Her name was Lola

Party pictures of Jim, Tim and the Four Trollups

100th Post

Where does the time go??? I started this thing in 2006 because I knew that I wanted to write things down about what the little buggahs were doing, mostly to remind me as time went by but also I want them to read this when they get older to remember what they did as kids. I remember bits and pieces from my childhood but this should be a good diary for them to refresh their memories.
Alot has happened since blog #1 and most things have been included in the blog. Jimmy, Laura, Catherine and Jack are our lives and we couldn't imagine life without them, any of them. When we think back to life pre-kids we remember what it was like to go where you want, when you want and do what you want. We gave that up but so far the upside is much better. At night when I go to kiss the kids before I go to sleep and they are sleeping I could sit and watch them all night. Notice how I say at night while they are sleeping.......getting them to sleep can be WWIII. They are worth every bit of chaos that we have to go through.
I hope to keep up with the blog because I actually enjoy doing it. This month, June 2008, I bought myself a new camera and have taken more pictures than any other month, excluding the month Jimmy was born. I dont think I could ever touch that number. Last night James slept over Zach's house and he went to the beach today with Zach also. Lyn and I went to a graduation party and didnt get to see him until about 8:30PM when we got home. I missed the little buggah. Its Catherines time to get the alone time with Daddy, I dont know where to bring her this time. I'm sure we'll think of something. All the kids love having Zach come over

We have instituted the "naughty chair" which is actually the base of the fireplace for the kids when they are bad. Today, Catherine was out back with Nana and came to me in the front yard and told me that she had to go to the naughty chair. I dont know what it was she did but I think it lost its effectiveness if they are requesting to go inside and sit on it. I should have known that Nanny is just a TV show. I do know they own me.
The water slide was put up for the summer. There was also the CVS special screenhouse that went up in the back yard. It lasted for a good two hours until the monsoon came and tilted it sideways. It rocked the moorings but it still leans. If you look at it, it seems as if it belongs with the tape covering the zippers and the bent chairs. Its so hard to accept that WE are the people from that side of the tracks.
Catherine went on the water slide which was a big thing because last year she wouldnt go down the slide. Jack just looks at it with big eyes and wants to join everyone going down. He just has no fear. He's exhausting. Big Bill just laughs all the time when the kids act up a bit and tells everyone who they take after.
Maura and Umple Eddie came over today for a luncheon feast. We put Eddie to work once again. The aches and pains o my.

Red Sox with James

He just kept eating and eating.

He ate real well. Jimmy was in sports camp all day and he and I went to the Red Sox tonight. It was POURING when we left home. He must have really worked up an appetite today because he ate tons during the game.

He did this before but tonight after we got off the T, there was a guy yelling out "anyone need tickets, tickets here", and the guy had some tickets in his hand. Jimmy said "what a nice man he is, giving tickets like that". He knows enough about baseball, I dont want to overload him with definitions of what a scalper is.

The trolley was a little crowded.

The Patriotic Children

For one of those spontaneous moments: We had gone to Michaels tonight to get some frames for the diploma's and such. Immediately I had to return to the store and when I got to the parking lot Lyn realized that Jack had switched one of her purchases so she had to return inside to do an exchange too. The Red Sox had a rain delay and the game was about to start as the Star Spangled Banner began on the radio. Among the songs that we belt out on a regular basis is the national anthem and I never realized that all four of them know all the words. They all were singing at the top of their lungs. The best was listening to Jack scream out the words at the appropriate time. I laughed my buns off. I have alot of work to do on the pitch and tone because, again, they are not blessed with my musical talents.

James and I are again scheduled to go to Fenway tomorrow night. We got the tickets from Steve for my graduation. When I got the word that I had the tickets I was on the front lawn talking with Lyn and Eileen and it was starting to rain. Jimmy was about twenty five feet away playing pop ups with himself. I have turned blue in the face yelling his name sometimes trying to get him to listen to me or to do something and its as if he is deaf. Its enought to drive me crazy. As soon as we mentioned the words about Red Sox tickets I looked over to him, twenty five feet away, and I see this little buggah with a sideward glance and a huge grin. This, of course, he hears. He loves the Sox.

Swearing In

We started on the train. A little early by my standards but we got there in time. Any time these two get together you can count on a little bit of trouble.

The whole gang outside the Great Hall. This is the official register that I got to sign my name in. It really was quite an honor.
The day was all it was cracked up to be. Graduation from law school was nice but this day is really the day that I was looking forward to. We got into the hall at Fanuel Hall and all I could do was stare at the walls, the statues, the painting and feel the history. This was the same place that my mother stood in sixty eight years ago as she competed in the State Spelling bee. As I sat down I sucked that all in and couldnt help but get choked up a bunch of times.
Lyn went up on stage with me to present me with my bar certification. The protocol was for her to recieve the citation from the clerk of courts and then present it to me. She got it and I got a little teary eyed, not bad though, and we walked over to the photo-op area without her ever presenting it to me. We had a little chuckle about that slight.
After the ceremony we headed over to Durgin Park for a great lunch.

Checking in with my arm charm.

They told us we could only have four guests but I studied law, not math.
I guess someone let it slip that these two ladies were the first females to be married (same sex couple) in Massachusetts. They recieved a couple of second looks. I dont know who that someone was.

One time we all made a trip to DC to see JoJo. I think it was for her graduation. When the plane landed in Boston Marion was standing behind me in the aisle and some of the Aunts were standing behind her waiting to exit the plane. The lights flickered on the plane as we were exiting and not missing a beat I yelled out "who grabbed my ass"? I looked back to embarass Marion in front of the whole plane but the joke was on me, without my knowledge she had stopped and allowed a nun to come into the aisle, directly behind me. That day I learned there is nowhere to hide on an airplane.

Updates

June was a big month for Jimmy and Laura. There was baseball, T-ball, irish step, ballet, hockey, soccer and swimming. It's amazing that they still give us a hard time about going to bed on time. We actually cut bedtime from 8pm to 7:30pm but they beat us up over it. Its usually me they beat though.

Jimmy and Laura had their last games of the season this weekend. Laura has turned into quite an athlete and swimmer too. Jimmy has impressed with his baseball prowess. He wanted to bat lefty for one at bat this year so I let him get up lefty the last game of the year. He hit a nubber to third base for a single. Last year that was all we hoped for, this year he is hitting it on a fly to the outfield on a regular basis. It was a great year and we got to meet a whole bunch of good kids and parents. I hope to coach again next year at the next level but who knows. Jimmy had been practicing the Star spangled banner so tonight I took a video of him singing it. I talked to the announcer at the Spinners game about the tryouts and he told me to send him a tape. Poor Jimmy, I think he got his singing voice from Lyn's side and wasnt lucky enough to sing like Daddy.
Jack absolutely loves his big brother. He starts the baseball chant "extra, extra read all about it Jimmy's gonna crush it no doubt about it". He went to Jacob's game with Kara and was chanting "lets go Jacob let go".
At night before he goes to sleep I sing him Hey Jude. He now sings along with me when I sing it to him and he knows that it is time to go to sleep. He doesnt even give me a hard time about it. He has gotten over his fear of Kara and now he loves her like the other kids do. He even goes up to Umple Eddie too and laughs with him.
Catherine is just itching to get into an organized sport like her siblings. She is getting to be such a good girl and helps out the best she can. She loves to change her dresses all the time and look pretty. She also loves riding her bike outside and she's sort of a daredevil with cuts and scrapes all over her. She's a snuggler and loves to sit next to daddy and mommy with kisses.
Jack wants us to hit the ball to the bat so he can throw the bat down and run run run......

Who rides these anymore??

Word from Ohio, The wicked witch of the west is walking. Kansas lost its bike. JoJo has adopted it.

J-Lo

When my brother Patrick and I were kids we used to spend hours and hours in the back yard throwing the baseball pretending to be Red Sox pitchers and using their pitching motion. I could still imitate many different pitchers of the 70's like Luis Tiant and even obscure pitchers like Rick Wise and Jim Willowby. Yesterday, after school and before Laura's game, I was out on the front lawn with Jimmy and he was pitching and I was catching. I was telling him to throw the ball with a straight motion, over the top so not to strain his arm. He tells me he's Papelbon while he's throwing. That is fine because its about the way I want him to throw. Sometimes he gets a little nutty and I tell him to throw like Jimmy throws.. .Well, he starts throwing submarine style with his arm flailing to the right side in a sideward motion. I asked him...what are you doing? He says, "I'm Jennifer Lopez"............I believe he meant Javier Lopez, a pitcher for the Red Sox.

Another Red Sox game

I'm doing good this year. Aunt Jo and I attended the Red Sox game last night. We met up with her friend Pat and his daughter. Again, great seats looking right at that wonderful green monster. I noticed during the night when certain things would happen, I'd immediately think of how Jimmy would react to it. Varitek hit a homer and Jacoby stole a base and Manny didn't hustle out a force out, he loves those things.
Woke up this morning with the little buggahs all surrounding me again in bed. Jack came in first so I hid under the sheets. He wasnt sure but he kept yelling "Dayday dayday" until I emerged. Catherine came next followed by James and Laura.
We played baseball on the front lawn before Jimmy's bus. I ran too late so I told Jimmy I would drive him to school so he could pitch strikes to me. Laura and Catherine joined in. Jack was running around in his diaper on the lawn till Lyn came out and joined us all giving the poor buggah some pants.

Irish Feis and later

Laura and Emily had a feis today. I think Laura was a little nervous at first but she shook it off and did a great job. The place is crazy busy. I was taking pictures of all the fathers in the stands and got a few funny pics. One guy I caught as his head was going down for the snooze.

Maura was having fun.

Afterwards we all headed home and ran around in the sprinkler. In between Jimmy had a baseball game. It was very hot. The other coach asked if we could only go four innings. I told him they were being wimpy but was happy he asked.



Jack doesnt like being bothered while he's driving.

I got to wear a dress

The ceremony was pretty good and didnt last all too long. Lyn, Eddie, Aunt Jo, Marion and Big Bill all came to cheer me on. I remember a couple of times being in the living room reading while watching football and Eddie telling me that i was stressing him out. The whole thing was a long time coming. When I began four years ago I really did not think that I was going to graduate, never mind pass a bar. Thats not being modest, its being truthful. It was a good trip, now I wonder what I'll do now.

I think i've been sabotaged, where are the pictures of Aunt Jo?????

After the graduation we went and had a couple of beers at Kelly's.

misc. pictures including soccer

Jimmy and his Tiger uniform

Laura has surprised me this year with how much she likes soccer. She is very good at it and she gets to play with a girl from her T-Ball team. She especially likes playing in the playground after the games. I get tired just watching her. She loves the monkey bars but she has to have someone standing under her while she goes from one rung to the next.

Jack is a bundle of energy. His favorite thing to do is go outside. We have to keep a good eye on him because as soon as someone goes to put their shoes on he grabs his shoes and heads outside. He still likes to watch Annie and the Mickie mouse clubhouse. When the theme song comes on the TV gets cranked up so they can all sing and dance. They do the same thing for any Hannah Montana song.

This is Laura and Catherine from Catherine's graduation. They get along great and Laura likes to help Catherine doing anything. Here, they are singing a "smelly" song to each other.

There were just a couple extra pics from this month that are too beautiful to hide in the hard drive

Graduation Days

Laura graduated from Pre-K yesterday and led all the little monsters in song. She is looking forward to Kindergarten.

Catherine had her graduation today. She wasnt doing too good when Daddy dropped her off but Laura went and sat with her and everything was okay from there. Nana showed up for graduation day. Catherine is doing great on the potty, like a big girl now.

They fed us well too!!

Eddie helps out

UMple Eddie came over to help out. No one ever told him there was labor involved.

all HER children