Moving up to fifth grade concert for Catherine

     My little Catherine had her last concert at the Harrington.  She was so cute playing the violin and may I add she and her fellow classmates sounded like professional band players.  Next year she is turning in the violin for just being in the chorus.  She wasn't interested in the trombone or something more musical but she does have the only voice in the family that can hold a note....well, besides the obvious one.

     CatherineQ was also in the band and playing the violin.  She has become part of the family and is like my third daughter.  She is very sweet and comes over all the time.

     and here is our friend TK.  The kids absolutely love this kid.  He reminds me of Charlie so much.  He is just such a free wheeling kind of dude and marches to his own drummer.  He certainly has a lot of fun.  I remember the first time we met him, Lyn and I were sitting on the couch in the back yard room and he came walking right in through the garage door.  I asked him who he was and he just said "hi, i'm TK".  That's all that needed to be said.  He is a cool kid.

Laura's last concert of the year

     I'm in the cheap seats but I still can find her in the cell phone picture.  It was her last concert of the year so we had to scramble to get out of softball games to get there in time...well, we weren't on time but we got there at least in time for her to get on stage.  I'd like to think it would be relaxing and it wasn't that bad.  We sat up in the balcony area and it wasn't that bad at all.  We usually sit near the stage so we are sure they can see us but chances are they cant anyway so these seats weren't so bad after all.  I must say if I haven't said it before, i'm so impressed that sixth graders sound so good.  Not that i'm a music expert, but for a  casual observer (bias too) I can actually enjoy listening to the little buggars.

Erin's wax museum

I took a mental health day off today from work and I heard there was a wax

Museum that featured Milton Hershey, I had to go!!  Erin was very cute and she did great on her lines.  Nana, Kara and Lyn were also there.  I guess the rules are that you cant hug and kiss the exhibits but I did anyway.  Poor Erin, she was very serious about this whole Hershey thing. 

Where shall we take pictures now??

     I know its crazy, but we had such a connection to this Old White birch treet in the front yard.  so many of our family pictures have been taken under it.  Its a weak tree and I could see right through the holes at its base, so it was time to go.  thank god for uncle Patrick and his chainsaw.  He cut and we pulled.  The kids spend so much time playing in the front yard, i'd rather it come down this way.  We'll have to put up some more trees this fall, possibly a couple of maples. 

Connecticut tourney

     Here we go again to the baseball tournament in Connecticut.  This time he was absolutely on fire.  Every hit he had was a soaring shot.   They played all A teams and they were beating them most of the time.  It was so fun to watch good games.  It was very rare that he didn't get a hit.  I was very happy for little Jimmy, though not so little anymore !!

Softball, baseball all the time.....

      While we spend so much time at the fields there are a couple of pictures taken.  These are just a sampling of some of the pictures that came off the picture card in the camera.

     Laura hit her second home run of the seaon the other night.  She played for another team that was sixth, seventh and eighth graders.  She crushed it and was rounding second before anyone could get near the ball.  She's a beast!!!

    One thing we could be sure of this spring was to have cold weather.  I know its always a little nippy to start the season but this year it just seems we have jacket weather every game.  Here, Catherine needs her jacket over her uniform.  Of course its purple, her favorite color.

     Jack is pitching now.  He's hung up on this pitch count.  I think you only get to throw 75 pitches in a week and that's all he talks about.  He's doing quite well and is throwing strikes most importantly.  I love to see how he socializes with other kids.  He walks off the mound like he's Joe Cool.  I wouldn't tell him but he really is Joe Cool.  I think I could just sit and watch him all night. 

     Jimmy is at that age where he really doesn't like anything...except baseball and his 'friend' Katrina.  She's a very nice girl and is from a very nice family.  Her mom and sister go to a lot of Jimmy's games and support him.  He's a goofball who has a lot of fun in life.....

Silly Hat day

     This was the best we could do on short notice for 'silly hat day' at school.  I think they turned out pretty good though.  Jack was a pirate and Cat was an irish gal.  Of course I went to take a picture of Catherine and was photo bombed by Jack.....one could not expect anything more from the official photobomber of the family.

Art show

Tonight we were scheduled for Laura's game and Jacks practice, there was no word of an art show... It was one of those "oh yeah, we have an art show tonight"...oh those little buggahs.....But I got Jack out of his baseball practice early and we went to the old art show....I must say that I am pretty impressed with the art and the ceramic muffins...Its so much fun to have them show their work and how proud they are of their school and their artwork.  Jackie had a drawing of a cardinal on some snowy branches.  Catherine had one of Russian Architecture.  Loved them both!!
We had to look around for quite some time to find their artwork and especially the muffin.  Its a ceramic muffin that looks surprisingly lifelike...makes me a little hungry.  Its so cute to walk around and here the little rugrats yelling out hello to both Catherine and Jack.  They have their own little social circle away from home that we are not involved in.  We think that we have complete control and know everything they are involved in, but they do have a life without us...Its a great school and the teachers are very nice to them.

Crew races

She's so fun, she didn't mind following me around at all.  Of course she sees this interesting tree and she has to climb it.  I don't blame her, I wanted to climb it too....but I cant (damn)

While I was taking a picture of these gals on the boat Laura waved at them and they waved back.

Laura came to work with me on the waterfront on Saturday....first we went to dunkins and then the climbing on trees.  Its so good to see all these people grilling and enjoying the river.

Darn cops and their coffee!!

Footloose and fancy free

The video is sideways but you get the point, I got me some rhythm..yes I do....well.......

Father daughter aloha dance

It was time again for the father-daughter dance at school, this time it was just me and Catherine as Laura has aged out.  We had a blast!!  We danced the whole night away.  I kept asking her if she wanted to go dance with her friends but she told me she wanted to dance with me...and dance we did!!!  A day after  I'm hurting for certain, but I must say it was all worth it....

It was such an exciting night.  Catherine was so happy all day and night, she was such a grown up about it all and I couldn't wait for our date to start either.  I almost forgot about the corsage so I ran out real quick before the dance and got one from the florist.  Of course they had to take forever to get it done but thankfully they did it for me in quick time.

Boy did we dance the night away.  There really wasn't much of a break at all but it made the night go by so quick.  Here they loaded up a bunch of balls into the middle of this large tarp and sang the Frozen song.....then they LET IT GO.....it was fun to watch....

that smile didn't leave this sweet girls face all night and for that I am very thankful.  We had so much fun on our date.  I hate to see her grow up.  She told me this is our last father daughter dance and indeed it is.  I'm sure we'll dance again!!!  She's the sweetest girl I know!!

creatures on my phone !!...no dad, we don't use your phone...

I come back to my phone with these little creature selfies all the time...