Sunday, November 30, 2008

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.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Hello Mr. Turkey! How are you?

Happy Thanksgiving from the Dolans !

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

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Dancing with da starz

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Middle Age School Musical

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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

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

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

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!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

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!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

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!