Her Third birthday cake

  This being her THIRD birthday cake.....this was a ice cream cake too....oooo, so bad for me, but goooooood!!  She had one on Easter Sunday, one on her birthday night too.  We went over Nana and Doe's house last night and Catherine decided that it would be spaghetti and meatballs.  Laura had swimming practice wedged around our dinner.  Now to start the countown to next April 13th...its a fun run though.     I'm thinking she might be spoiled!!

Catherine's Birthday/Celtics game

     What can we say about today....The long anticipated time which we have come to know as Catherine's birthday extravaganza, has finally arrived.  I have never seen anyone get more from a day than this little angel.  All year long, whenever the month of April or the number 13 (or any number around 13) gets mentioned, she is right on top of it celebrating her special date. 
     It started a couple of weeks ago when my friend John called and told me he had  Celtic tickets and would we be interested in it.  Of course we would I said.  Now we don't really watch the Celtics at all, nor pay attention to them ever since  Larry Bird retired, but we are always up for a good time.  So off we went.  The question was whether to take the train or drive a bit and catch up on the trolley....the trolley route it was.  We got out a little bit early so we headed to Faneuil Hall on the orange line and got a burger at Durgin park.  Her biggest decision was whether to get mac and cheese or a cheeseburger and the burger won out in the end. 
     Next, we went right over to the Gahden and found our wonderful seats.  Man o Man those were great seats.  We were in the tenth row and could see all the action.  The Celtics blew the Cavaliers away all game so that made it fun and interesting.  There was a girl in the row next to us dressed up all in green with a silly outfit and the camera went to her several times.  Catherine stole the whole action because she got on the JumboTron twice.....It was awesome, she was so excited.
     The game went by real quick, we did make a break during the game for some ice cream and tinkle.  We stayed till the very end and enjoyed the heck out of the game. 
     After the game we went back over to Quincy Market and shopped and just basically people watched.  Catherine spotted a candy store that she wanted to go into so in we went there.  Also, there was a photo booth that she wanted pictures so we went in there too.  There was this Cookie booth and we could never pass that up either so a dozen cookies later.......
     A couple of times there were street performers doing assorted tricks and Catherine seemed to love that...
     Overall, what a great day.  The girl doesn't stop smiling all day and thanking Daddy...She's awesome.  I had such a great day with her!!

     She got these goofball glasses outside from a vendor for five bucks.  We got our money's worth out of them.  She took numerous selfies for herself because she's goofy...so cute

     Very enticing to jump right into the picture with Bobby Orr here....So cute

     And with Red at Faneuil hall too.....I think she tried to pull the cigar out but..ummm..no cigar!!

Need I say more??

FULL OF LIFE

 

     Our little Jackie is full of life..or full of something.  This picture tells the story of his whole day.  What good would the picture had been if everyone was so calm anyway.  He actually was very well behaved INSIDE the church though.  Everything after that though he was an animal !!! 

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!!!