Collection Night and Father Son b-ball game

Tonight was Catherine's Collection night at school.  The kids are told they have to show off to everyone collections of things they have.  The parents come into the cramped hall andJ we go to different tables and kids tell you about their collections.  Catherine decided that we would package up all the stuffed animals that we had and that is what she would show off.  Jimmy was practicing baseball so the other two kids came with me and umple eddie.  I found out an interesting thing while I was there...the collection night was supposed to be for Laura's class too.....She just wasnt interested though.  Ava, Laura's fellow hippie friend was there and had some sort of collection too....Those two are so goofy together.  They are actually quite cute.  Catherine was loving it.  At first she was very excited...that subsided very quickly though as other things caught her eye.  She actually asked me if I could sit at her exhibit while she floated around.  Of course I did......
Last night Jimmy's basketball team had a father-son game.  Up and down the court we went.....It was a long, long game.  I was one of those obnoxious parents who was fouling all the kids and trash talking.  At one point I took Jack on our team.  He had been behaving so good all night.  When he came down court with me, I gave him the ball to shoot and sure enough he swished it!!  He went back to his seat right after with a great big smile.  While we were driving home he asked me if I could put that on the blog.....Here you go Jackie, you earned it!!!

OMJ had a rough night

     Last night I was sitting on the couch, in the dark, looking out the front window at Ole Man Jenkins.  I just sat there and chuckled as Jack and the others pretended to be asleep and then again as everyone yelled at Jack to be quiet so they could sleep...then Jack comes out and tells me how he's afraid and on and on it goes.........But after all this, I still look out on the front yard and again chuckle at the seven foot snowman adorning our front yard.  He's a sight alright.
     This morning I was driving the kids off to Kara's house and noticed that it looked like he had a rough night.  One eye was missing, his nose discheveled, the carrot nose had slipped and the pipe had tipped over, though it was still hanging on.  Dont ask why the bucket is on his arm, we dont know but it served us well.  He's a funny looking snowthing but he keeps me in belly laughs.

Old Man Jenkins the Snowman

     Welllllll, we were sitting in the living room after dinner and the kids started talking about going night sledding out back.  Well, there was a game changer.  I asked them if they wanted to make the biggest snowman ever....After a resounding yes we all headed out into the snow...and light rain to make the giant snowman.  We took a large bucket and kept filling it with snow and plopping it down.  One over the other and then we filled the cracks. 

     Onward and upward it went, one layer on top of another.  The head fell off a couple of times but we just kept at it.

     Jimmy stayed inside watching a movie.  I think with the school vacation i think he enjoyed finally being alone so I didnt push it.

 

     So now they go back and forth about naming the snowman.  We have gone through Joanne the snowman, Midge, Roger and Ring the snowman.  It was time for Old Man Jenkins the snowman.  We were going to make a two headed snowman and call it Jenkins the snowman after Wendy and Dave but Jackie just wanted to have Old Man Jenkins the snowman. 

     Last year jackie and I were walking down the street and one of the neighbors, Dave, was out in the yard.  Jackie yelled out to me, hey there is Old Man Jenkins!!!  I'm pretty sure its a character from Spongebob Squarepants but thought it was hilarious.  I told Dave about it and he thought it was great too.  His wife Wendy is now Mrs Old Man Jenkins.

     Yes, its a tall snowman.  I think I damn near pulled something lifting the snow onto the top.

Night Sledding in the back yard

Although it was dark, we dragged an extension light out in the back yard and did some night sledding.  Last night we had promised the kids that they could go sledding today....only they thought it meant they could go night sledding in the back yard.  Not a problem I guess.  Baby Erin slept over and Laura was switched with her for the night so she took in the huge (not so much) hill in the back yard.  Its still a good sized hill.  With two sleds that could make it through, they all kept coming back for more and Jimmy and I gave them a good push down the hill.  The dogs were in the pen giving us encouragement most of the time.  I actually got in a few runs too, it was pretty fun.  I really think once again that I am so lucky to be a kid and do these things because once again, it would be awkward if I screamed like a little girl going down the hill without a screaming kid with me.  They got some good speed going down the hill and a couple of times went flying into the portable kids houses out there.  Jackie, of course, makes it an olympic event and creates, and then breaks, all the rules.  I see myself in that little daredevil more an more each day.  Yesterday, he was sitting quietly in a chair downstairs watching Jimmy play video games.  Jimmy doesnt let him talk while he's down there with him and Jimmy is playing xbox.  I was in my office just watching how cute he is....he was so into that game that Jimmy was playing.  I just had to go pick him up and fling him over my shoulder and carry him upstairs with me.  Tonight, after my all too frequent trips to Target, I came home and found him on the living room couch...he had that little flinching look on his pretend sleeping face.  What a little faker.....Lyn told me not to laugh because I was just encouraging him.......I tried not to but its really impossible.  Maybe we can get some pictures of them sledding during the daylight because its very funny to be around.  I have to have three layers of clothes on because I am just a wimp when it comes to the cold. 

Happy Birthday Umple Eddie

     Happy Birthday Umple Eddie.  The kids were all excited about wishing the umple a happy birthday.  We got a nice roast and cooked it after Jimmy's baskeball game. 

This picture below is more like it when the kids are around umple eddie.  They love their umple !!!!

We are snowed in

      The newest storm of the century has arrived and we loved it.  We didnt even lose power.  Jimmy and Laura slept over Kara's house and we got Erin to sleep over here. 

     The red spots on her face are the snow coloring markers that they got for Christmas.  It looked like blood to me but I was corrected. 

Father Daughter Dance

Catherine and her Date Uncle Patrick

      The gals had a Father Daughter dance at school the other night.  Well, because there are two of them and only one of me, Uncle Patrick came as catherines date.  It was a great time as the gals looked stunningly beautiful.  They both had corsages and brought their dance shoes.

      I had told both girls before the dance that they cant make fun of uncle Patrick because he doesnt have the dance moves that Daddy has.  If you look at all the people around Laura and I they are in slow motion while she has me spinning around, doing flips....basically killing me slowly.  

      At one point we were all brought near midcourt and the DJ's came out and taught us this choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's thriller song.  We had to go back and forth and claw at our partner and shake it up.  I know there is a video out there somewhere and I'll for sure put it on the blog. 

     This was a fantastic time had by all.  The kids loved that Uncle Patrick came and had some fun with us.  They served us some pizza and hershies kisses for dessert.  Catherine kept stopping her dancing to go into the other room to get herself some chocolates.  I taught her well....!!

An Artist should photoshop their canvas, dont ya think????

Catherine drew this picture with her and mommy and daddy.  As sweet as she is, and she is sooo sweet, I had to send her back to the canvas to add more hair onto daddy's head.  I'm sensitive you know.

Jack's first Bruins game

     We got there early.  To make amends with fans they gave free concessions during the game.  My stomach still hurts from eating all the garbage.  For him, didnt matter so much.  He loves the escalator and being taller than daddy.

     I dont know who this lady was who sat right next to Jackie when i stood up to take his picture.  He didnt seem to mind.  I think he was going to ask her to hold his drink.

What a great game to make your first time to see the Boston Bruins.  We got the tickets from Umple Eddie and Jackie was up to go.  We took the train into North Station and arrived in plenty of time....you wouldnt think so because Jackie wanted us to leave two hours before it left.  He kept telling me we were going to be late, lets go daddy, daddy we are going to miss the Boston Bruins game.  So, I finally gave in and we went real, real early.  But we got some Dunkin Donuts food and coffee and before you knew it the train was there. 
When we got to the North Station we did the customary(for Jimmy and I)  trip to MacDonalds for some Chicken Nuggets and sat with the common folk out in the station.  When we finally got to go in he was soooo excited.  There was hardly anyone in there so we just sat there and Jackie just took it all in. 
The game itself was more defensive with a great fight in the first period.  The third period was winding down and Jackie was saying that the bruins were going to lose.  Then all of a sudden, a tie scoring goal.  The whole place erupted...He had no idea what hit him.  He was screaming, jumping and just loving all of it.  The game went into overtime as we made our way to the platform for the train.  We held out as long as we could but that train wouldnt wait for us. 
On the train ride home he just wouldnt stop talking.  He was so excited and repeated the story of the last goal out load over and over again on the train.  He was so excited while making the phone call to Aunt Jo that the whole train heard him.  Thankfully, they all thought it was cute, as it was.   

Colored Ice balls and more sports

About a month and a half ago, my good friend Dee (Alpahabet Dee to the kids) told me to try getting some food coloring in water and pour them into balloons, leave them in the yard to freeze and get them the next day for the kids to leave multicolored ice balls in the driveway. Well, i ended up getting some smallish balloons and doing just that. It turned out to be painfully slow and we adjusted it by finding a couple of latex gloves and filling them. The weather hasnt really been cooperative until now, boy is the weather cooperating now. The gloves and balloon balls are waiting for us under the white birch tree for peeling tomorrow. I just checked on them and the gloves seem to be taking some good freezing.
Sometimes, more than sometimes I think, I get excited about these things more than the kids do. If the kids werent around I'd probably think of doing something like this. Of course, that might be viewed as being a bit strange by some. It is great to be able to have the kids as an excuse to do something so fun. They did get into it and poured the colored water into the balloons I was holding. They make everything so fun. Laura got the red color, Jack green and Catherine purple. Who would have thought red and green made purple!!! Jimmy was there to supervise the event and the kids were crazy enough to want to come outside in this 16 degree temperature to place them there. Its a good thing they are so mature because i'd try to do something like make a middle finger ice hand. See, its a good thing the kids are around.
Laura still whispers to me that there is an empty milk jug in the garage waiting for us. We unloaded two of them last night. That cap goes flying across the garage.
Tomorrow, there will be basketball games and a swim meet. Today, Laura had a basketball game that her team won. She was on the free throw line with about a minute left in the game. She had been pushed when she was shooting and got two free throws. She told her mommy that the girl pushed her before she could push her back. Well, here she was with the first free throw and threw it up there. I was watching her as her face was utter astonishment when the shot went in. It went SWISH but her face was priceless. I asked her after the game if she was surprised the shot went in. She just laughed and laughed because yes she was. It was great and the team ended up winning....by one point!! She tries so hard and runs up and down that court with alot of vigor. Tomorrow, she swims in both the morning and afternoon meet and Catherine is swimming too. Swimming is the sport Laura absolutely loves. She smiles the whole time and is so goofy with all her fellow goofball swimmers. I think Daddy get so excited about these sports. Jimmy has a basketball game in the afternoon too. His team is so funny. They always end up getting behind and make these crazy comebacks. He's gotten so much more confident driving to the hoop. Tonight we had a one on one game in the driveway. Did I say it was 16 degrees outside. He was doing his best dog and pony show with the ball before taking a shot. I said okay Jimmy, its time to shoot and get the hell out of here. The ball was like a 23 inch frozen projectile and a couple of times it went flying by my head. My shots were lucky if they made it near the backboard. For the record, I beat him!! I'm not going to let the little buggah beat me. Because usually he does.
  ****Well, we finally did get two good ice hands...one of them fell apart though.  The weather today hit about 30 degrees but the gloves were stuck in the sun.  When we went to pull it open I realized there was an air bubble underneath the surface and the red hand leaked all over me.  We ended up with the green hand and a couple of red ice balls.  Which I am very excited about....for our first attempt.  Its going to get better as time goes by.  I think next week we'll try again with more rubber gloves and different colors.  It was pretty fun!!

Lost the pointer finger.  I guess we could say the the green man lost his pointer finger and the red balls are the clots of blood that came out as a result.  Yes, thats sick enough.

Just some photos

 Clearing out some December-January photos off the ole phone camera.  some are duplicates but still worth another look.

                                       Fenway park at night in the winter from teh 406 Club

Fenway Park is great any time of the year

       My friend Mike invited Jimmy and I to Fenway park on this cold January day for the Annual Boston College Baseball dinner as a winter kickoff to their season. I had been talking to him last month about Jimmy having some health problems that may or may not affect his baseball game. Mike's son Brian and his other son Joe actually played for the BC Eagles. This was an awesome night with the new manager of the Boston Red Sox, John Farrell, being the guest speaker. Brian had arranged so that Jimmy might possibly get a chance to go meet Farrell. Jimmy saw him come in and at one point we headed down to wait for him to stop talking to some people. I didnt know what to expect and wasnt really sure if we'd have a chance to get a picture with him. Boy was i surprised when he actually approached us and started chatting up Jimmy. What a great guy.