Happy 80th Birthday, Mom !!!

Mom turned 80 today . . . so hard to believe . . . she is so young in spirit . . . what a terrific woman . . . wonderful Mom . . . awesome grandmother . . . special great-grandmother . . .

We had a surprise Red Sox baseball party for her . . . she loves the Red Sox . . . almost never misses a game . . . we gave her a big flatscreen tv . . . so now she can watch them really well . . .

She was so surprised . . . she had a great time with everyone there . . . and was really surprised . . .

Happy Birthday Mom !!! . . . You're the BEST !!!

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Today's the Day !!!

Rick, Tracy, Ben, and Peter arrived this morning . . . it is so good to see them . . . we haven't been together since last July . . . the boys have grown up so so much . . . what handsome guys they are . . . I love having time with them . . .

We had a great time . . . visiting with Nona . . . this is her birthday weekend . . . we also played dominoes and had a lot of fun . . . I love playing games with the kids . . . grandchildren are the best !!!

Tonight we went to "The Outback" to celebrate being together . . . Jason, Peter, Ben, Casey, Jon, Nona, Me, Dick, Sandy, Todd, Andrea, Rick, Tracy . . . lots of fun . . . I wish everyone else could have been there too . . . I always want my whole family together . . . but with a big family it's almost impossible . . . maybe someday soon . . . I hope !!!
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Looking Forward to April 26th

Yes . . . April 26th ! ! !

Rick, Tracy, Ben, and Peter will be arriving on that morning . . . to spend the weekend . . . and help us celebrate Nona's 80th birthday . . .

I am so looking forward to seeing them . . . it's been a while . . . and I bet the boys have grown so much . . . they sound very grown up on the phone when we talk . . .

It will be a lot of fun . . . just spending some quiet time with them . . . and maybe doing something "very special" too . . .

17 more days ! ! ! . . . I love seeing my grandchildren ! ! !
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Another Wonderful Blessing

Here is our Little Honey Girl, Olivia . . .

all dressed up in her Easter outfit . . . is she just the "yummiest" thing you ever saw . . . I just want to eat her up . . .

She is such a precious baby . . . and just so so pretty . . . . . . I couldn't love her more . . . another wonderful blessing . . .

I can't wait to have a "grandmother & granddaughter" day with her . . . all to myself . . . yeah ! ! !

Dick and I are very blessed . . .

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A Wonderful Day

What a wonderful day I had today . . . I spent it with Little Miss, Sienna . . . and it was truly awesome ! ! !

Sandy joined us for a fun time . . . Sienna wanted to have lunch at a "real restaurant" . . . so we took her to Scupper Jack's . . . and she really enjoyed herself . . . what a good girl she was too . . . the waitress was so impressed with her that she kept coming back to talk with her . . .

We were there only a little while when Sienna seemed to look all around . . . and then she turned to me and said . . . "this is kind of nice" . . . Sandy and I almost cracked up . . . it was good to get her "approval" on our choice of restaurant . . .

I guess she kind of got pooped out . . . on the way back to Marlborough she fell asleep . . . so we took her into the house and put her on the sofa for a little nap . . . while she was sleeping Sandy had to leave . . . when Sienna woke up she asked . . . "where did the girl with the white hair go" . . . she is so so funny . . .

While she was trying to wake up . . . she lay on the sofa looking out the window . . . the day was really windy . . . she called me over to see the trees saying . . . "look Gran, the trees are going to fall over" . . .

Once she was wide awake we decided to go to the movies to see "Horton Hears the Who" . . . again she was wonderful . . . she sat through the entire movie . . . really paying attention . . . and sitting on my lap . . . reaching up with one hand and patting my cheek . . . oh what a great feeling . . . I could have sat there forever . . . she is such a love . . . and I truly love this child with all my heart . . .

We had the best day . . . nothing like a grandmother being with her grandchild . . . alone . . . for the whole day . . . what a gift . . . and what a blessing Sienna is . . .

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Where Did the Years Go !!!

I look at this picture of Adam with Olivia and I can’t believe where the years have gone . . . it seems like just yesterday that we brought Adam home from the hospital as a newborn . . .

When I see him with his own children, it just seems impossible to me . . . here he looks so much like his Dad did, when he would play with the babies . . . lay on the floor on a blanket and talk with them . . .

Such a "great Dad" . . . where did the years go ! ! !
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A Terrific Surprise

We received a very nice surprise 2 weeks ago . . . we found out that Adam, Isis, Sienna, and Olivia would be arriving from California the following week . . . which was last Thursday . . . what a terrific surprise !!

So the last several days have been spent just enjoying their visit . . . playing with the kids . . . and eating, eating, eating . . . which is something Sienna just loves ! ! !

Both girls have grown so much since we last saw them . . . especially Olivia . . . she is smiling all over the place . . .

And Sienna is very grown up . . . wearing her "big girl" pants all the time now . . . and she so loves her little baby sister . . . she is very much enjoying being the "big sister" to Olivia . . . and Olivia loves her too . . . you can just tell by the way she smiles at Sienna . . .

Adam left yesterday to go back to California . . . we wish he could have stayed longer to be here for Easter . . . Isis and the girls will be here for almost another week . . . so we are looking forward to some more fun times . . .

We will miss them all so much when they go home . . . but for right now . . . we are just enjoying them . . . what blessings they are ! ! !

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42 Years !!!

Today . . . Dick and I celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary . . . sounds like such a long time . . . but yet, it feels like only a short time ago . . . on a cold and snowy February day . . . that we made our vows to each other . . .

God has been really good to us . . . we have four wonderful sons to be so proud of . . . Rick, Todd, Bryan, and Adam . . . they’ve all grown into terrific men . . . each contributing to our society in their own way . . . they have each found a special woman to be their life partner . . . Tracy, Andrea, Ileana, and Isis . . . and have built lives together that make them happy . . .

In some ways, time has really flown by . . . the years the boys were growing up . . . watching them advance in school . . . attending their sports and music events . . . and all the other things they were involved in . . . helping to make them the men they are today . . . there are still times that I miss all of that . . .

We may not have accomplished a lot in material things in 42 years . . . don’t have a huge gorgeous house . . . or fancy cars . . . or any of that kind of stuff . . . but we have so much more . . .

A family that is wonderful . . . and grandchildren that are the best . . . Benjamin, Peter, Danielle, Kassie, Sienna, and Olivia . . . who could ask for anything more . . .

We’ve seen a lot of places in our life together . . . we both love to travel and have had vacations in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, California and Canada . . . and there are so many more places we hope to visit together . . .

We’ve lost people who meant a lot to us over the years . . . Aunt Flo and my father, Howard . . . but we’ve also been blessed to have my mother, Rita . . . now almost 80 . . . to be with us for so many happy family occasions . . . and also for guidance and love . . .

I pray our sons will also have long lives together with their wives and families . . . and many many blessings . . .
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