Pop's update........

This is Pop in Albany Medical Center on Saturday, before his surgery. He doesn't look like he feels so great!! He had his surgery on Sunday and it went perfect! He should be in the regular hospital for about a week then off to rehab for about 4 weeks!! Frank, Dominic and Franky stayed upstate to help out around the house and property. When you see these pictures of the property that Pop takes care of on a daily basis, you'll see why they stayed!! We know how much he misses it all right now, he really does love it. He is so talented and has such an eye for landscaping.

Thanks for all the prayers, we told him and he does appreciate them.










































Pop's vegetable garden and his fruit trees. This rock garden is beautiful, it's hard to see how big it is in this picture, but it's full of statues, benches, a walk through and lots plants and flowers.

Our Crazy " Pop" Rocco.....

Well we're headed upstate, unexpectedly. Frank's 71 year old father Rocco, was cutting down trees on his property yesterday, when one of them fell on top of him, trapping him underneath. His cousin Nunzio (in his 60's), and my son Dominic (yes Dominic!) tried all they could to get it off him until they had to resort to using a chain saw to cut the tree into smaller, lighter pieces. Anyone who knows this man, is not shocked by this story at all, especially the part about him waiting and trying to walk off the fractured knee he got because he didn't want his wife finding out!! They finally got him up to the house in the golf cart and he still was trying to play it off until he fainted 3 times! That's when they called the ambulance... So now he's in Albany medical center waiting to have surgery on his knee, and getting checked out by a pulmonologist to see why he was fainting, couldn't it have been just the pain?
Dominic, Franky, and Angelo were all upstate for the last couple of weeks with them and were supposed to come back tomorrow for Mario's 11th birthday 0n 07/07/07, but now we'll have to celebrate upstate instead, which is where Mario wanted to be in the first place!! Please keep Pop in your prayers for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery, I'll keep you all posted to his progress. Thanks in advance.......

******* HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY *******

Just a few pictures from the GREAT DAY AND NIGHT we had at the Johnstons house !! Jeff, Cheryl, Melissa, Josh and Justin, you are great hosts. Thank you so much for a terrific time !!

Even the rain didn't stop the fun, and yes, We're eating again !!

***** He Did It !!!! *****

Anthony took his road test today and he passed ! He's been practicing so hard and he did it. We are so proud of him. Now when he's at work he'll be allowed to drive the BMW'S he's fixing !! That really makes him happy.

But what about me ?? I now have 2 sons driving !! Not only do I have more to worry about, I feel really old !!

My sister Norma and Daniella BellaRina

What a great
looking family! Look
for Butchy
Boy hiding
in the crowd!









Norma, Daniella BellaRina, and Nona

My sister Norma and her 7 year old daughter Daniella, live here with us. When Daniella was born I started calling her Daniella BellaRina I don't know why I just liked it. Well as she got older she was so used to me calling her that, that when you asked what her name was, she would say "Daniella" Then I would ask "what's your last name"? and she would answer "BellaRina"!!! She didn't learn her real last name for a long time!! I would also sing the song, "Daniella BellaRina.... Loves her Auntie Gina....." Well, I still sing that to her, to tell the truth!
Even though I have 6 boys, that fact doesn't mean a thing to Daniella. She fits in just fine. She can play video games and play in the yard with the boys, and she can get them to play what she likes just as well. She loves dress up and putting on shows and the boys help or they play the audience. I have a window seat in my living room and we shut all the lights, Daniella will wait on the window seat in the dark until we announce her then we put on only the spot lights in the window seat and the show starts!! She really is so much fun. I'm 10 years older then Norma and for whatever reasons I took care of her most of the time, so we are very close and now having her back with me and with Daniella, is so great. I love the fact that Daniella and I will have that same chance to be close, just like Norma and I.

A Gift We Named Butchy Boy!!

Back in August 1998, my sister Norma, her husband, and some friends went to Pennsylvania. While on one of their journeys, they stopped at a shopping center. They parked their car and when they got out they heard loud but muffled yelping. They looked around and saw a crowd of people around a car. Being the animal lover Norma is, she had to go over and see what was going on. Inside of a car with all the windows closed in August, she saw a 7 week old Jack Russell Terrier tied to the stick shift. Everyone was so upset but doing nothing! My sister said " we need to get him out of there" With that they all backed up so who came to the rescue? Her of course. She persuaded her husband to, ummm....remove him from the car and then brought him into the store for some water from the fountain and made some announcements but nothing. So guess what? Yup, we got him. Norma already had 2 sharpei's at home and they would have eaten him for lunch!! Well, we couldn't be happier he really is the best. In the beginning he was very crazy, running around at a very high speed biting your feet whenever you walked across the room. We blamed it at first at him most likely having brain damage from being baked in the car, but a 2 week sleep away obedience school helped a lot!! Franky was only about 5 or 6 at the time and was so scared of him that his feet didn't touch the floor for a good month! He walked from chair to chair to couch to table and then had to be carried the rest of the way!! It's funny now....
Everyone who meets him now loves him he's so calm and loving. Even when he first meets you he rolls over to get his tummy scratched or just wants to be in your lap. He really thinks he's part of the family, he sits on a chair at the table, he doesn't beg just sits and waits. He is always in someones lap while we're watching TV and he never sleeps on the floor, he likes to be under the covers down by your feet! He hates to be alone, he will follow you all around, he's happy to just be wherever his family is. Thanks Norma for our Gift...

Even people like Josh Fryman who SAY they don't like dogs seems very comfortable with Butchy. And Butchy boy with him too!!!

25 years ago June 30, 1982...

25 years ago on June 30, 1982 we bought our house, 1 month before we got married. As you can see from these pictures we did ALOT of work, starting on the 4th of July weekend. After only 1 week when we finished with phase one of the many this house has gone through, the man who sold us our house, he also owned the real estate office, drove by and asked us to sell it back to him for $30,000 more then what we bought it for which was $52,000 ( can you believe that?) Even if he was kidding around, it made us feel great!! Don't be shocked but yes this is the same house. Now for the before and after pictures. Time really does fly.....

Franks brother Carmine sitting on the porch.
Frank's cousin Nunzio, helping Frank with the root.