rest in peace

The girls all got their hair cut on Wednesday and each donated 10+ inches to locks of love, so we all have a "bob" now. They look really cute. I made appointments for Carmen and Maria, but Isabel wanted hers done too so they got her in. Here they are with my sister, Aunt Maeve who is in town for my grandpa's memorial...

Mikey is such a ham!

Well, my grandpa passed away early Monday morning. He had a heart attack last Friday and was in critical condition, but then doing better, looking like he'd come home so I asked Mike if maybe we should wait to visit once they were home next weekend...thank God Mike said, "nah, let's go..." so last Sunday we went to Kalamazoo and saw him in the hospital. He was in good spirits. Joked with us about how "if a jealous husband won't get you, time will" and jokingly told a lab tech who came in and asked "what brings you in today?" that he had "wrecked his harley down in sturgis..." he also insisted he had seen a guinea pig in the other room (i need some of those drugs :) It was a very nice visit and we left planning to visit them this weekend.

alas, my dad called monday morning just as i arrived at work and said grandpa bruce had passed away. so goes a GREAT man... he was humble and sweet and funny and just a genuine nice guy. my mother-in-law called to say she was sorry and said "he went straight to heaven, leighanne, that man was a saint!" the memorial this thursday was full of many more stories confirming just that. dad and his other son, my uncle dennis, spoke as did my cousin sean. we had a nice luncheon after the memorial and then a couple days just hanging out at grandma's and visiting.

they decided to transfer grandpa's van to us and when i went in today to get the plates, i just took the new one at random and it has my grandpa's initials BER...i know what he said to mike before he left was true. mike said, so "we'll see you" and grandpa said "you bet" just another reason to look forward to heaven :)

RIP: Bruce E Redmond, born: Dec 9, 1924 - died: April 16, 2007

Eternal rest grant unto him Oh Lord, and may the souls of all the faithfully departed, rest in peace. Amen.

Easter Sunday

All dressed up...
The Resurrection Set (like a creche but for Easter!) Maria took "Jesus" to church with her :)
Isabel in her fairy Easter dress doing some gardening
Carmen looking through her kalidescope
Isabel and Mikey
It's hard to get this guy in a picture I tell ya!
Mikey and basket
Isabel and her basket (made by Grandma Rose and Grandpa Bob)
Carmen and her basket (made by Grandma Rose and Grandpa Bob)
Maria and her basket (made by Grandma Rose and Grandpa Bob)

It was a nice Easter. We came out to grandma Paula's this morning so we could do our Easter egg hunt and baskets here. After a little miscommunication between mom and dad (it would seem every holiday must involve a slight mental breakdown on my part...sound familiar to any of the Redmond girls?), we got the girls all set up to hunt and away they went...brr...too cold outside so we had our hunt inside the house. Then we headed out to Shrine for Mass. There was a nice brass assembly and choir so it was very pretty music and the girls were very well behaved. As soon as we came home, we got Mike a pizza (40 days is a long time...) and then we all had lunch. Tita and Tito had to leave for the airport, so after lunch, they went on their way (only to find their flight delayed until 9pm!) and Maria, Carmen and I played their games that they got in their Easter Baskets (Hiss and Scrambled States) and set up Isabel's new Lil'Kinz, Marshmallow the rabbit. We've just been hanging out since then, eating lots of jelly bellies...yum!

Hope all who are reading this had a Blessed day...Alleluia!

pathetic picture of pretty girls...

tita bought the girls dresses from Old Navy and i tried to take a picture of them (and you'll notice the very dapper mr. mikey in his new threads!) but apparently i cut off their heads (was using grandma paula's old style digital camera...note to self...file idea for upcoming anniversary gift)

Good Friday

We made the trek to Mendon/Colon again this year. Mike logged about 6-7 hours drive time taking us all out there to church, to the restaurant to meet my grandparents, back home to change and then out to his folks to spend time with tita and tito who came in from NYC.



tito kevin is a drummer and grandma paula just happens to have a set of bongos (don't ask me why) so the girls were in their glory - kevin played for about 20 minutes while the girls danced...

mikey was very intrigued by this so tito gave him a little lesson. he was really hamming it up - saying "cheese" for the camera when tita got it out...





it was a long but wonderful day. thank you Jesus for your sacrifice for us so that we can enjoy this earthly life with the promise of heaven.

...by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world...

Palm Sunday

A few pix from last Sunday, Palm Sunday.



Carmen jumping rope in her high heels - she's quite good at it!

The new job is still going well. The last two days I actually did some "real" work myself so that was gratifying. I believe Mike is enjoying himself as well, but he'll have to confirm that for you as our conversations are limited to "how was your day?" and "fine" before we're interrupted a million and one times...

Tomorrow we'll head to Mendon for my Good Friday pilgrimage. I've been to the same church and restaurant on Good Friday every year for maybe 30 years ?? I like making the visit in honor of my maternal grandparents (now deceased) and last year (and this year) we'll meet my paternal grandparents for lunch and it's always nice to see them. Mike's sister and Kevin are coming in tonight so we'll spend the rest of the weekend spending as much time with them as possible. Easter Sunday we'll do Mass at the Shrine and have an egg hunt before they have to fly back to NYC. Should be a nice family-filled weekend :)

Monday starts my *early* mornings (need to leave the house at 6:30am) and 10 hour days, so hopefully this weekend will be relaxing as well - I'm looking forward to three days off for sure!