Monkey off the bed

After 48 hours of bad gastroenteritis, Ronan is on the mend. Poor little thing, with high fevers and vomitting, I think he lost a pound or two. Thanks to transdermal phenergan (yes! they make 'em now for kids) and tylenol suppositories at least his symptoms got under control after 12 hours. First night, we didn't get much sleep because he'd throw up, I'd change the sheets and then only to do it again in two hours later and then again. By the second night however, we both got decent sleep. I slept with him again 'cuz I want to make sure I'm there when he needs me. Well...I woke up the next morning and found Ronan on the carpet floor--sound asleep. When he woke up, I asked him "Roanie, did you fall off the bed OR crawled out of bed?" He replied "I dunno, mom. Where are we going?" Oh yeah...he's feeling better.

Five little monkeys

I let the kids sleep in today. Since I was feeling exhausted, I decided to keep Patrick from school . Before you know it we had an impromptu playdate. Katie dropped Will off so she and Josh can finish up with packing and cleaning. Sadly, after only a little over a year, the Owens are moving to San Antonio, Texas. Kelsey dropped off Nic so she can go to an appointment and Elijah who lives just across the street came by with his little brother Isaiah. It was a beautiful spring morning, no bugs, relatively low humidity and a nice breeze. And a nice little tree in front of our house to hold a few monkeys.

















Woo hoo hoo haaaa haaa haaaa





With five boys on hand, I put them to work and had them help me cut down four dried up banana trees. They were a big help
Then off to the playground for two hours of digging dirt, sliding, swinging, playing hide and seek and just plain ol' running around.



A Mississippi Send- Off


We're going to miss you Will! See you later Cowboy!

Playdate for mama!

My friend Laurie is town for a visit!! I will be out of blogsphere for a few days to enjoy her visit! I'm so excited I can't sleep. This is her second visit since we've moved here. We're going to have fun catching up!! woo hoo!!

Little League Opening Game

I know, it's hard he's not wearing a Giants uniform

At the dugout

A serious third baseman

Homerun!

Memorial Marathon

Jim ran a half marathon at 4:00 this morning. It had to be that early as you can imagine the weather in Qatar by 6am would be too hot to run a 1/2marathon. His stats 13.2 miles in 1 hour 37 minutes! Not bad for a young man of 41. If you look closely, the run even drew blood. The safety pin holding his number chaffed his skin so much that he bled. Well--the marathon was called Bataan Death March memorial run. ..in honor of those young men who lost their lives in Bataan during World War II.

Go Tigers!

Ronan had his first koosh ball game yesterday afternoon. His team did so well! I think it helps that most of the kids on his team goes to the same school as he. They play twice a week for the next four weeks, and one practice night each week. He's a pretty busy three year old. He had so much fun that during bath time he talked and talked about the game and how his friends did this and that. There were a lot of proud parents on the field!


A serious first baseman


Homerun!


Hanging out at the sidelines (with Sophie, Matheson, & Elijah)

" The Best Thing about Easter..."

We had a beautiful Easter celebration with a wonderful circle of friends at home at our annual Easter potluck. Although, not everyone was able to attend, we had a great crowd of 19 adults, 10 kids, 6 tweenies/teenagers! The kids had a great time playing and hunting for eggs. The "older" kids were hysterical doing a three-legged egg hunt. When I took this group photo of the kids I said "say Easter", and then asked "What's the best thing about Easter?" While the little ones said Easter bunny, Patrick exclaimed " JESUS!" ..which pretty much sums the reason for the season. It is also on the last page of his favorite Easter book.


"Oh yes! I like easter eggs, and I like Easter candy and I like soft furry bunnies and fuzzy baby ducks, and I like getting all dressed up and being together on Easter Sunday. BUT...the BEST thing about Easter is Jesus! "

"This is what Love is: God loves us and sent His Son." 1 John 4:10

The boys look so happy and fresh here because I didn't have to wake them up early for Easter service. We would have had to be in church at 7:00 to get a seat for 8:30 mass. But we did attend the Easter Vigil last night ( ohh...which lasted 1 hour 45 minutes) . They loved going inside the dark church, each carrying a candle. I too loved that part of the vigil. Patrick was really into it that he sang along during the litany that KC led with the choir. I did wake up at 4:30 am to finish cleaning the kitchen and preparing the ham. I saw parts of the Easter service at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on TV. It was raining in Rome...pretty symbolic.



EASTER CELEBRATION SLIDESHOW
Turn off Dolan Island Tunes by clicking the pause button on right column
Then CLICK on the bunny below!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Little Jackie Chan

Almost two years ago, we enrolled Patrick in martial arts. About a month ago, he was promoted to Phase I (from Little Dragon to Beginners). Usually a student has to be at least 7 years old to be considered to begin Phase I. Once he moved from Little Dragon to Beginner's class, his teacher thought he could move up to Phase I immediately. He was only in Beginner's class for 4 weeks instead of 4-6 months. I was a little nervous as the kids in Phase 1 were a lot older. There was only one kid who is 7, the rest were older. The class also is an hour long (instead of the 30 minutes Patrick was used to) and the last 15 minutes is spent sparring. Last week, Patrick received his safety gear and two days ago sparred for the first time. He surprised me and the other kids. Antonio who is the most experienced in his class (and the one he's sparring on the video below) told Patrick that he's got a mean round-house kick. I think Ronan would agree. I could not believe he just took off and had no fear going on the offense. Jackie Chan watch out!
En garde

Front-side kick!



Patrick sparring with Antonio who is eleven years old.
This is just his second sparring session--feisty little six year old!

Puddle hunting

It rained all night and all morning. Three of Ronan & Patrick's friends were over for a playdate. We really wanted to go to the park but it kept raining and raining. Until...it finally stopped at noon and then we were OUT!! woo hooo--free. We decided to go puddle hunting. The largest puddle we found was in our backyard. Andrew claimed it can be a pool! We also hunted for worms..thank God we didn't find any. Mannn! it's great to be a kid. .
When was the last time you went puddle hunting?

Hot Wheels Valet Boys











Shake it Will !











Has it stopped raining yet?











Woo-hooooo!












Puddle #2











Puddle #3












The biggest puddle of them all!

Dancing with the Stars!

Between Patrick's T-ball practice twice a week, martial arts twice a week, Tball games, Ronan's Koosh ball practice and game schedule..we don't have much time for TV night, which is a good thing. But last night, our favorite family show "Dancing with the Stars" opened its season. This is one TV show the boys love to watch with me. Patrick's favorite dance couple is Mario (an R&B singer) and Carinna. I'm favoring Kristi Yamaguchi and the very cute Mark Ballas. Ronan get excited when he sees a commercial of the show. It's fun to just hang out with them and watch ballroom dancing and I re-live my "salsa dancing" days. And of course more fun to pretend to do the foxtrot with a six and three year old during commercials. Who knows, this may be the only time they'll actually enjoy watching ballroom. So we're having fun.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

We celebrated the boys' Irish heritage by finally making it to the Biloxi St. Patrick's Day Parade. Our friend, KC, who is a very active member of the Hibernia Society had been dying to make Jim be a Grand Marshal of the parade as he is probably the only Irish national in all of Biloxi but Jim's been deployed or out of town each time since we've been here. She was in the Hard Rock Cafe float when she saw us on the sidelines. A bonus! she threw us a couple of Hard Rock T-shirts. The boys had a blast!! They love parades and they know what to do to get beads and toys from the floats. "Throw us a bead mister!"...no exposure needed either!. One float was passing out cabbages!! It was also the same day as the Biloxi BBQ fest so we got to enjoy both southern bbq and the parade. And I should add...the weather was fantastic! a very nice 70 degrees!
BBQ on the Green


Leprechaun or Troll...you decide but whatever it is, Ronan didn't see her!


Waiting for the parade to start.


Finally!! and wouldn't you know, they're playing my song "Wild Rover"


Throw me a bead mister!


Oh yeah!



201, 202, 203...


Fun day indeed!!!

Egg Hunters

Patrick's Class' Easter Party! The siblings had as much fun hunting for eggs. The kindergartners had to search for eggs with their names on it. Mrs. Drake is a loving teacher who makes school fun for the kids. Even Ronan wants to stay in her class.


Ronan and Grant


Mrs. Drake with Patrick

Eggs! Eggs!