A Year of Missing You

Mama,

A year ago today is the last day I ever spoke with you. Yesterday was the year anniversary of the last time I gave you a hug, held your hand or saw your radiant smile. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about you. Or about how I'd like to call you and chat. I haven't had the heart to even take your name off of speed dial on my phone.

It's hard to think our family went on, that time didn't stand still, when you passed away last year. But we did. And I wanted to write and let you know all of us are well. In fact, you'd be proud and happy of how we've come together and found happiness with one another every step of the way.

Papa is doing better than any of us could have imagined. You know he's as stubborn as they come, so of course he insisted on staying in the home you two made together. He's doing a good job of taking care of himself, with some help from lots of friends who always say what nice things you did for them. He misses you, but he's happy to have so many family members, friends and neighbors offer to help anyway they can. He says he made a promise to you to keep going to dialysis, and we're thankful he's a man of his word and is sticking it out so that we can have more time with him.

Dad and Tom are each helping Papa and making sure he has people to stop in and keep him company. Jackie and Abby are doing great. Jackie's in her own townhouse now, Jeremiah's in preschool and doing well. Abby is still going to college and working hard to graduate with Honors. We all got together on Christmas morning, just like last year when you were here, too. The house was filled with the noises of happy children and the food would have had you telling stories about the parties you used to throw.

Matt, the boys and I see Papa often, too. We like to pick him up from dialysis, take him food (although he really misses your cooking) or go out to eat with him. He always manages to sneak in some ice cream when we go, now we know where our sweettooths really came from!

Sometimes when we visit him we still expect to see you sitting in the little room, calling to us for hugs and kisses. It can be hard, but we're thankful for all the wonderful memories you gave us when you were alive.  We like to remember them by looking at old photos and talking about what we remember about Nona. I hope they never forget you; I'm certainly grateful you had the opportunity to know and love them all. I wish you were here to see us grow and change, but I know you'd be proud if you were.

This year has been especially wonderful for our family. We were all feeling so wonderful and healthy from no longer eating grains, dairy and processed foods that we decided to write a cook book for kids! I know you always thought highly of Matt's cooking and couldn't believe how much weight we were losing. I can only imagine what you'd say if you saw us now, running a website, writing a cook book and over 200lbs thinner. 

And the boys are doing so wonderfully - they're healthier than they ever have been and doing great in school.  Cole is such an awesome big brother: handsome, smart and sneaky - just like Ronnie! Finian is full of life, and the most loving of any child I've ever met. Little Wes is just adorable, and he knows it... he's starting to talk and knows exactly how to get everything he wants.

I wish you could be here, but that's not fair. You aren't here and there's nothing any of us can do about it. What we can do is be thankful for all the times we had with you. The days you picked us up early from school, had us over for sleepovers and taught us how to make candy cane cookies and chocolate covered peanut butter balls. Because no matter what changes in our lives, no matter how we grow and change, no matter what becomes of the family - we'll always be close.

You instilled in us what family values are. You were a wonderful woman, a kind-hearted, generous, loving, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. You knew how to give a better guilt-trip than anyone we know. We wouldn't dare not spend time together!

We're going to make a batch of halupki's tomorrow in your honor and go through pictures with the boys to make sure they always remember you.  Thank you for being who you were, and giving of yourself so much, so that we could all be living the happy lives we lead today. I'll never forget what you did for the family and I only hope I can do the same for mine as they grow.

Muddy's Visit

Like preschool classes, Finian's new class has a mascot. In this case, it's a large stuffed brown dog named Muddy. In turns, each classmate takes Muddy home so that he can participate in adventures with the student's family. When Finn's turn came up, he was so excited he spent the entire time with Muddy by his side. The resulting pictures were so cute we felt the need to post them!

First, Finian took him out back to jump with him on the trampoline. It's apparently more fun to jump with a partner, even if that partner is a stuffed animal! I could hear shrill peals of laughter for most of the afternoon!

Muddy helped us make dinner as well! His favorite part was the vegetable chopping, but I was told to be careful so as not to chop his nose! Muddy also insisted on trying all the ingredients, just to make sure dinner tasted good!

Wesley, of course, thought that any stuffed friend that came to play MUST be for him. Every time Finn left him unattended, Wesley was there to sneak up and take him! This did result in a couple of tantrums when we told Wesley that he couldn't have Finn's guy. Then Finn got the idea that Wesley might like a different stuffed animal, so he, on his own, found a smaller dog beanie baby that made his brother VERY happy.

To end the day, Finian took Muddy to bed where they snuggled the whole night. I love the eye creases Finn gets when he smiles. That's how you know he's happy!

October in Pictures

Enjoying the farmer's market before the fall festival, petting zoo and playdate with friends









Celebrated cousin Jeremiah's 5th birthday!




The young and the old enjoyed the party!

We got a new kitten, Sneakers!


We visited some of our favorite farms, Fields of Athenry and Great Country Farms


The resident big dog at Fields of Athenry insisted he needed to participate in our family portrait.



Gigi came for a visit and helped us carve some pumpkins










Then we celebrated Halloween at school and home: Batman, Mario and the Roar were all quite cute.












We were able to really enjoy this month because we turned our book into the publisher on October 1st, the month was all ours to explore! We had so much fun the month just flew by - we can't believe it's November already!

Cole's 6th Birthday

While Cole's 6th birthday actually took place on August 25th, he managed to stretch the celebration a whole extra month, somehow! Let me explain. Having a birthday two weeks before school starts is slightly tragic, especially when you're in elementary school. By the time Cole's birthday hits, he's been out of school for two months, thus isn't as involved with his kindergarten friends, and doesn't even know who'll be in his next class. Who is he going to invite to his party?

Well, we put our heads together and decided to have a small party near his actual birthday, then have a big celebration including his new friends a couple weeks after the new school year starts.



For his actual birthday, in addition to the normal family celebrations, Stacy took Cole and his friend Jack to the movies and cupcakes.



Then, on September 6th, FIRST GRADE STARTED! Cole has an actual desk at school now, which he says is hard because sitting at a desk is much less fun than playing the games in kindergarten. But he's doing fantastic, reading well above his age and grade level, and kicking butt in science, social studies and math. He says that he really enjoys first grade, despite all the extra learning they're making him do.

Luckily for him, several of his favorite friends from kindergarten are in his class this year as well.  He invited every person in his class to a birthday party at the local movie theater to celebrate his sixth birthday watching Mr. Popper's Penguins.



The theater was fantastic to us, seriously!  They gave everyone popcorn, took us up to the projector room to show us how movies get played, then they even let us keep some film! On top of everything, Cole and his friends really enjoyed the movie.

September 2011

When I met Stacy, some ten or so years ago, she had this kind of internal perpetual motion machine that gave her unlimited momentum towards anything she threw herself at. Even as a girl of only twenty years, back when she hadn't figured out a direction, I soon knew that she was going to become a success at something. I've never met someone as determined, talented and intelligent as she is and I never ever will.

Here we are, ten years later and Stacy has become a beautiful and accomplished young woman of thirty. She's still an impressive dynamo that everyone struggles every day to keep up with. Happy birthday, Stacy! We love you with all our hearts!

The boys and I made Mommy's favorite : CARROT CAKE!

 The boys helped, too. Especially when it came time to eat. Wesley couldn't wait to tear into a piece!

And here's the most beautiful birthday girl herself!

 

She's more beautiful now that the day I met her. For her 30th birthday, we got here a grown up DSLR camera. She was super excited and you'll see the photos on this blog improve 1000%!

The Younger Boys Go to School

Last year, Finian started going to preschool at the same school Cole went to back in Annandale. One month into the school year, Matt realized that commuting from our new house in Fairfax back to Annandale in the same direction everyone was headed in to work was very difficult. This year, we chose a preschool that was closer to home.

Enter Spring-Mar Preschool, located inside the local Unitarian church, a fantastic new co-op school that Finian now attends. Not only that, but they also have a once a week playgroup for the under 2 siblings. Matt volunteered to help organize it, so every week, on Fridays, all three of our boys are in school.

Not too long ago, the idea of all of our boys going to school seemed to be so far off in the distant future as to be completely unthinkable. Yet, here we are! It's been a complete success for both of our boys, as well.

Last year, Finn's natural shyness, inherited from his father and, probably, inadvertently nurtured by dear old dad as well, made dropping off a long process of negotiation and tantruming. But this new school has so inspired Finn that he barely pauses to say goodbye anymore! He's so excited everyday to learn and play more and more.

We were worried at first about him not being able to handle the class. He was placed in the "Young Fours" class and happens to be the youngest in the class. Any fears were put aside after seeing him in class following along with everyone else, abiding by all the rules and taking advantage of every opportunity! Not only that, but we now love to listen to him relay all the things he's learning in class. "Daddy, do you know what echolocation is?"

Meanwhile, everyday we take Finn to class, Wes attempts to go to his classroom, too, even though the playgroup only meets on Fridays! When we take him to the car instead, he is more upset than he would be if we had taken away his dinner. During group, it's a lot of fun to watch him learn how to play with other toddlers. He seems to have made friends, although it is funny to watch him try to play with them like his brothers play with him. He's been known to take toys from other children and attempt to pick up and carry the smaller ones.

All in all, we are so very glad we switched schools and can't wait to spend the next several years watching our kids play here!