How Did I Get Here? My Amazing Genealogy Journey

It's been a almost two months since we went to Kalahari Resorts in Mt Pocono, PA. You could say I am a little behind on posting for what's been going on in my life :)  Anyway, we had a blast hanging out together as a family. We also got a serious case of the sillies during mealtimes. We challenged each other into make really weird faces to see if we could make each other laugh. I haven't had a good laugh like that in a while. 

My daughter was home sick today from school so we spent the day hanging out together. She asked if we could play Super Mario Bros. on the Wii, something we hadn't done in a while. Mario was my game back in the day, so of course I said, "Sure!"  As we were playing she said the following: "You know that Princess Peach really should do something more than just say thank you for saving her.  I mean really after all these levels. She should at least make us some sandwiches or something." If I had had a drink in my mouth at the moment she said that, the liquid would have squirted out of my nose from laughter.

This has been one crazy busy traveling Summer! I am not complaining. I am extremely thankful for these special times that I've had with my family. We returned from Las Vegas on Sunday and we had a blast. This particular picture looked appropriate for a Friday Funny post. We were walking through the New York-New York Hotel & Casino and stopped in front of a restaurant called Gonzalez Y Gonzalez to get this shot. My Silly Family :)

If you can at some point during this crazy busy holiday season, just take a moment and enjoy something whimsical. When things get entirely too serious, if you just look at something silly and laugh for a minute it will take the stress level down just a bit. I have to thank my best friend for reminding me of this. She has some really cute decorations this year around her house that I can't help but smile when I look at them. That's when I said to myself, "You know what, I could use a bit of that here at my home." So I went out and found myself a bit of whimsy and you know, it helps. :)

Okay, I have been all over the place lately with my research, finding a new nugget here and then finding a new nugget there. I am seriously in the throws of a Genealogy ADD run, where I can't get my brain to focus on one family line. Instead of fighting it, I have decided to just go with it, since it has been productive at finding new morsels. Two nights ago I was working on looking up information on a cousin of my paternal grandfather Harold Murrell and lo and behold I saw something that blew my mind.  In an upcoming post, I will share my connection to the Cheesman family but for now take a look at this. "United States Census, 1930," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X4GY-91J : accessed 16 May 2014), Harold Berel in household of Herbert Cheesman, Manhattan (Districts 1001-1249), New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 1020, sheet 20B, family 614, NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1577. I was ...

Okay, I am an idiot because I should have realized this sooner. What's this you may ask? The this I am talking about is that I am old enough to have a grown-ass child! Why didn't I realize this sooner? I actually had this realization about a month ago when I was shopping at the grocery store. While I was waiting on line to pay, my ears couldn't help but pick up on the conversation taking place in front of me. A very nice older woman (well...older than I) was talking with the cashier.  The cashier looked to me to be about college-aged and as the two were chatting away about the day's events it soon came out that in fact, she was 19. She's adorable, petite, brown hair with big innocent eyes talking about how she'll speak to anyone. She was just brought up that way. Young or old it didn't matter. She found people interesting and liked to know what was on their minds. Well anyway, this sweet cashier continued talking and I am looking at her and that's ...

My daughter's nails. We had an afternoon at home spa day. Manicure by mommy. © 2014, copyright Andrea Kelleher. All rights reserved.

Image courtesy of Microsoft Office Images. I think my 2nd great grand uncle, David Sampson, gave me a little nudge from the other side just the other day. I woke up and had his name on my mind and even though I'd been concentrating my research efforts towards my Jones and Goodrich connections lately, I took a chance. I decided to Google his name and I changed up my search parameters a couple of different ways.  Guess what? This article popped up from the Saturday Evening Post -Volume 189, Issue 1 -Page 38. First, here's a little background information on David Sampson. For many years he was the cook at a camping area south of New Bern, NC, called Camp Bryan. Apparently, he was quite the personality.  For more on Dave Sampson, you can read about him in these posts:   Dave Sampson a True Riverdale Character --Part one. Dave Sampson a True Riverdale Character --Part two My Speculation Regarding Dave Sampson's Parentage This Way Out! Dave Sam...

Ray Bryant, Mary Bryant Horton (my grandmother), Annie Marie Bryant Barnes seated on couch.  Eloise Bryant Grigsby seated on the floor. My Uncle Nat is kneeling on the right.  (He's the husband to Rosa Bryant Sanders who isn't in the picture.) The caption for this picture should read, "Come here you. I am going to cut that hair!"   I love this picture because it shows clearly how the Bryant siblings enjoyed each others company. I am not certain what year this was. I thing it may have been 1995 or 1996. I spoke with my Mom this week about what was the story behind this photo. She said that out of all 8 siblings, Uncle Ray liked to clown around the most. He always had people laughing. Wait a minute, I thought there were only 7 Bryant Siblings. Who was Annie Marie Bryant Barnes? Tune in tomorrow folks for the answer.

Spongebob --by my daughter. Age: 5 Pants --by my son  I think he was 3 when he made these. He used to make me pants daily by cutting out a rectangle from a piece of construction paper and then making a simple slit to make the legs. I love the simplicity of these. Here's a whole wardrobe of pants made by him.

My son on a nature walk with his father. November 2011

Microsoft Office Downloaded Image I can't fight it anymore. I have been trying to finish a blog post when my eyes are just not having it. Going to find my sleep mask and soft pillow and I'm out. Peace! (yawn)

I'm sure those of you who read my blog can probably relate to this. A neighbor of mine is moving and she's in the process of clearing through old papers and items she doesn't need anymore. She's a sweetheart and when she does leave I am going to miss her terribly. Anyway, during our recent conversation she said that she just wanted to get rid of all this old paperwork. She said she even threw out her grandfather's discharge paper from the Civil War. When she said this, I did one of those slow motion yells you only see in the movies. You know like..... I told her how upsetting this was to me. She said, "Oh, you couldn't even read the darn thing. It couldn't be worth anything." I said if she still had it I would want to keep it, just for sake of the history linked to it. We talked casually for a bit longer and then she returned home. A short time later, I heard a knock on our door. She was back and thankfully she hadn't thrown out her trash ...

Last night was a bit rough in the land of parenting. It was one of those nights when your child struggles with a cold. They call out in the middle of the night, numerous times for the comfort of mommy. So mommy and my ladybug were not feeling our best this morning. She was not too keen on the idea of going to school today but off she went because it really was just a case of the sniffles and nothing else. On the days my kids have struggles I like to find a little goody from the Dollar Store that will make their day. Today it was googly eye glasses that I presented to her after she got off the bus.  LOL!