How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!  Have fun, laugh a lot and make great memories  with your loved ones.  P.S. I know my blog has been a bit genealogy light lately. I'm going to try to get back on the research train in the new year. 

Results: Bars:  8.850 --7th place Vault:  8.8 --9th place Beam:  9.0 --3rd place Floor Exercise:  9.6 --1st place All Around:  36.25 --3rd place (New personal best!) I was so happy that I was able to capture a picture of her winning 1st place on floor exercise.  She was beaming! Here's a video of her floor routine. Congratulations to all the Level 3 ladies of STGA as well. They took 2nd place in the team competition. 

It's been awhile since I've shared about how the kids are doing in their individual sports. This whole running people around to their respective practices and games is serious business. People call me to make plans and the first thing I have to do is check my phone for my Google calendar to see where and when I have to be somewhere. My washing machine is constantly washing gymnastic leotards and soccer jerseys. I am not complaining. My husband and I are so proud of these amazing young people. Noah with his dad. Number 14 is our big guy. You can see how much he's grown. These pictures are from a tournament that Noah participated in November with his indoor soccer league. They took 2nd place! Nice job, guys! Miss Alyssa has been doing her thing in regards to gymnastics. She just competed in her third meet for the season this past Saturday. For this post, I'm going to share pictures and results from her first two competitions. Tomorrow, if ...

Retired Col. Trevathan McCarther, Harold Murrell, and Napoleon Sanders My mother took this picture years and years ago, so I don't have any idea what they were talking about. My godfather, Trevathan McCarther, died unexpectedly on November 24, 2018. He was a true gentleman and friend to those who new him and will be deeply missed. My dad passed away earlier this year and my uncle Nat died in 2014. I imagine now that these three men are enjoying catching up with one another in heaven. Missing you all. See you on the other side.  Retired Col Trevathan McCarther  April 28, 1945--November 24, 2018

Rest in peace Happy Pie. You are already missed. I guess I'll have to get to baking another one tomorrow. To all my friends and family, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pictures of my dad after he completed basic training. He was stationed at Fort Gordon, GA and was part of Company E 3rd Battalion 1st Training Regiment. After completing basic training he immediately enrolled in MP school. While in MP School, he was part of Company B 10th Batallion 4th Training Regiment. My dad pictured is pictured on the left.  To all our Veterans, Thank you for your service!

My favorite narwhal and skeleton in the world. "Say Cheese!"

You could call it stress relief, sanity management or a creative burst of energy. I think all those labels are fitting for my recent return to painting. I have to say thank you to my best friend for providing the inspiration for this. Recently, she invited me over for a cup of tea and to do some art. We chatted and listened to music while painting. I walked away afterwards so relaxed. I said to myself, "Okay you need to do more of this." 

Today she's eleven! How crazy is that. Happy Birthday, Ladybug! Love you to the moon and back. Here's some pictures from yesterday's family celebration.  For a look back at last year's celebration, take a look at this link:   Just like that...She's 10

My daughter is such a hard worker.  For the longest time, she's been working on getting her kip. For those of you who are not familiar with gymnastics terminology, here's  Wikipedia's  definition of a glide kip. The glide kip is performed by swinging in a piked hollow position, toes in front, under the bar to extend to a straight hollow position parallel to the floor. Once extended, the gymnast quickly pulls his or her feet towards the bar while simultaneously pushing down with straight arms to arrive in a straight hollow front support on the bar. Here's what it looks like in slow motion. This move may look easy but believe me, it takes incredible strength, coordination, and good timing to be able to perform it correctly.  I am late posting this video. At the end of September my daughter made her first kip and I was lucky enough to be there to see it when it happened. The first one I didn't get on video but I was able to capture her next two thoug...

Before I get too far into into this post, I have to say thank you to my mother, for saving this document! It was mixed in with a bunch of my father's papers and could have very easily been thrown out by mistake. This is my grandfather Harold Murrell Sr.'s Naturalization Certificate. I am so proud of this man. He was born in Barbados and arrived in the U.S. on September 29th, 1927.  When he arrived, he didn't have much more than the clothes on his back and from there he went on to create a full life. He married my grandmother Ethel Smith Murrell in 1932 and raised two children Janice and my father, Harold Jr., in the Bronx, and then later, Hollis, NY. He worked for mass transit in NYC for 30 years which made it possible for him to purchase his own home and take care of various extended family members. He was one of the good ones.  Original To Be Given To The Person Naturalized                        ...

Over the last couple of months, I've found myself saying to my big brother, "Hey, Check these out!" when I come across something I really think he'll get a kick out of seeing. I inherited a lot of family memorabilia from my dad and when I get the time, I try to work on scanning and putting things in albums. These pictures were dated January 1976 on the back, so it appears they are from Christmas of 1975.  My paternal grandmother, Ethel Murrell, my brother, myself, and grandfather Harold Murrell Sr. Grandma Ethel, me and David Grandpa Harold, David, Mom and me.  Me and David Got to love the expression on my face here. LOL.  Not sure if I was getting sleepy or just simply distracted.  On a more serious note, please say a prayer for all those who have been affected by Hurricane Florence. I've included the link to the American Red Cross here:   https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief/hurricane-relief/hurricane-floren...

These are pictures from our last trip of the Summer. You can see that my son is now taller than his father. He's still got a lot of growing left to do so who knows how tall he'll end up being. We visited the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT and spent time at  Misquamicut State Beach in Westerly, RI. School starts next week. It feels like it just began.  Where did all the time go?