Her Legacy Lives On

My Grandmother has been gone now almost 2 years and we still have so many wonderful memories. She loved to crochet, and made so many beautiful things. This hat was not one of them.

Yet, she wore it often and proudly, perched on her head like one of those little covers that you'd put on a roll of toilet paper on the back of the tank to hide the spare roll, to cover it's indecency as it waited for it's turn on the spindle.

Every so often someone would mention to me that they ran into my grandmother, they really weren't sure it was her way over there across the mall until they noticed that toilet paper roll holder on her head, then they were sure it was Alice. Then they could confidently approach knowing they had the right person.

It's one of the 2 things I wanted when she passed. This and the funny looking ceramic roosters she kept on top of the refrigerator all my growing up years. I was at an estate sale 2 weeks ago and purchased a smaller matching pair that I will display in my kitchen when I re-do it later this spring. I will build a special shelf for all of them and give them their rightful place again.

Gram, we love you still, and miss you.

Spring Reminder

My brother took this picture in the Spring of '07 when the flowers first started blooming.  It's been so dreary and gray lately I wanted to post something to remind us what is to come just a few months from now.

Moon Shoes

Ben and Abby received these Moon Shoes as a Christmas gift.  Without a doubt they are fun.  All of their cousins will be getting them too, so I can only imagine what my yard will look like this summer with 5 or 6 kids jumping around on these things at once!  I'll post an update if we call 911.

Little Hands, Big Gifts

Ben made a gift for me at school this week.  It's a candle with 3 snowmen on it, each made with his fingerprint and the details drawn with permanent marker.  The accompanying poem reads:

Little snowman, one, two, three,

Made with my fingers-

For you from me.

When you light the candle,

It will burn so bright,

To remind you that I LOVE YOU,

Day and night!

This is most definitely one of the most precious gifts I will receive this year.

The Creche

Each year I set up a creche (French for Nativity Scene) for the kids.  This year we did it a little differently because they are getting older.  As I told the story of Jesus' birth I let them put the pieces in place.  We've reviewed the story 3 times now this month, so they were able to fill in a lot of the story themselves, and as the story progressed they put each piece in its place.  We used to withhold the baby Jesus until Christmas morning, then put him in the manger and say a prayer of thanks for His birth, but we'll let him stay there now and just pray together on Christmas morning.

Fruity for Fruit Cake, Now Accepting Donations

My husband is a fruit cake addict. Every year he buys himself a fruit cake and actually eats it. All of it!

He asked me to post and ask if anyone has a fruitcake they won't be eating and would like to pass it on to him, he will gladly accept it. Please send your fruit cake to Jerry Brodeur, 100 Grand Street, Worcester, MA, 01610

Snow Day

In the last 4 days we've had about 20" of snow followed by sleet, freezing rain then rain.  Today we played outside for at least 2 hours.   I'd like to say fun was had by all, but for me it's just participating to make sure the kids are safe.  I'd really rather be inside doing something more adult.  I always have this fear someone will drive by and snatch one of my kids, so I rarely let them out without an adult somewhere very near.  We live in a nice neighborhood, but bad things can happen anywhere, and I try to be diligently watching them all the time.  It's hard for them to understand why their cousins, who visit their grandparents that live downstairs from us, have more freedom than they do.

Annual Gingerbread Houses

 

Today was our annual ginger bread house building day.  We meet with friends every year and make an afternoon of it.  The top two pictures are Ben and Abby (my kids), the middle two pictures are Li and Tuan.  Their family has been friends with ours since Abby was a baby.  Tuan and Abby are from the same orphanage in Hanoi, and we met Tuan's parents through our agency Alliance for Children. 

Ao Dai

I was looking through some old memory cards and found this picture.  We took it on Christmas Eve 2005.  We bought the Ao Dais when we traveled to Viet Nam in 2002.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Abby begged to put up the tree this weekend, and in hindsight it was the best time possible for us.  We have a tradition where we have a couple of slabs cut off the bottom of the tree each year and let them dry a few months.  Then I sand them and glue a picture of each kid on a slab and polyurethane over it.  When that is dry I write the year on the back with a sharpie and add a hook and ribbon to the top and I have an ornament for the next year's tree made from the previous year's one.  When each kid moves on and has a tree of their own someday I'll be able to pass on a collection of each of their trees with pictures of what they looked like that year.