Our 15 month old is toilet-trained

Okay, so this is a bit of an April Fools Joke. I've been wanting to do a family post for a month, but we've actually been sick for most of March and while it hasn't slowed us down during the day, getting up for 4 weeks in a row with fevered kids or coughing and wheezing kids has been a little draining. Sheila is not toilet-trained, but 1 month ago she started using the toilet. Her first attempt was to stand like her brothers, but as amazing as she is, this did not work. Instead she now balances herself on the big toilet (I haven't yet gotten out the little ring to put in for her). I'm not really engaging her in this training yet as I think it is a little too early, but still I find it impressive. Oh, and the picture is Sheila eating some turkey stick or something like that. Mario thinks that is cool.

Mario has been traveling and working so much we haven't seen much of him. So one Friday we went to Tyson's to meet him for dinner. Here are Sheila and I at the Cheesecake factory.


We built our own fire pit! For these cool spring evenings.


Joey has been very determined to ride his big boy bike with training wheels. It is a little too tall for him, but now he's got it down and he can really move.


MJ is a drawing and writing machine. We go through a lot of paper each day (thankfully dad brings us scrap paper from work that we can use). MJ can also climb trees by himself...we are so glad we can tell him to "go climb trees" when he gets restless and starts climbing furniture in our house.


This is what happens when Joey gets the camera. We have a lot of pictures like this.


SPRING! These daffodils(?) were growing all over in our grass. Last year they were cut down mercilessly by the lawnmower. This year I dug them up and transplanted them. A little risky this time of you, but at least they won't be cut down.

This was from awhile ago

For those who know the cute babies involved in this video, this is especially for you.

Here come the Irish

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day twice (last Sunday, since Mario travels during the week and would be gone, and then on the actual day). For our first Irish meal we had the corned beef and cabbage and the best green dessert I can think of!

I did not get as many cute pictures of the kids as I had hoped on either day. Joey got Sheila's bad fever illness so I'm going on my second week in a row with a child with a 101-103 temperature. If I'm incoherent I blame it on the lack of sleep and if MJ gets sick next week, I'm done for. We planned to make shamrock sugar cookies as well, but ran out of a key ingredient and I couldn't decide between leaving Joey in the car with his burning up fever while I shopped with the potential of him being stolen or me being arrested OR dragging his very tired hot little body through the store getting everyone sick and exposing him to more germs. So... no cookies. But we did enjoy our first viewing of a VHS tape of the life of St. Patrick that I got from freecycle. I haven't used a VCR in years, and it was a lot of fun! And yes, MJ did ask, "What is that thing mommy?" Ah, old technology.... We completed our feasting with a Shepherd's pie and some Irish music. Sheila was inspired to dance, but certain Irish songs seem to make my boys think of football. So all the efforts I made to get a cute video of the kids dancing this year were replaced with the boys tackling each other in the family room.

Jello is a weird dessert, but I guess I've done this in the past and Mario asked to do it again. At least it's fun to make and looks pretty.

3 years of Joey

3 years ago at 4:31pm we welcomed our second baby boy Joseph Patrick to the world. He broke the mold at 9lbs, 8oz; 21 ¾” long, 14 ¾” head circumference

I've spent way too much time making a slideshow with pictures of the first three years of Joey's life. Who says the middle child doesn't get any attention? I apologize for all the pictures, but it was hard to get rid of any more - and I had to have some of Joey with his cousins. With all of the pictures, I hope we were able to capture the many sides of Joey's personality.

Could we have 2 ft less please?

Since two of my children are about 3ft tall or less, this is just TOO MUCH SNOW to have fun. Reports say Ashburn got 34.5 inches of snow over the weekend. And now we are going to get 10-20 more inches on Tuesday-Wednesday. REALLY?

Snowstorm 1

This probably isn't accurate, but we have 27" and it is still coming. I am not a tree-hugger, but we have lost branches to 2 of my favorite trees and I hope they will survive. Other trees are bending over by the weight of the snow. I'm sad for the tree damage, but the snow is kind of fun. Making forts and an igloo should be easy. Mario and I have already shoveled the driveway a couple of times, but we will still need to do the pipestem and I hear our cul de sac may not be plowed. When taking pictures, I had to stomp through snow all the way up the inseam of my leg.

Seriously, I love snow, but I think we've had enough now. Thank you.

Bobby may be in Japan but he'll be on TV in the US this weekend

Watch "Faith Bowl III" on Sunday, February 7, 2010
Faith Bowl III, a half-hour, round-table discussion by sports celebrities about the challenges of living the Catholic faith and the challenges to family life amidst the public arena of professional sports, will air on several Catholic television broadcast outlets and networks Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010. This is the third consecutive year that Family Theater is producing Faith Bowl in collaboration with Catholic Athletes for Christ and the Knights of Columbus.

This year's program features:

Mike Piazza, a retired catcher after a 16-year career in Major League Baseball, mostly with the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a 12-time All-Star and the 1993 National League "Rookie of the Year."
Mike Sweeney, a designated hitter for the Seattle Mariners in 2009, a 15-year MLB veteran and five-time selection to the All-Star team as a Kansas City Royal.
Bobby Keppel, a relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. He appeared in 37 games in 2009 and was the winning pitcher of the Twins' playoff game with the Detroit Tigers for the American League Central Division title. He is the Faith Bowl III moderator.

Among scheduled broadcasts on Feb. 7 are:

• EWTN at 5 PM (EST/2 PM PST)
• CatholicTV, Boston at 5:30 and 10 PM (EST/ 2:30 and 7 PM PST) airing on cable systems throughout New England
• Nationally on Sky Angel IPTV and its website: www.catholictv.org