Our Christmas Wish

May you have a blessed Christmas and the true spirit of Christmas be with you throughout the new year!! Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!!


Holiday photo by Lisa Campbell

Duran Duran still hot hot hot

We counted the days to see Duran Duran live. They gave an awesome show after 20 or so years later since the first time I saw them. Kristen, Daralyn and I had a BLAST! Daralyn just about died everytime John Taylor had a solo while KK and I screamed for Simon. They played about 3 songs from their new album but the rest of the 2 hours, they played the old songs! Simon dedicated "Come Undone" to his mum who came along on this leg of the tour. The encore numbers--"Girls on Film" and of course the song that was played so much on MTV during its salad days -- "RIO!".

RIO !!!! Look closely--you'll see Kristen and Daralyn dancing and singing away.

Please please tell me now!! Is there something I should know!

What a FUN night!! Thank you Kristen and Daralyn! and a big thanks to SARAH for watching the kids!

Friday morning smiles

Can't get tired of waking up to this.

Elves at work

On the second day of advent, three little elves worked on building a gingerbread house. A tasty treat after caroling in a couple of weeks!

God our Father

"God our Father, God our Father, we thank You, we thank You. For our many blessings, for our many blessings. Amen. Amen"
Ronan's favorite meal blessing song just about says it all. So simple yet so profound. We are thankful for the blessings of good health, great friends and awesome families, not just on Thanksgiving but everyday.

A few friends and I got together and decided to have a "cooking strike". Diane organized and ordered turkeys and trimmings from a gourmet market in Mobile. When she picked the meal up on Wednesday, we had a itty bitty moment of panic thinking that there won't be enough food--seeing that we will have tweenies, and teens coming and we all know how much teenagers can eat! So we ended up cooking a little bit of something else. Turns out we had PLENTY of food, even if we didn't cook the extra green beans, potatoes and ham. The meal was delicious!! especially the fried whole turkey. The all time hit however is Diane's peanut butter trifle. It was so fantabulous that I refused to acknowledge exactly how many calories per serving. Jim flew in from Oregon to celebrate the holiday with us. I'm so glad he was here to share the feast with friends--our last big party in our Mississippi home.
As we were washing the dishes, Diane and I noted that she and her family were in our home in our first of many parties throughout the years here in MS. I am reminded of the many times holidays and dinners both planned and impromptu were held here. Friends who came and shared meals and laughter with us. I'm so glad that I took every opportunity to have them in our home. Their spirit linger in the nooks and crannies of this house that I never felt alone even when I'm by myself with the kids.

Hello Mr. Turkey! How are you?

Happy Thanksgiving from the Dolans !

And Ronan's pre-K class and the kiddos from FBEEC

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Dancing with da starz

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Middle Age School Musical

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Goodnight Mom..

In the messy green
family room
There was a telemarketer
ringing the telephone


And a crying toddler
because his brother
just popped his
red balloon
And a picture of -
The cow jumping over the moon
(which someone colored on
with permanent marker)
And there was a missing
teddy bear, and a girl with
gum in her hair
And one to be scolded
and laundry to be folded
And a very hungry spouse
And something stinky in the house
(that no one else seemed to smell)
and a comb and a brush and a colicky
baby who just won’t shush
and a frazzled mommy screaming %&*#@
Goodnight messy room
Goodnight scribbled-on moon
Goodnight cow getting out while she can
Goodnight telemarketers and the
popped balloon
Goodnight long-gone teddy bear
Goodnight cereal bar smeared all
over the dining room chair
Goodnight spitup
And goodnight leaky sippy cup
Goodnight much-too-little house and
goodnight grumpy spouse
Goodnight comb and goodnight brush
And goodnight to a certain 4-year-old
who just needs to hush right now I mean it
Goodnight Elmo
Goodnight toys we’ll pick up tomorrow,
or the next day
Hello chardonnay and TiVo-
"me" time finally


.(w/apologies to Good Night Moon's Margaret Wise Brown-Parenting.com)

I wish I was clever enough to write this but it's not by me--got it from Parenting.com

All I want for Christmas

Ronan fractured his front tooth while wrestling with his big brother. We went to the dentist and as he was checking it, the tooth broke off!! Now little Ronan has one toothless grin! I have to admit, it was harder on me than on him to loose that tooth. Half the tooth is still in so it shouldn't affect his other teeth too much ---he looks so different. I can't help but laugh everytime he shows me his brand new grin. I suppose he'll be singing "all I want for Christmas is my one front tooth"..for a couple of years!

Halloween Hooligans

Nathan (star trooper) & Patrick (halo)
Patrick, Nathan & Ronan
Little Pumpkin Gabriel with Mrs. Maribel
Dominic & Rod
I'm wearing Kristen's headdress and Sophie's blanket
Benji showing the boys the "ghost trail" behind his house
Halloween night outside our house, getting ready to trick or treat
The kids scored lots of goodies in our neighborhood!

Happy Birthday my darlings!

My big boys celebrated their birthdays today at Pump It Up, an indoor play area. They had such a blast with their friends. I can't believe how fast they have grown.
Happy 7th Patrick !!
Happy 4th Ronan!
My little baby Gabriel woke up to watch the kids eat cake and play.
Lola and Papa joined the festivities wearing their sunglasses! When you're cool the sun always shines.
We only had a few kids who did not make it to the party but there were a total of 24 jumping kids who woke up early to be at a 9:30 am party!!
Here are the moms who made it happen! They got the kids and themselves out of Halloween sugar hangover to celebrate Patrick and Ronan's birthday. Thanks girls!! (and dads too).It was a fun morning indeed!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fall Fun

My pretty pumpkins
In search of the perfect pumpkin to take home.
Got it!

Matheson and Ronan in Courtney Farms with their class

Fall Festival at Pecan Park
First Grade Fall Musical
We love fall!
Patrick's first grade class fall party

Buon Compleano!

Kristen, Jenni, and I all have birthdays in October. We celebrated last week at a local Italian restaurant with some girlfriends. Had a fun night of gab and femme bonding. Turning 43--not such a big deal. There is some certain inner calm that comes as one gets older I suppose, and I'm beginning to appreciate that. Life is good. Now...the astigmatism is another story...the reading glasses has to be within reach a lot more times nowadays.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 2008

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We were blessed with a beautiful fall day for the 3rd annual breast cancer walk for the American Cancer Society. Our team raised over $9k !!! . I'm so grateful for friends and family who helped me surpass my personal goal of raising $500. Our team's top fundraisers, Julie and Jay collected $6500. Jay told his friends that if he raised $3k he will do the walk wearing a pink tutu, pink wig, and pink boots. The paparazzi were all over him. Patrick and Ronan wore their fushia pink tshirts without complaints --no complaints walking either. It was nice to see many survivors walking among the approximately 5000 walkers today.


WE MADE IT ON THE LOCAL NEWS !!! Click here to see Dulcinea's Angels Team on WLOX News

Dulcinea's Angels Team Walkers

Two peas in a pod

No copy needed for these series of pix. These boys crack me up!

Trash party--and talking trash

We met Patrick's Cub Scout troop (Pack 271) this morning to participate in the annual MS Coast Cleanup. It actually felt like fall this morning. It was nippy enough to don a sweatshirt and cap. We found quite a bit of trash--lots of beer bottles, plastic bags, plastic caps. Weirdest finds--a doll's leg, a whole doll, top of an icebox and a condom.The Browns
We met the Brown Clan--that's Morgan with me. Isn't she a doll? She loves Gabriel Note how I strategically placed the trash bag infront of my postpartum belly and in some people's eyes--still a pregnant belly. Someone inquired this morning as to when the baby is DUE!! . Dangit!!

Burning Questions

Did you get a new car to fit all the kids?
Nope! Have not acquired the official soccer-mom-mobile. What I do have are two new narrow booster seats and a new infant car seat so all three treasures can fit in the back of my good ol' car. Good to go for one year (or less) and then a red Kia Sedona for us.

Is there such a thing as a perfect playdate?
YES! it happened yesterday. One of Ronan's friends, Matheson came over to play. They played independently from 8:30-11:00 in Ronan's room. There was no whining, no fighting over a toy, no screaming. I had to keep checking to make sure they were okay. They only came out to have a snack. We've known Matheson for a couple of years now and I hardly ever hear him talk --but yesterday they were just chit chatting away about Power Rangers and Bakugans and Bionicle worlds. After lunch we headed out to the playground and they ran around 'till Matheson's mom picked him up. Another playdate to be scheduled soon!


Does Gabriel have dimples?
We've been dimple hunting now for 4 weeks--he started to smile a couple of days ago--the answer is YES! he has one on his right cheek.
Go ahead..squeeze my chubby cheeks!

Is Gabriel still using cloth diapers?
You betcha! So far so good...I feel a little less guilty about filling landfills with diapers. Cloth diapers have come a long way in the last seven years. I tried using them with Patrick and I lasted a total of 3 days. We use Bum Genius--easy to use and they give Gabriel a fluffy butt.


When is that baby going to come out?
Two weeks after I had Gabriel, one of the moms from Ronan's school asked me when I was due. I smiled and told her, I already had the baby . It just takes me a while to loose the weight. She on the other hand had already lost her pregnancy weight after having twins two months ago.
The week after, the nice little old lady who greats parishoners before mass gave me a hug and asked "Oh, when is that baby going to come out?" and then she proceeded to make the sign of the cross on my belly and gave it a blessing. I told her I already had the baby but she had a little trouble with hearing. As we were leaving church, she was surprised to see Jim carrying the baby.
This past Sunday, another inquiring mind posted a queston. Gabriel stayed home with my parents. Patrick, Ronan & I went to church. After mass a nice lady came up to me to tell me how cute the boys are and asked if my third one is going to be a girl. I smiled and told her, I JUST had a baby and it's a boy.

Dang! it's a good thing I've got thick armadillo skin or I'd be crying all the way to a Weight Watcher's meeting. I'm not one of those celebrities or even regular people who can lose weight right after giving birth (at 42!). I don't really start losing it 'till I start weaning the baby off breastfeeding, and then even then I have to really work out to get back to prepregnancy weight. And yeah..isn't the equation for post pregnancy weight loss equals total weight gain minus baby weight minus placenta weight minus rate of diuresis multiplied by amount of excess vascular fluid divided by metabollic rate minus maternal age plus number of calories consumed during midnight snacking minus caloric needs to produce 4 ounces of breastmilk every 2-4 hours mutliplied by degree of self esteem to the factor of 10 and the square root of the number of inquiries of when one is due after having a baby...yeah that's it I think I got the equation right. Who knows--I just might look like Salma Hayak in 2 years!