Ashley's Family: Family Stories

Quincy the Mouse

If you are from the Brozek/Heiser family you know about Quincy the Mouse. He became part of our family when my mom (Terri) and i took a trip to Russ's to pick up some food for the family gathering later that night. Walking through the grocery store she saw a shelf full of fall decorations. Amongst them were small mice statues with the body of a corn cob. I'm not sure why but she thought it was the cutest thing. She loved his little mouse face. Yes, indeed the mouse came home with us that afternoon. The mouse was just going to be a decoration amongst all the other pumpkins and gords that were already laying out.

Later that night when the whole family was over Uncle Tom thought it'd be funny to talk in an animated voice for the mouse. He was doing it all through the night and everyone got a kick out of it. Sometime during the night the mouse picked up the name Quincy. Ever since then Quincy has been a family joke. About a year after Quincy had went missing and Christmas was nearing. The family was over once again for a dinner. This time it being Christmas dinner. After our bellies were full we gathered around to open gifts. Grandpa was handed one. The family thought nothing of the gift. He opened it to find Quincy a Quincy #2 (with a few different features), and 3 baby Quincies. The family roared with laughter. I remember grandpas face being redder then a tomatoe! Quincy has been a joke of the family ever since then!

Jordyn's Story

When Jordyn was asked what her favorite family story was she came up with three very good stories. When all of us cousins were younger we loved to play hide n' seek in the basement. The junk room was always the best place to hide because it was the scariest place to "seek" and had the most rummage to hide in. The older cousins always helped the younger ones hide and then hid themselves. The counter/seeker would always have to sit at the very top of the stairs and count to a designated number. After they got to the number they would yell "Ready or not here I come!" During some of the games we would decide to shut of the lights to make it even more challenging.

Her second favorite story was about how we used to play monster with Uncle Ty. Ty was the monster and we were who he was out to get! He would count to the number that we gave him and we would run downstairs to quickly hide ourselves in the best places possible. We always played monster with the lights out to make it more scary. Ty's scary monster noises made some cousins crack under fear when they heard him coming! After Ty would find the first person they would tag along beside him, but they were not allowed to tell Ty any hints or help him seek us out. However, sometimes the younger cousins would give Ty hints and give away hiding places. Things like this usually ended the game because of frustration that someone had told. This often times made us a little grumpy! Now everyone is growing older and we haven't played monster for probably two years at the least.

Her third favorite story was about when we used to go on walks with Ty after dinner and go down to where Mahoney Golf Course used to be. We would walk along the edges and pick up any golf balls we saw. We collected them in old icecream buckets and brought them back to grandma and grandpa's house. We never really did anything with them but it seemed like a great accomplishment!

Terri's Story

Terri's favorite story is from her childhood. She remembers every Sunday after church her family would go to her Grandma Emma's house to have homemade kolaches and cookies. she spoiled them and it was fun for Terri because she lived by a big drainage ditch that was concrete so they could play down in it. She loved using her imagination along with exploring with Tom, Sherrie and Ty. She loved exploring with her brothers.

Also when Terri was younger she her and her siblings would put blankets over their pool table at home and pretend they were chipmunks under the ground and they would run around on their knees for hours and play hide n' seek in their basement.

Lacey's Story

Lacey also has a few favorite stories. Her first favorite story is more of a memory. A few years ago the family was over for Christmas Eve and we were all hanging out and enjoying each others company, but we needed something to do. The family came to the conclusion that we would walk to Mahoney and look at all their Christmas lights. Everyone got bundled up and set out for a chilly walk. It seemed very cold at first, but when we finally could see the lights we forgot about the chilliness.

Lacey's second favorite story is also related to Christmas time. Remember that huge snow storm we had in 1997? We were still living in our old blue house and had just gotten kittens. Lacey and I were both rudly awaken the first bad night of the snow storm by the chimney on our house sliding off the roof and breaking through our deck. Lacey said she woke up to the huge slam and was so scared! Since the power was out, we went out to our garage and roasted hot dogs in our wood burning stove. Cosmic Rubarb, our dad's friend, rolled on over in his bus and enjoyed the warmth of the garage with us. We had just gotten the kittens and Lacey remembers when Midnight curled up in Cosmic's beard and fell asleep. Gross! Lacey loved this snow storm because she knew she could relax and stay home for a while!

Noah's Story

Noah's favorite story is from last Thanksgiving. After everyone was done eating some began to play cards and talk while others tried to be like Lacey and sing with their mouths closed. Lacey as we all know is great at singing the Star Spangled Banner in her mouth, but everyone else, not so much! Everyone was dying of laughter as family members chimed in and tried it out. Faces were turning red as people began to run out of breath. I had forgotten about this memory but it sure was a great one!

Celia's Story

Celia's favorite story is the story involving Grandpa Harold's TV. One day, while he was out and about doing his business, a TV randomly showed up in his house. Not only did it show up but it also was set up and ready to go. When he returned home that night he could only wonder where it came from. The whole family was so confused, and still are confused to this day about where that TV came from. No one will confess that they bought it, but obviously someone did!