My Grandpa - My Hero

April 20th - the day a great man in my life was born. My grandfather was my hero, my larger than life hero. My brother and I were lucky enough to spend days with my grandmother while my mom and dad worked outside the home. At 3:30 every day, my grandpa would walk through his front door, with his clip-on-tie already undone and hanging from his shirt by only his tie tac, and say the same thing. "What are you brats doing?". Now, you have to know my grandfather. He was a World War II veteran, a part-time volunteer fire fighter, a full-time police detective and then chief. He was rough and tough, or so he wanted you to believe. That was the type of greeting you'd expect from him - no nonsense. It was his way of saying "Hi honey, how was your day?". To me, it was a great treat every day to see him and give him some grief in return.

On your birthday, I miss you more than ever:

To Grandpa Volkmann,

Ten Reasons I Miss You

• I miss your goofy little smile when you would tell Scott your fifteen silly attorney jokes that you heard over coffee at the fire station. The one about ten-thousand attorneys at the bottom of the sea was your favorite!!

• I miss your warm apple pie with the flaky homemade crust. Yes, I know I have the recipe, but it just isn't the same. You must have thrown something else in that pie to make it taste so good!!



• I miss the water fights that we would have every Fourth of July at your house and then Aunt Lori's. You'd use whatever you had to get us wet and that included the sink sprayer through the window!! Remember when we threw you in the pool with your police radio? You were not a happy camper, but you knew you deserved it:)



• I miss hearing your whistle when you were out working in the garage and tinkering with your whirly-gigs. Your whistle always made me smile:)



• I miss you showing up at our house, uninvited and unannounced, but always welcome, just to see if we had anything that had to be fixed and then taking it upon yourself to fix it. You would never take any form of payment for your services either - it would drive me crazy.



• I miss walking into your house and knowing that if it was 6pm, you were taking a nap and we had to be quiet. I'm still perplexed at why you would sleep during the day and then stay up half the night, but that was your MO.



• I miss your perch, french fries and onion ring dinner that you made from scratch. It was the best fish and chips I've ever had. You would never sit down to eat with us though because you were always "testing" the product as you cooked.



• I miss the old,blue Navy sweater that you would wear on cold days - the one that had the burn hole in it and smelled like Old Spice after shave. You loved that sweater and when you wore out the first one, we found you another one. I wonder where that sweater is now?



• I miss how embarrassed you would get to say you loved me. I would tease you without mercy until you would say it out loud. I would say it over and over again, sometimes singing it at the top of my voice, just to get you to respond. It was our game. Of course, you would eventually say it back in your mocking, high-pitched voice, but I knew you meant it. I knew because you showed me every day of my life that you were there for me and that you loved me unconditionally.



• Most of all, I miss that my two youngest daughters did not have the chance to know you as the wonderful grandfather that you were - at least not in this lifetime. Madison remembers you clearly and for that I am grateful. I know you are watching over all of us and I feel in my heart you were at the cemetary the day I dropped your urn off. I had to be you that sent three fire trucks with sirens blazing down the road to the cemetary just as I was putting your urn in place. The funny part was that they got to the curve, just past the cemetary and they turned their lights and sirens off and just went on their way. It scared the daylights out of me and I think I could almost hear you laughing...it would be the kind of joke only you would pull from heaven. Happy 83rd Birthday, Grandpa.

The Sewick Six

Okay, so there is still one member of our family that is missing from our blog. Our dear, sweet golden retriever, Churchill. She is our first official "doggie daughter" and was actually part of our family before we thought about having kids. She (yes, "she" - Scott named the dog - what can I say!!) has been with us since the summer of 1999. She's our great protector and our loyal friend. She will be nine years old on May 5th and I just dread the day we no longer have her in our home. Don't get me wrong - I will not miss her sleeping in and on our bed or the doggie-hair tumble weeds rolling across our hardwood floors. But I'd miss her low grumbles every morning as she stretches and gets going to assist in waking the girls and I would miss seeing her adorable little nose pushed up against the glass of our front window as I open the garage door when I come home.

As you can tell from the pictures she is aging...but she has been white in the face since she was three. Churchie is our high-strung companion - she worriers about every little noise that she hears. Fireworks send her immediately under our bed (mind you, she hasn't been able to fit under our bed since she was about six months old!!) and the sound of a car backfiring is enough to give the dog a heart attack. But don't even think about trying to get into our backyard when the girls are out playing - no sir. You will be met with a face full of white teeth and a mean ole growl. She'll put herself right between the girls and the gate and won't let anyone into the house / yard without Scott or I telling her it is okay. For that alone - I love this dog. I can always tell when the girls' friends show up at our back gate and I get fair warning when one of my "adventurers" think they need to leave the yard.

Last week we had a bit of a scare with Churchill. Because of the glorious weather, we were out cleaning up the yard last weekend. As many of you know that have pets, when spring comes, it is quite a chore to clean up for an entire winter's worth of "dog". With shovel in hand, I was walking around the yard and noticed what looked like blood on the grass. My heart just sunk - I knew what it was. Churchill had been having "accidents" in our house for the past week, which is very, very unlike her and this was just confirmation that we had a problem. I got her into our wonderful vet (our vet's dog is Churchill's brother so we have a special "family" connection") to find that Churchill had a fever and the equivalent of "doggie flu". They actually called it "colitis" at the vet's office. After an antiobiotic shot, some new dog food and a handful of huge Spartan-green pills, Churchill is on the mend and doing well. She is our good ole girl again - up at 5:30 with me on Tuesday / Thursdays ready to walk with her Grandmup (my mom) and fiesty as ever when I leave without her when my running shoes are on!!

This little scare made me realize how much this dog has meant to our family. She was the first one in our home to greet each and every baby we brought through the door. She was the one that my poor mother had to come and get out of my face when I was in labor for Madison because Churchill thought something was wrong with me. She's the one that sleeps on the cold, hard tile in front of the front door when Scott isn't home to make sure we are all safe at night and she is the one that doesn't even blink when the girls decide to crawl on her like a jungle-gym.

I just hope we give her back as much love and affection as she gives to all of us.

April 15th - Yahoo!!

April 15th...what a day! For many of you it is just another day - "tax day" to most of my co-workers. To me it is like my own personal independence day. April 15th means going back to a four-day work week and normal hours instead of five days a week - sometimes six - and hours that go well into the night (sometimes into the morning!!). April 15th means my kids can stop looking at the calendar to figure out how many more Fridays Mommy has to work. April 15th means my husband can take a breathe and relax a bit knowing I will be home at 5:15 most nights. April 15th means my mother and mother-in-law (God love these women!!) can take a well deserved break from hauling kids to dance class and catechism and keeping kids into the evening because their working mother got caught in a meeting or needs to finish a tax return!

If you look at the calendar, spring began on March 20th this year. But for our family, April 15th is truly the start of spring for our family - a new beginning of sorts. The days are longer, the weather is warmer and fun things are bound to happen on Fridays:)

Our Title

So now that you've been introduced to our three beautiful off-spring, you can probably guess how we got the title of our blog. Madison - our self-proclaimed book worm, Sammi - our braided ballerina and Alison, well - you know the title.

I guess now it is time to send this link out to our family and friends so they can join us in our crazy journey:)

Feel free to comment on our posts or drop us an email at stacysewick@gmail.com:)

The Baby

Last, but never least, is our baby, our youngest child, Alison. She is the cuddler, the lover, the happy-go-lucky toddler of our home. When I look at her pictures, I see a mini female version of my husband. Her baby blue eyes and her cheek-to-cheek smile - all his. The way she can't quite keep her eyes open for pictures - all his. The manner in which she cautiously embarks on new adventures - yep, his too. I tell him often he would have made a beautiful little girl:)

Like all our kids, Alison has such special character - traits that are truly all her own. She is a bit more laid back than the others - a bit more reserved with people. She likes to observe and watch before she chooses to participate with other kids. She takes a bit longer to warm up to people, but when she is does, you'll be the recipient of her admiring stare and her loving personality. She takes more things in stride than her sisters (when she's had a nap at least) and she seems to want to do everything she can to be part of her big sisters' posse - even if that means getting herself into a little trouble to do it. She is what I like to call my "tornado". She can mess up a clean room faster than anything I've ever seen, walk out of that same room without batting an eyelash and then turn around and blame the mess on her sisters.


There was a quote I ran across the other day that made me think of Alison:


"Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires."-- Marcelene Cox


And that, ladies and gentlemen is our Alison. When her sisters say black, she says white. When we have all agreed on pizza for dinner, she decides she wants pasta. Anything to be paisley in our beautiful world of pastel plaids. But who can blame her? She's growing up with two older sisters, both with their own pool of talents and gifts and she is just trying to find her way - make her mark on this little world of hers.



Alison is the one that sneaks into our bed at night just to get a little more cuddle time or "mommy time" during tax season. Alison is the one that no matter how hard you try to get her to "pick a number between one and ten" to resolve the argument of who is getting out of the tub first will always, always, always pick two. She's the child that would just as soon have a sippy cup full of chocolate milk than eat a real meal, the master of just about any puzzle, the keeper of the Elmo blanket that Grandma Sewick made for her. She is the singer of every High School Musical song every recorded, the pouter in the corner when she doesn't get her way, and the one that just has to tell you one more secret before she goes to bed ("Mommy, I just love you so much").



Each child brought into this world has a special gift - a gift that is only hers. Alison is no exception. I see her gift every day when I look into her baby blue eyes and I remember it when she's not with me because it is etched on my heart. Her gift is simply being here - reminding us every day to appreciate that she is here and knowing that in a blink of an eye, she could have been gone. She allows our family that moment we need every day to just stop, take a deep breathe and remember that we are so very lucky to have each other - even when we are ready to pull our own hair out with the craziness!! For those that don't know Alison's story, she was only five weeks old when she was air-lifted from Mercy General to DeVos Children's Hospital with a severe case of pneumonia. In a matter of hours she went from healthy to critical condition. It was a very stressful and emotional time for our family. But, the blessing that came out of that horrible nightmare was far greater than we could have expected...we have a closeness that comes from surviving such a terrible episode, we are forever grateful that we are a family of five (oh, six - sorry Churchill), even if that means waiting a bit longer for a table at a restaurant or driving a mini-van:) and we try so much harder to appreciate all the little moments that make life what it is...a colorful canvas painted with our memories and our experiences.



Alison is such a miracle to me - the last piece of our family puzzle that makes the whole loving picture clear. She is our our baby, our "Ali-Bubba", our angel - we just can't see her wings:)

A Sammi Sandwich

Let me introduce our middle child Samantha Paige, aka "Sammi". There are so many words that come to mind when I think of Sammi - hilarious, talkative, social, fun-loving, girlie-girlie, giggly...they all describe her to a tee. There are days, however, when these words fail me and all I can think of is - stubborn, independent, determined and dramatic. What a mixed bag of tricks she is - all of them blessings! Out of our three kids, Sammi is probably the most like me - the one that looks the most like me, acts the most like me and has the stubborn streak like me (yes, I admit it). She is our social butterfly, the crazy little princess that is constantly performing various ballet steps - always and everywhere. Sammi is also the jokester in our house, laughter (make that contagious laughter) follows her wherever she goes. And her laugh...there is one thing I can say without question that she got from her father - her knee-slapping, side-aching belly laugh. When they get rolling together, you can bet the entire house is laughing with them. You can't possibly help yourself. It is the source of her laughter - her sense of humor, fun and adventure - that makes her who she is...just Sammi...not Samantha, not Sam, not Sammi-poo.

When I was pregnant with Sammi, I remember being told that each child would be different and that my relationship with each child would be unique. I didn't realize how true that was until Sammi, and then Alison, were born. Sammi and I share something that is pretty special - a likeness that doesn't always require words. I can look at her and know that she is contemplating doing something that is likely to get her in trouble. I can look at her and know that she is very upset with me because I didn't let her wear her pretty new spring dress. I know the looks because thirty years ago, they were on my young face:) In many ways we are are the same - we are sensitive, but we don't always want to show it. We like to play jokes and make people laugh- sometimes at our own expense. We can be downright ugly when we don't get enough sleep. And we want what we want when we want it and there is little talking that can be done to convince us otherwise. In so many other ways we are different - she will eat ANYTHING or at least try it a couple of times; she has no inhibitions about running around the house in just her underwear - no matter who has come to visit; and she loves, loves, loves to work out!! Running, aerobics, you name it - she's all for it any time, any day. Oh to have the energy of a four-year-old!!

I think of all Sammi's qualities, it is her ability to make her peers feel comfortable and become their friend that I envy the most. She has made great friends through her preschool program and I know that she will adapt to "Young 5's" in the fall without a blink of an eye. She is the first to go into a room and come out with a new best friend. Come school time, I can only imagine she'll have a whole room full of them!!

Everyday I look at this gorgeous young lady and I think how fortunate I am to have her many blessings in my life. Sammi's bright smile, warm heart, and funny little mannerisms are like my soft, warm blanket on a cold winter day. What would we do without this little spark plug in our lives? What would our day be without the roller coaster ride we call "Sammi" in our house? One thing is for sure - it would not be nearly as exciting and we would laugh a lot less. For sandwiched between our youngest and our oldest is this wonderful little creature that we simply adore. Our own little Sammi-sandwich:)

The First Born

For those of you that know our first born daughter, you know what a gentle child she is. Madison has an "old soul", as Scott likes to call it. She connects with life in a way that would make anyone jealous. She's a worrier, a perfectionist (be warned this is what happens when two type A personalities breed!!) a gentle friend and she takes the job of "big sister" very, very seriously. You can bring tears to her big beautiful brown eyes just by looking at her cross or you can bring the biggest toothless smile you've ever seen to her face just by asking about her day. She spoiled us as new parents because she was such a wonderfully peaceful child and she continues to spoil us with her determination to give the best that is in her every day. She makes me realize that my cup is so full and never, ever half empty.

One of the things I cherish most about my relationship with Madison has been the talks that we have shared just after she goes to her religious education classes. We've spent many evenings sitting at our local coffee shop with steaming hot chocolate (hers is light on the chocolate please!) talking about what her class learned that evening, only to find that I was learning too. This little seven-year old continues to teach me more about life than I ever thought possible. She has taught me about my faith, my faults and my ability to love someone more than I ever thought possible. She is special in ways I don't even know yet. And lucky for me, as her mother, that she takes me along for the ride:)

The Beginning

How exciting is this? I'm thrilled to have our family blog up and running. I started this blog as a means of keeping our family and friends in touch with our daily lives and keep them laughing with us:) These are crazy times in our house and I am looking forward to sharing these moments with you. First, for those that stumble upon this blog, let me introduce myself:

My name is Stacy and I am a very happily married, mother of three - three girls that is. My poor, dear, darling husband remains the only male in our house. Even our dog is an estrogen carrier!! I am a certified public accountant by day (boring - yawn) and a bath-giving, story-reading, nail-painting lady at night. I would describe myself as a frustrated perfectionist in most aspects of my life. But I am lucky to know that for the ones I love and love me, not even close to perfect is perfect enough. I'm not a writer or a truly creative person - I'm an accountant for goodness sake - but I do attempt to exercise my imagination with new adventures or projects, like this blog:) A few things about me***

• I love that my husband can still make me laugh so hard my sides hurt with his crazy antics (especially your dancing honey - sorry!) *
• I love that my daughters don't realize that I secretly listen to their High School Musical soundtracks on my ipod when they aren't in the car with me *
• and I love that no matter how crabby I am any one of my daugthers can pull me out of it with a simple, sweet smile and a "super-duper" hug *

Well I think that might do it for the first post. This is all so new to me, so forgive me if I break any secret "blogger" rules. I figure I will learn a lot of cool stuff along the way and hopefully produce a few giggles and smiles too!