balrina, lottie arizona and henry everett & great greats (plus books 2 read)

Lottie Sue talks about dancing like a "balrina" a lot the past few days. We don't know why this started but have been enjoying it very much. Today she wanted to wear a tutu to Mother's Day Out and I can't tell you how excited she was - she kept shouting "I A BALRINA! I DANCE!" - it was awesome.

Here are a few shots of her and some dance moves...

yeah, we know how cute she is

Matt's mom sent this photo over last week. I'm not sure if you know, but we got the name Lottie from Matt's great-grandmother, her name was Lottie Arizona (her sister's name was China Bee - I love it). We found out after our Lottie was born that she shares the same birthday as Great Grandmother Lottie - freaky! But neat!

This is a photo of Lottie and her husband Henry Everett (Matt's great-grandparents - I think Matt looks like Everett!).

lottie and henry in their 50th wedding anniversary photo

Matt's mom sent this note over with the photo, it's about Everett:

He was quite a fellow, a big man, very intelligent, taught in a one-room school most of his life, played the banjo, knew an amazing number of folk songs, led singing schools in his area. Then when a college degree was required to teach school, he drove the school bus. He loved to entertain the grandkids by playing the banjo and singing all those oldies. Actually Grandma Lottie taught him to play and sing to begin with. Lottie was the sweetest, kindest woman, and she's the one who was always doing some kind of needlework. They both laughed alot.

This picture is for their 50th wedding anniversary. She was 16 and he was 21 when they married on May 28 in 1918. They had 8 children, 2 boys and 6 girls. All the kids played some sort of stringed instrument so they had some lively singing sessions. My mom, Ima Jean was the 4th child, and the only one who taught in a one-room school. All the children have lived into their 80's--pretty amazing.

Anywho, I love family stuff like that (send more Mom!). Thanks for sharing!

Lottie Sue and I went to see Grandma the other day for lunch, she found this photo of me when I was little.

maybe this is where lottie gets it?

She also had this photo and I asked to scan it in. The woman on the left is my great-grandmother, Grandma Carter (Grandma's mother), and she is with her brother Oscar and their parents, Grandma and Grandpa Rainwater (my great-great grandparents).

hello, family!

I have also had the pleasure of loving several of the books I've recently read. I found three of them in our bookshelf and am pretty sure these are books that Cera left here before she moved - so THANKS CERA!). Anywho, I thought I would share...

• Vinegar Hill by Manette Ansay thumbs up (enjoyed it very much)
  
• Mudbound by Hillary Jordan - thumbs up (I loved this book, wonderful)
  
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett- thumbs up (it's a fast read and I enjoyed it very much)
• Inamorata by Joseph Gangemi - thumbs up (ate it up)
  
• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (this book is a graphic novel, I thought it was great)

Alrighty, over and out. Blog for ya later!