A nice email from Aidan's hockey coach

Aidan had his 2nd-ever hockey game yesterday, Sunday Sept 11. 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 penalty. But turns out that is probably not what we should remember of his debut weekend. Here is an email Joe got from the coach today:

FYI – I ran into Aidan at the rink on Sunday morning and we talked for a few minutes about the game from the day before. Then he says to me, "Coach, do you think it would be okay if we did the Pledge of Allegiance today before the game, with everything going on?" I was floored. How thoughtful of that little boy to remember the tragedy of 9/11 and his country! So after I gave my pre-game prep talk I told the boys what Aidan wanted to do and I asked him if he would lead us, and he did. We all stood, put our hands over our hearts and gave the Pledge! It shot goose bumps down my spine and made me very proud of that little boy.

We are very proud of him too.

Summer Update Coming Soon

Yes, I have been a major blog slacker. We have been very busy all summer. And someday soon, I will recap it...at least for my own sake! For now, watch the latest danger in which we placed the boys last week in Lincoln, NH. You'll notice Seamus' video is cut a little shorter as I wasn't sure if I wanted to capture the moment my 5 year old drowned...

One of these things is not like the others...

All of these kids played hard, but only one of them is taking the loss hard.

The other Aidan

Doesn't Aidan look great pitching?!



Yeah, I thought so too!! I cheered loudly for him for the 2 innings he pitched, before I saw him move to the outfield for the 3rd inning.

The only problem?

That pitcher?

Is not Aidan.

This was an 11am game. I didn't discover that this was not Aidan pitching until 7:30pm when we all sat down for dinner and I told Aidan to tell Daddy how good he had pitched earlier. He looked completely puzzled and finally convinced me he was not messing with my head, that really wasn't him pitching.

If I get any defense, it was the first game of the season AND I forgot my prescription sunglasses in Joe's car the night before so I had on a regular pair during the game.

Fortunately, none of the others parents from our team were sitting near me. And the othres were hopefully not paying attention to me. At least that is what I'm telling myself.

Happy Mothers Day eve to me!

Easter Hunt

There's a little aggression and craftiness going on here. There's also some dizziness from the camera work. The best stuff's at the end, so you might want to fast forward. :)

Seamus Does Country

For this, I blame Joe.

Which boy said the following...

"I won't wear any shoes where you can see my feet. That's gross."

Cruise Report, Part 1

We had a great family cruise/side visit to Orlando. Lots more to come, including pictures. For now, I thought I'd post the video of Colin's onboard talent contest performance: naming all 44 US Presidents, in order. It's a little long so feel free to skip - but if you get out a book, I'm pretty sure you'll find he got them 100% right. He went a little long so didn't get to his planned 2nd part - having people yell out the name of a president and for him to give the years they served and then having people yell out a year and for him to say who the president was then. Next time, Colin, next time...

This is from INDOOR soccer

Honestly? How can you get this dirty playing inside??

Aidan's TV Debut

Aidan's school did a Hockey 4 Heart fundraiser yesterday. He was quite excited to learn that he made it on TV (full TV clip here) - nearly as excited as he was about the fact that his team won the 3rd grade challenge and he got a medal.

Why it's good I don't have girls

Colin is obsessed with the Presidents these days (he can name them all in order from memory - except he keeps saying Hillary Clinton not Bill Clinton for #42). So naturally he chose one for his school biography project. This involves writing a report, dressing like the character to read the report and making a 'bottle person' for display in the classroom. He chose Lincoln, but he wishes now he chose Taft since he got stuck in a bathtub since he was so fat. Nice.

Here is Colin with the bottle person. I may or may have not helped, but it's really irrelevant because even if I did, it still looks like it was done by a 2nd grader. I blame this on my lack of practice doing crafts, since little boys aren't exactly known for sitting around and doing artsy things.

For Uncle John

I am still alive. :) I will update this blog. I will update this blog. I will update this blog. There! I did it! :)

I really will. For the moment, here is what I am focused on:

First snow day of 2011

what we saw when we opened the garage today


Colin says that is his 'surprised' face. ooookay.


Then it was time for a little playing.

Aidan's preparing for his career with the circus

I really should get him a pet

I meant to post this one a while ago, reminded tonight when Seamus asked me 'when am I going to get a new pet balloon?' What is a pet balloon? It looks something like this:




This was from the summer after a parade. Seamus dragged "Balloony" around for a few hours, as if it was an animal on a leash. Needless to say, I banned the germy piece of latex from entering our house, so Balloony lasted even shorter than a carnival goldfish. But, alas, he holds a special place in our hearts.