Friday, November 30, 2012

Decorating Time

The day after Thanksgiving is always the day to put up the decorations. This year proved no different with Caitlin and Sean both wanting to help out.
 
 
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You mean you don’t play in the mulch wearing snowman PJs, crocs, and gardening gloves?
 
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I think we all did a pretty good job!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

More “Winter” Fun

I am behind blogging. Lots of photos, lots of fun, not a lot of time! We are looking forward to sharing our Christmas pictures, but we are going to try to wait until the cards are delivered next week to post. For now we are playing catch up!

The carnival we went to a couple of weeks ago had lots to entertain the kids….and Daddy!

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I’ve shared this photo before in a slightly altered state. We had to do something about the texting police officer. Nothing says, “Merry Christmas!” like a texting police officer in the background of your family picture!

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The kids LOVED the inflatables.

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Sand art? Face painting?

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A snowman?

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Talk about fun!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A Pony for a Princess

Of all the things at the festival we went to a couple of weeks ago, Caitlin was most impressed with the ponies. The line was long so I tried to talk her into something else. She wanted nothing but the ponies.
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I wasn’t sure if she would go once it was her turn, but she climbed right on.

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There was a moment of panic at the end,

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but she is still talking about the ponies so all is good!

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Christmas Poster

When Caitlin was born in 2009, we created what we felt was a great Christmas card.

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As a result, when it came to creating a card for 2010, we spent a little bit of time planning it out. Ultimately, we took so many photos and each had their own little story. There was one photo that Jenny took, that we were so impressed with that we turned it into a poster.

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The Santa Suit purchased for 5 Euro in Tesco’s really has proved a shrewd investment.  The biggest complaint that we heard about the photo above was that Jenny did not make it into the picture (But someone had to stand behind the lens!). We would have to remedy that the following year. And so we turned to our friend Ruth, who has taken some amazing photographs over the last couple of years. She offered to take photos for our Christmas card last year. We love how you can see how Caitlin has grown up over the 12 months, and is now joined by Sean!

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This weekend, we decided to continue with the same trend…

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(Obviously this was a guest post by the Irishman. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with work and home and life right now so he stepped up for blogging duty on his favorite topic of all - Christmas photos! Thank you babe!)

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving

‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house
decorations were all piled – including a toy mouse.
The children were nuzzled all snug in their beds,
while visions of a Christmas tree and train set danced in their heads
 
And Ma in her PJs and Pa in his t-shirt
Were lifting heavy boxes – trying not to get hurt.
When what to our tired ears did we hear?
It was a sound we have come to fear.
 
The sound it was growing and getting much bolder
It was a sick baby boy looking for a shoulder.
The night was long and sleep was not
As we comforted and entertained a boy full of snot.
 
The morning brought excitement times two -
With the tree and the parade there was lots to do.
The kids helped to decorate everything they could see
and one even decided a kolache belonged on the tree.
 
Once Santa appeared in New York City
we finished our chores and said bye to the kitty.
Fried turkeys with GGB was the plan for the day
And as a bonus there were cousin there with whom to play!
 
Once home kids were bathed and ready for bed
Hugs were given and prayers were said.
Now Daddy is shopping, the kids are asleep.
Mommy’s online looking for deals that are cheap.
 
Our lives may be busy and crazy
And often we wish to just plain be lazy
But we are blessed and thankful to have each other.
And I am thrilled with the family in which I am mother.
 
So as the day comes to an end and heads out of sight
 
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Happy Thanksgiving to all -
And to all a good night!

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Snow?!?

There was a Christmas festival/carnival/thing last weekend in our area. They’d advertised SNOW and Caitlin was SO excited. She saw dust in the sunlight the other day and tried to convince me it was snowing. The kid is obsessed with snow this year!

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Honestly the"snow" was sad even by Florida standards. Caitlin didn’t complain, though one five minute turn in the slushy ice was enough for her!

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There was an attempt at making a teeny tiny snowman, but the other children knocked him down.

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I love all the beach toys they had for the kids to use. I recognize some of them from the clearance bin at Target.

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I’ve heard it could be "snowing" again at a tree lighting on Friday. We *might* try again!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Halloween at Mommy’s School

Our school Halloween Carnival was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy. It actually suited me. I was trying to figure out how I was going to handle taking both kids by myself while the Irishman and his parents were on their cruise. Instead it became part of Caitlin’s birthday weekend celebrations!

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We’d planned to make it a family event, but Sean had tubes put in his ears the day before and we were afraid it would be too loud and late for him. Caitlin didn’t mind a special night for just the two of us. She LOVES coming to Mommy’ school.

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(Side note: Miss Lyndsay also works at the same school. After swim lessons a couple of weeks back she jokingly asked that I please tell my daughter that it is Miss Lyndsay’s school, too. It seems she told Caitlin she heard she’d been at her school earlier in the day, and Caitlin said,” NO! MOMMY’S school!”)

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The Spooky Fishing was a BIG hit. She’d have stayed there all night!

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The mini golf was a little too hard for her, but she tried it anyway. I didn’t get a picture of the duck pond or the pig races. She loved all the little games!
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Her little bag was full of goodies by the end of the night!

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Caitlin wasn’t quite ready for Halloween to be over on the 31st. It was nice to have one last chance to dress up and have fun!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sunday Funnies

This picture is from two weeks ago. Nana and Granda were talking with the Irish nun and the kids were having a blast looking around the from of the church after Mass.

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This week was the food drive. We made a point of carrying the food over and letting Caitlin see them load it on the truck. She was a little concerned that we were giving away her beloved mac and cheese, but we convinced her that we could get more.

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On the way back to the car an older lady stopped us and told us our children are beautiful. She continued to tell us that she has SIX grandsons. She was holding her hands above her heads to indicate that they are all older and quite tall.

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Caitlin didn’t skip a beat and replied,

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“I just have two cats.”

I love that kid!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Turtles and Playground and Horsies.

If you ask Caitlin what she did on her birthday, she will tell you turtles and playground and horsies.
After lunch we headed to the nature center.

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This turtle is in the “hospital.” Her name is Cindy and she is recovering from a shark attack.

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Each of these baskets holds a baby turtle.

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This one is a little blurry, but you can see the shark and the sting ray.

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Of course there is always time to play!

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After that we headed to the park for the carousel. Caitlin tried the horse, but it went too fast for her. The bench was much safer!

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Granda treated the kids to ice cream.

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At home we had cake and sang happy birthday. I had a Mommy Birthday Cake fail, but I’m not ready to talk about that yet!
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They were both WORN OUT after the day we had!

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It really was a great day!