momma bear's place

the best stuff

2009-08-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

i am not even sure where to begin. we had the most amazing experience in May with the marriage of my neice megan to her new husband thomas. it was such a joyful day(i took 400 pictures!) but the family reunion was a reawakening of old relationships. we got to see cousins that i had not seen since i was a child and the connections were still there! we are planning a reunion in 2011. this whole thing just reaffirmed what i already know. i am sssoo blessed. i love my family. then in july we took our trip of a life time with the kids...our cruise. all went but justin who was touring with his band on warp tour. we swam with dolphins, saw Bermuda snorkeled, mopeded, jet skis, rock climbed, ice skated, ate VERY well. and guess what?..i still love my husband. it was like a honeymoon for us..after that camp hill scrapping with the ladies from the message board and one other sassy scrapper.I broke a personal record in pages done. apparently when you are not talking so much you get more done, but with less witnesses i shopped more. bad.now i am at warwick camp for i think my 8th year?now i miss my family. guy robert met a girl on the cruise and after a year of mourning his old girlfriend is finally happy and glowing again. Justin also ended things with jewlia and met another girl dulcie who just connected with all of us so he is glowing..tyler dates an awesome girl rachel who i love. It is so nice having girls around. on big guys birthday they all baked!!

i am one year out on my cancer surgery and coming on one year since radiation..

life is good.

next in the summer adventure...garage sale...

oh did i mention austin graduatedfrom east amwell and justin did warp tour with kelsey and the chaos...

2009-05-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

so a few things along the way...i discovered facebook which has made me be a bad blogger. not sure anyone reads this but if anything it helps me when i go back to scrapbooking or writng the annual christmas letter. so the pictures...the bear is from the charity crop i ran for pediatric cancer research, ride for erik a foundation my friend started,the picture of number 4 son austin rock climbing made it into nj monthly! i got a photo credit!(okay so i am totally best friends with the art editor but still)then there is the whole twins getting their pemits can i just say yikes. little guy driving, he says driving with dad and i together is pure hell. nice huh!then my little thespian morgan in annie finally i get to see a show instead of a soccer game not that i minded a soccer game but change is good.then my wonderful weekend away for estrogen infusion and scrapbooking with my sassy scrapper sb group.and last but not least..the twins turn 17! in other news my neice meg gets married in two weeks,justin is in indiana on tour with forever the sickest kids,and our cruise is coming yippee...now back to facebook...

oh yea justin is on tour all over

2009-02-02T18:27:00.001-08:00

2009-02-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

lots of random winter photos..justin on tour with his new girl jewelia..she likes taking pictures which really works for me!guy with his crazy warm hat,guy with is ex but our still much loved sammy p(long story)ice skating yes i said ice skating on a lake in nj, and 4 of my boys with gary gartling on new years. so far so good.

goodbye 2008, hello 2009

2008-12-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

so this year if God continues to bless me in this life,

i will travel somewhere new.

i will remain cancer free(God willing)

i will keep finding new ways to connect with my children

i will re do another room (and hopefully our deck)

i will live more in the moment

i will watch my neice get married

i will get more comfortable getting in and out of NYC

i will keep control of my irish temper, but i will not beg for forgivenenss more than once

i will try to be a better friend.

i will excercise regularily

maybe i will loose some weight.

I hope to see Justin find success

I hope to see Guy Roberts heart to heal

I hope tyler finds his passion

I hope austin stays true to his heart.

i hope Morgan always find joys in small treasures.

I pray to find my spiritual heart again and to not despair.

silliness

2008-12-10T16:48:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2008-11-30T16:30:00.001-08:00

blast from the past

2008-10-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

so dug this up from the oldies but goodies. i was 13 cathy was 16 i thik, rob 18. this was on our closed in porch that i loved. i just remember being in the foulest mood that morning. the photpgrapher worked with my brother, gunner i think was his name. some of my favorite pictures of my sister were taken this day. and of course i love seeing my dad.

going nuclear

2008-10-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

so here is the scanner that checked for all that nasty cancer, not fun but i put my mind in my happy place and with only one panic attack i made it through. those paddles are really close to your face.

the canister holds one capsule that is radioactive. you take it than you are radioactive for several days. my kids are shipped out to keep them safe.crazy. but whatever it takes to kill the cancer and get back to my life.

just want to mention that my life is amazing. i have friends who continulally blow me away with their support. my kids are cared for, meals brought to me, ministers ministering my soul, my workplace sending cards. i am blessed

my favorite girls at my favorite place

2008-10-08T18:02:00.001-07:00

so here are my dear friends, my posse, the group that will say anything and accept any thing. i know they are here for me and me for them. this is us at the princeton grill in avalon. this is a pre radiation getaway. I would tell you about it but the rule of this group is what is said in the group stays in the group.

aren't the cute

2008-09-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

aren't they cute?? this is tyler and his girlfriend on their way to a sweet 16.my boys never the traditional suits but it was semi formal i guess...

2008-09-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

braces on

morgan got them on a day after austin ot them off.

we celebrated Big Guys birthday with some thing new, the girl friends. I t was funny to think about how big our family will be once the boys are married.For now i am enjoyin the estroen around the house. it evens the balance at our house.

braces offcute couple
Guy and sammy gussied up for a sweet sixteen. i had the pleasure of dress shopping for sammy with her mom.

still here

2008-08-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

well hey, yes I am here. and yes it has been a bit of a weird journey thus far. On July 6 i had my surgery,and i would say the anticipation before was ssoo much worse than the surgery itself. the care was awesome , i remember kissing Guy goodbye and then waking up in recovery. they removed the whole thyroid. now here is the weird part. i had a biopsy before surgery that called the tumor cancer,then after the operation the surgeon told Guy the frozen section was inconclusive,but it looked very suspicious. well 5 days later the final biopsy came back benign. most people would be thrilled, but we had never been told there was any hope. something did not ring right to me, so i requested a biopsy done at Fox Chase(HMC sent the slides) and guess what?It was cancer. All I can say that someone was looking out for me that i did not just passively accept that one biopsy. i needed the tie breaker.so now they are on the road of readying me for a body scan and then radioactive treatment,which should be an adventure since i have to be isolated for 7 days...aahh hellooo..5 kids three animals??trying to figure out if i can get insurance to pay for a private beach house with a cabana boys with a radioactive proof thong LOL

anyway other events ths summer because as they say,life goes on...Tyler had surgery which i am sure he would be thrilled that i am postig about, suffice it to say it was something that needed to be done to improve his quality of life and he is so happy now.

We lost a dear friend from a heart attack this summer. Howard Mastropiero the husband of a college friend of mine and Morgans God father. so in july a week and a half out of surgery, we traveled to NH for a very emotional reunion with Cindy. Howard was a fireman making the ceremony that much more emotional. he will be missed and my thoughts and prayers remain with Cindy and the girls.

Losing Howard and my cancer definately hit a chord with Guy who is the king of someday we will....finally after years of talking about a big family vacation, we finally booked a cruise for next summer. we are excited as anything.

meanwhile little Guy went to woodward camp for skateboarding and tyler went to warwick for high school week.

austin got braces off and morgan got them on!

once i figure out this new mac laptop i will post pics!

fighting cancer

2008-06-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

something i never thought i would be saying about myself,but as they say another turning point in the road. My routine physical found a lump on my thyroid that was biopsied and is positive for cancer. so my summer off is now a fight for my life if you will. odds are good according to the docs so i just ask for prayers. .my friends and family are my strength. i love the women in my life who believe with all their hearts i will be okay but still are brave enough to say out loud what i am thinking which if the worst happens we will be there for your family.surgery is next week followed by radiation treatment. i get to go nuclear. that will be interesting.

some new adventures

2008-06-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

so a new friend invited me along on a new adventure of visiting Nj winerys and eventually working into other states and maybe before the adventure ends we can go to europe and try their wines! okay well lets see if we make it through NJ first.This was our first stop, and it was not intimidating at all. 5 dollars got 5 tastes and and a etched wine glass. For the girl who is all about the goodie bag, this worked for me. actually found i really like the white wines in particular one called reisling.I liked our first time and hoping for more.

the picture below is from my work buddy angela's retirement party. one of the first welcomes i got at chapin and who quickly became a fello scrap buddy and big sister- advisor is retiring. I will miss her terribly tho the silver lining is i still get to see her at scrap events but i will miss my daily debriefing and sharing of new scrap adventures we have had

Next, same new friend from the winery,took her daughter ,who happens to be my sons girlfriend, on a shopping trip to philly to urban outfitters. very fun to have my girl senses(think spidey senses for shopping) tingling again. the boys found some rad?? stuff to buy, and the girls well they gots skills for shopping.we stopped here for of course philly cheesestakes.

so what have i been doing?

2008-05-25T07:45:00.001-07:00

well first I had thisday, national scrapbook day at my house. this was before everyone got there in my scraproom. we had a great day but hosting does not make for much scrapping. but we laughed alot.

and then this little Guy came home....yup him name is elvis and we are instant in love, but I forgot how having a new puppy is like having a new baby. early mornings, trying to get stuff done while the "baby" sleeps. I am exhausted.

and I am trying wrap up school so i can get some time to enjoy this

our new fur baby

2008-05-07T20:09:00.001-07:00

we must be nuts, but look who is ours next week.....

i mean could you eat him up. still working on a name but some of us like noodles jr or petey.

he is a mix of a fox terrier,chiwawa(sp), and pug.

yea we are nuts...

confirmation and bamboozled

2008-05-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

so, today my twins were confirmed. And my heart was full. in all the craziness of preparing for this day, i had not anticipated being overcome with emotion. when they both stood in front of the church and Rev Cherry, my memory suddenly remembered(yes think sunrise sunset from fiddler on the roof here) of how when I was hospitalized with complications carrying these twins, this little church prayed for me and them, my minister counceled me when i needed it most, and the church shared in my joy of their survival and homecoming.This minister babtized them and now confirmed them. Of course my tears gave good ammunition to my husband and boys to tease me, but who cares. My heart is full today.

of course, today was a polar opposite of yesterday which was spent at bamboozle. for you old folks that do not know what bamboozle is..it is giants stadium filled with a million bands and their fans...think giant stadium mash pit/rock band. The twins wanted to go for their birthday and so Guy and I drove them and stayed. OMG wild and crazy for sure. my ears are ringing. we were the oldest people there(funny they did not question us for the parents tents ) but we did see paramor(yea ask you kids who they are) and jimmy eat world(again ask your kids), so we can sound cool when we tell people 20 and under we go up

a notch as not so old old people...

wicked BABY

2008-04-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

OMG OMG OMG OMG got to see this as a chaperone for a trip out of my school and i was blown away...loved the story the music everything. i am so getting tickets for my family. i am going to bite the bullet and do this. none of them have seen a broadway show...i just want them to experience it once..can anyone say rebate check:)

to quote my son 13

2008-04-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

"And to let you people know u cant love a person for a day theres no point of loving someone for a day "
this was on his my space and I think it is my new motto...

last days

2008-04-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

well the goverment finally emminent domained our business property. apparently the highway bridge needs our business property more than we do, more than we needed to make a living, more than we needed to have a place for our employees, more than we needed the memories of a businees we have had for 23 years createdwith my father in law who is gone from us now,more than we needed to sell it for retirement. Get out they said, no money yet and what will come will barely cover somewhere new to go. At 50 with kids going to college,we will be starting over.

We hadto move in 4 days. leave a memory behind. Frankly no matter what language you put it in. It sucks.I love this country but ths is F-upped...

another thing

2008-04-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

and this..the magazine Justin is in. sold at a borders near you:)

spring

2008-04-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

first signs i hope. I need the sun to shine in my soul as well as my enviroment. ready to let the sunshine in. think beatles song. Tyler took this picture with is point and shoot. He will be taking photography next year and I hope he loves it. I think he has some skills.

soccer man

2008-03-31T16:47:00.000-07:00

spring soccer begins. soccer will consume our saturdays and sundays. Austin is the lone survior, the other kids have moved to other interests but austin still remains our soccer man. he is so fast playing with older kids. he has gained some height ths year so we will see...these are the new uniforms. austin was really stoked about the yellow away shirt too!1

mystery man

2008-03-22T17:33:00.001-07:00

okay so it is my tyler, no mystery there. But he is my quiet one, the tall dark and silent one.while the rest of us stablers suffer from mouth babble and will tell you our lives the first minute, tyler keeps thing tucked in, at least amongst his family. This I know..he is creative and funny when he lets you in. while each of my children take turns making me worry, right now, at this moment, my thoughts are on Tyler. I still see the softness of his toddler hood in those eyes, and I know deep down he loves his mama, even if he does not say it much now. I think i can wait till the teenage junk is over. i think...