Tradition, TRADITION!

It's tradition in my family to create before each Holiday. We create carved Pumpkins at Halloween preceded with trudging through a muddy pumpkin patch to find the Perfect Pumpkin - slightly tall, full body with a crooked stem tilted to the right... We create decorated Christmas Trees of wonder preceded with trudging through a frozen Christmas Tree Farm in search of the Perfect Christmas Tree - slightly tall, no brown spots, with a round but full body that is tightly trimmed into a perfect triangle and a centered sturdy point for the star...

As Spring approaches we come to the end of our creative season - Easter. Which is preceded with going into the chicken coop with our darling baskets and hand picking our pristine white eggs out from under our beloved chickens - TOTALLY NOT! Just kidding on that one, hello Super Market hunting for the rare find of 12 dozen white eggs with no cracks or goo... As my Mother says, she doesn't need anymore stinkin' Easter eggs, but we still love to make them every year because it's Tradition, TRADITION! Our Easter baskets run-eth over with eggs of years past, Mom having the best collection...

Ashleigh, Derrick and my beloved Sister Jenna

So, I tried to be Martha Stewart with the idea she had in her Easter magazine with cut out vinyl stencils stuck on the eggs. It worked for the most part, but a after thought is vinegar and Styrofoam don't mix. Some of the egg colors got a little chunky with the vinegar eating the bowl - oops...
TA - DA!

Aren't they PER-DEE?

Weekend Woes/Bedtime Giggles

How does the weekend just fly by? First it's Friday night and you're so happy "It's Finally Friday!" Then before you know it Monday morning slaps you right in the face "OUCH!" More and more these days I'm feeling like time is going at warp speed, I'm running and running and "RUNNING" to catch up, and man I'm tired of running. I need a time out, to sit on the bench and take a swig off my water bottle cause Coach, "Don't put me in the game, I ain't ready to play". I feel like Asa is growing up way too fast, and I'm missing out on the really great things. I hate that I'm a full time working Mom, I want to be one of those Mom's who gets to do crafts and bake cookies with their kids. Spend a long afternoon lying in the grass or writing your name in chalk on the sidewalk with kitties, doggies, and flowers prancing beside it... The harsh reality is, that I am (a full time working Mom), I just wish I knew how to do it all and be it all, all the time...

Hammin' it up in Daddy's dirty Bruins Hat :-)

My Old Rocking Chair, still solid and ready to ROCK! Ace usually sits in it with his Mickey Mouse and watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - "Meeshka, Mooshka, Mickey Mouse!"

Joy Riding

Just had to share this pic my Mom sent to me yesterday from her phone.

Asa spends 3 days a week with Grammy while Mommy and Daddy are at work. Every morning they walk to the Post Office to get the mail and then have to sit in Grampy's (`67 convertible Mustang) car when they get back.

She is a wonderful Grammy and Asa's biggest cheer leader and supporter. I hope she realizes how much she is appreciated and cherished - love you Mom!

A Letter to My Grammy D

Recently a dear woman has left us and I would like to share my Grammy with the world. She's gone on "vacation" as she would always say. Boy how I loved this woman. See, she wasn't my "real" Grandmother, not by blood, was something she would always say too, but by heart. This woman Mary cared for my sister and I. Me, since I was a little tyke of 6 weeks old and my sister (who's 3.5 years older) was 5 months old when we started to go to Grammy D's house for Daycare, of course she was called our sitter back then. We went to her house every day until we started school, and for me I hated Kindergarten because I knew my Grammy was right up the hill from the Church I went to Kindergarten in and I didn't have to sit in a circle with a bunch of kids, I could sit on the couch with a cookie and watch soap operas... "Stories" she would call them. She was a woman who never looked her aged - still living at home up until a couple weeks before she left. I wrote the following letter to her on her 97 birthday, she passed just two days before...


A letter to my Grammy D

Dear Grammy,

I hope I told you enough how much I love you; I hope I hugged you enough to show you how much I care. I tried to do these things over abundantly because I knew there would be a time I couldn’t. I dreaded the day you would be gone or “go on vacation” as you’d call it, since I was 5 years old. You took such good care of me I tried to return the favor every chance I had. There were days you were challenged, I remember too well. You would yell out the backdoor, “You want them? Come and get them!” Now that I think of it, the neighbors must of wondered what the heck was going on. I’m sorry for those days I gave you so much trouble and you had to ask God to give you strength.

There were many good days we shared, walking around the block while I rode my bike. Going to the town pool on hot summer afternoons, you would sit on the edge in your brown skirt dangling your feet in the water watching over me like a good Mother Hen. Your skin turned such a golden brown on those long afternoons. You looked like an angel sitting so proper.

There were days I was sick and you took care of me, bullion soup with elbows, or rice with butter and salt - those were my favorite. We had afternoons of watching music videos and we’d do a dance party in the living room. We’d bake cakes or help with your weekly chopped ham sandwiches for Bingo on Tuesday nights. I’d always beg for one and you’d save enough to make me a half.

When I was old enough to walk down street by myself, you had a hard time letting me go. “Don’t take any wooden nickels”, you’d say and make me carry a paring knife in my pocket. God that makes me chuckle, how many people would give an 8 year old a paring knife to carry around these days? And the summer I was 10, do you remember you helped me do my paper route? Oh, the sight of you with that Valley News bag around your tiny little body. We had 48 papers to delivery every day, you would do the Block and I would do the Height, meeting halfway when we were done. You even did the whole thing by yourself while I went to Maine on vacation - you must love me a whole lot...

I remember your traits from living through the depression; you never let anything go to waste. You would scrape mold off the top of cottage cheese, drink sour orange juice, take all the day old baked goods you could fit in your tiny arms from the Senior Center and pilfer ketchup and sugar packets into your purse from McDonald’s. How could anyone blame you, you knew struggle and you knew how to survive.

Even when I was older, you still took care of me. Whether it was a sandwich after school, or a trip to McDonald’s to get your free cup of coffee, it was always special to spend time with you. You were the best and easiest person to talk to, I could tell you anything and you never judged, you just loved and supported the best way you knew how. You always knew the right thing to say, or when to not say anything at all because “Nobody asked me, I was just listening”, you could hear a conversation across the room and pretend like you didn’t.

There are so many wonderful memories I have of you I could write a book, your sayings, your undying love, and your beautiful face. I wanted to write to you so I wouldn’t forget, and I wanted you to know - I hope I told you I love you enough, and hugged you enough to show you how much I care. I know you will always be with me, I feel you now. Grammy, Peace be with you.

I love you, “Your Adopted Daughter” – Jackie
March 1, 2010 – Today is your Birthday, Happy Birthday

A New Thing

Okay, this is a new thing for me. I'm not a tweeter or a facebooker, I'm barely a texter. I have wanted to do this for a while but really didn't have a reason to until I contributed to a blog a wonderful person started recently. Her name is Bethany and she shares something special with me, she has two beautiful little girls who happen to be built like my Super Hero Asa. They all have something "extra special", a little something called Down syndrome. The blog she started is called Real Life/Down syndrome, this is a great thing because it is written by the people for the people. It's a scary road to travel at first but once you know you're not alone and it's all going to be okay, you realize it's kind of like being a member of the cool club...

So, this being my first post in our brand spanking new blog I thought I'd write about new beginnings. We recently have bought and renovated a house -Oiy! Don't think we'll be doing that again for a VERY long time.

The Beginning:

The Middle:

The Near End:

A very special thanks to our best friend Jeff who did ALL the work ;-)

We are complete on the house, haven't had time to take a pic with it totally done yet. BUT, this is what our front yard looks like right now - MUD GLORIOUS MUD! I can't wait to plant shrubs and build decks and have actual grass to play on, but as you can see Ace doesn't mind the mud thing... Oh yeah, there is a LOT of trees we are cutting. The house is totally surrounded by pine trees - can you say "total lack of sunlight"? We're getting there, muddy but we're getting there...

Russ enjoyed it too - BATHS ALL AROUND!

And Mr. Asa - how gorgeous is my Child! Even with Mud!