Pine Wood Derby Race I

After creating "Speed King" with his dad, Patrick entered his first cubscout pine derby race. His car came 11th overall out of 48 cars..not bad for his first race. Jim missed the race as he was reporting in Travis for AF reserve assignment. It was a very exciting afternoon. The most creative car (I thought) was the one shaped like a Converse shoe.

The elusive smile

The one who used to be a ham in front of a camera is no longer a fan of the paparazzi. ... he must be in first grade, or maybe it was too early in the morning. I wanted to get a photo of him wearing his uniform and this is what I got.

A Valentine's Day card from Mrs. Grenz

Patrick's 1st grade teacher sent this cute Valentine card to all the kids and parents. The whole class' portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. Pretty cool!

Love to all !!

You know you have boys when

After dinner entertainment includes watching a captain underpants wrestling match

Habitat for Humanity--I mean the Dolans

On MLK weekend, June and Kiara flew up from SF for a quick visit and to dig me out of these boxes. It's been over 3 years since we've seen them and it was so nice to get together again as if no time has passed between us. Didn't think we'd get much unpacking done but June had a mission...to unpack the boys' stuff (hallelujah!)
I cannot believe how much TOYS we've accumulated over the years! TOOO much! To Goodwill a lot of them will go! Glad they're coming to pick up next week!
The cats were not the only one enamored with Kiara. Little Ronan was quite taken by her. He kept forgetting how to pronounce her name so he called her "the girl with the green shoes". The boys loved having her around especially because she's so great at playing with legos.
I wonder what Ronan was thinking in this photo. Patrick--classic 7 yr old mischief. Love it!


My parents came up also to help take care of Gabriel while we get settled. They've been so incredibly helpful! Keeping me sane amidst all the moving chaos.Gabriel is SOOO LOVING hanging out with them.

Thanks to our first guests on Lancelot Lane--our house is much warmer and feels like home...messy but warm!

Move-In day

Snow is beautiful but not during move-in day! The truck got stuck twice on the hill to get to the house. It took 11 hours for 3 hardworking guys to move everything from the truck to the house. Why they only had 3 people working to unload the stuff is beyond me. I have a lot of respect for the hard work movers do. And I wonder why I have too much stuff that should have been given to Goodwill long long time ago. I pause from unpacking tonight and enjoy watching the snow from the comfort and warmth of my kitchen--which has a built in desk perfect for my MacBook and me.

Adieu OS...for now

When your own husband comes home and says "hey, you haven't updated your blog!"--then it's really time to get back to it. I had been putting it off thinking, gosh..so much has happened, I don't know where to start. So, in the words of my old English teacher in college--just free write--write whatever comes to mind first and don't stop. As most of you know it's been quite an eventful last 3 weeks for my family. After four and a half years in Ocean Springs, we packed up our stuff for the big move. It was incredibly difficult to say goodbye to so many dear dear friends. I'm going to miss them so much-heck I miss them now!. Lila was so kind to open her home and she and Amy hosted a farewell potluck for me. It was an evening I'll remember for a long long time. Unfortunately ,the memory card with all the pictures taken from my camera got misplaced somewhere during the packing. I'll post photos from Cheryl's camera later...unfortunately there's no pix of Amy, Kristen,me and Lila singing Wii American Idol karoake. The actual packing, cleaning, and loading of our stuff went relatively smoothly --thanks to girlfriends again!! Thank you for feeding us, watching the kids and keeping us laughing and offering your homes for us to crash in. Our last evenings in Ocean Springs were happily spent with great friends--bonfire on the beach, backyard bonfire with the Barberis and relaxing at the Kahles and we even had time to lunch with the Browns at The Shed.

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

Need a doc?

CLICK HERE

Dancing with da starz

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Middle Age School Musical

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

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