The phone rang at 6:30 on Friday morning. I wish it didn't. I wish there was no reason for the phone to ring. It was my friend Kelly Meeker. She had bad news. My dad was being brought to the hospital. It was the word that no one wants to hear. Stroke. Yup, my dad had a stroke. No one knows when it started. Since there was very little background on the stroke, the hospital didn't have many options. There are very brief windows of opportunity. I called my boss to give him a "heads-up" and immediately headed to the local hospital. After a few hours of very tense waiting, the local hospital sent him down to Mt. Sinai hospital in NYC. They thought that Mt. Sinai would be better able to treat the condition. Unfortunatley no one could figure out where the clot occurred. Mt. Sinai wasn't able to do anything either. They checked him in and told us that they would watch him closely. He's still there and probably will be for a while.
Taryn and I drove down to NYC on Friday afternoon. Taryn had a class last week that was finishing up on Friday. She had no choice. She had to go. I went out to my office and grabbed my computer, checked a few messages, and headed home. I got home around the same time that Taryn finished class. We hit the road and got to the hospital around 4pm.
Dad looked so small and frail in the hospital bed. He was sleeping when we arrived. That wasn't unexpected. He had slept most of the morning when I was at St. Luke's (the local hospital). He woke up after one of the many rounds of nursing visits. It appears that he has mostly left side weakness. He isn't really slurring his words but he is talking very slowly. He has little use of his left hand right now and I'm not sure how his leg is doing. He is also having trouble swallowing. I also don't know how longterm these issues are going to be. The doctor told us that the main issue will be perception. I'm not sure what that means but they said that the "left side of his world will be non-existent." They said that he'll need a eye check once he is out of the hospital to see what really happened. My dad has worn glasses most of his life. It was very strange to see him in the hospital without them.
Personally, I don't know if I have really accepted that this has happened. I have been thinking about dad constantly but I feel like I haven't given myself an opportunity to be sad. I wanted to be strong for my family. I have to remember that my kids need me.
I'm really at a loss for words. I thought that writing about how I was feeling would help me but all I feel is lost. I'm sorry. I'll try to update about all of the other insane things that have been going on around here in the past few weeks. All I can say is that I'm exhausted. Physically and emotionally exhausted.... If anyone is reading this, please have a good thought about my dad. It would mean a lot to me!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Bye-Bye Ba-Ba
We now have 3 year olds! I'll explain the title in a bit. First, the weekend!
Fourth of July is a really nice way to kick off your birthday weekend. Unfortunately, Friday was anything but relaxing. Since the weekend was going to contain multiple birthday parties, it was time to prepare. Mom, Oscar, Taryn, Jon and I all came together to get ready for the party at our house. We were more productive than any of us had ever expected. Jon and Oscar worked their butts off outside. The yard looked so wonderful! They mowed, cleaned up the weeds, built up the support on the deck and did so much to make the yard look great! While they were outside, we were inside. You never realize how much cleaning is needed until you start looking with that critical eye before a party. We put ourselves into it and the place looked great. Take a few breaks to go to Sam's Club and the grocery store and we were as ready as we could get. We decided to celebrate the 4th after all the work and bought a beautiful London Broil to throw on the grill. After all the hard work it was wonderful to sit down with a great dinner and some drinks to celebrate. OK, enough sitting down, we needed to get back on our feet and head out to see fireworks!
Aidan and Amanda have never seen fireworks. Until now they were just too little to venture out at 9pm. This year we thought they would enjoy the show and it was a wonderful way to kick off the birthday weekend. We headed to Beacon to enjoy the fireworks with the Meeker and Simmonds families. We parked our car at Simmonds' house and walked over to the park. It was a fun walk with about 20 people winding through the back streets to the field. The show was a bit slow to start but once it got going it was beautiful! Aidan did not like the noise. I had a feeling he would be upset by it. He is one of those kids that complains if the music is too loud. Once the show started he buried his head in my chest and slowly started peeking as the pretty colors grabbed his interest. He spent the entire time with his hands and my hands covering his ears but he loved the show. Amanda covered her ears for a few minutes but she decided it wasn't too bad and she had a great time! After the show was over we walked back and hung out for a while. An old family friend stopped by and it brought back so many memories. By 11pm we realized how late it was and we decided to end the day and get the kids home. The fun had just begun!
Saturday was the party in Beacon. We were up bright and early to get pulled together. I made baked ziti and we got the kids bathed and dressed. We had hoped to head out by around 10 and in typical fashion, we headed out closer to 12. After some confusion with picking up a keg for the party, we got to Mike and Julie's house and started the festivities. The guests were not expected until 3 but there was a lot to do in the meantime. The kids played for a while and we finally convinced them to take a nap at around 1:30 so that they would be ready for their party. They napped at my dad's house (who, by the way, is doing wonderfully after his bypass surgery! He came home last Tuesday and we're having trouble getting him to rest!). The guests started to arrive and everyone wanted to know where Aidan and Amanda were. We had some trouble getting them up from their nap but once they remembered that it was party day, they were ready to go! We all had a wonderful time talking, laughing, playing games and enjoying a beautiful day. There was a constant threat of a storm but it held off. We got a few sprinkles right around the time we decided to open presents but that was it. We tried on a few occasions to put the kids to bed but they refused! We finally convinced them to lay on the couch and watch a show. We visited with the remaining guests for a few hours. My cousin Mary ran home and grabbed her guitar and we had a great singalong. No Murphy party is ever complete without a few Irish tunes. At this point we had the kids out until 11pm again and we needed to get home since Sunday was another party.
Sunday morning started about the same as Saturday, party preparations. I made another baked ziti and we needed to start decorating and preparing for our guests. Jon's sister Mary and her son Charley arrived from Virginia around 9:30 (they left at 4:30am!!) and they were a wonderful help in preparing. Taryn arrived a few minutes later and also helped with the preparations. By around 11, I wanted to get the kids bathed and down for a nap so that we wouldn't have the same problem waking up as Saturday's party. Uh Oh, they had other things in mind. They did not want to nap. They were ready for the party. I guess we spent too much time getting them excited for their birthday. We put them down at 11:30. Aidan finally fell asleep around 1 and we took Amanda mom's room to try and get her to fall asleep. We finally had success around 1:30. I knew that would mean that they wouldn't be up by 3. Oh well! The guests started arriving and it was another wonderful day. We had so many friends and family that we hadn't seen in a long time. I had a hard time deciding where to spend my time. I was bouncing from conversation to conversation to try and visit with everyone. Before I knew it, it was 6:00 and people needed to head home. Crap! We hadn't even had cake or opened presents yet. We quickly brought the cakes out and fortunately we had time to enjoy that. The present opening waited until after we said goodbye to many of the guests that needed to travel home. We finished opening presents and were finally able to get the kids to bed at around 10. Another late night! Boy this birthday stuff is tough on those little systems!
They received so many wonderful gifts. These two kids don't have a clue how wonderful their lives are (or maybe they do! They are such happy kids). There are so many people that care about them. It makes us feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. They received a two sided kitchen/grill set from Grandma and Papa Oscar, food and cookware for the kitchen, a basket ball hoop set from Aunt Taryn, dress up costumes, books, waterguns, clothes, play-doh, a monster truck, badminton rackets, a "waterpiller" sprinker, bubble machines and so much more! In addition, Aunt Mary (Jon's sister) brought a bunch of Charley's old toys for them too! We needed to hide about 3/4 of the gifts so that they would not be too overwhelmed.
Yesterday (which was their actual birthday), while I was at work, they started the day with the race cars and trains, then moved to the play-doh, out to the kitchen set, back to the play-doh, out to the sprinkler, back to the books, over to the kitchen and back again! Aunt Taryn was exhausted when I came home from work. I ran around in the sprinkler with the kids and we had a blast. There was so much stimulation that we could see that it was starting to take a toll. We did one last birthday celebration so that we could officially end the birthday madness (and so that I could have an excuse to buy a Carvel ice cream cake). Putting them to bed was a task in itself!
That brings me back to the title of this post... Bye-bye Ba-Ba... Aidan and Amanda have always had pacifiers. When they started to talk, they renamed them "baba." We're not sure where the name comes from. I'm sure it has something to do with their bottles or something like that. They love their Ba-Bas. When they were about 18 months we transitioned to just using them at night and during naptime. Jon and I decided a while ago that we needed to get rid of the Ba-Bas entirely. It was decided that the birthday would be the time. We explained to them that big kids do not use Ba-Bas and we should give them to babies. Since they got lots of big kid presents for their birthday we used that as leverage. When we went to bed last night, they were very willing to give them up. I was shocked. They actually told us that they wanted to give them to baby Michael and baby Chloe. They said that they were big kids and the babies wanted them. I was so proud of my big kids! We sang our songs, tucked them in and closed the door for the night. Whew... We made it... Not so fast! They were not ready for bed. Too much excitement, too much sugar, not enough sleep. They were running on empty but they were bouncing off the walls. The birthday celebration was over but the kids had massive stimulation overload and they did not know how to settle down. We tucked them in numerous times and they kept popping up to play. Finally, at 10pm, Jon and I were going to bed (since we were EXHAUSTED from the weekend) and I noticed that the kids were still giggling! I decided to lay down with them to try and keep them quiet. It took a while but we settled down. I'm not sure how long I was there because I fell asleep in Aidan's bed! I woke up, both kids were asleep, so I headed back to my bed. Ahhh, it was finally over... Nope... Aidan woke up crying at 12:30. I went to calm him and he was so upset. I couldn't tell what was wrong. He begged for juice. I brought him a cup of water. He chugged it! Wow! He was thirsty. He seemed calm, I put him down and went back to bed. I must have only been asleep for a few minutes when I woke up to Aidan crying again. I went back to his room and layed with him again. This is very unusual for Aidan. I tried to calm him, it didn't work. He begged for juice again. It was now 1:30. I got him another cup of water. He chugged it again. This time he fell asleep! I left for work this morning with Amanda playing with grandma and Aidan was still out cold! Poor baby! Birthdays are hard work!
Here are a few pictures from the weekend...
Meekers! Enjoying ourselves for some fireworks.
Julie made 50 cupcakes! They were all devoured. Aidan and Amanda probably had 3 or 4 each!
Aidan and Amanda both received bubble blowers. Everyone enjoyed them!
Princess Amanda allows Daddy to adjust her crown :)
Aidan could not tear himself away from the book. He did not care that there were more presents to open.
Just because they share a birthday doesn't mean they need to share a cake!
This has got to be the coolest kitchen set ever!
Aidan was BBQ'ing while Amanda was heating up leftovers in the microwave!
Amanda enjoying her cupcake at Saturday's party
Aidan really liked his cupcake too!
Presents galore! Julie is on the right next to Liam. Aidan is hiding behind a pile of presents!
Amanda loves to cuddle with Kelly.
Aidan stopped playing hockey long enough to smile for a picture!
Fourth of July is a really nice way to kick off your birthday weekend. Unfortunately, Friday was anything but relaxing. Since the weekend was going to contain multiple birthday parties, it was time to prepare. Mom, Oscar, Taryn, Jon and I all came together to get ready for the party at our house. We were more productive than any of us had ever expected. Jon and Oscar worked their butts off outside. The yard looked so wonderful! They mowed, cleaned up the weeds, built up the support on the deck and did so much to make the yard look great! While they were outside, we were inside. You never realize how much cleaning is needed until you start looking with that critical eye before a party. We put ourselves into it and the place looked great. Take a few breaks to go to Sam's Club and the grocery store and we were as ready as we could get. We decided to celebrate the 4th after all the work and bought a beautiful London Broil to throw on the grill. After all the hard work it was wonderful to sit down with a great dinner and some drinks to celebrate. OK, enough sitting down, we needed to get back on our feet and head out to see fireworks!
Aidan and Amanda have never seen fireworks. Until now they were just too little to venture out at 9pm. This year we thought they would enjoy the show and it was a wonderful way to kick off the birthday weekend. We headed to Beacon to enjoy the fireworks with the Meeker and Simmonds families. We parked our car at Simmonds' house and walked over to the park. It was a fun walk with about 20 people winding through the back streets to the field. The show was a bit slow to start but once it got going it was beautiful! Aidan did not like the noise. I had a feeling he would be upset by it. He is one of those kids that complains if the music is too loud. Once the show started he buried his head in my chest and slowly started peeking as the pretty colors grabbed his interest. He spent the entire time with his hands and my hands covering his ears but he loved the show. Amanda covered her ears for a few minutes but she decided it wasn't too bad and she had a great time! After the show was over we walked back and hung out for a while. An old family friend stopped by and it brought back so many memories. By 11pm we realized how late it was and we decided to end the day and get the kids home. The fun had just begun!
Saturday was the party in Beacon. We were up bright and early to get pulled together. I made baked ziti and we got the kids bathed and dressed. We had hoped to head out by around 10 and in typical fashion, we headed out closer to 12. After some confusion with picking up a keg for the party, we got to Mike and Julie's house and started the festivities. The guests were not expected until 3 but there was a lot to do in the meantime. The kids played for a while and we finally convinced them to take a nap at around 1:30 so that they would be ready for their party. They napped at my dad's house (who, by the way, is doing wonderfully after his bypass surgery! He came home last Tuesday and we're having trouble getting him to rest!). The guests started to arrive and everyone wanted to know where Aidan and Amanda were. We had some trouble getting them up from their nap but once they remembered that it was party day, they were ready to go! We all had a wonderful time talking, laughing, playing games and enjoying a beautiful day. There was a constant threat of a storm but it held off. We got a few sprinkles right around the time we decided to open presents but that was it. We tried on a few occasions to put the kids to bed but they refused! We finally convinced them to lay on the couch and watch a show. We visited with the remaining guests for a few hours. My cousin Mary ran home and grabbed her guitar and we had a great singalong. No Murphy party is ever complete without a few Irish tunes. At this point we had the kids out until 11pm again and we needed to get home since Sunday was another party.
Sunday morning started about the same as Saturday, party preparations. I made another baked ziti and we needed to start decorating and preparing for our guests. Jon's sister Mary and her son Charley arrived from Virginia around 9:30 (they left at 4:30am!!) and they were a wonderful help in preparing. Taryn arrived a few minutes later and also helped with the preparations. By around 11, I wanted to get the kids bathed and down for a nap so that we wouldn't have the same problem waking up as Saturday's party. Uh Oh, they had other things in mind. They did not want to nap. They were ready for the party. I guess we spent too much time getting them excited for their birthday. We put them down at 11:30. Aidan finally fell asleep around 1 and we took Amanda mom's room to try and get her to fall asleep. We finally had success around 1:30. I knew that would mean that they wouldn't be up by 3. Oh well! The guests started arriving and it was another wonderful day. We had so many friends and family that we hadn't seen in a long time. I had a hard time deciding where to spend my time. I was bouncing from conversation to conversation to try and visit with everyone. Before I knew it, it was 6:00 and people needed to head home. Crap! We hadn't even had cake or opened presents yet. We quickly brought the cakes out and fortunately we had time to enjoy that. The present opening waited until after we said goodbye to many of the guests that needed to travel home. We finished opening presents and were finally able to get the kids to bed at around 10. Another late night! Boy this birthday stuff is tough on those little systems!
They received so many wonderful gifts. These two kids don't have a clue how wonderful their lives are (or maybe they do! They are such happy kids). There are so many people that care about them. It makes us feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. They received a two sided kitchen/grill set from Grandma and Papa Oscar, food and cookware for the kitchen, a basket ball hoop set from Aunt Taryn, dress up costumes, books, waterguns, clothes, play-doh, a monster truck, badminton rackets, a "waterpiller" sprinker, bubble machines and so much more! In addition, Aunt Mary (Jon's sister) brought a bunch of Charley's old toys for them too! We needed to hide about 3/4 of the gifts so that they would not be too overwhelmed.
Yesterday (which was their actual birthday), while I was at work, they started the day with the race cars and trains, then moved to the play-doh, out to the kitchen set, back to the play-doh, out to the sprinkler, back to the books, over to the kitchen and back again! Aunt Taryn was exhausted when I came home from work. I ran around in the sprinkler with the kids and we had a blast. There was so much stimulation that we could see that it was starting to take a toll. We did one last birthday celebration so that we could officially end the birthday madness (and so that I could have an excuse to buy a Carvel ice cream cake). Putting them to bed was a task in itself!
That brings me back to the title of this post... Bye-bye Ba-Ba... Aidan and Amanda have always had pacifiers. When they started to talk, they renamed them "baba." We're not sure where the name comes from. I'm sure it has something to do with their bottles or something like that. They love their Ba-Bas. When they were about 18 months we transitioned to just using them at night and during naptime. Jon and I decided a while ago that we needed to get rid of the Ba-Bas entirely. It was decided that the birthday would be the time. We explained to them that big kids do not use Ba-Bas and we should give them to babies. Since they got lots of big kid presents for their birthday we used that as leverage. When we went to bed last night, they were very willing to give them up. I was shocked. They actually told us that they wanted to give them to baby Michael and baby Chloe. They said that they were big kids and the babies wanted them. I was so proud of my big kids! We sang our songs, tucked them in and closed the door for the night. Whew... We made it... Not so fast! They were not ready for bed. Too much excitement, too much sugar, not enough sleep. They were running on empty but they were bouncing off the walls. The birthday celebration was over but the kids had massive stimulation overload and they did not know how to settle down. We tucked them in numerous times and they kept popping up to play. Finally, at 10pm, Jon and I were going to bed (since we were EXHAUSTED from the weekend) and I noticed that the kids were still giggling! I decided to lay down with them to try and keep them quiet. It took a while but we settled down. I'm not sure how long I was there because I fell asleep in Aidan's bed! I woke up, both kids were asleep, so I headed back to my bed. Ahhh, it was finally over... Nope... Aidan woke up crying at 12:30. I went to calm him and he was so upset. I couldn't tell what was wrong. He begged for juice. I brought him a cup of water. He chugged it! Wow! He was thirsty. He seemed calm, I put him down and went back to bed. I must have only been asleep for a few minutes when I woke up to Aidan crying again. I went back to his room and layed with him again. This is very unusual for Aidan. I tried to calm him, it didn't work. He begged for juice again. It was now 1:30. I got him another cup of water. He chugged it again. This time he fell asleep! I left for work this morning with Amanda playing with grandma and Aidan was still out cold! Poor baby! Birthdays are hard work!
Here are a few pictures from the weekend...
Meekers! Enjoying ourselves for some fireworks.
Julie made 50 cupcakes! They were all devoured. Aidan and Amanda probably had 3 or 4 each!
Aidan and Amanda both received bubble blowers. Everyone enjoyed them!
Princess Amanda allows Daddy to adjust her crown :)
Aidan could not tear himself away from the book. He did not care that there were more presents to open.
Just because they share a birthday doesn't mean they need to share a cake!
This has got to be the coolest kitchen set ever!
Aidan was BBQ'ing while Amanda was heating up leftovers in the microwave!
Amanda enjoying her cupcake at Saturday's party
Aidan really liked his cupcake too!
Presents galore! Julie is on the right next to Liam. Aidan is hiding behind a pile of presents!
Amanda loves to cuddle with Kelly.
Aidan stopped playing hockey long enough to smile for a picture!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Ready or not, here they come!
I can't believe that Aidan and Amanda are turning 3 on Monday. Where the heck did the years go? This has gone by so very quickly. I need to remind myself to enjoy every moment. It sounds so cliche but it is true.
Every day I look at Aidan and Amanda and I smile. They have such great personalities. My Aidan... He is a typical little boy in that he loves playing with everything. He loves to play ball or race his trucks around. Sometimes he likes to tackle his little sister and he doesn't seem to realize that she doesn't like it! If I hear "Mommy!!! Aidan hit me!!!" again, I"ll scream. Of course there is no avoiding that statement. Aidan hits. That is just who he is. He gets very excited and it comes out in a physical sense. He is also incredibly cute in his mannerisms. He loves to tilt his head to the side when he says things. It comes out in a very grown up way. He will sigh, tilt his head, put his hands up (as if to say "I don't know) and shrugs. Some of the comments include "I can't like dinner" or "no poops, just toots in my tummy." I wish I could describe it better because it is what makes Aidan a riot! He is my little man. I love him and want to squeeze him everytime he is in my sight. He loves being in the middle of any conversation and he absolutely worships his daddy and Papa Oscar. They were so cute this afternoon. Jon and Oscar were driving the lawnmower off of Oscar's trailer (he had taken it over to his mom's to mow her lawn) and Aidan stood there with his hands on his hips and watched the entire process with such excitement! He loves to make everyone laugh. He tries so hard. He has his dad's looks and sense of humor with my personality. Scary combination!
Amanda, my princess. She is my life size doll. She is the "snuggle-buggle" as we like to call her. She would rather climb up on someone's lap and cuddle than most any other activity. She, also, has an amazing personality. I don't know how we got so lucky! She loves to sit on a lap and have a very intelligent conversation! I haven't met anyone who hasn't been drawn in to Amanda's charms. She will cuddle with whoever is willing and she will talk your ear off. She has a smile that would melt your heart. I'm a little tired of hearing her whine "Aidan hit me" but I guess that is to be expected since Aidan is a bit rough with her at times. My baby Mandas is my little princess. She loves to have her hair put in "pretties" which is our term for any type of hair accessory. She is especially fond of pigtails. She loves when her Aunt Taryn does things with her hair . Just wait until Aunt Taryn decides to try braiding! I am horrible when it comes to hair design. I am not good at that at all! Amanda is not a "girly-girl" in the total sense of the term. She enjoys wearing a dress at times but she does not mind getting dirty. She loves to play with her brother and most of the time there is not apparent playtime gender differences between the two.
They are so excited about their birthday. Amanda keeps telling us that Aidan wants a Cars cake and that she wants a princess cake. This is the first time they have really shown an interest in a commercial character. I wish I could honor their request but it is just a bit too difficult. We're going for simplicity here since I'm the dumbass who decided it would be wonderful to have two huge parties for the kids. Yes, two parties.
Saturday is the party in Beacon with all the family. Liam is also having his birthday celebration so we decided to have a joint party. Liam turned two on Monday. This makes the situation a bit easier but it does have Julie and I trying to make plans without having a clue of how many people will show up. In typical Murphy fashion, Michael is spreading the word of the party and at the very least, the entire neighborhood will be there. I'm definitely looking forward to the day. It is the preparations that have me a bit batty. Julie and I are trying to split the responsibilities but I'm sure we're forgetting stuff. Julie is making 28 cupcakes so that we can spell out "Happy Birthday Liam Aidan Amanda." I have to go shopping tomorrow (yup, on the 4th) to get all the supplies for both of the parties. We're doing the typical BBQ fare with burgers, dogs, and baked ziti. We've discussed some side dishes as well as asking people to bring things. My fear is that we'll have a dozen jello molds and no hors d'oeuvres! LOL! In all seriousness, I think everything will go great, but ya know I have to stress.
Sunday is the party at my mom's house. This is (in my mind) the real birthday party. This party is just for Aidan and Amanda. Taryn and I have done the planning and we think we have everything covered. Taryn bought some decorations and supplies. We wanted to do a Mickey and Minnie theme but that is proving more difficult than I thought. The stores that I've looked at do not sell Mickey Mouse cake pans. Oh well. I'm sure they'll enjoy their party regardless of the cake. Taryn and I are going to try and make two different cakes and draw Mickey and Minnie on them. In any event, the kids will have cake! This party will be interesting. We're having a mix of people and most of them do not know each other. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and it will be nice if we get a beautiful, relaxing day.
I promise to post pictures after the party! Now, I just need to finalize my shopping lists and make sure we have everything covered.
Every day I look at Aidan and Amanda and I smile. They have such great personalities. My Aidan... He is a typical little boy in that he loves playing with everything. He loves to play ball or race his trucks around. Sometimes he likes to tackle his little sister and he doesn't seem to realize that she doesn't like it! If I hear "Mommy!!! Aidan hit me!!!" again, I"ll scream. Of course there is no avoiding that statement. Aidan hits. That is just who he is. He gets very excited and it comes out in a physical sense. He is also incredibly cute in his mannerisms. He loves to tilt his head to the side when he says things. It comes out in a very grown up way. He will sigh, tilt his head, put his hands up (as if to say "I don't know) and shrugs. Some of the comments include "I can't like dinner" or "no poops, just toots in my tummy." I wish I could describe it better because it is what makes Aidan a riot! He is my little man. I love him and want to squeeze him everytime he is in my sight. He loves being in the middle of any conversation and he absolutely worships his daddy and Papa Oscar. They were so cute this afternoon. Jon and Oscar were driving the lawnmower off of Oscar's trailer (he had taken it over to his mom's to mow her lawn) and Aidan stood there with his hands on his hips and watched the entire process with such excitement! He loves to make everyone laugh. He tries so hard. He has his dad's looks and sense of humor with my personality. Scary combination!
Amanda, my princess. She is my life size doll. She is the "snuggle-buggle" as we like to call her. She would rather climb up on someone's lap and cuddle than most any other activity. She, also, has an amazing personality. I don't know how we got so lucky! She loves to sit on a lap and have a very intelligent conversation! I haven't met anyone who hasn't been drawn in to Amanda's charms. She will cuddle with whoever is willing and she will talk your ear off. She has a smile that would melt your heart. I'm a little tired of hearing her whine "Aidan hit me" but I guess that is to be expected since Aidan is a bit rough with her at times. My baby Mandas is my little princess. She loves to have her hair put in "pretties" which is our term for any type of hair accessory. She is especially fond of pigtails. She loves when her Aunt Taryn does things with her hair . Just wait until Aunt Taryn decides to try braiding! I am horrible when it comes to hair design. I am not good at that at all! Amanda is not a "girly-girl" in the total sense of the term. She enjoys wearing a dress at times but she does not mind getting dirty. She loves to play with her brother and most of the time there is not apparent playtime gender differences between the two.
They are so excited about their birthday. Amanda keeps telling us that Aidan wants a Cars cake and that she wants a princess cake. This is the first time they have really shown an interest in a commercial character. I wish I could honor their request but it is just a bit too difficult. We're going for simplicity here since I'm the dumbass who decided it would be wonderful to have two huge parties for the kids. Yes, two parties.
Saturday is the party in Beacon with all the family. Liam is also having his birthday celebration so we decided to have a joint party. Liam turned two on Monday. This makes the situation a bit easier but it does have Julie and I trying to make plans without having a clue of how many people will show up. In typical Murphy fashion, Michael is spreading the word of the party and at the very least, the entire neighborhood will be there. I'm definitely looking forward to the day. It is the preparations that have me a bit batty. Julie and I are trying to split the responsibilities but I'm sure we're forgetting stuff. Julie is making 28 cupcakes so that we can spell out "Happy Birthday Liam Aidan Amanda." I have to go shopping tomorrow (yup, on the 4th) to get all the supplies for both of the parties. We're doing the typical BBQ fare with burgers, dogs, and baked ziti. We've discussed some side dishes as well as asking people to bring things. My fear is that we'll have a dozen jello molds and no hors d'oeuvres! LOL! In all seriousness, I think everything will go great, but ya know I have to stress.
Sunday is the party at my mom's house. This is (in my mind) the real birthday party. This party is just for Aidan and Amanda. Taryn and I have done the planning and we think we have everything covered. Taryn bought some decorations and supplies. We wanted to do a Mickey and Minnie theme but that is proving more difficult than I thought. The stores that I've looked at do not sell Mickey Mouse cake pans. Oh well. I'm sure they'll enjoy their party regardless of the cake. Taryn and I are going to try and make two different cakes and draw Mickey and Minnie on them. In any event, the kids will have cake! This party will be interesting. We're having a mix of people and most of them do not know each other. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and it will be nice if we get a beautiful, relaxing day.
I promise to post pictures after the party! Now, I just need to finalize my shopping lists and make sure we have everything covered.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Triple Bypass
OK, just a quick post. Yesterday was the big day. Wednesday went without a hitch and the kids spent the morning with Grandma Linda and Grumpa (my dad picked the name and it is not a misspelling. He loves being grumpy, it's his personality!). They spent most of their time outside with cousin Liam who lives next door. At around 11, Sean walked up and picked the kids up and spent the afternoon with them. They took a great 2.5 hour nap and were happily playing when I arrived after work. Sean runs up to me and said "Aidan had a poopy diaper and I had to change him!" He was so proud of himself. He hasn't had to clean poop yet so I had a bit of concern in the back of my mind the first time Sean watched the kids. He had to bribe Aidan to change his diaper and gave him a cookie. Amanda then wanted a cookie and asked Sean to change her too. Sean was very confident and everyone had a good time. I'm so glad Sean is doing well with the kids. We can now feel great about having a new babysitter! It was good to have Sean in the area especially since there is so much family around. He knows that there are about a million people he can call if there is any problem. I am so proud of him.
We hung out at Meeker's house for a few hours that evening and then my dad walked down to visit. He wanted to take us out to dinner before the surgery. We went to a nice little place in town and had a wonderful dinner. He expressed some nervousness with the surgery which is very unlike my dad. I'm glad that he was sharing his feelings with us. We had a great conversation and when dinner was over, we really needed to get the kids home. It was after 9 and way past bedtime. The kids have been so busy this week that the exhaustion is catching up with them too. We said goodbye and wished dad luck. It was very touching seeing dad interact with Jon and the kids while exchanging I love you's. Linda broke down a bit with concern about the surgery and we reassured her that things would go well.
Surgery time... They got him in about an hour behind schedule but not too bad. The surgery lasted about 6 hours and he came through with flying colors!!! I received a phone call letting me know that he was in recovery and doing well.
Friday morning... I dropped the kids off at Julie's. I am very relieved that I have survived this week. I made it to work and the kids are in good hands. I just got a call that dad is doing very well! He is awake. His nurse last night happened to be Kelly Meeker's step sister. She is keeping an eye on him for us. She said that he was wide awake this morning and his color was very good. They removed the breathing tube and he is resting comfortably!
I plan on going to visit this weekend. I am just so relieved that the big part is done and now it is up to dad to rest and recover. Kelly's step sister said that he will be out of ICU today or tomorrow and should be out of the hospital by the middle of next week as long as everything continues to go well.
There is so much more I could elaborate on since this has really been a crazy couple of days but I'll save you the boredom :)
We hung out at Meeker's house for a few hours that evening and then my dad walked down to visit. He wanted to take us out to dinner before the surgery. We went to a nice little place in town and had a wonderful dinner. He expressed some nervousness with the surgery which is very unlike my dad. I'm glad that he was sharing his feelings with us. We had a great conversation and when dinner was over, we really needed to get the kids home. It was after 9 and way past bedtime. The kids have been so busy this week that the exhaustion is catching up with them too. We said goodbye and wished dad luck. It was very touching seeing dad interact with Jon and the kids while exchanging I love you's. Linda broke down a bit with concern about the surgery and we reassured her that things would go well.
Surgery time... They got him in about an hour behind schedule but not too bad. The surgery lasted about 6 hours and he came through with flying colors!!! I received a phone call letting me know that he was in recovery and doing well.
Friday morning... I dropped the kids off at Julie's. I am very relieved that I have survived this week. I made it to work and the kids are in good hands. I just got a call that dad is doing very well! He is awake. His nurse last night happened to be Kelly Meeker's step sister. She is keeping an eye on him for us. She said that he was wide awake this morning and his color was very good. They removed the breathing tube and he is resting comfortably!
I plan on going to visit this weekend. I am just so relieved that the big part is done and now it is up to dad to rest and recover. Kelly's step sister said that he will be out of ICU today or tomorrow and should be out of the hospital by the middle of next week as long as everything continues to go well.
There is so much more I could elaborate on since this has really been a crazy couple of days but I'll save you the boredom :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I miss my mom :(
Wow! I never thought I would say that. Actually, that is not true. I missed my mom all the time while living in Colorado. Now that we're back in NY, I have spent way too much time with my mom and we were getting on each others nerves. This time it is purely selfish.
My mom and Oscar went to Montana last Thursday for a friend's wedding. They will be gone until the 30th. They are planning to visit Yellowstone as well as some other scenic places in the Rocky Mountain area. I've spoken with mom a few times and they're having a blast. I'm very happy for them. I'm also very stressed :) We love having the house to ourselves. It is great to feel like an independent family again. Unfortunately we are struggling to take care of the kids without mom and without full time daycare.
The original plan was to have my father and stepmother take care of the kids while we were at work. That would have been great. My dad is having triple bypass surgery tomorrow. He is very optimistic and most everyone is being very nonchalant about the whole thing. In my own selfish world, it throws a wrench into my plans.
Thursday (the 19th) I brought the kids to dad's for the day. It went very well. Yeah! One day down. On Friday my dad and Linda were heading up to see Linda's son in upstate NY. Linda has a new granddaughter and they have not met her yet. They figured it was the last time they would be able to visit for a while since dad will be having the surgery. So, I brought the kids to my cousin Julie's house (Liam's mom) and she spent the day with Aidan and Amanda. I heard that it went well. Taryn actually picked the kids up so that Julie could do a few things that she needed to get done before I was able to get there from work. I still need to get in touch with Julie. I spoke with her to watch the kids tomorrow and Friday while dad is in the hospital. We confirmed last week but I haven't spoken with her this week. I hope we're still on.
The weekend was nice. It was a bit hectic trying to do all the normal weekend things while arranging for this week. On Saturday we took the kids to a small carnival in the next town over and they had so much fun on the rides. On Sunday we did a little bit of everything. We had some cleaning, some grocery shopping and then dad wanted us to come down and visit for dinner. My cousin Ann was visiting with her parents up the street (she lives in Virginia) so we walked up to say hello. It was nice to see her and we visited for a few hours. We then had dinner with dad and spent some more time hanging out. By this point it was 9:00 and we needed to get the kids home and to bed since a rough week was about to start.
We confirmed that dad would watch the kids in the morning on Monday and then he had an appointment in Westchester for pre-op stuff. Our friend Meeker's son Sean offered to watch them until I got home from work. I got to Beacon on Monday night. Everything went well. Sean was tired but he had fun. The kids were in a great mood. We tentatively scheduled for Sean to watch the kids again today and I told him I would call to confirm. I got home Monday night, we had dinner and then I called dad to confirm our plans for Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh no! Big snag! Dad can't watch the kids on Tuesday. Too much to do before surgery. Crap. Call Sean... Nope, can't do it either. Has a rehearsal to go to at school for a moving up ceremony that they do with the students. Crap! Call Julie... No answer. Call Taryn... She has a field trip to NYC with her students. She won't be home until late at night... Crap! I called my boss and took the day off. I HATED doing that. I am not the type of person to leave someone hanging. I am also not one to be an intentional hypocrite. I always hated working with the people who seemed to always miss work due to problems with their kids. I always thought that it was unfair that they would get additional time off since they were parents. Oh well, time to move on. I needed to accept that this was the way it had to be for Tuesday. I spent the day with the kids worrying about work and worrying about the rest of the week.
I called dad last night. "Can you PLEASE watch the kids tomorrow morning???" He searched his mind and didn't foresee any problems. Yeah! I dropped the kids off this morning and he is supposed to call Sean when he gets tired so that Sean can pick up the kids (he lives 3 houses away) and watch the kids until I get done with work. Since dad is having surgery tomorrow I don't want him to wear himself out too much with the kids today. Now we just have to make sure Julie can watch the kids tomorrow and Friday. Taryn is done with school for the year tomorrow. She has half days today and tomorrow but she has plans on both Thursday and Friday so she can't help us with the kids. She will watch them on Monday so that should cover us until mom comes home.
Jon saw how worried I was and commented that this is how it will be once we have our own house. I don't think it will be this difficult. We'll have a set schedule and hopefully it won't be so much last minute arrangements. I just want to survive this week with my sanity.
I thank my mother every day for watching Aidan and Amanda. She doesn't think it is a big deal. This week is an example of how much I appreciate my mother. I miss her!
I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from this week. Fortunately the kids do not realize the stress I am feeling. They don't seem to have a care in the world and they absolutely love visiting with all the family and friends!!
Aidan and Amanda love hanging out in papa Oscar's hammock in the backyard.
This has got to be the cutest picture ever! The Meeker's have a cute little bench in their front yard. It is perfect Aidan and Amanda size.
My mom and Oscar went to Montana last Thursday for a friend's wedding. They will be gone until the 30th. They are planning to visit Yellowstone as well as some other scenic places in the Rocky Mountain area. I've spoken with mom a few times and they're having a blast. I'm very happy for them. I'm also very stressed :) We love having the house to ourselves. It is great to feel like an independent family again. Unfortunately we are struggling to take care of the kids without mom and without full time daycare.
The original plan was to have my father and stepmother take care of the kids while we were at work. That would have been great. My dad is having triple bypass surgery tomorrow. He is very optimistic and most everyone is being very nonchalant about the whole thing. In my own selfish world, it throws a wrench into my plans.
Thursday (the 19th) I brought the kids to dad's for the day. It went very well. Yeah! One day down. On Friday my dad and Linda were heading up to see Linda's son in upstate NY. Linda has a new granddaughter and they have not met her yet. They figured it was the last time they would be able to visit for a while since dad will be having the surgery. So, I brought the kids to my cousin Julie's house (Liam's mom) and she spent the day with Aidan and Amanda. I heard that it went well. Taryn actually picked the kids up so that Julie could do a few things that she needed to get done before I was able to get there from work. I still need to get in touch with Julie. I spoke with her to watch the kids tomorrow and Friday while dad is in the hospital. We confirmed last week but I haven't spoken with her this week. I hope we're still on.
The weekend was nice. It was a bit hectic trying to do all the normal weekend things while arranging for this week. On Saturday we took the kids to a small carnival in the next town over and they had so much fun on the rides. On Sunday we did a little bit of everything. We had some cleaning, some grocery shopping and then dad wanted us to come down and visit for dinner. My cousin Ann was visiting with her parents up the street (she lives in Virginia) so we walked up to say hello. It was nice to see her and we visited for a few hours. We then had dinner with dad and spent some more time hanging out. By this point it was 9:00 and we needed to get the kids home and to bed since a rough week was about to start.
We confirmed that dad would watch the kids in the morning on Monday and then he had an appointment in Westchester for pre-op stuff. Our friend Meeker's son Sean offered to watch them until I got home from work. I got to Beacon on Monday night. Everything went well. Sean was tired but he had fun. The kids were in a great mood. We tentatively scheduled for Sean to watch the kids again today and I told him I would call to confirm. I got home Monday night, we had dinner and then I called dad to confirm our plans for Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh no! Big snag! Dad can't watch the kids on Tuesday. Too much to do before surgery. Crap. Call Sean... Nope, can't do it either. Has a rehearsal to go to at school for a moving up ceremony that they do with the students. Crap! Call Julie... No answer. Call Taryn... She has a field trip to NYC with her students. She won't be home until late at night... Crap! I called my boss and took the day off. I HATED doing that. I am not the type of person to leave someone hanging. I am also not one to be an intentional hypocrite. I always hated working with the people who seemed to always miss work due to problems with their kids. I always thought that it was unfair that they would get additional time off since they were parents. Oh well, time to move on. I needed to accept that this was the way it had to be for Tuesday. I spent the day with the kids worrying about work and worrying about the rest of the week.
I called dad last night. "Can you PLEASE watch the kids tomorrow morning???" He searched his mind and didn't foresee any problems. Yeah! I dropped the kids off this morning and he is supposed to call Sean when he gets tired so that Sean can pick up the kids (he lives 3 houses away) and watch the kids until I get done with work. Since dad is having surgery tomorrow I don't want him to wear himself out too much with the kids today. Now we just have to make sure Julie can watch the kids tomorrow and Friday. Taryn is done with school for the year tomorrow. She has half days today and tomorrow but she has plans on both Thursday and Friday so she can't help us with the kids. She will watch them on Monday so that should cover us until mom comes home.
Jon saw how worried I was and commented that this is how it will be once we have our own house. I don't think it will be this difficult. We'll have a set schedule and hopefully it won't be so much last minute arrangements. I just want to survive this week with my sanity.
I thank my mother every day for watching Aidan and Amanda. She doesn't think it is a big deal. This week is an example of how much I appreciate my mother. I miss her!
I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from this week. Fortunately the kids do not realize the stress I am feeling. They don't seem to have a care in the world and they absolutely love visiting with all the family and friends!!
Aidan and Amanda love hanging out in papa Oscar's hammock in the backyard.
This has got to be the cutest picture ever! The Meeker's have a cute little bench in their front yard. It is perfect Aidan and Amanda size.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Cousins!
The title of this one is deceiving. It is really about Father's Day but the underlying theme is all about cousins. I wanted Jon to have a nice relaxing father's day. I knew that there wasn't a present or a card that could have said or showed what I felt. Instead I decided to make the day as enjoyable as possible.
I had planned on letting Jon sleep late. He woke up before all of us! I heard him gently whisper "the kids just got up" and he was already up and dressed. So much for letting him sleep late. I got up and since we didn't really have the necessary items for a big fancy breakfast, I got the kids ready and we headed to the diner. Jon is still getting used to how diners work. We have had a few meals at the diner but not Sunday Breakfast. It may sound silly but people who are from the east take them for granted. Denver doesn't have diners. The few that do exist are based on the novelty of them and do not live up to the high standards that "east coasters" have established. Anyway, I digress. We arrived at the diner and the line went out the door. Jon was flabbergasted. The line moved quickly and we had an amazing breakfast. More food than you know what to do with! The kids ate so much. I couldn't believe that we actually cleared so many plates. I think Jon may now be addicted! :)
After breakfast, we headed home for a few hours before heading to my cousin's house in Beacon. We must have eaten too much at breakfast because within a couple of hours of arriving at home we were all asleep! I was the first to wake up around 1:00. The kids and Jon were still sleeping so I layed down again for another hour. What a nice relaxing time! I don't know if we've ever done that before. The kids woke up next. I mentioned the party we were going to and the kids got very excited. Their excitement woke Jon and before I knew it we were packing up our stuff and we were out the door.
Beacon, NY, I still call it my hometown although I haven't lived there since I was a teenager. It is where many family members still call home. My cousin Mary lives across the street from her parents. Her brother, Michael and his family live a few houses down the street. My dad lives next door to Michael. The list can go on and does go on. To put it as easy as possible, I have a huge family and they all live very close. We arrived at Mary's house for the bbq. Most of the family was already there. We were greeted at the back gate by a warm rush of happy partygoers. The grill was heating up. The pool was full of kids. There were conversations in clusters around the yard. Many conversations stopped to greet us. Aidan and Amanda were immediately overwhelmed by all of the people that introduced themselves. "Hi guys, I'm __. I'm your cousin" Yes, they have all met before but when you are 2, it is hard to remember 6 months ago when they saw them last. There are many generations. This is my dad's family. He has 2 brothers. One brother has five children. The other brother has three children. There are lots of kids and they have lots of kids. Ahh, the Irish Catholics.
The kids run off to play with their cousin Liam. Liam is turning two in a few weeks. He is Michael's son and lives next to my dad. Aidan, Amanda and Liam have become very good friends. They will actually be celebrating their birthdays together since they are so close. We'll have one big family birthday celebration. Anyway, the kids were entertained. Jon and I went to visit with the family. Jon was given a nice cigar by my uncle. Many of the guys went over to the side yard and smoked their cigars while the rest of the folks hung around and chatted, had a few drinks, played darts and swam in the pool.
It was a wonderful day. Jon took the kids swimming in the pool. Amanda did not want to get out. Unfortunately I did not bring my swimsuit so Jon had to take turns with the kids. They swam with their older cousins a bit but eventually Amanda's lips were purple and I had to pull her out. She screamed! She has not been able to stop talking about the pool since that day.
After a nice long afternoon of visiting, it was time to head home. It was Sunday night and we had to get ready for another long week ahead of us. My mom is heading on vacation on Thursday and there is a lot to do to prepare for their trip.
ETA: I forgot that I never posted this... Ooops...
I had planned on letting Jon sleep late. He woke up before all of us! I heard him gently whisper "the kids just got up" and he was already up and dressed. So much for letting him sleep late. I got up and since we didn't really have the necessary items for a big fancy breakfast, I got the kids ready and we headed to the diner. Jon is still getting used to how diners work. We have had a few meals at the diner but not Sunday Breakfast. It may sound silly but people who are from the east take them for granted. Denver doesn't have diners. The few that do exist are based on the novelty of them and do not live up to the high standards that "east coasters" have established. Anyway, I digress. We arrived at the diner and the line went out the door. Jon was flabbergasted. The line moved quickly and we had an amazing breakfast. More food than you know what to do with! The kids ate so much. I couldn't believe that we actually cleared so many plates. I think Jon may now be addicted! :)
After breakfast, we headed home for a few hours before heading to my cousin's house in Beacon. We must have eaten too much at breakfast because within a couple of hours of arriving at home we were all asleep! I was the first to wake up around 1:00. The kids and Jon were still sleeping so I layed down again for another hour. What a nice relaxing time! I don't know if we've ever done that before. The kids woke up next. I mentioned the party we were going to and the kids got very excited. Their excitement woke Jon and before I knew it we were packing up our stuff and we were out the door.
Beacon, NY, I still call it my hometown although I haven't lived there since I was a teenager. It is where many family members still call home. My cousin Mary lives across the street from her parents. Her brother, Michael and his family live a few houses down the street. My dad lives next door to Michael. The list can go on and does go on. To put it as easy as possible, I have a huge family and they all live very close. We arrived at Mary's house for the bbq. Most of the family was already there. We were greeted at the back gate by a warm rush of happy partygoers. The grill was heating up. The pool was full of kids. There were conversations in clusters around the yard. Many conversations stopped to greet us. Aidan and Amanda were immediately overwhelmed by all of the people that introduced themselves. "Hi guys, I'm __. I'm your cousin" Yes, they have all met before but when you are 2, it is hard to remember 6 months ago when they saw them last. There are many generations. This is my dad's family. He has 2 brothers. One brother has five children. The other brother has three children. There are lots of kids and they have lots of kids. Ahh, the Irish Catholics.
The kids run off to play with their cousin Liam. Liam is turning two in a few weeks. He is Michael's son and lives next to my dad. Aidan, Amanda and Liam have become very good friends. They will actually be celebrating their birthdays together since they are so close. We'll have one big family birthday celebration. Anyway, the kids were entertained. Jon and I went to visit with the family. Jon was given a nice cigar by my uncle. Many of the guys went over to the side yard and smoked their cigars while the rest of the folks hung around and chatted, had a few drinks, played darts and swam in the pool.
It was a wonderful day. Jon took the kids swimming in the pool. Amanda did not want to get out. Unfortunately I did not bring my swimsuit so Jon had to take turns with the kids. They swam with their older cousins a bit but eventually Amanda's lips were purple and I had to pull her out. She screamed! She has not been able to stop talking about the pool since that day.
After a nice long afternoon of visiting, it was time to head home. It was Sunday night and we had to get ready for another long week ahead of us. My mom is heading on vacation on Thursday and there is a lot to do to prepare for their trip.
ETA: I forgot that I never posted this... Ooops...
Monday, June 9, 2008
Finally! A wonderful weekend...
This weekend was wonderful. Despite weather in the 90's with high humidity (which Jon isn't used to and I almost forgot), we had a great time. Before I get in to the details of the weekend, I must add that Amanda is doing great and is almost back to normal. No more fevers, no more ear goo, just a little bit of maintenance ear cleaning to make sure she doesn't get another infection. Aidan has been running a bit of a fever this week but no other symptoms. We're keeping an eye on him to make sure nothing gets out of control. I'm happy to say that things are slowly getting back to normal.
Anyway, on to the weekend!! We found out late on Thursday that my step-sister, Diana, was visiting from L.A. for the weekend. She works for DIC entertainment who produces shows/products like Strawberry Shortcake and Inspector Gadget. Anyway, she had to work in their NY office for a couple of days so she was able to stay with us for the weekend before heading back to Cali for work on Monday. Friday night after she arrived, we took the whole clan to Casa Mia, a wonderful Italian resturant that we all love. Aidan and Amanda ate almost an entire kids pizza while the rest of us pigged out on a ton of wonderful food. We were so stuffed at the end of the meal that we could barely move! There was a lot of fun conversation and laughter. It was the first time in many, many years that my mom, Oscar (step-father), Taryn (sister), Diana, and I were together. Add Jon, Aidan and Amanda and we had a great crew. We were only missing our other sister, Jen, who lives in Australia with her husband, Andy, and their son, Rory. There will be another nephew arriving soon as Jen is expecting baby #2 in a few weeks. Just a little history, Jen, Diana, Taryn and I have been together since we were barely teens. We're all very close in age. Jen is the oldest and a year older than I am. Diana is a year younger than me and Taryn is a year younger than Diana. We are now 33, 32, 31 and 30. It was definitely interesting when we were 18, 17, 16 and 15 in high school. I wasn't sure if Oscar would survive 4 teenage girls.
After dinner, Jon and I put Aidan and Amanda to bed (they were absolutely exhausted) and we went to visit a friend of ours, Kelly, who was celebrating her birthday on Friday. Kelly is absolutely hilarious. She was born 6/6/66 and she has flaming red hair (yes, it is entirely natural although starting to get a bit of gray, hehehehe). She always loves to say that she has "one better than the devil." We always have a good time with her and the rest of the clan from Beacon. Most of the people involved are related to me in some way. My cousin Mary and her husband were there as well as my dad and step-mother, Linda. We had a huge group of people and we had a few drinks and some great conversation. We didn't call it a night until almost 2 and we knew we'd pay for it on Saturday.
Saturday morning wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated. One of my best friends, Jen, from high school lives a few miles away and when I told her that Diana was in town, we decided that we'd have to do coffee in the morning. Since I have been away from New York and away from Dunkin Donuts for so many years, that was the plan! I ran up the street and picked up coffee and donuts for everyone. Jen brought her 6 month old son, Michael (or "Small" as we like to call him) over and we got to visit and take a time machine back to the early 90's. After a few hours and a lot of coffee and laughter, it was time for Aidan and Amanda to take a nap and for Jen to get Small in his carseat and go grocery shopping. We put the twins down for an early nap because Oscar wanted to take the family out for a cruise on his boat!
After a nap for the kids and a bit of planning, we were off to the marina! We fed the kids, Diana went to the deli and got sandwiches, snacks and drinks and we were off. We didn't get the boat ready to head out until almost 4 but we were ready! The temperature on Saturday was around 90 and the humidity was a bit high. We got to the boat at about 2:30 but we needed to get it ready. It has been in the water for almost a month but Oscar has been so busy with work and everything that it hasn't had a maiden voyage yet this year. We had to put up all of the canopies and sweep up the decks from the winter. Oscar has a pretty good sized cabin cruiser with a nice living area below deck and a bathroom and small kitchen area. After a bunch of sweat and hard work, we popped a few beers and hit the river. We headed north toward Kingston and we had a great ride. The breeze off of the water was wonderful and we had lots of fun. I'll try to post pictures later if I can figure out how that works. After getting to Kingston we headed down the Rondout Creek to refuel and get some dinner. It was about 8:00 at this point and we docked up and walked around the area. We stopped at a great little Mexican restaurant and had a wonderful meal complete with Margaritas! After dinner and a nice walk to enjoy the evening, we got back on the boat to take the 3 hour cruise back to Newburgh. The kids were able to fall right asleep in the cabin. It was great. We settled them down there and they had fun poking their heads out the front hatch. It was a perfect size for them. The hatch opened at about shoulder level so we didn't have to worry about them climbing out, they could just do a fun game of "peak-a-boo" until they passed out. Boy did they every pass out. They had so much fun and excitement that they were out cold after about 15 minutes. We went up to the top deck and had a great ride home. At about midnight I was exhausted and went and joined the kids in the cabin for the rest of the ride. I slept soundly until we docked at about 1. It is a good thing that my step-father loves boating in the dark because we had a wonderful, long trip!
We all slept in on Sunday morning and Diana arrived at around 9. She stayed at her grandmother's house a few miles away since we literally have "no room at the inn" since Jon, Aidan and Amanda and I are staying there. She came up to say goodbye to us. Mom and Oscar were going to take her to the airport for her flight. I made bacon and pancakes for everyone and we had another great morning and breakfast. After they left for the airport, Jon and I took Aidan and Amanda to Walmart and Sam's Club for a bit of shopping. The rest of the day was nice and relaxing. I got the rest of the laundry and cleaning done and we just had a good time!
This was a good weekend! Now it is Monday and we're all back to work. We're supposed to reach 100 degrees today and all I can say is "thank god for air conditioning!"
I am really going to try and post some pictures this evening! I know that I'm not supposed to finish a post without pictures so I'm going to try to get better :)
Anyway, on to the weekend!! We found out late on Thursday that my step-sister, Diana, was visiting from L.A. for the weekend. She works for DIC entertainment who produces shows/products like Strawberry Shortcake and Inspector Gadget. Anyway, she had to work in their NY office for a couple of days so she was able to stay with us for the weekend before heading back to Cali for work on Monday. Friday night after she arrived, we took the whole clan to Casa Mia, a wonderful Italian resturant that we all love. Aidan and Amanda ate almost an entire kids pizza while the rest of us pigged out on a ton of wonderful food. We were so stuffed at the end of the meal that we could barely move! There was a lot of fun conversation and laughter. It was the first time in many, many years that my mom, Oscar (step-father), Taryn (sister), Diana, and I were together. Add Jon, Aidan and Amanda and we had a great crew. We were only missing our other sister, Jen, who lives in Australia with her husband, Andy, and their son, Rory. There will be another nephew arriving soon as Jen is expecting baby #2 in a few weeks. Just a little history, Jen, Diana, Taryn and I have been together since we were barely teens. We're all very close in age. Jen is the oldest and a year older than I am. Diana is a year younger than me and Taryn is a year younger than Diana. We are now 33, 32, 31 and 30. It was definitely interesting when we were 18, 17, 16 and 15 in high school. I wasn't sure if Oscar would survive 4 teenage girls.
After dinner, Jon and I put Aidan and Amanda to bed (they were absolutely exhausted) and we went to visit a friend of ours, Kelly, who was celebrating her birthday on Friday. Kelly is absolutely hilarious. She was born 6/6/66 and she has flaming red hair (yes, it is entirely natural although starting to get a bit of gray, hehehehe). She always loves to say that she has "one better than the devil." We always have a good time with her and the rest of the clan from Beacon. Most of the people involved are related to me in some way. My cousin Mary and her husband were there as well as my dad and step-mother, Linda. We had a huge group of people and we had a few drinks and some great conversation. We didn't call it a night until almost 2 and we knew we'd pay for it on Saturday.
Saturday morning wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated. One of my best friends, Jen, from high school lives a few miles away and when I told her that Diana was in town, we decided that we'd have to do coffee in the morning. Since I have been away from New York and away from Dunkin Donuts for so many years, that was the plan! I ran up the street and picked up coffee and donuts for everyone. Jen brought her 6 month old son, Michael (or "Small" as we like to call him) over and we got to visit and take a time machine back to the early 90's. After a few hours and a lot of coffee and laughter, it was time for Aidan and Amanda to take a nap and for Jen to get Small in his carseat and go grocery shopping. We put the twins down for an early nap because Oscar wanted to take the family out for a cruise on his boat!
After a nap for the kids and a bit of planning, we were off to the marina! We fed the kids, Diana went to the deli and got sandwiches, snacks and drinks and we were off. We didn't get the boat ready to head out until almost 4 but we were ready! The temperature on Saturday was around 90 and the humidity was a bit high. We got to the boat at about 2:30 but we needed to get it ready. It has been in the water for almost a month but Oscar has been so busy with work and everything that it hasn't had a maiden voyage yet this year. We had to put up all of the canopies and sweep up the decks from the winter. Oscar has a pretty good sized cabin cruiser with a nice living area below deck and a bathroom and small kitchen area. After a bunch of sweat and hard work, we popped a few beers and hit the river. We headed north toward Kingston and we had a great ride. The breeze off of the water was wonderful and we had lots of fun. I'll try to post pictures later if I can figure out how that works. After getting to Kingston we headed down the Rondout Creek to refuel and get some dinner. It was about 8:00 at this point and we docked up and walked around the area. We stopped at a great little Mexican restaurant and had a wonderful meal complete with Margaritas! After dinner and a nice walk to enjoy the evening, we got back on the boat to take the 3 hour cruise back to Newburgh. The kids were able to fall right asleep in the cabin. It was great. We settled them down there and they had fun poking their heads out the front hatch. It was a perfect size for them. The hatch opened at about shoulder level so we didn't have to worry about them climbing out, they could just do a fun game of "peak-a-boo" until they passed out. Boy did they every pass out. They had so much fun and excitement that they were out cold after about 15 minutes. We went up to the top deck and had a great ride home. At about midnight I was exhausted and went and joined the kids in the cabin for the rest of the ride. I slept soundly until we docked at about 1. It is a good thing that my step-father loves boating in the dark because we had a wonderful, long trip!
We all slept in on Sunday morning and Diana arrived at around 9. She stayed at her grandmother's house a few miles away since we literally have "no room at the inn" since Jon, Aidan and Amanda and I are staying there. She came up to say goodbye to us. Mom and Oscar were going to take her to the airport for her flight. I made bacon and pancakes for everyone and we had another great morning and breakfast. After they left for the airport, Jon and I took Aidan and Amanda to Walmart and Sam's Club for a bit of shopping. The rest of the day was nice and relaxing. I got the rest of the laundry and cleaning done and we just had a good time!
This was a good weekend! Now it is Monday and we're all back to work. We're supposed to reach 100 degrees today and all I can say is "thank god for air conditioning!"
I am really going to try and post some pictures this evening! I know that I'm not supposed to finish a post without pictures so I'm going to try to get better :)
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