From Kimmy's Journal:
"Here it is, December 12th (2004) already! So much has happened. Where to begin...
The house is great. We still have so many boxes yet to unpack, but the house has a good start. Painting has been fun. We have the living room done, laundry room, front room (which we're calling the 'art room') has been striped. Next, we'll work on our bedroom for a little taste of Italy.
The backyard has been landscaped with brick patio, large planter box, gym set for the kids and a fountain as a memorial to Dad. It's very relaxing to sit and enjoy.
On a very sad note, however, we lost Cajun on November 30th, 2004. We believe it was a heart attack or stroke which took our girl. Dave and I were both with her when she passed at 3:42 in the morning. She was such a dear friend to so many. We had her cremated and will scatter her ashes at Mt. Lemmon in the spring. She loved the mountains so much, so it is there we will always think of her. We still can't believe she's gone. She will always have a very special place in our hearts.
Zona is trying to find her way along without Caj. We've included her in all we can to help her through. So far, I think she's doing ok. She's a sweet girl, but so different from Cajun.
As for the kids, Cody has made us so very proud. He was in the 2nd grade spelling bee. He made it to the 3rd round when he misspelled 'apple' by saying a-p-p-e-l. He did so great! Then...just a week ago, he was the lead in a musical called "Achoo - the Mouse That Saved Christmas". He played "Achoo" and sang two solos along with some other accompaniments. He did a little blues number which had me in tears as I tried to film. We couldn't be more proud of him. Autumn is becoming quite the wonderful young lady. She's learning her alphabet wonderfully, takes gymnastics on Wednesdays at "Springs" and just finished a soccer season where she collected rocks like a champ! She did great for her first sport. The tiniest one on the team but full of spunk! Cody played too (the Dolphins) and really played awesome! Dave go to coach and could see the development after every game. Autie's 'Javelinas' won 2 games all season, but the friends she made (especially Riley) were priceless.
Antonio is 17 months old now (where did THAT go?!). He is such a cuddly honey - always kissing and hugging all of us. He runs around like he's been doing it for years! He tries to keep up with Cody and Autumn and actually does a great job! He does this cute thing where he tries not to smile and makes his mouth into a tiny circle, but his big, cute, dimple pops up and makes us all smile. He's into head-butting right now, which we're trying to break him of. His favorite movie is 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", which he begins each day with watching during his breakfast. The 3 of them are just amazing and couldn't be loved more by me and Dave. Although we're exhausted most of the time and the house is always turned upside down and there's always laundry to do, we wouldn't trade a single moment. We're looking forward to Christmas in two weeks when we can see their little faces filled with joy. It will be our first in our new home. After the kids open presents, etc, we will enjoy our Christmas afternoon with Angie and her whole family. It will be fun!"
Ahhhh Kimmy...she was always so kind to say 'we' when she mentioned things like painting our living room, etc. I really did not help her - she was so good, she did not need my help (not to mention by then I was in retail hell at Kohl's pulling 70-80 weeks! I literally missed 2004).
Our friends Kurtis and Cherie Thelan hooked us up with a landscaper, who did a beautiful job on our back yard. I often thought we should have waited on things like the garden wall, brick patio and fountain until the bambini were older, so that they would have more room to play with more grass and less dangerous obstacles. In retrospect, I am so glad that I never argued that point. Kim got to enjoy the yard so much and now the bambini enjoy helping me keep it to Kimmy standards!
Kim made our house a home. All of her special touches, little shopping sprees, painting, etc, etc, filled our home with warmth. And you can imagine how special she made the holidays. Decorating, cooking, baking. Christmas day, she would make us a full breakfast to tide us over until we went to Angie's home to celebrate and to feast. She'd like to bring pizzelles along with us.
Yes, we are cycling through...
Breanna took the above photo! Nice shot!!
"Here it is, December 12th (2004) already! So much has happened. Where to begin...
The house is great. We still have so many boxes yet to unpack, but the house has a good start. Painting has been fun. We have the living room done, laundry room, front room (which we're calling the 'art room') has been striped. Next, we'll work on our bedroom for a little taste of Italy.
The backyard has been landscaped with brick patio, large planter box, gym set for the kids and a fountain as a memorial to Dad. It's very relaxing to sit and enjoy.
On a very sad note, however, we lost Cajun on November 30th, 2004. We believe it was a heart attack or stroke which took our girl. Dave and I were both with her when she passed at 3:42 in the morning. She was such a dear friend to so many. We had her cremated and will scatter her ashes at Mt. Lemmon in the spring. She loved the mountains so much, so it is there we will always think of her. We still can't believe she's gone. She will always have a very special place in our hearts.
Zona is trying to find her way along without Caj. We've included her in all we can to help her through. So far, I think she's doing ok. She's a sweet girl, but so different from Cajun.
As for the kids, Cody has made us so very proud. He was in the 2nd grade spelling bee. He made it to the 3rd round when he misspelled 'apple' by saying a-p-p-e-l. He did so great! Then...just a week ago, he was the lead in a musical called "Achoo - the Mouse That Saved Christmas". He played "Achoo" and sang two solos along with some other accompaniments. He did a little blues number which had me in tears as I tried to film. We couldn't be more proud of him. Autumn is becoming quite the wonderful young lady. She's learning her alphabet wonderfully, takes gymnastics on Wednesdays at "Springs" and just finished a soccer season where she collected rocks like a champ! She did great for her first sport. The tiniest one on the team but full of spunk! Cody played too (the Dolphins) and really played awesome! Dave go to coach and could see the development after every game. Autie's 'Javelinas' won 2 games all season, but the friends she made (especially Riley) were priceless.
Antonio is 17 months old now (where did THAT go?!). He is such a cuddly honey - always kissing and hugging all of us. He runs around like he's been doing it for years! He tries to keep up with Cody and Autumn and actually does a great job! He does this cute thing where he tries not to smile and makes his mouth into a tiny circle, but his big, cute, dimple pops up and makes us all smile. He's into head-butting right now, which we're trying to break him of. His favorite movie is 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", which he begins each day with watching during his breakfast. The 3 of them are just amazing and couldn't be loved more by me and Dave. Although we're exhausted most of the time and the house is always turned upside down and there's always laundry to do, we wouldn't trade a single moment. We're looking forward to Christmas in two weeks when we can see their little faces filled with joy. It will be our first in our new home. After the kids open presents, etc, we will enjoy our Christmas afternoon with Angie and her whole family. It will be fun!"
Ahhhh Kimmy...she was always so kind to say 'we' when she mentioned things like painting our living room, etc. I really did not help her - she was so good, she did not need my help (not to mention by then I was in retail hell at Kohl's pulling 70-80 weeks! I literally missed 2004).
Our friends Kurtis and Cherie Thelan hooked us up with a landscaper, who did a beautiful job on our back yard. I often thought we should have waited on things like the garden wall, brick patio and fountain until the bambini were older, so that they would have more room to play with more grass and less dangerous obstacles. In retrospect, I am so glad that I never argued that point. Kim got to enjoy the yard so much and now the bambini enjoy helping me keep it to Kimmy standards!
Kim made our house a home. All of her special touches, little shopping sprees, painting, etc, etc, filled our home with warmth. And you can imagine how special she made the holidays. Decorating, cooking, baking. Christmas day, she would make us a full breakfast to tide us over until we went to Angie's home to celebrate and to feast. She'd like to bring pizzelles along with us.
Yes, we are cycling through...
Lexy, Breanna, Tonio, Cody and Autumn all had a blast today hanging out! We did some fun things and ended up at the Park Mall. I wanted to take the kids to Sabino Canyon or some other outdoor rec point, but it was so windy! And with the heat, it definitely felt like being inside a hair dryer, so we opted for some indoor excitement. They have a little toy store at the mall...and a NASCAR race broke out!! The dude running the store was so busy chatting on his cell phone, that I couldn't even ask him if it was ok they were 'testing' the vehicles...I couldn't feel bad for him! Not sure who won, but it was fun to watch!!
These two are so cute together!
Breanna took the above photo! Nice shot!!
The girls had a super time together!!
One of the things we did today, was drop the check off at Carondelet, who administer Kimmy's foundation. They were pretty happy!! When we got home later, corporate sponsor number two had arrived!!! Mike Smith, of New York Life (520-620-5373) mailed in a generous check!!! Thanks Mike!! Mike was the store manager of Toys R Us when I transferred here from Pennsylvania. He's got a huge heart! He was fantastic at running a multi-million dollar business, and now does a great job managing investments, etc. If you are looking for advice in this area, tell Mike that I sent you! Thanks for your help Mike!!
We started our day lighting candles for Kim at San Xavier...the bambini loved watching the San Xavier Mission school children during Mass...and saying hi to the custodians, who help keep Kimmy's photo clean for us on Mary's altar..
....and we ended it in the back yard, lighting candles for Kim in the nitcho...
Love,
Dave
She always looked at the positive in everything as you can hear in her words of the journal entries. I love reading these :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you are staying busy with your crew!