Happy Easter!

Easter came so fast this year we were hardly ready. All of us colored Easter Eggs the night before easter in hopes the Easter bunny would come and hide them, but I guess the Easter Bunny couldn't find them in the fridge, oops. The girls woke the next morning to find their Easter baskets on the table and lots of plastic eggs hidden around the house. After checking out their baskets and finding all the eggs we all got ready and went to Grandma Jan's for a yummy Easter dinner.

Better late then never pictures from Jenna's First Birthday

I know it's a little late but I thought in light of things we needed some happy pictures. We celebrated Jenna's birthday on January 19 only a few days before her actual birthday on January 21. We had friends and family over as well as my mom and step dad came in from Arkansas. We had yummy homemade chili and chicken and dumpling soup and of course the every popular Buffalo Chicken dip and thanks to Liz Lee for introducing it to us. Jenna seemed to have a great time walking all over and playing with her sisters and her friends. Jenna got all kinds of wonderful gifts from everybody and even a special rocking chair from Grandma Roth.

My tribute to Stosh

This is my favorite picture of Stosh that I had to share. I think it was taken at dinner for David's birthday a couple of years ago.

I really didn't want to take the limelight away from David's beautiful messages but I thought it was my turn to share my memories of the big goofy guy. I'll try to do it without shedding a tear or being to mushy but we'll see how it goes.

I wasn't as fortunate as some to have known Stosh his whole life or mine for that matter. I was married into knowing him 5 years ago. I met Stosh in 2002 only a couple of days after moving to Illinois when Joe called and asked David and I if we wanted to meet him and Stosh for breakfast as Stosh had just got into town the night before. We met at Skandia House in Antioch, I was a little nervous, same as I was when I first met David's side of the family. I had heard a lot about this person called "Stosh"and was looking forward to finally meeting him. In walked Joe and this big giant guy, right away I got a big hug from him without even knowing me.

The day after Joe died as David posted in the previous blog we had concert tickets but didn't really want to go in light of Joe's passing but we were told that Joe would of wanted us to go. I now have Stosh's T-shirt from that show and I will always treasure it as a memory of him.

Stosh was one of the first few people to find out that we were expecting and when he found out about the due date he was very excited, you see she was due two days after his birthday. He was crazy, he was really hoping that Jenna would be born on his birthday, January 20, so he could share it with his newest niece. He even brought his big tow truck to the hospital to see us when I was induced, still having wished she came on his birthday. The first time he met Jenna she was about 2 months old, it was so cute, he was afraid he would break her.

A few weeks later he stayed over night to help David with something, so I would take him home the next morning. The village didn't pick up our dead Christmas tree so he offered to put it on the "burn pile" at his house. I had the big truck (Ford F-250) that day so we started to drive in the yard behind the house and proceeded to get it stuck in the mud. For the hour we were stuck I never saw him stress out about having the truck stuck in the mud. We rocked the truck back and forth, he dug out around the tires put boards down, I guess he saw the stress on my face and kept saying "don't worry sis we'll get it out" and finally we got it out only after it was down in the mud to the running boards. On solid ground he let out a big whoooo hoooo, Stosh was so proud of the mud he ran in the house to get the camera before he washed all the mud off (hopefully if they haven't been deleted I'll try to post the pictures he took of the truck).

It's kind of silly of the things you think after a person is gone but I kept thinking "wow, who will help me with the trailer now?" "How am I going to make sure it's ready for winter without him".

The big guy could get under your skin sometimes and would always ask me and I'm sure many others too "would you be my friend?" I guess I should of said "Yes".

I was an only child and I always felt like Stosh was my brother too. Man I'm really gonna miss him!!!!!

One of Stosh's favorite songs

I found this song to be appropriate given the circumstances.

The day after our step-father Joe passed away, Stosh drove Missy and I to Chicago to see these guys perform. It was a crazy night. I got very drunk, and Stosh had to drive home. We were crazy driving down the streets, hootin and hollerin' at people, celebrating Joe's life and our own time together. It was a very fond memory that I will not ever forget. The time spent with him that evening was priceless.

You brought so much life and joy to my life and our family. Your gentle love, wise cracks, big huge strong hugs, our "secret handshake", always saying we love each other every chance there was, your never ending help with my "Tim Allen" like home improvement skills, your constant giving of your heart, and your hilarious and intoxicating laugh. I couldn't have asked for a better little-bigger brother.

Man Ies to hear your voice again, and get that one last bear hug from you. I will never give up hope that this isn't real, but I know I will see you yet again. Rambo will never bhank you for taking me to that movie. I didn't care about the movie, I just wanted to be with you. you made me a better person for having you in my life. I only wish you were still here. God I miss you.


After We Go

 (by: TANTRIC)

Do you know how we got right here
Is it something we probably asked for
All the answers are not quite clear 
But the question is one that you can't ignore

We walk around like we don't live with consequence
And still believing what we do is right
So how's it feel to run and hide for your defense
You're not the only one to face the fight 

It's been a long time
Believe it or not
We've got a strong mind
But we never remember to use it
Something tells me that we've got to be suffering 
After seein' everything
I can't believe we still don't know
What it is that we think we're searching for

After we go
It seems the same mistakes will carry on
That's what we get for giving up

I don't know how long this will last 
But I will keep on pushing 
I've gotta make all the time that has passed 
Turn into reasons to get me through it 

We walk around like we don't live with consequence
And still believing what we do is right
So how's it feel to run and hide for your defense
You're not the only one to face the fight

It's been a long time
Believe it or not
We've got a strong mind
But we never remember to use it
Something tells me that we've got to be suffering
After seein' everything
I can't believe we still don't know
What it is that we think we're searching for

After we go
It seems the same mistakes will carry on
That's what we get for giving up
But until then
We have to realize there's more to it 
Than we could ever see there was

After we go
It seems the same mistakes will carry on
That's what we get for giving up
But until then
We have to realize there's more to it 
Than we could ever see there was 

After we go
It seems the same mistakes will carry on
That's what we get for giving up
But until then
We have to realize there's more to it 
Than we could ever see there was



I will never give up hope that this isn't real...never

A poem from Billie to Stosh

This message was posted to us through a different header and I thought it would be nice to post it for all to see. Thanks for the thoughts Billie, it is a nice tribute. He will be missed by all.

Billie has left a new comment on your post "Kayla's birthday":

This is so sweet! I worte a poem for Kris. I thought I would share.

(note: "" are Kris's words)

FOR STOSH:

I'll never know another "dago" like you and I mean that with all the sincerity in the world.
I'll never hear the words "snapperhead" or "sis"
spoken with your infliction again.
Although we weren't family in any conventional way,
you were a Raucci to the very core,
and as you lovingly called me "sis"
you were a big-little brother to me.
Now
I never see another tow truck and wonder if it's you driving.
I'll never hear your footsteps on my deck as I announce the "dago" is hear.
I don't even know how to begin to explain
what you meant to us,
what you meant to Tony,
what you meant to our little Alexis.
I'll never see you again on holidays, birthdays, weddings...
You'll never ask what "Mom and Pops" are up to and have me instantly know you are talking about Tom and Sue.
No more New Years with Petey.
No more gas spills in my driveway.
No more helping Tony burn down my kitchen.
And who is going to help us move if we ever get a new house?
You won't be at our wedding-
as much as you were against marriage-
I know Tony wanted you at ours!
We'll never understand this.
You saw what Pat put us through.
Didn't you know how much this would hurt?
Didn't you know we loved you?
I'll never get a chance to ask what you were thinking.
But if I had a chance,
I'd go back in time-
we all would-
and we would of called more often-
tried a little harder-
we would of wrapped you I our arms so tight and told you that although you are being a "dillweed", we still love you.
But we can't go back,
so "snapperhead" although you are a "dillweed dago", we will always cherish your memory
-especially "Grouchy Raucci"
and when I say cherish I don't mean "just a scotch"
I mean deep and wide.
And when we have our "hydraulic sandwiches", we'll think of you.
I hope in heaven you find your "juice box" and rest happily.
-your lil "sis", ("BJ")

You will be missed my little-bigger brother

It is with the saddest regret, that I must report my younger brother has succumbed to his demons and taken his own life. Kris "Stosh" Larson, was found dead yesterday after committing suicide. Stosh had a long battle with drugs and alcohol. For the most part, he did a great job controlling his demons, and beating them into submission. But, as with all demons, they eventually fight back. Unfortunately for all of us, Stosh just could not keep them at bay any longer.



Those of us that were blessed with his presence, had an instant love for this kid. He was the biggest gentle giant ever. Strong as an ox, as gentle as a hummingbird. Remember McGyver from TV? Stosh was the original. I used to tell people, he was so smart and talented, he could pull the space shuttle apart and put it back together without directions. Not only would it not ever crash again, but it would fly faster and better. He was extremely intelligent.


He loved his nieces and nephews something fierce. Always the favorite uncle, always the rough houser with the boys, always the gentle protector with the girls. They sure loved him. They will surely miss him forever.

There was nothing better than to see my girls eyes light up when Uncle Stosh walked into the room. They would immediately jump up and run to him and literally jump into the big man's arms. You would not believe the tickle fights that went on between him and Kayla Renee and Becca. They absolutely loved rough housing with him and for you wrestling fans, they would go "top rope" on him and he would just crack up laughing at how much energy they had for him.








He was a good man who tried his very best at everything his hand touched. He was a good son who did his best to be that good son. He was a great uncle who prided himself on being the favorite uncle. Most of all to me, he was a great brother that I will miss terribly forever now. I miss you little brother. I love you. Your pain is over.

Kayla's birthday

Kayla turned 12, yes you read it right, 12 on December 14, I know I'm a bit delayed in the posting but hey just keeps you anticipating what might come next. Kayla gets a little ripped off every year with her birthday so close to Christmas. This year Kayla wanted to go to the local ceramics store where you pick your piece to paint and then after you paint they fire it for you. Kayla wanted to take our neighbor Susie and of course Becca went too. The kids had lot of fun and even David got to paint too. Kayla painted a snowman coffee cup with a hat for a lid, Becca painted a coffee cup, Susie painted a kitty and David painted a frog and the nice lady that owns the shop gave us a tile to put Jenna's feet prints on it. We had a fun time at the ceramics store and had yummy cake and ice cream when we got home. Kayla and I have already started planning next years birthday since she will be 13, we have decided we will have a party in the summer so we can possibly do something outside.

I'll get more posted on things that have been going on but thought everybody would enjoy some video's in the mean time. I have Jenna learning to walk, Jenna and Becca laughing and Jenna playing peak a boo. Make sure you have sound to hear her giggle.

Walking baby

Just a couple of short clips so everybody can see Jenna walking with her new toy from Grandma at Christmas.

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe 2008 is already here, 2007 was a crazy year for us. David was laid off 2 times, almost 3 but quit before risking another layoff, I was laid off 2 days before I was scheduled to return from having Jenna, which worked out ok as I was able to be home with Jenna for 10 months. The mortgage industry was good to us but man are we both glad to be out of it, we both changed fields, David with Sears and me with a computer laptop repair center. Jenna is being taken care of my Olivia's mom Kelly and she just loves it there from what I can tell and I don't have the worry about Jenna coming home smelling like smoke like she did from her first daycare. Our friends are all good, The Lee family welcomed the addition of Spencer on I believe December 20th, David tied the fantasy football with his best friend Randy which just killed Randy as he was always top dog, Kayla is now in middle school and doing very well, claims to have no boyfriend, thank God, Becca loves school and her teacher is expecting in the summer break, David's brother Ric and sister-in-law Diane are doing well way out in sunny California, hopefully he will find a new job in the new year, all other family members seem to be doing well. Jenna will be 1 on the 22'nd, it's hard to believe time has gone so fast. So lets just hope that 2008 is a great year for everyone.

We rung in the new year by just hanging out at home with the kids. We snacked and watched movies while David and I took turns nodding off in our chairs (man we're old). Becca tried to stay up until midnight but didn't make it, falling asleep by about 9:30 and of course Jenna was out by about 10 or so. Midnight came and we lit off a few fireworks in the snow(by the way it snowed for 2 days, new years eve and new years day), yelled a bit and Kayla hit a spoon on a pot for a few minutes to make some noise.

1st Christmas Eve with Girls and Jenna's First Christmas

Wow what a Christmas, it was crazy at our house. Christmas Eve started out wrapping last minute gifts and making cookies for Santa (minus the frosting, lol). We went to Grandma Jan's house for dinner and gifts just us girls. David had to work so he came straight there just in time to eat dinner with us. After we ate we all opened our presents. Jenna was pretty funny, she couldn't figure out what was going on with all the boxes and wrapping paper but after she saw the Elmo from Grandma that kept her busy and the bottle of lotion she found under the table.





We left Grandma's to get ready for Santa. Becca had to get ready for Santa by putting some Reindeer treats on the front lawn made up of oats and some glitter to attract them and then put some cookies on a plate, it took her about 3 tries to keep the cookies on the plat, she kept loosing them on the floor, it was pretty funny. Then she had to put some carrots on the plat too so the reindeer had a snack too. Kayla had to help with the carrots and their Daddy loves to play jokes on them by telling them they had to bite off the tip of the carrots before they put them on the plat, that was pretty funny too. Jenna was already sleeping from our ride home so she didn't get to help get ready. So off to bed the girls went and of course Becca was to excited to go to sleep.David and I had to take care of some last minute Christmas stuff, wink, wink and he had a little snack of a Christmas Peep (marshmallow gingerbread man), I have to tell this story because it was just the funniest thing. He was being silly by squishing it through his teeth when it squished to hard and went in my ear, we laughed so hard we couldn't breathe and tears rolled down our face after about 15 minutes we finally stopped laughing and decided we better get to sleep, by this time it was about 1am. Of course as usual Jenna woke up in the middle of the night, which she seems to do alot lately, about 4am I think it was so not much sleep for me that night.We slept in a bit for us, about 7:30 am, which Becca was going crazy by then to do downstairs to see what Santa brought. We finally went downstairs but wouldn't let the girls come in the family room right away, aren't we mean. We let them in and they were really excited to see all the gifts and Becca was excited to see that Santa ate most of the cookies and drank the milk and saw the partially eaten carrots, Santa was a bit messy though by leaving several crumbs of cookies on the table.We started the way we usually do by opening our stocking gifts first. Then Kayla and Becca pass out the gifts that are under the tree. Usually the girls are the first to start opening their gifts as they can't wait. Jenna tried to open one but lost interest, she just wanted all the boxes and paper and things that we had in our hands until she opened the purple teddy bear from her Great Grandma, she got very excited and took it from daddy and started hugging it and saying "awww" as she hugged it, it was the cutest thing. David helped her open most of her other gifts both Christmas Even and morning where she got lots of clothes from Both grandmas.

The girls ripped through their gifts and then found a couple of gifts hidden in the tree from Santa, Kayla stared to open her's first but had to wait for Becca because she was so excited. Santa brought both of the girls Nindendo DS's and they each got a dog game to go with it, needless to say they didn't put them down the entire day, not even long enough to charge them. My mom had one of Jenna's gifts shipped directly to our house so I brought it out, it was a Fisher Price Lion that Jenna could either sit on or push, she was so excited she figured out if the nose was pushed that would start the music so after a bit I put it together for her and off she went with Becca pushing her around the house.

David got lots of shirts for work, a few movies, some yummy popcorn, backpack, umbrella and even a Vodka decanter with shot glasses, you can't have the decanter without the vodka so David's mom brought out a bottle for the decanter. I got a couple of shirts, slippers, money, and I am and have always been a big Gene Autry fan so mom got me the newest autobiography that I can't wait to start reading. We had Christmas dinner at our house in which Kayla helped her Daddy make the traditional meatballs to go in the homemade sauce for the ravioli.

It was very stressful getting ready for Christmas but overall it was well worth it to have Kayla and Becca there for Christmas morning for the first time and enjoying the look on their faces to see what Santa brought them. Now we get ready for New Year's eve, we are staying home with the kids and I beleive Grandma Jan will join us for a little while. We will have lots of snacks, watch some movies and maybe play some Wii.

So for those of you we missed with the Christmas cards (sorry I didn't order enough this year) we hope you had a very Merry Christmas and have a Safe New Years, if you live near us please feel free to join us if you like.

Christmas update

Things have been so busy so sorry for no update lately. We were hurrying to get shopping done to ship packages out of town and finally got them packaged and shipped on Tuesday, nothing like waiting until the last minute. We were also a bit delayed in getting our Christmas tree so Jenna and I went after work on Wednesday, we picked out a great one, it's about 7 foot and really fat. Ever since I was a kid I have always had a fresh tree and I just couldn't see myself with a fake one just yet. David was off yesterday and got the lights on the tree and Jenna and I started to hang ornaments. I let Jenna put on her first ornament, that was pretty funny since she likes to shake everything to see if it makes noise. We got the boxes packaged and shipped out to my mom and David's brother in California so now we can focus on the rest of the shopping.



We are really excited for the first time in 7 years the girls will spend Christmas Eve at our house and will wake up to Santa gifts with us and it will be Jenna's first Christmas so it should be fun.

Sounds like a barking Seal, oh no it's Croup

Our little Jenna is pretty sick right now with Croup. She started out with just a little cold and then she started getting a cough that turned into a deep seal type cough. David looked online for her symptoms and what she had sounded like Croup but we weren't doctors. I called her Doctor Sunday night and he suggested that we take her to the emergency room for a breathing treatment. But with our luck David's insurance with Countrywide ended on the 30th so we were without insurance so David suggested we keep a close eye on her that night and he would work out the insurance mess with Sears the next day. Well what a mess that was, he was on the phone for a total of about 4 hours with help from his boss also. David was finally able to get most of the bugs worked out and took her back to the doctor yesterday. They gave her a breathing treatment in the office and said her poor little throat is just raw from coughing. The doctors office loaned us a nebulizer so we can give her breathing treatments at home every 4 hours and they also gave her meds for her throat.

The poor little thing sounds just terrible and she won't eat much, except last night I guess she was hungry and ate about half of Daddy's pizza. Today is a different story, I can't get her to eat at all. She is very sleepy today so hopefully she will rest good. David and I have been taking turns staying home with her which is really hard for both us having new jobs.

New Jobs

David and I both have new jobs, David has been at Sears now for abut 3 weeks I think. He is having some trouble getting the training he needs but I'm sure he will take care of that soon. He seems to like what he is doing except that he is having trouble keeping people employed, they all seem to not want to work. We took a visit to the McHenry store so he could see how it was set up and we both got some good ideas for his store.

He survived Black Friday without any trouble in his store but the K-Mart next door was a different story. There was some pushing, shoving, hair pulling (extensions left on the floor) and even a head went through a jewelry case.

I am on my second week at my job now. I have two great bosses and my co-workers so far seem really nice. It's pretty funny, I have always worked really hard in the mortgage industry and those of you who have been there can relate but this job seems really slow to me. I guess it will from the fast pase and hustle of the mortgage world.