Brace Face

I'm suprised that I actually smiled for my class photos when I had my braces. I had them for nearly 3 years and they were taken off during the summer before I started high school in 1983. I can't believe that I actually kept these reminders of my brace face days - the case for my headgear, a totebag, my super smile certificate and the pin - smiling faces wear braces. I vividly remember the pain of having them but in the end it was all worth it. I had to wear a night retainer for some time too - maybe a year. My brother had braces also but he had a regular retainer afterwards.

Muppets Stuff 2

The towel was originally mom's but she gave it to me by the end of the 1980s. It was hardly ever used so it looks like new. I got the Miss Piggy and Kermit dolls as a Christmas gift in 1981. I have a picture of me holding them on a post about that year's holiday. I have such great memories of watching The Muppet Show with my brother. Mom enjoyed it too!

6th Grade - 1980 - 1981

The photo at the very bottom is of my 6th grade class. The one above that is 5th grade. For class photos we usually got to dress up. I'm not sure why they made us wear our uniforms that year. I went to St. John the Apostle school for 9 years. I have some good memories of that place. It was much better than the Catholic high school that I went to. I was thinking about 6th grade as I was watching the very last launch of the space shuttle today because that's when I saw the first one. Our history teacher Miss Mead had it on in her classroom. The top photo is of the hankie that I painted an apple on during Apple Day in her class. I forget what other crafts that we did but I'm pretty sure that we made shrunken heads out of apples too. Our class trip was to Sandy Hook for that grade. I'll be doing a post on that in the future.

Easter Memories

I loved Easter time as a kid. Decorating the house, dyeing and searching for the eggs, the candy, the meal and being with friends and family was always so special and fun. We would have ham, keilbasa, farmers cheese, babka, potato salad and coleslaw and of course eggs for an early dinner. These photos are from 1981. My Ginger pup managed to get in the background in 2 of them. We usually spent most of the day next door at our grandma's house. That's where we are in 3 of the pictures. The one with Mom, Mark and I is in front of our place. Grandma got us the bunnies that we are holding in the photo with our friends Suzy and Jenny. I remember how excited we were to finally have candy after giving it up for Lent sometimes during our school days. We loved the Gertrude Hawk brand candy that we would order through our school fund raising back then. A white chocolate cross and peanut butter filled and regular chocolate Smidgens were always a part of it.

Christmas 1981

The lighting isn't that good on the top 2 photos but you can still see my Miss Piggy and Kermit dolls. I was so happy to get those that year. My brother is holding the Colecovision football game in his hands in the photo of us with our grandma.I'm glad that Ginger got into the photo with mom and Mark - we don't have that many pictures of her. On the end table in that one is the angel that I made which I mentioned in my Christmas craft post - it's a little hard to see. Another photo of us with our friends Suzy and Jenny. We only got to see them 3 or 4 times a year when they were visiting their grandparents Mr. and Mrs. K who were our neighbours. They are from Allentown, PA. We only visited them a few times out there. I wish that it could've been more.