HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!

And to my Grandma!!!

And, to my sisters.......and my cousins........and all of my friends!

Going back only a few generations, my grandma was the offspring of these two people....

My Great-grandparents, William Henry & Era Lee

She was a Winn & he was a Goodwinn. Kind of funny.

They were only 11.5 and 17 years when they married.

Then, they gave birth to my grandmother, below, who then married my grandfather.

This is May Alleen & Ira James.

She hates her first name and goes by Alleen,

but mostly "mom" and grandma," and he went by Jim.

I think this is their 25th wedding anniversary....

...in which case, I must have been born already, I am guessing.

And Alleen & Jim gave birth to BeverLey Kaye, my mother.

My mother was born in Texas, but here above, my grandma with my mom as a toddler, and my Uncle Louis, her older son, are visiting California. This is Morro Bay and Morro Rock which looks much more busy now than it does in this photo!

My grandpa with my mom as a toddler, and my Uncle Louis.

My mom and her younger brother, Stephen.

My mom with her older brother Louis and her younger bro, Stephen.

A school photo of my mom.

The next bunch of photos were taken in 1955 when my mom and her parents and younger brother came from Texas for a visit to California, just before they moved to California.

Their first visit to the Pacific Ocean?

....my grandpa, always ready to play, with my mom and Uncle Steve.

My mom and her younger brother Steve.

My mom.....

My mom......

My mom........

My mom and her brother Stephen with a friend or cousin in the middle.


Then, my mom grows up and gives birth to me after one year of marriage to my dad.

You are going to love the sixties look in these photos......

My mom with me.....notice the clock, the scarf.......the clothes

My mom with my first sister......ntoice the chairs, the sandals.....glasses and "sideburns"

My mom and my dad and me at her elbow, at a Cristmas meal.

Am I whining???

My mom with the black scarf.....with me next to her.....my sister Teresa in the high chair......Uncle Louis and Aunt Martha on the right......and my grandparents on the left, with my cousin Mark. That's my dad's arm. We often went to this Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles......very auhtentic.......I only remember tortilla chips...........and a man singing with his sombrero......"Ai, Yi, Yi, Yi" :)

My mom in the blue dress, me in the red..........Uncle Rex......who later abandoned Aunt Ruth. :/

I always loved this photo of everyone dressed up.....and posing in front of a tent!

This is my mom, my little sister Teresa........my dad's mom....and me!

Love their dresses!

My mom did lots of really cool things for me when I was growing up. I have a serious amount of samples below..........

My sister Teresa and I with our cousins Mark and Michael.

My mom would always set a lovely "children's table" for us at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

She also sewed our matching dresses.

Oh, and curled my extremely STRAIGHT hair!

She always made a beautiful Christmas tree for us.

My grandma feeding cousin Michael..........Aunt Martha in the blue....my mom in the red...and my sister and I and Cousin Mark opening many presents.

Another Christmas.........and another dress my mom made for me...........this time she knit it. I may still have it. Though you can barely see my sister behind me........she crocheted that dress.

My mom and Aunt Ruth are on the couch.

My mom threw great birthday parties for me!

A bunch of friends and relatives.........at the park in Westchester, California.....

......the park I "grew up" at. My dad in the Mickey Mouse shirt.....he has not changed much!

My mom in blue with sun glasses. I am in center with present.

Another year, another party........same park :)

Must have been a cool April day in Los Angeles.

I am the gal with her head bent, to open a present.

Cousin Mark is front and center, with my little Cousin Jimmy to the right.

Mark is now a Professor of Psychology in a Southern California UC school....

...and Jimmy is now an Internist in So. Cal.

I have no idea who most of those kids are....

...my Aunt Sue, Jimmy's mom, my dad's sister.....is to the left.

My mom.......looks my sister-in-law Dana right here......

one of same parties as above......me with pony tails....

.....my sis Teresa with the short blonde hair.

My made great cakes for us.........her first being for my first birthday.

Here, she lights a yulelog cake that she made for one of our Christmas dinners.

Isn't it a sweet cake!

My mom always worked hard to get our family together to see my Cousin Julie,

whose mom (my dad's sister) died when she was one year old.

I always appreciated that........

and now I have been able to maintain that relationship through my adult years.

Julie and I were buds when we first met........like sisters then.

We are only 15 months apart.

Above, you have a lot of cousins, two generations......my dad's cousins and my cousins.

Starting on the left, is my dad's cousin Leslie holding my littlest sister Jennifer Leslie, her namesake.

Leslie and her twin sister Lynn, whose name is the same as my middle name (Lynne), are only nine years older than me.......and Leslie's kids are same age as Anne, so we have a lot in common.

I am in the center front.......in the row behind me are Cousin Julie, my sister Teresa, my cousin Cindy.

Aunt Nancy is holding her baby Garry..........and she is cousins with Lynn and Leslie, because she is my dad's youngest sister.

Lynn is the cousin standing on the right.........

and the grown up in back are Julie's step-mother (I am having a blank on her name) holding her baby, my mom and my Grandma (dad's mom).

She took me to Johnny's Pastrami as many times as we were able.......so KNOWS visiting Johnny's is always priority in Southern California!!!

My mom "tried" to teach me how to sew.........I am still barely just past novice.......I do not sew naturally.......at least my girls do! But, she was able to help me sew this quilt while we had four generations hanging out in Louisiana with my great-grandmother and grandmother (see them above!). Seh helped me sew a quilt when I was 12 years old, too. I still have that one. The one above I made for my new husband..........it has since disintegrated. :/

Lesson learned.......NO Wal-Mart fabrics for permanent quilts!!!

My helped with all of the planning of my wedding in only three months.....

.....my veil, my cake and the decor.

Our family in 1985:

Baby sister Jennifer, my mom, me, my new husband, Marty,

my dad and my sister Teresa.

THANKS MOM FOR ALL OF THE GREAT MEMORIES>>>>>

>>>>OF WHICH THERE ARE MANY MORE.......

......but, not enough pictures to prove it! :)

Blessings to all on this Mother's Day, 2009!

Love, chari