Ellie's Half Birthday

This year for Ellie's Half Birthday ( 2 1/2) we celebrated with half of a pan of chicken parm and half a pan of eggplant with half an ice cream roll from Friendly's with Grammy and Papa. As always, we practice the "Giving, no Getting" rule for the half birthday. This year Ellie's charity was St. Jude's Children's Hospital in honor of her Nana. It amazes me that we already have 3 charities in her scrapbook commemorating every half birthday with a different cause. Some day soon she'll understand the concept and be able to choose her own charity to donate to - and we'll have the scrapbook to show her the history of her charitable dedication!

Golf Tournament Weekend

The Pocono Mountains were the scene for the 16th Annual Rocker Klotz. Ellie's 2nd Year, Jude's 7th and Bill's 16th! My how time flies - especially for Milissa and Craig who celebrated their 15th anniversary on 9/11/08 - and the reason for the commemorative weekend each year. Here's some highlights from the weekend! Here's a comparison from Ellie's 1st (2006) tournament to this year's (2008)!!

Goodbye to Yankee Stadium

Best Summer Reading

MY FAVORITE PASSAGE FROM THE BOOK:
"The line of gray along the horizon is brighter now, and with the coming light I feel a certainty: that there is, despite our wild imaginings, only one life. The ghostly others, no matter how real they seem, no matter how badly we need them, are phantoms. The one life we're left with is sufficient to fill and refill our imperfect hearts with joy, and then to shatter them. And it never, ever lets up.

Blame love."