Easter 2015

     Here comes the Easter Bunny back in town for another years worth of over eating and shenanigans.  We started out the day, actually early at night, trying to figure out where the Easter Bunny would be able to drop all his eggs so we toughed it out and put up the landing strip on the little grass we have on the front lawn.  Usually, the Easter Bunny has full reign of the front and back yard and the sides too.  This year we are lucky that enough of it has melted to give us what we have.  There were plenty of eggs this year, Like every year, Mommy doesn't think we'll have enough, but this year, the Easter Bunny gave us plenty.  So around midnight the Easter Bunny was out on the front lawn putting all the eggs out. 

     After all the eggs had been picked we headed off for church.  The priest is a bit off at times I think.  He was trying to prove the point that we still believe that Christ had risen even though nobody saw him.  It was about having faith.  So he kept mentioning how we believe the word of the drug dealer when he gives us our white powder and we believe its what he says it is so why cant we believe that Jesus rose from the dead.  He held onto that storyline for far too long....But, the kids were very good in church.  When it was time for the offeratory, the deacon in training walked up to my pew and asked me if we would bring the gifts up to the altar and of course I said okay.  Jackie was in our pew so he went with me.  Now, I must say that the mass was being held in honor of two people, Marion and Peter Shanahan....it matters because when we went up to bring the gifts to the priest he asked Jack if he was a Shanahan.  Jack had this quizzical look on his face on his way back to the pew and he told mommy that the priest asked him if he was a shenanigan.....

     The kids found the creepy bunny rabbit outside the owl.  Maybe its just me but the Easter Bunny always gives me creeps.

     As is custom on Easter Morning after mass we went to a local donut shop and got a couple of donuts and coffee, of course.  After that we head out to Uncle Timmy's house for his annual Easter Egg hunt.  Thankfully he had enough snow cleared out to keep the kiddies happy.   They look forward to it.  Here, the kids are coming down the steps, well except Jimmy who is right in front of the picture talking to BAE.  Don't ask me what BAE means, its just a name for significant other that the kids are using these days.  Hopefully its not inappropriate...

     And then off we went to Aunt Jo's house for the Easter extravaganza.  The potatoes were phenomenal.  They made the mistake of putting the potato slices with cheese in front of me and I went in for the kill. 

     Jack likes to dress up...in his businessman clothes.  Catherine likes girly things but you wont catch Laura in a dress.  Jimmy is getting better about dressing up, either that or he's realizing that he's not gonna win with Aunt Jo and Mommy.  If it were up to him he'd be in shorts and a t-shirt all the time.

     The kids get yet another Easter Egg hunt over aunt Jo's house.  I think they make out pretty darn good.

     During Easter we always have a birthday cake for Jimmy, Cat and Kara.  Catherine takes the birthday thing to a whole new level.  Everything for the past several months has been leading up to the special day and its coming soon.  Here she is sitting with Jacob, he's so good to her.    She is the sweetest girl in the planet though.
     When all was said and done, we had eaten like porkers with no regard for our well being.  The food was that good.  I suppose that's how its supposed to be on Easter.  Once again, the day was a complete success.

Easter Egg Coloring 2015

Some March Photos, irish and jumpy jumpy

      Another tradition is the Shamrock Shakes from McDonalds.  This year I kinda had to be honest with myself, I really never liked them that much...its just a fun tradition.
   and then up came the annual night out with Maura, Theresa and Big Bill.  I put on my green and headed out to the old club where we tipped a couple and made some dedicaitons, not to mention solved some o the worlds problems.....

      One of the days we got invited to go to the jumpy jumpy place by one of Cat's friends from gymnastics.  It is a fun place where the kids get to dive into pools full of nice soft blocks and they also get to do their crazy gymnastics jumps that make your heart do flips.  We once again were there with Kat's friend Kiara and her sister Grace.  Below, Laura is joisting with Grace and is knocked into the deadly pool of blue foam....Such a good sport that laura. 
     They climbed on this 'rock' wall and they climbed so high......but there was plenty of cushion for them if they fall.....Two hours was plenty though....they had some fun

Laura breaks the team record in 200 butterfly

     And she was soooo excited.  as she should be.  Last night was the annual banquet with her swimming team.  She did not know that she had broken the team record for the 200 butterfly in her age group.  Oh goodness, she was so excited.  She called me right away to tell me.  She loves her swimming, and maybe, just maybe she'll be able to top me in swimming one of these days.....She always jokes with Big Bill about the race that the two of them are supposed to have but inexplicably Big Bill always pulls some sort of muscle prior to the race.  I think if I had to race her i'd think of some sort of an excuse too.  I must say, I'm very proud of the young lady that she has become. 

Cat singing at Roller Skating

Roller Skating

 

      It was roller skating day and off we went.  Kiara and Grace were there with their family and invited us there with them.  I don't know what I was thinking but I laced up the old skates and took my life in my own hands, not to mention the lives of everyone around me.  I didn't fall.   Laura, never one to miss a good time, accompanied Catherine and had a blast... Jackie had never skated before and he was touch and go most of the time.  After falling for about the tenth time he yelled at me that it was all my fault because I made him go there with me.....but of course, everything is better with Jackie being there so he figured it out and ended up playing the arcade games.  Catherine astonishes me sometimes.  She did a karaoke song all by herself....it was awesome.....sometimes she is so shy and timid but other times she is fearless. She was so fun to watch during the anticipation of her name being called.  She was looking forward to singing so much, you could see it all over her.  That smile, oh goodness.... who would imagine that she would wait so patiently so she could get up in front of about forty people and sing a solo....so cute.

 

 

 

Gymnastic State Championship

     She wasn't too pleased with her score on the floor routine, but I thought she did just wonderful.  About ten days before the State championships she had a slip on the bars and it resulted in a concussion.  She was kind of sluggish for a little bit but she recovered enough to make a good run of it.  She didn't want to miss the State Championships after all.  She really has a lot of fun and she loves it.  Of course I personally think she's the greatest gymnast ever, but some say i'm biased

     I was worried about the beam the most because of the concussion and her balance.  She did very good, did a turn around with no problems at all....

     She becomes a different person when she's competing.  Her confident person comes out and she just goes with it.  I would never think she would get out there and do a routine in front of all these people but she just puts it down.  She's so fun to watch....the smile, I could watch her all day long.

  The girl in the orange shirt had a tattoo on her face.... Catherine liked it!!!

He never knew Bucky Dent

     Jimmy's basketball team lost in the semi finals last night.  It was a tightly fought affair with the game going  down to the last possession.   The games were so entertaining, Umple Eddie, Doe, Nana, Aunti Jo, Bae and her mom, Jack and Laura all joined us to cheer him on.  It was quite a run for a 3-10 team but it got me to thinking, this kid has seemed to win everything he's been involved in and has known only winning sports teams since he was born.  Last year, his basketball team won the championship, his little league team was the town championship.  He's known four Super Bowl champions, three world series champions, a Stanley Cup winner and an NBA championship.  How are we going to teach this kid the agony of defeat??  He has Tom Brady, we had Tony Eason.  At least we had Larry Bird to show us there are champions but what about Bucky 'bleeping' Dent and Bill Buckner...no, he knows none of that....Our theme song was Whitney Houston singing 'didn't we almost have it all'...and we loved it, we were used to losing....well now he knows a little bit of defeat and knows how his pop, uncles and aunts felt like every stinking year,  especially with the Red Sox. 
     But it was a great game.  He is an unbelievable athlete and it really is fun to watch him play any sport.  He is no different than when he was 7 years old and running around the court in the church league (not winning the most christlike award).  I know its not the truth, but he makes everyone look like their standing still because he runs from one end of the court to the next constantly and is always running toward the ball, never dragging his feet. 
     I know life isn't all about sports, but its really fun to see all of them compete every weekend.

Setting new highs

     Jimmy is in the playoffs for basketball.  Its a lose and go home type of deal.  His team is quite interesting,  but its fun to watch them play.  Last year, the basketball team that he was on lost most of their games but during the playoffs, they hit a hot streak and won the whole thing.  This years team...i'm not so sure.  but we'll see how far they go.  Anyway, they are winning so the games continue on.  The other night, he scored twenty points...I mean, twenty points, talk about the whole family point total for our whole careers.  We weren't really much of a basketball family, except Timmy, but he's hitting outside shots and hitting all of his shots from up close.  Its certainly fun to watch.  Friday night the games go on. 

Hockey Night out

 It was college hockey night with the little buggahs and Catherine Q.  Same as last year, we all loaded up and went into a private party and got some great chicken fingers drinks and enjoyed the game.  During the game we went for a couple of walks around the arena and got some ice cream and H&R Block free goodies.  We stayed for the whole game, which ended up in a tie.  Its so much fun and exciting to watch because its non stop and its a great brand of hockey.  It was a fun night and everyone got to yell and scream a couple of times at goals!!

Jackie and his basketball.

     I could just sit and watch this all day long.  Its so fun to go and watch him play any sport at all.  On Saturday mornings he goes off and plays soccer.  Aunt Jo is the lucky one that usually gets to bring him there but I get the update on how many goals he gets.  On this day, he played in a round robin basketball tournament after soccer.  One thing you can say about Jackie is that he certainly doesn't get cheated out of any shots.  Here, he drives down to the  hoop after stealing the ball and banks the shot, then flies up the other side of the court.  He does shoot a lot but there is nobody on either side that matches his hustle so its no wonder he has the ball all the time. 
     He scored ten points during the games today.  I wish I had the camera running about five minutes after this basket.  He was beyond the three point line and near the out of bounds line towards half court.  He had the ball and nobody on his team went to help out so he did what he does best....he heaved the ball with one hand up and towards the basket and sure enough it went 'kerplunk' right off the rim and into the basket.  I keeled over I was laughing so hard.  He just turned and ran up the court.  You could hear everyone just start yelling and laughing in disbelief.  I have to say, its just great to watch them play!!!
     I of the things I really enjoy are his stories he tells after the games.  I could usually watch either his soccer or basketball game and the story that he tells me about what happened are so much more interesting and glorious then the ones I watched.  Sometimes I wonder if I saw the same game he's describing.  On the way home or at home after the game, he'll describe step by step what happened and how far away he was when he scored the basket/goal.  Its great.  Well, after the basketball game he was describing to me his long distance/half court shot and was saying "I had two guys on me and I was looking for someone to pass to'...I stopped him right there.....HOLD UP MISTER, I WATCHED THE WHOLE GAME AND I KNOW YOU WERENT LOOKING FOR ANYONE TO PASS TO......He laughed and said 'you're right dad, I wasn't looking to pass".....he loved that and told everyone that exchanged between the two of us.....
     I have watched this over and over again.  I think I laugh every time I watch it.  He cracks me up just by being him.  Just look at the way he runs back down the court after he hits the shot....like a cool dude.  What a great team!!!

Laura Swimming and warming the butter sticks

      Laura had regionals today and last night...she's a beast.

     Here, Laura is competing in the relay and getting ready to jump in.  Unfortunately, she lost her goggles once she got in the water so it slowed her down a little bit, but she recovered, just didn't finish in first. 

 

And of course, after the swim meet we went for a celebratory meal at the lovely restaurant nearby.  Laura and Emily ate their weight, we actually shared a lot of appetizers and pizza.  But the bread was fantastic.  The only problem, the butter cubes were very cold and frozen.  So, like a teaching parent that I am, I showed the girls how to warm the butter....under your armpit of course.  Everything went well, until we got home and Fenway kept jumping up on them trying to sniff their armpits.   It was a very nice time and I had a lot of laughs with the swimming gals. 



Jim's Basketball

     Jimmy had a basketball tourney this weekend.  His team did pretty good with Jimmy scoring 10 points and getting fouled in the eye pretty hard.  So hard he went into his bag and texted me during the game about it.....I was across the court !!

Heritage night at school

Jackie and Catherine had Heritage night at school the other night.  Jack did Ireland and Catherine did a four cheese lasgna for her Italian heritage.  They both stood beside Catherine Q's Irish cake picture.

And it snowed and snowed, then snowed some more...Blizzard of 2015

     Okay, I'll say it straight out....I am not the greatest fan of the cold and the white stuff....BUT, these guys make it soooo fun it leaves you with no choice.  They absolutely love the snow and prancing around , throwing it in the air, climbing around in it, making forts and of course, sledding. 

                           Baby Erin came over for a little bit of snow fun.  I knew she would.  Oh and by the way, I can only call her Baby Erin in front of select people so its a habit I have to break....rrr

Snuggle time

       Remember those days before you had children and used to think that once you had kids they would quietly sit still on your lap and you would get to enjoy time with them while they adoringly,  leaned on you???  Yeah,well guess what,  it don't happen often after they start to walk....but when it does, its pretty cool.  This little guy sat next to me on the couch and read two chapters from his book out loud.  Then he snuggled up and put his arm around me and quietly just laid there.......He didn't really fall asleep and neither did I but it was a cool moment

Winter Kids

     I love that these kids love the snowy weather.  We have snow and you can be sure they'll be outside jumping around in it.....Sunday we went up North for the day and Jackie wanted to go out onto the ice and see what was up with the Ice Fishing houses.....He couldnt wait to get out there...I actually wanted to see it too...Theres something scary about walking on ice though

School Bus

     There are certain memories that I file away from these tender years that I know will stay with me for as long as I live.  I remember leaving for work with Jimmy being in the window and waving to me goodbye, Laura coming out to get a quarter from me while I'm in my car leaving in the morning, Catherine running from around the living room table into the living room to jump up on me for our good morning launch with Jack doing the same.  The one constant thing for all of them has been our time spent at the bus stop in the morning.  After leaving the house, we spend the time at the bus stop playing 'tennis ball'.  which includes a mixture of ground balls, pop-ups and throwing accuracy games.  Those accuracy games are important for Daddy because otherwise they make me run all over for errant throws.....but when the bus comes I get my hugs and kisses before they go to school.....and Jackie tilts his head so I can kiss his forehead.  My little Catherine gets on the bus, hurries to her seat and gives me a smile, waves to me and returns the blown kisses.  Its such a simple thing but it makes me start my day off right.  Jackie is in the second grade and has two and a half years left before he walks to school.  I'll have to find something else to do in the morning then.