Lilacs & Laughter

The Last Friday of Summer Vacation

2011-08-26T11:27:00.001-04:00

I"m spending it organizing closets and sorting school uniforms, tearing up thinking about Maggie wearing Abby's outgrown uniforms next year. Jake is spending the day with Grandmom R. She is going to to take him to Barber for a back to school haircut. His only condition was going to the candy store next door for an post haircut treat.

Playing with the Gosselins at Weaver's Orchard

Abby and Maggie are my helpers today, but they seem to be having more fun printing pictures and taping them to their walls. The Ramona & Beezus movie poster will now be the first thing they see when they wake up.
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I loved the Ramona books when I was a kid and now I have my very own Ramona and Beezus, except I prefer to call them Maggie and Abby.

Abby's talent show.

Last, but not least..I must wish my beeeautiful sister a

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Four sleeps..

2011-08-25T20:24:00.001-04:00

That is Maggie's method of counting down the days until school starts. Actually that is Maggie's method of counting down the days to any BIG event. It's a lot easier than "Show me how many fingers" especially when she asks about our upcoming trip to Disney World!

Abby will be in third grade, Jake will be in first and Maggie will be in Mommy's pre-k class. She is sooooo excited!! I've been busy the past 2 weeks getting our classroom ready. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was teaching Abby. I bought the last of their uniforms today and our school shopping is officially complete!

Maggie is also starting ballet class next week. She is REALLY excited about that one. I can't wait to see her dressed up in a pink tutu.

Padre Edmundo

2010-01-23T09:41:00.000-05:00

It was one year ago today that my husband's beloved "Uncle Ed" went to live with the Lord that he fervently served as a Roman Catholic Priest for almost 63 years. I met Uncle Ed the day Mike and I got married when he con-celebrated our wedding. He was living in Fl. at the time and came up unexpectedly when his brother passed away. Since our wedding was a few days later he stayed and con-celebrated our wedding mass.

Over the years we all looked forward to his yearly visits every summer. His mind was sharp as a tack, and he had a crystal clear memory of his early years in Philadelphia, and the forty years he spent in Puerto Rico. He was fluent in Spanish and loved joking with our kids. We would take him on day trips to local attractions and had weekly visits to the local diners that sold his favorite meal, fried oysters.

After he passed away last year we received hundreds and of cards, letters, and emails. Most of them from Puerto Rico. Grown men and women telling us of stories of how special Father Ed was to them. How he would pick them up as children and drive them to their catechism classes, take them to parks, and swimming. In today's world that would be frowned upon, but Uncle Ed was one of a kind and he is greatly missed by our family. Jake just found a a matchbox car that Uncle Ed gave him the last time he visited us. He brought it in to me and held it up. I thought it was just another one of his cars since they all look the same, but he said with a very soft voice, "Uncle Edmund gave me this".

He con-celebrated my in-laws wedding mass, baptized my husband, con-celebrated our wedding, and we were lucky enough to have him baptize Maggie as she was our only child born in warm enough weather for him to visit. He hated the cold after spending most of his life in the warm climates of Puerto Rico and Florida.

He and my husband both shared a love for meteorology, and weather instruments. He would by my husband rain gauges, and tell him about all the new gadgets he would buy. When we visited him at his retirement villa in 2008 I took a picture of all of his weather instruments. He was one of a kind.

Father Regensburger, noted catechist,dies at 89 Father Edmund Regensburger, widely known in Puerto Rico both for the catechism classes he taught and the
doctrine program he televised,died Jan. 23 in New Smyrna Beach, FL
A native of Philadelphia, Father Regensburger was born October 21,1919, to Charles and Florence Fox Regensburger of St.Boniface Parish.Ordained in 1946, his assignments were: Puerto Rico, Tampa, FL, Opa Locka, FL, and Wachula, FL.He was a long-time minister to Spanish speaking people in Florida who came from Puerto Rico, Cuba and Central and South America. At 85, he was still
driving himself to celebrate Mass each Sunday at a chapel 50 miles away.

All I want for Christmas...

2009-12-03T21:16:00.000-05:00

is my two front teeth.

Abby's losing teeth left and right (and in between)...the Tooth Fairy is going broke!!

PSA

2009-12-03T13:43:00.000-05:00

Never sit on the arm of a chair while eating cheesecake...

OR THIS

COULD BE YOU!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom's house and went home to relax and watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" . Shortly before 8 o'clock, Miss Maggie decided to climb onto the arm of the chair to share a piece of cheesecake with Daddy and before we knew it she was on the floor screaming. Off to the ER we went and a few hours later we were home with a splinted arm in a sling.

She went to the Orthopedic doctor on Monday and got this fancy HOT pink cast. The break isn't bad at all. There was no displacement, it basically cracked right through the top portion of the radius. Nothing and I mean nothing will slow this child down. She is perpetual motion and mischief. She is scaring the daylights out of Mike and I, climbing on chairs and running around like a monkey.

God Bless her crazy little self!

Happy Birthday Jacob!

2009-11-12T11:45:00.000-05:00

My sweet little guy isn't so little anymore. Yesterday we celebrated his fifth birthday. We sent him off to visit his Grandmom and Grandpop for the day so I could work on his birthday surprises. I started the day by decorating his birthday cake.

I baked the cake the night before and on a whim I decided to use one medium round cake pan and one small. I had no idea how I was going to decorate it, but it came to me as I went along.

I made him a Max cake..

I sliced the small cake through the middle and then sliced one of the halves in half. I used one half to make 2 triangles for cat ears and the other half was sliced into a tail. Jake chose canned rainbow chip frosting and I made a homemade cream cheese buttercream for decorating. I'm always hiding things from Maggie and I hid my cake decorating tips and couplers and don't remember where I put them. So I had to use gallon size ziploc bags to decorate.

After the cake was finished I moved on to my next project. I rearranged his bedroom and decorated it with a Disney's Cars theme. He used to have a Thomas & Friends theme in his room, but one night he had a nightmare about Thomas puffing steam in his face. The next morning everything Thomas was removed from his bedroom. Unfortunately when the Thomas decals were removed some of the paint went along with them. So that explains the placement of some of the Cars decals.

Jake and Abby were born exactly 23 months apart so always have a joint birthday party for family and friends and then celebrate their actual birthdate at home with just the 5 of us and my mom and step-dad. When I asked Jake what he wanted for his birthday dinner he said "Turkey, mashed potatoes and carrots" So, he got his wish only it was a roasted chicken, but he didn't need to that LOL!

I also made this peanut butter cup pie . I got the recipe from my Kraft Food & Family magazine. I was delicious!! The pie also got the "MAX" treatment.

All in all it was a great day. Jake kept hugging me and telling me it was "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER" That entire night was filled with hugs and thanks. He is such a little sweetheart!

School Days

2009-08-28T17:51:00.000-04:00

Monday is Abby's first day of first grade. I still can't believe my first born is almost seven years old. I'm serious! My feisty, inquisitive little baby that ate a ladybug not once, but twice is going in to the first grade. (not without a fight, might I add) When did this happen?

Abby's 1st day of Kindergarten (2008)

Whenever we're out we garner our fair share of admirers. Usually silver haired couples, commenting on their pretty little dresses or Jake's baseball caps. They always ask how old they are and most of the time they ask if Abby and Jake are twins. We tell them they are 2 years apart and now it's fun to say they are 2,4,6.

They always say that we have our hands full and the last words are always "Enjoy them now, because before you know they are grown." The first few(hundred) times I heard those words I thought "yeah right! this feels like an eternity already!" Hellooo, I've been changing diapers for the past (almost) 7 years?

BUT...

It has finally hit me. The time is flying by faster than I'm ready for. Abby is going into the first grade on Monday and Jake will be starting pre-school next week. My baby, Maggie is counting to 10 and telling Daddy to "Be quiet and go to sleep" How did this happen?

Maggie loves her big brother!

After reading heartbreaking story after heartbreaking story of parent's losing their children sooner than any parent should. I realize more now than ever what those silver haired couples mean when they tell us to "enjoy" our children. They are only with a short time before we have to send them off into the world. Not just when they're 18 and heading off to college, but simply getting on that big yellow school bus all by themselves.

I remember sending Abby to kindergarten last year. The first day of school she was so excited. We put her on the school bus and jumped in the car and followed the bus all the way to her school. I came home and cried. Then next day when it was time to get back on the bus, she cried.

Before we knew it we had gotten in the swing of things and everything was going so smoothly. Then I went to the school to help with her classroom Halloween party and it went downhill from there. She wanted me to come to school every day. I would pray every night that Abby would have a good morning. She would scream, cry, hide her school uniforms, sometimes she would literally make herself sick from being so upset. That went on until the school year ended.

So as I close this blog, which is mainly me venting and being sentimental. Please, please, please pray for us this school year. I want more than anything for Abby to have a great year and actually enjoy all her school has to offer. She is such a smart talented girl and she deserve to receive a great education and be happy doing it. Also, pray for my Jakey who will be starting pre-k. He has never been away from us except when he visits the grandparents for overnighters. I have a feeling that he will do great.

A fresh new blog.

2009-07-31T17:14:00.002-04:00

I've been blogging off and on for 4 years now. I started blogging on MySpace and now I'm moving on to bigger and better blogging. I posted my very first blog entry below. Since that blog was posted I welcomed my third child into our family.

My first blog entry from 2005

2009-07-31T17:01:00.000-04:00

Monday, November 21, 2005

Thankful....
Current mood: content

Tonight at dinner I realized just how lucky I am. We were eating pasta and my husband and I were sharing a butter knife and it hit me. We are so in tune with eachother. Just then the baby started to whine and Mike gave him a spoonful of his food. Then Abby swiped a piece of spinach from Daddy's salad and I thought to myself, WOW! I have a perfect life. It may not be everyone's ideal But to me it's all I've ever wanted. This is what I was put on earth for. Being a wife and a mother is my calling. Sometimes I take these little things for granted. I love having a warm body to sleep next to at night even those annoying times when he is stealing the blankets. I love waking up in the morning to the sound of my little boy playing contently in his crib until Mommy and Daddy are awake. I love hearing my little girl pitter patter across the floor when she wakes up. Hearing her call out for Daddy because she wasn't awake when he left for work. The sound of the garage door opening when my husband comes home at night. Silently thanking God for guiding him home safely. I have been blessed, even at the times when things are most hectic I have to stop myself and think about how lost I would be with out them. They are my everything, my reason for waking up in the morning. I am so thankful for my family, I have been blessed.