December 31, 2005 - Happy New Year!!!

When I was pregnant with Erin, I got involved with an online forum for women all due the same month as me. It was a great experience, and I learned a huge amount from those women. One of those them, Jennifer Galati, lived near us and became a close and dear to friend to me.  Our families became very close as well (her husband, Chris, and Jim really hit it off!). Over the years, we've been able to watch our children grow up together, and Erin considers Ariana among her closest friends. For a number of years, we all got together to ring in the new year, including in 2005, when the kids were going strong long after the adults thought it was time to call it a night.  We had the opportunity to see the Galatis this past week when we were visiting my parents, and it was great to see that even though we're now separated by 3,000 miles, our friendship remains as strong as ever. 

July 27, 2001 - Horns

When Erin was 9 months old, and just getting into crawling, she came home from daycare one day with her hair "done." One of her teachers had thought it would be cute to put it in pigtails, but as short as it was, they just stuck out from the top of her head. It looked completely adorable in a devilish sort of way. I snapped this picture and immediately sent it to my parents. My father's first comment? "Those aren't pigtails... They're HORNS!" 

April 20, 2002 - Erin & Aunt May

I started taking piano lessons from May Harrow when I was in 5th grade. She was always a magical person to me... She was a magnificent pianist with wonderful stories to tell about her incredible career. Her husband, Lenny, made our lessons extra special, always coming downstairs to tell jokes or bringing his violin to play duets with us. Sitting at May's pianos for lessons was a true treat.  I started taking lessons from her again when we moved back to New Jersey in 1998 and continued until just before Erin was born.  I took Erin for a lot of visits with our beloved Aunt May, and it was incredible to see each of them light up in each other's company. Aunt May gave Erin her first "lessons" as soon as she was old enough to sit at the keyboard, and was delighted to hear that we'd started her regular lessons. After an 80-year career as a piano teacher, voice coach, and performer, we lost our Aunt May in August 2007. Her loss still brings tears to my eyes, but the memories that she gave us all will last forever.

May 30, 2006 - Magic from Mahural

After Jim was so sick on our cruise in 2005, I was surprised that I was able to convince him to have another go at cruising, but in 2006 we once again boarded the Disney Magic, this time heading to the Western Caribbean.  This was a fantastic trip (not a toothache in sight!)! I had gotten involved with an internet group made up of other people on this particular cruise, and we spent a lot of time with one particular family who had two girls around Erin's age. On the day we went to Costa Maya, we all went to a village called Mahural where we hung out on the beach all day drinking beer, eating chips with fresh salsa and guacamole, and having a wonderful time. From the beach, we could even see the Magic in port, creating quite an interesting view.

December 23, 2009 - Mom, Erin & Puppy!

After 20+ years of having Akitas, Mom and Dad have finally decided to try a new breed: a Goldendoodle! While we were visiting them in December, we had the opportunity to go visit their new puppy (he's only 6 weeks old, and not ready to come home yet), and he made quite an impression! He completely adored Erin, and while she sat on the floor with him, he climbed all over her lap and tried to get into her coat. Each of us had a chance to hold him and get some wonderful puppy kisses, and we all left wanting to take him home NOW. But alas, he needs a few more weeks with his mother before he can move to his forever home. I'm sure he'll be a great addition to Mom and Dad's new home. And how nice that they'll finally have a dog whose main goal in life isn't to kill people!

October 8, 2006 - Molly & Lucy

In 2006, Jim's sister Ann drove up from Baltimore for Erin's birthday weekend and brought her black Lab, Lucy. Molly wasn't even 5 months old at the time, and it was their first time being together. Each day, the two dogs would go at it for what felt like hours, playing in a most rambunctious way that included baring of teeth, growling, etc. Lucy kept showing Molly who was boss, but Molly didn't let up. Eventually, the two of them calmed down, and before we knew it, they were happily snoozing next to each other. The peace didn't last long, so I was really glad I was actually able to get a picture of it!

January 21, 2001 - Erin and Uno

Uno was our only "child" for the first 9 years of his life, and when we first brought Erin home from the hospital, he seemed not to understand why we'd add this screaming, crying, non-mobile thing to our lives. He quickly became very attached to her, though, and was often the first one of us to reach her room when she cried. Right from the start, he was remarkably gentle with her, and he really liked when we would put her down on his level so he could smell and kiss her. And no matter what Erin would do to him (from pulling his ears to laying across him on the floor), he stoically sat through it, wagging his tail.