I Wish.....

I wish she could have been there to hold Janet's hand on THAT December morning.

I wish we could have seen her try to hold back laughing out loud when Dozer delivered the rings up the aisle on Darold and Alene's wedding day.

I wish I could hear Taylor say "hello Memaw Honah !" ...with his 18 year old high school graduate voice.

I wish I could see Casey bend over at the waist to give his Great Grandma a hug.

I wish I could see Jerry sidle up to her and deliver the punch line to his joke with a straight face and see the her face light up when she “gets it” and Jerry’s trademark grin and laugh that follows.

I wish she could see how absolutely perfect Susie is at being a Grandma.

I wish I could have seen Matt introduce Chari to her.

I wish Chari could stand next to her in the Range Line Choir and sing the alto part.

I wish I could see Conner give her a ride in the Gator.

I wish I could see her amused by Zach’s stories, phrases, faces and gestures.

I wish she could see that Jeremy has grown up, but is still the same kid that thinks most of life is “alsome.”
I wish I could have heard her say to Jeremy’s new girlfriend, Kelly, “you look familiar, haven’t I seen you around the Hayden house before?”
I wish I could see her go nose to nose with Drew making faces at each other.
I wish she could have seen those pearls come out of the jewelery box to be worn by another young bride.
I wish she could have seen Ryan say his vows to his two best girls.
I wish she could have seen how Papa Bob’s face and the halls of Whittenburg lit up when Jacinda came bouncing in the room with a smile and a milkshake.

to be continued.....

Flashback Friday...Beauty Shop

Remember rollers and portable hair dryers?

I'm sure my big sisters and playing Beauty Shop had something to do with this photograph.

It's a Flashback Friday photo...
but it is also a preview for the new reality show,
Fixing Vandercar,
soon to premiere on the dancewithnance channel.

Stay tuned!

What we did right....

One thing that did work out on my Christmas List was the Grab Bag and our collective Family Christmas Gift.

I broke tradition this year and instead of the girl/boy Grab bag, I asked each family member to just show up with ten dollars in hand.

We pooled those dollars together to send to a great organization called Honor Flight Network, an organization that is committed to flying, free of charge, World War II veterans to Washington D.C. to visit and see their memorial.

Here is a short video about what Honor Flight does:

The Indiana Honor Flight says that it takes $360.00 to fly one veteran to the memorial.

Thanks to the generosity of my family we overshot that with a collective donation of $500.00!

Merry Christmas to the Greatest Generation

from the sons and daughters of
Sergeant Robert Ray Vandercar.
Our gift was given in memory of our Dad.

I didn't want to take away the fun of the grab bag and I didn't want to send everyone home
empty handed; it WAS Christmas after all.
Fortunately for us all, I am Bob Vandercar's daughter and have hoarding tendancies...so I backed up the car to my apartment and loaded up boxes of books, dvds and cds that I have rescued from the the dumpster and stockpiled over the year. There was also a box of stuff and one very heavy toolbox from the back of Dad's wagon.

I was going to have the regular take turns grab bag style...but I quickly realized that if you put a room full of Vandercar's together with a pile of books and ask them to make a quick decision, we could have been there 'til midnight...so we just had a free for all shopping spree. The littles got to pick for free.

Joe scores Bob's belt, Florida Fishing Gear and Garth...a Country Boy will survive.

I think everyone got to take home at least one thing, if not twenty (again, we ARE Vandercars and can't pass up free stuff) and Sandy breathed a sigh of relief to see it all leave her garage at the end of the day!

When you get a moment, here's another video that captures why I am so glad that we got to take Dad to the memorial and why Honor Flight Network is such a cool thing.

Thank you

for giving and for making this a success!

Directions to here:
So, what did you pick out and have you watched, read or listened to it yet?
Remember I'll try to replace dvds or cds that won't play. There may have been a reason they were in the trash!

Add this to the Fail Blog

Okay, Vandercars, it's time to add this name to your Family Birthday Calender:

Happy Birthday Adrienne Vandercar !!

And this reminded me of another thing that I forgot to do on Christmas and that was introduce the new family members!

I know that most of you have met them all, but I wanted to give them the official welcome and introduction at Christmas dinner, but well, was so excited and frazzled, I forgot.

So here goes.....in chronological order....

He's been around awhile but as of last July, it's official!
Welcome, Ryan Thompson!

Next, came the littlest and newest Vandercars:
Enola Vandercar and Eliza Rockhill

and finally, our Thanksgiving bride, who has also been hanging out with the Vandercar's since at least 2005 (she was the photographer at Dave's wedding),

the new, Mrs. Adrienne Vandercar.

Welcome to the family....
"with every birth and every union the circle grows,"
we are glad you are here!

Directions to here:
Adrienne is on facebook, so if you haven't already, take a moment to "friend" her so she can get to know everyone better!

We are bolting into 2010 and I still haven't wrapped up 2009 yet.

I hope that isn't how the whole year is going to go...
but if the theme of the Christmas video is right....

"Don't Blink"
....'cause it will be 2011 before we know it!

Anyway, as most of you know, our family takes turns with hosting Christmas.
Each sibling takes a year.
This year was mine and I had high hopes of doing lots of special stuff.

But, even tho Sandy is diligent in reminding me that Christmas comes on December 25th every year, I just can't seem to start early enough to ever get all done that I want to get done.

Hence my Christmas To Do List slowly evolved into the Christmas Fail Blog.

But, thanks to my sister makers and brother carriers and lots of nieces and nephews who pitched in and made and brought stuff we:

1. Did not starve

and
2. Had a great day together.

I didn't take a lot of pics (wait, what)?
But here's a few:
Vandercar's Winter Wonderland
before the storm

Special Treats from Maker Martha




Booby Trap Cookie Centerpiece
Darold sends a subtle message after falling into the Booby Trap
(they were ornaments, not cookies)
Enola wants an Asti Bottle

Making faces (Josh and Shel...crack me up) and telling stories!

two thirds of the "30" club
(never got one with Jamie)
Our Christmas Eve Baby turned 18!
....and Luke finds another thing to add to the Christmas Fail Blog list.
Sorry.

Directions to here:
Tune in next time for a recap of the grab bag and what will happen, thanks to your generosity.

Flashback vacation....

Susie and Sandy's vacation photos made me think of vacation all week.

Unfortunately for me, I was not on vacation.

But I was once.

and yes, sandy I wore a two piece too.

Directions to here:

and i was skinny once too.

So today is my official New Year's Holiday...according to the Half Price Books schedule.

So, Happy New Year!!!!

You can bet I spent the day....making lists upon list of all the great and not so great things I want and need to do in 2010.

There's a lot of projects on the list....

here's the short version:

okay, so maybe the list gets a little ambitious,
but I can't help but fall into the New Year trap of thinking that everything is possible...
as long as it's written down with a box next to it, just waiting to be checked off.

But before we get into all of that:

gotta catch up on last year.

Stay tuned for:

1. the Christmas List (a.k.a the Christmas fail blog)

2. Christmas Recap and update on our Christmas donation to Honor Flight and

3. the Ringing in of the New Year (the official one, not the fake Half Price Books scheduled one)

Gonna try to get it all on here soon, before the New Year's to do list glow starts to get snuffed out by reality!

Ringing out the old...

Saying goodbye to 2009

Directions to here:
Does anyone else remember putting pop bottles out in the snow to make them super cold?

Eighteen !!!????

Wait, What?

Shelby is 18 ??

Happy Birthday, Shelb!!

Flashback Friday...It's beginning to look a lot like...Dec. 25th

Apparently, Christmas is on December 25th every single year.

I can't seem to remember this.
I'm planning on making a plan,
to plan for this next year.
That's my plan.
But for now...it's beginning to look a lot like a
dancewithnance
Christmas,
round here.

The Birthday Sharers

Happy Double Birthday to the Birthday Girl and Boy!

Happy Birthday, Janet!

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

Flashback Friday...The day after Thanksgiving

Although I think about him a lot.

I think about him the day after Thanksgiving the most.

And this year, since Lowell went to State for football, he was especially on my mind.

Four years ago, I went to see my brother-in-law the day after Thanksgiving.
He had been in and out of the hospital and came home for Thanksgiving and was to go back in the next week for a somewhat simple surgery.

He was in pretty good spirits and we had a nice visit. His brother was there and it was no surprise we talked about cars. I told them both I had just discovered this little number and they both knew the year and exactly what I was talking about. From them, I learned the term "cat's eye" tail lights.

How fitting that my last conversation with him about his two loves:
His family
and
His cars

I left to go back to Indy to watch Lowell win the State football game.
They listened or watched it on the tv.

The next weekend, he slipped away from us...all very too soon.

My heart broke for my sister and family and I still wish they could have had more days and years together.

We miss you Junior....

Giving Thanks

Congratulations

Joshua and Adrienne

One more '79 er !

Happy Birthday, Sarah !!!

Directions to here:
I've been meaning to add this link forever.
Notice the link to Sarah's blog on the right with the rest!

11.11.11

No matter how many times I see this picture...


it always makes me proud to be a Veteran's daughter and sooooo glad we took that trip.

I am THANKFUL for and proud of all our VETS

This kid's been lighting up a room with that smile for 32 years!

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Flashback that Saturday +30 years to this Saturday...

This week's flashback...just came to me via a stolen picture from facebook.

O.M.G. !!!!

the woman that keeps nothing..
was caught on film, Saturday night, wearing a 30 year old dress!

Yes, everyone.
That is Sandy, wearing her wedding dress....30 years later.

Now, tell me.
Who do you know that can still fit into their wedding dress 30 years later?

Way to go exercise queen!

And 30 years ago she was the bride of Dave Vandercar:

Saturday night she went as the Bride of Frankenstein.

I got no comment on that.

Directions to here:
Thanks Cody V. for the pic!