Last day of first grade

 Last day as a first grader!

 

 The whole bus stop gang (plus an honorary member)

 

 

 Rushing off of the bus at the end of the day (with blue mouth and all) to be greeted by....

 

 

 

 some summer fun!!

 

 

We had bubble wands, water guns, noodles, popsicles and drinks ready to go.

 



 Armed and ready to go

 

 

Another year done and lots of great memories

Teacher love

This year we went with an orange theme for Lily's teacher's end of the year gift.

 

 I just can't resist.....such sweet appeal

 

 

And in a repeat appearance from the last year - the kids holding signs and showing some teacher love.

Good-bye Grandpa Sam

My grandpa passed away after massive stroke last week.  At 91 years old, he was as vivacious as ever.  The doctors said his vitals resembled that of a 24-year-old, even after the stroke.  He was a colorful character who lived life to the fullest.  There was no doubt about it; he loved his life.  A memorial service was held yesterday in his honor.  It was sweet, sentimental and funny, and I think he would have loved it. 

 

Yesterday's service was the result of a huge family effort.  Everyone helped in their own way, from organizing the service to making picture boards to setting up the family gathering at grandpa's house afterward to making the food for all to enjoy.  So many little pieces that came together in a flawless way, and really, I expected nothing less from my mom's family.  Grandpa's legacy was his children, grandchildren and great-children.  The love and support that exists in the family is incredible and a true testament to grandpa's life.

 

My contribution to the service was a short presentation about grandpa's life and the life lessons learned from him which I have recreated below.  Good-bye Grandpa Sam..."for never before...has the world ever known a you, my friend, and it never will, not ever again" (quote from the book On the Night You Were Born).

 

 

A Life Like Sam's:  Lessons Learned From My Grandpa

 

 

 

 

 

 

A wise woman (otherwise known as my Aunt Cathy)

 

 

recently said that people come into our lives either to learn a lesson or teach a lesson.  I have no doubt that my grandpa was put in my life to teach not just one but many lessons, and I would like to share some of them with you today.

Despite his time as a medic in World War II, Sam was a lover, not a fighter. 

 

And his first love was Lorraine. 

At that time, in the city of St. Louis, an Irish girl may have thought twice about getting involved with an Italian boy, but this was not just any Italian boy we are talking about.  This was Sam.  And as he would tell you himself, his devilish good looks were hard to resist.  I will have to note here that among grandpa’s many traits, humility is not one of them.  His lack of humility applied not only to himself but to his family as well.  Sam was infinitely proud of his beautiful daughters

and his equally stunning boys….

 

but how could it be otherwise, really?  I mean, we are talking about the offspring of the Italian Stallion here. 

Sam taught his children to be proud of their roots, and while his children and grandchildren may have many different backgrounds, I think we all know the nationality that counts the most. 

Sam worked two jobs to make ends meet while the kids were growing up, but he found ways to carve out special times with the kids, such as taking along a little helper to his night job or baking cakes with his youngest daughter, Chris. 

Life was definitely meant to be celebrated, and you didn’t need extravagant things to do it.  A weekend trip to the shower house and a tomale from the tomale cart could serve well as special treats for successfully making it through the week.

Ultimately, Sam lived his life with the understanding that we should work hard, but play hard too. 

Enjoy life and don’t take things too seriously. 

 

Dance

 

and be silly. 

 

But rest when you need to.

Travel as much as possible to appreciate all this world has to offer, even if the only travel companions you can find are a couple of hippies. 

Be adventurous. 

And don’t be afraid to try new things.

Time is precious so use it wisely.  You will never spend a day better than one spent with family. 

And if you can work it around a good homemade meal, all the better. 

If not a homemade meal, getting someone else to pay for your meal works just as well.

Grandpa was fond of telling all of us (in-laws included), they we are all here because of him.  Truly, your children,

grandchildren,

 

and great-grandchildren

 

 

are your legacy.  So make time for the next generation. 

 

You won’t regret it.

Never be afraid to speak your mind.  No one asked you how their hair looks or how they look in their outfit?  Never mind that.  Sam’s keen sense of style and fashion advice was too good not to be shared.

Cease every opportunity.  Find yourself in the hospital on occasion?  Great!  This presents the perfect opportunity to flirt with nurses or to set your granddaughter up with one or all of the doctors.

Be spontaneous.  If you happen to have a free moment in the day, visit a family member at work.  Never mind that 1.  They are working or 2. You don’t actually know where your granddaughter works and show up at the wrong school, and in fact, the wrong town, entirely.

Express your faith in your own way,

but always be grateful for your many blessings.

Above all, be your own person (despite what the neighbors may say about your lawn ornaments). 

 

Grab life by the horns and enjoy every moment.

 

Sam always said that he absolutely loved his life.  We should all only be so lucky to live a life like Sam’s.

 

Emilia Jane

I feel terrible that I have not provided the updates on Emilia that I did for Lily and William.  I think I've missed updating the blog on almost every major milestone from first tooth to first steps to first words.  I don't think I've ever really even explained her name.  For the record, we wanted a name that began with "E" and had Italian roots in honor of my Italian mom, Eleanor.  Emilia's middle name, Jane, stems from Carl's mom's name, Janet.  We really wanted to honor each of our parents when naming our children, and I'm happy that we were able to do that and have names that we really love for our children.  And there it is, only 18 months late.

Emilia's personality is fairly serious.  She is typically calm and tends to really examine people when she first meets them.  She loves, loves, loves her coat (and towels and blankets).  Lately it has been hard to get her to stop wearing her coat for any length of time it so that we can wash it.  She also LOVES dogs.  In fact, her first sentence (spoken last Thursday) was "doggie says woof, woof".

Emmy has been very effective making her feelings known for quite some time now (I think this is partly for survival when you are the third), but more and more she is using the appropriate words to communicate.  One of my favorite things is when you ask her how she's doing, she'll say "good" which sounds so funny coming from such a little girl. 

One of my other favorites about Emmy right now is the emphatic nod when she wants to say yes.  Her "no" is still adorable to me although I'm sure that it will lose its appeal in the not-so-distant future.  She has such a streak of mischief in her and in such a quiet, sneaky way.  She loves to turn off the tv when William and Lily are watching it because she knows it will get a rise from them.  She also loves to play in the dirt of our potted plants because she knows it will get a rise from us. 

Like William, Emmy loves to be outside.  Unlike Lily at this age, she actually enjoys the stroller which is fortunate so I can keep her contained while watching William ride the scooter and bike up and down our street.  She too enjoys riding her little bike, and I don't think it will be too long before she can ride along with the big kids.

William, Lily, and I took a trip to St. Joseph recently to attend Mary's First Communion.  We decided that this would provide the perfect opportunity to stop breastfeeding.  It was a successful break for the most part.  She was not too happy about it, and my body is still not too happy about it, but it was time.  Like most transitions with Emmy, it was bittersweet.  It is always exciting to move to a new phase and achieve new milestones, but with the last child, there is always that thought, "I will never experience [X] again with my children".  Although I like the increasing independence that Emmy is achieving, I love being the mom of young children.  As she ages, I feel like I'm losing a little piece of that part of my identity forever. 

I've found out from my experiences with Lily and William that ages 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years is the hardest time for me, as a parent, thusfar.  It is just exhausting, as they have total mobility yet absolutely no sense of harm or danger.  There is so much disciplining and for so long, they just don't get it.  But, I know that the work and effort put in during this upcoming year pays huge dividends.  While William and Lily are both still very active and curious and certainly not perfect, they really are very sweet and kind children.  I very much believe that the limits set in these early years paves the way for a much easier road in the years to come.  So let the games begin!

Emilia has also tended toward the smaller side all along which we all know was not the case with William.  At her 18 month check-up, she weighed in at 22 lbs 15 oz and was 32 inches in height.  In my former days, I would have looked up Lily's and William's measurements at this age for comparison's sake, but that's not going to happen tonight.  My posts have become less frequent with the kids and working, but the school year is almost done for me (this Friday!).  So hopefully I'll be able to post a little more often.  I have a lot of pictures filed away that I may get to....someday.  Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

William's Preschool Graduation

 William had his preschool graduation ceremony on Thursday.  Since William has two more years of preschool ahead of him, this is really more of an end-of-the-year ceremony.  William will be attending a different preschool this fall, but we will likely enroll Emilia here when she turns 3 next year.  We had a great experience here, and we were really blown away by their end of the year celebration.  They had a slide show (given to us on cd to take home as well), a yearbook, and a disc of 400 pictures taken throughout the year which they also gave to each family to take home.  It is a given that I cried, so you need not ask.

 

 

 The ceremony was held in their theater. 

 

 

 They posted a wall of "When I grow up I want to be...".  William apparently wants to Spiderman.  For the record, I had no idea that he knew who Spiderman is.

 

 

 They had us bring in their dad's white dress shirt which they wore backwards as gowns.  I mean, adorbz.

 

 

 The children were brought up front and center to receive their certificates.  For each child, they talked about their personality and behaviors in the classroom and then predicted their future careers based on their observations.  For William, the director said that during dinosaur week, she was pointing out the various dinosaurs they had hung around the room.  As she was naming dinosaurs, he began correcting her, and she quickly realized that his knowledge of dinosaurs surpassed her own so his future career is predicted to be a Paleontologist. 

 

 

 So proud of my sweet boy

 My mom and Carl were both came to celebrate the event, but unfortunately we didn't get any pictures with the adults.  William was not in a picture-taking mood (naturally), but we got a few with William and Emilia.

 

 

 Emmy was all smiles, saying "cheese" and turning in the direction of each of our cameras.  What a little ham!

 

 

 Such a force of life and love

 

 

No daintiness when it comes to downing the cake. 

 

My mom and I took William and Emmy to a park near us to extend the celebration.  It was a beautiful day, and it was so nice to share it with family.  Thanks to mom for taking time to celebrate the small milestones in the kids' lives.  We could not be more proud of our little boy, and we are looking forward to more fun school celebrations with him in the future!