Impromptu Dinner

We had the best dinner tonight. Sally and Matt stopped by to visit late this afternoon and ended up staying for dinner. It was a cathartic evening as we ended up showing Matt the DVDs that Jenny made for Dane and Tommy when they died. Matt had never seen these. I cried (a LOT) at first, then settled into my happy memories of incredible times spent with these guys. Sally didnt cry at all. Oh, no, wait...yes she did. As much as I did. But in the end it was all good because we felt as if Matt got to meet two of our favorite guys.
Seasons of love, baby.

Grace's 21st

We celebrated the 21st birthday of my goddaughter, Grace, last Friday. It was a fun night in the city and we did not get home til 1am. Impressive at our age! We began the celebration at Caylen and Joe's house at 7:30, where we were joined by a fun group of Grace's friends as well as her family and Wayne, Sally and Matt. After some great food and fun toasts, we boarded a trolley and headed out on the town. Chuck and Teri (Grace's parents), Colleen (Teri's sister) and Steve (Colleen's husband and Grace's godfather), and Jack and I went to the first stop with the youngsters. It felt much like a parents weekend at U of I. So. Much. Fun. After we split from the kids, the grown ups went to a cool restaurant named Hot Chocolate. Excellent food and conversation. Grace said she loved her birthday celebration. One of the things she loved best was that she didn't need to text or call anyone that night. All of her closest friends were there with her.
Happy birthday, Grace! I hope you enjoyed your first taste of champagne !

His father's son

You know the old saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree"? It is so true in our family. Check out Wayne's shiny red pleather pants. So festive and not unlike Jack's favorite Christmas pants. Jack's are red corduroy with green wreaths embroidered on them. Love them! The pants and my husband and son.

Long time, no post

Holy toledo, it has been so long since I posted! I didn't realize it. It has been an incredibly busy December. Not as busy as last December when we had Mike and Marmar's deaths nine days apart...we look back at that time and still can't believe that it really happened. I think, on some level, conscious or not, I felt the drain (emotionally and physically) again this year. Plus, it was an unusually hectic December at work. I had many students "graduating" and new students entering my speech class, plus a special project with one of my students, plus my Fun Friday friends, plus wrapping up the iPad class that I was facilitating. This year, I worked until December 21st and that added to the time crunch. So I guess I don't feel too badly about leaving my devoted readers hanging. I am going to be a blogging fool the next day or two til I catch up. Thanks for your patience! xox

Mike

love this picture of Mike

Yesterday was the first anniversary of Mike's death. Amazing that it has been a year. And amazing the way that Sue, Lauren, Brendan have handled the loss of Mike. Bill and Marie, too. Losing a child is something that no parent should ever have to experience, no matter what the age. Everyone is working hard at healing. I know that I find comfort in reading Jack's eulogy (see side tab on the home page) of Mike. He absolutely captured the essence of his brother. Having lost a sibling, I know that is a difficult loss to process. Sibling relationships definitely shape who we are. Siblings share that rich family history that no one else is privvy to.

Brendan, Fr Gavin and Sue

Sue organized the family to go to Mass together on Sunday.  It was great to be there as a family and to worship with Father Gavin. He is one incredible priest. Father Gavin made a point of recognizing that there were three families there that were celebrating the year anniversary of a loss. Our family, the grandmother of a 20 year old guy who was killed in a car accident (and whose wake was across the way from Mike's) and the daughter of a guy who was killed in a motorcycle accident. One quote that our family loved was "Death leaves a heartache that no one can heal, love leaves memories that no one can steal". So true. Sue, Lauren, Brendan, Diane (Sue's sister) and Jack brought up the gifts.

After mass, Sue treated us all to a lovely lunch at Carriage Greens. Sue shared the good news that Lauren just got a big promotion at work... assistant VP at the age of 25! It runs in the family:) And Brendan just bought a condo in the city! He is also thriving in the first year of his career. No doubt Mike is smiling down on his family. We miss you, Unkl Mike.

beautiful memories

Here is a video of Twelve Days of Christmas, Del Rio's style.

Del Rio's 2012

Matt and Jack

Jen and Matt

my boy

my girl

Steve and Christy

We had a lovely evening with Steve, Christy, Matt and his fiancee Jen...at Del Rio's, one of our newer holiday traditions. Del Rio's is a quaint Italian restaurant that has these special holiday dinners, complete with singers from the Lyric Opera. It is such a fun experience! This was our third year attending, thanks to Christy and Steve, especially Steve who wakes up early the day after Thanksgiving to make the reservation. The food is great and the company and music... even better. I will try and post a video soon. Just FYI, in the Twelve Days of Christmas, we got 3 French Hens! We were thrilled.

Getting in the Christmas spirit

I am getting in the Christmas spirit...with help from some antibiotics. I was so over my flu from 10 days ago, then the cough and headache started up again. A little fever, too. I went to the doctor this
morning and I have bronchitis and a sinus infection. Got my antibiotics and hopefully I will be good to go. I have a very busy couple of weeks coming up at work, not to mention the holidays. Who has time to be sick? !

Frisco Melt!

I got the Frisco Melt that I have had a hankering for. After mass, I made Jack take me to the closest Steak and Shake. Ahhhhh. So good. I am one satisfied woman.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I woke up this morning in the Christmas spirit! Maybe because it is December 1st or maybe it's just because I am feeling like myself again. We got the decorations down from the attic and started getting the house ready for the holidays. I took some pictures and had fun with it.
I am still in the process of learning how to shoot in manual, so I played around with aperture, ISO and shutter speed and just started clicking and adjusting. I am learning as I go.
This evening, Jack and I went over to Tamara and Tom's for drinks and appetizers. Such a fun time. I could sit and listen to their stories all night. Then they showed pictures from their iPad on their Apple TV and it was amazing! Tom hooked up my iPhone to their Apple TV and we shared some of our pictures with them. Technology is incredible!! As we were leaving, Tom gave Jack an Apple TV! Seriously, what? Are we on Oprah?? So fun. And light hearted. And interesting. A lovely connection with lovely people. A great start to the holiday season.

On the mend

I did end up taking another sick day today. It was such a tough decision, not that it should be. My parents really instilled the work ethic in me and my siblings. Yesterday it wasn't even a decision because I had a fever. Not that I didn't feel guilty about it. This morning I was still not great. I showered up, dried my hair, then realized I needed to take a rest. I couldn't see how I possibly drive to 3 different schools and possibly infect or at least expose three different classrooms of kids and staff to these germs. But even with this thought process, it was hard for me to pull the trigger and take another day off. (It does not help that Jack has the same work ethic. He did not miss one day in all four years of high school.) I absolutely benefited from the day off. I slept all morning and I think that is the best medicine. Feeling pretty good this evening and am actually looking forward to getting out some Christmas decorations tomorrow.

Sick Day

I woke up at 3 am with a hacking cough, aches and chills. I got up and took my temperature and sure enough, I had a fever. Not bad, 100.6, but still a fever and i was weak and miserable. I have had a minor cold all week and I guess my body was just fighting it. The first thing I thought of was Ellyn, my
aide, who returned to work this week after being out 8 weeks because of her husband's heart transplant. Obviously he is not to be exposed to any germs and here I am exposing Ellyn to my flu-like symptoms! I texted all the necessary people, took the day off and pretty much slept all day. I feel stronger tonight and am hoping to make it to work tomorrow.
Being sick for even one day makes me realize how important good health is and makes me appreciate it even more. Not feeling well colors everything dark and dismal. I pray for all those whose health is compromised.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I am sitting here on the recliner, watching 60 Minutes, waiting for Amazing Race to begin. If there was a Steak n Shake close by, I'd be there eating a Frisco Melt. I have to wean myself off the Thanksgiving weekend feasting :) It's gonna take some time to transition.

It was a fun and social few days. Some highlights:
Wednesday lunch with Sue, Jenny and Sally.
Friday afternoon Turkey Bowl. Wayne's wonderful group of lifelong friends met at our house to reconnect. Posting two pictures, one normal and then the second with funny faces per Wayne's suggestion. Really, how old are you?! I loved everyone's reactions!
Saturday lunch with Jack, Sally, Matt and Father Ted and making plans for the wedding mass. Wow.
Saturday night quick drink with Lynn, Jean and Mike
Saturday night pizza with Jack, Sue and Lauren. Excellent therapy and fun, too.
Back to work tomorrow, but four weeks of holiday fun and preparations.

Thanksgiving '12

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I finally have a moment to catch up a bit with my blog. It feels like it's Saturday, but I am so thankful it's only Friday.
We hosted again this year per our usual tradition. I love having Thanksgiving. We have it down to a science, at least the food and drink. If I was a better housekeeper and less of a pack rat, it'd be a lot easier to entertain in general. I don't think I am going to change at this point in my life,so I should probably just accept it.
We knew it would not be our typical Thanksgiving with the loss of my mom and Jack's brother, Mike. They were both here on Thanksgiving last year and both passed away shortly after, Mike on December 12 and Marmar on December 21. No matter how positively we try to spin things, those were two big losses for our families and their impact could not be denied. We had a lovely day, all in all, and the fact that we were together as family made it a good day. It is strange how the times are changing, right before our very eyes, but often without notice until one day everything is different.
Let's celebrate today and the lives and people we have been blessed with.

Democracy

It was a tough week. I am so disappointed in the results of the election. I hope I am wrong. I hope President Obama has an incredibly productive second term. I pray that he moves a bit more to the center as President Clinton did in his second term. I hope that President Obama will become more of a leader and less of a celebrity. More meetings with world leaders and taking care of governing business; fewer appearances on The View, Letterman, etc. I worry that people worship President Obama in a way that clouds judgement and prevents the media from asking him tough questions and making him accountable. But I would love it if I am worrying about nothing and would be pleased if our country was still a thriving democracy four years from now.
Election Day was interesting. We voted as a family at 6:15 am. (Wayne has maintained our house as his official legal residence since moving back from Ohio since he moves apts almost every year.) That was cool. Then my school was a polling place and my school day started with the discovery that big items were missing from our classroom, most notably our good desk chairs. Turns out an election judge took them!!! Right out of my classroom! Without leaving a note or asking permission. She was incredibly rude when I asked her about it. She felt entitled to it. Guess what political party with which she was affiliated? Tamara, my aide, had another one of our chairs that she suggested they could use. See picture! So funny. (In case you were wondering, we did let the election judges use our chairs...of course) All day we dealt with voters not reading the signs about where to enter to vote. By the end of the school day, we as a staff (of all political persuasions) had to ask ourselves how the heck folks could be informed voters if they couldn't even read the sign directing them where to enter to vote!
Both Wayne and Sally were home in the evening to watch the returns with Jack and me. It was very special to be all together as a family, even though our candidate did not win.
I praise God for our country and democracy and the freedoms that we enjoy. I pray that I would have the wisdom and courage to do what I can to ensure that our freedoms, especially religious freedoms, continue.

All Saints Day...

This morning Jack and I met my sisters, Sue and Jenny, at First Presbyterian Church for an All Saints Day service. This is the service when a church remembers all members who have died since last All Saints Day. We were there to celebrate and remember our mom (and of course, Mike was in our hearts as well).  It was a lovely service and it felt good to be there together because I knew how much it would have meant to Marmar. My mom and Sue love(d) their church and their church community. At the passing of the peace, so many of my mom's peers/friends came over to say hello, including Clare (short for Clarence) and Gloria. It was good to connect with so many of them. As the service resumed, we noticed that Clare and Gloria were having a little discussion and shortly after that, Clare got up and left the sanctuary. There was a lovely sermon and communion, then we closed with that awesome hymn "For all the Saints". After the recessional, we picked up a white rose in Mom's honor and gave a quick hug to Pastor Nancy. She was in tears, saying how much she missed Mom. Jenny decided to make a stop in the restroom before we left, but quickly returned saying that Clare was curled up on a sofa in the parlor with Gloria standing over him. Clare had no pulse. He was gone and had been for a while.He had died! Clare had come over to shake our hands then less than thirty minutes later, he went to Heaven. Oh. My. Gosh. We could not believe it. Word spread quickly to the few folks still in the narthex, including Pastor Nancy, but so many of the congregation had already gone downstairs for fellowship time, unaware that their friend had just suddenly left this world.
What a way to go. Seriously. Quickly, quietly and at church. Before the All Saints service had ended, First Presbyterian had a brand new saint.
It was another reminder to us how quickly things can change in this world and to take nothing for granted.

Babies!

Two of my awesome SLP buddies at work just had babies. Meggan had her son, Connor, on Oct 25th. She also has a darling little girl, Ellie who is 2. Meggan subbed in my classroom for Ellyn for a day a few weeks ago. While she was there, I seized the opportunity to take a picture of Meggan and my sweet Andrea, who was also due about the same time. Andrea has worked across the hall from me her entire 5 year career. She is such a wonderful person and a talented SLP. Andrea had her baby boy, Nolan, on October 22nd. Everyone is doing great and I couldn't be more thrilled for all of them! Congratulations!!!
(Meggan is on the left in gray, Andrea on the right in the printed dress)

Halloween. *sigh*

For the faithful readers of my blog, you know how much I treasure my Halloween experiences. Great memories of getting over to Teri's to begin the trick or treating with our 7 (combined) children, then the dads meeting up with us later. Once we entered elementary school days, we added in friends and new stops. Of course, Cath and Mark come to mind immediately. Even when the kids were past the age of trick or treating age, we still went out on our visits. But now we are entering a new phase. We spent the entire evening at home. Both of us. I miss my friends and days gone by, but I know new traditions will be formed.

Saturday night

Jack and I are hanging out tonight after a busy day, working on research for a family project with Aunt Sue (always need to clarify since we have 3 Sues in the family... Susie my sister, Downtown Sue Jack's sister, and Aunt Sue Mike's wife). It was a productive day and we really enjoyed being with Sue. She is such a strong person and a good egg. Love her.
Last night we had a lovely dinner at Chuck and Teri's. Very relaxing way to spend a Friday night, with three other fun couples. Brittany came home from Nashville for the weekend as we were finishing dinner and we got a chance to catch up with her. Such a doll.
This weekend is going by waaaaay too fast.

Catching up

There is nothing like a quiet weekend once in a while. It certainly has been a great opportunity to get some rest (10 hours of sound sleep both nights), clean my house, and just recharge.
Really, things have been so busy at work with 3 annual reviews last week and Ellyn still out. I have a permanent sub for Ellyn now, rather than having several different ones. Eileen hired Tamara, who I have enjoyed getting to know via my Bunco group. Tamara had expressed interest in working and this was a good chance for her to do that without too large of a commitment. Tamara is doing an awesome job of filling in for Ellyn. She is warm and cozy and really gets kids. They love her and vice verse.
I am still in the midst of teaching or facilitating a continuing education class on using iPads to enhance student engagement and outcomes. It's a 7 session course(1 1/2 hours each time) and we have just completed the 4th session. It's great fun, but work to pull together all the info and then present it.
I also just completed a 5 week photography class. Still getting the hang of using my new dSLR. Very cool class but a little bit of mental gymnastics are involved for me!
But it's all good. And the trees couldn't be any more beautiful this time of year. I took this picture on my walk with Jean this morning.

Jack's 40th County Fair

In the busy-ness of this time of year, we had to make time for a day trip to the Hillsdale County Fair. It was a big one...Jack's 40th consecutive fair. Amazing to think of the history there.
We left early in the morning on September 29th. We went into the city to pick up Wayne, who came out of his apartment armed with a pillow since he planned on sleeping all the way to the fair. Which he did. Sally was not able to attend because of coaching. She was a good sport about it.
We arrived at the Fair by noon. We did the corn dog and Fiske fries, played the squirt gun game (I beat Jack and Wayne!) and saw the Barnyard Babies. We were thrilled to see a new Photo Button booth...but the guy's button maker was not working so we will have to order it online again this year.
We made our traditional stop at Hillsdale College, with the lightning fast wireless Internet. We found our brick and strolled around campus before heading to Schuler's in Marshall. Oh my goodness. There is nothing like Schuler meatballs, salad and peppermint ribbon pie.
It was a great day to be together and continue a tradition that is so important to our family. And we had Wayne back at his apartment by 9:30....plenty early for him to join his friends for a night out in the city.

corn dogs!

father and son stroll on Hillsdale campus

red ball is the stand in for Sally

So far behind

I am feeling like I am way far behind on so many things right now. I have so many things I want to blog about and so many things to do for work and so much that needs to be done around my house...and so many people I want to catch up with. I am feeling like I never talk to anyone outside of work these days, including dear sweet family and friends. I know from past experience that the best thing to do is just get a good night sleep and try to get a little bit caught up tomorrow.
Good night. Tomorrow is another day.

A New Heart for Tim

It was a big week. As I wrote last spring, Ellyn, my coworker/aide/para educator, has been waiting for her husband Tim to get a new heart. Tim had an LVAD installed on April. He needed to regain strength and weight after that surgery so he wasn't really on the transplant list until late August. On Monday afternoon, I was in the middle of reading Berenstain Bears Bear Detectives to our class when Ellyn's phone rang. And with that one phone call, everything changed. At 2:15, Tim got the call that there was a potential heart, immediately called Ellyn and they were pulling up to the hospital by 3:30. The new heart was beating in Tim's chest by 10pm! He is making a great recovery so far. We are praying for Tim and Ellyn and family and also for the donor and that family. What a miracle! Ellyn will be out for about a month, but I guess she has a pretty good excuse:) note: I lifted that picture of Ellyn and Tim from facebook.

Ellyna and me

 Right before the transplant!

We said "Yes to the Dress"

Big night tonight. Sally and I ordered her wedding dress. We found it at a little shop in Naperville last month. We were just "kinda" looking that day. After trying on several top contenders, Sally tried on one last dress. When she walked out of the dressing room, I knew it was the one. So did she. We went back the following week with the FOB and MOH and got their approval. We didn't need to order it until October, but we decided to go ahead and get it done before then. Tonight was the night..and the fact that it's Tommy's birthday made it even more meaningful. If that's possible.
I loved the look on Sally's face as she looked at herself in the mirror. Such a special moment in a season of many.

Wedding Weekend in Atlanta

We had a lovely weekend in Atlanta, celebrating the marriage of Alison and Zac. Alison is the daughter of the best man from our wedding, Rick and his wife, Pat. Even though we only get to see them on the average of once every 10 years or so, we have such a close bond with them. It meant so much to us to be able to go the wedding and share in the happiness. Chuck and Teri came, too; Chuck, Rick and Pat all went to high school together in Michigan. What a fantastic few days!
Jack and I flew out very early Friday morning (luckily I was able to take a personal day at work) and were in Atlanta by 9 am. We went to the state capitol to get the picture of the building...Jack now has taken pictures of 38 state capitol buildings since he began this hobby a few years ago. Later, we met the Father of the Bride for lunch and had fun catching up on all the news. When we went to check in to the hotel, we ran into Pat, Alison and Lindsay (their other daughter) and Pat's sisters, who were just back from a bridal luncheon. What positive energy! After visiting for a while, Jack and I went to our room for a nice, long 2 hour nap...just what I needed.
Friday evening, we went out to dinner with Chuck and Teri to a restaurant named Bones (not Chops!). Fantastic dinner and then back to the hotel where we once again ran into the wedding party and got to visit some more.
On Saturday, Teri, Chuck, Jack and I went hiking at Stone Mountain, then out for a late lunch at a darling restaurant in Roswell. The day was beautiful and it was so relaxing to be with our buddies and have the time to just enjoy each others' company. The four of us travel well together.

check out Teri's gorgeous dress!

The wedding was at 6pm, followed immediately by the reception. We had to make an emergency stop at TJ Maxx, however, as the zipper in Teri's custom made dress broke right before the ceremony. It took us less than 10 minutes to find the perfect dress as well as a coordinating purse and then we were on our way.
We had a fun time at the reception. It was held in an old southern mansion and they had a band that played incredible music. All in all, a beautiful evening.
Our flight home on Sunday wasn't until 8:45 pm so we had a day to fill. We went to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum. It was so interesting to learn about his life and times from a different perspective.
Great weekend!

Happy birthday to my honey!

Today is Jack's birthday, as mentioned in the previous post. And Downtown Sue's, too. Jack and his sister Sue were born on the same day 3 years apart. Good thing neither of them were (what I like to call) birthday freaks. From all reports Sue and Jack have always been good about sharing their birthdays.
I cannot say often enough how truly blessed I am to be married to Jack. He is the perfect soul mate for me. I love to be with him. I love the way he respects and loves me and Wayne and Sally and really, pretty much everyone that he calls a friend. There is nothing insincere about Jack. If he says to you "You are the man" (or woman), he means it. Jack has a deep love for his family of origin, the original six :) as well as his family by marriage and his family of friends...
God is so good.

Birthday Girls

We celebrated two family birthdays last week. My sister Sue's bday was on Monday, September 10th. She celebrated by going to the first Bears game of the season with her BFF Karen. Then Jenny and I met Suz for lunch on Saturday the 15th. Great sister time. As always.
On September 15th we also celebrated our niece Lauren's birthday. There was a fun party for Lauren's 25th at John Barleycorn's in Wrigleyville during the Iowa game. There was a tremendous turnout. Jack and I had so much fun catching up with the birthday girl and Sue, Brendan, Sam, Chili et al. Not an easy birthday for Laur, her first without her dad. I thought back to the day Lauren was born. She was born in a hospital just a few blocks away from us; at that point we had lived in this house a little over a month. Wayne was 2 1/2 and I remember we were just getting ready to go to the grocery store when the doorbell rang. It was Mike, there to share the exciting news that Lauren Elizabeth had been born! Mike was so proud! Such a happy memory for all of us.
The birthdays continue as tomorrow is Jack and Downtown Sue's birthday. It's a big one for Downtown Sue but I won't say which one! Seems like last year we were taking Sue to Le Perroquet for her 40th.
And that's not the end of September birthdays! Tom's was on September 25 and Marie's is on September 30. Matt is Oct 2.
Happy birthdays, fam!

Out of the Rut: Go Sox! On a Tuesday

I am so proud. We did something very spur of the moment. We went to a White Sox game on a "school night". Late Monday night, Wayne bought 4 tickets, front row centerfield, on StubHub. I had been complaining that I had not made it to a Sox game all season and the next thing I know Wayne invited me and Jack. Sally wasn't able to go so Wayne gave the extra ticket to his friend, Vlad. Jack and I met the guys at The Cell. It felt like a four hour vacation! The weather was perfection, 75 degrees and clear skies. On a day of remembrance 9/11, I couldn't help but think of Sox games of the past. My dad took us to many Sox games over the years and those were fun times. And so, of course, I thought of Pawp, Dane (and Danefests) and my brother, Tom. They were very sweet memories last night, not sad. About the only negative of the "out of the rut" night was that the Sox lost a close one.

Jack, Wayne, Vlad and me

beer an inning? uh, not anymore!

Labor Day tradition continues!

Another awesome Labor Day party at Cathy and Mark's! You can go back and look at the past two Labor Day posts and read about the origins of this fun party. It has been going on for 17 years at least (I think?), but we never assume it's on/we'll be invited again (you never know!) until we get the official invitation. When the invite came in August, I immediately texted Jack, Wayne and Sally with the good news:) So fun with our inter-generational partying.We missed Adam and Kristin again this year (they are still in North Carolina)... and Jordan and his guys were under the weather so couldn't make it, but we did have Chris and Krissy there after a two year absence and Mark's mother also was in attendance.
It was such a fun night, to be with lifelong family friends and enjoy great company, food, drink and conversation as we ended summer...unofficially because I know there are still a few weeks left, but once Labor Day is done and the school year is officially underway, summer is kaput. But that's alright. Mark and Cath's party makes the transition easier :)

Here are some pictures and also a video of "Popcorn", performed by The Lane Dancers

makes the end of summer a bit easier to handle

Mason doing his chores :)

what do you suppose Jack said to Ruth?!

check out that pirate water table!

It won't be long before Mason is old enough. Because time goes that quickly