2005

I am happy to see this year pass in anticipation of what lies ahead for 2006. On the other hand, I am also sad that it has ended as this has been one of the best years full of great memories and happy times that I have had in my life.

The first three months of the year are a sad time for us as it marks the anniversaries of special people in our lives passing away.
February was a rough month, starting with Gramp's 1 year anniversary arriving on 2/10.

We no sooner finished celebrating Valentine's Day and my Grama passed away on 2/15 at the age of 82.
She had been burdened the last couple months of her life with dimentia and trouble eating, withering away to skin and bones. Seeing her in the hospital bed was just shocking...a famous painting coming to mind. I hadn't visited her like I should have. I had a Valentine gift for her from Jakob that I brought to the hospital in hopes that she would pull through the cardiac arrest.

It was hard to believe that Steve passed away 2 years agon on the 18th. I sent cards to Missy and Connie to let them know that I was thinking of them. I can't imagine losing my Father.

With Gama's passing still fresh....AJ's 1 year came on 2/21. Memories of the past year come rolling back in small flashes...they are never far from my main thoughts I have every day as I am reminded daily of what happend as I drive by Mile Marker 33 on I-395. I am thankful that my brother is safe. I can only pray that he is reminded daily and uses what happend to make better life choices. My heart is with my family always and I think of them often and cannot imagine what they have been through.

As this time comes to a close, we remember Doris on March 4th on her one year anniversary. Jakob still asks for Mam*Mi (and Pop*pi too!) and remebers her when he sees a picture. He knows that she is in Heaven watching over him.

As times of sadness pass, we embrace happy times.
In May, my cousin Brittany gave birth to her first son Cristian. I had a chance to finally meet him around the holidays and he is such a beautiful baby....happy and full of smiles.

I finally was able to talk Todd into replacing our bedroom set and dining room hutch (both 7 yrs old!). I fell in love with a dark cherrywood set for our room...changing the style from country motiff to more of an antique look. The hutch is from an "americana" collection...absolutely love it!

I kicked off the summer by heading to Vermont in June for much needed "Jenn time". I enjoyed myself just hanging around Brattleboro and driving along the river. I MISS VT.

Summer parties and picnics started off with Monty's BBQ....yummy, yummy- made me homesick for Nashville.
We attended a house warming for Colleen, where Jakob fell in love with his future wife Jaime (she is 24...); we are going to have to watch out for him when he gets older.

On July 13th, Todd celebrated his 32nd birthday....we can only say now that he has more gray hair than the year before rather than "got any gray hair yet?!". That weekend, we went to the first party at the "Mexican Embassy"...totally rocked; and a redneck party in Brooklyn where Jakob gained a new name, "Little Hasselhoff"; last on the agenda for THAT weekend was a shower for Joe and Shelly celebrating their upcoming wedding in August.

That week I was able to take a vacation and do NOTHING. It was so good. That week also marked working 8 years at my company.

Our last bash to attend for the month was a housewarming at Brian's. I can't even count the number of rounds of beer pong that Todd played...but I can count the number of times I had to stop on the way home for him to tell mother nature how much he loved her.

August was a busy month for us too. My parents cat Mouser passed away on 8/4. I remeber the day we found her across the street- I was in the 8th grade!. We attended Joe and Shelly's wedding on 8/6. It was held in the house that they are having built. The wedding was simple and nice- the house is breathtaking. Towards the end of the month was Joe and Lucas' baptism. It was an exciting time for me as I am Joseph's God Mother. We also celebrated Lucas' 1st birthday that day. No sooner did we blink and it was time to celebrate Jakob's 3rd birthday. We had a small party here at the house. It was fun and he had a good time.

The leaves fall and Autumn is in the air.
This was the first year that Jakob enjoyed the Woodstock Fair (Labor Day Weekend). Uncle Don and Aunt Sue sent us tickets and ride passes. Jakob had so much fun on the rides...we even got Todd to ride along with him too! We made a little trip to the Ecotarium in Worcestor. We saw really cool exhibits, animals, and we even rode the train around the complex.

UNFINISHED