Jennifer Strano

A few days away

does the soul good.

2 of my favorite pics I took

Party Central

A couple of weekends ago we had our annual family party at my parents house. Here are some pics...
and yes that is an ice cream truck! Mom cooked up the idea that instead of dessert that she would hire the truck to come as a surprise! Everyone enjoyed it!

Sophie the fish ... ok typepad is funky AGAIN!!! I can't get rid of the underlining!

 

My brother Glenn and my cousin Patrick.  It was 89 degrees with  88% humidity and finally by the end of the day Pat took  one of his shirts off!

 

Lou was in charge of throwing kids. That is Sam, my sweet nephew.

 
Ahhhhh!

Everyone could choose 2!

 

Ella highly recommends the Choco-Taco!

Glenn and Aidan Donald

 

Which one is the bigger child?

2 of my favorite people! My sweet Sophie and Charlie!

Lonely

Yep, I am lonely.
Lou and the girls went to his parents house for the night.
I was initially thrilled. Time alone in a quiet messy house { that I cleaned.}
But there was no one to talk to.
No giggles.
No hugs and wet Sophie kisses.
I just got an email from her.... I think she feels the same.....

dear mom

I been having a good time at nona’s house. I really miss you. But I will see you tonight.

I had a dream last night and I had a very difficult night because I was shivering and I could not stop.

Love sophia.

Old friend & and a new face

I have moments of procrastination.

i will just google someone from the past and try to see if I can find them. I spend maybe 5 min. tops. It is amazing to see what your internet footprint is.

I just found an old friend from 1990-1991. Darren was doing an internship in Boston with Rochelle. They were from the UK. We had a blast together. Completely platonic, we all had fun that year.

So I found him on Facebook. I had to sign up in order to send him a message.
It only took me a couple of minutes.

And a couple of days later he "accepted" me as a friend. And he wrote me.....

"how are you jen?

long time...

what you up to?"

Well how the hell am I supposed to answer that.......
like I haven't talked to him in 15 years.
At least he could have written it like this

"how are you jen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

long time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what you up to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?"

I like it here.

Chez Larrson

the sky is falling......

Within a 24 hour time period, I allowed my girls to order blue soda at Friendly's and also bought them guns (squirt guns). Such outrageous behavior on my part.

The aggressors were blissfully fizzy.

Ella having a moment.

Summer birthday???

Yes, My Ella's is on August 1st.
maybe she will go for these from TrulyMom.com.......

What a great weekend

Although the weather was not great ALL weekend long!!!

We manage to have a great time regardless.

here are some pics from the annual Sandwich town parade......

this Uncle Sam was great! His Plunger Gun actually squirted water.

My Ella and Sophie were on their brownie float. Isn't this the bee's knees!!

a man and his toy!

Our local book store Titcombs does a great float every year. Here is Max and one of his creatures!

Interesting....sunglasses circa 1776?

And everything like that.

Do you know when you have the little sayings in life that only mean something between you and the person you shared it with? Well i will let you in on one that Lou and I say to each other. Minds out of the gutter please!

Ella is turning 8 in 4 weeks and I was thinking about my pregnancy and pre-mom days. When I was pregnant with Ella, we had issues {Dec 2, 2006}. We still went to child birthing classes. It was uncomfortable being in a room with happy pregnant women. And me with issues, had issues being there. But leave it to Lou and me to find humor in the remotest circumstances. At the birthing class, the teacher was a labor nurse. Her first name escapes me but her last name was Walsh. She had a very strong Cape accent. She had been thru 1,000's of births and was probably not the best suited person to teach classes   BECAUSE..........

EVERY sentence was ended with "..... and everything like that." This was her pausing mechanism. OMG it drove me crazy. She said at least 100 times in an hour. By the 3rd class Lou and I got the giggles and could stop.  And now instead of coming away with parental wisdom, Lou and I only remember her speech idiosyncrasy.

So imagine her talking about an episotomy....
"The doctor may have to make and incision to prevent tearing and everything like that."

Or signs you are in labor....
"Your lower back will hurt and everything like that."

Or the epidural.......
" If you move when he does this you might be paralyzed and everything like that."

Or a c-section....
"They will cauterize and everything like that."

On emergency care for the baby....
" in some cases, they will use a vacuum and everything like that."

And 8 years later, we are still ending sentences with an occasional "and everything like that."