My Marriage Role Models...and the Party

 

Honestly?  I have never been so happy for a party to occur in my life.  Of course, I'm thrilled that my grandparents have stuck it out so long, but there was a selfish component, as well.  I was responsible for assembling a scrapbook of memories and photographs between the time I arrived in Columbus on Tuesday evening and the party Friday afternoon.  I became a little stressed with this task, and I am very grateful for my aunt who madly glue-sticked with me for the last couple hours prior to the event.

My grandparents.  You must understand, this is not a Donna Reed-esque marriage by any means.  Both of my grandparents have strong personalities, and thrive on their differences, to some extent.  This made writing up memories a little interesting.  All of us recited moments where it took 10 minutes to enter a store because there was a debate over which shopping cart to use, or the like.  (True, it happened with me.)  We decided that, perhaps, these were not the memories we wanted to highlight.  Obviously, we came up with ample positive stories, but we certainly had to turn on the internal filter!

That being said, I think this is what makes them GOOD role models.  I came from a family that had grit.  We have fights, we have "words", but we are a very loyal stock.  You stick it out.  You get over it.  And that is why you are strong.  You don't leave things unsaid, or bottled up, or hanging out in the wind.  To be fair, to some extent, this mentality has been difficult for my husband.

Recently, we have dealt with our opposite styles of "discussion".  Ok, arguing.  I let down my filter.  I say what I'm thinking.  And I expect him to do the same...but he doesn't.  Most of the time.  Chris's fighting style is to get quiet.  And there is no quicker way to aggravate me than to refuse to discuss what I see is the problem.  BUT, I do see this as an homage to my grandparents' successful marriage.  Is that bizarre?  I witness two people with the same style that succeeded.  They both have a minimal filter, and for that reason, or perhaps in spite of it, their marriage has bloomed.  

Back to the party.  We spent about an hour taking pictures at my parents' church, then headed over to Anna's Greek Cuisine.  You have to understand that Anna's is a Thanksgiving tradition for my family.  Sure, only my uncle is REALLY Greek, but we all love the food, and have it every post-Thanksgiving Friday.  Anna's wonderful, and specifically makes vegetarian dishes for the family, and we can't say enough good things about Anna and her restaurant.  It's very small, and in a strip mall, so we took up most of the restaurant from 4-6pm.  Well, maybe a little later, but we were supposed to leave!  Everything was DELICIOUS, and we had brought in cupcakes, which Robby indulged heavily in.  My grandparents seemed genuinely touched by the album, and we had a wonderful time.

The moment when he realized that the cupcakes had made my little OCD man "Dirty"

At home, my parents presented them with their project...a HUGE box of letters.  My father had snagged their email contact list and sent out emails to everyone, requesting letters and cards.  Then, some groups they belonged to had sent out further emails (including, accidentally to my grandparents), and my mother and aunt had posted the request on Facebook.  So, this ended up being less than a complete surprise to my grandparents, but they were overwhelmed by how many people responded.  We're talking about well over a hundred!  And they are continuing to show up at my parents house, even today.  They obviously have made a huge impact on people in their 60 years of marriage.  

I think the event was a huge success, and I'm so lucky to have them in my life.  Happy 60 years, Grandma Jane and Grandpa George!

Family Portraits

So...I took on a task that made me very nervous last week.  I took the portraits of my extended family.  Most of them, obviously, had to be done with a remote, some I took, and then a few I handed off to my brother or cousin, as they were smaller shots that I was in.  I can't remember who took the grandkids photo for the life of me.  Anyone want to own up to it?  Quick glimpse.  I promise I'll write more about Thanksgiving and the party later, but this is it for now.

Taken by remote.

Taken by mystery person.  Shelly?  Dad?  Bueller?  These are all the grandkids (and one great-grandkid).  Bet you'd never guess which one is my brother if you hadn't seen pictures before.  Man we don't look alike.  I know you're relieved, Jim.  ;)

Remote.  And is it me, or do I look like "Overly Attached Girlfriend" here?

All me!  Such an adorable Lion and great-grandpa image.

Guessing...Toran?  Jim?  Not sure.  The bags under my eyes are *heavily* edited.  Thank you Picasa.  I really would like Photoshop, though.  Hint, hint.  Unless one of you recommends some other program.

I really was disappointed that that was the best one of my immediate family.  Not that it was the photographer's fault!  Robby was being a bear by that point (it had been a LOT of shots, and it was dinner time), and Chris was distracted.  Oh well.  Can't decide whether or not to use it for the Christmas card.  And anyone that receives it better still act surprised.  ;)

I'm proud of myself for overcoming my "1st photo shoot" fear.  Honestly?  It would've been a lot easier if I wasn't in the pictures!  But, yay for personal growth, right?

Family Resemblence at 15 months

Ok, so it's a week before 15 months.  I was playing around with some pictures, and here are side-by-sides of Chris and I and Robby at around the same age.  The picture of me is shortly before I turned 2, but it's the best I could do.  I'll let you evaluate first.

Obviously, this is Chris (read the overalls) and Robby.

And this is me (see the dress) and Robby.

Chris does not agree, but I think that Robby looks more like me.  NO THIS IS NOTHING AGAINST YOU, CHRIS.  But, I like that there's some of my features.  Particularly my eyes.  Anyway, I don't have much to say, but there ya go.  Another quick picture post.    

Can't Wait for Cousins!

Ok, ok...SECOND cousins.  Whatever.  Chris's cousin Happy is due in May with a little boy, and we celebrated her shower this past weekend.  I think that her mom, in particular, has gotten a real kick out of watching Robby this year, because she knows her first grandchild will be experiencing the same stages at the same time of year.

I must say that I am SOOOOOOOO very proud of Robby for how well behaved he was at the shower.  Was he busy?  Absolutely.  Was there some screaming during the car ride?  Well, yes.  Did he have the most unhealthy food day ever?  Um, yeah.  But he did not really fuss at all the entire time we were at the party.  To the point that we were getting compliments left and right about how "my child never cries".  Bah ha ha ha ha!

He loved watching the dogs out the window, and tormenting them since they couldn't come in.

He also made friends with a cute little 8-month-old girl, who was equally well behaved.

And, the one time that wasn't perfect, is that he insisted on playing with all the wrapping paper as Happy unwrapped her gifts (which was fine), but then threw a little bit of a fit that we wouldn't let him unwrap presents before she got to them.  We're so mean.

Another second cousin, Nicole, took over a lot of the Robby-watching duty.  She REALLY wishes that she lived close enough to babysit...and her mother might feel the same way since she's been begging for a younger sibling, which isn't happening.  She did a good job, other than...  Ok, I had pretty much just let Robby languish in his carb-filled dream world of bread and crackers, but she let him go one step further and was apparently packing him full of sugar cookies.  Until Grandma noticed and stopped it.  Doh.  Oh well, he had a good time.  

Overall, it was a lovely day, and it was wonderful to see all of Chris's family...even if he wasn't there.

Family Portraits

I couldn't be more pleased with the decision to get family portraits done.  They turned out so beautifully, and we had such a terrific experience.  They were taken by a wonderful fellow-mom that I met through the WTE Philly boards.  Stephanie has two munchkins of her own, and runs Lighthouse Studios Photography.  Check her out!

Not only was she incredibly understanding when we got stuck in traffic, but she even put together some collages of photos to share with all of you!  Enjoy!!!

The photos were all taken at Linvilla Orchards in Media, PA, which I suggest everyone check out!  There were lots of things to see and do.  Although, once we were done we just went to brunch with Shammah and Cathy, and enjoyed lil man being an ANGEL while we sat around for an hour and a half and chatted.  I'm such a lucky momma!

(Family-types...if you want pictures, let me know.  There are many more shots, including more traditional ones of the 3 of us.)

Yet Another Busy Weekend

The fact that it's 8:30, Robby still hasn't woken up, and I'm able to write this should speak volumes.  Little man is EXHAUSTED.  And, for once, I'm not that bad.  For approximately a month, he has been a TERRIBLE sleeper.  I'm talking an absolute minimum of 3 times a night being up...with the average being close to hourly, and bad nights being every half hour.  Chris finally took pity on me and has actually gotten up a few times this past week.  But, no matter what anyone says, I do not have an easy baby right now.  Anyway, onto what exhausted him in the first place.  The weekend.

It all started when Chris and I went to the Penn State/Temple game on Saturday.  It was great getting out, walking around, talking, tailgating, like back pre-baby.  Robby was home with grandma.  So we got to meet up with some people that Chris works with, and then sit in phenomenal seats...and watch a really painful football game.  It turned out alright, but OOOH.  That was touch and go ya'll.

It got really exciting towards the end of the game...and not in such a great way.  There were a group of people sitting in the box behind us that, shall we say, didn't have good manners.  Everytime something good or bad happened, things would come flying out of the box and rain down on everyone below.  I should say, the people in the box were Penn State fans, as were all the people getting littered on.  As the game wore on, tensions mounted, and words started being exchanged.  And there were plenty of young children who should not have been hearing what was being said.  The people in the box were intoxicated, and there was one man in particular who just had this entitled smirk that was doing his best to add to the situation.  Security, of course, spoke to the people in the seats (who were doing nothing) and not to the people in the box.  As Chris said, he wishes he knew what company owned the box so that they could be informed what sort of behavior had been coming from it.  Oh well.

Saturday night, some relatives of Chris's came over for dinner.  I suppose they are his cousin's wife and daughter, but I'd say the relationship is more like sister-in-law and niece, but you get the point.  We frequently meet up with them at Penn State games, but they live in Virginia, so they hadn't gotten to see the house or the kid before.

The next day we got to see Karleigh play softball.  Her team is currently Virginia champions, so they travel to play a lot.  They demolished their opponents, and while Karleigh wasn't thrilled with her batting, she did make it on base and did well playing 3rd.  I'm so glad we got to see her play for the first time!  She's truly passionate about it and is hoping to be able to go to college on a scholarship.  Crossing our fingers, but looks pretty good!

As much fun as all of it was...I am thrilled to say that there isn't much planned for next weekend.  There may be by the time it rolls around, though.  So, better take a cue from Robby and catch up on my sleep.  

A Successful 4th of July Roadtrip

The Lion took his first roadtrip this weekend, and all of my fears turned out to be unfounded.  I feared that his sleep schedule would be terribly thrown off, that it would be exhausting for us, and that the car ride would be miserable.  In a word....nope.

The car ride up was especially not painful.  It's about a 2 hour trip to Chris's parents, and Robby slept almost the entire way, and only popped his eyes open once we were already in the town.  Score!  He settled in at Grandma & Grandpa's house, and Grandma happily cuddled the lil guy.  (Notice you can actually SEE me in a picture.  Chris took one!)
  

Soon enough, we headed over to a picnic at Chris's Aunt Margie's house, and the entire extended family got their turn.  Surprisingly, Robby's biggest fan was his 2nd cousin, Will.  I wish he lived closer because he offered a bunch of times to babysit.  Though, perhaps 11 is a little young.  ;)

And, of course, his sister wasn't going to be left out.

Harper enjoyed the trip, too, mostly because she got to steal Misty's toys.  She didn't last long at the lake house because certain Schnauzers (hmm hmm Monty) were picking on her.  Though she happily jumped in a few times before she had to go home.

 So, Misty just took over guard duty.

Robby slept well, both in people's arms and in his pack n play at night, only waking up 2 times.  But it was Chris's first time sleeping in the same room as the baby and getting woken up.  He was "exhausted".  I think one night in 6 weeks is pretty darn nice.

The ride home was less fun and involved some screaming, but generally, the trip was a smashing success, and WORE A BOY OUT.  He slept 12 hours last night with only one wake-up at 4:45.  By 8 I was checking if he was alive.  He finally joined the living world at 9.  Sheesh.  Must be nice.  Now if only I could quit CHECKING on him a million times a night, I'd be well rested.

Where have I been?

Oh the places I've seen...  Not really.  Nowhere particularly new, but MAN have we been on the road a lot!  It all started for Christmas when we went to Ohio to see my parents.  Then we spent a couple of quiet (ha!) days at home recovering, and, obviously cleaning.  You may have picked up on that hospital-style cleanliness is important to my husband.  He even took a 1/2 day off during that time to help me.  On Thursday, we drove up to Chris's parents, somewhere in the nowhere-lands of NE Pennsylvania.  We decided to torture them and leave Harper in their care while we went on to Rochester for my cousin's wedding on New Year's.  We were in Rochester overnight, came back to the in-laws, spent another night there, and finally made it back to our house sometime yesterday.  Yes, you should not feel ashamed if you are breathless just reading that.  Now we are overjoyed to be going NOWHERE for the foreseeable future.  Here are a couple of pictures I stole from my uncle, I'll do some uploading later.

My cousin Todd and his beautiful wife Meghan.  They've finally tied the knot after dating for 14 years!!!

Chris and I hanging out in the hotel lobby.  They had some delicious water "spiked" with orange slices.  Mmm...tasty.

The first picture of all the cousins together in TWELVE years.  Yes, there are spouses and kids in there, too.  I hadn't even MET 3 of Mike's 5 kids.  Been too long!  Going up and around in a horseshoe, my actual cousins are Mike (bottom L), me, my brother, Mariano (next to Jim), Christina (next to Mariano), Brent (in front of her), and Todd (the groom).  Debbie, Chris, Sara, Clay, Lindsey, and Meghan are just welcome additions.  All the kids belong to Mike and are Trevor (L), and from the top down: Alyssa, Ashley, Justin, and Amber.  So cute!

There will be more once I upload, but hope everyone had a fantastic New Years!

Catch up #1: Thanksgiving

I've had visitors coming/going/staying/eating/who knows they could have been putting on a circus....for over a week.  I was a little busy trying to be the best little hostess I could be.  My parents arrived 9 days ago (to help finish basement renovations), my brother and sister-in-law on Wednesday, then Chris's parents Saturday, when Jim & Sara also left, and then both sets of parents left today.  Phew.  Therefore...sparse blog posts.  But here's a quick peek at Thanksgiving day.

Mom and Harper reading a good book.  (Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - I haven't read it, but I did start the trend by buying it for my aunt.  Who recommended it to my mom.  Who tried to then recommend it to me.)

Around the dinner table.  No, I don't have a full-size dining room set.  They are all seated at my little 4-person table in a variety of chairs.  That's supposed to be eclectic and fashion-forward, right?

Of this?  I can only take credit for the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  (And apple pie later, which was awesome, but not pictured.)  Thanks to my mom, husband, and Sara who put in the hard labor.  (There's another table not pictured with a few pies, rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy, and yams.)

REALLY hoping someone will drop something.

Swear I was having fun...even if I look like I haven't slept in about a year.

Had to get a "family" shot with the fur-babies.   They probably would've been willing to pass on this one.

But, man, does my mom love her furry grand-kids.  Hopefully the human grand-kid rates as well!

I hope that everyone else's Thanksgiving was just as wonderful!