Family Family Family!!!!

If I had to describe my family as a Movie.. It would either be Home Alone or My Big Fat Greek Wedding! We are always talking a mile a minute. There is ALWAYS some hilarious story to tell, &&  you'll find children running around arguing about who looked at them wrong. Aaron says we aren't the normal family. We are very close and love to be together.
Five years ago my Grandmother, Ganny was struggling with the awful monster of Lung Cancer. She was only expected to live for six months. OUCH! Words can't describe what this woman was to our family. She was our root. She's the root our family traditions. She's the root of what to cook, how to cook it, and definitely what NOT to cook. She's the ROOT of many many family stories. She's the ROOT of all of our hearts!

• Richard [Uncle Richie]
• Irene [Aunt Irene]
• Patrice [Aunt Pat]
• Ellen [Mama]
• Susan [Aunt Sue]
• Chuck [Uncle Chuck]
• John  [Uncle John]
• Michael [Uncle Mike]
• Amy [Aunt Amy]

So... Five years ago was really tough to go through. Our roots were breaking and our tree was dying!
This woman was incredible! She was a Cook, A Baker, A Mother, A Grandmother, A Great Grand Mother, A sewer... Etc. She was the woman who made my Uncles late to every game, because she wanted to feed the whole baseball team.. AND the umpires! She was the woman who made homemade jello with special fruit inside. She was the woman who MADE you eat everything your my plate, and because of that, she's the woman that made ALL OF US meaty people... [I always keep eating, unless someone takes my plate] She was the grandma, who used pots & pans as fireworks on New Years. Yes, it devasted my Brother when the neighborhood kids heard the pans. Yet, the kids thought she was the coolest grandma! She was the Grandmother who sewed chains of our bicycles together because our bikes had broken. She was the Grandmother who bathed && pampered our hiney's with baby powder on the nights we spent the night, while whistling Andy Griffith! I can still hear it now. She was the GrandMother who would tell you in a heartbeat her opinion, whether you wanted it or not. She was the grandmother sitting on the sidelines of your baseball/football/cheerleading games rooting for you as loud as she could be. She was a woman who loved her country and proud to be an American!!! She was the woman who spent 4 hours in a grocery store, calculating her expense down to a tee. If the cashier rang up something different, Ganny corrected her, and she was right! She was a nurse of the family . Ganny would adopt any person, family or animal if she could! She was everything. Boy, she would make us so mad... But You never know how much you miss a person until they are gone. I'd love to have the days back when she was on my tail about the little bitty things that drove me nuts!



Today, she is no longer with us. She lived 6 months longer than the doctors expected. Ganny was always a strong woman. She didn't do anything she didn't want too. She wasn't ready to go.
So, July 2005, My family came up with a brilliant idea. A Family Reunion!!! We had NEVER had one before. It was in Honor of Gan! Everyone of us [which is alot] travelled all the way [five different states] to my parents house to spend four days together.
Now... Let me explain!! This is NOT the normal family reunion where it's hot, your having a picnic with random food that doesn't go together. You can't wait to leave because your Great Aunt Sally keeps staring at you, asking the same questions that you have no clue how to answer them, or who she really is.  No Way!!! My family is hugh! There were no Great Aunts or Uncles. Just the main Roots. Ganny's nine children, their children and spouses, their children's children, and a few members of Ganny's family we had not seen in a long time. Plus we had people there, that Ganny "adopted" into our family.

Mama, [Super Woman] had everything set up so awesome. Everyone had matching shirts and hats, the kids had crafts to make, We played a many different games, ate three HOMECOOKED meals a day, Laughed our hiney's off, talked about old times, & spent precious time with Ganny as she struggled breathing, having her Oxygen tank right next to her! She had the greatest time of her life! She couldn't have been ANY happier! It was the time of all our lives! The biggest day was Saturday, that was the day all the main events took place. That was the night, we watched a DVD about all of our lives, listened to amazing music and cried like a babies. Speaking for myself, I did.. Some did not! The DVD was amazing! It started out with Ganny's Parents growing up, then it went to Ganny and her brothers and sisters, then Her and Grandpa [Boy were they in Love], then Uncle Richie & his family, Aunt Irene & Her family, Aunt Pat... and so on. It went through each individual person. At the end, there were extras.. Randoms pictures of all of us and Gan! It was about an hour long! I cried right there with her, holding her hand!


Take a second to enjoy our reunion five years ago - [excuse the blury pictures, the scanner isn't the greatest]








This is us!!!!

The Egg & Spoon Race [I forget the actual name]

The Three Legged Race

The Sweatshirt Relay

Watermelon Eating Contest

[FUNNIEST GAME] -The Orange Game

Bagging Popcorn before watching the DVD movie

The Cousins -There are handfuls missing

My Brother, Brian & Cousin Jason went to pick up Jason's girlfriend

from the Airport... yes, just like this!

She was embarrassed, but knew from a distance...

that was them.

Ganny passed away March 30, 2006 in her home, with her family right by her side!
Days pass by, she's missed EVERYDAY! Holidays are different without her. She was the Holiday! But, we are still a very strong family, We still stick together, call each other up for everything, && we still talk about old times! Ganny may be gone, but she is surely riding with us, in our hearts! She was the ROOT of the family, and we thought the family would fall apart... But our tree still stands, and our roots are stronger than ever. If we are together, we can fight through any monster, through any battle...
 That is what family is!

FIVE YEARS LATER -
Another Family Reunion - in Honor of Grandpa.
July 8th -11th, 2010 - Western Theme
 - My entire family will be here! 53 of us! I can't wait! I won't be blogging! Forgive me!
I have to take every second of this time and cherish it! I have three of my cousins, [Aunt Pat's Children] staying with us. Rachel, Michele, & Kaitlyn. They are from New York! Aaron and I are super excited about having them! All of us have different parts Mama gave us to be in charge of. Mine && Aaron's are incharge of the games. I thought it would be easy... but it's a little more complicated than I thought! We are keeping some games from last time, and exchanging some for new ones. Today is my Friday. Family Starts coming in today. For me, the fun starts at 6:00PM this afternoon and ends Tuesday Morning, when I return to work! I am very excited & look forward to this years family reunion. Mama was definitely spiced everything up this year!  Everyone have a SUPER weekend!♥ Miss JLA
This is her & my Grandpa - They have nine kids together