Time flies...

I was sitting at home the other night making my list of cookies to bake. I asked Dave what he wanted me to make, knowing full well that he would answer "I've never met a cookie I didn't like".

It was then that I realized that I did NOT have 3 weeks until Christmas, but only 2! YIKES! It happens every year - it is Thanksgiving and I think I have all the time in the world and then suddenly it is December 15th.

Welcome Colton Timothy!

Blessed!

Today I became an aunt for the 26th time! The first time was in 1988. On my side of the family of me and my 3 siblings, there are 13 grandchildren. Dave is one of 7 children and there are 16 on his side.

It was a little bittersweet because Colton Timothy will be the last of the grandkids on my side and is the only one who didn't have my mom here to greet him - although I'm sure she had her hand in him arriving ;) Colton is greeted by his brothers - Billy (7) and twins Anthony & Dominick (5) - they will give each other a run for their money...

Happy 17th Birthday Conor (and 15th Birthday to Robby!)

Conor,

Wow, it really does seem like yesterday that I was sitting in the doctor's office, 7 days overdue, and he said "Well, I'm going to put you in (finally!)". At this point, the doctor already knew you were over 9 lbs and more than ready to be born - although you didn't think so and were quite content to stay put. You always did like to snuggle!

At this time of the night on November 19, 1991, I was sitting in my hospital bed, holding a 9 lb 6 oz bundle that looked like he had gone 9 rounds with Joe Frazier. Bruised and red faced, there was no doubt you belonged to us.

Through the years, you have been my funny, singing, sweet, athletic little boy. Always the one with the quick wit. Enjoy the time sweetie, it goes by much too quickly - remember as you've always been told - you're a good kid.

Love always, Mom

P.S. Happy 15th Birthday to my nephew Robby - what a great 2nd birthday present you were to Conor and a cool thing to share forever!

I LOVE Babies!

We are anxiously anticipating our new nephew's arrival! My brother and his wife are expecting their 4th child - their 4th boy. He is due on November 28th, but the doctor has promised to induce by November 24th if Gina doesn't go sooner. Hannah said today that Gina looks like she is going to hatch! Honestly, she isn't very big normally, so she looks like she swallowed a beachball!

Anyway, we cannot wait for him to arrive! Since November is our birthday month, we are hoping he will come tomorrow for Dave's birthday, or Wednesday and share his birthday with his two other cousins, Conor & Robby!

Hurry Cole - you have a welcoming committee waiting!

The 2008 NYC Marathon

After making many lists and checking them twice, we discovered that Dave would have to leave Long Island via the LIRR on the 4:09 AM train (or as Paul said - the "butt-crack" of dawn). This meant the 4 adults setting all of the cell phones for 3:20, 3:25 and 3:30 - just in case! Even with getting the "fall back" hour for daylight savings time, I think Dave only got about 6 hours of sleep.

He left on the train at 4:09 and headed to Penn Station, where we decided he would take the #1 train directly to South Ferry, rather than another train to the Public Library and ride the bus. He ended up getting to Staten Island at 6:15 am - for a 10:00 am start. It was 40 degrees at that point. When I spoke with him at 7:30 he said he was sitting with 1000 other people all dressed up in trash bags to keep warm. It was a hard start to the day for him.

We headed out on the train at 10:00 am and ended up on 75th about 1/2 hour before he got to mile 17.5. We were easy to spot with our cool t-shirts - the whole big yellow bunch of us.

As we plotted our next watching spot, we headed toward Central Park. After buying cinnamon nuts, cashmere scarves and hoodies from street vendors (it was sunny, but still only 45!), we say some people cheering in the park. We walked up and found Dave at mile 23! (pic at right). He spotted the girls standing on a guard rail yelling his name!

After realizing he would easily finish before we could get to the end of the race, we decided to cut across Central Park (which is much bigger than one would think!) After trying to figure out if we should take this path or that path, we realized that 1. It is the prettiest park around, and 2. We may or may not have been part of a Law and Order episode. The kids were spotting sights from Home Alone, Elf and 27 Dresses. Led by their pied piper uncle - yes, the Lt. Col. - we finally found our way past the end.

Dave was waiting for us at Central Park W and 81st St. - along with 2000 other people. Conor spotted him first and we got to take a picture with him! He finished in 3:54:33 - 11004th place out of 37880 runners - top 29%!

All 5 of us (Emily, Dave, Hannah, Jill, Conor) - minus the LI branch of our family!

The great NYC weekend! Marathon Time - 3:54:33

Last Thursday we left after work for NYC - well, Long Island actually. We loaded the van with the 5 of us and our niece, Tess, who is 4 months older than Emily and drove the 415 miles east.

On Friday, we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - that was about all of the history the kids could stand. We headed uptown to the Marathon Expo to pick up Dave's packet and get some healthy snacks to hold us over until dinner. Kristi & Kyle headed back to LI so Kyle could get some trick or treating in, while the rest of us stayed with Paul & Katherine to visit Times Square, Rockefeller Center and Grand Central. It was Halloween, so the city was a bit freakier than normal :)

Saturday, the girls wanted to shop and I wanted to go to the beach, so we did both. Roosevelt Field Mall is really nice, a lot of the same stores they have here, but some new ones too! We visited Jones Beach and played some beach soccer and hung out. It was a beautiful day - about 68 degrees - too cold to swim, but just right to hang out.

Sunday was RACE DAY! We found out late Saturday night that Dave would have to get up at 3:30 am (the buttcrack of dawn) to catch the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station, then a subway to South Ferry to catch the Staten Island Ferry. He made it to Staten Island by 6:15 - the race started at 10:00 am. (live and learn...)


More about Race day later - it deserves a post all on it's own!

This and that...

It is SNOWING! Yikes - luckily it isn't sticking, but still... It is supposed to be 60 by the weekend, no wonder we are all getting sick!

Since we are leaving for NYC tomorrow - it is time to get packed up! We've been talking to Paul & Kristi (in the pic on the left with Dave in Nags Head, NC last year!) almost daily and the only thing we've determined is that we will go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and Hannah HAS to go to the American Girl Store - oh and that Paul will drive Dave to the Staten Island Ferry at 5:30 am on Sunday (what a great brother!)

Since traveling has been on my mind, here are some pictures from our most recent "vacation" - March to the

Grand Canyon.(they just made me feel warmer on a day like today!)

Well, time to make some lists on what we have to pack! Say a small prayer that whatever "car trouble kibosh" someone has put upon us goes away and we make it the 420 miles safely to NYC!

It's FALL!

A good friend of mine recently reminded me that I need to post more often - so here it is (I really promise this time!) (Also - Happy 16th Birthday to my niece Katie!)

(Pumkins: Dave, Hannah, Emily, Conor-
P.S. Dave and Conor were too busy sneaking out of the room to watch Criminal Minds to fully plan the carving of their pumpkins!)

Ahh...leaves are changing, pumpkins are being carved, our small town is holding trick-or-treat the Saturday BEFORE Halloween(as is usual, heaven forbid the kids wander out 'in the dark'...) - it MUST be fall...

I find it amusing that I've spent the last 18 years trying to develop, maintain and beat family traditions into my children, often to be rebuffed, or have them grudgingly come along. Now that Emily is in college and is often working when the rest of us are doing "fun things", she has taken it upon herself to be the "official family scheduler of all things that are - or may have once been-our family traditions" - this includes making it mandatory that everyone clear their schedule on her day off so we can ALL carve pumpkins together - even if it happens at 9:30 on a school night. Of course, where else would we get these kinds of "happy family pictures" - yes they were mugging for the camera...

Our other family outing this month was to take a trip to Linesville, PA to the spillway- this was after a trip to "Peter's Pumpkin Patch" - a locally owned pumpkin farm where my mom and dad have taken the grandkids for years. so the kids wanted to make sure they kept that tradition up. We bought 18 pumpkins and headed north to "feed the fish" - this is a place where my parents have taken me and my brother and sisters since we were small. It is a carp spillway on Pymatuming Lake - you toss bread and the fish literally climb over each other to get to it - and it's FREE! (watch this video!)

(photo: Conor, my Dad, nieces Katie & Liz, Hannah and Emily, my sister in law Gina - 8 months pregnant, and me! In front are Gina/Bill's boys, Billy and twins Anthony & Dominick - 8 1/2 of the 12 1/2 grandkids present)

Our next "family trip" will be this coming week, when we head to NYC for the ING New York City Marathon. This will be Dave's 4th marathon and has been on his short list of runs he wanted to do. Unfortunately, it is a lottery system - you enter your name in February and in May, they let you know if you are in - he wasn't. The good news is, he is friends with a girl at the running store and she was able to get him a vendor's entry from ASICS - which are the shoes he wears anyway, so they should sponsor him. It's been a long training season for him, and I'll be glad when it's over. I think the marathons are too much for him and would rather he do the shorter runs. The kids have never been to the marathons, so this will be a first for them. The girls are looking forward to shopping - Dave wants to see the Statue of Liberty. We will stay with Dave's brother Paul and his family on Long Island during our trip.

That is about it for October - next month is "birthday month" - Dave will be 47 on Nov. 17th and Conor will be 17 on Nov. 19th. AND we will have a new baby -well, not me, but my brother, which is even better because I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night - we know it's a boy - probably Nicholas - he is due Nov. 28th, but I would bet money he comes before that.

(Dave, helping Conor with his tie before the Homecoming Dance)

Congratulations Emily Q!

When you first have a child, people tell you "Enjoy it, time flies by..." Well, I'm here to tell you they are RIGHT! On June 1st, our oldest daughter Emily Quinlan (middle name is Grandma Pat's maiden name!) graduated from High School. (Right: Emily with Dave's mom and my dad)

It was a beautiful day with 179 graduates in the high school gymnasium where I graduated 26 years ago. Dave's mom and my dad were present along with my sister Jodi (her godmother) and her family. We had a small gathering at our house after, but the BIG party is this Sunday! (Left: Emily with her godparents (my brother & sister)

A good friend of the family made her a sign from the party invitation - as if we didn't already recognize the freakiness of genetics - everyone was amazed at how much Hannah (11) looks like Emily did as a child. She didn't start out that way, but certainly has ended up. Our neighbor asked why we put Hannah's picture on Emily's sign!

Since I'd be remiss if I left out my other child - this is what we've been doing when we are not planning senior activities.... Conor has been on a traveling club soccer team - I've seen 3 different beaches along the shores of Lake Erie over the past 4 weeks - about 130 miles apart! (Conor on the right - not the keeper!)

I'm back...

Ok, I finally remembered how to log in to my blog. Remember, my New Year's resolution was to blog more often (well, at least the diet/exercise resolution has held up...)

Since December 28th I've lost 20 lbs. Someone asked me how and I said "Well, diet and exercise as I should have years ago - I guess it really does work" I still have quite a bit to go, but I'm moving at a speed where I don't want to quit, so that's something. I've become somewhat enamored with spinning. I have a love/hate relationship with my hour long class. I dread starting, but once you're in, there is no stopping. I don't think I've ever sweat so much or been so drained and exhilerated at the same time.

We are neck deep in the end of school year stuff - this year is really different because Emily is graduating from high school. Everytime I write or say that to someone, it becomes more and more hard to believe. She has grown into such a beautiful young lady and we are very proud of her. Conor got his drivers license (my hair is turning gray as I post this). He is a good driver, but it is scary nonetheless. Hannah and I went to NYC last weekend on the "5th grade trip" - sleep on the bus going, get off bus, tour NYC for 16 hours, get back on the bus and sleep for the 7 hour ride going home. My favorite part - arriving in Rockerfeller Plaza and finding out that mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral was in 20 minutes and my friend saying "Go! We'll take Hannah with us - call us when you are done!" It is an AWESOME place! Hannah at 11 has decided that she will attend school in NYC and we can visit her (ok!). Hannah become very adept at haggling with the "men who sell counterfeit things on the street". Asking how much for a cute Kate Spade purse and being told $45 - she just scoffed and said "I only have $15" - sold!

Aww...spring! Tomorrow is the big garage sale at my dad's house (I hate garage sales!) The older kids are going to Cedar Point with their French Club, and Dave is in charge of soccer signups for the rec league... Next up: I am off to Myrtle Beach with my dad next Sunday. My family is going for the week and I decided to take a few days for myself and fly down. I talked Dad into flying with me so he would only have one 14 hour car ride (back) with the 7 year old, 5 year old twins, my brother and my pregnant sister in law! (No thanks - I'll fly!)

Defend Youngstown

I was born in the rural area of Youngstown and now live just outside of the city limits. I work in the city and often find myself "Defending Youngstown" (even before the popular slogan!) It is an old town with many great attributes that I do believe is making a comeback. No, I can't shop at Strouss' and have a malt like I used to do in 1986 because they have long closed, but I do walk to the Butler, the YMCA and if you haven't visited Mill Creek Park, you are really missing something. I do not allow myself to be fearful of driving around the old neighborhood where my mother grew up and I used to run around or take my "shortcut" on the way home through the east side occasionally. I am appalled and often ashamed of some of my "suburban friends" who do not come to a football game at YSU because "you'd have to go into the city". Are you kidding me?

The homicide rate in Youngstown for 2007 was just shy of 40 people. This is horrifying for a city who in 1930 had a population of over 170,000 and according to the 2000 census was at around 82,026 . I fear the years of joblessness, aimlessness and lifestyle choices have finally caught up with a portion of the population now in the 2nd or 3rd generation of this cycle because most of the murders are criminals killing criminals. (Here is why I suspect this...when they show a picture of the deceased and it is a mugshot, they've haven't been living a squeaky clean existence...)

This was never more evident then yesterday when we had the dubious achievement of having the largest death rate from one crime in our history. An 18 year old man, allegedly angry over a argument about a cell phone, and who had a history of altercations with this particular family, poured gasoline on their front porch and set it on fire at 5:30 a.m. This fire moved so quickly that 6 members of the family were unable to escape, a grandmother, her daughter and her 4 grandchildren - ages 8, 5, 3 and 2. This senseless act is almost unimaginable to comprehend.
Our finest - The YPD and YFD were extremely quick and diligent to gather the information and arrest the suspect within hours and he is in jail, where I hope he will be for the rest of his natural life. (Fighting the instinct I had yesterday where I went back and forth from wanting him set on fire in the street, to letting him go and let the neighbors take care of him - I've calmed down now after horrifying my 11 year old with my suggestions.)

I was talking to a friend the other day - she is a recent college graduate and graduated from a city high school 4 years ago. She was saying how when she goes to her alma mater to do work now, she almost doesn't recognize it and can't believe how much things have changed in 4 years.

We were talking about what kept us out of trouble when we were growing up and agreed that it was the good old-fashioned fear of our parents (and grandparents) - both fear that we would disappoint them or (in my case) I would receive a visit from "the board of education" (yes, that they had a paddle with that logo on it - who manufactures those?)

I think when the economic downfall of our area came, most of the population still had a work ethic where you didn't sit at home and collect a check. You made the best of what you had, got an education and if you got out of line, your parents were there to put you back on it. When single-parent families became more prevalent than 2 parent families, the grandparents who "remembered when" were still there to instill some of these values - sadly these people are now gone. Working in the education field, it is so frustrating to try to get through to students that an education is their ticket out of any problems going on in their lives now, when so many parents don't support it.

My heart goes out to the family of the deceased and I will continue to wonder about the alleged firebug and his cohorts and family situation... sigh...

Post rant workout update: The January weather in Ohio is not conducive to my workout routine and I'm getting tired of it. It has been in the teens for almost a week now and I've been relegated to the rec center when I'd rather be outside walking or attempting to jog. The upside of the rec is that I finally overcame my fear of speaking to the student workers and pretending I knew how to use the machines and gave myself up to a nice girl named Krista who demonstrated the machines and gave me my own circuit workout to follow!

2008...

2008 resolutions

1. Get in shape - I've abandoned the "lose weight" resolution I've had since 1979 for something that sounds like something I can actually do... So far, I've been to the rec center on campus enough times that the 19 year old who could be my son doesn't look at me like I'm lost when I ask him for a lock for my gym locker (one step at a time!)...
   
2. Travel - this August will be mine and Dave's 20th anniversary! It is also the year our oldest child, Emily, graduates from High School so obviously our BIG anniversary trip is out for this year - although we are shooting for Italy for our 25th! Dave decided to not make me sit through another Boston Marathon, even though he was still qualified for 2008, so we have booked a small 5 day trip to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas for March. Dave has always wanted to go back to the Grand Canyon and hike, so off we go (this, of course, gave birth to resolution #1 so I don't have a heart attack during our trip - hmmm, maybe this was his master plan all along)...
   
3. Graduate - If all goes well, I should graduate from YSU with my Bachelor of General Studies (aka Liberal Arts) degree in December. This is a bit longer than my resolution of 2005 which was "get your BA before your child starts college", and since I graduated from high school in 1982, MUCH longer than my 4 year plan, but oh well...I did get an AAS in 1997 so that makes me feel better... (Note to my kids and nieces/nephews - FINISH college before you are 25!)
   
4. Let go a bit - As I watch my kids grow up, each in their own way, I've decided that the more I let them figure it out on their own, the more they do, without ending up in rehab or jail. Emily will head off to college (well, not really "head off", since she and I will be attending the same college), Conor is getting his driver's license and Hannah is our valedictorian in training, and much to the chagrin of her older siblings, can now verbally joust right back at them. Emily and her friends (3 guys, 3 girls - no romantic involvement) recently researched and booked a condo at the beach for their senior trip (that sound you hear would my my mother rolling in her grave because I am allowing this to happen!).
   
5. Blog more often - I have had the pleasure of having a great "cyber friend" Jessica for over 7 years now. She and I met on the Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Board when she and Dave were diagnosed at the same time in 2000. She has her own blog that I absolutely LOVE. She is so creative, both verbally and artistically that it amazes me. It truly is a pleasure to know her and I often envision a newspaper article being written about us being cyberfriends for 50 years and finally meeting in 2050...
   
6. Take photos - Ok, I take pictures - mostly of the same people I always take pictures of, but my terrific husband bought me a great new camera for Christmas for the purpose of taking action photos of the kids sports and recreation stuff. I really need some lessons because I want to take PHOTOGRAPHS!