Fun with Cousins!

It has been a long time since my last blog post. The last month has been a rough one filled with lots of memories of my mother in law and a lot of extra work for Bob and his brother. They lovingly cleaned Grandma Betty's apartment collecting pictures, albums and other personal items and spent a lot of time together. The kids have had their moments of sadness at the thought of never seeing grandma again but the great thing about raising kids who love and know God is that they have a great deal of unquestioning faith. As we adults ask why now and what might we have done differently Annie marvels in the fact that "Grandma Betty is meeting the most famous person in the world - God!" They certainly keep it real for us.

The other thing that our children have learned, without a doubt, through this experience is that when you are as loving, kind and generous as their Daddy is people are incredibly gracious with their sympathy and love during times of loss. Our entire family has been blessed with an outpouring of continuous love and support throughout this experience from visits and food to cards, letters and masses. So many of Grandma's friends from K-Mart have sent us long letters telling us how special she was to them. Friends and relatives from all over the country have sent mass cards and words of love. Many of the people from the building where Bob works have sent flowers, donations and letters in Grandma's memory. And then there is our immediate family who have showered Bob and I and the kids in attention - meals, time and endless patience as we struggle to accept and move forward from this loss. Every time Bob got a little down something or someone would arrive to raise his spirits - it was an incredible feeling to be a part of so much love!

I have many pictures that I wanted to share but I downloaded them to my work laptop and then proceeded to spill water all over it and crash it. At some point I am hoping to retrieve them but for now I will start with our last weekend pictures. My cousin Todd from San Diego and his wife, Michelle and two beautiful daughters Cassidy and Jillian came for a day at the beach to catch up after not seeing each other for a while. We had a blast just playing on the beach and spending some time together.

The day was overcast but the kids could have cared less - they loved eating out on the deck.

Ready for a trip over to the beach.

Cassie and her cousins ready to play!

Cassidy is a little beach baby so she had no problem jumping in the water and playing with the girls.

Annie bananie loving have her cousins to play with on the beach.

Surfer girl.

Ellie Bean LOVES the beach!

My Lizzie Bug warming up for her next trip over to the beach !

Papa hanging out with Cassie and Katie.

My gorgeous goddaughter.

Grammy and Katie bonding!

Katie got new clothes for her baby!

Uncle Todd and Jill!

Peter and Tyler are loving being at the beach lately because they have a bit more freedom to go for walks to the playground and hang out with friends.

My girl on top of the rock.

Even Annie's Pouty face is adorable!

Molly and Jill were inseparable!

Lizzie Bug!

Trying to get a cousins picture!

The girl cousins!

Cassie - she is the perfect kid for this auntie - she poses for pictures.

The boys on the beach.

The MEN trying to move the boulder for Papa! Look at those muscles.

I love this one with all the boys - they had so much fun!

Katherine Shannon - such a sweetie pie.

molly getting some snuggles from Cassie.

Bob, Todd and Patrick

Molly loves Aunt Michelle - she kept telling me that she was so young and cool! Watch out Michelle and Todd - as soon as sh can fly alone you may have a mother's helper out in San Diego!

Jill giving kisses to Papa!

We had a great time with our West Coast cousins - next plan is to save up to buy an RV so we can head across country for some more family bonding on the other coast!

GNM - ILY!

Sad Times

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 Bob and his brother lost their mother, my mother-in-law, Betty J.Wheeler. She died peacefully in her sleep after talking to Bob on the phone and having lunch with Tommy just a few hours before. She was only 65 so her death came as a huge shock to us all and the kids had a difficult time understanding that they would never see their grandmother again. Annie still talks about when she sees Grandma next time.

My mother - in - law was a wonderful woman. She adored her sons, doted on her grandchildren and made me feel like I had been one of her children since birth. When Bob and I told her that we were getting married she grabbed me and held me for the longest time before telling me how lucky Bob was to have found me. I have heard every baby story there is to hear about Bob because she remembered with compelling detail every single moment of her boy's life. Betty was as low maintenance as a mother-in-law could be, never asking anything of us and constantly telling us not to worry about her because we were too busy. She found little gems for her grandchildren on a weekly basis at K-mart indulging Peter's love of sports and Molly and the little girls love of all things girlie - make-up, jewelery and clothes. Anytime she won a gift card at work for doing something special she would quickly call Bob and I to let us know that she wanted us to have it so we could have a little treat - dinner out, a movie gift card - whatever it wasand no matter howmuch she would have liked it herself she gave it to us. The last time I was with my mother-in-law was the Sunday before she died when she came to the girl's dance recital with Auntie Ann. After telling the girls how great they did she came over to me and told me every single thing she loved - every step, every costume, every smile and every song. She said that she could not believe that she had grandchildren THAT talented.

There are so many things that I loved about my mother-in-law but the most important one was how much she loved Bob. She was always in awe of her son - of the husband he was, the father he was and the man he was. She once told me that bob was a great man before I married him but that I brought out the absolute best in him and she loved watching him with his family. There are a million things I will miss about my mother-in-law and it makes me sad that our kids will never truly know their grandmother because they are too young but Bob and I will tell them stories and they will know the love their grandmother had for them from pictures because you can not mistake the look in her eyes when she was with her children or grandchildren.

Grandma with Molly and Peter in 2005

Mom and her pride and joy - Bob and Tom 2009

Grandma dancing with Annie - Christmas 2010

We love you, Mom/Grandma and know that you are looking down at us and smiling.

Dance recital 2013

Anyone who tells you that having a big family gets easier the older the kids get is crazy. Bob and I spend more time in the car bringing the kids to events and activities than we ever thought possible. We love it for the most part but sometimes the chaos is a bit much. Wednesdays this year were pretty intense with all the little girls dancing, Molly dancing ALOT and Peter playing basketball. Add doctor's appointments, school activities, homework, instrument lessons, birthday parties and it feels like we never sit still. Having four girls dance this year made for a long and busy recital season with extra practices,rehearsals and three recital shows. Auntie Beth came home for the recitaland, as usual, family and friends showed their support all weekend.

Lizzie wore the recital outfit for the dress rehearsal on Friday and Molly did her hair and make-up for her. She looked beautiful and Molly was so proud of her sister.

My little beauty!

I love that beautiful smile!

Sisters!

Saturday nights show was marred only by the weather.There were torrentail downpours just as the girls were lining up to go into the show. Molly hung out in the car with Auntie Beth and I so I hardly got any costume pictures. Molly was in four dances and loved every minute of  it. I begged her to at least put her other costumes on for me so I could get pictures but she was too tired!

My beauty sporting somepretty heavy make-up thanks to Auntie Meg!

Auntie Meg also did her bun and she looked gorgeous.

And this is the end of the recital. This was the jazz costume - the best one according to the girls because now they have Griffith Academy tank tops to wear. Molly loves her dance friends and they were all smiles after the Saturday night show because they got to come back on Sunday and do the whole thing again.

My camera is still not working so Imissed some great photo ops but you get the idea.

Molly was so excited that Abby got her 5 year trophy this year!

The proud grandparents!

Molly adores Miss Mary and she was spectacular during the show.

Molly and Miss Marybeth. We got a huge surprise at the end of the recital when Miss Marybeth announced the six scholarships for 2013.Molly won a full scholarship to Griffith Academy for next year which is amazing but even more amazing is that she was chosen for the honor by Miss Marybeth and the teachers who all think she's pretty incredible. I would have to agree. The scholarship touches my heart even more because we know the kids who Molly dances with and there is not one who is not respectful and loving and kind so for Molly to be chosen is really a wonderful reflection of what a great kid she is! Okay - enough bragging!

Molly and Abby's SAturday night fan club.

The twins ready for their Sunday recital debut! They loved every moment of getting ready, putting make-up on and practicing their dance.

The pictures of the girls getting ready - hair and make-up by Molly!

My three loves were ready for some dancing!

Sister kisses!!!

Loving on each other before the recital.

My three loves - they looked stunning!

For whatever reason Annie was in the mood to ham it up for the camera so I took full advantage.

Love this one!

Our sweet girl!

Ellie Bean was not so excited for pictures but she did smile for about a minute so I could snap away! I think she was the only nervous one in the house but she did terrific.

I love those big brown eyes!

The littles in the only picture that came out by the picture tree.

Daddy had gone ahead to get in line for seats so this was Bob's first time seeing the girls.

Uncle Pat and Katie!

Love this one!

The five girls ready to dance. Molly had gone to her friends house to get ready for the three o'clock show so she was not at the little girls preformance but she will get to see it when we get the videos back.

Katie in her Irish costume. She did a great job singing and dancing.

Katie and her godfather!

Not to be done by Abby and her godmother!

And Annie and her godmother!

Molly and Abby after the three o'clock show.Molly was hungry and ready to get home by this point.

The recital weekend was perfect - the girls were amazing and had so much love and support! It was a great weekend culminating in Memorial Day at the beachhouse. Now we have a little break from dance - 4 days to be exact until molly and Annie start their summer workshops and Molly heads off to dance camp! 

GNM - ILY!