Polish Sweet Bread

My mom's side of the family is Polish.  Not just a little Polish either, 100%, the kind where you have Polish Eagles and signs that say "Proud to be Polish" hanging in your house.  My grandparents bowled in a coed league for years that wore bright red polyester shirts with the eagle across the back with the team name "Polish Power".  Yeah...that kind of Polish, but we loved it. 

Every Easter and Christmas would bring with it special dishes which to this day I cannot spell and most others can't pronounce, but they were delicious!  On Easter in particular, my grandma would make her Polish Sweet bread which was WONDERFUL!  It is a lot of work though, and had been years since she made it. 

This year, since we couldn't be there in person, Karen and I (with the girls' help) decided to send grandma some love for her first Easter without my grandpa in sixty-five years.  We made loaves of the sweet bread and sent it up to her overnight.  It wasn't her sweet bread, but it was good, and it was a little piece of love that she really, really needed.

Cousin Party

In March of this year my grandfather passed away.  It was my mom's dad, her first parent to go, my second grandpa to leave this earth.  Even though he'd had some health issues for the past seven years, his death was very unexpected, and it rocked our family.  My mom is the eldest of five children, and my grandparents were further blessed with twelve grandchildren and at that time, nine great-grandchildren, with two more on the way.

Growing up in Ohio with most of my cousins (two lived in Arizona) was a wonderful experience.  With all the birthdays, anniversaries and holidays to celebrate, we saw each other on a very regular basis.  And by regular I mean it was VERY uncommon to go a month without seeing each other.  Because of this, all of us cousins grew up very close, and I have some of my most cherished memories with them all. 

We've obviously grown up since then, given that I moved from Ohio seventeen years ago and have now lived in both places the same amount of time.  Some have married, some have had kids of their own, and it still amazes me that when we get together, even under the most somber of circumstances, nothing has changed.  We've added amazing spouses to this cousin clan, and not only do they all tolerate us, but they get along with each other as well.  We have a great time, and it always warms my heart with childhood memories.

As we gathered in Ohio this time to say goodbye to grandpa together, my cousin Christi had a great idea to have a cousin "party" to get us all together and say goodbye from our generation.  Two cousins weren't able to make it that weekend; my cousin Nikki in Arizona who was expecting her second child, and my cousin Keith who is serving overseas in Korea.  They were terribly missed, but there in spirit.

I have a ton of pictures from all events growing up; us all lined up by age, etc...unfotunately none on digital to share with you now, but here are some from that weekend.

Grandkids

Top Row: Christopher, Brian, Johnnie

Middle: Christi, Karen, Me

Bottom: Scott, Kerri, Jen

Grandkid in-laws: Chris(Christi's Husband), Missy (Johnnie's Wife), Sarah (Christopher's Wife), Nathan (my Husband)

Great-Grandkids:

Morgan, Alyssa, Kyler, Sammie, Reese, Lily, Brenna

At my grandma's 80th birthday Nathan and I went up to celebrate with them and share the good news that we were expecing our first child, Sammie.  When my grandpa gave me a hug to say congratulations he said he'd been doing a lot of thinking about all the milestones he'd been able to enjoy in his life time.  Seeing all of his children married and become parents, seeing them celebrate 25th wedding anniversaries, seeing most of his grandkids (at that time) graduate from high school, some from college, military, police academy, etc..., and more recently, seeing his grandkids become parents, and his children become grandparents.  With our news, mom made four out of five to be grandparents.  He told me that it would really be nice to see all of his children become grandparents before he died, and a short time later my cousin Brian made it so with the birth of his son, Kemper.

I hope that when I reach that time in my life I have the presence of mind to look back on all that I had, all that saw, and all that I enjoyed instead of what I didn't do.  Family is the most important thing in life to me, and I can't imagine a better way to measure my life later than by those moments and milestones I was able to share with them all. 

Visitors from Cleveland

In May, mom's two sisters and one brother-in-law came down for a visit.  It was also the weekend of dad's birthday, so we had a nice celebration as well.  We had a great visit with them, and my Uncle Johnnie was a huge hit with Brenna!

Grandma's Bowling Birthday

For my mom's birthday this year, my grandparents flew in from our old home town of Cleveland, so we decided to celebrate with a Cleveland family tradition and go bowling!  It was Sammie's first time and she had fun, although was frustrated that she wasn't perfect, wherever does she get this competitive streak I wonder???

Grandma's Birthday

The last day we were in Cleveland happened to be my grandmother’s birthday. She is eighty-four. I can share this because she doesn’t mind her age, and because she doesn’t read this blog (you know, every generation has its technology ceiling, for my grandparents it was the computer...) We were very glad to get to celebrate with her since we typically do not see her for her birthday.

As with just about every family gathering I can remember growing up, the children ran around and played, the bigger children played Jarts and Texas Horseshoes, good food was enjoyed.

In front, grandma and her sister, great-aunt Jean, in back from left, Aunt Helen, Chris, Aunt Andrea:

Uncle Johnnie and Aunt Helen (mom's sister):


My cousin Christopher, whom we used to call Kissypher - and he still puts up with us!

“Happy Birthday” was sung, and we took pictures of each generation in attendance with Grandma.
Four of her five children were there…(from left and in birth order: mom, Aunt Helen, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Eddie)

Six of her twelve grandchildren…(from left: Christopher, Karen, me, Christi, Kerri and Keith)

And four of her nine great-grandchildren were there with her for the day and she was happy as a clam! (from left: Brenna, Lily (my cousin Chris' daughter), Alyssa (my cousin Christi's daughter), and Sammie)

Cleveland Rocks!

For Mandy’s wedding, I flew up on Tuesday morning for the festivities and Nathan drove up on Friday with the girls, my parents, and Karen for the reception and a visit with my extended family up there.

I moved from Cleveland fifteen years ago, a lot has changed since I moved away; I have changed, the people that still live there have changed, old buildings are gone, new are built, highways, etc…and even though where I live now is home and I love it here, Cleveland will always have a huge piece of my heart and I love to visit there. I get a special kind of joy taking the girls there and seeing them run around through the same family yards and houses I did when I was their age, and someday will be able to share with them when they can understand that this is where mommy grew up.

My grandparents (mom's parents) and the girls:

My cousin Christi's daughter, Alyssa:

The girls did great in the car, Sammie slept most of the way…

Mommy and daddy passed out cold when we finally got home as well! I know that driving trips are a…pain…for Nathan, so honey, THANK YOU so much for making this one for me!