My Father in law Paul , has passed on.

Around 12:30 this morning, August 30th, My father in law passed away from his battle with cancer.  He was a husband, a father who raised 7 children, a grandfather ,and a great grandfather. I'm sure it wasn't easy and I'm sure he probably wished he had done things differently as he looked back on his life. Who doesn't, I mean none of us are perfect.

 One thing  I know is this, he would do anything for his wife, his kids, and his grand children. My boys learned a lot from their Grand pop pop, Jordan and Paul would sit and watch the history or military channel while Paul would tell Jordan things about his past in the service and how things were done, and Tanner.. well Tanner would listen to him talk about the military too but they would also talk sports and some current events. It was neat to see the boys and how they would engage in conversation with him.

Yes he will be missed greatly, I think my sister in law Terri Fuchs said it pretty well when she said this "He deserves much recognition and respect. He fought for our country with bravery and courage.He worked hard to support his family . He held strong to his convictions and never cared what anyone thought of him. He lived his life with integrity like none other. He is one of the last of his kind... "


We love you Paul

I'm finished!!!!!

For the last 4 and a half days I have been painting in the Kitchen. I have painted the walls and the cabinets. The boys also helped. We had painted the cabinets about a year ago and I liked it better than what we originally had. You see when we moved in the cabinets were a really dark brown, and they are old. We are hoping to do an addition soon though so we really didn't want to put a whole lot into the kitchen right now. Anyway, I wanted a change, so I told my husband (since he had put so much hard work into them before) that I would do it...and I did. YAYYYY.

The Party's over

Well the Summer is over for me. I go back to work tomorrow. Where has it gone? It has been a very busy summer that's for sure. Previous blogs tell of some of it. The boys still have a couple days before they go back but not for me. I wish I had just one more day.I took on a painting project and still have a little more to finish. One more day would be great. I did read a lot this summer, I guess I won't have as much time for that now either. Oh well. I am pretty exhausted now so I will try and tell more tomorrow.

A Day at the Beach

Well yesterday We took a day trip to Tower Beach in lower DE. It will probably be our last family outing this summer. The day turned out to be a really nice day considering it rained here at home some. It was partly sunny at the beach and it spit just a little as we were leaving.

We got to the beach about 12pm. We weren't even sure yet what beach we were going to go to at first. We had talked about Cape Henlopen or Indian River Inlet. We thought we had decided on the Indian River Inlet until we saw Tower Beach (which we had been to before and forgot about) and decided to go there. You just pay for parking and they have bath houses and a concession stand and stuff so it's pretty nice. I had packed a cooler full of snacks,sandwiches,drinks and things so we saved there. It wasn't very crowded either so that made for a nice time. The boys were actually able to toss a football around on the beach without running into anyone.

We had taken a friend of the boys with us and they all had their skim boards so they were busy with that and just swimming in the water as well as the football. Here are a couple pictures of us on the beach.



After cleaning up a little and changing up at the bath house,it was about 5:15 and we headed out. We stopped at a Grotto's Pizza in Dewy and had dinner. Then we headed to Rehobeth and walked the board walk for a couple hours. Traffic here at this time was bad. Poor Ken rode around for an hour looking for a place to park while the boys and I walked the boardwalk. He finally did find one and we had a great time .

Jackie Evancho on America's Got Talent YouTube Show 08/10/10 HQ FULL VER...

This girl was on America's got talent you tube addition. She's only 10 years old. Her voice is AMAZING. for a 10 year old I can't believe it. Something about listening to her sing this just moves me everytime I listen to it. Don't know why because I can't even understand the words but the sound of her voice is just touching.

After It's all said and Done

Well My sister Erica left today to go back home to Cali. She had come in, last Thursday for my Dads 70th birthday. Her 2 oldest children had been here about a month before her and they had gotten to spend quite a bit of time with us and the boys. See previous blog "Surprise".


She brought her youngest Sadie with her.

Saturday the 7th we had the party for my dad at Nottingham park. It had turned out to be quite a nice day. It was great to have Erica and her kids here and to get together with family and friends. I think my dad was really surprised.
The cake had a caricature picture of him on it that was also the invitations, then my sister Karen had the caricature blown up and framed for him as a gift.

The past month has been quite a busy one with spending time with the kids, getting ready for the party and the anticipation of Erica coming in. Now that it's all said and done, The exhaustion has set in and the energy level is starting to build back up. So as I try to motivate myself and try to get back in to some kind of routine I look forward to Oct. When Erica and her whole family come in for my brother's wedding. Until then... I will miss them all and remember the time shared in celebrating this milestone for our Dad.

Past and Present pictured together.

As some of you may know, My Father in law Paul, Has been battling Cancer for quite some time now. The first Surgery for the cancer that he had done was back in 93 I believe , Not long before Ken and I got married. He had served in the Navy back when he was a young man, I'm not sure how many years he was in, so he is at the VA Hospital for his care, on hospice. He has been there since before Fathers Day. When some pictures of Paul were brought in to his room , A nurse I believe had mentioned that there was a patient that liked to draw or paint pictures and asked if she could borrow the pictures of Paul so he could do one.

Here is the picture of Paul Years ago


Here is a more recent picture of Paul,


Here is the picture that the fellow veteran did. I don't know if it's a painting, or pastels or what, I haven't seen it yet other than in pictures. I am highly impressed and love how the navy ship was incorporated in to it also. It's just great. What a great gift for my mother in law Marlene. Pictures are great, but there is always something a little special about a painting or drawing. We love you Paul.