Happy Birthday Grandpa DJ

Sunday was my dad's 75th (yeah - count 'em) birthday and we gathered at my sister Peggy's house for a little B-day celebration. This photo is from last summer - Seamus and Grandpa doing jobs.

There isn't much to be said about my dad that hasn't already been said to him or about him. He talked a little bit on Sunday about counting his blessings and as usual he teared up a bit. I've learned so much from my father - but maybe one of the most prominent is from moments like that - moments where he pauses and wants to take the time to tell whoever is listening how grateful he is for everything - the big and the little. He said thank you for his birthday present, but also for the life he's led since 1981 when he had major heart surgery.

I've learned that being grateful is wonderful - but maybe more importantly I've learned that sharing your sense of gratitude breeds gratitude in others. He shared the story of being in his early 50s with a big, dependant family and a 6 year old little girl; and being told surgery wasn't a cure - it was a short term fix - 10 years at best. He said all he wanted to do was see me graduate from high school - that would be a goal. He told me this story for the first time when he walked me down the wedding aisle.

Life, love and family are so precious. Every minute, every day. Thank you, Dad, for teaching me how to show it.

Maybe Boys Are Different...

So I always say that I don't buy into the idea that boys and girls are inherently, behaviorally different. I think the way we treat boys and girls from day one has much more to do with how they react to situations than their chromosomes.

Most people think I'm a nut.

Well, I'm starting to have my doubts...

While I was chatting with the neighbors this afternoon, Seamus, Finn and Nick (our lovely neighbor's grandson) spent almost an hour playing "superheros", wrestling and jumping from the concrete steps. Finn wouldn't actually jump - he'd slide down on his belly every once in a while - but the other two ran up the steps and jumped, over and over again.

Now you can see in the pictures, Bridget (some of you might remember from kissing picture fame) stood and watched the boys "rough house." She didn't have too much to say about it all, but my favorite picture is the one where she's standing and just looking back at them. You can almost hear her thinking:

"What complete fools."

It was hard to disagree,
but they sure did have fun...

Stealing Chocolate

I was on the phone talking to aunt Katie and cleaning out the freezer, when the Seamus took the opportunity to bust into some old Easter candy. At least he was sharing - I think he said something like:

"Finn, what are you doing with those healthy snacks - when we can have CHOCOLATE?"...

The First Two Times...

On the way to the hospital with Seamus...


































On the way to the hospital with Finn...



















































First time home as a family of four...

New Look...

Desperate for Spring and inspired by today's warm up, I'm trying a new look for the blog. I'll probably play around with it for a while to make sure it still feels readable. This might be part of the "nesting phase" (as I did clean out my pantry today), so bear with me...

39 week dr appt

T minus 8 days - give or take....