Dance Party!

Griffin asked to have a dance party to celebrate turning six.  He picked the songs.  He practiced his moves.  He was ready to rock out with his kindergarten class.  It worked out better than we could have planned.  The kids loved dancing on a "real" dance floor, playing musical chairs and bouncing balloons back and forth in time to the music.

I think our Griffy was happy with his celebration.

Thankful

Aidan's Thanksgiving list of thankfulness.

Holidays are Never Just a Day, Not in Our Family

The day after Thanksgiving, my brothers asked if they could do a "guys" day with the boys.  When my boys heard of the plans, they could barely contain their excitement.  Their uncles are like their favorite toys, and the thought of a day with them, all alone, out and about, was almost too much for them to anticipate.

It was a day of Dave and Busters.  My brothers picked them up at ten am and told me they would be back early afternoon.  Of course, the fun just couldn't be stopped, and instead, they had them home at 4.  My boys were bursting with silliness and funny stories of their time with their uncles.  And Brennan had a gigantic stuffed snake, bigger than him, as a boon from winning a few thousand tickets from games.

We had dinner as a family that night, a Thanksgiving re-do, but this time with my mom, brothers and sisters in law.  Lots of food, too much wine, and a whole lot of all of us laughing and talking over each other.  At one point, Griffin put his hands over his ears and looked at me with astonishment.

"Why is everyone so angry?"  He yelled.

"What?"  I shouted back, confused.

"Why are they all so angry?  All the yelling!  Why can't they stop yelling?"

I laughed so hard, I had to hold tears back.  I had to explain to him that this is how it is done in my family.  We are loud.  We are exuberant.  We sometimes yell on top of each other to ensure we are heard.

We can be a lot to take in, particularly in an enclosed space like my mom's dining room.

After dinner, with so many stories our sides ached from laughing, we played Apples to Apples at the table, arguing and posturing with those we love in a good competitive spirit.

The holidays are truly not just a day, but a string of days surrounded by a full family.

Turkey Day!

While Chris was out trotting with 14,000 other Buffalonians at the Turkey Trot, the boys and I enjoyed our traditionally lazy Thanksgiving morning.  We ate cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting, sipped some hot cocoa (and whipped cream!), watched the parade and played a bevy of board games.  It was perfect.  It is truly a few hours I look forward to each and every year.

I finally changed out of my pjs around noon only so I would have a chance to take in some of the beautiful weather outside.  It was 60 degrees and sunny, a rarity for a Buffalo Thanksgiving.  The dog and I went on a marathon of a walk, stopping every few houses to exchange hellos and holiday greetings with most of my neighbors who were outside enjoying the sun.

We enjoyed turkey with Chris's family.  A whole lot of turkey, stuffing and assorted goodies.  On our way home, the boys pleaded to make a quick pit stop at my Aunt's house to see their cousins home from college.  A quick forty five minutes of family on my side made the holiday truly feel complete.

My boys decked out in their Thanksgiving finery:

And now, let the holiday madness begin.  It's time to break out those Christmas carols, string up some lights and deck the walls of our home.

Confession!

Brennan made his first reconciliation this past week.  It is a rite of catholic passage, the first confession of your childhood sins.  I have to admit, I would love to be a fly on the wall to hear the kids heartfelt whispers to the priests.  I think I would have a hard time keeping a straight face.

In honor of the event, the boys wanted to suit up.  It is a new thing for my boys, this obsession with dressing up and looking spiffy.  It used to be I would have to beg and plead for them to don pants that did not sport an elastic waist and a shirt that was not stained with holes.  But now, no, the boys want to wear clothes with style.  And to them, style comes in the form of a tie.

They love ties.  They love button downs.  They love belts.  I am raising three mini-Alex P. Keatons.

I only wish I had a picture of my suited up, GQ boys, but I left early for first reconciliation to get my vote in because it was election day.  But the cuteness, oh the cuteness. They rocked those ties.

During the ceremony, Chris took Brennan up to the altar to make his confession.  At the same time, they announced that the vestibules in the back of the church would be open for adults who wished to make a confession.  Aidan, Griffin and I waited in the pews.  Aidan kept looking behind him to the vestibules open for confession.  Finally, he turned to me and said, "I am going to go make my confession too."

And so he did.  He got up from the pew, walked to the back of the church and got in line for confession, all on his own.  It was enough to make your heart grow two sizes to see him so confident and proud.  The principal of the boys' school was at the ceremony and saw Aidan choose to make confession.  When he was done, she went over to give him a huge hug and tell him how proud she was of him.

We all were.

We were all proud of Brennan too, who in spite of confessing to being really nervous, made it through his confession without a hitch.

Halloween

Halloween 2012 brought us a scary spirt of death (Aidan), a ninja (again! for Brennan) and a werewolf (Griffin.)  I have to admit I truly enjoyed seeing peoples' expressions upon hearing that a five year old picked the werewolf costume.  Not many five year olds go that way in the costume selection.  Nor do they go to so much trouble to practice their howl.  And that boy can really howl.

We started the Halloween celebration by embracing chaos at the boys' school Halloween party.  Crafts, treats and dancing with about 200 kids running here, there and everywhere.  (And no wine for the mommies.  This makes me sad.  Many of my fellow moms have discussed remedying this next year.  Because chaos goes better with a little wine.)  The boys had a great time, up until Brennan announced he was done and wanted to go home at 7 pm.  He had been fighting a cold all week, and had just have enough.

Chris took B home to bed and I stayed at the party to watch Aidan and Griffin.  Aidan spent most of the time chasing and wrestling with his buddies, while Griffin took to the stage with his buddy Ryan to rock out to the tunes.

On Saturday, Chris and I opted to celebrate a little Halloween adult style.  One of our neighbors is known for throwing a big Halloween bash every year.  We never attend because we always have a conflict, but this year, we were free!  Only catch?  There was not a babysitter to be found.  Not a one.  So we decided to skip the fun and stay home.  At the last minute though, a friend offered to share her babysitter so we could get our party on.   But we still needed costumes.

Chris spent Saturday morning at the costume and party stores trying to find anything for us to wear.  At the last minute, we came up with a stroke of genius!  Let's just wear stuff to make us look like a bride and a groom and put scary make up on to make us look dead.  Game on.

I planned to wear a white sundress I owned and combine it with my real life wedding veil.  I dug out my veil, still in a bag where it had been shoved the day after we got married fifteen years ago.  Next to the bag, was my wedding dress.  My poor, stained, sad, long forgotten wedding dress that I had worn, loved and threw into a garbage bag, never to be opened, until now.

So, I did what every girl would do, I tried on my wedding dress.  It fit!  It was a wrinkled, stained mess, but would be perfect for a dead bride to wear!  Who says you can't wear your wedding dress again?

Chris and I looked pretty spooky, if I do say so myself.  And our thrown together, last minute costume won us best costume at the party!

Fast forward to the holiday itself:  Halloween 2012.  As is our tradition, we hosted friends, family and a slew of youngsters to our house for pizza and trick or treating.  Our house was packed, completely noisy, and just a chaotic mess.  But of course, fun was had by all.

Pumpkin Carving!

Travel Plans

During a recent family dinner, we were discussing our plans for travel next year.  Normally, we travel to Florida during the school Easter break to enjoy time on the beach with family and soak up some much needed sun.  But this year, Easter comes awfully early and a week in Florida at the end of March is risking some rainy weather.  (And there is nothing worse than traveling to Florida to watch the rain.  Nothing.)

I mentioned that for next year there is one thing I would really like to do.  I would like for our family to take a family vacation - just the five of us.  While we have traveled a few times a year as a family, it is almost always a vacation that involves other people and family.  We are blessed to have a terrific extended family that we love dearly, but it would be nice to try a vacation with just our family of five.

All at once the boys exploded with excitement talking over each other at the thought of a trip for us to plan together.

"You know what I really want to do?  Really, really?"  Brennan asked us.  "I really want to stay at a hotel.  That would be so cool."

Chris and I laughed, but then realized that our boys have only stayed in a hotel once.   ONCE.  We couldn't believe it.  But anytime we travel, we have done so to a family member's house or condo.  We are fairly lucky to be such professional moochers.

"You know where I really want to go?"  Griffin shouted to be heard.  "New York City!"  We all agreed that NYC would, indeed be a great place to visit, but we could easily tackle seeing it by staying an extra night on our way to or from the Hamptons when we make our annual trek in the summer to visit (read: mooch) Seth and Tennille at their beachside abode.

Aidan was thoughtful as he listened to everyone shouting their hopes and wishes for our vacation in 2013.    Finally, he jumped in.

"You know where I think I would like to go?  Pennsylvania!"

"Pennsylvania?"  I asked.  "Why?"

He shrugged.  "It just sounds like there is a lot going on there.  It's interesting."

I have a feeling that this may be a group of travelers that are fairly easy to please.

No final decisions have been made for project family vacation 2013.  Chris has mentioned camping (shudder) as his choice, but I think I like Brennan's ideas of a hotel better.

Sweet Love

Flu season came a knocking last week and whipped me with an awful cold.  A cold, that to this day, refuses to go away.  I am a sniffling, coughing, sneezing, red nosed eyed mess.  (Who may have developed a serious addiction to Nyquil.)  Unfortunately for me, work has been a bit busy, so I couldn't afford to take a day off to wallow in my bed and sleep it off.  I did throw up the white flag though one day last week and take off a few hours early because the pounding in my head had reached epic proportions.

I went home, thanked my mom for staying at my house to keep the kiddies under control, and promptly put  myself to bed under a mountain of covers.  I dozed off quickly. At some point during my nyquil induced sleep, I felt a small hand smoothing back my hair and patting my back.  I felt this every so often, off and on, for the next few hours.  When I finally awoke, the boys greeted me with concern.  

"Did you feel us checking on you Momma?"  Brennan asked, worry evident in his big brown eyes.

"I rubbed your back!"  Aidan said as he gave me a huge hug.

"I did too!"  Griffin yelled.

"We kept checking on you to make sure you were okay."  Brennan told me.

My sweet boys.  

After hugs were given all the way around, Griffin was bursting to tell me about his day in school.  

"Today, we got to pick a present out of the treasure chest if we had been good all week long.  And I was good!  And I picked this!  For you!"  He said, smiling, as he presented me with a yellow bead bracelet.

Oh, the love.  Instead of picking a fun toy for himself to celebrate a great week at kindergarten, he thought of his mom instead.  My heart aches with his sweetness.  Just aches.

I wore it to work the next day.  Anytime I felt a pang of sadness (because my job can be a total pain in my behind) or I missed my boys (always) or I was dying under the force of my awful cold, I simply looked down at my wrist and my badge of sweet love from my five year old boy.

(Ignore how hairy and unattractive my arm/wrist looks in this picture and instead focus on the cuteness of the yellow beads.  Okay?)

This is what it is all about.  For me, this is it.

Green Eyes

Chris has the best eyes.  They are greener than green and still make my heart skip a beat when I look into them.  I always secretly hoped that one of our children would inherit Chris's green eyes because beauty like that deserves to be passed around a bit.

Aidan and Brennan have my brown eyes.  But Griffin got his Daddy's green.  Oh, those eyes.

Snuggles

All my boys are cuddlers.  They love to snuggle and hug.  If I sit down on the couch, I am immediately joined by at least one, if not two, but almost always three of my boys around or on me for some snuggles.  (And usually the dog is trying to figure out a way to get himself in there for some cuddles too.)  But Brennan, is the most (ahem) demanding of the cuddle time.  He almost seems to need it a little bit more and he makes sure, sometimes by negotiating with his brothers, that he gets a prime spot to snuggle up next to his momma.

We were discussing his love of a good snuggle before bed one night as he was wrapped up in my arms.  I told him that even as a baby he loved to snuggle.  I remember as a newborn how if he was laying next to me in bed, he would turn his whole face into my shoulder as if he needed to breathe in his mommy's scent.  It was if he wanted to bury himself into me.  It always made Chris laugh to wake up and see Brennan's little nose tucked into my arm, my side, my shoulder.  All before he could even manage to roll over or sit up.

I told him all of this, describing his sweetness, even as a baby.  After I finished, I smiled and said, "You are still like that aren't you B?"

He smiled back at me and said, "I always will be."

My B.