Sad Anniversary:(

I can't believe it has been 1 year since my brother passed away. I miss Randy so much every day....there is so much to remind me of him...............

Holiday fun!

On Sunday we had a gingerbread house making party. I used to do this every year....the last couple of years we did not because of house constructions. Now that we have the big room opened up, even though it is not finished.......we have room to do this again. Here is Jadzia decorating her house...it fell apart, but was easily put back to gether.

Jadzia, Cassidy and Cassidy's friends goofing off after finishing their houses.

Savannah and Gianna putting their houses together.............we helped the younger kids put theirs together and then Savannah and Gianna did theirs.

Of course, just as much candy gets eaten as it gets put onto the houses.

Saturday we went to a yankee swap at my brother Stephen's house. Savannah is picking her number and the rest of my family waits patiently.

My dad, my sister and myself at the yankee swap.

Love you Markie!!

I can't believe my brother Mark has been gone for 6 years! I still miss him and think of him everyday. Here is a picture of him and Tyler. Tyler looks so little here with my guns n roses shirt on, smiling for me taking the picture! Give extra hugs today....tell your family and friends you love them!

Gobble Gobble!

We had a fun Thanksgiving......I had to work, but that didn't stop my sister from hosting a fantastic feast for the family! I had to be at work at two, so we ate at noon. Yum Yum! There was even plenty of vegan choices for me to eat!

Anna getting the food ready.

Mike, Sean, Cassidy.......goofing off as usual!

Mike watching the Celtics!

Cassidy and Uncle Big Guy!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday.............thanks for stopping in!

Peace!

Nothing going on.......

First snow fall......didn't stick but it was beautiful to see!

This is the Nauset High School boys soccer team getting ready for the Stat semi-finals game! My cousin Christopher is somewhere in this photo......he ends up playing the whole game. I was able to attend the division semi-final which they won (obviously to get to the States you have to win your division)...........unfortunately they lost this game.....but played well, and I am glad I got to see it!

Savannah and Sara at the game............it was FREEZING..........

On a not-so-cold day this week we went to a playground with our friends. The girls loved climbing this tree.....here are Jasmine and Jadzia. (Jasmine is our neighbor)

Cassidy up higher in the same tree......I love this picture. Ava (I work with her mom, they met us at the playground) absolutely loved Cassidy! We will have to get together again soon.

Randy's Birthday!

Jadzia made a "cake" for uncle Randy's birthday.......the girls are planning to make a real cake when Savannah and Cassidy get home from school, but Jadzia couldn't wait she said "pleasepleaseplease can I make a cake out of paper"........what a great idea I said and here is the finished product...she traced some dots I put on the paper to write Happy Birthday. We also made birthday crowns for his ashes container yesterday........no birthday is complete without a crown.

It is hard to believe that my brother Randy has been gone for almost a year! I miss him a lot! Here is a picture of him and Jadzia when she was a baby......he put her inside of a christmas stocking!

Randy and Milo, one of his cats......he LOVED his cats.

Randy and Cassidy handging out at Randy's house.

Hee-hee......that's Randy holding me and our brother Stephen is also in the picture, it is Randy's first communion.

Geeky school picture........aaaahhh, wasn't he cute.

Love you Randy........miss you lots!

Halloween fun!

We went to Main street for trick or treating........the stores give out candy and it is so fun to see all of the costumes! This is a huge chair that kids always climb in to take a picture!

The merry-go-round is free......as well as the cotton candy, ice cream and the moonbounce. Savannah came with us but did not dress up.

Cassidy is trying to catch bubbles with her tongue.....not too tasty!

Standing in line......Cassidy is commenting on how cold she is........and they are in line to get ice cream (that should warm cassidy up!)

Jadzia could not wait to get ready.......she had her costume on for a while before we left!

Apple picking

- The girls and I went apple picking this weekend.........Auntie Holly, Auntie Anna, and Michael came too.
We had to stand on a ladder to get the apples.
Here is Cassidy taking a turn. Everyone had fun........we also went on a hayride and got some pumpkins.
Jadzia was not at all afraid to climb up!

The apples are so delicious! Jadzia and I made some apple crisp today with some of our apples.

She really "cracks" me up!

Cassidy came into my room this morning and did this..........I laughed so hard, and then had her get the camera so we could share it with everyone! Hope it gives you all a laugh too!

Dennis the Manatee update.

Dennis the Manatee was captured on Saturday and loaded into a truck to go "home" to Florida (Sea World). Unfortunately, he died about one hour before reaching Orlando. It was neat to see this animal here, but if one comes back I hope it leaves before the water gets too cold.

just visiting

Sorry this picture is out of order......if you look closely you can make out the nose of the mammal mentioned a few pictures down.......it is under the shadow of the boards making a criss-cross.

Jadzia and I went to visit Nana yesterday...she was happy to see us as always.
Jadzia actually took this picture of us.........she did a pretty good job, she has been practicing.
For the past couple of weeks the Cape has had a Southern visitor. A Manatee. These slow moving creatures usually don't come this far. The water on the Cape is getting too cold for it now (Jenn in North Carolina would argue that the water on the Cape is too cold period, for any creature, at any time), so the wildlife people are making plans to move it back to Florida. The harbor master and staff have been told to feed it so it doesn't leave while the plans are being made........the public is NOT allowed to feed it though.
Hard to make out, the picture is sideways. The piece of wood over the manatee is perpendicular to the manatees body. Nose at the top of the picture, near two rocks, and then it gets fatter and fatter as you look toward the bottom of the picture. The green is seaweed that is growing on its back.

Here is a glimpse of the life of a manatee.......he moves his head up.......takes a breath.......and moves his head down)....this is as exciting as it gets! The voice you hear with the heavy accent is one of the marine wildlife people.

not much going on.....

No pictures to post..........worked all weekend!
However, I did just here my little 4 year old say (after dropping something while she was getting the soy sauce) "Oops......My Bad!" It is so easy for kids to pick things up!
Hope everyone is doing well..........I'll try to take some pictures this week.

painting, veggies and Clydesdales

Not much going on today......Jadzia, Cassidy and her friend Becky are doing some painting.
Jadzia and I picked the remaining veggies in the garden......some potatoes, egg plant, and we also picked a tomato.

The Budweiser Clydesdales are in town.......Jadzia and Joe went to see them one day and then took Cassidy with them the next day. I didn't get a chance to go, but had them take some pictures for me. I can't believe how big they are! The stalls they are in when they travel don't look very big.........but I guess it gets them where they need to go.
Well, that's it! I will be working all weekend, so not too much will be happening......thanks for checking in!

Exciting stuff!!

Ok........so why a picture of running water? The plumbers are done in our addition, that's why! I am so excited.....we now have two working bathrooms. I still have some tiling to do.....but I have water..........

And electricity...........(and a lot of painting/sanding to do) The heat/AC is rady to go too!
And MORE exciting news..........Cassidy comes home today! This was her "seashore" field trip week - I can't wait to hear about the adventures her and the class had!

Farewell to a friend.

This week I will be attending the funeral of one of my co-workers. Her name is Krit (Kristin), she died at the end of last week. On Sept. 12 she lost control of her bicycle and she was riding home, and fell. She was one of the clinical assistants at Childrens Hospital in Boston, she was so much fun to work with.....so nice........I can't believe this has happened. Please, Please, PLEASE.....wear a helmet when ever you are on a bike (or scooter, or skateboard, or skates). No matter how old you are...........even if you are "only riding around the neighborhood"........Krit was not wearing a helmet, and it was a head injury that killed her.

http://www.myfoxboston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7482202&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1

this is the link to the fox news story about her.

God Bless.............tell the people you care about how important they are to you.........and "Dance like no one is watching" (which, by the way, was also a favorite quote of my brother that passed away last year)

The week in review.........

Jadzia was in a no picture mood this day........too bad it was the first day back to school. This is her last year of preschool, she is in the "kindergarten readiness room" this year. She was very happy to see all of her friends from last year and her favorite teacher, Miss Judy.
Savannah playing field hockey.....she loves this sport. She is number 18, back to the camera. This was their first game and they won 2-1.

In other news.........Joe's surgery (Monday) went well and he is home recovering! Hopefully this will be the last hip surgery he needs for a while. He still has quite a bit of pain, but that should start to improve!

Today Savannah and I volunteered at a bone marrow donor testing drive. I did the medical screening and Savannah initially helped to make sure people followed the flow of things and went to the station they were supposed to go to. After a short time of that the coordinator realized that they needed more people actually collecting the swabs.........so Savannah was recruited for that job. The drive was for my sisters nephew that is in need of a bone marrow transplant. He was at the drive today and looks well........ very cute kiddo! A lot of people showed up for testing so hopefully a match will be found!

That's all I can think of for now................thanks for checking in.