Birthday No. 61 . . . "oh no"

I had a terrific birthday . . . Dick picked some beautiful hydrangeas for me from his garden . . . I love hydrangeas ! ! !

I came home from work to the most gorgeous fruit bouquet . . . with yummy chocolate dipped pineapple and strawberry flowers ( I wish I had thought to take a picture of it before Dick and I started to eat ! ! ! . . . thank you Rick, Tracy, Ben, and Peter . . .

While we were busy eating these delicious treats . . . the UPS man came . . . with several dozen roses . . . absolutely beautiful . . . thank you Adam, Isis, Sienna, and Olivia . . .

On Friday evening we went to dinner with Todd and Andrea to celebrate . . . they gave me a birthday card to open . . . and out fell 2 tickets to "Neil Diamond at Fenway Park" ! ! ! . . . incredible . . . I could NOT believe it . . . that is going to be an awesome evening . . . thank you Todd & Andrea . . .

Mom came with us . . . and gave me my $$ birthday gift . . . to buy whatever I want . . . so now I am trying to decide . . . going to wait for a while . . . and come up with something really good . . .

Also received lots of cards and well wishes from other family and friends . . . thank you all so much . . . for helping to make my birthday a great day !!

Congratulations, Adam ! ! !

Adam has won the 2008 AFSCME California State Senate Legislative Staff Person of the Year Award . . . for the 2nd year in a row ! ! !

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Great Job, Adam . . .

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ok . . . I'll say it . . . I'm bragging here . . . but Dad and I are really proud of YOU . . .

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Happy 4th of July !

We celebrated July 4th on Saturday with the Rhode Island Keigwins in Kingstown . . .

it was great to visit with Scott & Jane . . . and meet their new little guy, Henry . . . Matt & Paige are all grown up . . . wow ! ! !

it was fun visiting with Jennie and Andy too . . . and their little people, Harry & Gracie . . .

and it was great to see Bev & Jack too . . . we haven't seen everyone for a long time . . .

I only wish all of our guys could have been there with their families too . . . what a great Keigwin reunion that would have been . . . just like the old days when we would celebrate July 4th in Warwick . . .

Happy 4th of July !!
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The "Last" Phil Craig Book

Well, I just finished the last Phil Craig book . . . it was wonderful . . . as always !!

I first discovered Phil's books in 1995 . . . I think there were 5 out then . . . and I read through them all right away . . .

Then every spring I looked forward to the new one coming out . . . and that was usually the first book I read every year in June . . . I would always try to make them last . . . tried to read very slowly . . . but each one was so good I just couldn't put it down until it was finished . . . and usually read it in one day !

Last May . . . Phil passed away . . . I had met him a few times at different author events . . . and he was one of the nicest people I have ever met . . . so so kind . . . one of my favorite authors . . .

It makes me sad to think I will never get to speak with him again . . . or to be able to look forward to another one of his books in the Spring . . . June reading will never be the same.

7 Days in California

I just got back from my trip to California . . . Sandy and I had a great time . . .

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the 4 days taking care of Sienna and Olivia were hectic and we were sure tired at the end of each day . . . but they were terrific days . . . sharing in the girls' daily lives . . . they are such little sweethearts . . . and it was so good to have such precious time with them . . .

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we had a great time visiting Amador wine country . . . and Napa too . . . the fires in Napa had the area somewhat smogged in . . . but it's still beautiful scenery . . . did some shopping . . . found a terrific quilt shop . . . and even managed to squeeze in a little time in San Francisco . . .

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we had some time with Adam and Isis before they left for the wedding . . . and again after they got back . . . and that was terrific too . . . just too short . . .

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somehow the time goes so quickly . . . and there is never enough of it . . . I love California . . . so so much to do there . . . a great place to visit . . .

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Sienna Graduated ! ! !

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Sienna graduated the other night . . . from "Toddler Two" . . . now she is officially in Preschool . . .

she was quite proud of her diploma . . .
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Olivia is getting so big . . . Adam & Isis are telling me she's rolling all over the place . . . and "talking" like crazy . . .


I can't wait to see them all . . .

5 more days !!!

One Week from Today

Just one more week . . . and I'll be leaving with Sandy for California . . . I can't wait . . . we are going to have a great time ! ! !

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I sure can't wait to see those two little cuties . . . Sienna sounds so grown up on the phone . . . and Olivia seems to be growing like crazy . . . I'm sure we will have a wonderful time with them both . . . probably will be quite tired at the end of the days that Adam and Isis are gone . . . but it will be a good tired . . . just being with them is going to be soooooooooooo terrific . . .

I've been busy getting my English paper pieces cut and basted . . . so I can take them with me to work on on the plane . . . I will be able to get a lot of blocks sewed together . . . if I can just get all these pieces ready . . .

this weekend I cut and basted 676 pieces . . . I have 91 to go . . . ! ! !

here is a photo of my FIRST finished English paper pieced quilt . . . it's out at the quilter's right now . . . so she can work her magical stitching on it . . . it will be ready when I return from California . . . I can't wait to get it back . . . put the binding on . . . and hang it over my fireplace . . . it's going to look so good there . . .

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Good News & Bad News

great job Ben !! . . . he earned a Gold Medal in his figure skating competition this past weekend . . . we're very proud of you . . .

and good for you, Peter !! . . . he had a tough time this past weekend . . . turns out he fell and got hurt . . . had to have several stitches in his head . . . boys will be boys I guess . . . and from what we hear . . . he was very brave at the emergency room . . . we're very proud of you too . . .
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Two Little Cuties

Aren't they 2 little cuties . . . I sure do miss them !!!

Thank you Isis . . . for keeping us up to date with photos . . .

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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