Your having a baby!

A week or so ago, I received an invitation like nothing I have ever received before. It was an invitation from 3 of Jill's girlfriends inviting me to an baby shower via mail. They provided an 8x8 bright yellow scrapbook paper that was going into a memory book for Jill. It was suggested that I could "write some words of advice. . . a wish. . . a poem. . . share a memory. . . draw a picture. . . or use your scrap-booking skill . . . whatever you would like to have added to Jill's book." I had all of January to respond.

I decided to use scrapbooking products and paint and collage techniques to complete the page. I found a Gerber Baby picture on the web, since it represents everyone's generic baby. Even though they know it is going to be a girl, I decided to use pink, blue and yellow/gold for the page.
The little bear is out of metal using a Wizard die and then Ranger's alcohol inks. The crown is a chipboard crown covered with antique chunky glitter.

All I need to do now is get to a book store and purchase one of my children's favorite baby books to help Jill and Jason start a library for their little bundle of joy that will appear in February.

Jill and my cousin Laura's son, Jason, got married in North Carolina more than a couple of years ago. Kari and I flew there so that Kari could meet almost all of her grandmother Irene's sisters. Below is a picture of all the Gorsik (Gorszczyk) sisters and their siblings and spouses who were able to travel and be there for the Jill and Jason's wedding.

The Family. . .

On the far left in a blue dress is Jason's grandma, my Aunt Jean. She will turn 95 years old this weekend! Happy Birthday Aunt Jean.

So, from left to right in the wedding photo is: Aunt Jean, Aunt Adele, Adele's daughter Barbara and Barbara's daughter Christy.

Next to Christy is Aunt Chris, then Aunt Marie, cousin Alan's wife, Adele's other daughter, Arlene, and me with my hair up.

Then there is my cousin, Frankie. This is the only time I have met Aunt Helen's son, Frankie, who is to my right in the photo, then my daughter, Kari, Aunt Helen and "photoshopped", bride, Jill.

In front of all of us is Aunt Marie's son, Jimmy, his wife, Cher and their two twin boys, Tommy and Eric.

In the forefront is Aunt Jean's daughter and my cousin, Laura. And spread out on the carpet is the groom, Laura's son, Jason. Whew.

The sisters who are still alive and were missing were my mom, Irene, Aunt Sonie and Aunt Lee. Already deceased were their sister, Arline (not to be confused with cousin Arlene) and the only boy, Henry.

This is one of my favorite photos of Aunt Jean when she was younger. She is the oldest of the 9 girls and one boy born to Helena and Alois Gorsik. My natural mother, Irene, was the only one of the 10 children to be born in Poland.

Aunt Jean