Winter Update

It certainly has been a busy few months to say the least. With Jordan having the lead roll in A Christmas Story as Ralphie, it kept me on the go on a daily basis. Jacob was at my side most of the time, making him a great lil brother not complaining at all as he sat at GEVA waiting for the rehearsals to be over.
Jordan's first show proved to be harder on mom and dad than Jordan. While he was a bit nervous, we were ready to throw up! I felt dizzy and light headed. How goofy for me, not the one even going on the stage! He did GREAT! Tears filled my eyes as I saw him do such a great job!
Each show had something a little different as Jordan was feeling his way around with artistic creativity. His shows got better and better! There were a couple of hitches, some with him some not....he even performed sick, throwing up in the dressing room 3 minutes after getting off the stage! I told him to suck it up and act like actors do and did he ever! I was proud that he "sucked it up" but felt bad that he really was so sick. That was the day the Howard's came to visit, and stayed for Christmas! It was great for us to have the Howard's with us during this time, as none of us were feeling in the holiday mood. (None of us adults I should say.) As almost everyone took turns with the stomach bug, our Christmas holiday was full of sick little ones, both mine and the Howard's. Jacob and I are the only ones in our family that didn't throw up. (Knock on wood!)
During our hectic fall and start of winter...there were football games and somehow Korey and I got roped into working at the concession stand for the home games! I have to say that we had fun together working in the stand. I was approached to take it over for next year, but then a different calling came my way, to be President of the Football Boosters. While I didn't even vote for myself, I still was elected. So this is the month that I start my official duties! I am a bit nervous, but I will put my all into it!
Lil Korey is now into the wrestling season, and with this comes concession stands, but so far only Big Korey has worked those, due to me being at the theater with Jordan. I told Big Korey not to volunteer me for the stands at this time. haha.
With the new year here, we realized that Jacob only has 9 months left to being home with me and will then he will be in kindergarten! It is sad, but we see his growth and love for pre-school, so he will love getting to go to kindergarten. He is ready in every way....it is mom and dad that are not ready.
Next up for Jordan...an audition for James and the Giant Peach...wish him luck!

This ones for you....Korey! Ode to the BEE MAN!

Korey has taken on the love of Honey Bees! Yes, he is one with the bees! Earlier this year, for his birthday to be exact, our friend Paul DeGraff gave Korey for his birthday bee box parts...for he knew he passed his love of bees onto Korey. I guess it was now time for Korey to learn more of the ropes of caring for bees in every way! Well, Korey embraced this gift! They built, he painted and now has filled a box with his very own swarm of bees!

(That is a swarm of bees in that hole in the tree....ewwwwww)

And they are thriving, he says!

While the DeGraff's were on vacation, it was Korey's job to tend to all of the bees! For the first time he was going to pull a tray out (not sure of lingo!) with the honeycomb, and he would get the honey out of the comb....filter it and then bottle the honey!

Now, I know what a mess this can be! For Bro. DeGraff has brought over the honeycomb before for Korey to extract some honey, but it was just a small one....small in size but large in sticky mess! Not to mention that when you melt that honeycomb it causes a BIG MESS! Does not come off cookie sheets very well. Dare I say that it actually ruined it, because I can't use that one any more to make cream puffs on! Any way...back to Korey's story....I will let the pictures tell the story!

Korey heating the honey to just the right temperature!

Straining it through the first filter....

Now through the second filter....

Jacob helping daddy hold the bottle steady, and having the confidence in his holding it steady to make a funny face!

Jordan and Korey having filled the first bottle of Honey!

All the boys got in on the action of helping Korey bottle the honey!

And....the best part of this story....there were no pots and pans ruined in the making of this honey!

**DISCLAIMER, if you made it all the way through this post, you must really love us, or be REALLY, REALLY bored!!

Fall update -Family First!....(It's a seasonal thing now I guess!)

Well, summer is over and school has started. Lil Korey is in 9th grade! He is in HIGH SCHOOL! It is hard for me to believe! He is such a good kid. He certainly drives me nuts at times. And I am sooo glad that he worked full time over the summer, because he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to cause trouble with his lil brothers! Now that he is 14 he is old enough to attend Seminary. Which here in NY it is EARLY MORNING seminary! This means he has to be at the church at 5:55 AM every school day! YES, 5:55 AM! He does it, and he doesn't complain. (Well he might tomorrow, because he is allowed to stay up late tonight to watch the Dolphins game, so he may be hurting for sleep tomorrow!) He is also on the freshman football team. This year he is playing more in one game than in the whole season last year! He has a good heart, and he puts it into all he does! (school work aside...unfortunately!) I still have to be on him about all his assignments, but I think I have 4 more years of this, and really....4 more years isn't that long...the first 14 years went by so fast!

Lil Korey's first day of High School! He was not thrilled with me taking pictures when he was now in HIGH SCHOOL!

The next in line is Jordan. Jordan is now in 5th grade! One more year and he will be in the middle school. He is so short that I can't believe that he is actually going to be in middle school so soon! Jordan is in the Hill Top group (selected singing group) and he has tried out for "Ralphie" in Geva Theater's production of "A Christmas Story". His fist audition ever! He actually got a call back! Then to the next reading...we were nervous and thinking more and more that this was possible, he could actually get this part! We were sent home to play the waiting game some more. Then we got the FINAL CALL BACK! We were nervous, but Jordan as time went on, gained more and more confidence! By the time he went in, he was pretty confident and socializing with the others who were trying out for the various rolls. Then, sent home to wait some more.....oh the drama of waiting! Well, I checked my e-mail one afternoon and saw a message from the director in my in box! I was excited and nervous at the same time for Jordan! I opened it up scanned down the page so I could just see if I could see Jordan's name. I did! It wasn't for the lead Ralphie, but the 2nd Ralphie. I had to scroll back up to see if I could read what this all meant! So, Jordan will preform in 25% of the shows, with the lead preforming in 75%. This is OK tho, Jordan made it! And he will not have to do all the shows and stress out about having more than one a day....he can ease into this I thought. Jordan was fitted for some of his costumes and then a parent meeting....there was a lot of information for us. And lots of work for us to do! It all added to the excitement! We don't know what shows are his yet, we will hopefully find this out soon, so that everyone can stop asking and be able to get their tickets...Very proud of Jordan and his accomplishment!

Jordan will kill me for putting this pic on, but it is his dads favorite part of the play he will be preforming in "A CHRISTMAS STORY"!

So far two very different boys with very different interrests....right....and then came Jacob!
Well Jacob is my mix of lil Korey and of Jordan! He loves the sports and he loves to perform! It is cute as him and Jordan work on a "show" for his mom and dad! Jacob is so into his roll! Jacob is in pre-school again, as his dad really wanted him home one more year. I feel like Jacob is REALLY ready for kindergarten, but I have to say, I am happy to have him for one more year! Jacob loves his class and his teachers! He has a best friend there, he is always talking about Carson! Carson loves superheros too, so they are well matched! Jacob will soon be 5 and he is excited about this. He is still trying to make his decision as to what he wants and it changes as he sees something new!

Jacob's first day of pre school!

Life is full of surprises for sure! While it doesn't always go as planned, and sometimes there is heartache and heartbreak....but what gets us all through is the love of your family and the love of our Lord! I know this first hand. I am grateful for my family, even if I don't always communicate this. And as much as I tell them they are driving me nuts (which they DO!) I still love them more than words can express. I try to provide them my time, and involvement with each of the different interests. Their father provides me this opportunity, and I know he is proud to be able to do this.

Family first!

Summer time update....

WOW, I really am a slacker, and my mom reminded me of that not too long ago when she saw I hadn’t updated my blog in a long time….so here it goes….
Summer is here…and with this brings 3 boys telling me how board they are….usually…but not this year. Little Korey, our 13 year old has started working. He works down the road at Kirby’s Farm Market. He has wanted to work there since he was 12, but he didn’t get down there in time. So, this year, we started earlier in the job attempt. Little Korey must have gone down to Kirby’s at least 6 times checking in on his application. He spoke to the younger Kirby son, who now runs the farm, and told him of the weeks that he needed off for NYLT Camp and Camp Massiwappi, both Boy Scout camps. (He was selected for the NYLY (New York Leadership Training) camp by his troops Scoutmaster.) He also told him that he could not work on Sundays; he attends Church with his family. The Kirby’s were impressed with little Korey, and his persistence with wanting to work there, and he finally was told to come down the following Saturday. Korey’s face was beaming when we walked out of the Market, coming towards the car. He was emotional by the time he got to the door, and he said he got the job, and had tears filling his eyes, we both left there with tears of joy….I was so proud of him, my heart swelled with pride. He said he didn’t know why he was crying he was just so excited to tell his dad and grandparents. We got home and called Grandma and Grandpa Donoghue and told them of his exciting news, and that he was excited for them to come and visit….they told him how proud they were too and excited to see him in a couple of weeks. He wanted to wait till his dad got home from work to share his good news. We were all so very proud of him!
Saturday came, and so did much rain…..I brought little Korey to work his first day, with a packed lunch with a note inside…another young man, 17 years old, took little Korey under his wing to show him the ropes. They were the first ones there. My poor baby came home all wet and muddy for the first full week of work, never complaining once….even coming home to do more service for an elderly family from Church….he really never made me more proud than that week.

The next week he was off to NYLT camp, this was hard for me, I had to leave him for a week off with a bunch of strangers….his dad always went to Scout camp with him, but this one was to teach these boys to be leaders on their own. And the day before lil Korey left, he found out that he was selected to by his Troops SPL, or Senior Patrol Leader. He was really going to put into place what he had learned at NYLT in his own Troop.

Back to work the next week after camp…..another week full of rain and muddy days….he said it is not too bad until the boxers get wet….wow, he is made of something here I thought. He is a tough guy! He showed me his hands, stained from hours of weeding…he said, “Mom, I washed my hands so many times and they won’t come clean! I am going to have hands like Grandpa!” I told him those were hands of a hard working man!
After this week, it was another week of Scout camp, this time his was “safe” with his dad….he had a tough time this year, none of his “friends” that he usually hung with were attending camp. He worked hard on his Merit badges, and his dad let him participate in COPE training, which is specifically for those over 14….but his dad felt sorry for him and signed him up anyway, and Korey LOVED it! He got to zip line from rope high above the ground. They did team building, and this helped him have a better time at camp. Korey came home with 4 merit badges signed off on, and another 2 that he worked on with the Church’s troop, a summer of hard work and 6 merit badges, have him well on his way to earning his Eagle by the time he is 16! More bragging by mom….sorry!
His first Check came while he was at his first camp….and he came home proud as a peacock with a check from work….$291 for one week of work. He told me he was taking me out to dinner, and I couldn’t tell him no, because he had it planned since he got the job. I could hardly believe his pay amount, I remember breaking the $200 mark, and I was NOT 13!


This may seem like a blog for Korey, but it is not….he is older and I have less time with him, in 4 years he will be on his way to college…..he is reaching different milestones than the other boys…..on to the next.

Jordan took swim this summer; he had 4 weeks of swimming, just in time, getting the cast off his arm 3 days before swim was to start. Jordan loved swimming, and is great at it. We are thinking of having him join the Seas swim team, the same team his cousin swam with.


Jordan had a Cub Scout family camp this last week. This meant I had to go camping. Now, I HATE camping, but I was able to stay in a cabin, and I survived. Jordan found and "produced" skits for the Cub's to preform for us at camp, as part of a requirement. He loves anything with acting, so this was right up his alley.



Big Korey found a boat that we were able to rent, and that made the weekend a blast. He came up to the camp and got Lori and I and said, “Let’s go, I got a boat, and we are going tubing!” So we left and had a blast with all the kids that we took!

Jacob is just the little one going with the flow….nothing really exciting for him, except that this was the first time going tubing. Paul DeGraff took him on the tube the first time, and he LOVED it….when I went on it with him, we ended up falling off, and in the split moment that he went under, all I could think of was to grab him before he sank….I KNEW he had a life vest on, but this is what my mind did in that moment, and I grabbed his jacked, pulled him into my arm and held on to the tube with the other. Now, he was crying and scared…heck I was scared for him at that one moment….but we told him he needed to get back on and try it again, and he did and loved it all over again…..giving the thumbs up to his dad when he wanted to go faster or the thumbs down if he wanted to go slower….he was a professional tuber by the time we got off.


Thanks to Big Korey, he really made that Cub Scout weekend a fun memory! He knows how to have fun, not always the way I would want but he can show everyone a good time!


I also had my high school reunion that me and a few others organized....it was GREAT fun in the planning and the actual reunion was a blast! I had a great time with this crew and look forward to doing more reunions together! We had so many people tell us what a great time it was! That was the reward all in itself!

There were a few more people that helped, they were not around for this photo op!

(Me, Patrenia, Robbie and Debbie)

Me and Korey...(it was hot in there, so my hair is a little flat...lol)

Summer is not over yet…..and the summer temps have just begun, we will see how much more we can cram into a few short weeks before school starts and Lil Korey will be in 9th grade, Jordan will be a 5th grader….and Jacob will be home one more year with me. Looking forward to September in a way....

WOW, am I a SLACKER or WHAT?

My last post in January I am sure had me VERY busy with getting all of the plans for Korey's surprise 40th birthday party finalized. I was SOOO very excited about this party and how Korey would forever remember this great bash! I knew that our best man Ray coming from North Carolina and my old roommate and great friend Brenda coming in from Texas would add that additional element of surprise to Korey, a sort of ONE, TWO punch! So this is my excuse for not updating prior to now, five months later! Crazy. So, I guess, first things first, and I will write about the event that took months of planning....the big party. I had so many things to get done, I was making a movie of Korey's life, which I must say I think turned out pretty darn good! I made a CD of 80's music (It was an 80's themed party.) and this for some reason took me a lot of time, going thru CD after CD and listening and remembering where those songs took me. Jacob and I sat a lot at this computer playing all the different songs...one that he really liked was "Can't Touch This", he heard it in a music card and fell in love with it....and when I played it on the computer, he loved it and we got distracted and danced, think running man...and then try to get the image of me and Jacob doing it out of your mind, it was not pretty as Lil Korey and Jordan would affirm. ANYWAY, this CD took lots of time to compile the 20 PERFECT songs that represented well, what I guess I remember from the 80's....

All of this HAD to be done with out Korey knowing, all of the secrets, all of the lies...or fibs...all for the good of this BASH of a life time.

Oh the good times I had on FACEBOOK, talking with old college friends (there were more planning to make the trip, but in the end could not.) and friends helping with menu ideas, songs and the such. I posted many college pics on Facebook and what a great time we had laughing at the "old days" of these pictures and making fun of Korey and he was clueless sitting on his side of the couch completely clueless....wondering what I was laughing at and I would usually say, oh what Tamara posted on Facebook...and then he would say I am spending too much time on the laptop he got me the year before for Christmas....oh, if he only knew really the time I was spending on here re-searching, and looking and deciding on all the perfect party stuff. Oh the days of spending hours scanning old photos, and seeing he was soon to be home and rush around to make it appear as I had actually accomplished something. I scanned sooo many photos one day, at least 100 and I had to run to the school, and when I came back, my lap top was off and when I plugged it back in to re-charge the battery I had lost a WHOLE day of scanning, I was ready to scream and cry....but it was ALL worth it.

My birthday is a week before his, exactly....and I have some pretty darn good friends. For my birthday my friend Kelly decided to contact some of my other friends and some family and see if they wanted to all pitch in for a DJ with Karaoke for Korey's party for my birthday gift. She knew that I was stressing about the music and also needing a karaoke machine for the party, so she it the nail right on the head with that WONDERFUL gift...I could NOT have asked for a better present. So, CHECK, music covered! By a professional to boot! Then came Korey's REAL birthday, and my mom and dad happened to be here for a friend in hospice care and another friend whose child was VERY sick and decided they HAD to make the trip to NY. I am sad that they could not have been here for the surprise party, but we had a "fake" surprise party for him and invited some friends over to fool him, that this was it. He had a good time at this party, and the whole time, I kept thinking about the one that was 2 weeks away and our friends coming in from out of town. My excitement was ready to BUST out of me!




The real birthday, but the "fake" party....

The week of the party, Tamara and her kids made the trip from Detroit to NY to help me get ready for the party...all the time, Korey thinking that they were just here for Winter Break and for Korey to take the kids ice fishing. It was great. Sista D, AKA Linda DeGraff and her hubby were another GREAT help that week, helping to keep Korey occupied, since he had days off right in the middle of the week, when I was trying to get things finalized for this party. The day of the party came and with some minor things going wrong we were on our way for this big day to get underway....my niece Hilary, another BIG help came out early and was kitchen help cleaning enough chicken to last her a life time, chopping and cutting and picking up kids and delivering kids...it was great! Things were falling into place, with the DeGraff's help in decorating and babysitting we were in good shape. Next was Nadine, another blessing that day doing some extra running around in addition to making all of her famous Bacon Potato Salad. (And I don't want to forget to thank Jane Bauch for making the baked beans too, I HEARD they were great...I didn't get any, I was too stressed to eat.) WOW, if this is turning into thank yous I owe more than what I mentioned...also Merea who jumped in when really needed into the kitchen....and the again the Vannans for doing some running around and cleaning up....

Anyway...back to the party....Patrenia's daughter was the reason for this "award ceremony", which is what Korey thought he was coming for. (Thanks to Patrenia too for helping with the pretend award night invite and covering all the lies.) They were stationed at the door, waiting for him to come in and see her in her brownies uniform...and when just before he walked in a wave of emotion rushed over me, and I was just ready to cry, well a few tears filled the eyes as I tried to blink them away I was so excited to see him come in and really be taken by surprise! And SURPRISED he was! He didn't quite get it until he started to focus on all the people and see that these are all people that he actually knew! I did it! I surprised him after all of these months of secrets! WOW, what a relief!

I have to say that this was such a blast....and again with out my friends who jumped in at the actual party to re-fill food and clean I would not have been able to enjoy myself!

This cake was supposed to represent 80's colors and it looks better than when I first went to pick it up, I had them add some of the other colors, they did not get what I meant I guess when I was trying to explain what I wanted with this cake.




Tamara cutting the cake, among all the other things she did to help! She is GREAT kitchen help! :)



Kelly doing Karaoke and Jordan waiting to do it...again thanks to Kelly for contacting my family and friends to gift this to me for the party! It was a BLAST!

The weekend was FULL of fun for us, because the party was not over just because we left the party hall....we brought part of the surprise home with us, Brenda and Ray! We stayed up so late talking and laughing the whole weekend. Watching old videos of us during college days...making fun of ourselves or each other! Wrestling around with the kids. It really did feel like old times. We had a BLAST! I am so thankful to their families for allowing them to come and celebrate Korey's 40th birthday with us. They can't possibly know what it really meant to the two of us! We love you all!



Ray and little Korey taking the Birthday boy down...




Brenda and Jacob having left over pop rocks from the surprise party....




Bren, Ray and Korey visiting sites, in the COLD, enduring the COLD when they are from WARM states...they are true friends to make a February trip!

New Traditions for Christmas....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

This holiday season was much different for me than of every year past. This was the first holiday season with out my parents around. (Except for when I was at Ricks.) It was a different vibe around here, getting everything planned with Lori instead of mom for the new way Christmas Eve would be held....but all in all it was a great night. Most every one in the family came, we did miss a couple and we were sad...but it was their decisions.
We had 22 people here that evening, it was a house full of family and some friends too. It was great food, family and fun! (and thanks Lori for making your best crinkle cookies ever!!) We were going to play games, but the night passed by really fast. We did record a song for mom and dad in TN, it may not have been pretty, but we had fun gathering around and singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did recording!






I decided I would do a short Christmas message for this was the reason for the gathering. I think it went well, it was a lesson I did for my YW. I gave all my siblings families a white stocking to put their gift to our Savior in. It would be something that we wanted to improve in our life, maybe be more forgiving, or to do more service, it would be a gift of the heart. The next year, you would pull out the paper that you wrote the previous year and re-read what your gift was to the Savior....I wanted to start a new tradition...lets see how that works.



Another first for us, was this was Korey's first Christmas morning that he was at work. Getting the day shift his MANY positives, more positives than negatives, but holidays will pay the price with Korey being with us. So our traditional Christmas brunch had a different vibe. We still invited the missionaries over and had a good time, but I felt sad at the same time. Talk to Korey about this and he will tell you a different point of view. He is so grateful for the shift that he works now, he is willing to sacrifice those holidays that he will not be around.
Christmas morning of course is not early around here at all. My boys NEVER wake up early. They are up all night and sleep all day kind of boys! All of them. In fact lil Korey and Jordan got up before Jacob and they went in and told him that Santa had come. He sat straight up and said, "oh yeah". Up they came, we had to do re-take of the photo because my camera was not ready.



They opened their stockings and then moved onto the gifts. Jacob was really excited to get his own hand held game system, he had been asking for a DS but I told him he had to show me he would be responsible so he got a Game Boy Advance SP and some games for that....and a couple of games for the Wii...he was really happy about those...but when he opened his crayon, coloring pencil activity kit, he was like, oh.....ok....and put it down, I wanted to capture that on camera...it was priceless....The older two boys got the PSP's that they wanted with a couple of games and a movie for it. Pretty much that was it. Easy shopping! They were VERY grateful for their gifts and kept saying how thankful they were....that made me happy that they showed such gratitude.





Korey and I exchanged stockings when he got home....typical stuff in them....we are saving money so we did not exchange gifts. He thought it was because we were going to TN to see mom and dad, but I really wanted to save for his surprise!
Christmas was a long day....I started to prepare dinner, but Korey insisted when he got home not to worry about it with having TONS of left overs from the Christmas Eve party. I could hardly keep my eyes open with having 3 hours of sleep because of my niece Michelle kept me up all night talking about her wonderful Anatomy teacher, and dead people and all sorts for things....so by evening I was falling asleep in the chair and was willing to go to bed before the kids and suffer the consequences of the messy house in the morning. And suffer I did....but I am TRYING to learn not to sweat the small stuff....
I am grateful for my family and my husband who is willing to go out and work holidays. To put himself in harms way for us daily and act as if it is no big deal. (I have such a crazy story of a woman on Christmas Day who rammed his police car, head on, intentionally....but that is a different post sometime.) I love my hero that wears a badge!

Thanksgiving and Anniversary?

Well, I am behind the times by 3 weeks, but Happy Thanksgiving...and Happy Anniversary to me 15 years. So, this was the year that our Anniversary and Thanksgiving landed on the same day. It is so hard to believe that 15 years has come and gone already. It was also the first Thanksgiving that my parents spent in Tennessee away from the family. I filled my home with some family and LOTS of friends. We had the DeGraffs, the Vannans, and the Howards came all the way from their new home in Michigan. What great fun we had with the Howards here visiting us. We had such good times. Late nights, early mornings...back to our guest list...and few of the men in black, aka the Elders. It was lots of fun. Korey really praised my meal and the whole holiday. I braised our turkey for the first time, and while it was really easy to do, I was worried that it was too easy to prepare to turn out as juicy as my recipe claimed. But, Korey said that it was the BEST turkey EVER. I was so proud of my self. Tamara made some rockin gravy with the drippings.Our Anniversary kind of took the back burner, but that was ok because we were truly thankful that we had so many loved ones around us. We missed my parents greatly and even though they were not with us in body they were with us in spirit.
The only real recognition of the anniversary was the post that I put into the Democrat and Chronicle, the city paper...it was cute telling Korey that he would be MY turkey today, tomorrow and forever and for always. Getting him to see it in the paper took a little help from friends. Our friend Jim Vannan did a ride along with him in the police car, and told a little lie about needing the news paper for coupons or something...and started reading it and said, hey listen to what this ad says....and Korey did not believe him....but it was true.