Kisses from Grandpa

The family reunion was a wonderful day of fun catching up with my mom's side of the family.
I only have 3 cousins on my mom's side (and one of those I never see-he wasn't at the reunion) but my mom has lots of cousins around my age, so I am not sure what the technical term is for your relation to your mom's cousins- but anyway, it was great to see them! Two of them have 1 year old children who I hadn't even met yet! Amy has Sophie and she lives in West Virginia now. Her husband was one of the only people missing. And Josh and his wife Erica had baby Tristin. We found out that Amy is pregnant with baby #2, too, so Sophie will be a big sister. She is due in June, so I hope they can still make it to my wedding in July!

Friday- Started with a text from Corey mid-day saying "passed the bar" and I just about freaked out!!!! So proud of him. He did not want to take it again, and I didn't want him to take it again! Once was enough!!! Then, a day in the car- we (dad and I) went from Lititz to pick up Corey near Cherry Hill- saw his new apartment for the first time. The apartment is nice (albeit VERY empty with basically just a mattress on the bedroom floor), the area does not seem nice. From his place, we headed up to Massachusetts. It took us ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL night. I think we were in NJ for about 5 hours. My poor dad was exhausted.

Saturday- Woke up early and headed to The Big Apple in Wrenthem, MA. Ate fresh donuts, homemade spiced hot cider, and a caramel apple. SOOOO GOOD! For lunch, my family went to Papa Gino's for some yummy pizza!!!

Courtney at The Big Apple

Then we went back and rested at Auntie Jo's. My only 2 first cousins who were there (Isaac & Elizabeth) played on the docks and searched for snails and snapping turtles. They live in New York, but we don't get to see them a lot.

Isaac (age 9) catching snails on the dock at Auntie Jo's house. Yes, he is in his pajamas. :)

At night, we headed to the church for the BIG get together to honor my 95 year old great-grandpa. He has slowed down so much and doesn't really talk anymore. I sang Jesus Loves Me to him and he mouthed a few of the words. It was so precious. Then, I put my cheek up to his lips and he kissed my cheek! :) It is very hard to say good-bye to someone who is still sitting in front of you. I don't think I will see him again. But, the memories are good. They transported him to the church in a wheel chair and drove over his recliner so he could rest.

Kisses from Great-Grandpa

At night, we went back to Auntie Linda's and about 25 of us played games and had a great time laughing until 2 AM!!!! I figured since I was only there for a day, I better live it up!

Sunday- We packed up and headed to Boston Airport to drop Courtney off. Then, I rode home with mom and Julie all the way to Lititz. Another day of about 9 hours in the car.

Overall, it was such a wonderful weekend. I had MAJOR post event depression this morning. Didn't want to be back in chool, especially since many of the cousins stayed up there today and were going to the beach in Rhode Island. I hate missing out!!!!

I feel really blessed to have a loving family on both my mom & dad's side. Of course, I didn't get as many pics as I wanted to, and when I did, my terrible camera/camera skills made them turn out weird, but here are a few of my favs.

Hope you all had a fun, fall weekend. The weather was fantastic!!!

Hello, Blog.

Apologize for the hiatus in blogging. My excuse was that I just finished the toughest course of my life. EDUC 570, you almost killed me.
Just submitted my final paper yesterday- came out to 104 pages. That was the second paper in our course of only 9 weeks with an entire textbook to read and a scary final and weekly assignments thrown in there. *Shudder*
Anyway, enough complaining- now that is OVER. 36 credits down, 4 to go!!!!

So this week I will feel as though I have gobs of free time, and no one is here to hang out with. My sister went on vacation and my good friend in Lititz is on her honeymoon this week! :)

I guess to play catch up I will give a list of the recent highlights:

-October started with only one event on the calendar- a wedding- then all of a sudden, I had something planned for every weekend. NICE! :) Last weekend, it was spent with Corey's family. His baby cousin, Matthew Sean, was baptized and then we had a nice lunch at his Aunt and Uncle's house. His Uncle Dominic will be his best man, so it was nice to spend time with him. This weekend was spent with friends- next weekend is spent with mom's family, the following with dad's family, and the last weekend with friends as my sister and I host our first get-together at our house! :)

- One of my best friends, Jen (mentioned above), got married Saturday 10/8 in Bryn Mawr. NICEST weather ever for her wedding, she looked gorgeous, and my date was hot. Duh.

-Three day weekend: LOVED it. I swear- all weekends need to be 3 days. One day to work, one day to relax, and one day to have fun. Makes sense, right? I hung out with Dad and Corey yesterday and today- watched the Eagles roll over and die for like the third time in a row....Cici's pizza buffet....and a shopping trip to Wegmans.

-Corey loves his job. That makes me happy.

-I got TWO new cooking magazines this weekend- and will actually have time to read them since the class of doom is over.

-Upcoming fun weekend- family reunion with mom's side of the family- in New England-in the fall. YES! How pretty! We are going to honor my great-grandfather's life. He is now in the care of hospice and may be joining the angels in heaven soon. He will be 96 next month- so we will get together and love and celebrate him/his legacy.

Hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend. One sad update: My beloved cat, who goes by 400 names, is sick. I woke up at least 3 times each night at odd hours worried about her. This morning I took her to the vet with dad and they ruled out leukemia and her kidneys and liver are OK. Praise the Lord. It only cost $330.00. She has a fever and hasn't been drinking or eating anything. They gave her a shot of antibiotics and I PRAY she feels better soon. I'm obsessed with that beautiful cat- I have had her since I was in like 6th grade.