Way Back Wednesday

Yes, I know it's Thursday, but Wednesday for me passed in a haze of sick Lizzie complaining and whining and being bored. Luckily I took her to the doctor yesterday and they were able to do a strep test and proclaim her strep free, despite the fact that she was SURE her throat hurt at least a 10, but maybe a 4 and then settling on a 6. That decision was easy though, compared to the thought it took her to respond to the question "Is anyone hurting you at home" (it's a standard question at an urgent care or ER these days) and she hemmed and hawed and decided finally that no,  not really, although her sister did hit her a lot and it did hurt, and also she never did nice things for her, which hurts her feelings. Seriously. This is life with Lizzie. So, she went to school today even though she thought that maybe her ear was starting to hurt and that the doctor didn't look closely enough to see the germs....

SO, Way Back Wednesday is appearing on Thursday. I'm pretty sure that this picture was taken on my 1st birthday outside our house in Massapequa Park, NY. (Edited to add: It's looking more like this was taken at my Aunt Winnie and Uncle Durwood's house in South Weymouth),  However, it's possible it was taken a little earlier than that but since you can sort of see some evidence of fall on the ground, I'm sticking with my birthday (Edited to add -- it may have been a wedding my parents were attending and not my birthday at all), which is in early October.  My mom is holding me. Aren't I cute??? (And oh yeah, that's Aunt Anonymous with our dad.) You'd never know that in about three or four years I'd have a full head of frizzy curls. This picture is interesting to me for several reasons. First, it's a picture of my father as a young adult. There are only about 5 or 6 of those in existence. And this is a picture of my dad as a young adult and SMILING. What is it about men and smiling in pictures? They just don't want to do it. So who is taking the picture? I have no idea.

Anyway, I remember very little about the house in Massapequa, except that there was a huge fire one day somewhere in the neighborhood. I remember people talking about it and I seem to recall the smell of smoke in the air, so it was possibly close to our house. My sister Terry was born the next year and then we moved to Illinois where we lived for the next seven years.

Way Back Wednesday

I bet you think this post will be about my brother T.A. who, for once, is not wearing a sailor suit. But the star of this Way Back Wednesday post is right behind T.A. It's the family TV. In the history of my living in this house, this is the biggest television that we ever had. I believe my father now has a 107-inch television that gets 4,037 channels. This one was black and white. Now you may be thinking that since this feature is about the WayBack times, color television may not have been invented yet.

But the truth of the matter is that this picture was probably taken in the late 1970s. We were, I believe, the last family in America to get a color television set. Sometimes when Hannah and Lizzie watch programs from the 1960s (The Dick Van Dyke Show was a favorite for a long time) they'd often talk about how terrible it must have been for kids in the olden days to have to watch television in black and white. I was one of those deprived children.

The good news though, was that the television at college was ALSO black and white, which I didn't find as jarring as the other, more privileged women with whom I was housed. :)

Oh, and this is a very 1960s family room, isn't it? Dark paneling and lots of books! We spent most of our time in this room as a family and eventually we did get a color television set. I don't think I ever read any of those books, but I certainly watched a lot of television. Still do. (In color!)

Notes

For as long as she has been able to write, Hannah has left me notes. Sometimes they are little love notes, or a picture or a question (if I'm on the phone). Sometimes she gives them to me and sometimes she leaves them for me to find. Lately she's been leaving me grocery lists of things she wants me to buy for her (mostly gum). Here are some of the notes she's left me over the past couple of years.

This is the kind of note I LIKE to get. It's pretty and straightforward.

But this is more often the kind of note that I get. Hannah's mad. In fact this is one of the first notes I got from her, delivered about a week or so after we got Cash. Translation: Mom, I do not love you. I love the dog better. He is my pale, you're not:

This note is Hannah trying to use the only "bad" word she knew at the time (whatever). Translation: Mom, I am not your babycakes any more. Hannah. Whatever.

As time has passed, the notes have become more elaborate. Here's a note to try and convince me to have McDonald's for dinner. Translation of the note: Dear most nice mother. Can we pretty pretty pretty please with a cherry on top get McDonalds. Please. You can do it. Circle Yes happy or No sad. Translation of the note written around the music staff: Please do it for Hannah, she loves y ou. Do it for her. Please do it for her. You're the nice one. Please Your the Best. Feeling: Happy. Love Hannah.(Then she adds a few more pleases, you can do its and adds another cherry on top.) As you can see, I said yes.

And sometimes Hannah changes her mind about the note before I actually get to see it. She left this one on my bed a few weeks ago when she was in trouble for something: Translation: Dear Mom, I am leaving now forever. Bye. Then she changed it to. Dear Mom I am not leaving forever. Hi.

Hannah wasn't the first little girl to leave me notes. I found these in one of my memory boxes, in an old autograph book. If Beanie wrote these notes in 1974 she was just about Hannah's age. Translation of this one: Tracy, Tracy, Do not forget me. I have been a good sister. I wrote this on Nov. 3, 1974. I know you like Mark Daly, Gene Brennan, RObert Redford, Dustin Hofma... I can't go on, or should I? Loveing, Tina Garrity:

 

But this one made me laugh out loud: Translation: To Tracy. Richard Thomas I know you love. And I know you love me. Violets are red and roses are blue and you are green so go back to Mars. Ha, ha, ha! Aren't I funny. Love Tina.

Way Back Wednesday

This picture was probably taken during the late summer or early fall of 1969 which would put me at about 11 years old. You can tell that I was a stylish dresser even back then with my shorts-set and knee socks. That outfit was actually my "uniform" when I attended Girl Scout camp. I did camp for a few years and attended a scout day camp one year too. If this is 1969 it means that I had spent two weeks at camp, where we were awakened and taken to the mess hall on July 16 to see man walk on the moon for the first time.

I dated this photo because of the tiny trees in the background. We planted those pine trees when I was in fifth grade (Aunt Anonymous got them through her science class or science club) and they were about the size they were in this photo. Now the trees are about twice the height of the house and you can no longer see the house across the street.

Anyway, this picture is of my siblings and three of our cousins, Mary Kay (yellow shirt) and Ann Elizabeth (blue shirt) are sisters and my first cousins, the children of Aunt Mary and Uncle Al, my mom's brother. And the boy in the middle is Michael, who may actually have been a second cousin or first cousin once removed or something like that. His family lived in Scarsdale and I think he had an older sister Chrissy. I'm sure Aunt Brenda can weigh in on his parents, but I'm pretty sure his mother was my mom's cousin Rosemary.

And of course, most important, you will again notice my mother's obsession with dressing her children in nautically-themed clothing.

Way Back Wednesday

(Yes, I know it's Thursday, but I had technical difficulties on Wednesday so I'm pretending it's still Wednesday...)

People who know me even a little have probably heard about the tree in my backyard growing up. Well, here it is. When my parents bought the house they asked the builders to turn the house so that we could save the tree. So our house was the only one of the street that had the garage facing the street, instead of the front door. But we were also the only house on the street to have this gorgeous tree in the backyard. Unfortunately the people who built the house used the base of the tree for construction debris, cutting of some of the roots (or something like that ... I was 9 when we moved in and not really up on all the environmental factors that led to the eventual demise of the tree.)

Anyway, my dad did a lot to save the tree and because of that, we got decades of shelter in the summer and gorgeous color in the spring. We also buried at least one cat under it! I think this picture was probably taken in the early 1970s since there are a lot of lawn chairs outside for the three teenagers and two parents and a sandbox under the tree for the twins. The tree started to seriously fall down in the late 90s (it had started to lose big branches before that) and then finally succumbed to age and the elements a few years ago, after a big storm. But as you can see, it really was a cool tree and that's why I'm sharing this picture.

 

New Year!!!

This is a picture of New Year's last year. We had snow the day after Christmas and it lasted through the vacation week and it was cold! So cold (even before the snow) that Terry's pond froze and the girls and I went over for an impromptu skating party. (Oh and that's Cash last year, too!)

This year, however, I was able to snap this picture of the girls and some of their friends at Aunt Terry's annual New Year's Day brunch. What a difference a year makes (although it's pretty darn cold as I am writing this....)

We have spent New Year's Day with Terry and her family and friends (and my family, too!) for just about the last 20 years. We started coming to the party before our kids were born and when her kids were small. Now my kids are getting bigger.... Here's Lizzie with Aunt Tina in the sunroom which we sort of take over every year:

Here's Hannah with one of her favorite guys (still in the sun room):

And Lizzie relaxing in the sunroom, too. Seriously, we go, we eat, we relax and only talk to the people who come into the sunroom to talk to us. We had to leave a little early this year because The Three Kings were coming to our parish and the girls wanted to go.

Here are the three kings and their servents and animals as they made their way through the woods and the church parking lot:

Here they are with the llama and horse. All the kids are standing by the door of the church yelling and singing. It's really kind of cool (although the song gets stuck in your ear until at least the first of February...):

Then the three kings come into the church and the kids are introduced to them (they speak their native languages so there is a translator, although it's all part of the 'show'). This year Lizzie got picked to ask a question and she asked how the first king (below, giving Lizzie a blessing) where he got his gold. The answer is that a piece of the star fell to Earth into the king's yard so he picked it up to bring to Jesus.

After that each child got a blessing and gave the three kings a letter about a gift they'd like to receive from them. Lizzie asked for a book; Hannah asked for a candy cane. Then after the blessing each child is given a small bag of chocolate coins. Then everyone returns to their seat and the congregation is asked if they have any prayers they want to share. There were prayers for the military and special intentions for the sick. Then Hannah raised her hand and got the mike so she could ask for prayers "for my grandma in heaven." Made me get all teary-eyed. She's so sweet!!! Here's Hannah getting her chocolate treat after her blessing:

Then the kings go over to the manger scene and leave their gifts. The kids go up after to take a look at the gifts and the manger, and then we all went to the social hall where they had hot dogs and chili and drinks and desserts. It was pretty much the same program as last year, but I think the girls understood it better and from what I heard, the hot dogs were pretty good:

Happy Noon Year!

The girls went to their friend Georgia's birthday party today, which also included a "countdown to noon year."
While the countdown was fun, the fact that the girls started the 2.5 hour session NOT being able to skate at all, and ended it gliding around the floor bodes well for the coming year. At least that's what I'm hoping. You know, they will start the year NOT knowing math, and will end it KNOWING math. Yeah, that sounds good!
Here are some pictures from the party. And happy  noon year to all of you, too!!

Things started out sort of tentative, with LOTS of falling (although I'm still pretty sure that both girls did better than I sometimes do when I'm NOT wearing skates!) I did take them by the hand and walk them around the rink a few times and told them to glide. It made me wish I could go on skates because back in the day, I was pretty good on roller skates. Anyway, here's Hannah trying to balance and you can see Lizzie in the background trying not to fall:

Here they are trying to do The Electric Slide. Pretty much they did okay until they got to the cha cha cha part and the dance turned into "London Bridges" and they ALL fell down. It was pretty hysterical!

Finally though, they got the hang of it and started to skate the way you're supposed to:

Here's Lizzie skating under the bar for Limbo:

And Hannah doing the same thing. I gotta tell you, I was pretty impressed. Kids are just so good at figuring things out -- although Hannah did come sit next to me for a few minutes and I asked her what was wrong and she sighed deeply and said. "I'm so tired of falling. I think I broke a hip." Then she skated off some more.

The party was to celebrate our friend Georgia's 8th birthday. Here she is (in the purple sweater) while we all sang Happy Birthday to her:

We met Georgia at the Tot Spot preschool when Hannah and Lizzie had just turned three and Georgia had just turned two. Addy (the girl in the red sweater) was also in the class. They spent 2 and 3s together and then Georgia switched preschools during the 4s year (Addie stayed with the girls). Luckily Georgia's mom and I became great friends so the girls got together frequently until they started kindergarten at different schools. Georgia goes to a different elementary school and Addie goes to a whole different school district. Yet when they saw each other after several years (we last saw Georgia in the summer for a brief visit with her five brothers and sisters and hadn't seen Addie for at least three years!) it was like no time had passed at all. They were all skating and holding hands and having a blast.

Older sisters were also part of the Tot Spot reunion. Hayden is Addie's older sister and Abby is Georgia's older sister. It was really a fun way to ring out 2011 and get started on 2012!!

We wish that in 2012 all of you reconnect with friends from the past, cherish current friendships and enjoy all those you hold dear! We also hope you all skate through 2012 with peace of mind and excitement for new adventures!! 

xoxo -- The Raz Report