Jackie go faster, faster

Jack has for so long ridden his Radio Flyer bike all around the neighborhood while all the kids have used their bikes. While he was riding that bike he wouldnt use the pedals. Instead, he would just use his feet on the pavement and it was like watching him run while he was on that bike. Everyone including Mr Ring would try to no avail. One day, he climbed on board Catherine's bike with the training wheels and just started taking off down the street in the big kids bike. He just didnt start slowly. He was obsessed with the speed of the thing. He's a daredevil thats what he is. They have to take turns on the Dora bike until I can get him some training wheels on the other bike.

There has been a new bike trail put in nearby. It doesnt open up until next week, or so we found out today when Jimmy and I went to try it out today. There was a sign at the entrance that said "no trespassing" when we got there. When we got to it Jimmy asked me what the sign meant. I told him that it was in French so i didnt understand it. We happened to find a way in and off we rode for a nice three or four mile ride. I spent so much time keeping an eye on him that I wiped out and crashed into the side walls. Got a good scrape from that one. Up until now, I was kind of leery about letting Jimmy ride all by himself around the neighborhood. He had asked Lyn yesterday to let him ride to Roger's house and back. She told him to go ahead and ride the half mile around the neighborhood. He questioned whether I would let him do it but she told him to do it anyway. I happened to come home as he was doing so. Scared the hell out of me. I let him do it for about five or six times. There is a tough corner on the street that I'm concerned about. The other kids have been doing it for a while so I suppose its time for him to try. I had to stop him at one point because I just couldnt handle it no more. I saw Joanne at one point as she was heading back to her house from her walk with buddy the dog and I just had to tell her that it was tough to let go. The question is...When do we let go??? eeee gads I say. Its a learning process and i'm still in the infancy of it.

Theresa and Bill showed up tonight at the baseball game. Jimmy loves to have people come to see him play. His team got wiped out tonight. They are in an older kids tournament so the team they played were all nine and ten year olds tonight. All in all, they did pretty good considering.

Catherine, or Tappin as Jack calls her, is still so excited about her new hobby of Irish step dancing. Laura looked like an old pro dancing her tap tap one two three irish step dance She cracks me up all the time. If you listen to the video Catherine is complaining that the bike was her christmas gift and she wants to ride it. She then says "what you think I am, a loser'. I have no idea where she got that one.

Laura and i had a good laugh tonight when I put her to bed and gave her a hug and kiss. It went okay except when i went to give her a big kiss on the cheek I ended up kissing my arm. We both cracked up laughing. She is growing up so fast. She is very responsible in her own little way. Lyn has her clean her room every morning and she does so willingly. She usually does a great job of it. Well, Lyn went to clean out her closet the other day and realized where all the clutter was going. Laura would take the things off the floor in her room and toss them in the corner of her closet and under or on the side of her bed. I guess its the old 'out of sight, out of mind' thing.

We had a meltdown last night when we got some Happy Meals from McDonalds and they gave Catherine a nugget meal instead of her favorite Hamburger. Of course we had to go back and all was better. Catherine is serious about her food. The other night we went out to eat with Umple Eddie and she ate all the things on my salad that I wasnt too fond of. Speaking of salads, the garden is really starting to take shape. We are seeing lettuce,peppers, zuccini's and tomatoes coming out to say hello. It would be a miracle if these things make it to the table.

I went to go see how much the kids have grown since March. We have a place in Jimmy's room on the door frame where we make marks on how tall the kids are. Jimmy and Laura have shot up like crazy just in the last couple of months. Its scary. I always hear people say to enjoy these times when they are this age because you'll miss it later. I think we are mindful of that. We try to keep them busy but I truly believe the most fun is had when we are just doing the normal things that come around on a daily basis. Things like bike riding or just hanging out in the yard and talking to the Rings or playing on the swingset out back. I can still threaten Jimmy with Santa Claus but I dont know how long thats going to last. If he was like me it would go to the fifth grade. We are going to StoryLand soon and Jimmy is hesitating to go with us because he says its too boring. He does say that alot but always has a good time when he goes. He usually pulls this when we are going to see Black Gordon. He goes, of course, and enjoys it still. The others still get excited to go anywhere. I think we could have more.

I was sitting on the couch the other day with Jack asleep on my lap. The cell phone rang and while I was talking I happened to look out at the tree in the front of the house. It was raining so the leaves were pulled down somewhat. I truly believe that i saw Obama's face in our white birch tree. I grabbed the camera of course. Patrick thinks it looks more like Stan Laurel. I'm just glad its not an image of Mary. Then you could imagine all the freaks that would show up.

Ramblings and more

Once again my shift has changed and i'm understanding there is no way that we'll catch up with our amount of entries the blog had in 2008. Thats what facebook does to you.
The kids have been SOOO busy. Each one of them has had mega activities going on to keep them busy.
Jimmy has been playing in a Summer baseball league that has him playing right through the summer. We played three games this week and thats because there was a rainout one of the days. He's getting awesome. He pitched twice this week getting the save in one game and suffering the loss in the other. In his second at bat in the big tournament game he hit a shot over the center fielders head. I gasped. He's eight!!! Okay Dad, not too much bias there..but it was a great hit. We've been discussing whether or not he's going to play Fall baseball this year and figuring out how to fit in hockey also. I hope he does them both but we'll just have to deal with it if he cant.
Laura has been in and out of different pools this whole summer. She is such the swimmer. When we went to the beach last week it didnt matter that the water was absolutely freezing, she just jumped right in. Uncle David's pool is spring fed so the water is the temperature of the ground. This means that its usually pretty cold. She is not slowed by this in any way. Such an athlete that kid.
Now Catherine had a huge, huge day today. After much anticipation she finally entered the world of Irish Step Dance. She was so, so, so cute all week long anticipating this dance camp. I got to tell her the other day that Maura was having the camp and she was invited. I've got to find a way to be able to calm these kids, or distract them when they get so excited about these things. Jimmy has been like this lately with his baseball games too. Now after the dance class she was in heaven. We got to see the last dance they were doing before they packed up. Laura does pretty darn well and Catherine had learned just fine. She was looking all around copying what the other girls were doing. Maura is the new Elvis around the girls. What a thrill to watch Catherine tonight though. She is a kid you could just sit and watch all night long. She's so happy, content, talkative. She's hard to stick an adjective to but you just want to hug the heck out of her.
Now Jackie...oh that jackie. He's a cute one. what a personality on this kid. He holds nothing back and lets everyone know what he's thinking and feeling. He's so fun to be around. I feel bad because we really havent gotten to play enough baseball together but i'm sure that will come. I'm thinking of bringing him and his mommy to the movies soon. He has to have the alone day like the rest of them. I keep forgetting that he's two.
We are loving the summer once again and once again it is going by like lightning. Love those smiles though.

Summer Day at the Beach

We thought it was a good idea, after Jimmy suggested it, to go to the beach on Sunday. Its always tough to pack it all up and then fight the traffic riding through the beach but we actually did okay by going the long way around to Rye Beach.
I had to keep an eye on Jimmy and Laura because they liked to go out into the water the furthest and dive into the waves as they crash. Of course the water was freezing but that does not deter them at all. Catherine wasnt so daring and Jack wanted nothing at all to do with the cold water. He didnt mind me carrying him into the water but when the water would rush towards his feet he would run like crazy..as if someone was chasing after him.
After we left the beach we ended up going over NeeNee's house for some barbeque. We missed most of the crowd but still got to see penny, ed, thresa and big bill.
It was a long day but very fun family Sunday.

Girls day with the Spins

It was the girls turn to get to the baseball yahd with daddy and mommy. They had both gone to aunt chrissy's house for some swimming before the game. Dana brought over the new babe, and she certainly was a babe.
At the game, the girls were looking forward to having some cotton candy all day. Of course they only took about two or three bites out of it but its what they had been waiting for. They also ended up on the field doing the chicken dance in the middle of the eighth. My little baby girls looked awesome up there doing their little dance. They were so happy all night.
Danny and Katie were also there with the kids down the left field line. Katie had to wait in line for a drawing of the kids for most of the game. He has the same lineup of kids as we do, but he did it first.
The girls were so cute the whole night and we could just sit and listen to that Catherine talk all night long. Its funny how they relate what they did with what they ate. You could bring them to see the All star game and if you ask them how it was they'd tell you about the hot dog they had. Here, they were again thrilled about the chicken dance.
Umple called me early this morning and told me that his friend Tommy asked him if Jimmy would like to see the Stanley Cup trophy. Jimmy was so excited when he figured out what it was. For most people its a once in a lifetime thing. Tommy had the trophy over his house by the pool. I wasnt able to get out to see it but I am assured there were plenty of pictures taken. Lyn and Umple Eddie posed with it too.
Jimmy has made quite an impression on Tommy the times that he has gone to the Bruins games with him and the ump and me. He loves his sports and is such an avid fan...and a good kid. Its tough not to like him. I was so excited that Jimmy got to see that trophy. Its one of those things you never forget, especially with his love of hockey.

Jed Lowrie

Sunday Family Day

Thankfully, Sundays have been a family day for some time now. Usually, it involves a trip to Black Gordon and then we go from there or end up there. Many times through the past years GF would know just to stop by the trains and more often then not we would be there. We have shared some pretty awesome time doing basically nothing but climbing on top of the stairs of the black engine with a tender. The trolley runs directly behind it and I bet the conductor for the trolley cringes when we come along...probably not because there usually is not alot of company on Sundays.
This past Sunday after a particularly busy week we ended up doing what we do best; heading out to Black Gordon and then going from there. This Sunday meant for us to go crashing into the breakfast trailer, eating pancakes (with ketchup for Catherine) and then heading out to start the day. It ended up being a 8-9 hour day just going from here to there. We made an unscheduled stop at Umple Eddie's house where the kids tore apart Eddies kitchen and searched around for all the junk food they could eat. The red sox were on Eddies huge television and Uncle Bobby and aunt Paula had some hot dogs already cooking on the grill so the kids were very happy. Those two girls are such snoops. Laura and Catherine were off snooping all over the house. Had to keep an eye on them. I remember a couple of years ago we were over Aunt MaryEllen's house and Laura asked her if she could go see her bedroom. She did end up showing her. Anyway, we stuck around Eddies for a little while and then decided to go to Aunt Chrissy's house for some pool fun. Uncle David broke out the Steak tips, burgers and dogs. We were joined by other members of the family always too numerous to mention. Ump and Paula joined us over the pool and both went swimming. The pool is very cold but Paula's nickname is the Polar bear so she didnt seem to mind swimming in the freezing cold. I almost forgot that Jack went into the pool and was letting Paula and Eddie carry him around the shallow end. It was good to see him let Paula take him. The kids really like Ump's family.
By the end of the day we only forgot three pairs of shoes. Thankfully, jackie brought them to the house so we could minimize the drama.
All day long I felt so uncomfortable because we didnt bring my friend Canon with me.

A day out with Thomas

What a day trip to Thomas!! A 12:15pm date with the little blue train in N. Conway. The kids were all packed into the hill-billy minivan and off we went. For some reason the drive seemed to be so further away then it actually was. Jack didnt quite understand where it was we were going but he knew there was something exciting happening.

Fourth of July weekend

MY BABY WALKS ON WATER

Here, all the kids have a plate of whipped cream over a piece of bubble gum. The first kid to blow a bubble wins. Between the start and the finish the kids tend to get a little messy.

Uncle David keeping the hunger pains away.

I think Jacob won the bubble contest.

Big big Fourth of July weekend. It all started Friday night when we went to aunt chrissy's house for pizza. That was the first time this year the kids made it to the pool. Aunt chrissy is so nice. Jimmy and Laura splash all over the place, Catherine prefers the side kids pool and Jack tends to enjoy just walking around the edge enough to give us heart pains. We have a spiderman outfit that he wears and its a flotation device. He fights like hell putting it on but he looks so damn cute in it. Laura is simply unbelievable in the pool. We have got to get her in some lessons, its in her genes to be a great swimmer...not me...jojo.

Laura had kept on pestering me about the Saturday morning road race so I gave in and told her that I would run it with her. This did not go over well with the bride. Laura was all excited and we were(did I say we) were all set and ready to run. Wisely, Kara enticed Laura to skip the road race with promises of a manicure and pedicure. I must admit, I was relieved.

Jim Jim was awesome running the road race with Jamie and Jacob again. Some two ton sally plopped herself in the road off the sidewalk so it made it hard for us to see Jimmy when he was approaching. I kindly asked her to step in and she was a bit offended...

Anyway, we saw Mrs Ring blasting by us also. All in all, it was a great parade. After we all met at Aunt Chrissy's for 80 lobsters and more barbeque. There were games for the kids, swimming and plenty of food....not to mention aunt margies whoopie pies. Unfortunately, I had to go to work at 6pm.

I had to work at the cinema that night until 3am. While there they were taking down this huge banner of an upcoming movie. I was able to fold the sucker up and put it in my car. The next morning we were able to put the banner to good use and have the kiddo's drawing pictures on it. Some of Laura's drawings were spectacular. I'm thinking sometimes i'm a little prejudiced.

Sack race....I"m thinking I saw Jimmy cheat here.

We did a version of Spongebob Squarepants prior to the start of the games.

Raquel and Cole

Poor Laura, she doesnt look happy but she was just cold....and very happy.

Random June pics

DONT FORGET TO GO TO MY MAY 25 POST-HER NAME WAS LOLA....I forgot that I never posted it........

Jimmy loved the EspnZone. We spent hours bowling, playing football, basketball, video games, shooting hockey and on and on it went. While we went into the inner harbor Jimmy was on the front (bow) of our little paddle boat.

Jimmy's first plane ride. He was so cool about it.

We ended up in the front row.

Played hockey at the ESPN zone.

Spent the first day in the inner harbor with a peddle boat until Eddie found an electric boat. Then we relaxed the second day.

Jim Jim had an awesome year in baseball.

He's so fun to hang with

Eddie just couldnt stand the leaves and branches on the roof and in the gutter.

My babies beating me in arcade games again.

And here is the tasty Fathers day cake that all four of them made for me. mmmm..chocolate~