Celebration

FIRST ~ I am so sorry I haven't been visiting your blogs, it's not from lack of trying, but Blogger just keeps giving me an error message. I will continue to try, and I know some of you connect your blogs to Facebook so I will try to visit that way too.



We had a few fun celebrations last month. Of course there was Jayden's Birthday, which we celebrated three days in a row!

Saturday ~ lots of family and fun!


Sunday ~ lunch out and games at Dave & Buster's Arcade!


Monday ~ smearing his name for luck before he cuts the first piece of cake at a smaller family celebration!




Also, our daughter Katie (Jayden's Mommy) celebrated her Birthday the week before that.
I was remembering during this snowy January we were having that the year Katie was born was another snowy January. In fact, Katie Elizabeth was born between two snow storms, a day or two before I went into labor with her there had been a snow storm, and I if I remember right I think it was snowing again as we drove to the hospital, and there was another storm before we brought her home from the hospital. Katie had to stay in the hospital after I was discharged because she was jaundiced due to an ABO blood incompatibility (all our children except for Ellie were born with this same blood problem), and Katie's blood count was so high that they were afraid of brain damage, and since the florescent lighting wasn't working to bring her blood count down, the doctors decided to do a blood exchange .
I was always so sad to come home without my newborn in my arms, and to have to go back and visit my babies as 'patients' in the hospital. But each time all turned out well!

And, thrity-three years later here sits Jayden, who was very excited about his Mommy's Birthday, and a few days ahead he was busy making a Birthday garland for her:

('So sorry all these pictures from Kate's Birthday are all so dark, I had the camera on the wrong setting)

The day of her Birthday we baked a cake after Jayden got home from school. I got out all the cooking utensils and measured everything for him, and then he got to work:

Greasing the pan:


Adding the ingredients:







And here is a photo of the pitcher that he dropped into the batter. He's a messy baker just like his grandmother! Lucky that I had him mix everything in the sink, that's something I should do too!




Once the cake was in the oven I told him he should do his homework while we wait for it to bake. I started to wash the dishes and asked him if he wanted to dry them and he said, "I'm sorry I can't. I have to start my homework right away!" I think he thought the sooner he finished his homework, the sooner the cake would bake!

Once the cake had cooled we iced it and Jayden got busy decorating:




Then Jayden put his gifts for his Mommy in a gift bag, made her a card, and sat waiting patiently for her to come home from work:



And she got a nice Birthday greeting!





And she loved her cake!




Also, last month I turned 57. Aging has never bothered me in the past, it doesn't bother me now, and I hope it never bothers me in the future! I've always liked whatever age I was, with the exception of when I was a preteen, I think I remember wanting to be older, I remember being anxious to turn thirteen. And I remember looking forward to my fourteenth Birthday because my grandmother said that would be my 'Golden Birthday' (turning 14 on the 14th!). But other than that I don't think I looked forward to any milestones nor did I dread them. I can't say for certain that I looked forward to turning 50, but I certainly didn't hate it, I was happy, I felt FREE, and comfortable, and contented.

My Dad told me that I was born between snow storms too. He said that most of the snow and ice had melted though, and he hadn't gotten a chance to take the chains off the tires on the car before my mother went into labor. He says all he remembers about the trip to the hospital was the sound of the chains on the tires hitting the cobblestones along the Boulevard.

Anyway, I had a really nice 57th Birthday, my Birthday fell on a Friday this year and Ray surprised me by taking the day off. We didn't do anything special, but it was special to have him home, and we walked Jayden to and from school together, and Ray brought me a Birthday cake so Jayden wouldn't be upset that I didn't have "Happy Birthday" sung to me on my actual Birthday (the family was coming over the next day to celebrate). And in the afternoon Ray and Jayden made me a cake for the next day, and they decorated it, and it was the nicest Birthday cake I've ever had!


We usually do half the sheet cake with chocolate icing, and half with white icing to please everyone, but Jayden had the bright idea to leave a little corner of the cake free of any icing just in case someone doesn't like frosting on their cake!


Ray wrote the "Happy Birthday" in script, but he said that Jayden did the rest of the decorating all by himself! I think he did another great job!


And the next day the rest of the kids came over, along with my sister Diane and her husband Steve, and my niece Rachel came over with my great-nephew James ("Jamesy-boy"!).
Jayden and James love getting together, Rachel said James is always asking her, "When am I going to see my cousin again?"

And, of course, Mia was there too!



You can see that I had lots of help opening gifts:

(The boys got the first gift unwrapped without taking off the ribbon!)

And once it was unwrapped Jamesy-boy said, "Oh, it's not a toy. You know how I know it's not a toy? Because of this writing on the box." (It said 'LOFT' on it!)

It was better than a toy! It was this beautiful Ann Taylor scarf from my sister Diane:


Even though you can't see my face through the 'crowd', I was VERY happy with all my cards and gifts!



And before anyone arrived Ray had put out a nice little spread for everyone:


(There was fruit and vegetables, and focaccia bread, and mozzarella in olive oil with basil & peppers, there were cheese & crackers, and pepperoni, and Swedish meatballs.)


Jayden and James chowed down lots of bread...

(Mia preferred Cheerios)

...and celery.





Later in the afternoon Ray ordered in pizza for us and then it was time for my best-ever cake!




And my brother-in-law Steve made us delicious pecan pie muffins for dessert! They were wonderful!

And my sister Diane made me these:

Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes!

They were yellow cupcakes and the 'spaghetti' string was white icing, and the 'meatballs' were chocolate donut holes and the 'sauce' was strawberry jelly. Yummy!

And I got lots of beautiful cards from friends and family near and far...



...along with lots of wonderful good wishes from friends and family on Facebook!

Birthday celebrations are fun!

Super Bowl ~ Super Fun

I am really not a big fan of any sport, unless you consider ice dancing a sport. So I never really do get caught up in the revelry or excitement like most of my family. I think Ray would have been more excited if his Giants had been playing, but he still looked forward to the game.




Some of the family came over and we had chips and dips, and pizza and wings, and we had lots of wonderful desserts! Now that is something that excites me! My daughter-in-law, Lori, made some great brownies, just the way I like them, very moist, with chocolate chips, and it was almost like eating fudge, but better!
My brother-in-law, Steve, made something called a 'pig cake' and he said it gets it's unusual name because it's a dessert that is usually served down south at pig roasting parties. It was delicious! My daughter-in-law described it best ~ refreshing! It was orange cake with pineapple frosting, and it was served cold. Yum!
And my son, Erik, made a lemon pudding pie, and a vanilla pudding pie. I'm not a big fan of lemon, but I had the vanilla pie and it was great! (We also had store-bought pumpkin pie and assorted cheesecake, but I didn't even try tasting them.)




And, in spite of the fact that I am not a big sports fan, I did have a super fun time! Mia, Jayden, and I made our own fun!




And I also got a nice surprise over the weekend! On Saturday evening Ray brought the mail in and said, "You have something here from Rebecca." Many of you know Rebecca and visit her at her blog 'Life And Godliness'. (I wish I could link to her, but I am having trouble again getting to many blogs.)
I opened the envelope and inside were these two sweet frames!


And of course I had Ray scan Jayden and Mia's school pictures, and size them to fit.





I set them on the window sill over my kitchen sink, it's nice to have their little faces smiling at me as I wash dishes, and it's nice to have the sweet reminder of a sweet friend and her generous heart. Thank you, Rebecca!



(And I want to thank everyone who commented on my post about a Servant's Heart. You are all much too kind and generous. And I didn't write that post as a way of garnering accolades for myself, but I so appreciate your 'shout outs', you are too good to me!
It's just that I read all of you, your lives, and I see so many people, and the love each one carries around for their fellow man, and not just the happiness people derive in helping others, but the way it comes naturally to so many people. And in my fifty-seven years on earth, I just haven't felt that.
I'll give you a recent example: On a freezing cold, icy day, walking back home from dropping Jayden at school, I brought a container of salt with me, salting our path as we walked, the same going back home, and I see a car having trouble on the ice. I was cold, I didn't want to stop, I'm practically shaking my fist at Heaven for presenting this situation, all very un-neighborly and un-Christian reactions. I did stop, I did offer my salt, and I told the driver to try using their car mat under the wheel too [a tip I learned from my sister Diane, and the car mat did work], but I did it all begrudgingly, and I guess that's why I never feel good about helping others, because it's more out of a guilt trip rather than any sense of love or kindness. Well, anyway, thanks for thinking I'm a nice person in spite of it all.)

How Am I Ever Going To Acquire A Servant's Heart?

I've always been envious of those who happily serve others. Wives and mothers who get joy out of serving their families, catering to their husband's needs and the needs of their children. Happy homemakers who feel a sense of accomplishment. Folks who happily serve on school and church committees. Those who volunteer their time to others out of the sheer joy of being in service to another.
When I served on a church committee, it was more a sense of obligation rather than service, and I would sit in the meetings willing for the time to fly by so I could be in the comforts of my own home. Or I would get annoyed at someone droning on and on in the meeting about what I felt was nonsense. I care more about my own needs than the needs of others.
When I served on fund-raising committees at schools, I never felt a sense of accomplishment, I just felt like, "Oh, hurry up and get this over with!"

The only volunteering I enjoyed was working with children. They were a lot of fun, I laughed a lot, I loved them and they loved me. But that entailed me getting something out of it. Certainly not a servant's heart there.

I never feel that wonderful sense of love and service. I try to, but most of what I do, I just do out of a sense of obligation or guilt. I've prayed about it. I want to have a servant's heart, but I just don't get that sense of happiness or fulfillment that others feel and talk about.
And so far in my life, I've only known one other person who feels the same way I do. We just don't get it. I don't feel like we're cold-hearted people, but maybe we are.

We both get annoyed if we are trying to be of service to someone and things don't go smoothly. We don't mind whatever the chore may be, but we mind that a one-step chore becomes a ten-step chore due to things going awry (for example: trying to bake a dinner to take to a family in need, but everything goes wrong such as a carton of eggs falling on the floor and every single egg breaks, or the dinner burns to a crisp; or in trying to help someone paint their house and you knock over the whole can of paint onto their carpet), we end up saying to ourselves and to God, "What is this???? All I'm trying to do is help someone out here. Why all the roadblocks?"
She and I are more like 'grumbling servants'. And we both agree that we are all-too-ready to throw in the towel.

I wish I was the type of person who could say, "Okay, God, for whatever reason all those eggs were supposed to break, and that dinner was supposed to burn, and I was supposed to knock the paint over." I wish I was the type of person who felt there was some deep lesson I was supposed to learn. I'm not that type of person. If there was a lesson to be learned, it went sailing way over my head.
And, really, my feeling is, sometimes broken eggs are just broken eggs, and sometimes paint spilled is nothing more than paint spilled. And it's all very irritating. And there is no sense of a servant's heart in irritation.

"It's all in your attitude", or so I've been told. But I don't feel that I go into any mission with a negative attitude, in fact, I think my attitude is somewhat rational, I don't think I have high expectations, and yet, I still feel disappointed with the outcome (not feeling good about having done something in the service of another). What's wrong with me? Why don't I feel good doing something for somebody else? Does everything I do have to benefit me before I feel good about it? I'm not getting any younger. I'm running out of time. How am I ever going to acquire a servant's heart?

She's 'That Friend'

My friend Barbara and I usually get together once or twice a week, we'll meet in town for coffee, or breakfast, or lunch, or we'll visit together at one of our homes, but with this horrid Winter we've been having, most of our visits have been either over the phone or through emails.
The other day she called me though and said she was going to have her husband drive her over so we could have a little visit together. I was happy to have her company, which would have been more than enough, but she also came bearing gifts for me! And she gave me so much! She thought of everything!

She came bearing the practical...

(Look at this cute cell phone case! Barbara thought it would be good for when I go bike riding, I can clip it to a belt loop and wear it hands-free, and it also comes with a longer strap so I can wear it across my shoulder if I want.)


(And it also has a little wallet attached!)


and she came bearing the useful...

(Barbara knows that I like to carry big purses, especially when I have the grandkids in tow, lots to take along! And she knows that I like bags with lots of pockets, and when I can't have bags with pockets, I like to take 'inserts' along, fill them up with all the neccessities, and throw them into whatever bag I happen to be using that day. So I was very happy to get these beauties!)


(Look at all the pockets in these! A place for pens and paper, cell phone, credit cards, everything!)


(Both the bigger one and the smaller one had pockets for everything, they even had a clip for keys and a spot for glasses. And then it's so easy to change out purses, all your essentials are in one spot!)
(These are also great for packing travel essentials for long trips!)

...and she came bearing the pretty...

(This bag is so sweet!)


(So feminine!)


(I love every detail!)



...and she came bearing the decorative...


(Isn't this adorable?! Barbara said her husband Dave picked it out for me, he said to her, "Eileen likes all this old looking stuff, right?" I love it!)


(I'm in search now of the perfect spot in my home for it!)

...and she came bearing the ornamental!

(I love these 'rope bracelets'! They are perfect for me as I have a nickle allergy, so there is a lot of jewelry that I can't wear.)


(The glass beads are beautiful, and I love the clasp too, I flipped when I opened these! So pretty!)



Right now they are adorning my statue of the the Madonna and Child...


...but as soon as the weather clears and I can once again venture out, they will be adorning my wrists!

I don't know what I did to deserve all this! Thank you, Barbara!
Here is a picture of Barbara and myself taken many years ago. We were at some function for the Rosary Society, and I promise you I wasn't the only fool dressed in costume, I was just the only one caught on camera. I can't remember what the skit was about, I only remember that we had lots and lots of fun, as we usually do when we are together.


I wish I had thought to take out my camera when Barbara was here so you could 'meet' her in a more normal setting. But suffice it to say, Barbara has a very generous heart, and she is so much fun, and she is so easy to talk to! I felt comfortable with Barbara from the moment I met her. My youngest son and her youngest son were in Kindergarten together, and we were both on 'security duty' at school, she was taking classes at the time and had brought some homework to do, but I talked so much she had to give up on her homework and close her books! The next month we happened to be together again, this time she had a newspaper to read, but she didn't get much reading done as I was 'jabberjaws' again, and the next month she wised up and only brought along a cup of coffee! And she made sure we had security duty together from then on by requesting me for a partner. And as luck would have it, a few years later we were both offered jobs in that school, and so we worked together for awhile too.

It doesn't matter if we are spending whole days together or having a quick phone conversation, in no time at all our conversations can run the gamut from birth to death and everything in between! We cry until our eyes are swollen, and we laugh until our sides split. Over the last twenty years we have laughed, cried, and prayed together. We have turned to each other for support in times of crisis, and we've rejoiced with each other in times of joy. We've supported each other through the sicknesses and deaths of our parents. She's been my confidant and my cheerleader. Our relationship is very relaxed, we are just as comfortable with each other talking a mile a minute as we are sitting in complete silence. We have been on trips together, we've gone on shopping sprees, we've seen Broadway shows, we've eaten so many breakfast, lunch, and dinners together, and we have had countless cups of coffee together. And we both agree that our best times spent together were when we went to Mass in the mornings after dropping the boys at school, and then we'd walk home and stop at the corner where we went our separate ways, but we'd linger awhile talking.

It's funny because as much as we agree on so many subjects, we also are very different. We have differing views on politics. Barbara and her husband are more apt to travel where Ray & I are 'homebodies' in comparison. Barbara is always so organized, and I am in a state of disorder all the time! And Barbara is always, always, so 'put together' and I am always so disheveled! If we are out shopping, she will take my packages and consolidate and organize them for me. If it is cold out, she will 'bundle' me up, and affix my scarf for me.

Barbara is like all things comfortable and familiar to me, she is my bowl of soup, my scrapbook, my corner grocery store. She's that friend.

Salt And Sand And Slips And Falls

I feel so stiff, and I am so tired of slipping and sliding my way to Jayden's school each day.
I am tired of boots, and jackets, hats, mittens, scarves, and salt piled in the foyer.
I have a feeling I am going to be tired of this for quite awhile.
Yesterday I went out three times to chop through the freezing rain on the sidewalk. Chopping and salting, only to go inside to get warm while freezing rain kept piling down and all my efforts went to naught. So, out again, and again to chop and salt. Snow is much easier. I never thought I would say this but, snow would be a Blessing right now. At least I can walk in the snow.

These pictures Ray took this morning:

Snow piles in front of the house are covered in ice, and Jayden's snow tunnels are now igloos.

The little tree in front of the house looks pretty all encased in ice.

The streets and sidewalks are all coated in ice too. Cars are sliding right through the stop sign at the end of our street. And our daughter Ellie started out for work this morning but fell on the icy sidewalk and made her way back home. Ray went out and made it to the bus stop around the corner, but he called and said he almost fell about five times.


On a normal day, in the afternoons, I leave my house to pick up Jayden from school at about 2:10 PM (he gets dismissed at 2:20), I walk fast and I always get there in plenty of time. I knew the walking was going to be bad yesterday so I called my sister (she lives right down the street from Jayden's school), and I told her I was leaving my house early and would probably stop at her house first. I left the house around 1:45 and I didn't get to school until the usual dismissal time! Walking was treacherous! And trying to hang onto fences was no help at all as they were coated in ice too! I was so wishing I had kept him home!
When my kids were little I used to carry a bag of sand with me during the winter to walk them to and from school, spreading it out in front of us, a little armor against the harsh winter. I think I will have to start doing that again with Jayden.

School is open today, with 'excused lateness' in effect. But I am not even going to make an attempt. I am officially declaring today an ice day!

I hear this storm is massive. I hope you all are well, and safe and sound.

Can You See A Family Resemblance?

These pictures were all taken at the age of five months:

I was completely bald until I was about two years old! My Mom said she usually kept a bonnet on my head, and I was almost always in a dress, otherwise everyone thought I was a boy!





(I love that my Mom's handwriting is on the back of this picture.)



My daughter at five months, Katie (Jayden's Mom) had a little more hair than I did, and to be fair, they had to shave her head when she was a newborn because she needed a blood exchange which they did through a vein in her head. By the age of one year she had a nice full head of hair!


And here's our boy at five months!


So, what do you think? Can you see a family resemblance?