Tickets on the stone...

A local police department left tickets for tonights game on a gravestone honoring police memorial week.  After working till four in the morning, i wasnt too keen about staying up to go to the Red Sox game but I figured I would drive by on my way home and if the tickets were still there, I'd deal with it then....well, of course the tickets were still there and it was Jack's turn...sooooo off we went

We had a really good time and my buddy was all ready to go.  He knows so much about the game and the players.  Its so fun just to sit and listen to him and watch him get ready for whats important....like the ice cream inning.  He sits down and talks serious about all the things Red Sock.  We had a really good game and according to Jack the Red Sox are 16 and Oh in the games that he attends.

Sixth inning tradition lives on

and he's still there...been here forever!!

How can a Yankee inspire me and make me feel good??

The headline is kind of misleading.  I was reading an article about Derek Jeter last night and he was asked if he had any regrets over his long career.  He said that the only regret he had is that he hadnt kept a journal because its so easy to forget the things he experiences during his career.  For whatever reason, I've been heading back to my dear blog lately and looking back to the earlier days with All My Children and have been reflective of their earlier years.  That's the purpose of this blog and its the one thing that has been the opposite of regret that I have done.  I'm glad that I don't have the regret because i've done it!!
     Just this morning I had a couple of laughs with the kids that would leave my mind easily.  Catherine was telling me about how it hurts her to walk (she's had a belly ache) and she was telling me this in her sad and pathetic voice that would melt a biker.  I pretended not to hear her correctly and said that she shouldnt be boxing to begin with. (get it, boxing sounds like walking)...eeeeh, a little anyway.  I then took up a boxing stance.  Of course I wouldn't let it die there and pretended to box with her, giving her the old one-two.  She smiled and laughed...She wasnt going to go to school but she decided that she would give it a chance.  She also told me that i need to drive her into school today because she had to go inside for some meeting.  Fenway came with us so it was fun.
     Jackie was going all out this morning and ready and raring to go for the school bus.  This is the last year of the school bus so we make the best of it and he prepares the tennis ball the night before to make sure we have all our equipment ready for the morning toss.  The first throw always go way up in the air and he went through a stretch where he dropped the initial sky high throw.  Maybe like three in a row....scandalous i say.  So he makes sure the first throw is sky high and sometimes, like this morning, he drops it on purpose for old times sake.  So this morning he would sit on his bum facing me and had me rolling it to him and he would throw it to me like that.  Sometimes it would go over my head i must say.  He made sure to tell me that i have to tell him if there are any cars coming from behind him or I might be losing my youngest son.  oooooh boy what a kid!!!
   

Catherine's turn at the Red Sox....

      Its the sweetest girl in the world's turn to go with Daddy.  A couple of weeks ago we went to the Celtics for her birthday gala but this one she got lucky because we got some Red Sox Tickets and it just happened to be her turn.  Dont ya just love that dentist of Ant Jo's!!!  The tickets were awesome and we were on the first base side in the loge section.  We are very lucky to have the opportunity to go to so many games.
     Once again I asked Cat if she would rather just drive to the park or take the trolley.  This time i was kind of hoping she'd say drive straight in but they really love that whole experience of the trolley.  I dont blame her because I do too.  Its fun, it completes the experience.  There is something about trains and trolleys with these little buggahs that just softens me.  Its a very comforting thing, even just to sit around a trolley boneyard, like the picture above.

After the trolley and before the game we went and grabbed a bit to eat in Kenmore Square.  Cat told me that she wasnt that hungry but her belly wouldnt object to food.  She had some Spaghetti and meatballs and i had a bruchetta pizza....the company was outstanding.  She told me about her day, Also about her gymnastics moves and who she sits with at lunch.  Maybe its the same question I ask often but its still fun to hear her tell me the goings on of this sixth grader while she's growing up.

 Once we get to the game she reminds me about twenty times how she had to save up enough space in her belly for our sixth inning tradition.  Oh yes, the sixth inning tradition is a helmet lof ice cream...vanilla with oreo crumbs and me a mix with m&m's.  It's a wonderful tradition started by Jimmy and now all of them have jumped in.  She's mentioned it every day since we found out we were going.
Catherine was also mentioning how she needed someone to hit a home run for her and luckily Hanley hit two.  We even got to see a triple play!!!  The bad guys were the benefactors but its still exciting to see.

 Here we are with a screen shot from the game.  Maura sent me a text to let us know we were on TV when the camera looks at lefthanders, there we were.  Of course, being the professional that I am, I kept picking my nose every time a lefty came up and tried to get Catherine in on it too.  I even tried to pick her nose too...She would have none of it.  I recorded the game so i'm hoping to see me picking a jewel!!!
Oh yeah, they won.....The ace of the Staff, Chris Sale finally got some run support.  Really though, it didnt matter who won.
By the way, did I mention we made it on the JumboTron again!!!  Picture it, seventh inning, Sweet Caroline playing in the stands and there we were singing along.  The camera pans and comes right to us singing along....Sweeeeeeet Caroooooline, bump bump bump, good times never seem so good...INDEED!!

Catherines Annual Birthday trip with uncle Patrick

     Every year around her birthday Catherine gets a trip with her Godfather, Uncle Patrick.  He brings her out to eat and then they go shopping where she has a budget of how much money uncle Patrick givers her of what she can spend.  According to Catherine they always go over by quite a bit.  Catherine loves making slime so she got all the fixings for making the disgusting stuff....among other things that he spoils her on.  She looks forward to this every year and its part of her birthday celebration.
Patrick had asked me if she thinks she is getting too old for this special day between the two of them.  He wants her to not worry about it if she thinks shes getting too old for it.  The thought didnt even cross my mind but i asked Catherine about it.  Her face dropped when i asked her if she was getting too old for this day with Uncle Patrick.....Noooooo, she says.  He spoils her and if someone wants to celebrate her birthday she's all for it.  She is actually very sweet but she is not ready to quit this tradition any time soon.  She loves her uncle Patrick and loves their special day together.

Laura at the School committee meeting last night

I have watched this video many times...She's so grown up.  She wrote this content herself and memorized it.  Its very intimidating for a person to speak in front of a crowd like that, never mind a child.  I think she did exceptionally well.  I was very proud of her.

Another driver on the road...Jimmy gets his permit

     Our celebratory meal after the permit test.  Pizza Hut...good stuff....after we left James drove on the street for the first time.  He did pretty good too!! 

How could this have happened!!!

     The little stinka has turned 16 today.  He's a good looking kid, its a good thing he looks like his momma.  I just cant believe how quickly it has happened.  I guess time does not stand still for us.  He's a good kid and has alot going for him in life.  He's not obsessed with his birthday as Cat is but its still a fun day.  .

Easter 2017

Another successful Easter weekend has come and gone.  These little buggahs are growing up too fast.  Here are the Blatham's all relaxing after the gig meal.

Laura enjoying life and her doe

Over Uncle Timmy's house looking for their eggs

Our church looks beautiful...Grammy Franny would be so proud!!

Catherine put in a special request for this cake from Aunt Jo.  Only Catherine !!!To hear Catherine speak about how it is made was awesome :)  

Laura looking for some inside information from Timmy

Catherine's Birthday At the Gahhhden

  We are so lucky to have had so many of the great times like the one we had last night.  From the moment Cat heard we were going to the Celtics game to the moment she closed her eyes last night she was in joy.  I got a call the other day from my friend Scotty and he told me he a pair of tickets to the Celtics and if I'd be interested in having them.  Well, you know I would.  Loge 1, row 12...what great seats. It was like they were right in front of us...very close.   Again, we headed out and Catherine asked me if we were going to head on the trolley.  I asked her if she wanted to and she hesitated because I know she really wanted to.  Something about a smelly vagabond sleeping on a train that makes memories for the little ones!!

  A quick look at the tickets show that the game started at 8:00pm.  Wow, thats kinda late so off we went to take in some sights before gametime.  We headed to Quincy market and Catherine was excited to get some Clam Chowdah.  There was a guy doing a great job playing the buckets outside that really drew our attention.  Catherine gave him a dollar.

  So onward we go into the game.  Not once, not twice but three times Catherine appeared on the jumbotron.....One time it was for a good ten seconds.  She was so cute holding her Go Celtics sign and dancing around.  There was, of course, the obligatory three hundred trips to the bathroom and also we had to hit the stands to get something to drink and then some ice cream, or gelato as they now call it....but it was gooooood.  The end result was a victory for the boys in green and we got to scream out for the victory!!!

   Here we are on the trolley on the way home.  We got on and found a seat in the crowded trolley car and there were a couple of college aged kids among those standing and it was obvious they had just come from the game too.  They were as excited as any college students would be after they had a couple and had just came from the big game.  I presented to them that they had a young lady with a birthday tonight and asked him if he could help get a birthday song.  One of the guys yelled out to the rest of the train to join in to wish his little friend Catherine a happy birthday.  The end result was this vidoe...soooooo sooooo cute.

Annual walkathon through the McFlurries...

     What a great day for a walk!!!  Well, it was better than the day before...which was snowy and miserable, but this day turned out great for us.  It was well attended, especially by the little ones.  I had the pleasure of driving Laura and her friends.  What a riot listening to Raquel talk about how this guy who works at the Waltham McDonalds makes the very best Mcflurry's...better than any other McFlurry maker she's ever experienced and then one day he was gone.  She told the story so good and funny....it was great!!

JACK WRITING HIS PERSONAL MESSAGE TO DADDY

The streets were taken care of for our walk.  I walked with Bobby and Paula most of the way and it gets so much easier to let the kids be own their own as they get older.  They were all very well behaved.
     After the walk we all trekked over to Patricks and Karen's  for a barbecue.  We were all inside due to the weather but the kids played pool downstairs and parents were all entertaining upstairs.

I was looking through the pictures for a picture of Paula.  These are all we got...poor Paula!!!

The Luck of the Irish...Our annual St Paddy's Day feast

Yes, its our annual dressing of the green dinner over Kara's house in honor of Grammy Frannnie.  We even had a toast to her.  She LOVED coming over to Kara's house for her corned beef dinners.  She looked forward to it every year.  What a great bunch these buggah's are and they loved their festivities too.  How nice is it now that we dont have to entertain them every second.  We had a great time and they all enjoyed each others company.  So great for cousins to get along so well.

Gymnastics State Championship

      Catherine qualified for the State Championship.  These girls are such good kids and get along so well.  Below they are huddling up for good luck.

      Cat had a great day....out of the four events she ended up on the podium three times and overall she ended up seventh in the state.  She was awesome!!

Floor Routine 9.325

Laura up at the lake with Jeb

This weekend Laura and I ended up spending the weekend up at the lake in the cold.  This time it was her asking for the fire.  It was very cold this weekend.  We had a good time while she recovers from her swimming injury.  She is making crazy music videos about a man named Jeb.  Oh those kids!!!

The first night we had steak on the grill.  We had bought it on the way up.  On Saturday morning we went out for breakfast at our favorite breakfast restaurant.  We came home and I did some painting.

I had to take a photo on our way out just so I can look at it when i'm not there and get back soon.

Open

     It seems we wait all winter long for Sully's to open on March 1st for our ice cream conundrums.  Oh what would we do without our mint chocolate chip and chocolate marshmallow ice cream.