Let the Landscaping Begin!

I can't wait to have a yard again! I am just chomping at the bit to get moving. But everything takes time, patience, and of course...money. So, we are excited to put the lawn in this summer, and may do a few other things.

I'm excited to finally put together a Memory Garden for Angela. I've got a few mini-rose bushes just waiting to be planted, a beautiful angel statue from my parents and I think I've decided that the center piece will be a Weeping Willow. I love Willow trees. I love the name Willow. I loved the book about OI where the main characters name was Willow and I collect Willow Tree figurines. Serendipitous! I haven't quite figured out what cozy corner or spot this will go, but I think I'll have a few options. I am currently doing some research on deer friendly flowers and shrubs. As much as I enjoy watching the deer, I don't want to invite them for dinner.

Danny loves the dirt. Go figure. And the machinery just fascinates him. Too stinking cute. He will have so much fun running around (dodging Freddy bombs of course).

I just want time to fast forward and to have a green lawn!

When did this happen?

I could just eat him up. He went from a mini-sumo wrestler to mischievous little boy! He was trying to squish into his Bumbo because his cousin Nicholas was in one too.

How I Get Daily My Workout

I can thank Danny for helping me get back into better shape. Of course I'd love to be in even better shape, but I'll take what I can get for now. Every day is a race.

These pictures are from Good Friday. Danny's daycare was closed, and I took the day off. He and I spent the afternoon attempting to straighten the house for Easter company. I was attempting to wash windows in the kitchen. But everytime I would finish, he would follow me and put his little face and fingers all over them. It became a game. I won't lie though...I love seeing those little fingerprints, and I'm so happy the windows are low enough for him to peek out at the world...or the porch.

I stopped what I was doing and followed Danny around with my camera. These shots were taken in about five minutes.

If you click on the pictures, you will see the larger Google size with my commentary :) He is a ball of fun, and a completely mischievious child. And that dimple. Oy vey. That dimple says everything!

I remember

when my grandma died. It feels like yesterday, when in fact, this December 1st, it will be 20-years ago. It amazes me that in the last 20-years, I cannot think of a day that has gone by that I have not thought about her. When I used to live in Rocky River, I would drive past her house everyday on my way home from work. I remember her funeral. I remember crying so hard and being so sad. I remember my Mom being so sad. I remember all of us gathering at my Aunt Susie's house that night. And we all just cried.

I have thought of this a lot lately. In the fall, my Aunt Rosemary passed away after a long battle with cancer. Aunt Rosie had a striking resemblance to my grandma, and as her hair turned gray, it was more like a mirror image. Her voice too. Sometimes it sounded so much like grandmas, that even as an adult, it would stop me in my tracks. Aunt Rosie's funeral broke my heart. Seeing my uncle, cousins and their children so sad, it just tears you a part. And my mom of course. I can't even bring myself to a place were I can fathom losing a sister.

This past week, we lost another special person. Mrs. Jolliffe passed away last Sunday, and I think I have cried everyday since. Mrs. Jolliffe was the happiest, healthiest person ever, I mean, she could run circles around me, until she had a massive heart attack in February. Followed by a massive stroke. And even though she was home again in March, trying to manage the stroke symptoms while she got stronger, her heart did not see her through, and she had another massive heart attack on Easter Saturday. Mrs. Jolliffe went Home on Easter Sunday.

The suddenness of this loss, it just takes your breath away. Seeing the sadness in my brother-in-law John's family, is just devastating. Knowing my sister lost her beloved Mother-In-Law, makes me so sad. And my nieces and nephew, they were crazy about Grandma Jolliffe.

I am so proud of them this week. Lori did an amazing job keeping it all together, getting the kids ready, helping coordinate the wake and funeral, making the program. John gave the most beautiful eulogy I've ever heard. My nephew Jack was a pallbearer. Seeing him so grown up, in a suit, so honored for the responsibility but so devastated at the loss. All three read petitions. They did an amazing job. You couldn't see Janie at the pedestal, but you could hear her voice. So confident. So clear.

It breaks my heart to see people I love so much, so sad.

I am thinking of them all so much with Mother's Day coming up. My cousins, my uncle, the Jolliffe's. A day to celebrate Mom, and this will be the first year without theirs.

I will thinking of them all with love.