Easter at school

Mo got a chance to look for Easter eggs yesterday at school - all the parents had to fill ten plastic eggs with some treats. I think they were training for Sunday. I really haven't spoken to the Easter Bunny yet, so we are a tad behind schedule as far as basket preparation. That lazy bunny.

St. Patrick's Day

Saturday brought the annual St. Patrick's Day parade, and quite a few inches of rain as well. I guess you can say it was a downpour, but that didn't keep us from marching down the main drag with our Bonnycastle cohorts. It was one of the few days I get each year where my dear wife overlooks some of my over-indulgences. In other words, she lets me drink a lot and tries not to give me a hard time about it. God love her - she took care of Mojo all day while I prepared and participated.

We really don't have much of a parade presence as a group. We have an old 40's style milk truck pulling a wagon that has the club name taped to the side. What ever members we have on hand walk to the side of the wagon handing out candy and green beads to the on-lookers. It's more fun seeing what other participants come up with, and seeing how many Irish descendants participate in the event (i.e. the Ryans will march down the street, followed by the McCartys, followed by the Fitzgeralds, etc.) Kristin and Mojo watched the parade street-side, but the rain got too much for them. They packed up before I had a chance to see them.

Kristin (my Rock) met the babysitters, Grandpa and Uncle Joes, at our home at 5pm, then met me back at the club, where we had some corned beef sandwiches and listened to a live Irish band. We had a fairly big party of friends present, but there were not so many other members there. I think that made it better - it was like we had our own private party.

Betty's owlspinetree blog does a better job describing the party. We had a very nice time and hope that we can keep this tradition going for years to come.

Last night we had a small gathering at Mojo's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Scott's house for some excellent crockpot corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots with onions. It rocked! Many thank yous go out to them for a tasty St. Patty's Day dinner!

For those family and friends who will not be with us this weekend, have a very Happy Easter. Here's a cute picture of Cousin A and Mojo, and another of Mojo and her constant mess of toys, both taken a week or so ago.

Happy St. Pat's

Down by the Beeeeeee

She actually does it a little better, but there's a lot of pressure when you're on camera.

Enjoy!

Down by the bay

Momo is a singer. She loves music. Last night while giving her a bath I realized she is paying attention to the lyrics. One of our household favorites is the song Down by the bay. I'm not sure of its origin, but I know Raffi made some money by recording it, and we have a Raffi book based on the song, so I'm going to assume he had something to do with it. We sing it all the time. We also play a version sung by children on my car stereo, over and over and over again. We noticed that Maureen kept singing "Bee" which we determined was Bay.
So, back to the bath; I started the song:

Dad: Down by the...
Mo: Beeeee (meaning Bay)
Dad: Where the watermelon...
Mo: Go (meaning Grow)
Dad: Back to my...
Mo: Home (no interpretation needed)
Dad: I dare not...
Mo: Go (meaning Go)
Dad: For if I...
Mo: Dooo (meaning Do)
Dad: My mother would...
Mo: Ayeeee (meaning Say)
Dad: Did you ever see a Goose kissing a Moose? Down by the...
Mo: Beeeee

She keeps surprising us each day.

What a difference a year makes!

Final games of the season

The Ducks suffered two losses last night in a disappointing dartball doubleheader. I had flashes back to grade school kickball as I missed the board several times and felt the hidden grins and heard the soft snickers of my peers. Only this time, my peers were not eighth grade boys, but a group that included a couple of women in their seventies (this does not include my mother in-law.) Based on my performance only, our team name should be Don's Wounded Ducks. Though, I believe my inability to play sports well has made me the humble man I am today-- can you imagine how much more of a jerk I would be if I were athletic? I hope my team spirit and willingness to man the board keeps me from being traded next season. I have time to train over the Spring and Summer months - perhaps we can buy a chicken and I can chase it around our back yard like Rocky did in the movie Rocky. (Or was that Rocky 2?) But, as I mentioned, we didn't need those games anyway as we sealed the deal on winning the prize for the second half of the season.

Saturday brings our fine city's St. Patrick's Day parade and our celebration later Saturday night at the club. Now this is something that I'm good at - drinking and enjoying myself! There's a 60% chance of rain, but we'll have a good time rain or shine. Stay tuned for coverage of the Dartball Tournament in two weeks. Maybe I can figure out how to broadcast it live over the blog. On second thought, maybe not!

Happy Birthday Aunt Chrissy

Today is my sister Chrissy's birthday - Happy B-Day Aunt Chrissy!! The tradition in our family is to call a sibling on his or her birthday and sing the (Happy Birthday) song in our best Grandpa voice. This is not an easy achievement because our Grandfather had a loud, gravel-y voice. I can only get a few "happy birthday to you"s out before launching into a coughing fit. Degree of difficulty is a 9.65. I guess I'm the designated Grandpa these days, or maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's important to keep mocking him in this manner. But its more of a adoring tribute of a mocking, if you know what I mean.
Maureen is feeling much better - she is taking antibiotics to get over an ear infection and a sinus infection, and she is taking drops for double pink eye. She loves the taste of the medicine and asks for more after every dose. We have to wrestle her down for the drops but it doesn't hurt her and she seems unfazed afterwards.

Snowbound

It snowed, by some accounts, up to ten inches last Friday. I came home from work and haven't left the house since. Kristin and Maureen haven't left the house since Thursday. No shoveling, no sledding, no nothing but family togetherness for the whole weekend. We were considering getting Mo out in the snow for some low-impact sled riding, but she had a touch of the crud and we decided not to chance it. She vomited a tad last night and tonight she is oozing from both eyes. It's Sunday night and most of the snow melted off my car, the sidewalks and most of the driveway. I should be able to hop right in the car and drive off to work without much effort (yay, rah!) I think we should have the nice weather to get everything totally melted this week in time for the St. Patty's Day Parade.

Recent photos

Temper temper

Mojo has been throwing a few temper tantrums lately, and has taken a few swings at me and Kristin. She is definitely starting to learn where the boundaries are with us - and we are trying to learn how to deal with a very stubborn one-year-old. They are very hard lessons learned on both counts. Feel free to reply and share some parental bits of wisdom.

Ahoy!

Arrgg!

Over 3,000 served

The AOOSFB blog has acheived over 3000 hits and is going strong!

Don's Ducks clinch the 2nd half

Our Bonnycastle Club dart baseball team, Don's Ducks clinched the 2nd half season title last night by winning two out of two games. The second game went into extra innings where the Ducks rallied at the top of the 10th with two home runs. The losers (I can't remember their team name) couldn't answer. Personally, I had one home run in each game - I also missed the board three times. The home runs came after I finished my Guiness - you never know what my shaky arm is capable of. My in laws were as steady as always - GMK had one homer in the first game and GPP had two home runs - it seems that all the Ducks showed up ready to play. We have two more games coming up in the week after next and we don't even have to show up, though that's not our style. I think we'll be in top shape for the tournament - we should have our full bench back by then as the snowbirds (ducks) come back home.

Recent popular words

Hello everyone. I think I figured out why I haven't written in a while - It's all about sleep patterns. I try to get up early (meaning 6am) to take my shower, have my coffee and collect my thoughts before starting my day. The problem is that Maureen has adjusted her body clock to my schedule and is getting up earlier, making Kristin get up earlier as well. Therefore our routines start earlier and I have no time to sit and collect my thoughts (which means I get over it quick.) This good morning I got up at 5:30 and did not immediately get into the shower which, incidentally, is next to Maureen's bedroom. I'm sure I will have plenty of early morning time come late June with the arrival of Baby X (Rowan? Mick? Jasper?)
Anyway, the title of this entry is Recent popular words because Maureen has recently added some funny things to her vocab. She has learned the proper pronunciation of the word yeah and is using it incessantly. I guess it's better than the no referenced in blog date January 22, but we need to start working on the ess sound of yes. Right now she sounds like a teenager.
The other word needs pronunciation help as well - the word sit. She is in the habit of patting her hand on the floor, or on a chair, or anywhere she wants you to sit, but says shit. It is also funny, though she can be a real hardhead in her insisting that you SIT, and SIT NOW, and SIT EXACTLY WHERE I WANT YOU TO SIT. Poor Baby X doesn't have a chance.
And speaking of Babhy X - I was able to feel him moving around for the first time last night. He's real. It's hard for me to focus on him still. It seems less real than I remember at this point with Maureen. We are trying to get his room somewhat ready - our friends DiAne and Troy leant us a crib, changing table and some baby boy decor. The room also has our old full sized bed (did I mention the new King Sized bed? It's worth its own blog entry!!) and a TV in it. The theory behind the bed and TV is for the late night and early morning feedings and cryings.
OK - it's 6:18 - I guess I need to get into the shower and face the day.

This bites

Maureen was victomized yesterday at school. Some little, in-bred brat bit her on the leg. That's really all the information Kristin was given yesterday afternoon (I'm just speculating on the in-breeding part.) Apparently the school only lets you know that a bite occured - they don't let you know who did the biting.
The event was the main topic of discussion this morning as I dropped Mo off in the baby room - I guess word spreads fast when there's a confirmed bite. I believe Mo was a bit shocked and cried a tad, but I think she's unfazed by the event. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see how she handled it.
I already have my people looking into it. We're going to find out who it was and make the culprit's parent's life a living hell. They picked the wrong little girl to mess with - I tell you!

A week in review

No Doodoo

We're really not sure why she's saying it. She just woke up one morning and it became part of her vocabulary, and ours.

Pantyhead

Two nights ago, Maureen came to us with a pair of bloomers on her head like a hat. I ran to get my camera but it was too late - she took them off. We recreated the moment for the photos.

Writer's block

I have lost some of my enthusiasm for blogging here lately. I'm not sure why. I am still very enthusiastic about being a father and Maureen does something noteworthy every day. Kristin is progressing with the pregnancy like a pro, and we are still excited about Baby-boy X. We haven't had the camera nor the video camera out for weeks - our photo album will have a noticeable time-shift. Is it the February Malaise? Is it the end-of-NFL-season blues? Has blogging Jumped the Shark? I'm not quite sure.

We are looking forward to an overnighter in Indianapolis later this month - we're going to stay at a hotel with a swimming pool, and visit the Childen's Museum - that will be something to look forward to. I will have to miss defending my title as winner of the annual Bonnycastle Club Chili Cookoff, but these are the sacrifices one needs to make for Family Fun! Kristin and I just made reservations for Valentines Dinner this Saturday night at a French restaurant we've wanted to visit for years. We had Valentines reservations two years ago, but K was too sick with Mojo to enjoy it, so we canceled. We have a lot to look forward to, so maybe that will inspire me to keep blogging away.