Good-Bye

This is an unbelievable post for me right now. Yesterday, John got a phone call. Just seeing his face I knew it couldn't be good. "You don't want to know.", he said in response to my concerned countenance quizzing him as he hung up the phone. "Czerwien." His eyes became glassy.
What shocking and devastating news. Mike Czerwien passed away at the age of 24. Read or watch about him here, here, or here.

We met Czerwien in 2001 when John started as the Strength and Conditioning Coach at North Hills high school. Czerwien was going into the 10th grade. He was a short and stalky kid playing DE for the storied North Hills football team. He was joined at the hip with another Mike, Mike Schmidt. (Hence their "handles" Czerwien and Schmidt or Schmitty.) They shared first names, a birthday, and just about everything in high school.
Anyway, John quickly took a liking to both boys, and I think the feeling was mutual. It wasn't hard though, everyone liked Czerwien and Schmidt. People were drawn to their funny, forever jovial, good natured, sweet, but all-boy personalities.
There were of course, kids that were bigger and much taller than the squat 5'8" defensive end, a relative midget for the position in elite Quad A football schools. But Czerwien had ridiculous speed, crazy strength a giant heart and a love of the game. Moreove, Czerwien did it all with humor and enthusiasm and just plain joy.
His joy was infectious. His beaming smile would light up his entire face, a room, and the faces of those around him. Just thinking about it makes me smile.
While John saw him nearly 5 days a week for 3 years, I also had the privilege of spending time with him. He was around quite a bit during those early years of our marriage. He helped us move in to our first house. He helped load literally tons of rock into our old Toyota pick-up to build our ponds. He and the boys took John and I out to gorge on wings and ice cream after John's body building competition in 2004. And he was at the house the evening I got home late from work and found John had killed his big Pittsburgh deer. He and Schmidt were over checking it out as John used our basement as a butcher shop - the head literally chillin' in our downstairs fridge. It was the boys who convinced John that it was a buck nice enough to mount. It was and he did.
I know Czerwien made an impression on us and I think John made a difference in his life too. I know John encouraged him to consider going to college which, at the time, wasn't on his radar. He encouraged him to see that his football skills could help him to get a quality education which would change his future. I remember being told the story of how Czerwien and his mom went to visit Waynesburg. They were all ready to head home and Czerwien said, "mom, wait! I've got to go back!" His mom wondered, "why? what? Did you forget something?" "No," he said, "I've got to go back and get John a shirt!" They were already in the parking lot and his mom said, "you can get him one next time." Truthfully, he was going to be there a lot in just a short amount of time. No, he wouldn't wait. He went right back and got that shirt. =)

Czerwien went on to receive his degree and was working on a Master's at the time of his death. He was an assistant football coach at Waynesburg and holds many collegiate football records as a player including the NCAA All-division record for sacks.
Working at North Hills was such a great experience. Not just for John, but for me as well. After 5 years of seeing kids come and go, we were used to having to say good-bye as they graduated NH and moved on to bigger and better things. There were certain kids, however, that will never leave my heart - Steve, Turk, Corey, The Longs,... Czerwien was one of those special kids and although I never dreamed I would be saying good-bye like this, and a lot more than miles separate us, I know he will never leave my heart. I can only imagine how John feels.

Easter 2010

I'm not feeling particularly witty at the moment, but figured I'd better get some pictures and updates on the blog before baby #3 comes. I think this action could be categorized as "nesting," although it may be too new of a fad to be listed in the parenting/pregnancy books as one of the common nesting activities



For all of you face-bookers, this next quote is a repeat. Sorry to bore you, but I need it here on the blog for posterity:
At lunch on Palm Sunday, daddy asked Nat what she learned in church that morning. Nat replied, "My teacher told us how Jesus died on the cross. I told her how Tudor died on the road."
It was all we could do to keep from laughing hysterically. =)

On Saturday, the girls and I went to Nana and Pop-pop's. I wasn't feeling very chipper so they watched the girls while I did my last minute shopping. I went back to their house and made my "Mom Rauch's Carrot Cake" with help from mom and sis.
The entire time I was gone Nat was chomping at the bit to get started coloring eggs. She was ready to go the second I hit the door but in true kid-torturing fashion, the eggs weren't. =) There were 12, yes TWELVE different egg colors in the Paas pack and we didn't even get the fancy pack! Jess and I think we had about 5 colors back in the day. 12! Good thing my mom has saved every little wire egg dipper we've gotten over the past 20 years so we still were able to manage one dipper for every color. (pheeeww. Crisis averted.)
Pop-pop was a great help in assisting Jules with the dipping and instructing Nat on the finer points of egg-coloring, like using the wax crayon and egg holders. They were tickled with their results.
Easter Sunday was a nice time. We made it to church and actually got some pics of the girls before we left. Nat was all about squeezing Jules to pieces for those shots. Later, we went to my mom's, had dinner, and an Easter egg hunt. The girls loved running around in the sunshine (and I'm sure Nat loved not having to fight 1000 little kids and their pushy parents for eggs at the Hershey outlets. At Nana's house you're a winner every time.)
We cajoled my prego sis to get a belly shot with me since she is finally showing a little bit. We played the "this is a once in a life-time photo for us" card. Unfortunately, we couldn't get her to show her real belly, just her clothed belly, but I'll take it!

I Cor. 15:17

The Pressuuurrrre of a name

With each child, John and I seem to struggle - slightly - with choosing a name for our new bundle. For both girls we were dressed and ready to leave the hospital with the baby in the car seat still trying to think of a name.

You may be asking WHY? It's not like the child was sprung on us. We've had months to prepare for this. I don't blame you, I wonder the same thing! {Nat has had a boy's name since before we were even trying and settled on a girl's name a few months ago (Ben and Sara).} If it were just me, maybe. I can be a little bit of a procrastinator, but JOHN?! He is a planner. I mean, a real planner! Why can't we do this?


It's not for lack of trying - books, on-line, the Bible, suggestions from friends, family, and even OB nurse's name tags. When we were having Nat, we thought of almost everything for a girl. I mean everything:
- We had the conventional, like Theresa, Allison, Sydney, Alexis, Kaitlyn.
- The familial, like Grace, Mabel, Louise
- Then we had John's suggestions, like
"Arnolda" (after Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course) and
"Dana" which, in itself, is a fine name. I just think "Dana O'Day" is too much. "Da-na-O-Da-na-O-Da-na-O-Da-na-O-Da-na-O-Da......." Where does it end?
- Then there were the truly clever from my office gang:
A la our favorite vending machine snack: "Frieda" and then we'd have "Frieda O'Day." Like Frito-lay
A la Gwenyth Paltrow and her daughter: "Apple" and then we'd have "Apple O'Day." Like "An Apple O'Day keeps the doctor away!"


Crazy to Common, Sentimental to Silly, we've tried them all. Somehow we did it, and somehow we settled on Natalie Grace and Julia Louise. I am satisfied. Hmmm. I wonder what #3 will be.

Ugh, The Winter Weather

Let me just first say, I can't stand the winter. Nope, not at all. Can't find one redeeming quality. John says I'll like it when I learn to ski, but until then, I'll just have to take his word for it. The coldness, the dry skin and nasal passages (yes, I'm getting old, thank you), the coldness, the bundling up kids and jamming huge coats into car seats, the buckling of those car seats with brittle icicles for fingers, the dirty boot drippings all over the car, and did I mention the bitter coldness?

It doesn't help that we just moved either. I'd love a nice, warm play date/mom chit-chat time. Instead, I feel couped up and stir crazy!!! Yet somehow, I choose to stay inside, slowly going insane, rather than wrestle my big belly and two kids through the snow and ice.

Oh, do I need to mention that I've been cranky and a little pessimistic lately?

Whatever, here are some pics of our winter thus far:
The first slide show is of our house in the "big snow" and the one day it all melted. Don't worry though, the water went down and was completely replaced by a new coating of snow overnight. We still haven't seen grass yet.

This slideshow is just a few pics of us on a day the family went sledding, Nat and daddy walked out on the ice of Pymatuning and we found a swing-set to play on.
Upon seeing the swing set, Nat was uncharacteristically sedate
Daddy: "whadda ya think?"
Nat: "about what?"
Daddy: "the swing set. Do you see the swings."
Nat: sadly, "yeah, but they're somebody's"
Daddy: "No, it's a park."
Nat: "A park? They're not anybody's?"
Daddy: "No, you can swing on 'em"
She was elated and ran. Upon Julsie and I catching up, she said, "Mom, look at these swings! And they aren't anybody's, this is a park!"
I figure she is so used to Hershey, where she would see lots of swing sets on our walks that she would have to pass up because they were in people's yards. =)

Damico Family Reunion

Finally, I am getting to posting this =) On Sunday, July 19, we attended the annual Damico Family Reunion. This is John's mother's big Italian family. As always, we had a lovely time visiting, ate some great food, and Cindy (my MIL's cousin) was a great hostess =)

Amy was in charge of games and activities for the kids and did a great job. The men, of course, played their annual game of bocce and Mars won the gift basket. (I heard a chorus of AGAIN!?!? when she won. ;)

They had a whole group of people travel from Rochester, NY and some from Florida to be there! I think it's so nice to see an extended family get together. There is too little of that these days. I know with my family, our reunions stopped not long after the death of my great uncle and the heightening of my gram's Alzheimer's. We still tried to get together for a few years, but it just wasn't the same. Growing up, my family reunion was the absolute HIGHLIGHT of my summer. Nothing else came close.

Outdoor Evening

Last Wednesday, the whole family headed to Memorial Lake State Park. We took Jazzy swimming and grilled burgers. It was a nice and relaxing evening just hanging out as a family. We played in the sandbox and swung on the swings too. Here are a couple random pics and a short video. I'm still learning how to use it and seem to always miss the best parts of what they are doing. Like on this one, I missed most of Nat's song. I figured I'd post it anyway because many of you haven't seen Jules run... or be a stinker!

Lake Tobias

Well, we finally made our first trip to Lake Tobias. We had a great time. For those of you not from the area, it is a wildlife park. There are TONS of animals there including lions, tigers and bears (oh my!). There are monkeys, fish, ostrich, capybara, a reptile show, camels,... a petting zoo, and I could go on.

The best thing about it was the affordability. It only cost $4 a person to get in (under 3 is free). Then, to take the safari ride, it is another $5 a person. We got a whole day of fun for four for only $27!

The other best part was the safari ride. We rode in a topless bus =) and were able to pet lots of big animals. My favorites were probably the elk. We made fast friends with one in particular. He stayed with us the entire stop. He must have known we were "elk people." Either that, or everyone else was a little timid with the crackers at first. Even the girls hand-fed this gentle giant. Well, here, see for yourself.

On the way back home, we hit up the 3B Dairy Isle for some GIANT cones. (check out Nat's "kids cone") Mmm. The perfect ending to a great day!

Back from the Beach

Well, we've been back from vacation since late Sunday. My refrigerator is no longer empty and my laundry was done on our first day back thanks to John's help. (...without even being asked. Yeah, I totally almost fell over too.)

It took us about 4 or 5 hours longer to get home than our GPS said. We detoured through Strasburg, VA to see an old friend and visited for a little while. We also made frequent stops. The girls are completely in love with McDonald's burgers and sundaes. Every time Jules sees the sign, "burger, burger." =) If you look closely, you can see the hot fudge mustaches in these photos.

The vacation was great, the hotel was beautiful and we ate out for dinner and breakfast each day. (That's probably the best part for a mom... no cooking! no clean-up!) We totally indulged and broke our pre-beach clean eating trend with pleasure. We had ice cream and pancakes and steaks and burgers and cheesy Mexican... mmm. Finally, to complete the food fest, we stopped at Pizza Hut on our way home because as John said, "that's the only thing we haven't splurged on yet." mmm. For dessert we had the cinnamon sticks. As a cinnamon addict, I highly recommend them.

Anyway, we had a great time visiting with our friends Tim and Susan. If you remember, we went to their beach wedding last year. Tim and John were college friends and I met him in '99. Susan is great, a real sweetheart. She even had pink bags (smart color choice) filled with beach toys for each girl when they arrived - big hit. Tim completely hooked us up - the hotel, lifting at Gold's everyday (where John got free smoothies which he now craves daily), parking at the beach. We were spoiled.

The girls loved Tim and Susan. They've been mentioning them every day since we got back. JJ: "Tim... nice.... hug... kiss." She was ready to go back to his house yesterday. =) They don't have any kids yet, but he wants GIRLS badly and I hope he gets them. They will be his little princesses, I can see it now.

We were also lucky to get to see his dog, Cali, one last time. He got her in '99 - the same year John got me =), so we've known her all her life. She is a beautiful, kind and loving Rotweiler. She is an old lady now and has had one leg amputated and is battling cancer. She won't make it much longer, but her 10 years have been filled with love. It's probably a blessing she won't live to see his children because she and her "sister," Sam, have always been his "girls" =)

Anyway, that's the enough sad stuff and the end of the detail portion of the trip. Tune in later for the bloopers.

John's New Favorite Song

A few days ago, John turned on the country music TV channel when a song I'd never heard came on. John said, "Oh, this is my new favorite song. As we listened together on the couch, I grabbed his hand and held it tight.

The song is by Josh Turner and here are the lyrics. Click here to listen (the video you see is not the real music video):

I got a home down on the river
I’m married to the woman of my dreams
Got a good truck that gets me down the highway
Everything is perfect or so it seems
Momma and daddy come by sometimes
And everything is fine

My old dog does a little singing
Late at night when the moon gets bright
Sunday morning hear the church bells ringing
Let us go and see who’s getting baptized
We gonna take us a Sunday drive
Cause everything is fine

Everything is fine, fine, fine
Through the sunshine and the rain
I got a peace of mind
You know I can’t complain
I make it a point to thank the Lord
When I got Him on the line
I’m feeling good and everything is fine

Got the same job down at the warehouse
Ain’t never been rich but I sleep at night
Got a little girl that looks like her mamma
She likes it when her daddy tucks her in real tight
One night this week we’re gonna have a fish fry

Cause everything is fine, fine, fine
Through the sunshine and the rain
I got a peace of mind
You know I can’t complain
I make it a point to thank the Lord
When I got Him on the line
I’m feeling good and everything is fine
I make it a point to thank the Lord
When I got Him on the line
I’m feeling good and everything is fine
I’m feeling good and everything is fine

As we contemplate where we should move once he finishes his required time here in the 3Hs, the lure of amenities, more money, career advancement opportunities, etc. do tempt us from time to time. We just keep coming back to this same idea: We just need a simple life. We already have the best things this life can offer ... right here between the four of us.

Just Another Day at the O'Days

To tell you the truth, we really don't do much. We don't go to the movies, don't go out to eat, don't have people over. We just hang out, go on deal finding trips, library, preschool... that's it. But here are some pics of what you may come across when you come to our house:

Dress-up time! Oh, and no privacy.

Dance Time! Lately, the girls have LOVED dancing to the "Sounds of the Season" channel. Daddy can only sit out until Nat says the magic words, "Daddy! come dance with your girls."

Jungle Gym time! I mean, Jungle Daddy time! The poor man can't sit on the carpet for two seconds without being accosted by the girls... all of them (even Jaz).

But I don't know, looks like he doesn't mind too much. Whada you think?

Roller Coaster Continues

Has anyone noticed the up and down, good and bad nature of these last posts? It seems like I've been on a roller coaster ride for the last 4 days. Oh well, I'm going to try to push through this rough patch with prayer and patience (received only from prayer) until we can get everyone straightened out.

We went to church on Sunday and Jules feel asleep on they way home, but didn't stay asleep. It kind-of screwed up our nap pattern. No one wanted to go down, but by 2:30 trouble was brewing (Jules ended up with another scratch on her face) and I just stuck both girls in bed. They slept for almost 3 hours!

They were much better after that and we ended up having a really great evening. Nat passed out her sunglasses to Jules and I and all three of us were "rockstars." We danced to Christmas songs for our audience (daddy). Next, we were on a "mission to save moose." This ended up being a "hide from daddy, try to sneak up on him, get caught because we were so clumsy and loud" game. He scared us instead. Finally, we hid from daddy under the covers of our bed and had him come find us. He jumped on us all, growling. He scared me, but apparently Nat saw him coming but gave no warning to her fellow tent-mates! The whole family spent the next half-hour under the sheet. The two girls squirmed around trying to jockey for a position closer to daddy. Jules just rolled over him like a little steam roller and then would scream at the top of her lungs about 2 inches from his face. She also enjoyed putting her feet in his face. We just laughed and laughed and laughed.

(The pics - Jules likes dad to wrap her up like a burrito. Dad makes a play-dough nose and teases the girls with it)

Friday Festivities

For the second Friday in a row, we were outside enjoying free activities! This week we were at a free outdoor movie sponsored by our township. It started at 9pm so I was a little worried the stinkers would not make it ... or would be complete bears, but we gave them a late nap and they were great! The only person that fell asleep was John!

If there had been a prize for bringing the most stuff we'd have won handily. We had water, blankets, cookies, toys... and that was just the stuff I packed. John went to Giant and got some chips (our favorite - lime tostitos), cheetos for his little girl, and a diet pop. As we were leaving the house, Nat came out loaded-for-bear. She had a stuffed cat, 3 blankets (one for each her, jlo and the cat), and a giant old leather purse. I whittled it down to one blanket, but the cat and purse were necessities. Oh well, the girls were completely occupied and pleasant patrons.

On arriving we received 4 free packs of Twizzlers. .... Add that to the snacks we brought and we had "a sugar situation." We ate the entire bag of chips and 2 packs of Twizzlers!!!! (Julsie mostly just licked off the lime flavoring) We tried to eat the cheetos too, don't let their absence in the "finished" section fool ya. When I opened them up, "woah, these are red?" Ooops. John accidentally picked up the Flaming Hot Cheetos instead. Pooh - and Nat had been so excited! She did make a valiant effort to eat a few though ... the evidence of which was all over her white shirt. The whole mix-up did make quite an impression on her. On three or four different occasions today she said, in a softly whining voice, "why did daddy get those other cheetos?" Despite my attempts to adequately explain his mistake and sincere apology, she just wasn't quite there.

All in all, we had a good time. Nat was all ready to do it again.

Catch Up

Holy mackerel. Have you ever had so many random things to talk about you just don't know where to start? We've had a wild couple of weeks and most of the things that went on aren't fit to blog about. I need to use my internal censor.

Here is the more tame version of events:

SATURDAY: Our niece, Randi (Spanky), graduated high school. Although it was about 1000 degrees in that gym-a-torium, we were very happy to be there and very proud of her. She's a smart and has a lot of potential. (I may have offended some but .... well, they deserved it [CENSOR]) After the ceremony there was tea and cake available. My MIL did not get to stay for the cake [CENSOR].

FRIDAY: Our niece, Erica, got married at the district magistrates office. [CENSOR CENSOR CENSOR] There were about 25 people there [CENSOR] She is a one-of-a-kind. To me, she looked like Amy Winehouse. To her family, she looked like her great grandmother, Barbie, which is appropriate because she and Barbie loved each other very much. We wish them the best and despite the non-traditional start, we take our role in supporting this marriage to help make it last very seriously. Her maiden name and new name is Erica O'Day-Paez Palorino. Her step-dad is Lewandowski. Talk about diverse! hahaha I think we're only missing a "Chung" or "Nyugen" and we'd cover the world.

SATURDAY: My parents, sister and BIL attended the wedding of one of her highschool friends. The bride is also my high school boyfriend's little sister. I think they were worried it would be awkward, [CENSOR] but in the end they had a good time. They told me everyone who was in attendance and I thought, "just add my side of the family and it would have been the exact guest list of my wedding had I been married right after high school." Weird