Elijah Ryan Michael Love

Elijah Ryan Michael Love, 9, son of James and Amanda Love, has gone home to be with Jesus on September 8, 2013. He was born in Columbus, OH on December 15, 2003.

He was a 4th grader at Beacon Elementary School in Hilliard. Elijah enjoyed the outdoors. He was a child of God who loved everything that God created. He enjoyed fishing, swimming and riding his bike. Elijah was always curious about the world around him, asking questions and taking in information. His big brown eyes and beautiful smile will be forever missed by all who loved him.

Other family includes, siblings, Aliyah and Jordan, maternal grandfather, Ryan J. Casey, maternal grandmother, Lisa (Mark) Ridings, paternal grandparents, Sharon and Donald Parker, great-grandparents, Frank and Patricia Kennis, John and Patricia Casey, Bonnie Lou Bowles, uncle and aunt, Greg and Tracy Miller, cousins, Brooklyn and Jaden Miller, Casey Mers, many other aunts, uncles and cousins who he loved dearly.

Visitation will be held from 10:00am to 12:00pm, Monday, September 16, 2013 at the Potters House, 3220 Lowell Drive, Columbus, OH 43204, where a funeral service will begin at 12:00pm, following the visitation.

Burial will follow in Hampton Cemetery, West Jefferson, OH.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Love Family Fund at any Huntington Bank.

__________________________________

On Saturday night, September 7th, Justin and I were coming home from my 25th class reunion.  About 2 minutes into our drive home, he told me he had gotten a call from Margie, and there had been a terrible accident involving Mandy, Jimbo and the kids...and that Elijah hadn't made it. Impossible words to comprehend - I was still feeling festive after a wonderful evening with many friends that I hadn't seen in years and years.  And while I was laughing, hugging, toasting, chatting and having fun - Mandy's family had been hit head-on...and Elijah didn't make it.  "No" and "impossible" were the only words I could manage, over and over.

And it still doesn't seem possible. Over a month later - Mandy just got out of the hospital, we've packed and moved them out of their  house, Aliyah is with Lisa, Mandy and Jimbo with friends, Jordan with his mom.

Impossible.

Community support, family and friend support - has all been tremendous.  Beacon Elementary has had fundraisers, a few of Mandy's high school friends have arranged fundraisers and the Angels for Elijah page.  Beacon had a little memorial for Elijah after their walk-a-thon.  All the kids from the school blew bubbles up to the skies.  It was beautiful and heartbreaking.

A brief video of the bubble blowing :)

We made picture boards for the funeral - and then another set so that Manda and Aliyah could both have copies of them with them.

I'm sad...so sad to think about what Mandy, Jimbo, Jordan, Aliyah, Lisa, Mark, Ryan...are all going through especially.  I'm sad to think about Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, first days of school, last days of school, birthdays, bedtime tucking in, and everything else that will make everyone's hearts ache.

The OBX Beach Vacation 2013

We made it back to the OBX this summer (in July) and we were so happy to be back!  Missing last year made for a LONG wait but it was worth it. 
It got off to a slightly rocky start because a) the traffic was terrible getting into Corolla...and b) I had to get into it with the cleaners about an overflowing toilet and the general state of "cleanliness" of the house.  But after that, we moved along and had a great trip.

The weather was very nice all days except one.  We got our ocean time, our beach time...ice cream, shopping, crabbing, and some great dinners as always.

Ella and Silas both are now fearless in the water.  They go out and ride the waves, dive in, flail and swim.  I love that all 3 kids are strong swimmers and enjoy it.

We were super close to the grocery stores and shopping as well as the multiple ice cream stores and wine shop with a wine tasting :)

 

 We got a lot of use out of the pool, as usual.  The kids loved it as did most of the adults too!

 

 

This year we added Sarah, Brian, Barrett and Tara and Steve to the trip - so we bumped it up to a 6 bedroom house.  Plenty of room for everyone though. 

I miss the days when I had the energy to stay up blogging the trips in more detail...guess I'm old and tired now.  It's still wonderful to get to spend a week with the family and relax and just hang out.  

Maybe I'll catch a 2nd wind in my 50's...

 

June Catch-ups and July Party!

Much has happened since my last post in June...but I want to go in order on updates - so you'll just have to wait with bated breath...unless you are my friend on Facebook - and then you know everything already!!

A couple random picutes...
Like this - showing how my kids likely break arms...

And this one - Justin had to cut down our Ash tree (which makes me VERY VERY sad) and I'm lucky that HE didn't break an arm or leg doing it. I really don't like our yard now without the tree :(

And we were excited in June to see Andrea, Lucy and Jack when the visited from Chicago for Sarah's graduation party!! As all these kids get older and busier, we don't get to see them nearly as much as we used to.

 (Sarah, Ella, Alison, Lucy, Abbi and Zoe)

Since last post when Silas broke his arm - he adjusted pretty well to that and on July 3rd got a half-arm, waterproof cast.  It worked out great because we had the whole Juenger family coming for Mason's graduation and birthday party.  I was adamant that we got the waterproof cast on before the cousins' arrival so that Silas could swim and have fun with them - so happy that it worked out!
This is Hudson and Silas at COSI - being way too cool...

We had Juengers from all over the U.S. start rolling in the last week of June - from Arizona, Nevada, Rhode Island, New York and from around the corner.  It was such a fantastic time to see all the cousins have fun and play until they were so exhausted that they couldn't see straight!
All the kids (except Mason) at COSI.  What a cute bunch!!

 

(James, Molly, Ella, Silas, Myles, Hudson, Trent, Will and Jefferson)

We ended up with Cousins in a Box upon the arrival of the NV Juenger Bennetts...this kept them busy  for quite a long time!

 

The James' were crazy and invited us ALL over for their July 4th party...I tried to warn them!

A great time was had by all - especially the kids who got to swim all day and then see the fireworks.

We had a super fantastic (with some bouts of downpour) on July 6th for Mason's graduation and 18th Birthday party!  It was wonderful to see some great friends and old neighbors come by to visit.

LOOK at those boys down in front...could the be any more related?!?
It was a wonderful visit and I wish we could do it so much more often!!
Love to see them enjoying each other!

We got to go to the Star Liner - one of Grandpa J's favorites!!

 (Mason and Molly)

(Baby Jeff and Ella)

And since the NV Juengers/Bennetts left OHIO...they have added to the ranks!  Carolynn Olivia was born on July  26th.  She is SOOO cute!!

It's been such a fun (and exhausting!) summer so far.  We just got back from our OBX trip on Saturday, so that needs to be blogged next. But wow, feeling so blessed to spend time with the family this summer!!

Jinx...

So, I totally jinxed poor Silas a couple weeks ago when talking with Yasmine. We were chatting about injuries and how Mason had broken his arm and Ella had gotten stitches.  But then I said "I've never had to take Silas to the ER...knock on wood."

Sure as heck, less than 24 hours later, there we were - Children's Hospital.
Poor kid was shooting baskets in the hoop out back, dunking like he's done 100 times and slipped, fell back and landed the wrong way on his arm.
I was working in my office, but heard his crying.  A LOT of crying that wasn't followed by "Ella did (blank)" or "Ella called me a (blank)."  I knew something was pretty hurt.

When I got upstairs I saw he was already laying on the couch, holding his arm and looked to be in a lot of pain. Huge grimace face and teethed clinched.  Not moving the arm and it looked swollen to me.
So...after asking our neighbor doc in our old house and then calling Jodi...to Children's we headed.
It wasn't obvious to me at the time, but what I thought was swelling was actually the bone being all out of whack.

 He had to put a mask on because he had a little allergy cough...

This was post-knock-you-out medicine to get the arm set.  He remembers nothing within seconds of getting the medicine.  He was pretty out of it after for awhile.  He told Ella that she had 4 eyebrows.

After he started coming out of it, he was a little scared because his eyes were all blurry and he couldn't remember what had happened and how the cast got on.  Ella was a really great big sister and was so sweet, talking to him and telling him about it and not to worry.  She was trying to distract him with funny stuff. He was so brave and such a trooper with the doctors and nurses.  Didn't shed a tear or flinch at all with all the poking and prodding.  He was a very brave boy!

He had a rough evening - was tired and out of it but by the next day, he was getting back in the swing of things.

Popsicles definitely made it feel better!

And 3 days later, he was ready for a little fun!  We went to Sarah's graduation party and Si was able to swim with the old XeroSock thing that we had when Mason broke HIS arm.  It is a total pain in the butt but worth it so that he could swim and have some fun.

Now, we go back tomorrow and hope that they can put a 1/2 cast that is waterproof on it in the next 1-2 weeks. Before all the cousins get here for our July party!

:)

The GRADUATE!!

Whew!!!!  There are 2 things that I'm having a hard time getting over...
One:  That my first born baby boy is now a graduate
Two:  That I AM ACTUALLY OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE CHILD.

You can guess which one is tougher for me!

He is done...finished...signed, sealed and delivered with a diploma, transcripts and college orientation scheduled.  Capital University at the end of August!

On May 22nd, the graduation ceremony was at the OSU arena - the Schott.  Very nice, except for the low lighting that blurred a bunch of my pictures.

You will notice that the dunce does not have his cap on in these photos...he threw it and lost it...

 He did graduate with honors though...hence the yellow thing around his neck.

Without even trying, Ella was all color coordinated with Mas. And Silas' shirt was a couple sizes too small.
He posed for a lot of pictures that night...and even smiled. 

I've gotten past most of the tears now...and I'm looking forward to having all the family in town for his graduation party and a family reunion.  We hope to have all the cousins here over the July 4th weekend.
I'm also looking forward to his school orientation at Capital this coming week and planning these next steps.

The best was the yard banner...he loved his Batman picture being on it.

We're so proud and excited about Mason's next steps.   It's hard to believe when "your baby" is growing up but so amazing (and scary) to see your parenting work put to the next test.  We love you Mas!

N-O-P updates (Including PROM!)

It's been a busy and beautiful couple weeks - Spring seems to finally be here!  Mason is finishing up his track season (next week he has his last invitational), he will finish up the last 5 days of his high school years next week as well.  We've had soccer for Ella and Silas, Girl Scout events for Ella.  Justin and I...just a lot of work and trying to get the house in shape outside.  The inside is a train wreck!!

So back to my alpha-updates...

N is for:

Notes - I love finding the notes that the kids leave around.  Usually it's Ella but Silas has started leaving notes too.

One of my favorites is the one that E left on the bedroom door when I was super sick with salmonella:

Today - I found these.  Ella got allergy tested this week  This was her note this morning after trying to take her Allegra - poor kid.  I think I need to find a liquid version. She was writing the note below as the pill was making its way down...

And she is at a COSI sleepover tonight with her Girl Scout troop.  This is the note that I found on my bed on top of one of  her tee shirts.

 

Apparently she had me confused with her other mother...

O is for:

Ouch!

As I mentioned - Ella had some allergy testing done this week because she has been MISERABLE this spring (if you recall the itchy eyes).  I took her to the highly recommended Dr. Grace and she was all "WHOA...girl's got some crazy allergies going on!"

I know that the right side is the grasses, which were the biggest welt/hives and then trees (especially maple, sycamore, and oddly, Olive trees). Also ragweeds, cats (no need to get rid of Cleo though), gerbils (great excuse to never get one!) and but luckily no dustmites or molds.  She is an Aunt Margie allergy incarnate!!

P is for:

Prom

Mason and his lovely girl, Yasmine, went to Senior prom last weekend. They looked wonderful and had a great time.  The paparazzi stalked them!

Tim took this pic thinking we all looked like a bunch of Japanese tourists...

 We borrowed our old backyard for most of the pictures.  Love the flowering trees. 

 The lilac bush that we planted so many years ago.  It's so big and pretty now!

I really like this one below...a contentment and proudness to be together...

They looked SOOOO gorgeous. Makes me want to pull out all my old prom pictures :)