aren't the cute

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...

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

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

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

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?

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

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...