Green stripe on Yellow belt

James has earned a new belt in Tae Kwon Do. He did a little bit of sparring too. What I love the most about watching him here is the smile rarely leaves his face. Clayton and William were also going for belt upgrades. I got to hold the piece of wood for William to smash.

Mommy, Aunt Jo, Nana and Doe all came to enjoy the festivities. The celebration was at Friendly's where Catherine ate all my clam chowder and made quick work of her ice cream cone.

Their world today

James He is still keeping the baseball game alive. He takes a roster of all players that will be playing in his game in April. He saw Patrick keeping the scorebook at one of David's games so now Jimmy likes to set up a roster and where everyone will be playing. He asks everyong what position they want to play. Just about every morning before he goes to school we take the wiffle ball out onto the street and play catch. He pretends that we are turning double plays or that he is pitching and has to cover first. He was kind of mad when some leaves covered first base (sewer drain). The cap in the middle of the street is second base.
The Bruins have started though and last night he was up late sneaking peeks into the action.
Laura: Laura is still talking about our plans to go back to NYC next year. She has invited a bunch of girls from school to come with us as well as Erin and Emily and Catherine. She sees Jimmy doing his homework all the time so she has been practicing her letters and copying words that Daddy and Mommy write down for her. She is in Irish Step on Monday nights and she likes it alot. She also does dance on Tuesdays. She is getting taller and thankfully her hair is growing longer. She was getting a little jealous of Emily because of Emily's long hair. Laura has dads curly hair.
Catherine: Still a terror but a cute one. Her recent amusement was to stuff the bathroom sink with toilet paper and we know where the water went. She has been sleeping later thankfully but still manages to come into the bed in the morning. Last night she kept coming out of her bed until I told her that Biddy Baby misses her when she leaves her in the bed. It actually worked. either that or she wanted me to believe it worked. Laura still has some ear issues. I'm surprised the neighbors havent called DSS yet. There is quite a scene when the ear drops go in. She's got a good heart. She always wants to do something for you. If I were a beer guzzler, she would be the one i'd yell to to get me a beer out of the fridge.
Jack: Jack is still smiling away. He's not walking yet. I love it when I come home at night and he is flying across the room on his hands and knees. He screams out. The other day he was on my lap while I yelled for Jimmy to do something. Jack repeated after me but with just a loud yell as if he was saying the same thing to Jimmy. He smiles so much reminding me of how Jimmy was at that age. He's learning the itsy bitsy spider and loves playing games, clapping hands and giving me five. Poor buggah is having some teething problems but mommy's magic potion works wonders.

We got professional pictures taken last week. I wasnt able to attend the shoot (whew) but I heard they went well (not really). I dont think there was a group photo. The lady at the studio felt bad for Lyn so I think we got some free.

First Hockey Game Ever !!

James started his hockey career on Sunday after about 2 years of skating practices. He doesnt skate that fast but he has a lot of fun. I watched him from across the ice and he was gliding around pretty good... for him. All of a sudden I see his number 14 lurking about five feet from the crease, the puck gets shot towards him, he swats at it.....Gooooooal!! He scored his first ever goal in his first ever game. So I wouldnt be an obnoxious parent I had to keep it all in, but oh my god. I yelled out to Lyn (keeping my voice down) "he scored, he scored". We were around other parents or I would have danced. His team ended up winning 7-1.

Halloween night 2007 style

The little buggahs were very cute and well behaved. We trick or treated with Mike, Tracy, Clayton and William. Jack stayed home with Nana and Doe because he got a little cranky. We walked over 2 miles and banged at tons of doors. Jimmy kept walking inside peoples houses when he got to the door. I dressed as a sumo wrestler, Jack was Mickey Mouse, Jimmy was Big Papi (after we bought him a costume), Laura was an angel and Catherine was Minnie Mouse.

Catherine was so cute. This was really her first halloween going door to door so she just thought this was great. They got so much candy and I just know I"m gonna eat most of it.

After we got home Steve and Margo came over with Ada and Max. Didnt get any pictures of them this time though. I think i have some from Kara's party.

The kids crashed after fighting it for a while. Catherine was so tired she was yelling at me telling me it was no fair for no particular reason. I still dont know whats not fair but she was smiling and kissing me minutes later. She is so beautiful but why do I think that she's gonna be the one that makes me lose all my hair.

Halloween week

This week has become a national holiday in this household.the worlds worst carved pumpkin. I usually hold that honor on a yearly basis

We are the Champions !!!

It was a gametime decision but I chose to wake Jimmy up for the 9th. Even though it was around midnight, the boiler blew out and I was dogged tired and cold I woke the little buggah up. He told me before he went to bed to wake him up if the red sox are winning in the ninth. Usually that is followed by a 'yeah sure' type of answer. Here, he truly is an ardent fan and loves his Red Sox. He was sooooooo excited when they won. It took him a good five to ten minutes to realize what was going on after he woke up. First, he was mad at me because he said I didnt wake him up for the Red Sox, then I had to explain to him that this was live. He shook out of it. Lyn was all hyped up with him. She wondered why I wasnt. 2004 took all the pressure off. We called Aunt Jo who was wide awake...i think...but she spoke with Jimmy. Or rather Jimmy explained to her the situation going on so that she could understand. He's so funny about his baseball. We were playing baseball in the yard yesterday and he started with that whole hand is part of the bat thing. He gets a rule and runs with it.
Catherine came into the bed this morning and just kept getting into my face saying 'hi daddy, hi daddy, hi daddy.' She requests that i trip for her every morning on the way to my car. I have to trip four or five times. Its a funny look back from the car seeing little hands waving to me as I leave. Pretty soon Jack will be joining them. He sang Sweet Caroline with me this morning. he says bop bop bop and so good so good. We'll be like the Brady Bunch.

Halloween Party over the cousins

Catherine was searching for the bubble gum

Cute arent I ?

AMERICAN GIRL DOLL CAFE NYC

The day finally came for the trip to NYC with Laura. We woke up a little earlier than usual and off we were to South Station. The trip by train wasnt really that bad. The train got to NYC at about 12:30pm. I wanted to walk around a little bit but Laura's mind was made up that she wanted to go to the Doll store. The place was huge. There was at least four floors of stores, hair salon (yes, we gave Nikki a hair cut) and Photo studio (check). We got to see an awesome show at the theatre they had inside. Laura was so excited the whole day. Uncle Eddie had given Laura a digital camera for her birthday so she was going up to strange people and taking their pictures. We dropped Nikki off at the hair salon and they had a 45 minute wait for an appointment. After carefully chosing the hair style I got her to agree with me to go to Rockefeller center for lunch. We were just looking for a hot dog or something quick from a cart vendor. We walked into the area where people were ice skating and saw that there was a pretty good size line to get into the Rockefeller cafe. Somehow we managed to get a table outside rinkside. It was awesome.
Back to the salon Laura got to watch Nikea style Nikki's hair. They do a good job pampering the little girls. After this we went into the theater for a live show with teenage American girls.We had to give a little fib and tell the ladies that Laura was turning 6 instead of 5. Laura was in on the conspiracy with me. For some reason you have to be six to get in and when the lady asked Laura how old she was she said 5 (luckily). She said she cant come in to see the show and thankfully Laura had a birthday sticker on her shirt and I told the lady she turned 6 tomorrow. That, would have been disastrous. tragedy avoided.T
The dinner at the Cafe was great. Laura had spaghetti and meatballs. They have side seats for the doll, not only that they have doll holders next to the toilet (picture taken). I'm sure I looked a little strange going into the bathroom with a camera but how many places have holders that allow you to suspend your doll on the wall.
By far one of the highlights of Laura's day was the taxi cab rides. After we left the cafe we just couldnt find a taxi. There I was in front of the Rockefeller center and Laura starts toodling with her hand yelling at taxi's to stop. They were all full. where do all these people come from? I'm also going to bring some Right Guard next trip to NYC because those cabbies need it.
On the train ride home, the hyper kid just crashed all of a sudden. Doe picked us up a little after midnight to complete a whirlwind day.

Uncle Patricks house

Jackie and Suzie come home for a visit.

Laura had quite a birthday weekend, This cake she shared with Parker.

Pumpkin Pickin

Rolling out to Parlee for the pumpkin picking. The apple trees are all bare so that will be for another day. We took a hayride all arond the farm.

Laura's Birthday Party

THE AMERICAN GIRL DOLL
HAS ARRIVED !!!!!











SMILES ALL AROUND

Happy October

Jack with Grammy Franny on his birthday
Already cursing the Damn Red Sox
h Laura loves school

I forgot I had some photos of Jacks birthday party..of which we had two.

Sunday at the Maze

We spent Sunday at the cornfield maze. Jimmy's Cub scout group had a trip to the corn stock maze. We got lost and then we got lost again. Catherine and Jack stayed home with Nana and Doe. While we were in the large maze, Laura, of course, just had to go to the bathroom. there are portable potties placed in the maze but good luck finding them. Lyn, Jimmy and some other scouts stayed at a play area while Laura and I looked for the potties. Well, we found the potties but lost our way. This was about 2 hours into the maze. What we found was the exit. It was pretty cool for Laura to tell the boys she beat them out. A fun time was had by all.
Speaking of Laura, plans are all set for next sunday's trip to New York City. It will just be the two of us navigating around the streets of Manhattan. She has no idea about it. I told her that we are going somewhere but she thinks we are going to Fenway Park. Nana is going to give her the American girl doll this weekend before we go.
Saturday night we went to the Devils hockey game. It was a school outing so Jimmy was like the mayor of the stadium. He ran off with his bud Zachary to see the players hoping that they would give him a stick. no dice. I wanted the 61 inch TV they gave away but some fruit beat me to it. Again, poor Catherine and Jack were stuck at home. Maybe one of these times they'll leave me at home.
My last semester is halfway over, 3 of the subjects down and 3 to go. I just downloaded the application for the bar exam. Its a scary thought. What will I do with myself after I pass??? Maybe more kids....but that ship has sailed.

Weekend Wedding

Off to a water park hotel for a weekend wedding of.....some of Lyn's cousins. She only has a couple (thousand) of them. The two youngest stayed with Aunt Jo at our house and we took Jimmy and Laura to the hotel with us. Big Meghan babysat them. From the time we got to the hotel to the time Meggie had to leave, Jimmy must have ate so much junk food its no wonder he puked. We brought the blow up mattress and the kids ended up sleeping on Nana's floor in her room. By the time midnight hit we staggered (an exhausted stagger, not drunken) back to the room and passed out. I'm gonna have to get some hair plugs and color so that i at least look younger when i act like an old fart.
One good thing was seeing Strawberry Shortcake. Looking beautiful as ever she is now a college freshman. You better be behaving down there in Florida !!!
Anyway, off to aunt Jo's for a birthday cake for Jack on Sunday. JoJo and Aaron had to leave to catch a flight home to Ohio at 6pm but it was good seeing them too. I missed my little Catherine and Jack and was glad to see them. Jack is looking more and more like Jimmy every day. Especially his smiling and shaking his head saying noooooo....
Reservations are all set for Laura's birthday in New York City. I'm bringing her to the American girl doll restaurant. It is just going to be the two of us and that should be a blast. The things that she says. She told her teacher that I am going to volunteer on her birthday in school and also that I sing and dance and dress like a clown. I'm sure they cant wait. She told the aunts that me and Lyn stand up on the couch and kiss all the time. She is a nut. I am really looking forward to our trip though. I still havent figured out if we are driving, taking the train or flying.
Laura is also signed up to play T-Ball in the Spring. There doesnt appear to be much of an interest there on her part but Big Meghan plays softball so I think this will change. She now does dance, gymnastics and Irish Step dancing, which she loves!! Catherine does gymnastics and Wednesday I get to bring her to the mommy and me class (where I play the role of mommy). I have to add pictures because they grow so fast.

A Red Sox Sunday

Words cannot express how much fun I had with Jimmy on Sunday at the Red Sox game. He was just so damn cute. Although this is the third time we've been to Fenway this year, this was the first time it was just the two of us. We had great seats behind the Twins dugout. All around us were amazed at how much a six year old knew about every single member of the home team, especially about how Manny doesnt hustle (wonder how he heard that one).

We drove to Lechmere and took the green line in, talked to a couple of bums on the train and got crammed on the same trolley on the ride home. I had a death grip on his hand for most of the game when we werent in our seats. The high point of the day was seeing Old Uncle Buck in a yellow Alcohol Compliance Supervisor shirt. I hadnt seen him in about five years and if memory serves me right he was never complying with any alcohol laws at the time. We practiced singing the seventh innings "take me out to the ballgame" song as well as the eighth inning "sweet caroline". He has to be the only six year old who knows every word of a Neil Diamond song. When it comes to 'touching me, TOUCHING YOU', we scream it out at each other.

Two younger chickies sat next to us during the game and were flirting with him. Of course I have to frown upon such actions...but at one point I was holding him and he kept giving me a rasberry on my neck. I finally told him not to do that. He was looking at the gal to my right and said 'I just wanted to kiss you'. I looked at chickie on the right and she said "How do you know I am the kissing bandit?" She thought he was talking to her. Maybe he was.
All I know is that I wish I had a six year old to hang with when I was making my rounds as a single man all those years back.

The red sox didnt win but Varitek hit a home runner and that made Jimmy happy. As the game was ending and we were waiting to leave this lady came up to me and told me that she was watching us the whole game and what a great time she had at the game just watching the two of us. Yeah, that's pretty cool.