Wow, how did I ever...

...live without the Internet?

We haven't had the Internet at my work office since last Tuesday. We moved our bottom-floor-office to the top-floor-office in the same building. And even though we didn't travel too far, the move sure caused a lot of headaches. The biggest migraine being the lack of Internet access. Which is a pain because so much of the work I do is on the Internet. We are a remote office and must link to the network at our main office, via the Internet.

Needless to say, it has been a very frustrating few days, which made me try to think about life before the Internet. Back when I was in college was the first time I ever tried this crazy thing called the Internet. It was okay, I thought, at least I could email people from home instead of using snail-mail.

But slowly and surely, my life began to change. Not only could I email, but I could also chat online, research papers became easier, phone books were no longer necessary, didn't even have to drive to a store very often (handy when you're a Freshman in college without a car).

Just a couple of months ago, Phil and I were driving from a church in DC to the wedding reception. We were unfamiliar with the area, and my brother-in-law asked if we had used a GPS to find the place. "Nope", I replied, "I got directions the old-fashioned way". Then I realized that this so-called "old fashioned way" was going online and map-questing the locations! Since when did going online at a computer become old-fashioned? I can hardly remember what people used to do when they needed directions...stop and ask a stranger (gasp!), call ahead and ask someone (no way!), or even pull out a map to figure it out by themselves (say it ain't so!).

On a similar note, I caught myself saying just the other day to Andrew, who couldn't find the remote: "When I was a little girl, we actually had to walk across the room to turn on the TV, change the channels, or adjust the volume". To which he replied, "huh?". Yup, it's that unbelievable!

A Conversation with the Hard-of-Hearing...

...otherwise known as Andrew.

Andrew: What are you eating?

Phil: Steak.

Andrew: What?

Phil: Steak.

Andrew: Chicken?

Phil: No, steak.

Andrew: What's stink?

Storyland

From Sunday to Tuesday, I took John-Paul and Andrew to Storyland, in Glen, NH, right next to North Conway. The boys really enjoyed themselves at the park, and we met up with my sister, her husband, and my niece. The weather could've been better; Monday rained but Tuesday was nice and sunny.
There were many memorable moments, but the one that stands out the most was when we were on the hot-air-balloon-ferris-wheel-ride and Andrew said he had to pee. So I told him he had to hold it since we were in a ferris wheel, and he said he couldn't. He started to get really freaked out, saying he was gonna have an accident, so I told him to just pee on the floor of the ride. I know, it is soooo disgusting, but we really had no choice. It was a rainy day, so I hoped the rain would wash it out. Anyway, as I was telling him to pull down his pants, he looks at me funny and just starts peeing, right in his shorts...aaarghhh! Like I said, it was rainy, so nobody else noticed, and I swore John-Paul and Andrew to secrecy. We were almost done for that day in Storyland anyway, so it wasn't really all that bad!?!?
Oh man, what memories. View the pictures from our trip, or not, it's up to you!

6 Month Checkup

So, we brought Maggie in for her 6 month physical, and she weighed in at 20.4 pounds (the average weight of a one-year-old). She seemed really healthy and happy, so the only thing that the doctor recommended was to change her name from Maggie....

...to Buddha!

House Blessing

On June 14th, we had Mass at our house, followed by a home blessing and the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart. It was a really special evening. First of all, to have Mass at our house was awesome, the boys were running around all day saying "Jesus is coming to our house, Jesus is coming today!"

Fr. Kevin Cook and Fr. Dave Pignato celebrated the Mass and then Fr. Cook led the enthronement ceremony after. Following that, Fr. Dave walked around the house to each room and blessed every little nook and cranny with Holy Water (even the basement and the porch!).

We had a delicious dinner and desserts and even had a chance to celebrate Father's Day for all of the fathers present (both dads and priests).

Here are some of the family waiting for Mass to start.

Fr. Cook and John-Paul prepare for Mass. J-P was the altar server, and he did a wonderful job. Andrew helped out as well; he brought up the gifts.

Strawberries Galore

On Thursday June 12th, we went strawberry picking at Keith's Farm. It was a beautiful, sunny day and much cooler than it had been, in the mid-seventies. There were tons of strawberries, and they were oh so good! The people at the farm encouraged us to eat the strawberries as we picked because they are organically grown, so no pesticides to wash off. The boys went to town on these berries, mmmm!!

Phil with Maggie on his back, I think we have a picture of him with a baby on his back whenever we go fruit picking (apples, blueberries or strawberries).

Andrew showing me his "beauty", that's what Gammy was calling all the big, beautiful strawberries!

Here I am kissing Eamon, he's already embarrased with my public displays of affection, but too bad!!


John-Paul proudly displays his bucket of berries.

Andrew and Gammy show off their goods.

Eamon got tired of picking and just plopped himself down and demanded strawberries to eat!

Eamon's hand at the end, stained from all the strawberry juices.

Taken Quite Literally

Yesterday at dinner, the following conversation took place:

Me: "Boys, you guys really need to make sure you are acting nicely to each other."

Andrew: "Why?"

Me: "Because Eamon and Maggie are learning to do whatever you do, so we need to be sure we are well-behaved and that we say nice things."

Andrew: "Nice things!"

Well, at least he's listening...

I'll take it however I can get it...

The other night, after I had put the kids to bed, I heard a commotion up in the boys room. I went up to see what was happening, and Andrew and Eamon were out of bed, so I told them to get back in bed and go to sleep.

A few minutes later, I heard someone get out of bed again, and this time I was angry. I marched up the stairs and opened the door, getting ready to yell at them to get back in bed again, when Andrew blurts out "You look so beautiful, Mommy". Holding back a smile, I calmly told him to once again get back in bed and go to sleep.

As soon as I closed the door, I had to chuckle to myself...that Andrew sure knows a thing or two about women; the charmer!

Staying Cool

This is how we've been spending the last few afternoons, ah to be young again!

Sweltering

I think I've almost melted away in this heat. Thank God that unlike the past two summers, I am not pregnant. I feel for the poor prego women who are suffering through this 90 degree heat wave. It's ironic that we live so close to the beach, and haven't even gone yet because it's been too hot. Since Maggie is merely 6 months old, I'm scared of her being out in the burning sun for a long time. Maybe when it cools down a little, we can take our first beach trip. Maggie has the cutest tankini to wear with ice cream cones all over it (thanks Mum!) and I can just see her chubby little belly and roly poly legs bulging out of it...20 pounds of deliciousness!

(Not the real Maggie, just a baby imposter!)

John-Paul's Turn

Friday, June 6th was John-Paul's preschool class celebration. It was just as charming as Andrew's was the night before, but the kids were much more well-behaved.

His class performed a lot of adorable songs and each of the kids played a role. John-Paul was "Mr. M" in the "munching Mouth" Letter People song.

They also showed us all the prayers they learned, pledged allegiance to the flag, recited their school prayer, and the school's mission statement (which has a lot of big words and it was funny to hear how many were mispronounced!) The mission statement is as follows:

Holy Family-Holy Name is a Christ centered academic community instilling Catholic beliefs and gospel values; nurturing students' gifts of faith and intellect by surrounding them with a family of faculty, staff, and volunteers whose vocation it is to serve.

The kids were all very cooperative, and the class had many natural performers, as you can see! Finally, John-Paul received his diploma for a year of hard work, and great memories.

Next year, he'll be off to Kindergarten, and wearing a uniform. Yippee!

Congratulations, Andrew

On Thursday, June 5th, Andrew had his preschool class celebration. His 3-year-old class took the stage to show all of us proud parents what they have learned this past school year. They said prayers, pledged allegiance to the flag, sang a bunch of adorable songs, and performed a play.



Andrew was responsible for pointing out the days on the calendar when they sang the calendar song. Now, he's the youngest kid in his class, and the song is pretty confusing ("Monday follows Sunday, Tuesday follows Monday, Wednesday follows Tuesday, and Thursday comes along", etc.) But he was able to keep up perfectly and point out all of the days when they were sung. It was wonderful to watch!


Then in the play, which was an endearing rendition of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?", he played the role of the Red Bird. So cute! He did great with his red shirt on, big yellow beak, and crazy huge red glasses. I wish I had a picture of that, but it wasn't very good lighting.


His favorite part was at the end, when he received his "ploma" and gave the principal a gigantic hug. What a sweetheart.


Too bad he has to do it all over again because he will still be 3 by the time next school year starts!