Matt & Grandma Video

2009 in Review

Check out this hillarious year in review from U-tube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWiXy55OHyY

Christmas Chaos, Part 2

Christmas Eve Chaos

Christmas Photos

Halloween Costumes?

No one posts to this blog anymore, but we are interested in seeing what the nieces and nephews were for Halloween. Marley, as you can see above, was a duck, although most people she encountered thought she was a chicken.

Boston Globe Obituary

Mary C. (Nicoloro) DeRienzo
Of Danvers, age 86. Beloved wife of the late Vincent J. DeRienzo. mother & mother-in-law of Paula & Patrick Hughes of Oak Ridge, TN, Kenneth & Linda DeRienzo of Standish, ME & Frank & Donna DeRienzo of Manalapan, NJ. Grandmother of 11, great grandmother of 8. Sister of Florence Renna of Cambridge, Dorothy Magliozzi of Marlborough, Americo Nicoloro of Cambridge, Pasquale Nicoloro of Somerville & Joseph Nicoloro of Cambridge and aunt of many, including her care giver. Sister of the late Louis Nicoloro. Her Funeral will be held from the Peterson-O'Donnell Funeral Home, 167 Maple St., (Rte 62) DANVERS, Saturday at 8:15 AM followed by her Funeral Mass in St. Richard Church, Forrest St., Danvers at 9 AM. Relatives and friends invited. Burial in Walnut Grove Cemetery, Danvers. Visiting hours Friday, 4-7 PM. On line guestbook at: http://www.legacy.com/. O'Donnell Funeral Service Danvers & Salem 978-774-6600 Published in the Boston Globe on 7/23/2008

Salem News Obituary

Mary C. DeRienzo

DANVERS — Mrs. Mary C. (Nicoloro) DeRienzo, 82, of MacArthur Blvd., Danvers, beloved wife of the late Vincent J. DeRienzo, died surrounded by her family, Sunday, July 20, 2008 at her home.
She was the daughter of the late Michele and Quinchetta (Scottie) Nicoloro. She was born, raised and educated in Cambridge.
Mrs. DeRienzo was a devoted wife and mother whose life's work was to provide a wonderful home and life for her family. More recently she was employed with the Hunt Nursing and Retirement Home in the housekeeping department, where she made many dear friends.
A long-time resident of the Town of Danvers, Mary was a communicant of St. Richard Parish; she was an avid bingo player and truly enjoyed traveling. She was a committed family woman, who enjoyed cooking, entertaining and being surrounded by all of her relatives and friends. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister who will be deeply missed. Her caring spirit and nature will live on in the hearts and memories of all who knew her.
Mary is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Paula and Patrick Hughes of Oak Ridge, Tenn.; her sons and daughters-in-law, Kenneth and Linda DeRienzo of Standish, Maine and Frank and Donna DeRienzo of Manalapan, N.J.; her 11 grandchildren, her eight great-grandchildren; her two sisters, Florence Renna of Cambridge and Dorothy Magliozzi of Marlborough; her brothers, Americo Nicoloro of Cambridge, Pasquale Nicoloro of Somerville and Joseph Nicoloro of Cambridge; and several nieces and nephews, including her care giver, Claire Potaro. She was also the sister of the late Louis Nicoloro.
Mary's family would like to extend great thanks to the wonderful nurses, doctors, aids and staff at the Hospice of the North Shore for all their support during her brief struggle with cancer.
ARRANGEMENTS: Her funeral will be held from the Peterson-O'Donnell Funeral Home, 167 Maple St., (Route 62) Danvers, Saturday at 8:15 a.m. followed by her funeral Mass in St. Richard Church, Forrest Street, Danvers, at 9 a.m. Relatives and friends invited. Burial in Walnut Grove Cemetery, Danvers. Visiting hours Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. For more information, inquire at 978-774-6600. On line guestbook at http://www.legacy.com/.

Services for Grandma

Visiting Hours will be Friday, July 25th from 4-7pm at the Peterson Odonnell Funeral Home located at 167 Maple Street in Danvers. The funeral is set for 9am Saturday at the St. Richard Parish, 90 Forest Street, Danvers. Mom and Dad will be staying at Grandma's house Thursday and Friday and can be reached by cell. The obituary should be in the Salem and Boston papers on Weds. or perhaps Thurs. at the latest.

Lily's Birthday Party

Home In North Conway

Seeya in September

Hi all, Just wanted to say fare thee well and have a great Summer. I will be in South Carolina whistling Dixie until September 7th. I'll be on Ft. Jackson learning which fork to eat with first. I will have my regular email address and telephone number if there are any issues or concerns. Kristen will be staying at my place in my absence so make sure you all check on her once in a while and see that she hasn't burned the place down. If anyone has a birthday in the next two months I am not going to remember it, so you'll have to hit me up when I get back. Have a great summer and try not to become any more crazy than we already are.

Storyland 2008

Apparently everyone abandoned this family blog

Anyhow, check out this snazzy Web site a friend/colleague designed for my diaper campaign:
http://diapers.registercitizen.com/

Happy Birthday, Sandy! The big 30!!!

Birthdays...

Matt's Birthday party is coming up on Feb. 9th at Joe & Jess's house (last I knew). Marley will also be having her first birthday the following week on Feb. 13th. Not sure of Marley's b-day plans as of yet, but I hear she likes ducks - one of her first words!

Christmas Eve Photos

Our "Babies" Are Growing Up Fast...

Don't Even Think About Touching My Doll!

I'm sure it wasn't personal (look closely!)

Dozer in the Early Years...

Christmas Wish Lists

What do the nieces and nephews
want for Christmas?

Serena...?
Abby...?
Sammy...?
Ally...?
Matthew (aka Num Num)...?
Lilly...?
Jonathan...?

Marley eats her peas

Marley was so funny at suppertime. We decided to feed her what we were eating. Roast chicken, sweet potato, peas and cranberry sauce. Before I got to the table your father had fed her several spoonfuls of sweet potato and had given her a little bit of the cranberry sauce. He also cut up some of the chicken and put it in front of her. I had tried giving her peas before, and she really didn't want anything to do with them. Well.... tonight was different. Once peas were put in front of her on the table, she wouldn't eat anything else. She'd pick them up - one at a time, and put them in her mouth. If she got anything else in her hand -like chicken or sweet potato, she'd toss it behind her onto the floor. But she was feverishly shoving as many peas as she could get into her mouth. She was going so fast it was comical. Near the end, though, she must have been getting tired because more was ending up on the floor and in her lap than anywhere else. But she refused to let us feed her any. She was going to do it herself, or it wasn't going to be done! She DOES like to be in control!

- From Mom's Daily Report

Thanksgiving

It's almost Turkey Day. Sandy and Shawn will be hosting this year. The last I knew, the festivities are scheduled to begin at 3pm. Hope to see you all there!

Afternoon With Auntie and Parker

Special Visitor at Sammy's Party

Serena's Going To France!!!

I'm sure you've probably all heard by now, but our little Serena will be flying off to Paris in the Spring! Once we've made it through the birthdays, and Christmas, we'll need to start fundraising for her trip. (She needs to raise approx. $1000 by April). I've very excited for her to have this opportunity!

Sammy's Birthday

Sammy's Birthday is coming up in a couple weeks, so we may need to start planning (or rather collecting) soon!

Ami & Katy's Baby

Hoola Hoop Survey Winners

So.... Papa and John are tied for the spot of projected winners in the DeRienzo Hoola Hoop Contest. Now we just need to schedule the event!!! Before doing so, I think someone needs to buy the girls a new hoop!

Marley's Blog

For easy access to Marley's Blog, click this link: http://marleysphotoblog.blogspot.com/

A Man Of Many Talents

Just a few more years

I already told several of you Wednesday night, but for those who didn't hear I am staying in the Army. I am accepting a commission to become a Chaplain. As you can see, Kristen fully approves of the move and I'm glad because I think it is the right thing to do. I didn't really loathe my time overseas and I kept saying to myself "man, this would be soooo much better if I was doing the work of a Chaplain." So if I do go over again, which is not possible until I am through their candidate program 3 or 4 years from now, it will be doing what I actually think I should be doing. Anyway, thought I'd pass it on. Out here.

Marley's first Red Sox game

We took Marley to the Red Sox vs. Orioles game in Baltimore (less than 2 hours south of us) on Saturday night.

Despite the look on her face in this photo, she had a good time, hamming it up with everyone around us in the crowd, jumping up and down and getting excited when people cheered and clapped.

She slept through about three innings in the middle of the game, waking up when anything happened that got a cheer from the crowd and turning around to look at the field. It was hilarious.

When she got restless, I gave her baseball cards to play with. Knowing that she'd chew them up, first I gave her Willy Mo Pena, who's no longer with the team. Then I gave her J.D. Drew.

The crowd was literally 85 percent Red Sox fans. It was weird.

Free Seminar in Portland Sept. 14,15 &18

Hey everybody! Next weekend there is a free event at the Abrahamson Community Center at USM in Portland that looks like it will be awesome! It's Friday, Saturday, and Tues. night at 7:30pm. It is on Biblical archeology with speakers Mark Finley and Michael Hasel, PHD, a Biblical archeology professor. The brochure indicates that they will not only delve into archeology but also prophecy and the current situation in the Mid-East. It's free, but I think it will fill up fast. To reserve seats call 1-800-467-6435. Katy and I will be going, but I haven't called to reserve yet. Anyone else interested?? The seminar is called "Amazing Discoveries in Lost Cities of the Dead". (The speakers are not from USM. It looks like an evangelical event.)

No man knows the day or the hour

Alright, here's the deal... How am I supposed to know when I am getting married? Do you all think that I have this grand scheme about making everything line up just right, planning every last detail and only waiting for the exact moment set aside? Don't you all know that I am a free spirit; spontaneous, footloose and fancy free? 3 Months... maybe... 3 years... perhaps... old man... unlikely. When it does happen, you all will be the first to know. Oh, and by the way, I am bringing dinner this Wednesday so I hope you like pizza... or maybe Chinese.

Who's Calling Jonathan Names???

Shawn - You've Made it On The Blog