Home Away From Home

I just love the weekends that we spend time at my parents house.  They have a revolving door and I never know who may stop by.  We almost always see my Grandmother, "Mom", my aunt Carol comes over a lot, her sons stop by to see what is in the pantry or to do their laundry, Susu almost always comes over to see us and brings sweet treats, and the rest is always a surprise!
This last weekend was beautiful!!!  The fun part about this last weekend is that we had a very new, very special visitor, Lola!!!!  There is more on her later, she deserves her own post, but just check out this little lady! I love her!!! I got to babysit for awhile Rachel ran to the store and I really thought about taking her and running!

After an early, chilly run, and standing in line for over an hour to try and get Eli into The Nature Center Camp, we headed over to my parents for the afternoon.
We spent the afternoon just hanging out, and playing outside in the beautiful weather.  We got to visit with my Grandmother, Susu came over with bagels, Barbara Mackey and Jennifer (my parents neighbors) stopped by to meet Lola, and Diane Silverstone stopped in too!

My dad cooked an amazing meal, as always, and the boys were in the way  his little helpers.

I fed the  boys dinner before I left them there to spend the night and headed home and there was not a dull moment.  Except for maybe this moment where Owen fell asleep sitting up at the table.

Rachel has lovingly nicknamed Cash Animal, as in the character from The Muppets.

He is wild, crazy, he grunts a lot, he is hilarious! He does not talk a lot, but he does a lot of shaking his head yes or no, or pulling you in certain directions to what he wants, he dances around, and is always into something and constantly yelling Mommy! Mom-may! Mom-may! even when I am sitting right next to him.

This pretty much sums up our little Monster...crawled up on the table and ate cake like an animal!

Oh, and his latest "trick"......

They are always so tired at the end of the day when we are at my parents house.  They never. sit. still. while we are there.  The good news is that they can finally play by themselves in the backyard so they pretty much disappear outside for hours or go upstairs and play with their toys in their room. And without a doubt, they tear apart the couch and make up games.

Usually by the time I leave to go home, they are snuggled up on the couch with my dad watching fishing shows.  They continually ask me when I am leaving and tell me that they are ready for me to go home. As funny as it sounds, I LOVE this because it just means how much they love being over there and how much fun they have (granted I am pretty certain they get away with everything!).  I feel so lucky that they are so close to my parents.  As I was telling Owen good-bye this particular Saturday night he said "Mom, if you need my help, just call me."

I went back Sunday afternoon to hang out and be with the boys.  They spent the better half of the day in the yard playing with the hose in the grass. But after Cash woke up, Diane brought Sophie over to play.  After about the first 30 minutes of the boys refusing to look at her and her refusing to look at them, they finally warmed up to each other and did not look back!

By 6:45 we were in the car on the way home and I had two out of three already asleep for the night (score!!!!).  Everyone but this guy!

A Beautiful Life

We lost Maw on February 6th. No one wants to see someone they love live the way Maw was living her last few weeks, but it did not make it any less sad for any of us. She was our Maw.  She was the antithesis of the word Matriarch of our family.
We were all so lucky that she was able to spend her last weeks, days, and moments, comfortably in her home in her own bed surrounded by family. Maw was an amazing woman, the perfect grandmother and lived a full and wonderful life.

In Puccini's opera Tosca there is a famous aria "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore," which means "I lived for art, I lived for love." Maw lived for the love of her family and the love of her art. She was passionate about her children and passionate about opera, and she devoted her life to giving to both. 

She was born on May 2, 1923, in Yorktown, Texas. Her father, Jacob Schmidt (Cash Jacob was named after him), moved the family to Austin, Texas, where he founded the Yaring's Department Stores. Dedicated to operatic singing from an early age, Maw graduated from Austin High School and was accepted at the Juilliard School in New York City, where she studied and continued to develop her soprano voice. 

Before leaving for New York City, she met Aaron Kruger, or as we called him, Pa, who had opened the Kruger Jewelry Store at Congress and 8th in 1939. While studying in New York, she was courted by Aaron, who was in love with both Edythe and opera, and who finally convinced the beautiful soprano to marry him at the Jewish Free Synagogue in New York City on November 7, 1943. 

Even after their marriage, she carried on her studies until the birth of their first son, James Arthur, on September 3, 1945. Eleven and a half months later their second son was born, Daniel Yahr, on August 21, 1946. Twenty-two months later, their third son was born, David Bruce, on July 3, 1948. They finally had their daughter, Kathryn Lindauer, on September 2, 1951. 

 
Throughout her motherhood, Maw continued her opera training and concertizing. She performed with various opera companies throughout the state of Texas and was the featured singer at events like Texas Governer Allan Shiver's Inauguration. She also routinely sang for religious services at her Temple.

Maw and Pa were involved in the development of the Austin Symphony. They were also instrumental in arranging for the first tour of the English National Opera to the United States. In addition, after Pa's death, Maw was one of the founders of the Austin Lyric Opera and Austin Musical Theatre Company. 

Amazing, right?

February 6 was such an emotional day because it was also Rachel's due date, so while we were all waiting on pins and needles for the baby to come, we were also all hoping the baby would stay put until we were able to lay Maw to rest so we could focus all our energy on Maw.  It felt like we had conflicting emotions- excited and sad at the same time.  Thankfully, the baby held off and we were able to be there all together to celebrate the beautiful life of Maw.

After a private burial on Friday, we had a beautiful memorial service Sunday afternoon.  I miss her so much already and still can not believe she is gone.  I find peace in knowing she is singing somewhere up there with Pa!

Team Judy

Judy is one of my mom's very best friends, and like a mother to me.  Her daughter Molly, is Rachel's best friend, and like a sister to me.  We have known the Waxman family our entire lives.  When my mom had just had surgery years ago, Judy was the one who took me shopping for my first strapless bra.  She threw wedding showers for me and Rachel, and baby showers for us, she hosted a party for my parents 40th wedding anniversary.  She calmed me down at Eli's bris when I was a weeping mess and sang Eli crazy songs in true Judy fashion that she was convinced would calm him down in any situation.   

Anyone who knows her would agree that her positive energy, humor and genuine kindness are infectious and something to be admired. She always lights up a room when she enters it and somehow has the ability to make everyone around her feel special. On Sunday, November 23, 2013, her life changed forever when she learned that she had the blood cancer, Leukemia. Her world turned upside down. How could something so bad happen to someone so good? 
She quickly learned that she had a rare gene mutation that would eventually require her to have a stem cell transplant for new bone marrow. Finding a donor was a daunting process and her only brother was not a match.

I was being consumed with thoughts of Judy and her family during the first few weeks.  It was all I could think about.  I was out on a run early one morning by myself thinking about what I could do to help but also feeling like there was nothing I could do to help.  Then it popped into my mind that maybe I cant do anything for Judy at this moment but that I could do something to help others who may find themselves in a similar situation, and do it in honor of Judy.  My mom was actually in Houston with Judy at the time and I texted my mom bright and early asking her to call me as soon as she woke up; I had an idea.  I wanted to organize a bone marrow registry drive in Austin in honor of Judy.  I spoke with Molly and Judy about it and they approved and loved the idea.  

My idea came to fruition this last weekend with the help of a few other women who reached out to me to help with the event.  

Judy of course was still in Houston at M.D. Anderson for the duration of her treatment  but  Molly flew in for the morning and Bill also came in from Houston to attend.  We had well over 100 people come to show their support for Judy.  Our goal was to get as many people as we could to join the registry but also show support for Judy and cheer her on from the side-lines.  The age limit for joining the registry is 18-44, but even though the majority of her friends were over the age limit, they still came to show their support.  We wanted it to be a place where everyone could gather and celebrate her.  We had a place for people to write her notes and take pictures and leave her video messages. 

And of course Be The Match was there to sign people up on the registry!

Every night that Molly is with her in Houston, they have a dance party in her room so we thought how fun it would be to have a "flash mob" for Judy.  Molly made up a dance and we got everyone dancing and cheering for Judy. 

Before we started dancing, Bill gave a touching speech about the young man who is Judy's match and the unbelievable gift he is giving them.

The energy in the room that afternoon was electrifying! All the positive energy and love that Judy gives out was coming right back to her that day.  Everyone was genuinely happy to be there and cheering for Judy for the rough road she has ahead. It will be a very long and difficult journey that she faces, but we all know if anyone can endure, it will be Judy!!!

Judy was lucky to find 3 potential donors out of 80 million and one of those will save her life.  Without the national bone marrow registry and the incredible gift of a stranger, Judy would not have a chance at survival and an ultimate cure.  Hopefully with the 39 people we were able to sign up on Sunday, we will save another life!!!