Gramma's 80th Birthday Celebration

Gramma (Connie), turned 80 on May 2nd and celebrated with the family by spending the day at the Casino boat and then having dinner with everyone afterward at Alfie's Inn in Glen Ellyn. As a special gift, Lisa baked a cake with her favorite (not) tennis players...Andy Roddick, Serena and Venus Williams! A wonderful time was had by all!

Today begins "Clean Sweep" week in Glen Ellyn. It comes every other year and it's quite an event...time to clean out the "junk" that resides in all the cubby holes in your home, both inside and out! We get the junk to the curb and watch as scavengers drive up and down the streets collecting "treasures" out of the garbage. It always provides entertainment to actually watch that cliche in action, "One man's junk is another's treasure." Well, it's time for me to go clean out the garage!

Christmas 2010

This year was a first for the way that we celebrated the holiday. No Christmas eve at Debbie or Karen's house, but rather, dinner at Marinella's in Glen Ellyn with Jenna, Neil, Lisa, Gabriel, Vincent and Gramma. It was an early dinner and then a rather quiet evening preparing for the Christmas meal that was to follow the next day. There were 22 for dinner, including the little ones, and then four more joined us afterward. Ham, mostaccioli, meatballs, potato casserole, broccoli and salad was served along with too many desserts, including delicious homemade pumpkin pie (thanks to Lisa) and cookies. A card game followed dinner...It was all very enjoyable!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving this year was a bit different in that we spent the afternoon with all the family at a Greek restaurant named the Odyssey. I thought most would be eating from the special Thanksgiving menu, however, the majority ordered Greek food. We must have eaten 4-5 orders of Saganaki (Oooopahh!) At first, the little boys were fearful of the giant flame that shot upward from the flaming saganaki, but then, they wanted to see more and were entertained by it.

The evening ended at our home with a fun family game of cards (poker). It was fun to see Neil, Anthony and Jenna playing side by side. Mike, Marlene, Steven and Michael join us after their Thanksgiving meal, and then Leah came later and joined Gabriel, Vincent and GianLuca in the fun. The boys asked for their favorite thing to do when they come to the house. First, they go upstairs with Grampa and play airplane spin on the bed and then they asked me to take out the vacuum cleaner to play with it (Go figure?!?) I wonder if that fascination will continue as they age...somehow I don't think so!

Later we made turkey sandwiches for everyone and had apple, pumpkin and french silk pie along with a tray of fruit and coffee. We had a wonderful time with all of the family!

Neil's Soccer Tournament in Naperville 9-20-09

Congratulations to Neil's Soccer team, the Plainfield Legends U-9 Girls. They were the winners of the Naperville Soccer tournament on 9-20-09 beating the U-9 Girls team from Canton, Michigan, 4-1. Congratulations, Coach Neil Bianco!