the seat next to her a couple times, and mom quickly got up and moved! I kinda love that story, because it so explains her personality! Lol
14. I love hearing her tell stories, and I always love her laugh. She really enjoys life and has a lot of fun! :) ...Once upon a time in Hawaii, she was knocked down by a wave in the ocean, and Rach was laughing too hard to help her up! lol I drew a picture of that in a card for her a few years back, and the laughter reaction was fantastic! :)
15. Random memory, but in Hawaii, she bought us a bag of chocolate candy (an assorted mix) and we sat out on our hotel balcony eating it for a couple minutes. She said, as if it would be quite difficult, “Let’s see if we can finish this whole bag tonight,” and me and Rach both cracked up! ...I mean, c’mon, give us a challenge! Lol
16. She loves to go out dancing with Grandad, and was very happy to hear that I’m learning to two-step and going country dancing with friends lately! :)
17. She and Grandad would come over for Sunday lunch a lot as we were growing up - they'd be there when we got home from church, and she'd usually be cooking tasty fried chicken or hamburger soup or potato soup! #yum
18. She loves telling stories about us as kids and looking through old pictures together!
19. They were poor as my mom and JoBug were growing up, and they also took in two of mom’s cousins for several years… Babah made the necessary sacrifices to take care of them well and always made sure the kids were clean and looking nice!
20. She doesn't think she's better than anyone, but if someone else has an attitude thinking they're better than her, they'd better watch out!
21. She has a great sense of humor and is a great story-teller!
22. She doesn’t like to sit around and do nothing; she wants to be active and do something for others, which is awesome!
23. Very helpful in so many of our creative projects… and was a lot of help when I moved, making my curtains and bedskirts and pillows and such!
24. She was really encouraging after all the Josh drama... and bought me a coffee mug that says, "You're too good for him." It's on display in my kitchen now, and it still makes me smile and think of her. lol
25. She’s a very strong woman who's had an extremely interesting life, and I’m sure I don’t know the half of it!! (*But I will if she writes her life story... I'm encouraging her to join Grandad in that - he's already in the process of writing out his story to give to all of us, and I can't wait to read it!)
Pic = Babah and Grandad with their four grandkids, Christmas Eve 2014. :)
Them with the great-grandkids, Christmas Eve 2015!
(Backstory: Babah and Grandad have both continued to work through their retirement years and they've been saving for several years now... much to our complete surprise, they gave each of their four grandkids a $10,000 check, hidden in with our annual De-Icer gift at Christmas this past year!!!) This = Rach tearing up and about to hug Grandad, and Blake hugging Babah... I love this picture! I'm so thankful for their generosity, and I really love that they did this while we could all celebrate it and they could see us enjoy it!
Love. Happy 80th Birthday, Babah!!
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