WillyBilly

Is that you, Michael? I have been waiting to see if you got on the blog. To post to the blog you need to sign on to Google by creating a username and password. Please sign on. Then you can post and we will know what is going on with all of you. You can comment to each post.

Alex's Black Eye

Here is Alex with quite the shiner. He tripped over the one and only toy on the living room floor!

Posting Comments

I had the comments permission set up so that you had to sign in using your username (email address) and your password (whatever you chose originally). Since many of you can not remember your password, I have made the comments open to anyone who wants to post one. You just have to pick anonymous after you write your comment. Please make comments, as this is everyones blog. And I would love to see all of you post things going on with your families. It is fun to share.

The Ryan Family Picnic at Brunswick Beach-2008

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The family picnic was a great success. As usual, we had way too much food and far too much fun. The oldest generation had fun reminiscing about years gone by; their children compared how busy their lives are right now and the youngest generation just had fun swimming and playing together. I know I can say for everyone our thoughts and hearts drifted often to Eric, hoping he was with us sharing our day.

We missed Wes, Sue, Megan, Shawn, Jen, Kaitlyn, Carrick, Debbie, John, Savannah, Adam, Joey, Holley, Michael, Allison, Christopher, Kim and Darby.

Zach and Alex

This is my second attempt at digital scrapbooking. It really is fun, but I have so much to learn and so many embellishments to buy!! Tomorrow is picnic day.

Kara and Em Got Their Ears Pierced!

If you look really hard, you will see Kara and Em's new earrings. And I just purchased new scrapbooking software, so I'll be having lots of fun creating new pictures. See you all next week at the picnic!

Responses to The Ryan Family Picnic

While we were all on vacation, Michelle had a power failure at home. She lost all messages left on her machine. If anyone replied, please call Michelle again. So far, we have no responses!

Reminder - Family Picnic

We would appreciate if everyone would provide something to nibble on before our cook out or a dessert. You can let Shelley know what you are bringing when you respond. Thank you and hope to see everyone at the beach!!

Two Weeks in Deerfield

Make a Smilebox slideshow Our vacation began so great. We drove to the beach the first night and just sat and looked at the sunset. It was just beautiful. Sunday morning it was off to the beach in the morning and we spent the afternoon at the pool, listening to our music and just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Then Monday arrived. Ginny woke up not feeling at all well, with pains in the middle of her chest and going around to her back. By 8pm she decided it was time to visit West Boca Raton Medical Center. We arrived around 9pm. She was brought right in and shortly there after told she had gall stones and pancreatitis. Her gall bladder had to be removed, but not until the pancreatitis was under control. After being given mega doses of antibiotics, Wednesday it was decided surgery would take place Thursday. OK, fine. Let's get it over with. She was told a Dr. Mallis would be performing the surgery. Thursday morning came and she still hadn't meet this phantom doctor. Tim, Ken and I accompanied her to the operating room and were told to wait in the waiting room. We were also told the surgery would take approximately 45 minutes. One hour went by; two hours went by. Tim was starting to get upset and said we should have gone home for the surgery. Now I have to tell you Ginny was told if she didn't have the surgery as soon as possible, it could be fatal. Would you have gone home? Three hours passed and Tim's cell phone rang just as a nurse was walking toward him. Jen was on the phone and told him her Mom was in recovery. Tim asked how she knew that. Jen replied she had called the hospital and that is what she was told. The nurse confirmed it and Tim's voice began to get louder. He informed the nurse his wife had not even met her surgeon and it took his daughter in New York to tell him surgery was over. He was not a happy camper, to say the least. Ginny was brought to her room and informed that Dr. Mallis did not do her surgery. Dr. Strick -something, whom she had previously met, did the surgery. Shortly thereafter, he came into her room and smoothed everything over. It was quite a time to say the least. And I can not believe Ginny took it in such stride. She was released Friday and immediately "started her vacation." We shopped, went to the pool every afternoon and enjoyed ourselves to the fullest. Ken, Tim and I got to go to the beach every morning the second week, too. Deerfield Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches Ken and I have been to. We love it so much we have rented a place to stay just a half a block from the same beach we enjoyed with Tim and Ginny. Their condo is awesome, and so homey and comfortable. If Ginny hadn't needed surgery, our vacation would have been perfect. Ken and I just thank God Tim was not alone going through this. Things happen for a reason, I guess.

Adam Graduates

Adam graduated from Pace University in NYC on May 21 and we spent a couple of days there. Time goes by so fast, it just does not seem possible that we now have a grandson old enough to be a college graduate.

My Wonderful Week with The Killians

Make a Smilebox postcard

On March 3rd I traveled to Leesburg, Florida to spend a week with my sister. It was a wonderful, relaxing week. Actually, the first I had in a long, long time. We slept till we were ready to get up, sat on the patio for hours just talking, got dressed around noon or later:o) Chuckie made sure we had lots to eat. I felt so at home I didn't want to leave. Thank you, Suzy and Chuckie, for a week in the sun and a wonderfully relaxing week.

Learning

I am learning all about the blog and this time I hope it works. Adam graduated from Pace University in NYC last Wed and we all could not be prouder. Skipp and I along with Scott, Kiki, Sammy, and Karen went to Radio City Music Hall for the cermoney. And of course I cried (a lot).Adams Dad and other Grandparents and aunts went to, so he was well represented. We all had lunch after and a great time as had by all.

Our Special Girl in a Kazakhstan Orphanage

Make a Smilebox slide It was after our Amanda became our guardian angel that Ken and I realized we had to put our energy into helping improve the life of a child who would probably spend her entire life in an orphanage. It was through one of my Yahoo adoption groups that we found Nina. Nina is eight years old and has two sisters. Her oldest sister aged out of the orphanage when she turned sixteen. Because she lives so far away, Nina never sees her. Ira is ten and very close to Nina. This is the first year they have lived together in the same orphanage, The Regional Boarding School. I know it may sound strange, but Ken and I have become very attached to Nina. She has a problem with her eyes. Therefore, her grades are not good. In Kazakhstan that classifies her as having a mental problem. Ken and I are trying to arrange for Nina to see an eye specialist in Russia. We feel strongly that if Nina's sight problem was dealt with, her grades would improve. Nina has spent many weeks in a Kazakhstan hospital, further keeping her from school. She may be moved to an orphanage 350 miles from where she is now. She will be separated from her sister and it will be much more difficult and costly for us to send packages. The packages and letters will only be delivered a few times a year. We are praying Nina is not moved. We sent her first package with gifts just for her. These are the first things she has owned. Everything else she wears comes from a bin holding clothes for all the children. For her eighth birthday, we had a party planned for her with "her family." The orphanage groups the children into individual familes who they live and dine with. I think this is s good thing. We also arranged for her to be included in an outing to a movie and dinner. This was her first outing. My true and loyal friend, Louise, is sponsoring Nina's sister, Ira. It is so great both of these young girls who have had such difficult lives now have people who care. If we can help make a little girl smile and feel someone loves and cares about her, our hearts will feel happiness where there has been so much pain since January 16th. There are many children like Nina and Ira in this orphanage who need sponsors. If anyone would like to improve the life of one of them, please contact Ken and/or me. In the mean time, please keep all these orphans in your prayers.

Finally!

The Hines Man had his last day at work today. It was an emotional day for him, having worked at KAPL for almost 41 years. Now he can do lots of the things he never had time or energy to do. He also looks forward to spending time with those four miracles God brought to our family. Saturday we leave for Florida with Timmy and Ginny to celebrate with Ken, relaxing on Deerfield Beach. It is a great way to ease into retirement:-)

How Time Flies

Elizabeth was confirmed last night and looked beautiful! She asked me to be her sponsor and I was so touched that her and her family involved me in such a special day. I can't believe that she was the flower girl for our wedding and now she's old enough to have a class ring. Boy I feel old:)

Parenting

For David and Mandy, who are at the beginning of this adventure, for me, my sister and our cousins who are "in the middle" of trying to figure this out and for those of you who are "done" and are sitting back and watching all of us fumble through. Enjoy


By Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columinst &Author

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief.
I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults,
two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same
books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in
their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me
laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and
privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who,
miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food
from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought
for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried
deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of
the past. Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now.
Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling
rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education,
all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild
Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you
flipped the pages dust would rise like memories.
What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the
playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations -- what they
taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.
Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then
becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it
is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to
positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice
and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.
When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his
belly so that he would not choke on his own spit- up. By the time my
last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research
on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting
certainty is terrifying, and then soothing.
Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research
will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr.
Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he
describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was
looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk.
Was there something wrong with his fat little legs?
Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he
developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last
year he went to China Next year he goes to college.
He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.
Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes
were made. They have all been enshrined in the 'Remember-
When- Mom-Did ' Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the
bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed.
The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare
sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out
of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded,
'What did you get wrong?'. (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered
food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away
without picking it up from the window.
(They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the
Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?
But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while
doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly
clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs.
There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a
quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1.
And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and
how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night.
I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing:
dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little
more and the getting it done a little less. Even today I'm not sure what
worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life.
When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would
become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew
into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I
back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often
tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top.
And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I
like best in the wo rld who have done more than anyone to excavate my
essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound
and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to
figure out who the experts were.

No Good Turn Goes Unpunished

This post is from Wes in sunny Florida (only posted by Barb). Prior to picking Skipp and Peg up at the airport following the holidays, I thought I would be a nice guy and gas up their minivan. I pulled my car into their driveway and checked the rear view mirror, but not side view mirrors, before backing their vehicle out of the garage. Since the rear view mirror was clear, I was surprised to hear a crunch and have the minivan suddenly come to a stop. I pulled the car up some and got out to see my Highlander parked in the minivan's path.

I walked to the back of the minivan and felt a little better when I saw the following minor damage to Skipp's car.

I didn't feel quite as good when I turned and saw the damage to the Highlander.





I guess I carry a larger Karmic load than Skipp. Go figure.

Sammy's Trip to Madrid