PHINALLY!!!!!!

Wow! More than 12 hours after the fact, it still isn't quite sinking in. World Series Champions.

Elation, relief, celebration. This town hasn't seen the likes of this in a long time-- a very, long time. I was 12 the last time there was a Phillies parade down Broad Street. And, now at 40, I will happily attend this one with my 4 children in tow.

What really impressed me was this team. They were not boastful or egotistical like many other athletes in other sports. These guys were a team- a textbook definition of one. They worked together, supported each other and were always thanking each other even for their own accomplishments. They were each so humble in their remarks and all thanked the Philadelphia fans. It made a lot of us cry-- not only for the magnitude of their accomplishments, but for the way in which they accomplished it. They are an incredible group of guys and we will never forget them. Thank you, Phillies, for bringing a championship back to this town. Thank you for making us proud again. Thank you for giving us something to celebrate in these troubled times.

We Philadelphia fans are a special breed. We love our teams with a passion that cannot be duplicated in any other city. That enthuiaism will again be on center stage at the parade tomorrow for the whole world to see.

Yo, Adrian! We did it!!!

Turning 40

On September 17th, I hit the "milestone." 40. It didn't seem to hit me, at first, as I have always considered myself a kid at heart. However, some things started to come into focus and I realized that I am indeed, if not old, certainly getting older.


You know you are getting old when your doctors/surgeons are younger than you are! I guess that was really what hit me lately. My husband's kidney surgeon, who operated on him for 5 hours on Monday, is younger than me. He was only graduating from medical school when I preparing to have our second child. Oh well, I guess there are certainly advantages to having a younger doctor, but I won't say that it didn't get to me, even just a little bit. :-)

You also know that you are getting old when most players on your baseball team, which has finally reached the World Series (after a whole lot of years!)(GO PHILLIES!) are more than half of your age! Most of them were not even born when I stood on Broad Street and celebrated the first and only Phillies World series victory 28 years ago with the rest of Philadelphia.

You know you are getting old when you go into a sporting goods store to buy a t-shirt commemorating said Phillies entry into the World Series and the salesman tells you that he was born in 1989, so he has no recollection of the World Series loss in 1993 and his parents weren't even married yet when the Phils won in 1980. yegads!

Even though my birthday was last month, we had a big celebration this past Sunday. It was a wonderful time! We actually rented a place called TNT amusements, that has a gazillion (ok, not a gazillion, but a lot) of video and arcade games. My family and friends got to play to our hearts' content for 2 hours.
My children were amazed at our favorite games like "Centipede," "Ms. PacMan," "Frogger" and "Space Invaders." It was fun feeling like a kid again, even with our primitive graphics. :-)
We went back to the house afterwards for some of mom's homemade cooking and my baking and a really good time was had by all. The nicest thing, though, was actually seeing everyone relaxing and playing and if even for the shortest time, not having a care in the world. :-)

Four Generations!!!

This morning, my aunt and 91-year old grandmother left after spending a wonderful 2 weeks with us. It flew by too fast! It seems like you always wish you had more time to talk, share, and hear some of the "old" stories just one more time. :-)

I also wish I would have taken more photos, but this one is of four generations- my grandmother, dad, me and my four children. I'm going to quote the MasterCard commercial and say that this photo is, beyond any doubt, "priceless."

This next photo is with my aunt in it, as well. P.S. Don't you love all of our shirts? GO PHILLIES!!!

Our baby loses her first tooth!

Kiddo #4's first tooth is gone! My baby isn't such a baby anymore. Most people tell me that she's young to lose her first tooth, but all of my children have lost their first tooth at exactly the same time-- one month before they turn 5! :-)

The tooth was wiggly for awhile. Since Blue (the dog) in her book "Blue and the Tooth Fairy" wiggled her loose tooth everyday, Kiddo #4 followed suit. She wiggled it in the morning. She wiggled it in the car. She wiggled it at night. It got to the point where the poor thing was literally hanging on only by a thread. I told kiddo #4 to give it a good tug. She was scared and said it may hurt.

Then, a lightbulb went off.

I went to the fridge, got out an apple, proceeded to cut it for her and asked her to take a bite. One bite is all it took. And the rest, is tooth fairy history. October 7th was recorded as the monumental day in her baby book.

I'm not sure if the picture is clear enough, but it is the bottom center tooth on her right. It always amazes me how the first tooth to come in is the first tooth to come out.


The adult tooth is visible already and is actually loosening the tooth next door. So, the wiggling several times daily begins yet again.... No apples yet. :-)

Tomato Time!

Well, it was that time of year. Time for the 10+ bushels of tomatoes from a farm in New Jersey. Time for the countless hours cutting, cooking, straining and jarring. (it usually goes about 10 hours from start to cleanup) But, a year's worth of homemade gravy (that's "sauce" for the Italian-impaired) is so, so worth it!

2 basil leaves are added to each jar for seasoning. The kids were proud that we had more than enough basil from our own garden to put in each and every jar.
We even picked enough plum tomatoes to yield 2 jars of our own! We are lucky enough that we still have peppers, eggplant and tomatoes still growing. It is supposed to get a bit cooler in the upcoming weeks. But, all of the fresh (and pesticide-free!) vegetables were wonderful all summer long!

I did not have an official job during the whole tomato process other than trying to keep the kids occupied and away from the hot surfaces. My husband and mom cut the tomatoes
while dad cooked them.
















Mom and dad strained twice









before putting back on the stove one last time to get hot enough for jarring.
















Mom and dad also sealed. I think there were blisters to prove it!

Happy Birthday Kiddo #2!!!

On August 25, our kiddo #2 turned 9. Happy, Happy Birthday! Our little genius had a very rough entry into life with shoulder dystocia and a long, hard labor. The poor pumpkin looked like he endured several rounds with a professional boxer. He tipped the scales at 10 pounds, 12 1/4 ounces! :-)

He is a sweet, sensitive,very independent kid, who loves to "teach" the basics to his younger siblings. He sometimes has more patience with them than I do! :-) Kiddo #2 has always had a voracious appetite for anything mathematical or related to the computer and has always loved to read, having taught himself around 2 years of age.

Kiddo #2 got to celebrate three times! Of course, he got to celebrate with us on his actual day,(you can see his little sister, big brother and Nan in the background),









he had a party at a local arcade retailer with all of his friends









and then he had a family party complete with his Nan's homemade cooking.
It was a very celebratory week.









And, to top it all off, he got his wish from Mommy and Daddy- tickets to an Eagles game, which happened to be 3 days after his birthday. He decided to take his daddy and Uncle Bill with him and they had a super time.


Happy Birthday sweet pea! We love you!

Better Late than Never- Ocean City vacation pics!

We spent a wonderful week from August 16-23 in Ocean City, New Jersey. For the first time in all of the years that I can remember, we had a perfect weather week! We could not have asked for better. I still remember the week that we had rain for 6 out of the 7 days! :-)

The kids had a blast playing on the beach, swimming in the pool
and going on all of the amusement rides on 2 different piers. Of course, squeezing in ice cream for dessert almost every night on the boardwalk wasn't a problem! For Mommy, it was funnel cake! (my once a year shore-time vice!)

We flew kites, played miniature golf and Kiddo #1 went with his dad to the air show in Atlantic City to see the Thunderbirds, which thrilled him! There are always visits to the arcade to play games and win small trinkets, which thank goodness, this year included something a bit more practical- soft rubber balls, which the kids still find entertaining

So, it was a fun-filled, activity-packed week which we really enjoyed. Much thanks to Nan and Pop-Pop (my parents) who rented the condo. We are very grateful.