More Thank You's Going Out

I was most graciously featured on these three blogs today - Serendipity Collections, Quilts With Heart and Stormy Designs.
The features are part of a group project for the EtsyBloggers Street Team. This is an amazing group of Etsy sellers and bloggers that work hard to raise awareness of Etsy, our shops and other shops belonging to team members. Thinking about being the featured blogger for the month of May still is making me walk around with a silly grin on my face. The things I did for the team like the birthday posts and the mini Mondays were all done just because it was fun but this participation is part of why I was recognized. Last month in April it was Stormy Designs who was featured. She is the person behind our blog carnivals and fantastic to work with. She keeps it all on time and organized. In the coming months I am looking forward to seeing who the future featured sellers are. I can think of several members who have been active from this teams beginnings last year. I will enjoy writing about them all I am sure.

Memory Bouquet

The theme for this post was created and will be hosted in a blog carnival by Stormy Designs. The inspiration behind the theme is the song Pieces of April sung by Three Dog Night. I really was having a hard time figuring out what to write for this carnival until I looked up the lyrics to the song. Quite a few family events happened in April and after reading the lyrics I decided to share them with you in a memory bouquet.

So, here are my pieces of April some happy and some sad.

The 13th of this month was my mother in law's birthday. She had eight children and my husband was number four of that group. In the time between meeting my husband in 1975 and her death in 1997 three of those eight died. All three were younger than 25. I can not imagine her pain.

The 23rd I am pretty sure was the birthday of my mother's second husband. This is the man my children and my nieces and nephews called Grandpa Al. He died in 1998 and all the kids miss him. He had no children of his own but seemed to enjoy the five of us that he got when he married my mother at least most of the time. He supported my brothers through college and they are both engineers now because of that help.

The 30th has two events. It was the wedding anniversary of my mother and Al. They got married in 1983. This is also the day my grandson Hunter was born in 2003.

There is one other major thing that I have as part of my bouquet. This is kind of like the greenery or baby's breath that is put in bouquets to surround all the other flowers and make them look good. This month marks 25 years of sobriety for my husband. I am so proud of him. Who knows where we would be if he didn't make and keep the commitment to not drink. I am so thankful he has the strength to do this for himself, us and our family.

There you have it - my pieces of April that make up my memory bouquet.

For more information about the EtsyBloggers Street Team and out blog carnivals you can find the team blog here.