We love our Care Bear!

...Not to be confused with this pinkish furry creature, although Izzie loves that one too. Care Bear is the affectionate name that my kids call their ex-step Gma....if there is such a thing. Yes, my extended family is a confusing mess of explanations & intricacies. So we just go with it. Carole is her name--she was married to my dad for a couple of years, and my nuclear family has stayed close to her. We don't get to see her as often as we'd like, so these last couple days have been a real treat for all of us!

She took a few days off of work and came down (from Huntington Beach) to hang out. She was a great sport and played 'witch & princess' (at Lexie's request) ALL day with the girls, got lots of pretend play in, board games, rock time, dress-up time, 'yipstick' applied by Izzie every 5 seconds, and talk-time in with the kids while I made her a fabulous cornice board to grace her living room. I'm also in the process of making a few kitchen valances for her to spiff up her great HB condo. Someday soon she's going to spread her 'green thumb' all over my courtyard so that it feels homey & alive! Oh, and many thanks for the wonderful PB pewter serving bowl and fall leaves for next years table decorations! We love the fringe benefits of the deeply discounted employee-only-Pottery Barn goods! (That's her side 'hobby job' that we ALL love! Her full time career is working as a consultant for Coopervision:)

She's an exceptional person that anyone would feel lucky to rub shoulders with. She's so fun, attentive, complimentary, genuine, caring, kind, and Christ-Like. Her affectionate nickname is very fitting! We feel blessed to still have her in our lives. As soon as she walked out the door to leave tonight and before I even had time to close the door completely, with her long sad face Lexie said, "Mom, I already miss my Care Bear!" I had a good chuckle--my kids all CRAVE attention like that from especially their Ama (my mom) & Care Bear. So if you ever hear my kids talking about their Care Bear...it's probably NOT referring to the furry variety.