Fenway is all wet

Went to Fenway with Aunt Jo, Lyn and Jimmy Friday night. We knew it was going to rain but thought to give it a shot anyway. I told Jim, and I truly believe, that a rainy night at Fenway with no baseball game is better than a night anywhere else. Tons of people stayed and just waited. They finally called the game at 8:40PM. I think they say the makeup game is tomorrow night at 8pm. Ohhh yeah, we'll be there.
Jimmy was intent on making a sign. We are going to use it again tomorrow night. As the rain got heavier and heavier he kept talking aloud about how the rain was letting up and the Red Sox game would be starting soon. At one point he yelled down to the red sox bench and told them to get out there and start. .......still something about that green wall.....

(PHOTO DELETED UPON REQUEST...OOOO VANITY)

Laura playing T-Ball

The awesome T-Ball Dodgers including Laura.

baseball game

I have Laura's pictures coming up soon. Jim Jim loves to catch. He runs to back up every play. No matter what position I put him in he is all over the field. He's automatic with ground balls. In the last two games he's made three spectacular catches. When we were practicing in the snow earlier in the year he would have me throw the ball near the snowbank so he could make diving catches so now I think he waits for the opportunity to dive. One of the catches was a long fly ball. After he caught it all the turkeys were body slamming him all the way to the bench.

Recital

She did the Mash..she did the monster mash...it was a graveyard smash.

Laura did such a great job with the other creatures. It was so funny to see them bouncing all around the stage. Its absolutely crazy during these things. People everywhere. I couldnt stop laughing watching Laura and the other monsters doing the monster mash. She does it with such passion. Emily did the same Monster Mash and Erin was in an earlier dance. All very beautiful girls and they were so happy.

Speaking of Erin, we all got to sing Happy Birthday to her after the recital.  Her Real Birthday is tomorrow night but she loved it just as much.  She's a very fun gal and sang along with us.  A great time was had by all

I Passed !!!

Bye bye bar exam. Got home from Boston about 4pm and the mail was just getting here. I got inside the house, went out to the front lawn in the rain. As I opened the envelope I just sat and stared at my name for a good thirty seconds. When I did turn all I saw was the word congratulations, there were some other words saying that I passed. When I realized the results I just screamed...I mean a very loud scream. After that I started banging on the hood of the share and take turns truck. One of my neighbors who I dont really know that well just looked over at me not knowing what to think. The mailman, who knew what I was waiting for, was a little bit down the street. I saw him pump his fist and yell out something to me. Lyn and Marion were inside the house and heard me well into the kitchen. I literally could not open the next page for that period. Lyn looked out into the yard and noticed (I did not notice) that all the neighbors were looking out their windows.
For about two or three hours I didnt even read the rest of the page or the next. I called my mother and of course her phone was off the hook. Marion was at the house so I asked her to drive me to my mothers place. Of course she wasnt home so I had to go walking around and I finally found her walking with her lady friend Viola. All i could do was throw my hands up in the air and exclaim that I passed. She was so excited and gave St. Jude all the credit. What followed was a barrage of phone calls as the news got around.
Eddie and I ended the night with a trip to the Gentlemans Club.....hardy har har.......Used up all my dollar bills and came home.
All this crazy stuff and now I have to remember that tomorrow we have a recital and two baseball games. What a day though. I got to call all the brothers and sisters and tell them the good news. I am still looking at the paper and thinking that somehow they are going to change the message and tell me they made a mistake.

Another opening day

It was time for Laura's opening day. This is her first shot at baseball with her new T-Ball team. She did very good and loved it. When I got there with her one of the coaches came up to me and handed me a barret that Laura had given him last practice. She didnt want to have it in her hair when she wore a helmet. Lyn cleaned the hillbilly minivan last week and pulled up about 100 of them from under the seats. I might be exxagerating.
The last practice she had me paint her face blue for the Dodgers. She also had soccer in the morning and scored four goals. I have to get some pictures of her with her sports. I have been coaching her T-ball team, just an asst. coach not a manager so its not so bad.
Today we had team pictures and I was surprised how many of the teammates showed up. Jim crashed tonight on the couch. I'm surprised it took him so long. His week off from school had been so hectic. The poor kid never relaxes. If he is at home he is in the yard playing baseball or hockey or basketball.
It rained today so we didnt get to plant any flowers. Last night I made a trip to Home Depot and got them. Laura had reminded me today that I promised her that we'd have a garden this year. After I bought the flowers she told me that she wanted vegetables so we could eat our green beans and potatoes that we plant. I had told Lyn a little while ago that we'd be growing and slaughtering our food from now on because of the price of food. Laura took me a little literal. She finally agreed to just do flowers. Catherine likes to pop the flower off the plant and smell it as soon as it blooms.
This week Laura has her recital at aroudn the same time as Jim's baseball game. I dont think I can miss a recital. I could go to the rehearsal but I missed last years recital and only went to the rehearsal but she noticed. She is with Emily. I have to download her "monster mash" song. Jimmy keeps asking me to buy a pat benatar song for the ipod. I can't believe she's practically 60. Where did the years go?

Opening day for JimJim

My managerial debut went by pretty darn smoothly for the Tigers. The kids were hitting the ball all over the field. In the fourth inning Jimmy made an outstanding, diving catch between first and second base. It was quite the thing.
Aunt Jo, Doe, Cousins Jacqui and Mikaela, Uncle Eddie, Mommy and the kids all came on to cheer him on. He was really good and hit the ball well.
We sang Happy Birthday to Jimmy about 72 times during the day and night. He had a smile on his face all day long. He was in baseball camp all week during school vacation. Jacob, Max, Connor, Zach and Clayton were there too. I snuck in to see him a couple of times. I love just to watch him. After the camp he came home and put on the catchers equipment and had a little game all by himself for a little while until I was ready to pitch to him. By the way, my shoulder is killing.
Last night I spoke with Jimmy before he went to bed, about the day he was born. He was all questions. It was a hectic birth. I remember we had to drive all the way from cow country and I was honking my horn at people to let me get through, some did, some didnt. The rest of the morning was horrible (the ride), then great(the birth), then horrible(rushed to PICU), then great(when they told he would be OK).
Lyn also had a talk with Jimmy about the morning that he was born. Yesterday at around 6:50AM Lyn told Jimmy that it was seven years ago at that very time that her water broke and she had to go to the hospital. Jimmy told her that it wasnt that long ago because we already cleaned up the cellar after the water broke. He was referring to the hot water tank giving way last month.
Laura has opening day on Saturday with Jimmy having a game a couple of hours later. Even if I wasnt defective I'd have an impossible task to remember what the hell I have to do each day.

Red Sox game with the buddies

Went out to Fenway with the boys for Jim Jim's birthday.
Was awesome sitting in the bleachers. The kids loved it when the beach ball came our way. Jimmy caught it at one point, turned and slammed right at the guy two rows behind us. Almost tore the poor guys head off behind us. The boys were so impatient waiting for the wave to come around and were so happy when it did.

During the middle of the sixth inning I got the people around us to sing Happy Birthday to Jimmy and it ended up with one hell of a round of applause for Jimmy's birthday. He was kind of shy about it but loved it. It seemed by the end of the song alot of the bleacher people had joined in.

Happy Birthday cakes

Jimmy and Catherine had birthday cakes with Jimmy's bud Zach coming over for the day. They spent the whole day playing baseball and hockey. Baseball cake for Jim Jim and Hannah Montana cake for Catherine


Doe made a sandbox in the backyard with help from Jack and Catherine.

whew

soccer, ballet, irish step, baseball, t-ball, hockey, cub scouts, swimming, whew is all I can say. We used to think we were busy.

Laura started soccer last weekend and t-ball in the same day. She did incredibly well in soccer. We gave her soccer lessons a couple of years ago and they paid off. She seemed to know what she was doing controlling the ball. Even though the coach came up to me about an hour into the practice to tell me that her shoes were on the wrong feet......Lyn told me that she would give her about fifteen minutes before she wanted to go home and she was right on target. She got a second wind, made a couple of friends and stuck around. Lyn brought her to t-ball which eventually got rained out but she got some grounders in.
Saturdays baseball practice was interrupted by a phone call from my old friend Steve who had two tickets to the Yankees-Red Sox game, seven rows from the field, third base side. Well, of course I went.
It was Catherines birthday on Sunday and that was the day of the walkathon. We went over Uncle Patricks house after the walk and had a cake for both Catherine and Jimmy (birthday next week). Catherine was so happy about her birthday...all day long you couldnt take the smile off of her face. I got to go volunteer in her pre school class last week too. The class all sang to her. She is very well behaved in school. She got to show me how she paints on an easel, play with putty and she made a sheep face with glue. She got a birthday card in the mail today from Aunt Suzie and Uncle Jackie. She sat on her chair and kept reading it for about an hour, showing it to me and telling me what the faces on the card were saying. I went into the computer and showed her the pictures of both of them holding her when they came home last year.
Its amazing how much Jack is talking. He says thank you, please and tells Frankie to sit. He went out on the baseball field tonight at practice and was yelling at the kids. Clayton's brother William was running around the field with him. I think Laura has a crush on Will because she talks to him without really talking to him.....following him around. Its cute, until she gets older and then we'll put a stop on it. ooo boy, I"m not ready for that.
I noticed today that Jimmy is getting so old so quick. He has a readathon where he has to read certain amount of books. We sat on his bed before sleeptime and he read a whole book for me. It was the cat in the hat. That book is kind of freaky actually. Maybe its just me being me.

We've all caught baseball fever!!!

What a voice!!!!

And on another note, I was very excited tonight when I went to Wal-Mart to buy some shoelaces and read the wrapper to find that they are made in the USA. So excited that I bought two. Just goes to show you what amuses my feeble mind these days.

In other news :

James has started his first week of official practices for minor league baseball. What a handsome coach he has. Its tough to have your own kid on the team, little buggah is so excited. He already knows all my little jokes I try to tell his teammates. He has improved soooo much in the one year.

Laura starts T-Ball and we had our first get together with the team last Sunday. She's on the Dodgers and she loves the hat. There are four other girls on the team so she's happy. She is also signed up for soccer. They dont have team names, just colors and she demands to know the color now so she can prepare. I went to a couple of her dance classes. We usually dont get to see her practice but the teachers let the parents go in and watch them do a practice recital. She got a cool green dress for her recital. The song is the monster mash, its a graveyard smash...

Catherine has started changing her dresses about five times a day. She's awesome and funny, funny. Such a little sense of humor and huggable. Love her singing too. She doesnt like to be left out of anything so while the other kids are on teams and leagues, she's happy to tell everyone that she will be playing soccer on the front lawn with daddy. I'm gonna have to make a team game of soccer with her out front. I'm going to volunteer on Wednesday at Catherines class, I hope. Her birthday is this Sunday and we'll have a cake for her and Jimmy at Uncle Patricks house.

Jack is talking more every day. He sings and sings. He'll do his own mini concert starting with the itsy bitsy, then go to A,B,C's, then to his version of take me out to the ballgame and finish with so good, so good to Sweet Caroline. The kids are teaching him "hey there delilah"..oooo, what you do to me, ooooo, what you do to me.........someone told me that singing improves the kids speech so I'll just keep singing.

Boy and his dog

The Miracle Mermaid

While awaiting all the snow to melt we came across Laura's mermaid that hasn't been seen all winter. It was stuck in a snowbank and was released during the thaw. Surprisingly, Laura picked it up and hit the tail wag button and it worked. After a little cleaning its as good as new. Amazing what great quality products they have in China.

Big Meghan came to stay with us for three days this weekend. She cant wait to get home to get some sleep. Between someone snoring and children waking up early she has decided not to have children. I told her i'd lend her my Swedish nanny after I'm done with her.

Grammy Franny stopped by today with Patsy and cousin Patrick.

Tonight we went to the hockey game with Mommy and Big Meghan. Jimmy again had first row seats. When we got home Jimmy was ultra hyper diving all around the floor. He took off his Devils game shirt and put on his Red Sox shirt because the game was on the TV. He was bouncing off the walls. He's lying on Catherine's bed listening to the game yelling at us when he hears something. The girls are sleeping on an air mattress as a sort of sleepover.

Plans are set for a Red Sox game with Zach, Clayton and their dads for Jimmy's birthday. We have six seats to the sox. I am told they are right behind the bullpen.

Annie

Off to the Wang to see the magical musical Annie with Laura and Catherine. We were seated in the center of the stage and had the first two rows of the balcony all to ourselves. What an awesome time with singing, smiles and clapping all night long. Both Laura and Catherine kept telling me what a great movie this was.

Catherine was given a booster seat but most of the night she had my left leg and Laura had my right. When it came time for the songs both girls sang loud along with the cast...loved it when the sun will come out tomorroooooooooooow song was sang. They were so cute singing the song because they sang it with such passion.

They got to wear their Easter clothes for the first time because they didnt get to wear them for Easter. Catherine loves to dress up and kept telling me about her beautiful dress. Laura thought the theater was Daddy Warbucks house. When we walked in and we had to walk up the front staircase she thought she recognized them from the movie. The show took almost three hours and the girls didnt ask to go home once.

Catherine crashed by the time Daddy Warbucks adopted Annie for good. She crashed good too. It was around 10:15pm by that time and the show started at 7:30. We brought pull-ups for her but she was very good and asked (three times) to go potty. She remained dry all night. At one point she took some M&M's and put them in her mouth to soak. She asked me to take something from her and I put my hand out and found out that they do melt in your hands.

Easter Weekend

Saturday we went over the cousins for
some egg painting. Margo and the kids were there along with Doe and Nana.

Something must have happened over the weekend because Laura, James and Daddy ended up tossing our cookies. We had to cancel going to Aunt Jo's house for Easter Sunday. We had also planned on going to Timmy's house and had to cancel.

Kara also got sick and the whole easter sunday thing had to cancel. Aunt Jo ended up driving here and delivered the food here and to Kara's.

when the kdis woke up there was still eggs to find around the house and outside. When they went to sleep no one was sick yet so we had placed eggs outside. Laura, Catherine and Jack ended up going outside to do an egg hunt but Jimmy said that he would stay inside and watch. there is a picture of him doing just that. All he wanted from me is three of the golden colored eggs. There were still plenty of eggs hid inside the house.

Laura and Catherine each got a Hannah Montana wig, Jimmy got a new set of golf clubs to start. They all made out pretty good. Last night they wouldnt go to sleep so we had to call the Easter Bunny. He happened to be over Uncle Timmy's house. When the Easter Bunny talked to Catherine i have never seen her run so fast after she talked to him. They left carrots and milk out.

Spring Training continues

So Jimmy informed me that there was at least SOME snow that melted so we could move spring training to the front lawn. We had been just throwing on the street. He was very excited when a portion of the front snow receded and exposed some green. He made me throw to the side so he could dive into a half portion of snow/grass. Laura and Catherine were outside for a brief period of time but their spring training only lasted till they got too cold.

First time manager

Tonight I started my first meeting as coach of Jimmy's baseball team. I have all the equipment and recieved the roster. Laura is going to start T-Ball too. I'm kind of nervous about it but it'll go good i'm sure. I'm trying to work a trade so that Zach and Clayton can get on the team too. Jimmy beat me straight up in air hockey again tonight. The first game was Laura and I against Jimmy, Catherine and Jack. Each one of them took turns crying about one thing or another but cooled it off after a while. Jimmy read a whole book to me at bedtime. It was something about a dog wanting to be a wolf(The dog who cried wolf) and he knew almost all of the words. I cant believe how far he has come this year in school. I'm scheduled for volunteering again next week. The same day is their first day of swimming lessons and that night the two girls are going to Annie with us in the city. It'll be a busy day and night.
Catherine keeps talking about her birthday coming up next month. She says I need to talk to you bout my birfday, then i ask her when her birthday is and she says April furfteenth.

Ridem Cowboy

Jack has quite a personality. He found Jimmy's old hat and wouldnt take it off. He loves that dog too. Keeps talking all the time, who knows what he's saying though.

Bruins Game

On Thursday Jimmy and I went to the Bruins game with Timmy and Parker. Even though they lost we had a great time. Alot of junk food was eaten by both of us. Thankfully, there was no throwing up on the train. We ended up taking the train to and from the Garden. It is so much easier.

Jimmy made a sign for the game and kept holding it up. He made me write "Go bruins, you rock" and had his name on it.

Went to a Japanese restaurant on Saturday night for one of Lyn's cousins 30th Birthday. I NEVER thought I'd eat at a Japanese restaurant but, I loved it. I still didnt eat any sushi. I tried to, put it on my fork and even brought it close to my mouth but it wouldnt go through the uprights. We ended up going out to a bar with Uncle Eddie and some more of the cousins. Its a good thing for Designated Drivers. Over to Kara's for Corned Beef and Cabbage on sunday, now that was real good. I'm trying to stay under 200 lbs but this food stuff keeps getting in the way.

Laura loved her green wig and even wore it to school on St Patty's day. I have a matching one too. I ate so much at Kara's. Even after everyone had left the table I told them to hold on before taking my silverware because i was on overtime with the eating.

St. Patty's week

Another great week at the old home. Got home every night after work and Jimmy and Laura were ready for me waiting for Spring Training to begin. Spring training consisted of stretching in the living room and then off to the garage for fielding and hitting off the tee. When we do the stretching, All four of the kids are there joining us, including Jack. When we throw the ball around in the garage, sometimes the kids get carried away and are whipping that ball. Jimmy throws so fast now and Laura doesnt know how good she can throw. We are bound to break something and get in trouble with mommy. I have to stay 0n her good side too.
The hot water heater blew up on us this week also. went a couple of days running to nana and does house to shower. I was going to have the plumber come over and install a new one but the quoted price was higher than the GNP of some countries. Doe ended up putting it in for us. He informed me that I am too good to him. I try.
Sunday we went to a St Patty's show that Maura was running. Laura and Catherine were up dancing around and they both made new friends to dance with. Laura asks everyone to sleep over our house. Catherine was loving doing the Irish Step. We danced and bounced. It was so disheartening that I wasnt able to sing because I lost my voice. There were others who were rejoicing because of it but i'm hoping to get it back soon.
Jack fell last night and lyn got him right away with the ice on his eye. It looked like it would bulge but it wasnt all that bad this morning.
It was Grammy Frannies birthday Saturday. Laura and Catherine were so excited all week about making her a gift. Laura made her this thing (dont know what to call it) that had some wires coming out of a stirofoam base. It was cute. Catherine made her a book full of her drawings.
three months till the results are in

2 Goals for Jim Jim

Went to Jim's hockey game tonight and the little buggah scored twice. He was so excited because Uncle Eddie came with me. Jimmy has got so much better in the past month. He was in front of the net, took the puck and spun around scoring the first goal. He also scored on his next shift on the ice.....then disaster struck (not really, but he is six years old). I was watching him skating towards the bench and I lost sight of him. He hit into the boards with a couple of other players. I saw the coach go over to him and he was crying real hard. I figured he somehow got hurt, but alas, he had broken his first hockey stick ever. He didnt just break it, he creamed it. He was really broken up about it

Last night Jimmy went to the Devils hockey game with his bud Zachary, Clayton and others for Zach's birthday. Earlier today he started private baseball lessons. Needless to say he had a busy couple of days so he had an excuse for crying over the broken stick. He kept telling me about how much he liked that stick.

Lyn and I went away to the mountains for the weekend. It is our anniversary today. We stayed at this real nice inn. I'm not used to such classy places. They made up our bed twice a day. After we got back from dinner the towels were refreshed, the bed remade and everything else was freshened up. It was twice a day maid service. They kept bringing out servings of food on a fresh dish with a splash of garden vegetables or onion string or whatever it was with a dash of liquid something or other. It was a classy place. When i couldnt get the food on a fork I used my fingers. Lyn was mortified several times.

We made friends of course. Both Friday and Saturday night we had quite a bit to drink. Lyn drank a whole bottle of wine and I had a pool of lager. We handled it okay though. On Saturday morning we were seated next to two couples in their 70's. The two guys had these sweaters on that were bright green, florescent colors. I asked them if they lost a bet. I found out that both guys were brothers and their mother knitted the sweaters for them 60 years ago. They had always kept the sweaters and wore them on rare occasions. I thought it was awesome. That night we went over and talked to the ladies and had some good laughs.

When we got home Jack was just as Lyn had predicted. When Lyn went skiing a couple of weeks ago Jack was mad at her when she got home and he wouldnt talk to her. Same thing happened today. He stuck with me and wouldnt talk to her or go near her...the little shit.......Catherine and Laura were so happy to see us though. I think Catherine was a little tired and sick though. Laura had made us a cake with Auntie Jo for our anniversary. They had put homemade cards on the kitchen wall for us.