Family: March 2009 Archives

Just had to get a couple of these pictures out there for you. The little leprechauns had a fun time at dinner time, getting a traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, and green shamrock sugar cookies. Yum!

(And if you pay attention, you might be able to see the gap where Will’s sixth tooth used to be.)

Also wanted to share with you a classic tune from the original “Irish” tenors. Hope you had a Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

I thought we’d start your day off right with a toast (hopefully, that’s just orange juice in your glass and green milk on your cereal) and a reminder of what it means to be Irish. (I may resemble some of them.)

What It Means to be Irish

1. You will never play professional basketball.
2. You swear very well.
3. At least one of your cousins is a fireman, cop, bar owner, funeral home owner or holds political office. And you have at least one aunt who is a nun, or uncle who’s a priest.
4. You think you sing very well.
5. You have no idea how to make a long story short!
6. There isn’t a big difference between you losing your temper or killing someone…
7. Much of your childhood meals were boiled. Instant potatoes were a mortal sin.
8. You have never hit your head on a ceiling.
9. You spent a good portion of your childhood kneeling in prayer (Catholic guilt forever!).
10. You’re strangely poetic after a few beers.
11. You are, therefore, poetic a lot.
12. You will be punched for no good reason…a lot.
13. Some punches directed at you are from legacies of past generations.
14. Many of your sisters and/or cousins are named Mary, Catherine or Eileen …. and there is at least one member of your family with the full name of Mary Catherine Eileen.
15. Someone in your family is very generous. It is more than likely you.
16. You may not know the words, but that doesn’t stop you from singing.
17. You can’t wait for the other guy to stop talking before you start talking.
18. You’re not nearly as funny as you think you are … but what you lack in talent, you make up for in frequency.
19. There wasn’t a huge difference between your last Wake and your last keg party.
20. You are, or know someone, named Murph.
21. If you don’t know Murph then you know Mac. If you don’t know Murph or Mac then you know Sully. Then you probably know Sully McMurphy.
22. You are genetically incapable of keeping a secret.
23. You have Irish Alzheimer’s… you forget everything but the grudges!
24. ‘Irish Stew’ is a euphemism for ‘boiled leftovers.’
25. All of your losses are alcohol-related ( loss of driver’s license, loss of money, loss of job, loss of significant other, loss of teeth from punch…) but it never stops you from drinking.
26. Your skin’s ability to tan…. not so much.
27. At this very moment, you have at least two relatives who are not speaking to each other (not fighting, mind you, just not speaking to each other).
28. Childhood remedies for the common cold often included whiskey.
29. There’s no leaving a family party without saying goodbye for at least 45 minutes.

Well, we got quite a shock for ourselves this afternoon, driving around with the kids after getting the twins new shoes. (Have you ever seen velcro go bad? Neither have we, until now.) We were going to try out a new restaurant (Riverbound Cafe — very nice and good food), when we saw the Wienermobile parked next to the Kroger.

Of course, we had to see it. You cannot climb into it, but you can look into it from the steps. Definitely an interesting looking ride. And if you’re getting ready to graduate from college, you can become a Hotdogger and drive around in it. What more could a recent college graduate want?

Apologies about the photo quality, but taking these pictures on a cameraphone resulted in all sorts of washed out colors that I couldn’t quite compensate for (with my limited skills).

Everyone else is resting now. It’s a good thing, as daylight saving time starts tomorrow. You remembered that, right?

Everyone had fun in the snow on Monday. I promised some shots and video, and this is what I have. Of course, the photo to the right isn’t in the snow, but shows the boys trying share Cookie Monster between their cribs. Caught in the act, indeed. At least Sean isn’t throwing the stuffed animal into Daniel’s crib, like he’s been doing a lot recently.

And yes, they need to get into their beds.

Did you notice in the album that one of the adults was caught sledding? Well, they didn’t get a shot of the other one sledding, too. Their loss. In the afternoon, we set up a different run heading into the other cul-de-sac, as you can see from the later pictures. Our best hill is in our backyard, but it ends in our shed, so it’s not prime sledding real estate for the young and inexperienced.

We got quite a snowstorm last night. It was done by around 8am this morning, and when it was done, we were looking at just over 10 inches of snow. Unfortunately, the snow isn’t wet enough to compact well for making a snowman. Some snowballs were tossed around this morning (Nana vs. Will; Sean vs. Daniel), but otherwise, we were stuck making a mound for the base of the snowman. No rolling snow today.

We did break out the toboggan and saucer for some runs down the front yard slope. Once we got a nice little path packed down, all three of the boys were able to get things going. They all loved riding, whether together or alone. Sean has even figured out who to rock the body to get going if he gets slightly stuck or slows down. I hope to get a chance to post some pictures and video shortly.

Here are some outside shots taken right as the snowfall was ending this morning.

For those of you on the east coast, I hope you survive your own dustings of snow. School is already closed tomorrow, not that I’m surprised. When I went to my doctor’s appointment this morning, the main roads still weren’t well-plowed and were mostly packed ice. However, they didn’t feel slippery under-tire, but it will take a while for enough roads to be cleared to make it safe for school buses.

And yes, the hand surgeon gave me the all clear today. He’s very happy with the final result — not perfect range-of-motion, but you almost cannot tell. Looks like he and the physical therapist did a good job.