On Its Way...

I am working on an update, please be patient....4 months worth of updates and pictures, plus I have problems with my pictures on this site for some reason all the sudden! I had to update my template and such, I know you have been patient with me...just keep it up...

My "Little" Cousins

Ryan and Kelsey are my Aunt Dawn's kids. I was 11 when Ryan was born, and remember waiting and waiting for him to come! I spent a ton of time with them as we grew up. I babysat them and spent a lot of time with them even when I wasn't babysitting. I loved being around those kids! I preferred to babysit them over anyone else because I knew what they were allowed to do, and what was expected of them. I never got the "but my Mom lets me..." because I did actually know what their Mom would allow. My Aunt and I have grown in our relationship into great friends, and the kids have well...GROWN!

Dawnie helps me at least twice a week with my kids while I work at the Boys and Girls Club. The kids LOVE going there, and I have heard rumors that Ryan and Kelsey both like it when the girls are there. Both Ryan and Kels (mostly Kels though) babysit the girls for Warren and me when we need them to. Funny too because Dawnie used to babysit my siblings and me, my siblings and I babysat Ryan and Kels, and now they babysit Ellie and Grace.

Dawnie and Paul, and the kids dad, Pat and his girlfriend Diane had a surprise party for Ryan and Kels the other day. We had so much fun planning (and maybe a little stress too for Dawnie) the party, Ryan is going to be 18 on December 19th, and Kelsey is going to be 16 on the 21 of December, so it was the perfect time to do it! It was a great party, and the "kids" were surprised (well Ry noticed some cars around the parking lot) so he got a last minute tip off, but Kels was oblivious (as I would have been) to the cars. Both of the kids were surrounded with friends who were excited to be there for them. It was really cool because both sides of their parent's (who are divorced)families were there, along with Dawnie's husband, Paul's family and worked together to make it all happen. I don't think a lot of families could pull that off, and kudos to Dawn and Pat for being able to do that!

Ryan is a senior this year (OMG), he is looking at colleges for next year and is being recruited because he is a stellar lacrosse goalie (and he gets some pretty good grades too). He also was the (kick a$#) kicker for the Orchard Park football team that was the best in the State this year. He is a genuinely nice guy, and when he isn't going to be at Aunt Dawnie's house for Ellie to pick on, she is going to really miss him! When Ry had to get a mohawk for the football team, Ellie called him Ryan giraffe head, she works on the insults before we get to their house some days, warming up her nah nah nah nah in the car.

Kelsey is a sophomore, getting ready to start driving as soon as she possibly can. She does really well in school, and I am sorry to say Ryan, I believe she wins the grades competition! Kels is a talented Dancer, she has really grown up a lot in the last year as lame as it sounds it is the truth to say that she turned into a young woman overnight! Kelsey has a strong sense of morality and part of that is being someone who is not afraid to go against the crowd. That's not an easy thing for teenagers to do, and I admire her for having the confidence to be herself!

Thanks for reading my brag rag about my awesome little cousins (who by the way tower over me especially Ryan who is probably around 6'3"), I think the world of them, and now you will too!

Shake My Head and Laugh

These pictures of the girls are from a recent morning in our house. Have I told you how obsessed I am with Christmas music? I honestly am. It is one of the greatest things in the world to me, and has been for as long as I can remember (and where do you think Ellie gets her memory from?). This particular morning, the girls must have been feeling kind of squirrely. They came out of Ellie's room with underwear on over their pants which in and of itself amused me. The next thing I know they were digging through the box of winter gear and putting it on to dance in. I laughed so hard that day, the imagination and endless train of bright ideas from these girls keeps me laughing and shaking my head all the time!

Did you hear the One...

about the Mom who thought her daughters were tucked in her bed one morning, watching TV, enjoying their sippy cups of milk?? I know that some of you have, but for those of you who have not, allow me...

I NEVER take showers in the morning unless Warren is home. Well, almost never. A few weeks ago, the girls were snuggled in my bed, engrossed in their program, so I thought instead of waiting for nap time to take a shower, I would sneak in a 2 minute shower. Bad Idea.

I get out of the shower, and Ellie is standing there waiting for me. "I AM SO, SO, SO, SO sorry. We finded the pokey things, and I poked my finger, and I poked Gracie in the leggie, and then we feeded some to the fish..."

I go running upstairs, (I don't yet know what she means by pokey things) to find Gracie on top of the desk in the spare bedroom putting THUMB TACKS into the fish tank. The pictures that follow are pictures of the fish tank when I found it.

Needless to say, no more showers while the kids are up, and pokey things=thumb tacks.

Thanksgiving Weekend

My In-Laws moved to Rushford a few years ago which is around 45 minutes away. It has gotten a little difficult since then to arrange the holidays for our families. My MIL realizing this has tried to make it a little easier all the way around by planning holiday celebrations for weekends before or after holidays. This lets us all spend time together without being rushed to get somewhere else or to get the kids to bed. We left on Friday after the girls got up from their naps and headed out to Rushford for a nice weekend and Thanksgiving feast with the Herdics.
My MIL goes out of her way to make us all comfortable and waits on us hand and foot. Grammy and Grampa got the WII for themselves (and the family too) as their Christmas present this year so we spent a lot of time playing with that, we got a little competitive and ran some tournaments which was a riot.

Saturday was the day we celebrated Thanksgiving, Warren and Jimmy went hunting (well Jim hunted, Warren walked along), and after an amazing dinner Warren and Jim took the kids outside to play in the snow while we cleaned up the kitchen. This was really the first time Grace has played in the snow, and it was the first for Ellie this year. She has been really begging to play outside and she was thrilled that she got to do it with her big cousin, Brayden.

Once all the kids got inside it was time for dessert. While we were enjoying our pie, Uncle Jim was teasing Grammy a little too much...Grammy threatened that she was going to put the last bite of pie and whipped cream in Uncle Jim's face. There was something about the glint in Grammy's eyes that told me she was not kidding, so I ran for the camera...SHE DID IT! It was hysterical, and afterwords, Grammy said it was the wildest thing she ever did in her whole life. I am so glad that I got to see it.

Warren and I are amazingly blessed with each other, our girls and our families. There is so much to be grateful for, and I so am.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The picture is typical of my girls... All dressed up, get them set for the picture and someone is NOT HAPPY!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my family this year. Usually we celebrate with my Mom's extended family, but this was the first year my parents just had our family and my sister's family there. We had a really nice time, great company, amazing dinner (of course my pies for dessert) some wine, and of course some WII playing too. It was a little more quiet than usual, well...except for my kids, and a few squeaks from Claire here and there.

Oh, wait, now that I am thinking about it, Aunt Patti got a little riled up, getting Ellie riled up and had Ellie singing quite loudly while playing her little guitar. THAT was not so much quiet...(but it was funny)

We brought the girls home, got them in bed, grabbed a beer and caught "The Notebook" on TV together. Warren and I almost NEVER watch movies together, much less a romantic movie, all moons in the universe must have been aligned! It was the perfect ending to a great day!

Catharsis

Last week Wednesday, an Orchard Park graduate and Geneseo student was walking on a street in Geneseo, NY when she walked into the road and was struck by a semi truck. She was a very good friend of one of the staff members I work closely with, and also used to work at the Boys & Girls Club. The community of Orchard Park is small and tight knit and this has rippled down touching everyone. Strangely, on Tuesday, the staff member was speaking of this friend to me, telling me of her promising academic and sports careers. I did not ever have the fortune of meeting this person in life, and find the tragedy of her death haunting. She hung on until some time on Sunday, and the family was able to donate many of her organs.

I can't imagine how this affects members of this girl's family, extended family, friends, her long term boyfriend and his family, anyone who's life this girl touched. I came home and hugged Ellie so tight, and as we sat watching her show before she went to bed that night, all I could think was that's not how things are supposed to go in this life. This is not the way it is supposed to be. How do you look at a child you have loved and nurtured into a beautiful human being and let them go. It's not our choice, I realize this, no one person would make that choice, not ever. The choice becomes picking up the pieces of what remains of your life after losing someone you love.

For people like me, a person on the outside not looking through grief stricken eyes, the choice becomes what do you take away from a tragedy like this. The one thing I personally take from this is to make the most of the time I have with the people I love. I would never expect to always be exempt from hardship or tragedy, and acknowledging this means also being "prepared" to a certain extent for that. It is imperative to me that the people who are important to me know that, they know that they are loved by me, and should there come a point when things are not rosy between myself and anyone I love, I owe it to myself and them to clear it up and move on. Life is too short for grudges, and it is also too short to spend upset and pissed off at the world.

I had someone ask me in regard to this tragedy how you can look at a situation like this and still have faith. I believe that people who have faith, have it through these times. To me, faith is being able to look at a situation, any situation, and see God's hand in it. When people ask "how could God let this happen, what kind of God would let this happen to such good people", I understand. I don't think faith is never questioning or having all the answers, or always being able to see the answers. To me, faith is knowing and trusting that there ARE answers even if you don't know what they are, and might not ever know.

After my Papa passed away, which was to me, the single most devastating loss of my life, I wrote this of death and faith:

"The story of life is punctuated by Death-

Faith allows it not to be an ending such as a period, or question mark, but a place to emphasize with a pause allowing reflection, and then continuation to the end of your story."