Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day





I hope I never forget to be grateful for our military. I hope I always remember how much they sacrificed. I hope I always remember that freedom is not free.






I hope I never forget how much their loved ones have sacrificed. I hope I always remember that these scenes below are just the very beginning of their pain.



































God Bless these men and women. God Bless their loved ones. God Bless the land they fought and died for.



God Bless America.


Friday, May 28, 2010

May Happenings

It's been a very busy month for us with lots going on! I don't have pictures to go along with all the events, and even some of the pictures I do have aren't going to make it to this post. It is getting more and more time-consuming to upload pictures! I used to stay up very late and do my posts then as I was having a terrible time with insomnia and I figured why fight that, I just used it to my advantage and blogged late at night. But the past five or six weeks I haven't had that problem so I'm now taking much pleasure in a more 'normal' bedtime! I fall asleep the minute my head hits the pillow and I sleep soundly and peacefully all night long!
Unfortunately my blog is suffering for it!


Anyway, back to May ~

We started the month off with Mia's Dance recital (I actually did a post about that!).



The following week Jayden had a very nice 'Mother's Day Tea' at school and all the Mommies were invited and treated to a 'Queen For The Day', with crowns and all. My daughter Katie said it was very nice. Jayden's teacher and her helper always do so much with the children and make every holiday and Holy day very special for the children.

Here Jayden tries the crown he made for his Mom on Mia!





Jayden also had his Spring Show at school which was a tribute to the 80's, the whole school participated and each class sang and danced to songs from the 80's. Jayden's class sang 'Footloose', it was very cute and very entertaining! The children wore tee shirts with their footprints painted on the front (I remember the day Jayden came home and told me that his teacher said he had to take a bath and wash his feet! I asked him why and he said because he had blue paint all over his foot but he couldn't tell me about it because it was a surprise.)


We've also celebrated lots of Birthdays in May!
May 8th was Ray's sister Susie's Birthday! 'LOVE HER SO MUCH!

(Susie and her daughters)


May 19th was my brother Frankie's Birthday, my Aunt Florence had us over for cake and coffee, and after the rest of my family went home, my Aunt Florence, Frankie, and myself stayed and talked about old times for hours. It was very nice.

May 22nd was our son Erik's Birthday and
today, May 28th is our daughter-in-law Lori's Birthday (Erik's wife), and they celebrated together last weekend and had us over for a pizza party and cupcakes (my favorite dessert!), it was lots of fun!

Ray and I celebrated our 37th Wedding Anniversary on May 26th, which is also the 8th Wedding Anniversary of Erik & Lori! Ray took the day off, and he finished making the shelf for the back room, and Jayden had half-day school, so we picked him up and went out to lunch, and later in the day Mia came over for a visit, so it was a very nice day!

Today at school was the May Crowning, Jayden is in Pre-K, and this year Nursery and Pre-K didn't participate, but I got to school early to pick him up and I was able to watch as the rest of the school (Kindergarten through 8th Grade) had the ceremony out on the lawn of the rectory near the Blessed Mother grotto. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful way to honor the Mother of Jesus. I was so wishing I had my camera with me. I saw they had an altar set up outside and one of the teachers told me that they had celebrated Mass there before the crowning ceremony. I got there just in time for the crowning and to hear the voices of children singing "Oh, Mary, We Crown Thee With Blossoms Today".


This weekend we'll celebrate Memorial Day with a barbecue on Sunday with the family, and we'll go to the Memorial Day parade in town on Monday. Monday is also Ray's brother Donald's Birthday so we'll celebrate that on Sunday when the family is here.


I do have some pictures of our trip that we took earlier this month to Mystic, Connecticut. We left the Friday before Mother's Day and came home early Mother's Day morning so we could visit with the kids and so that Jayden could celebrate with his Mommy.

I love all these stone walls that we saw everywhere in Connecticut!






Jayden had a great time! We visited the nuclear submarine museum on the Naval base there, and we got to tour a real submarine. That deserves it's own post which I'll do sometime in the near future. We also toured the Pequot Museum and Village and Jayden loved that too!
We didn't have great weather on Saturday so the museums were a good idea, and I really enjoyed them both.

We were able to visit the unique little shops in Olde Mystik Village too, Friday was a beautiful day and Jayden had a half-day of school so we picked him up and headed right up to Mystic!



Jayden got his first taste of New England Clam Chowder that weekend too, he and Ray wanted to stop for ice cream and I saw clam chowder on the menu so ordered that instead. Jayden asked if he could try it, he loved it and I didn't get the bowl back until it was empty!


(notice the ice cream sundae discarded to the side and forgotten about!)




This was a weekend of 'firsts' for him, first time he tried clam chowder, first time he tried calamari, and first time he tried scallops and he loved them all!






And as much as I like taking a vacation ~ it's always so nice to come back home where I belong!

(taken on Mother's Day)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Happy Birthday, Bernie!


Happy Birthday to our dear blogging friend Bernie!

If you read even just one post of Bernie's blog @ On My Own you know right away what a good, and kind, and gentle person Bernie is, and you get a sense of the generous spirit Bernie has. I was drawn to Bernie's blog when I read some of the cheerful and thoughtful comments she left on other blogs that I had visited, she just seemed like a ray of sunshine. Bernie always gives everyone the "benefit of the doubt", she's respectful of your point of view even if she doesn't agree with you, she's encouraging, she's uplifting, and she's an inspiration to us all.
Bernie's life hasn't been without it's share of problems, but her steadfast Faith in God, in life, in people, and her positive outlook in times of turmoil sets her head and shoulders above most.
Her love of family, friends, and Faith shine through all her posts, you can see she thrives on these, and you can see how important all these are to her life.

When I think of Bernie the word 'good' comes to mind.

I looked up the many meanings of the word good:

of favorable character; decent; that which can be relied on; high-quality; agreeable; enjoyable; pleasant; skillful; wholesome; helpful; amusing; nice; clever; first-class; considerate; superior; true; fine; virtuous; deserving of respect; right; commendable; loyal; excellent




Yes, our friend Bernie is very good indeed!

(I love this little vignette that Bernie had on her blog, it's just so perfectly Bernie!)


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BERNIE!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Pride and Prejudice ~ I Love This Movie!

I love the movie "Pride and Prejudice" and I will watch it over and over again. If I am turning channels on the TV and I come across this movie, it doesn't matter if the movie has just begun or if it is in the midst of the movie, or even if it is the last few moments of the movie, I will stop channel surfing to watch it. (I have to confess, I do this with many favorite movies!)

I love 'period pieces', and I love 'love stories', and I also love the song 'Book of Love' by Stephin Merritt, I especially love the Peter Gabriel version, and when I came across this youtube video that had all my loves meshed together, well, I hit the jackpot!


xxx

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Cielo's Victorian Tea Party


I am joining Cielo @ The House In The Roses for her Victorian Tea Party in honor of Mother's Day. It is a 'bring your own tea cup' party and I am bringing a tea cup from a set of dishes that belonged to my grandmother:



These dishes were my grandmother's 'everyday dishes', she also had a set of china that she used for special occasions, but I always loved the simple rose pattern of these dishes. The set includes dinner plates, luncheon plates, and these cups which she used for both coffee and tea.





The set also includes a teapot:



And it includes a small cream pitcher:




And also a sugar bowl:






I've always thought this set was so pretty, I love the creamy white color, and while it looks somewhat fragile, it's really a very sturdy set.





I have an extra cup in case you didn't bring one along.




And I also have almond chocolate chip biscotti, and ginger biscotti, and apricot scones that my husband picked up at the outdoor market at Union Square Park in Manhattan. They all taste wonderful!








Won't you join me for Cielo's tea party? There are lots more pretty tea cups to see!