Friday, February 27, 2015

Rest in peace, Janet

"Aunt" Janet passed away this week.  Janet is my sister-in-law's sister-in-law.  HOWEVER, my kids were raised in an Italian household, so Janet quickly became "Aunt" Janet and her son, Zach, became one of their cousins.

Janet had been fighting cancer for a couple years.  Last year, Mr. Wonderful and I went to Zach's engagement party.  Janet and Mr. W. were discussing their cancer treatments as he had just finished his radiation.  Janet looked good and she was convinced she was going to beat this deadly beast.

When I told Mr. W of  Janet's passing, his lip quivered and his eyes filled with tears, but he was silent.  All my kids went to the wake.  I arrived with Bobby and Suse in the evening, on Bobby's arm.  There was just such a sense of doom as he escorted me into the funeral home.... I know we both felt it. 

As we were offering our condolences, everyone was so kind as to ask how Mike was doing, with sadness in their eyes.  Such a somber time for all of us.

When I got home, Mike was in bed, but awake, waiting for me to join him.  As I turned off the lights, he reached for my hand and began asking about Janet and her last days.  I'm so glad it was dark in the room.....

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Winter Camp!

Allison and Lisa rented a 7 bedroom house in Southampton for an extended weekend for all of us.  They thought it would be good for us to all get away together for a few days.  The weather was frightful, but it was just an hour's drive and we were all up for it.

Let me preface this by saying, Allison and I made enough food to feed ALL of the Hamptons!!  We ate and drank for days.  Needless to say, my freezer now has enough meals to feed us for a month of Storchevoy Sundays!

Everyone arrived, chose bedrooms, put on PJ's and slippers and we huddled together.  There was a huge fireplace in the living room that kept us all warm on the outside - and enough champagne, wine, etc. to keep us warm on the inside!

Allison thought of everything to make the days/night flow:


                                                    She bought us all "Spirit" T- Shirts:





                                                                     We played games:
 
 
                                                              We did projects:

That would be: Balloon Art, Shrinky-dinks, Origami, etc.
 
 
 
Allison supplied us each with a "Forever Lazy" and we hand painted and decorated them:

 
 
 
Mostly, we just loved each other and made some wonderful memories.

 
 
We may not be the most perfect family out there - but we are, by far, the most FUN family. 
 
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  My heart just fills with pride when I look at these pictures.  Mr. Wonderful and I must have done something right to be blessed with our kids.