Christmas Day 2010

Christmas Day was a busy one at the Mac Shack. We spent the bulk of the day hosting and we were quite happy to do so. Brett was in our room right around 5 am saying he couldn’t sleep and … Continue reading →

Thanksgiving with the Giovinco’s–One Week Early

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  My mom and sister Kate are celebrating the actual holiday in Kansas, my brother Casey will be down in the Carolinas, and my sister Erin is having her … Continue reading →

Happy 41st!

I was out of town for Jean’s birthday on business in Salt Lake City, so I missed the big day. Jean ended up having a nice sized party at our house in my absence. It ended up being an impromptu event. Jean never actually invited anyone, but whoever called to see what she was up to ended up coming over.

Dinner consisted of takeout from California Tortilla.  Jean loves the chips and salsa they have, and those of you who know her are aware that she actually could eat a meal that consisted of nothing else aside from chips and dip.  It’s not my kind of meal, but it wasn’t my birthday dinner.

The guest list included: Jean’s parents, her brothers and sisters (including Kate and the girls), her cousin Nancy (with her two boys), as well as my family (Katie, Mom, and my brother Casey).  It sounded like a great time and it was a bummer hanging out with the Mormon’s in Utah instead of being home to celebrate.

2009-The Year in Review

Now that 2009 is behind us, I thought I would take a few moments to review the year that just passed.

The year started with us off in Africa visiting Erin and her family in Tunisia. The trip began with us flying out of Philly early in the evening on Christmas Day and touching down in Tunis mid day on the 26th. We ended up staying with the Wisotzki’s through the New Year before heading home on January 5th.

How do I remember that day, you ask? It happened to be my 39th birthday, and a day the five of us will never forget. For those that don’t know the full story, click here. As cool as Paris is known to be, there isn’t much that’s cool about sleeping on the floor of Charles de Gaulle airport. 46+ hour trips home aren’t too much fun either.

February brought us a trip to Clearwater and a weekend in the Florida sun. Highlights included hanging on the Gulf, lounging by the pool, the Clearwater for Youth banquet, as well as a great father son outing at the Phillies game for Jake and I.

The summer memories were once again dominated by spending the summer down at the beach with Grandmom Phil. This year’s house was one to remember, with the house sitting on the second floor right on the beach. The view from the dining area of that beach house can’t be beat.

We were lucky to have Erin, Lucas, Noori, and Isa in the States for an extended stay. They made it for the last few weeks of the beach stay and then were able to get to spend some time in Limerick/Linfield. It was great to see them, although it was a bit of a bummer that Dorsey had to stay behind in Tunisia.

2009 was a year of milestone birthdays in our family.

• February saw the surprise 40th birthday party for Jean at Shearer Elegance.
• May saw Jake enter into the world of teenagers.
• June brought us my brother Casey’s 30th, which was kept very low key.
• July brought us Jean’s brother Jim’s 30th.
• August saw us celebrate my Mom’s 60th (which was July 19th), again at Shearer Elegance.
• Though not a birthday, Jim and Jean celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary on August 6th

Some highlights from the kid’s year:

• Brett Graduated from Kindergarten
• Abby attended her first Junior High Dance
• Jake played his last season of little league baseball
• Both Jake and Abby achieved first honors on their report cards
• Brett lost both his front teeth in the build up to Christmas

Sadly, the year was also dominated by some pretty heavy news. We had some major health scares this year that we’ve had to work through. The word cancer has become one that we’ve started to become numb to as a family.

Around Mother’s Day, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, albeit at a very early stage of the process. Needless to say, it came as a shock to us all. She made the brave decision to have a double mastectomy, with her surgery in June. She came through the surgery remarkably, and as we approach the end of the year it’s amazing how quickly she’s gotten to her full recovery.

In July, Jean’s close friend Sandy passed away at the age of 39 from cancer. Although Sandy had been fighting the disease for a while, her passing came as a shock to all. It was such a sobering feeling to see this young mother of four taken from her family at such an early age.

Our close friend Peggy was diagnosed with breast cancer later in the summer. It was such a shock when we heard the news, but after consulting with my Mom and Jean’s Mom, Peg decided to follow the same route the two of them took and went with radical surgery. As the year winds to a close, Peg is also very far along in her recovery and the cancer has disappeared. We were lucky enough to get to celebrate her 50th Birthday Party with her family in October.

The final scare came this fall when we found out that breast cancer had returned in Jean’s Mom. She first dealt with this when Jake was a baby and we were really upset with the news. She has managed to go through treatment taking radiation, and as the year winds to a close she is doing very well with a great long term prognosis.

To end this note on a positive vibe, 2009 is the year when Jean finished off her teaching certification. She completed her class work portion of her master’s degree back in the summer, and this fall consisted of her student teaching in two different capacities. She worked September and October teaching 1st grade at West Vincent Elementary and then spent the remainder of the semester teaching special ed at Owen J. Roberts Middle School.

It was a 2-1/2 year process from start to finish, and I’m so proud of the way Jean worked her way through it. There were so many sacrifice that she needed to make, but she found a way to get it all done. What an amazing lady I’m married to.

For those of you who made it to the end of this long rambling diatribe, thanks for following and I’ll do my best to try and keep you up to date in 2010.

Happy New Year to all of you out there, and I hope that 2010 brings good times and much happiness!

Jim

Post taken from TheMacShack

Christmas Day 2009

After church, my family (Mom, Casey, Katie, and Alex) came over for Brunch. We had our traditional holiday fare of baked eggs, pork roll, bacon, and sticky buns (If Dr. Miller is reading this, I abstained from eating any of this food which is not so good for my blood pressure/cholesterol ). It was a nice lazy afternoon and fun to hang with the group. My mom shot off to Philadelphia to have Dinner with my brother Jeff; Casey and Alex had other plans.

Following that, we ended up having Jean’s parents over for dinner as planned. In addition, we ended up having Jean’s brother Mike and his family as well. They were supposed to travel up to the Poconos to be with Dottie’s family, but freezing rain killed that plan and we were more than happy to have them. My sister Katie also ended up staying, so we had a nice size group.

Dinner was pretty simple, leftovers from Christmas Eve, and seemed to taste even better than the night before. There’s nothing better than Italian food that’s had a chance to soak in it’s own sauce overnight. Along with that, we had plenty of dessert that was left over from the night before.

An Evening With the Giovinco’s

Saturday night we had a nice little cookout with my family (mom, sister Kate, brothers Jeff and Casey, as well as Jeff’s friend Rob).  It was one of the few occasions when almost all of us were able to get together.   

We had a crazy day running around with the kids, so we started a little later than normally.  Jean marinated some chicken which we ended up putting on the grill, and my Mom brought some fresh tomatoes and mozzarella to go with it, which was to die for. 

As the darkness descended, we had the chiminea going and everyone gathered around to make smores.  It was a perfect night out with a slight chill in the air, but it was a nice relaxing way to spend the evening.