The Clark NJ Dougherty's (& Their Metal Head)

These are the Clark, New Jersey Dougherty's (holding MJ and Connor).



John is James's Godfather and his rockstar (although he didn't wear a tie when he was Connor's proxy godfather...but that's another story) uncle. Maureen is his aunt extraordinaire - also known as the "go-to aunt" for babysitting, picture taking, kids supplying...etc. The girls, Megan and Katelyn (otherwise known as Knucklehead One and Knucklehead Two) are totally and wholly adored by the boys (and us too).



Beginning when we lived in New York, we started meeting John and Maureen in Newark for Portuguese food (Newark is known for this food - less so for its urban charm). This has become one of our favorite traditions - the food and Sangria are great (unbelievable actually) but spending an evening with John and Maureen without all the chaos of kids or parties has been a real gift for us.

This year Katie, Andie, James and I said goodbye to grandma, grandpa and the TWO new babies and drove with Seamus and Finn up to Clark, NJ (Thanks grandparents!). At which point we then said goodbye to the two girls, the two boys and a babysitter named (I'm not kidding) Vinny, so we could say "Hello" to some adult time with Sangria. Now James and I have been talking this tradition up a lot, and I hadn't thought much about the neighborhood the restaurant was in, but let's just say that as we're nearing the place, Andie asked in her sweet southern way, "Is this where the restaurant is?" What's a few abandoned cars, some blown out windows and the realization that one of us carries a gun when we come. But true to the quality of the company and the food, we had a fabulous time and I think Katie and Andie would even come back with us.

During our last vacation to New Jersey it was a present bonanza - every time we saw them the kids got more treats - bribery might not be ethical, but let me tell you it sure works. Our house is covered with reminders of them, and we hear a lot of "Uncle John gave that to me..." sorry girls John does get most of the credit. It's hard to compete with a guy who is really, really tall and a lieutenant in the police force (he sent the boys model police cars for Christmas - BIG winner - made Santa look pretty bad).




So, I have not finished writing thank you notes from the NJ trip when I get a package in the mail yesterday. I considered not opening it until I had completed the previous thanking. But I did. Here's what it contained...





It came with a letter address to MJ.

Hello Mary Jeanne,

You are receiving this gift for one of three reasons (you pick one):
1.) Seamus and Finn are too straight laced and we need you to be the rebel of the family.
2.) This is a shameless attempt by the Clark Dougherty's to be mentioned on the Dougherty Clan website.
3.) We saw the gift - thought it was funny_ and you were the only one we knew who it would fit and whose parents would actually dress her in it.

Hope all is well.

Guess what she wore to drop off Seamus at preschool and is now napping peacefully in...

We love the Clark Dougherty's. Thanks for all the fun.

School Daze

So Seamus started back to school on Thursday - as you'd expect he was very excited. The biggest crisis we have this year is that he now goes two AFTERNOONS a week and since he's still a two hour napper - we're not sure how this is going to affect our quality of life. But when I expressed concern to the teacher - I wasn't sure how he'd fare without his nap - she said in classic Mary Jo Culbertson fashion, "Two days a week isn't going to kill him." We shall see.

Finn also started "school" - he's got an hour and a half play time with the same teacher and in the same class room where Seamus goes. He thinks he's the coolest kid on the planet now. A good percentage of the kids on Friday were screaming bloody murder and the parents were looking panicked and terrified that their child would be 18 and still unable to attend preschool because of separation anxiety. Mary Jo sent all of the parents packing with a wave of her hand and a sharp "You will NOT accompany your child into the room", all the while carrying a screaming, immaculately dressed little girl. I was not at all concerned, first because Finn was elbowing his way into the room to get at all the toys, and secondly because I'd been through this with Seamus last year. We parents come back a little while later after a kids free trips to the grocery store or with a little Brewberry's pick-me-up and sure enough, the room is silent, the kids file out cheerfully with artwork and big smiles, and we are all left to wonder how in the world Mary Jo does it.

The pictures are from playing at the park after class.

Catching Up

So we're approaching the end of summer and it's been a fun few weeks. MJ is still a peanut, but she's rolling all over and very animated. She's babbling all the time (just like her grandma). Finn seems so much older than he did when MJ was born. It's been wonderful to watch him discover his imagination - he'll spend hours every day playing with his little animals or pirates or dinosaurs (sometimes all together). He's just a very content little boy. He's working on potty training still - we didn't work on it while we were in NJ and then the day we got back we all got the flu so that put a damper on training. I'm back at it today and hoping we'll make some real progress over the next few days.

Seamus and Finn moved into their "big boy" beds last weekend - they are officially in bunk beds now and so far so good. They've slept well - especially Finn who had outgrown his toddler bed and was hanging out of it half the time. Seamus has erupted the last few days. He's changing and growing - seemingly from one minute to the next. He's riding a bike confidently (still with training wheels - but fast enough that he can keep up with us on a walk). He's so excited for preschool to start (tomorrow). And all summer he's only been interested in the baby pool or the shallow part of the lake - he'll swim underwater and hold his breath but ONLY if he can still touch. Something happened in him on Sunday - not only did he enthusiastically jump into the big pool with James (which he used to do only begrudgingly) he actually SWAM. He could make it from the ladder about half way across the pool before he'd start to panic a little. He had so much fun - it was wild for me to watch. I was so surprised and slightly terrified. If some one could tell you when you discovered you were pregnant with your first child that in less time than it took you to finish college, you will go from a hosting tadpolish being, to birthing an 8 pound baby, to watching a walking, talking, SWIMMING person who will enchant you, adore you, and sometimes terrify you; you might appreciate how fast its all going to go.

Seamus asked me this week, "Mamma, where do people come from?" And the most truthful thing I could say to him was "Seamus, we all came from God, and boy am I glad that he sent you."

Delinquent Posts

I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I haven't had lot of time or energy for posting. And I'm sitting on tons of pictures from our trip out East and the week or so before. Here are a couple goodies...

More later... it's time for Harry Potter and naps...

The Boardwalk

Family trip to the New Jersey boardwalk...the boys had the time of their lives. James I aren't sure how we're going to avoid spending money on rides until next year at the boardwalk - although we did make it through the state fair by using Aunt Pat's anthem..."Our family doesn't do rides..."

We'll see how long that holds up.

New York City!

So during our trip east, we took the boys on an adventure in New York. James and I always thought that we'd get back there to live for at least a few months while he was still with Accenture, but alas, it never happened, and we still had to scratch the "city kids" itch. So we set off on what could have been a ridiculous trip, but with a good attitude (and some luck) we had a wonderful day in the city. We took the ferry from NJ and got to see the Statue of Liberty (Seamus recognized it from the This is New York book).

We met our good friend Travis for brunch at a fabulous restaurant (Friends of the Farmer) near Gramercy Park. The kids were great and so was Travis - it was so fun to be with him again in New York. He took us to a great Park after brunch where the kids got to run through a fountain and enjoy a little urban play. We stopped at the ice cream truck and Travis treated the boys to VERY large Popsicles.

From there we walked most of the way (the subway trains we needed we're not running because of problems with the flooding last week) to the Museum of Natural History (Hello, Night At the Museum). Shane met us on the way and helped us navigate the train with three kids and also got us into the museum for free (we owe him a $60 drink some day soon). Giant whales, elephants, dinosaurs...what more could two little boys wants. (And Shane was fun too...)

Shane walked us into Central Park and we said goodbye and headed to meet up with our Brooklyn friends. The boys promptly fell asleep for almost two hours and we walked across the park to the F train. But unfortunately, we took the F train to Queens (a totally rookie mistake that neither James or I could believe we made), but it was fitting because we had just been gloating about how much fun we'd been having and how easy it had all been...

SO from Queens we made it to Brooklyn to visit with Kevin, Amanda, Mike and Aliza. We got to see Kevin and Amanda's new place which was AMAZING and enjoy some time with our shoes off. Amanda made cupcakes for the boys (they immediately fell in love) and we had a nice glass of wine. Heaven. The whole crew walked over to the Brooklyn bridge and we let the boys run around at a park while we all chatted, it was just wonderful night. We ran into a woman who helped us with the stroller at the subway - made it all feel sort of small town. It was all just so much fun...

We left them all around 8:00 and walked over the Bridge - a beautiful night, and a really fun walk that we'd never done before. The walk turned into a pretty brisk hike when we thought we might miss the ferry home, but we made it with 15 minutes to spare.

It was a fun adventure - made us feel proud of the kids and of ourselves. Every once in a while you have to take chances, trust that you know your kids and yourselves and dive into the world in new and different ways.