Baby Shower!

I don't even know where to start with this post, it is hard to say in words how thankful Greg and I are for the extreme generosity we were shown last weekend at the baby shower my Mom put together for us! Our family and friends came from both near and far to celebrate Baby C, and shower us with so many gifts to be ready for his arrival it was overwhelming! We are so blessed to have so many people in our life who care about us and already love and care for our little guy! Our registry was cleared out and we have a very few essentials we need to pick up ourselves in order to be totally ready for Baby C's arrival.

I have a few people I would like to thank publicly. First and foremost my Mom! I offered little help or direction and let her run with all the planning, and she did the most amazing job! It is no small feat to plan a party and host it at your home for 50 people! To my Dad and brothers Andy, AJ, and Tom, for stepping up and helping Mom get everything put together the day of, and for sticking around a huge group of woman all with a smile on your faces charming them all as usual. To my favorite girlfriends Nicole, Sabrina, & Holly who went the extra mile and helped my Mom with food, favors, and decorations! Auntie Moe for helping with all the gifts during the opening of them all. To our friends and family who drove 1-2+ hours each way to be with us: Brooke, Sarah, Elliot, Marci (and Shadow), Melissa, Sabrina, AJ, Brenna, Nikki S., and Nicki P. I would be remiss not to mention it was great to have Auntie Gail and cousin Lily in attendance who were in town for there annual visit all the way from Vancouver Canada.

Here are a few photos from the special day:

Dipper Cake - made by Nicole

Cake! - The puppies match our bedding for the crib.

Shadow gave us this great bib with her photo on it.Uncle AJ picked this bib out for his new nephew

November 1, 2008: Tom & Pa have birthday celebrations

Last Saturday Greg, Andy, and I drove down to the lovely neighborhood of Jamaica Plain to go on a tour of the Samuel Adams Brewhouse in celebration of Tom now being old enough to enjoy these kinds of pleasures. It turns out the tour is really just an excuse to drink some free beer! They toss in some beer making know how in the beginning, but the most of the tour is in the tasting room.Our tour guide - he knew why we were all really there..
Tom, Andy, Greg, & Jill with our free tasting glasses trying out some pumpkin beer that was a test case only, they admitted they made it just for an employee party but we all got to try some and we all agreed it was tasty, even Andy and Tom who are not pumpkin beer fans.

Tom went back to another city almost as nice as JP where he goes to school to take a nap before his 21st Birthday Party was to take place with his friends at Fitchburg State that evening. Andy Greg and I went straight to our grandfather's (Pa) 80th birthday party. Here he is getting ready to blow out the candles on his ice cream cake!

Auntie Nancy made us write down stories about Pa to be shared with everyone. I got the pad first and told Andy's and my favorite memory. Pa bought off my Dad our first home computer, and IBM, because he wanted to use it for his TV repair business. This computer took those huge floppy disks, and it came with one game for kids called Gertrude’s Quest. It was a learning game, math, spelling, etc and even despite that fact Andy and I loved paying it. Pa kept the computer in the basement of the house (Essex Street), a very old house with a very damp, dark, scary basement that was full of old TVs, radios, and whatever other electronics Pa was fixing up. Every time we were over Nanna and Pa's we made Pa bring us down to the basement and set the game up for us so we could play. He would always set it up for us no matter what. What I forgot to mention was how when for the majority of my life when I would visit with my grandparents I would go to say hello to Pa and this was always what followed...

[Jill] Hi Pa

[Pa] How is my beautiful granddaughter?

[Jill] I am OK

[Pa] No you're beautiful!

Saturday May 31st: Greg and AJ’s Graduation Party

My parents hosted a joint graduation party for both Greg and AJ in the backyard. We battled a few rain showers, but over all the party was a success. At the end of the night I was playing beer pong with my Uncle Phil as my partner (he stunk). We lost but I did not mind, Uncle Phil was not to happy about our lost and wanted a re-match. Mike and Nikki came down from NH with baby Xavier, who did not like me holding him at all. Greg was happy that Shadow came up to the party from CT with Jim.

May 17th – 18th : Greg’s Graduation & Mimi’s 80th Birthday

After 2+ years of going attending classes part time Greg graduated from Babson College’s MBA program with a stellar 3.32 GPA. The ceremony was performed right on Babson’s campus under a large tent.

Along with my parents (Al & Patty), we meet up with Greg’s Dad Jim who had saved us seats under the tent. After the ceremony Jim treated us all to dinner at Ken’s Steakhouse in Framingham. I am so proud of all the hard work that Greg put into his classes! It is not easy to attend class for hours after work and then have to drive back home to Salem/Burlington/Beverly and spend off nights and weekends working on assignments, group meeting, and readings.

Mimi's 80th Birthday Party





Details to follow

May 3rd & 4th - Bachelorette/Bachelor Party & Jill turns 30!

We hosted a Bachelorette/Bachelor party for Nicole and Phil on Saturday night. I was so busy playing hostess I forgot to take any photos. I was nice to get to meet more of Phil's friends and everyone had a good time and Alli (another bridesmaid) helped me keep clean up at the end of the night so there was little to do the next day - my Birthday.

My 30th birthday was upon me. We went out and got some breakfast at a place downtown. It was a rainy day, and I did not want to do much (a little hung over from last night’s party), so we watched a movie and then headed over to my parents house for dinner. Mom had out the "Happy Birthday Jill" banner that she has put out since I was a kid! It would not be a birthday without that sign. All us kids (Andy, AJ, & Tom) have one.