I was looking for a specific photo for today, but for the life of me, I cannot find it. However, while going through pictures, I found one that made me laugh out loud. The photo would have been taken around 2008-2009. At the time I would have still been with my ex.
Our son, Dimitri had wondered off while we were cleaning or cooking or something. You know how it is – when the kids get quiet, you need to go and see what they are up to. When I walked down the hall, I looked in the bathroom and could not believe what I saw.
There was toilet paper all over the place and there he was swimming in the toilet! I laughed like crazy. He was in heaven just playing in the water. I don’t recall if he tried to flush himself! I remember showing my in-laws this picture and they laughed just as hard. They actually had it framed and hung it in their bathroom!
No deep dive into the background of this photo, just posting to give you a laugh.
This was the first Mother’s Day since becoming a mom that Sam had the day off. I was so glad that she was able to take the day and spend it with us. She worked the night before and on the way home, she called and told me to make sure the kids were dressed. We were heading out somewhere when she got home.
I hurried and got the kids dressed, got myself dressed and was ready when she got home. She came in and changed clothes before we left, so I just assumed we were all going to go out to breakfast. Instead, she drove to the cemetery where my mom is buried. She told me she wasn’t going to let Mother’s Day go by without taking me there.
The innocence of my kids always chokes me up. As we walked up, Sam said, “We have to see grandma on Mother’s Day. She was daddy’s mommy.” When we got to her headstone, Andrew said, “I can’t see grandma.” That was the first choke up. Then Ella had found what she called a “heart shaped rock” and wanted to put it on her headstone. “I want grandma to have it.” Choke up number two. In the car, on the way out, Andrew starts to get upset. Sam asked why and he said, “Grandma can’t hold me.” Choke up number three.
When we got home, Sam got to see the gifts that the kids got for her.
They each drew her a picture/card and we placed a paint handprint inside. We bought her some hair stuff (hair ties, clips, a mirror, and stuff she uses to get ready). The kids also picked out a beautiful dozen roses for her. Finally, we made sure she got a delicious cake!
When our Head Start friend came over, we made feet flowers for her with her favorite colors.
After we opened her presents, she got to laid down and nap since she worked the night before. Then the kids and I went outside and we detailed her car.
We debated doing a BBQ for dinner, but she said she was really craving some Chinese food, so that’s what we got! By 7pm, the entire family was just exhausted and we were all in bed and asleep by 8! LOL
I am so happy that we got to celebrate her for mother’s day!! She is so special to all of us!
My wife and I have formed a team and are walking for miracles next month. We’ve put a team together and will be walking the zoo to help out our local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.
With all the recent medical stuff that has been happening with our son, this is a perfect opportunity for my family and I to say thank you to the doctors who have helped (and continue to help) him. It is also a great way to raise money to help other families and children.
From our work website:
Superheroes of all ages are invited to Corewell Health Children’s Walk for Miracles at the Detroit Zoo, Saturday, June 8, at 7:30 a.m. Enjoy the zoo for the entire day by walking the two-mile loop and exploring the zoo exhibits. Attendees will also enjoy complimentary refreshments and meet popular comic book and fairytale heroes.
Participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite superhero and will receive a superhero cape and finishing medallion. Walkers must register in advance and make a minimum donation of $12 for ages 13 and over and $8 for ages 2-12. Children under the age of 2 are free.
Each of us is hoping to raise $100 ($1000 for the team). If you are in the Detroit area, I encourage you to join us. For more information you can click the link here:
If you are inclined to donate to our team, drop me an email: nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com and I will send you a link where you can do so. If you want to create your own team of walkers, you can do so at the link above.
Friday before work, my son Andrew was asking me about something that we had put in the basement. I took him downstairs to look for whatever it was and I stumbled on a wooden chest which was in a box of things I have been meaning to go through. I opened it up and was surprised to find a few things my mom had made for me.
My mom, for those who may not know, was a big crafter. One of the earliest hobbies she had was ceramics. I don’t recall if she took a class or not, but she enjoyed it and made a lot of things for people. I have blogged about her ceramics hobby before and so that you are up to speed, here is that blog from 2020:
In the blog I mention that I still had a few pieces she made for me somewhere. Well, “somewhere” was that wooden chest. In it were 3 of 4 pieces that she made me. They aren’t in the best shape, and all of them are covered in dust from years on a shelf. The Frog had an eye busted off of it and is probably not something that can be repaired. However, there were other pieces.
First, she made my brother and I baseball mitts. These may or may not have been made before she really got into ceramics. Mine is kind of beat up, and there are some chips on it, but it always meant a lot that she made it for me.
All of these pieces are about the size of the palm of my hand. I make a mess painting a wall, so how she was able to get some of the detail on these baffles me. I did find the snail mentioned in the previous blog.
Despite the dust, you can still see some of the shine on this. From what I remember, by the time she got to making some of these pieces, she’d paint them and then they put them in an oven or something to dry and make them shine. I’m clueless of the process, but you can see the difference between the mitt and the snail.
Probably my favorite piece she made for me was a begging puppy. I’m not sure why, but it always made me smile. It was the first piece that I saw in the wooden chest.
I love how she painted my name on it.
In the previous blog there was a picture of the “Kissing Clauses” that mom made for Christmas. Over Easter, my brother sent me yet another piece of holiday décor my mom made. I remember she made these for both my grandparents, my aunt, and for us. My brother still has these Easter Eggs and it was so nice to see them again.
I’m almost positive that there were “grandma” and “grandpa” eggs that she did for the grandparents. I’m glad my brother has these, I’m not sure they’d still be around if I had them.
It is amazing how something so small and so trivial can mean so much to a person. As I opened the chest, I experienced surprise, happiness, and sadness all in about 5 seconds. I’m so grateful to still have these gifts from my mom.
This week, while it has been nice to have some new features to post here, I feel like I haven’t really told you what’s been up our way. It’s been a pretty busy week or so.
I had the chance to spend the day with my daughter this week. We went to lunch at McDonald’s (her choice). We went to one of the big public libraries that we had never been to before. They had all kinds of cool things for the kids to play with there. I could hardly get her to leave so we could go to the Children’s Museum.
At the Children’s museum, we did our normal stuff: the big water table, the indoor treehouse, played on the indoor ambulance, and went down the big slide. We took a detour and walked through another part of the museum which has old cars, old uniforms, an army tank, and other neat stuff. She was really fascinated by the cars, an old sled, and the old logging stuff.
We had a couple nice days where we got to sit outside and play. Both kids were excited to get on their scooters.
Daisy was loving playing fetch with her ball. I swear, she could play this all day. The school kids who play ball on the baseball diamond behind our house must have fouled a couple into our yard, because Daisy was chewing the cover off a couple of them.
She eats everything! Sam made the mistake of leaving one of the canvas laundry bags that hangs on our hamper on top of Daisy’s cage while we were gone the other day. We came home and that dog pulled the whole thing (including the metal rods) into her cage and chewed/ate it! Urgh!
It was actually nice enough last weekend that I was able to mow the grass for the first time. I am overdue to change the oil on my riding mower, so I hope to be able to do that before the next mow. It’s probably a guy thing, but I love the look of a fresh mowed lawn (even if there are spots because of the moles!).
The kids and I got to sit down and watch the new Bluey episodes. There were three of them – the third one being a “bonus” that no one said anything about. This little cartoon is something that I absolutely love. The extended 28 minute episode was to be the Season 3 finale and it was just amazing. It was so well done.
My buddy from work has a little girl and I was asking him how she was doing. He was talking about how they watched the new Bluey together and before we knew it, there we were – two grown men – talking about how great the show is. We joked and said that the show is an adult cartoon that kids can watch, too. It isn’t odd for my wife and I also find ourselves talking about the show.
The biggest thing from this week is that we took Andrew in to get more genetic testing. He is still having some issues and they wanted to dig a bit deeper. They are thinking there is a possibility of Muscular Dystrophy. Nothing is 100% yet, and we are certainly praying about it. We’re hoping that the results will help give us a few more answers and some direction.
I guess that brings you up to speed. Thanks for reading.
It was a long day yesterday. We were on the road by 5am to be at the hospital by 7am. Andrew’s surgery was at 9am.
They repaired the cleft in his throat without harming the vocal chords it was between. They removed adenoids and shaved the tonsils. It all went very well.
Waking up from anesthesia was very difficult. They wanted him to drink something, but he wasn’t having any of that. Even popsicles and ice cream didn’t phase him. He just wanted to snuggle with mom.
We planned on staying the night, but once we got to the room he began drinking and eating. He drank water, juice and ate popsicles. After a few hours, he wanted to walk the halls. He wanted to go home soon after that.
His nurses said that the doctors had said if he did well, he wouldn’t have to spend the night. He was discharged about 5pm. He did sleep some in the car, which was probably good for him. The rush hour traffic allowed for a good nap.
Thankfully, despite a sore throat, he was talking a lot. There was some concern that the surgery would hinder his speech, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
The next couple days will be the hardest as far as pain and such. We’ll continue alternating Tylenol and Motrin and hopefully stay ahead of the pain.
We thank you for your good wishes, your prayers, and support. We hope this will be the last surgery for quite a while.
We had quite a bit going on this week and even into the weekend. Andrew had a doctor appointment on Friday and I am still trying to process all that came of it. I went to work late on Friday and only worked a half day, which was probably a good thing.
When I got home, I still had a lot on my mind. As per usual, when I want to avoid thinking about things, I find something to do. Thankfully, the pictures we printed had arrived, so I went to work on our living room wall. We had not been good about printing pictures to hang, so we had like 4 years of photos to go through. Sam wanted to have four rows of five photos each. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not, but in the end, it looks good.
There are a couple canvas photos on the way for another wall. The older family photos will move into the front hallway.
Sam took Daisy to the groomer Friday morning. She was shaggy and Sam wanted her shaved. I wasn’t sure about that, but she truly looks good!
Since losing our one cat, our older cat Maizey has become more and more snuggly. I can always count on her jumping up on the bed at bedtime to be petted. She will often flop right next to me as I pet her. Many times, I fall asleep while I am petting her, but she’ll stay right there. She’s a good cat.
And finally, some junior high school humor to wrap with …
I was folding clothes today and stumbled on a pair of my son’s underwear. I joked that he either has some really bad toxic gas OR their is something wrong with our washer/dryer!
Of course, in reality, the dog probably chewed them up!
I saw many folks posting photos on social media yesterday for St. Patrick’s Day with shirts saying “Let the Shenanigans Begin!” Why is it that we only seem to hear this word around March 17th? It’s a great word that can be used in so many situations outside of an Irish “holiday.” I encourage you to use it at some point in the next two weeks!
Anyway, rather than going out and whooping it up with green beer and dancing a jig, I stayed home. I posted on my Facebook:
Today I will be doing the Wearin’ O’ the green, watching the Silence O’ the Lambs, and doing the Cuttin’ O’ the cheese …. (A line I used on our morning show more than once!)
I also found a hilarious filter to make me look like a Leprechaun
I got the kids dressed in their green shirts and tried to get some of them both smiling. I ended up having to get creative. I took two pictures and combined them so that they could both be smiling in it! LOL
We spent the morning with my long time friend Margaret.
She came with loads of stuff for the kids, as always! She brought them a very cool reusable sticker book. The stickers can be moved around and used again. They loved it! She also brought them some coloring books and a pillow for each of them.
You can bet your next paycheck that they had to be sure they slept on them last night!
Andrew has been potty training and yesterday, he went #2 on the toilet! It was a pretty big deal for sure! We promised that if he did that we would go to the store and he could pick out a toy. He made his Pa proud when he picked out a new took box! LOL
There is never a dull moment at our house! The other day my wife and I are in our room. We hear Ella from the bathroom “We’re playing dentist. The pink kitty has a cavity and having a tooth pulled”. Sam looks at me and says, “You better check on that, I’m not sure what they are doing is dentistry!”
I walk in and the patient is in the “chair.” The flashlight is there to provide light. Andrew’s wearing medical gloves. Ella has a timer she is using as a thermometer. And the drill is on the ground, ready to prepare for cavities.
Looks like dentistry to me …..
We went back to Meijer to swap out bikes for Ella. The one we had came with two left pedals. Rather than just let me grab a right pedal from a box, I had to swap out the whole thing. On the way out, the kids see the penny horse ride. Someone was nice enough to leave a bunch of pennies on the base for kids who wanted to ride. Ella got right up and loved every minute. Andrew lasted about 3 seconds and wanted off. Naturally, Ella got to finish out his ride. (Yes, she is wearing unicorn slippers!)
It didn’t take long for our photos from the kid’s Spring Mini Session to come back. The kids love doing these because they get to pose with a live bunny! Our photographer, Beth, at Enjoy the View always amazes us. The kids were so out of control during the session, we really thought there wouldn’t be any good ones. We were wrong! She was really able to catch some fantastic shots.
After we downloaded the photos, we once again said to each other, “we really need to get these printed so we can hang them on the wall.” Seriously, the last photos that we hung on our wall was when we did family photos at Andrew’s newborn session! So today, Sam and I finally sat down and went through almost four years of pictures to have some printed. We ordered some canvases, and some 8 X 10 prints that we’ll be hanging in the living room.
Andrew was watching me upload pictures on my computer. He wanted to play on his own computer. He opened up the DVD player I use for my classes and I had to stop him. It is the only one I have and cannot afford to have that break. So I went downstairs and grabbed this old laptop my dad had given me a few years back. He was elated.
Because it is old, it is bulky. But it opens and he can bang on the keyboard. He was carrying it everywhere. I took the dog outside earlier and when I turned around, there was Andrew in the yard … with his laptop!
These kids bring me so much joy! There truly is never a dull moment.
Today was one of those days I wish I could have stayed home with the kids! It was such a beautiful day. Spring is straight ahead and today was a small tease for us.
This morning, we got up and had some errands to do before I had to head to work. The kids saw the neighbor girls out last week on their bikes and roller skates. Neither of the kids has a bike, and they asked about them. While we were out, we picked them each up one with training wheels.
Before work, I grabbed the tools and began putting them together. Andrew got a cool Paw Patrol one that I have to add a couple pieces to.
It didn’t take him long to figure out the pedals. I think he’s going to be doing a whole lot of riding this spring and summer.
Ella got a Frozen bike. I felt bad because I got the whole thing together and there were two “left” pedals in the box instead of a left and right. So I called the store and asked about just swapping out one of the pedals, but I’ll have to return the entire bike and get an entire new one and rebuild it. Of course, she still had to see if she liked it.
I’ll head back to the store in the morning and get hers all set!
With the nice weather, Sam and I were already talking about things that need to be done in the yard. I have to re-do the stone walkway to our front door because the construction fools did a shoddy job putting them back in place. Sam wants to do something with the flower beds in the front yard, so I may have to look into some sort of barriers for that. She’s also wanting a garden – she will find out how NOT green my thumb is!
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If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know my son Andrew is all about tools. He’s always right there with something to help me and my father-in-law when we work on a project. He still carries around one of my cordless drills (with out the bit, of course).
He has a few “tool boxes” but my father-in-law has a tool bag. I guess He was trying to put the cordless drill in his boxes and it won’t fit. So he asked his Pa about a tool bag. You can only imagine his excitement when Sam’s folks dropped by the house the other night with a nice new tool bag for Andrew’s drill and other tools!
We had quite a few people at the house this week to look at his education plan. We’re hoping that he will be ready for preschool (and they are ready for him) soon. We were going over speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy goals and how to best get what is best for him.
Our Ella turned four last month and we were a week or so late in getting her four year old pictures. We once again took her to see our photographer friend, Beth, at Enjoy the View Photography. This time I did not go with them when the session happened. So they were a surprise to me when I finally got to see them.
This session truly showed her personality. There were pictures of her making silly faces, laughing out loud, and even sticking her tongue out. I joked that we paid for her to make silly faces, but I love that we have them. It is really what she is like right now – silly and sassy. At the end of her session, they had her sit on a swing. There were some fantastic photos there. This one is one of my favorites:
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 