My future nurse!

Maya:  "Mama, Mama, come quick!  Fifi needs to go to the hospital."

So I hurry up and go get some towels and wrap Fifi up in her "hospital bed."

 

Maya:  "Fifi is a good patient Mama.  She's always smiling.  You'll be ok Fifi.  Everything will be just fine.  We're going to do an x-ray to make sure everything is ok."

 

Maya:  "Mama, look at Fifi's x-ray.

Mommy:  "I don't know Maya, what do you think?"

Maya: "You just rest Fifi.  We will keep you overnight for observation. Mama? Lets get a TT in the morning. 

 

 

My little girl doen't miss a trick.  Maybe Kevin and I should stop talking about work so much at home!

 

The newest member of our family

Jaxx....8 weeks old.

Day out with Thomas

 

What a fun day!  Maya was so excited and Seamus just loved all the noise of the trains.  Kevin had never been to Strasburg Railroad either so for 3/4 it was a first.  I had never seen Thomas before but I had been to Strasburg when I was a kid.  It was a beautiful day...cold....but beautiful and just a wonderful experience for all!

They both like to drive

Above. Seamus. Below. Maya.Same age 10 months!

Happy Halloween

Every year we go to my old neighborhood where I grew up to go trick-or-treating with the kids. (grammy and/or pop-pop usually come along too!)  It's so much fun to go to houses where I used to go as a kid.  The same people (only older), some of the same decorations, running into people I played with growing up (now with their own kids), and still passing the same houses of people who still don't give out candy. (bah humbugs!).  I think its hilarious that one night a year people can't be bothered to buy a bag of candy to help put a smile on kids' faces.  To all you Halloween haters out there...BOO TO YOU!  Then there is others who believe that Halloween is the "devil's holiday."  To those...you're just weird.  Yes, maybe that was the origin but I look at it like some people look at Christmas.  Some people celebrate Christmas for the wrong reasons, sad but true.  I like to celebrate Halloween for the wrong reason!  CANDY, IMAGINATION, and PURE FUN!!!!!  Snow white and a spider....far from evil!  We had a great time!!!!!

Eddie's Confirmation

Cousins!

Through the years

10/23/09

10/23/10

10/23/11

10/23/12

 

My little girl is 3

3 short years ago I was given the most amazing gift.  A beautiful, healthy little girl.  Well, she is growing up.  I can't believe she is 3!  She is spunky, sassy, witty, charming, sweet, generous, and most of all...a great big sister.  She loves playing with Seamus. She loves being a "little mother" and loves to help me do little things around the house.  This is my little girl who loves to read, do crafts, paint, play outside, and still takes really good naps in the afternoon.  She loves to tell me how much she loves me and loves to give me kisses and hugs.  Loves walking me out to the car when its time to go to work and gets so excited on nights that I am home to tuck her in.  We have lots of giggle time, bubble baths in the big tub with Seamus, and ice cream sundae nights.  She knows just the right moments that I need a cuddle and doesn't hesitate to try and cheer me up if she sees that I am frazzled about something.  We had a great birthday party for her 2 days before her actual bday and then the day of her birthday we went to Sweet n Sassy for some birthday pampering!  Seamus didn't really like it too much but my birthday girl loved it!  Happy Birthday my little lovie!

Hello Kitty...everything!

 She was so excited!

Just cross me out. ugh! Seamus was asleep so we had to do without him

Loooves blowing out candles

We couldn't forget Uncle Ryan!  Happy Birthday Ry!

It's that time of year again

Trips to Linvilla Orchards, falling leaves, spicey smells, pumpkin spice capuccino, and best of all...

I have tried every single blizzard out there....(working at DQ forever will do that to you) and this is BY FAR MY FAVORITE!!!!!!! But, the key is the whipped cream on top with a little bit of nutmeg sprinkled on it.  Don't believe me?  Juuuuuuuust try it!

 

We had a great day at Linvilla Orchards with some friends.

 

You would think after snapping 30 shots I would have gotten at least one with both of them looking at me!  Nope.

 

Home at last...bitter sweet.

We are finally home.  It was a great summer and coming home has marked the summer of 2012 with a large !

We were very fortunate enough to have 2 vacations this year.  One with my family in Bethany Beach at the beginning of August and one in Ocean City, NJ with some friends.  Both were awesome.  Great weather, good times, and pretty well behaved kids.   I haven't been to Ocean City since going with the Dairy Queen girls in 2002...I think it was 2002.  What a good time!  So kid friendly.  I think we went to the boardwalk just about every night, either to walk it or do a couple rides, get ice cream, pizza, or fries, or cross over and take a walk on the beach.  Some nights I would put Seamus to bed and take Maya up and we would have a girls night on the boards.  Other nights Kevin would take her up.  It was so nice to have that one on one time with her.  And imagine this!  After the kids were both asleep, my husband and I could actually hang out for a little bit together!   

Her first ride by herself!

She wasn't really liking this one

Maya soup while mommy was out on the seadoo

Patrick soup...opps. King Patrick soup

Maya and Patrick's fort

Seamus loooooving the water!

Maya and her best guy!

Tuckered out!

Yummy sand!

Braving the surf

Maya and Daddy

They look so innocent don't they?????? 

Play Day 8/23/12

Whenever Lara comes home from a visit from Conn., we all do whatever we can to get all the kids together and play.  It's awesome when all 4 of us can get together.  If only Nancy could be here and add her little ones to the mix!  It's crazy to think that between myself, Lara, Jenn, Kari, and Nancy we have 10 kids!!!!! Today we had 8 and it was wild.  Some were outside, some were inside, some were cranky, some were happy, some were covered in oreos, some were covered in water, some were playing with frogs, some were playing with blocks.  It was a blast and always great visiting with my girls.  Its amazing to see the kids grow and each time we get together someone is doing something new.  Maya and Bryer (did I spell it right Jenn?) are always squabbling, Abbey is potty training, Sadie is a big kindergartener, Seamus is sitting up and crawling, Chad is smiling, Blake is becoming more social and chatty with the other kids, and Oliver is smiling and getting bigger (if that's possible.  He's huge Kari!  What are you feeding that kid?!)   So fun watching them change!  Here is a pic of our day.  The best part is the four mom's in the mirror above trying to get the kids to smile! 

 

 

Left to Right.....Oliver, Abbey (Kari's kids), Seamus, Maya (my little ones), Sadie, Bryer (Jenn's babes), and Chad and Blake (Lara's little darlings.)  Then the crazy mom's in the mirror.  Me in pink, Kari in black, Lara tucked behind, and Jenn in the hat.

It's TWINS!!!!!

Seamus has two teeth coming in at exactly the same time!  Yuppers, those two little twins on the bottom front!  We're ready for steak and corn on the cobb now! 

Maya and Chocolate...the reunion

Father's Day 2012

Our gift to Daddy, Daddo, Pop, Kev, Kevin, hubby and whatever other name Maya decides to give him.

Bye bye bumbo

I started feeding Seamus "real food"  actually "baby food" in his bumbo because he didn't seem quite ready for the high chair yet.  That turned out to be disasterous.  His chubby thighs barely sweezed in there and he would arch his back something crazy trying to get out.  Well, last night we graduated to the high chair.   Meal time is much happier now!

Growing up...

Look how my baby girl has grown...so fast.

Longwood Gardens

Today the girls and I took the kids to Longwood Gardens.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside...not too hot and not raining! Yay!  3 girls with 2 kids each is crazy.  I think together we had 6 kids under the age of 5.  Very busy especially when you add strollers, lunches, no naps, and water to the mix.  What a great place though for kids!  I guess I never realized how much stuff they have for the little guys to do.  The kids loved hiding under the trees and playing tag in the gardens.  There is a place in the conservatory with all kinds of little water fountains for the kids to play and drench themselves.  Good times.  As I write this I can tell that Maya didn't have a nap today.....the yelling and crying has been going on for at least 15 minutes now.

explanations of the videos...

On a daily basis, my little diva asks to "put on mommy's club dvd."  Everything to her is a dvd.  She knows how to operate the dvd player and troubleshoot to get what she wants to work.  It really is amazing.  So one day she went out to the car in the garage and was digging through the glovebox and found an old club cd from 2001.  ah yes, my college days.  She brought it in and put it in the dvd player and decided she liked it and now rocks out to it on pretty much a daily basis.

Again, tech savy Maya knows how to work things.  She is a wiz at my iPhone and the video of Seamus is Maya operating my iPhone. 

Hilarious!

Who do you think she looks like?