It is hard to believe when I look at this blog, that I have not made an entry since Easter. Amazing.....and yet the spring, summer and fall and all the doings contained in that time have come and gone. It is now Christmas and the new year is just around the corner..

I will try to play catch up with the months in between and bring myself and anyone else who ventures on to this site up to speed.

May blossomed and so did all the tulips we hastily planted in the fall last year...Surprisingly most of them showed up and I was amazed at the colors that they were. I guess in my haste I forgot to notice what colors they were when we planted them. The yard went thru it's tansformation and soon there was color everywhere. We celebrated Mother's Day, Bill and Laura's 1st wedding anniversary, Mom's birthday and moved right into June.

All throughout June and July, we were busy reassembling our Family History book. This time the book was re-written and everyone was given the opportunity to update their history. Once I received them all, the book was then put on CD's and saved in a more Highly technical version. I passed all the photos on to Deidra and with her careful eye and love of music, put them all on a DVD for everyone to have and enjoy. The preparations were underway for our family to gather from Wisconsin, Georgia, California, Ohio and Illinois for our family reunion in August.

July came in and we celebrated Ava's and Brooke's birthdays.

Ava turned 4

and Brooke turned 3.

Balloons, cake, presents...heat...alot of heat, jumpies...and more. Katie was nearing the home stretch in the baby making category and was getting well on her way to looking forward to delivering.....

August finally arrived and so did our guests from California. They actually arrived a day earlier than we thought and so to their surprise and as much my own, when they arrived we were caught unaware...we were happy to see them and spend the time together....The week was full of activity...different family members arriving at different days and times. We spent a day at the river aboard Phil and Greg's boats. They took down the river for a boat ride and then we ventured over to Phil's in Morris for a family picnic.

Katie and Blake were at the hospital awaiting the birth of their son, Mason James, who arrived just as we were leaving Phil's.

On Saturday we spent the day at Greg's in Sugar Grove, bar-b-queing, playing bags and catching up with old aquaintennces....It was well into the evening before everyone headed out and we vowed to do this again and keep in touch with the cousins.

September came and the kids began school. Brooke started Pre-school and surprisingly she loved it...we were a little worried. Rick began working from home as well as myself three days a week.

October blew in and it was a great fall, we celebrated Amy's birthday...and then the following day she became engaged to Eric with the prospects of a wedding in the fall of 2010. Katie and Blake celebrated their anniversary and Katie celebrated her birthday the day before Halloween. Halloween came and I made a monkey suit for Andrew...he seemed to like and even won a contest for the cutest home made costume. I am sure it had more to do with him than it did with the costume.

November was the most pleasant month and we celebrated Laura's birthday and Andrew's 1st birthday. Andrew accomplished learning to walk before he turned 1 and is a man on the go....Thanksgiving came and went and finally so did the left overs. We always have a brunch so the kids can still get to the in-laws for dinner. We had a great time and a quiet evening later.....December rolled in and the activities began..it has been non stop between office parties, Christmas decorating, shopping and baking. We prepared for our family Christmas this year at Phil's in Morris. Everyone came in and it was a day of surprises for everyone....even Santa came dressed in all his glory and

riding in the wagon being pulled by 2 huge white horses..We did a live nativity scene very spur of the moment and what a fun filled day.

Well Christmas has now come and gone...the excitement, the presents...the kids...barring Brooke's heroic leap down 3 stairs in the family room, ending with a visit to the emergency room and Dr. Rob and a cast on her broken ankle/leg.....she has spent the rest of her vacation sitting on the couch alot and wishing she had just walked instead of jumped...but all is well and so will she be...

Soon this year will wind down and 2010 will arrive without plans or ideas of what is yet to come. It is always thrilling to begin again and scary at the same time....I will make the new year's resolution to try harder to blog, if nothing else for myself.....and to appreciate more what I enjoy and that is my family in whatever circumstance I find them in......

Happy New Year!!!! to all.....

The Perfect Gift...

Today is Mother's Day and yesterday I watched as the stores were full of shoppers looking for that perfect gift that would somehow express exactly how much you loved Mom....The streets were packed, the malls were worse. I myself after much deliberation trying to think what is that perfect gift that could say it all? What about flowers, jewelry, candy....all of them were terrific and satisfying in their own right but it still seemed a bit lacking.


After thinking about this for a while it suddenly occurred to me that I know what that perfect gift is...for me to my Mom it is us.. her children. She lights up when we are around. She is herself when she can fix you something to eat or just sit and listen as she relives the stories of her parents, family and our history. She is at peace when one by one her kids call or stop by to wish her a happy Mother's day. She is grateful to God to have been a Mother. It is at those moments that you have glimpsed the perfect gift. I am grateful to God for Mom and the gift that she has been to myself and my family. She is more than just a Mom. She is a friend, a shoulder to cry on, a good listener, an example to strive towards and my best friend....Happy Mother's day Mom...love you with all my heart...


I myself can truly say that the best gift God ever gave me was the ability to be a Mom. That was the happiest time in my life. I remember trying to do it all, make meals, laundry, run the kids to events, listen to their papers, help them learn how to be adults....good wives and husbands. It was a selfish pleasure that has touched my heart and if they only knew that they never need to look for that perfect gift...because I already have them.


I know someday it is inevitable that I will sit in a rocking chair with drool coming out of the corner of my mouth, but (oddly enough for me)...a smile. I know people will think I am demented, or lost in another world and they will be right. I will be lost in the moments of motherhood..and reliving that most precious time again and again in my mind.


To watch my children become parents is a humbling experience, many times you want to step in and say let me show a simpler way...let me help you..but instead it is now my job to observe from the sidelines and take pleasure in watching what they have learned be put into practice. I am proud of each and everyone of them and the families they are raising. I am sure as all parents and moms know..your children are the best...and why not they had us for teachers....I love you all and you are my heart and you never have to worry about that perfect gift, you already gave me all that I will ever need....


To Katie, Amy and Billy you are my life and Jono you are my future...Love to you all.....Mom.

Music that touches the soul

When I was younger than I happen to be today...I always wished I could play an instrument...My absolute favorite instrument is the violin. The closest I ever got was the guitar and though I tried and learned some of the chords, I could never master it. I am pretty convinced that musical talent must have skipped our generation.

I was thankful to see it in my children. I sat through many concerts of squeaky violins, brassy saxaphones and children with the hope in their hearts that they would be good....really good. Eventually the squeaks calmed down and the tune appeared, then the melody and before you knew it, the concerts I went to were amazingly professional and I was very proud of every note and the discipline it took to acheive them. I tried very hard to convince them to play the violin but instead we had coronets, drums, saxaphones and a bass. I was sure I would have my own band that could play whenever and your mind could wander to a serene place and the music would just play on. Not so much...now the instruments are gone..the drums long abandoned in the crawl space, the coronet...not sure where that went, the sax is on a permanent vacation to a friend's house that will never return and the bass is back at the rental shop. The only thing that couldn't be returned are the memories of listening to the squeaks turn into harmony, melody and a song that touched your soul.

Well now the grand kids are ready to begin that journey..and so this weekend in a fluke I caught a glimpse of a future star...or at least she believes she is. Here is Brooke doing her rendition of "Old McDonald" and playing her own accompanyment.

Now here is a picture from Easter and all my G kids. They also make a noise that can be music to my ears. It is now in their laughter that I hear the melody, their screams I hear the harmony and when all together they create the symphony that plays always in my head....my little musicians...

Brooke, Me, Andrew, Ava and Alana...Star material...

Friends, relatives and Memories

Did you ever meet someone who you could be in the middle of a conversation and walk away for a minute and 10 years later meet up with them and pick up right where you left off?? That would be my cousin Nancy. Mom and I went to California last week and returned home this Tuesday. We went to Riverside, California where Nancy lives for a memorial service for my Aunt Gail.

When we were kids we always took a summer vacation. We traveled this country many times and saw unbelievable sights, but there were a couple of years when we traveled to California to see Mom's family. Uuncle George and Aunt Gail, Uncle Angelo and Aunt Pat and Uncle Alex. Her brother Jim still lived in Illinois. Though California was full of movie studios, the beach, Disneyland and every amusement park it was the draw to Uncle George and Aunt Gail's house with Nancy and Chris. Now they also had 2 sons Steve and Ken but they were older and generally by the time I remember they were not living at home. Now here in Illinois most people have a dog either in their yard or in their house. The first time we went to my Aunt and Uncles it was very surprising to see in their backyard was a horse!!! Not many people had those at home and we had very little experience with them and they were a lot larger than any dog we knew.

To see Mom with her brother was always special and Aunt Gail was the life of the party, always laughing, telling jokes, playing the organ and singing. She was a bundle of energy and a party in a single person. Nancy and Chris instantly became your best friends and we would hang out and play together every minute until it was time to pack it up and leave for home. Many times we were in the middle of a conversation and it was time to go.....we left the conversation only to pick it up later in life.....those were some of the best vacations and memories that have lasted forever. This trip was harder because Uncle George and now Aunt Gail have both passed away and you felt their abscence. It was extremely difficult for Nancy and Chris and the entire family to continue on with arrangements and services when all you wanted to do was just absorb what had transpired. I have always believed and still do that we are the ones that mourn here and the ones that have passed are now celebrating and reuniting with the people that they love and haven't seen in a very long time. Aunt Gail and her laughter will always be missed but the qualities that she possessed she passed on to her children and through them you still get a glimpse of Aunt Gail. They are her legacy and testimony to the life she lived and loved here. She will be missed always, loved forever and a piece of our memories forever.

Mom and Elaine.

The whole gang...Aunt Pat with Mark, Matthew, Luke and Tina......

Steve and his son Steve.....

Just Mortar and Brick

Along time ago when we searched for for a house we had no idea how important that clump of mortar and brick would become. When we first purchased our house, that's all it was just a house filled with the hope that it would become for us our home.
When we moved in Katie was 4 and it was just her Father and I and a baby due within days and the sex was unknown...soon she had a sister, Amy and after adjusting, hanging pictures, eating dinners the house slowly started to become our home. It was amazing all I asked of this mortar and brick, it delivered. It protected us from the elements, it contained all the hopes and promises we had for our future and the future of the kids. It never seemed quite noisy enough and so along came Billy and finally Jonathan. The house finally seemed noisy enough.
It watched as the kids grew and we did as well, the house changed on the interior to accommodate all of our needs. The paint changed often and if the walls could talk the stories would be amazing. As the kids grew older, and I was the adult in charge, the house groaned under the pressure of repairs that were needed, and yet it was patient. I never thought of this as the home I would remember. I guess I always thought of that when it came to the house I grew up in. I remember once telling the kids that I was gonna sell this house and was completely amazed when they looked shock and told me "this is our home". I never thought of it that way. I guess I never looked at it from their perspective. That was a mistake.
The house has welcomed many people into it's stretched walls. Friends with no place to go as they worked out problems with their parents. Kids just in general that had no place to go. It gave them a warm place to stay as they pulled their lives together. It housed many pets who were in the same boat, some inherited some purchased..but always loved.
I have filled holes, painted walls and changed furniture so many times, you can actually hear the house groan when I think about a new color scheme.
Well the house has changed again this year. I have compacted my things and moved some to Mom's house where I live now. Amy moved out to an apartment in Elmhurst and is on her way to new adventures. Katie, Blake and Brooke and a new baby on way, have moved into that same house.
Again that mortar and brick will protect them from the elements, listen to their laughter and bring them comfort when they walk in the door and hang up the keys. I hope for them for however long they stay there that they will come to appreciate that a home may start out as mortar and brick, but it is your life story that makes it come to life with purpose and it will always provide for you a safe haven.
That pile of mortar and brick has done all that I have asked of it. It has been patient with a bunch of people who many times did not know what they were doing. It has listened to our dreams and has been a silent participant to them all. It has seen graduations, birthdays, weddings, funerals and grand children. When we are all there it groans but I believe it is pleasure and not stress. It always was a home just waiting for a family to fill it with memories.
Thank you that mortar and brick......that we call home.
I

Wow, it has been some time since I entered anything on this blog....well Happy New Year!!! This has certainly been the most bazarre beginning to a year that I have ever had. I thought I had the flu, and still to this day I am dealing with the fall out of medications, and still not really sure what the heck I've had or have. I did go to the doctor and I did have the blood work done and she is very anxious to see me because my cholestoral is high and so are my triglicerides....I'm not stupid, I understand the importance, but fix this problem first because I am not use to taking medications and I have enough in me to fight off the plague, which this obviously isn't because I still have it....anyway I have decided to heal thyself....and once cured then we'll talk about all those other life threatening diseases....
Though I had no intention of entering the Chunky Monkey contest this way....it does seem that it has helped me to jump start this diet. I have lost 15 pounds so far and I haven't been able to lose an ounce in probably 5 years or more.....and I am grateful...but it is only the beginning and I still have a long way to go. I would rather try the diet than this particular method. I haven't been able to exercise so pretty soon, if I lose enough I will look like that "Marge" character on the greeting cards. I've already got the dark glasses, cigerette and the girls are testing the lengths of gravity......
Congrats to Rick, Jim and Kathy....they have all worked hard and it is showing...Rick has been faithfully working out, Jim will be starting soon and Kathy has always been physically fit....no matter how this all turns out, we'll be able to stand proud for what we have accomplished and have a picture taken that is not a panaramic view.....
Wish I could say exciting things have been happening, but I haven't seen the little munchkins since Christmas Eve...Andrew is growing like a weed, laughing and cooing....Alana is loosing her bottom teeth and will turn 5 already on Monday...and Ava is just Ava.. Brooke is hanging in there as her family is in a momentary pause between houses and seems to be adjusting. Amy and Eric have moved into their new apartment and Katie and Blake and Brooke will soon be moving into my house....It really will be a new year for everyone......
Well this is about all I can write....the brain is on overload.......talk at ya soon...