Yesterday, the girls and I spent Veterans' Day visiting with family and friends. We started with a visit to Mema's house (Gramby's mom), then we stopped at Joann Fabric's to pick up supplies for a paper chain American flag craft that my Daisy Girl Scout will be doing on Wednesday (in honor of Veteran's Day we are making this to donate to the new Veteran's Outreach Center). We stopped for lunch and then we headed over to the cemetery to pay our respects to my grandfather (my dad's father). He's been gone for almost 6 years and the girls and I have taken to stopping in to visit him once in a while. They love it - my little one sweetly runs up and hugs his headstone and we stop and tell him what we're up to and let him know that we're thinking of him. We especially wanted to honor him yesterday on Veteran's Day. My grandfather served in the Army Air Corps and then the Army Signal Corps in the South Pacific, during World War II. He and my grandmother had been married right before he went off to war in 1943. After we went to see Great Grandpa, we drove a few sections over to find the grave of a young soldier who had been killed in the Vietnam War. We learned about him this past summer when my husband's family was in town for the big family reunion. My brother-in-law, Joe, is very close to a retired priest who he met while they were both serving in the military. When he was younger, Joe's friend, Lou, had been friends with the young soldier who was killed in Vietnam and he had attended his funeral at one of our local cemeteries. He had always regretted not being able to get back to pay his respects once his headstone was placed. While they were in town this summer, Joe asked for directions to the cemetery and the girls and I offered to take him there and I helped him locate the grave site online. His family, the girls and I piled in the car and headed over to find this young man's grave and we brought large white paper and crayons so that Joe could make a rubbing of the headstone. The girls and I made a point to find this young soldier's grave again yesterday so that we could honor him for his service and sacrifice for our country and our freedom.
After that we ended our day of visiting with a trip to see Great Gram (my dad's mother). Gram is 91 years old and lives in nursing home. It was a beautiful day here yesterday - in the high 60's - and we grabbed Gram's coat and her wheelchair and wheeled her outside for a breath of fresh air. We sat close and told her about our day and told her about going to see Grandpa. We told her that while we visited his grave we told him about her 91st birthday celebration two weeks ago, and that I knew if he were here he would have reminded us that she's older than him - he was born a few months later and he always loved to tease her about that! Although, we would remind him that he may have been younger, but he'd had more birthdays than she had -- when he was in the war, he crossed the International Dateline on his birthday! The memory of his teasing made Gram laugh out loud, which was nice to hear. She also laughed when we told her that we are hoping to get Boston Terrier puppy sometime soon, and that if we get a boy, we will name it "Paddy" after the little iron Boston Terrier that was her mother's, and if it's a girl, we will name it "Mabel" -- which coincidentally was her mother's name... We just like the name and thought it would be sweet -- Gram laughed out loud when we told her, but she loved it, so that was good!
Our visit ended with us sitting out in front of the nursing home, watching a very beautiful sunset. Gram's eyesight is not great - she has macular degeneration and I'm never sure exactly what she can and can't see -- she once described it as someone holding their hand up in front of your eye and being able to see around that. But I know she could see some of the sunset -- the sun was SO big and beautiful and fiery orange. She commented on it and I was struck by what a nice moment it was to share with her and my girls. I hope I always remember that. In addition to her poor eyesight, Gram can't hear well and she is so frail these days. The girls and I try to go to visit her once a week. Sometimes I feel so tired at the end of a week and when we visit I feel like I need a lot of energy to carry the conversation between my girls and my gram. Sometimes I feel frustrated when we get there and she says loudly, "I haven't seen you in SO long!" And I remind her that we were just there the week before. She was a very active, vibrant person when she was younger (even 10 - 15 years ago!) and had tons of friends. And she has always been a VIP in my life -- we've always been very close and she means the world to me. It's hard some weeks to go and visit and see how different she is now and to know that she won't always be with us. I'm so thankful that my girls have got to spend so much time with her, and that they love to visit her -- just like they ask me, "Can we go see Great Grandpa?"
I hope that as they grow older and hopefully have their own children, that they will remember these visits. I hope that in some small ways my girls are learning about the importance of family, the importance of taking time to remember people who are no longer with us, the importance of respect - for those in need, for their elders, for their family, for their country and those brave men and women who serve their country - past, present and future.
My husband and I have to carve our pumpkins - I can hear my eldest daughter telling her dad to carve the NY Islanders (our favorite team) logo into his pumpkin... And of course, I'll make a batch of pumpkin seeds - yum! My little one painted a princess face on her pumpkin and when it's dry, we'll put one of her tiaras on top. My eldest loves video games (in spite of her longing to be a pioneer...) and she painted one of the PacMan ghosts on her pumpkin -- she did a great job!For last night's dinner, I made chicken cordon bleu with homemade rice pilaf and fresh broccoli (purchased at the farm market yesterday). While we were eating, I asked my family, "What would you say is my "signature dish"? I mean, years from now, if you were thinking of Mommy's cooking, what would you remember most fondly?" My husband said, "turkey dinner!" My 11-year-old daughter said, "turkey dinner, chicken cordon bleu or stew!" And my 6-year-old daughter said, "Mommy's grilled cheese!" (She's so easy to please!) One of us asked my husband what he would say his mother's signature dish is and (as I would have guessed!) he said her meatloaf (she used to have to make 2 when he was growing up -- 1 for him, 1 for the rest of the family!!). To me, my mom's signature dishes are her baked ziti, her beef burgundy, her rice pilaf and her cream cheese brownies!
Actually, my signature dishes (aside from my stew) are mostly pieced together from various family recipes. "My" chicken cordon bleu is actually a recipe that my stepmother found in a cookbook and I added it to my recipe box years ago -- it was actually the first meal that I cooked for my husband when we were first dating. And my best friend and my mother also loved the dish so much that they added it to their own recipe boxes too. The rice pilaf that I make is a recipe that everyone on my mother's side of the family makes. I think it came from my uncle's (mom's brother-in-law's) family, but I remember my Nana, my mother and my aunts all using the same recipe. Turkey dinner is something that I remember my Nana making - I spent every Thanksgiving at her house in New Hampshire when I was growing up. I make her stuffing, I make some of the same side dishes that she made, and her squash bread. I've added a few of my own things over the years - in addition to her stuffing, I make oyster dressing for my husband, sometimes I make my own cranberry sauce and I have tweaked the traditional pumpkin pie recipe to make it my own. I also make a fabulous apple pie with an apple crisp topping -- that was a recipe I adopted from my stepmother.
As a mom, I like to think about passing things on to my daughters - I have some of my grandmothers' recipes and recipes from other family members written in their own handwriting and those are some of my most cherished possessions. I would love to put together some family recipes for my girls to take when they move out on their own (although, currently my 6-year-old plans to live with Mommy and Daddy forever!). Another nice idea that I have seen and would like to do some time, is to frame a couple of recipes and hang them in my kitchen.
What is your signature dish?
I bought some scrapbook paper
from the craft store (about $ .50 per sheet at Joann’s or Hobby
Lobby) and I bought some smooth molding from Lowe’s (under $10).
Just like I did with the mirror project, I measured the length that I
wanted the pieces, got the molding cut to size (thanks again, Dad!!)
and then this time, instead of painting the molding, I glued the
scrapbook paper on! You can buy “Modge Podge” from the craft
store, but I had white glue and I mixed that in a bowl with water
until it looked like milk. I cut the scrapbook paper into vertical
strips that were wider than the width of the molding. Then I took a
paintbrush (I used a sponge-y brush) and my glue mixture and I
“painted” the scrapbook paper and the top side of the molding (as
opposed to the flat, underside) and carefully placed the paper on the
molding. 
Because I cut it into wide strips, I was able to wrap it
around the molding so that it would stay in place a little better!
Just pay attention to any pattern that your paper has – mine was
toile (my favorite!) so I wanted to make sure the pictures would all
be right-side up – I didn’t want to have anyone hanging upside
down! I used my hands a lot on this project – to smooth the wet,
glue-y paper down on the molding, to wrap the paper around the edges
– it was a tad messy! I did this inside, at my kitchen table, but
I covered it with a large garbage bag first, to protect it from the
mess! When the paper was adhered to the molding, I gave it a final
coat of the glue mixture as an added layer of protection. 
Once
everything was dry, I used Liquid Nails (regular, not for mirrors like with my last project) and I
glued the 4 pieces of the frame into place on the existing frame of
the chalkboard. I let it dry and the next day I hung it back on the
wall. I could not be more pleased with this – it really looks
adorable!! I
would use this same technique on smaller chalkboards (like the one on
my counter top), picture frames, or even as an alternative to my
mirror frame project. And this is just as versatile as the painted
mirror frame idea – you can customize the frame with any number of
colors or themes of scrapbook paper! I’ve seen holiday paper,
sports-related, harlequin – you name it! I have this in mind as a
project for a couple of special girls that I know… ;)
