Way Back Wednesday

It's Wednesday so get ready to take a trip back in time. Today our destination is 1961 where we discovered that not only was I a totally adorable 3-year-old, but also it's quite likely that I am related to royalty. For those who don't know, my mother's family has been here since the Mayflower. In fact, we are related to TWO passengers on the Mayflower. One, I think was a good guy and the other, I think was a horse thief or something. I'm sure Aunt Brenda can fill us in on the comments.

However, in this picture I'm sure it's clear that we are not just related to The Pilgrims, but also to Queen "We Are Not Amused" Victoria. Sure when we were kids we knew her as "Ma," our great-grandmother. In this picture Aunt Anonymous and I were visiting her for some celebration (although I have to say that AA and I were VERY well dressed little girls so it's possible this wasn't a celebration...). But if you look closely you'll see who "Ma" really was. 

This is Ma...

And this is Queen Victoria. 

See what I mean??

Well, I have to say that I noticed the resemblance the first time I ever saw a picture of the Queen, even though Ma died when I was in kindergarten and I only remember about three things about her.

1) She never walked anywhere. She always sat very regally and everyone waited on her.

2) She wore a lot of hats. Probably to hide her crown.

3) She got mad when she saw people hanging their laundry out on Sundays. (I have no idea what this has to do with being a Queen, but it's the third thing I remember about her...)

Oh, and I was kind of scared of her although I probably had no reason to be. 

Perhaps that's not enough to PROVE that my great-grandmother was Queen Victoria, and SURE, Queen Victoria died more than a half-century before the top photo was taken and PROBABLY I'm not really related to royalty, but a girl can dream, can't she? Oh, and I'll add that I have no idea who the little girl with the back to her camera is. She's too old to be Terry or our first cousin Mary Kay, but she might have been the grandchild of one of Ging-Ging's siblings.

Winter Round-Up

I know there's still a  month of winter left, but it's been so warm it hardly feels like we've had a winter at all (and NO that is NOT a complaint!) Here's some of what we've been doing so far!

As usual, it snowed on the first day we started to sell Girl Scout cookies. Luckily this year we got an indoor both, so it wasn't so bad, but we did have to deliver cookies to Aunt Terry, so Hannah and Lizzie loaded up their arms...

 

And cleaned off the car...

took the dog for a quick walk...

threw some snow around to annoy mom, and then went and delivered the cookies. We had one other snowfall so far (about an inch that time) and it's all melted a couple days after it falls ... which I like, but Hannah and Lizzie do not:

So, we do try to have fun without snow. Here were are playing the piano with Cotton (the hamster) which was just tons of fun (for us ... not so sure about Cotton)

But is ONE hamster is fun, how much fun would TWO hamsters playing the piano with dad be? Well, we found out it's TONS of fun. However Sunshine, in her ever indelicate way, pooped on the piano keys and was sent back up to her room.

Here's a close-up of Cotton helping Rob hit the right key...

And here is Cotton getting ready to bite Rob's finger for making a mistake...

We did take a quick trip to Grandma Connie's house to deliver her cookies (the girls), help with her taxes (Rob) and be waited on hand and foot (me!) 

Cash made the trip with us. He's great in the car and LOVES playing with Grandma's dog Trevor...

as well as running around Grandma's fenced in backyard. Cash has asked for a fenced in backyard pretty much since he was born, but so far Mr. Rasmussen, lord of the outdoors on Coventryville Rd., has said NO.

It wouldn't be a trip to Grandma's without a game of cards (or 437) with Uncle Dude. Here, Dude, Lizzie and I are all tied up in "Go Fish..."

But guess who won...

Then we played throw the giant duck around...

the dogs took one of many many naps...

And then we came home. :)

Way Back Wednesday

First, does anyone miss hot pants? (I don't!)

This picture is a scene from one of MANY MANY MANY backyard ball games. Our backyard was also the site for freeze tag, red light-green light, tennis (although we sometimes played that in the street) and war games.

This time Aunt Anonymous is pitching while Beanie is on third base. I'm someone will remember who that little kid standing in the center is -- I have no recollection.

When we first moved to Somers we played baseball and kickball at the end of the street in the circle of the cul-de-sac, but eventually we got tired of falling on the asphalt and then eventually the road was built through and our circle disappeared completely.

I'm thinking this picture was taken when Aunt Anonymous was in college, but it might have been when she was in high school. And you'll also notice that I was NOT playing ball as I quickly chose to be the team photographer. There's no way I'd let anyone take MY picture wearing hot pants. ;)

Way Back Wednesday

Traveling to Ireland for my brother T.A.'s wedding remains one of my favorite vacations -- one that will be difficult to top for the sheer FUN factor. Also for the fact that my mother paid for nearly all of it (surprise, Dad!) except airfare and Aer Lingus paid for an extra night in Shannon, when the plane we were supposed to take home BROKE and delayed our flight for 24 hours.

One of my favorite memories is of getting to Ann's hen party by first side-swiping the mirror of a parked car and then backing into an empty keg and sending it rolling down the crowded streets of Sligo. I won't say who was driving, but Aunt Brenda and I took a cab home (and suffice it to say it took us about 20 minutes to get TO the city and only about 4 minutes to get home in a veryveryvery fast cab...)

We did all survive to the wedding, though. This picture is when everyone was walking out of the church and I was in the choir loft. If you look closely you'll see Mom and Dad, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Dick, Aunt Anonymous (I couldn't find Uncle Anonymous but I know he was there), Aunt Terry, Uncle Ray and a bunch of people who don't read my blog. :)

And just so you know who the day was all about, there's me playing the guitar T.A. and Ann sharing a dance to a song I wrote for them in honor of the fact that they made me get on an airplane even though I really, really, really, really didn't want to, to have one of my favorite vacations ever!

French Creek Talent Show

Last night was French Creek Elementary's annual talent show and here is the video proof.
Let me add that people did clap for Lizzie and she did a lovely bow, but I was emceeing the event and was shuffling papers and turned off the video recorder a few seconds early.
Also, the sound cut out at the end of Hannah's song, but being the trouper that she is, she just kept holding the note till it came back on again.
We had a great time and I am very proud of my talented daughters.
Enjoy...

Way Back Wednesday

It's almost Thursday again, and you know what that means ... time for Way Back Wednesday. This week I reached back into the archives and found a picture of me somewhere around 1992, I think. But the date doesn't matter ... it's the HAIR that's the star of this photo. Yes, for those of you who only have known me in Pennsylvania, I was a REDHEAD in New Jersey. And a real, howdy doody Ron Howard redhead. It happened one Christmas when I was tired of putting henna in my hair to give it some red highlights. So I took myself to the local hair salon in Cape May and asked them for red hair. I kind of was thinking auburn hair, but they gave me this instead. And even though my boss at the time mentioned (twice) that his wife was a hair stylist and could fix my hair, I kind of liked it. So I kept it for several years. I went back to brown sometime before I got married in 1994. Now, of course, I color my hair grey. ;)

Also in this picture is my dear friend Lisanne and her adorable daughter Olivia who is getting ready to graduate from COLLEGE pretty soon. Lisanne and Cheryl (who took this picture) came to visit me one weekend and this was an outing to the Cape May County Zoo. You'll notice that even though this picture was taken almost 20 years ago my fashion sense remains the same. Note in particular the large purse and high tops (both of which I still own). I will say that I've updated my glasses.

Here's a closer look at the hair. I still kind of like it.

Family Day

(If you're looking for Way Back Wednesday, scroll down beneath this post)

Nine years ago I was sitting in a hotel room in Wilmington Delaware thinking, “what the heck have I done?”
Ironically, it’s nine years later and I’m sitting in my living room thinking the exact same thing.

Today (January 29) is our “family day,” the day that Hannah, Lizzie, Rob and I became a family in the sleety, snowy morning of a day that forever changed the course of my life. Back then I was scared about the mistakes I would make … and there have been plenty.

For instance there was the day that I had to call poison control not once, but TWICE.

Or the day Hannah broke her leg, but I didn’t notice until the next morning.

Or the day both girls ended up in the Emergency Room during Aunt B’s wedding, one arriving with Rob and a park ranger escort, and one arriving 30 minutes later with me and (the same) park ranger escort.

There have been days when children have swallowed pennies, locked themselves in hot cars, painted the walls and themselves with Vasoline, drew on other people’s walls, ate other people’s cat’s food, pulled shades off the windows, ran screaming through a quiet library, ran screaming into the middle of the road, ran screaming into the middle of the parking lot or lay down screaming in the middle of WalMart.

There were days I prayed they would walk or talk soon, and days I cursed the fact that they never sat down or stayed quiet.

I have held the door open for them when they wanted to run away.

I have held the door open for them when they wanted to come back, realizing that beyond the driveway was a scary place. Until the next time I held the door open for them to run away.

I have knocked my head against a wall with kindergarten math. And first, second and third grade math.

I have yelled more loudly than I ever thought I would and loved more deeply than I ever thought possible.

I have fought for them and with them.

I have cried for them and with them.

I have prayed for them and with them.

And I’ve seen Rob do the same.

Nine years ago I was worried how I’d raise another man and woman’s children. I wondered how we’d be a family. The logistics alone seemed daunting. If I did not see myself in these children, how could I guide them? How could I tease out the best of them?

Now I know that the mistakes we made, the things we’ve atoned for, the laughs we’ve shared and the lessons we’ve learned have made us the family we are. For better or worse but mostly, I think, for better.

So yes, I do still ask myself, “what have I done?” -- usually because someone is complaining that her oatmeal is too cold or her hamster’s cage smells funky or she forgot she had three pages of math homework or she needed four pieces of posterboard and a rolling pin for science.

And so, like always, I throw my hands up to heaven and plunge forward like I’ve always done, aware of the mistakes I’ll still likely make and for which I will soon atone.

But I also know that what I have done isn’t all bad. In fact, it’s those very missteps, the changes of horse midstream, the frustration in my daughters' eyes – that bond us to the inevitable joy that is also our family. Our crazy, spirited, not always normal family. Our family created by something, it now seems, deeper and richer than blood. We are bonded by love and ultimately by a life shared.

As time has passed it’s become clear that I don’t love these girls as if they were my own; I love them because they are my own.

And on family day, and in fact, every day, that's our greatest blessing.

 

The above is a picture of Aunt Terry who was the first person to visit us in the hotel where we spent our first week as a family (and arrived with all of BabiesRus in tow!!). Hannah is on the left; Lizzie on the right. Hard to believe they were already nine weeks old -- they are so tiny!!

Way Back Wednesday

Is it Wednesday again,already??
(I've got two more blog posts that I'm going to be putting up today and/or tomorrow in case you're wondering what we've been doing here, besides living in the Way Back...)

So, this week I'd like to introduce you to one of our family dogs. This is Caesar:

This is one of the rare pictures in my possession that has identifying information on it. It's dated 1974, and says that Caesar is 2 years old.

This is also our backyard, where Caesar happily spent his days. My mom would get up at 6:30 or so every morning and put Caesar (who eventually became Roo -- as in Caesaroo -- to some of us) out on his chain. He'd run around all day, watching birds and squirrels and us and then he'd come in sometime in the afternoon. I never saw him inside the dog house, but he did like to sit under its awning when it was sunny and hot. Caesar was a German shepherd/black lab mix. He was beefier than your standard lab, but he still pretty much looked exactly like a black lab.

He was also pretty smart. You could put a piece of cheese on the tip of his nose and he'd try to flip it up and eat it (usually it just dropped on the floor -- Caesar was smart, but not too talented). Also, every night when my dad got off the couch to go to bed, Caesar would trot himself off the bed in the back hall where he'd stay all night until Mom got up to put him outside. To my memory he never chewed on anything, rarely barked (except if the doorbell rang) and didn't do things like jump up to eat the dinner leftovers or bite children who would try to ride him.

He also had this adorable (but gross) habit of only drinking water from his bowl, if his foot was also in the water. Oh,and when we were naming him, I tried to get everyone to call him Satan, but no one went for it.

Caesar died of cancer and while I'm not sure of the year, I think it was when I was still in college -- probably 1978 or 1979, but others reading this might remember the year better.