in case you have been missing these cuties...

we have been having a lot of fun as silly amphibians

and chip pirates

looking into the past

so i have seen this a couple places and have had it in my mind that i wanted to try to do something like this in lagrange. i want to do grady's room so i was searching for old photographs of lagrange on google...i was really looking for an old pic of charlie joseph's, but couldn't find anything...google lead me to troup county archives website which had tons of old pics. i looked through all of them and almost fell out of the chair when i saw 309 waverly way pop up! there was actually 2 pics, one from 1936, right after our house was built and one from 1939. it was awesome seeing how much it was so much the same and how much it has changed...

get dirty!

we did it...we finished the 2009 atlanta muddy buddy! and, if i do say so myself, we did really well! i was really proud of myself...i really worried that i was not going to make it and let pelham down.

what is muddy buddy you ask? it is a 10k run and bike with a buddy. each buddy starts running or biking and comes to an obstacle, both complete the obstacle and switch...you continue leap frogging each other until the finish line that is complete with a mud pit that you crawl through with your buddy. (by the way, this trail is part of the 1996 olympic mountain bike trail..yikes!)

here is the proof!here we are at the beginning...see how clean we were!


we were VERY nervous.

here i am finishing before the mud pit.

and here is the pit...apparently we were supposed to crawl on our bellies and not on our knees...oh well! pel decided to crab crawl.




here is some of the group that pelham runs with in south ga.

john was so sweet and got up at 5am and drove with the kids to cheer us on. it was awesome to see them along the trail. they were even dressed in hot pink for us! we signed mm up for the mini muddy buddy, but after she saw everyone going in the mud, she decided that it was not for her! they didn't even want to give us a hug. it was so funny!


until next year!!!

by the way, this is the mud before...looks innocent enough doesn't it?!

all dressed up...

and some place to go...we went to a beautiful wedding last night so we had to put on our finest! if i do say so myself, i think that we cleaned up pretty nice. thank you beth and ken for inviting the kids...they thought that it was really special that they got to come to the wedding.

the kids only came to the reception for a little bit and then they were off to spend the night at grandmama's and grandaddy's. we were having fun in the grass while we waited for them. isn't this the cutest pic...they love each other SO much...can't you just see it in their eyes?

grady has come up with this really goofy smile. it is pretty funny...



love my cute family!!!

happy birthday mary maddox!

4 years is the amount of time that this little person has been on this earth...i have known her forever. i can't wait to spend the rest of my life loving her.

we celebrated her birthday at montessori before the end of the year. it is a really neat ritual...the kids walk pictures from every year of their life around the sun. i am not sure that have seen a more excited child...it must be hard for her to wait all year and see all the other kids celebrating their birthday.

as you can see, she took being the line leader very seriously...her and amos aka "boyfriend"knew just want to do.

grady sat on line with mm and stayed after we left. she loved showing him off. i hope they always love each other this much.

we had her party today...we had an alice in wonderland theme. ms. bobbie was a hit!!!


have you ever seen a cuter alice?

happy birthday mary maddox, i love you!

the beach

as so many of you have pointed out, I am WAY behind on this little blog. i have missed lots of birthday wishes which i will catch up on...so without further udo, here are some pictures from the beach.

mom just celebrated her 60th birthday...happy birthday mom!!

the weather was bad, but we still had a great time...grady tried to drag dad into the ocean!

this is unusual...the kids didn't mind posing for me!


and another!
love this one!maggie and mm playing in the sand...love those freckles!


our little friends...one of the 10 deadliest animals...porteguese man of wars! ...fortunatley they were babies.our little leprechans!

i am in love...

with this little boy...


i can't help it...i want to eat him up...he has been saying the funniest things lately...here are few samples.

yesterday grady had a 3 1/2 hour nap...needless to say he was not at all sleepy at 8:30. it went something like this...
grady putting his head under the covers and being really still for a minute and then shouting...mommy! i am a camel! wiggle wiggle, giggle, giggle, fidget, fidget, and then back to the hiding camel. so i brought him downstairs so he wouldn't wake up mm. he laid with john for a while and continued with the wiggles, giggles, and fidgets. i finally decided enough was enough. i picked him up and brought him in the den to lay on the couch. after a few wiggles and giggles he looked out of the window and pointed to the moon and looked at me and said, "mommy, can you turn that light off?" i said, "grady, that isn't a light, it's the moon.." he said, "no mommy not the moon, that big circle light!" we laughed and he wiggled and giggled a little more. finally i said, "grady, if you weren't so cute, i might have to kill you" (please note, this was close to 10 o'clock!) he looked at me and said, "not today, mommy, tomorrow!"

and then the kicker was this conversation...

grady: i lergic for p-nuts.
me: no, grady, you are allergic to all nuts...peanuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans...
grady: ...donuts?

it was the cutest thing! he sounded so upset!!

the moral of the story i have starting writing all of these funny things that the kids say at the time they say it and i put it in a big jar in the kitchen. i don't want to forget all of these things!

happy new year!!!

happy new year everyone...this is the last picture of 2008. please notice grady's hand on the baby doll's thigh...hopefully that is not a sign for the things to come in 2009!

and...here is the first picture of 2009...

mm woke up ready to start the new year...

grady...not so much!

december in a snapshot...or 10...

so here is a run down of christmas...

we rode the pink pig...waiting in line for santa...got out of line for santa...

went to callaway gardens to see santa...waited 10 minutes, but had to listen to santa scold his elves because they didn't close the line good enough and it was time for his hourly break, that lasts and hour...
mm had a christmas program at montessori to which she wore a tank top...(this changing after she is out of the house is starting WAY too early! thankfully she had a jacket at school that they made her wear...THANK GOD!! please notice all of the cute outfits on the other children)

a second program at daycare the same day...please notice the cute shirt that we forced her to put back on. (as a side note for future reference...it was 76 degrees this day)

a terrific carousel ride in the valley...who knew this was here!! it was super fun, but cold!

mm decided to ditch her hat...boy, we are going to have issues when she is a teenager if she is this opinionated about her attire at 3...eek!

we left milk and cookies for santa, carrots for the reindeer, suckers for ollie (our elf on the shelf), and da ta da da...all of the kids binks for all the babies all over the world that need them. santa was so kind to deliver them for us and we didn't even have to pay postage!

when i downloaded my pictures on christmas morning i found this one...santa must have been playing with my camera...he must be in the market for a new one...or maybe he was doing market research for his elves...or maybe, he wanted ollie to see what he looks like from behind so he wouldn't end up like his boss!

here is the mess they left behind!

and here are my two little elves coming down the stairs. isn't it sweet that they are holding hands!so there you have it...christmas in a nutshell...in between we spent time with our wonderful family and friends who we are so thankful for! we love you all.

pop quiz

i decided to post this picture because....

a) these are the cutest kids in america
b) i wish i was at the beach instead of here with this miserable weather
c) these are the cutest kids in america
d) i feel really guilty about not posting
e) i am trying distract myself since i don't really want to remind myself i haven't bought a single christmas present...
f) i am really good at procrastinating
g) i am really panicking inside since christmas is two weeks away and i haven't bought a single gift
h) these are the cutest kids in america
i) all of the above

ding...ding...ding! since you all got it right i will let you all play heads up seven up after recess...maybe you won't notice when i slip out and do all my christmas shopping...(panic, panic, panic!!

yesterday mom asked me to go up into the attic to see if i could find the old barbies that sinead and i used to play with... i found 2 rubbermaid boxes of dolls...the first was babies dolls (by the way, we opened and closed that box really quickly because those dolls were stinky and scary!) the second box was the barbies. completely preserved and just as i had last left them. sinead and i had the best time going through them and it was amazing how quickly the memories of each one and their outfits came back to me...i spent the next hour pulling them out and taking pictures of them...i must say that this was fun! sinead then proceeded in bathing all of them and washing and conditioning their hair!

lauren muzekari and i spent HOURS with these! i remember that their names were always Alex and Sam (short for Alexander and Samantha, of course! I can't remember if those were my names or lauren's, but i remember them clearly!)

here are barbie and the rockers...notice the brunette's cute stacked bob...i went through a hair dresser stage...clearly i was years ahead of the trend that we are currently seeing! i am pretty sure that the dark headed guy in the picture was a new kid of the block!

this is the wedding party of naughty bride barbie (notice the sheer top). pictured left to right...spray tan gone bad barbie, clearly 80's barbie complete with gigantic lace collar, drop waist dress, and heavy blue eye shadow, naughty bride barbie, and peaches and cream barbie (her real name, dad gave her to me for my birthday one year as we were leaving to go to ireland) they are ready for the ceremony so they can do the running man at the reception.

sinead said that this was her first barbie...i couldn't resist pointed out how old she was compared to the rest!! (love you sinead!)

this is future girls next door barbie...i wish you could see her whole outfit...the jean skirt is a custom complete with buttons in the back! i am sure that it won't stay on long seeing that her shirt really is a bathing suit!

here are the barbie twins...

twin number 1 is not at all bitter that her eye lids have falling out, the hair plugs went wrong, and that her sister is totally hotter than her. she loves her so much that she doesn't mind wearing the same dress that she has had since 1971 while her sister gets to look hip going to her footloose audition!

here we have beauty pageant barbies...miss red head doesn't look too upset that miss ponytail too tight ripped her dress before the evening gown portion.

and last but not least here are the future barbies. in the box there was a note explaining that in the year 2008 barbie would only wear metallic fiber since she was able to produce her own personal energy.

i thought that rocker ken deserved a closeup...he reminds me of barbara walters.

ps, don't tell john, but i found an outfit just like this for john for christmas on black friday! it is all about business up front and party under the jacket! anyone seeking a cpa who appreciates a wears neon mesh shirt under his jacket and ribbon tie, call john at boatwright!!

happy birthday katie!

obviously November is a busy birthday month for us...Friday was sweet Katie's. She is so cute...no matter what is happening she says "OH NO!"

something to hold you over...

i have SO many projects going on right that i have been bad about blogging, but i am super excited about thanksgiving and spending some time with the fam...and i am working on a new series...not sure if it can beat the sleep series, but this one is fun!

sweet maggie

happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday to yooouuuu...happy birthday to you! i love you, maggie. i hope that you had a wonderful birthday! love auntie fi!

happy birthday sinead!

happy birthday to my sweet sister, you are a terrific mother, friend, daughter, and person...i know that we always gave you a hard time, but know that we love you so much...oh and i am sorry for the trip to and from Notre Dame!

happy birthday margaret!

margaret and i have been best friends since the 4th grade...super funny story...when her grandmother "heard" that another little girl had moved into the neighborhood she made it her mission that we be friends. one day i was in the front yard minding my own business when this grandmotherly women drove into the driveway in a huge green car. she got out and said that she wanted me to come with her to meet her granddaughter...i remember it like it was yesterday...i turned to look at my mom who i had assumed would object to her youngest child getting in this car with a stranger...but she didn't...she said sure, that will be fine...i was thinking...that is not fine...she is a stranger, do you want me to get kidnapped!! well...turns out that it was worth the risk...margaret and i have been through a lot...a whole lot...thank god we made it out alive...there were a lot of close calls!

as you can see if the picture, we are about to go through more together. she is expecting a little girl in march...i can't wait to meet this sweet child that is going to be as mischievous as her mommy!

happy birthday margaret!! i hope that you had a great day friday!

happy birthday lindsey!

today is a big day for my sweet friend lindsey...happy birthday! i hope that you have a great day...i am sure that you will!

ps...i stole this picture from you!

change...

we witnessed a historic election yesterday. obama didn't get my vote, but i will come into the next 4 years with an open mind. i was reading facebook yesterday and was completely taken back by what people were saying...i couldn't believe some of the comments...i felt as though is was not 2008 at all. hopefully people will realize that even if they didn't want change...sometimes change is good...

okay last one, i promise...

so i had to post one last halloween picture...i love these...couldn't you eat them up for thanksgiving!!! kidding, of course!!

it was really spooky....


that i found this in our pumpkin...

we were invited to a pumpkin carving party and i lifted my cute green pumpkin up to put in my bag when i found this HUGE black widow inside...did i kill it right away like i should have...no, of course not, i grabbed my camera! after i got the picture, john got her out with a shoe and squashed her into the ground several times...poor lady didn't know what hit her.

john turned to the kids and told them that if they ever saw any spiders to come tell us right away...poor grady said "daddy, daddy, look spiders!" pointing the the fake ones on our porch...i wish he always listened that good!

halloween 2008

we had the best halloween ever. here are the pictures...there are a lot of them! aren't these kids the cutest?

here is mm is her costume...the headband didn't last long.

here is grady as an owl...i was really happy with how he turned out. he didn't keep the glasses on, but i still thought that they were really funny. notice how he has already gotten into the candy before we went trick or treating.

here is the practice run at our house...

hailey came over beforehand to take some pictures. it is really hard getting them to all be looking at the same time...go figure!


sitting was better...


here is our real first house...the livingstons are always so sweet.

after trick or treating, we all came back to alvin and lindseys to watch "the great pumpkin" under the stars...it was perfect ending to the perfect night.
here is mm snuggled up with her friends eating monster hands popcorn! fast forward a few years and i see these girls having many sleepover

spooky?....
not so spooky?.....

i'm feathered!

feathered /ˈfɛðərd/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [feth-erd]

–adjective

1.	clothed, covered, or provided with feathers, as a bird or an arrow.

2.	quick; rapid; speedy; swift: feathered feet.

3.

having the bright idea that your kids need to be a type of fowl for halloween and coverting your den into a feathering station which results in feathered floors, feathered couch, feathered sewing machine, feathered pjs, feathered fingers, and feathered feathers. oh and a feathered off husband due to all of the above feathered mess!

ps...john really isn't really feathered off...he has however wondering how i am going to get all of the feathers cleaned up...i am wondering too!

help me rhonda!!

i need help. mm insists on being a duck for halloween (this all came about because her friend "lou" said she was going to be a duck, is this true lindsey?) anyway, i am going to attempt to make a duck costume, but need help trying to think of something for grady...i can't really think of anything that goes with a duck...goose, nah, egg, nah. so, here is a little contest...if have a good idea, leave a comment...i might even throw in a prize for the winning idea!!! oh, there is one stipulation...it can't be anything with a hat, bulky, or anything else that a picky 2 yr old won't wear...don't you see my difficulty?!

by the way, i really get into making halloween costumes...something about me making everything 10 times more difficult for myself than it has to be...one day i will learn! here are the last couple of years

2006

2007

the beach

here a few pictures from the beach. we had a really great time...someone told me today that i looked rested and i laughed at them...i may have had a great vacation, but nobody got to rest!

we had this great idea that we were going to try to take family pictures down at the beach...it was not the best idea that we ever had, but i guess it was worth a try. the pictures turned out terrible...the sun was too bright (hence the squinty eyes), mm was mad that i made her wear a dress, grady kept running to the water to wash his hands, etc, etc. anyway, this is the best of the worst!


here is mm in her "shake her booty" bathing suit building sand castles


grady's mommy should really get him a haircut!


after we had tried and tried to get a couple pictures we finally let the kids play. i love this picture. this was the starting line for the race...or is it a commercial for sprint...more bars in more places...for some odd reason, i think that will is going to smoke them...

and while we were down there a nice funeral home let us borrow some tents. it was super cheep...we only had to dig 4 graves. let me give a shout out to turner, waters, waters, westmoreland helping families during their time of high sun to prevent sunburns and heat stroke. i joke about these gigantic tents and how silly we all look under them, but they are the only way that we can survive the beach!


hopefully i will have more to come in another post. stay tuned!

tina fey for president

i have to share this even though, i am sure that you all have seen this already. tina fey is an absolute genius. i am a proud republican and really like sarah palin, but this is hilarious...i don't care who you are!

we are outta here!!!

we are going to the beach and won't be back for a whole week...we are so excited. we are going with my whole side of the family...mom, dad, dermot, aimee, sinead, chris and 6 wild grandkids under the age of 4!!! we are going to have a blast...i will have lots to post when we come home!

the world!!!!

mary maddox finished her world map today at montessori!!! we are SO proud of her! the kids work really hard on this and its a big deal when they complete it...they take the poker (a big push pen that they hold like a pencil) and poke holes around the lines of each continent until it is cut out, then they have to figure out where each continent goes on the map. once someone finishes their map, they get to walk around the circle showing their friends their map while everyone sings the continent song. this might have been mm's favorite part because she made us reenact it when we got home. we also found out that she knows the oceans...next she'll be starting on the countries in each continent! and to think that i was worried that she didn't ever leave the art table!

happy birthday lou

today is this sweet girl's 3rd birthday. she and her family are some of our closest friends...not as close in proximity anymore, but just as close in our hearts. her family had another great birthday party tonight and we had a great time! here is a picture from the same sweet girls birthday party just 2 short years ago...my have things changed, but also stayed exactly the same!

sleep study

mm and grady usually fall asleep in our big bed. when we are going to bed and after they are asleep, john and i pick them up and move them into grady's bed. one night when john was going up before me, he called to me saying i had to come upstairs...this is what we found...

so i decided to take pictures of them every night before we went to bed. a lot of nights i found them in the exact same positions...it was really weird.

he loves me...

he loves me not!...



yes, grady had to wear this shirt to bed...i guess he thought that it went better with his converse than his pjs!

this was the funniest! poor mm...by the way, they started on opposite sides then they are now.

this was super funny too...grady must have woken up and started to get out of bed, but fell back asleep before he made it out.


i wonder what these sleep patterns say about my kids?

football fever!

well, it is that time of year again where we pack out friday and saturday's with football...this weekend it went like this...friday night-granger game-mm went with john early and grady and i had a date to mighty joes. me and the kids left early since it was past their bedtime. saturday-lagrange college game...it is really hot in callaway stadium at 1:00 in the afternoon. then home to watch the GA game.

here is a picture of us...needless to say, we are ready for the weather to get cooler. i hate sweating at football games!


here are the kids mid "go gringerrrrrsss!"

pelham came in town this weekend so the kids were super excited to see her.

it was a bad idea to let them get blue raspberry italian ice...their mouths are still stained blue.

happy birthday aimee!

happy birthday aimee! my brother could not have chosen better. you are not a sister in law to us, but a sister. i love you and those sweet children of yours. i hope that you had a wonderful day!

two peas in a pod...

i have noticed lately that i don't have many pictures of the kids together...after noticing, i have been trying to take more of them together...they really are best friends.




best friends, but a lot of time it looks like this. (ps please excuse the unbacked boxes in the background...it told you that we would never be unpacked...)

letter to crocs...

Dear Mr or Mrs Head Croc,

I am writing this letter to you as a plea...a plea for all mothers and children across this world. We beg of you to make your product in regular whole and half sizes. We ask this of you even though we understand that you are making trillions of dollars by making ugly plastic shoes that are supposed to fit two sizes of feet. We ask this of you on behalf of little boys everywhere that are eating their veggies and growing...growing big and strong and out those infamous 4-5 size crocs, but are still too tiny to fit into the 6-7s. The same little boys who are so loyal to your company that they sleep in their plastic footwear which result in their feet to be rubbed raw. Do they let this pain deter their support and devotion to their security-shoes? No, this physical ailment is only a battle wound for their cause and commitment. What are we as mothers supposed to do? We can't allow our children to do this to themselves. Our only choice is to go to the loyal crocery and try on every color of 4-5s and 6-7s in stock...looking at the bottom at the manufacturing location hoping that they were drinking too many margaritas in Mexico...hoping that this lack of judgement would lead to an in between sizing error. Doing this while our child that we carried in our wombs are pleading with us to put their shoes back on. Saying in his broken toddler voice...me like these, mommy, me like these. You left us no other option but to turn to the crocery worker and say..."I'll have to get those red converse high tops in a 6"

Please consider these loyal warriors of the playground and the mothers they come home to and reconsider your sizing policy.

sincerely,

mommy of crocless

out with the old...in with the new, but not too happy about it!

ps...I ask that you do not hold my family or educational institutions accountable for the grammar in this letter...while they were trying to teach me proper English, I was either talking or doodling.

happy birthday markette

our good friends the bakers invited us to dinner saturday night to celebrate markette's birthday. we went to the farmhouse at serenbe...it was incredible! the atmosphere, the wine, and especially the company was perfect.

this is the back of the farmhouse...we slipped out the back door and wondered through the gardens and saw all the things that we just ate growing right in the backyard. click here to learn more about serenbe.

grady's party

we had grady's party today...i know, it is two weeks late, but is anyone surprised?...anyway, this years theme was SO grady...we had a messy party. as most of you know, my sweet grady has an incredible skill for getting messy, so we decided to run with it. i have learned that we can only handle a small group of 2 and 3 year olds at a time so we invited our neighborhood wednesday night friends. we asked them to come prepared to get messy. it was a lot of fun!

here is his cake...you can't get any messier than a dump truck. i am really happy with how it turned out.


grady was really excited about blowing his candles out, but got really shy when everyone was singing to him.

the truck had a terrible accident.

it is blocking all lanes on I-285

we couldn't have a messy party without finger paint. it was the only time during the whole party that all of the kids were quiet and sitting down...go figure!

i love this picture...he is really concentrating on his painting...maybe he has some of his mommy in him...not the concentrating part, the art part!

of course, mm loved it too.

we also played a little game of pin the mess on grady!

thank you to grady's friends...he had a really great time.

grady's cake

i am not sure why, but i always have to make simple things difficult. this is very true with grady's cake this year...i probably have been watching a little bit too much Ace of Cakes, so i channeled my inner duff, mary alice, geoff, katherine, and crew...here are the results. i am really happy with the way that it turned out, but i don't think that duff will be calling me anytime soon!

i bought a sheet cake from publix and cut and constructed the truck form...i then attempted to use fondant for the first time...i thought that it couldn't be much different than clay, but i was mistaken. once i finished covering it, i painted some details on with the icing dye. for the final touch i added chocolate pudding and oreos to the bed, and donuts for the wheels. it was really fun to make, but a lot of work!


the license plate was grady's birthday.


mm asked if i would make her a cake. of course, i told her that i would...i am really fortunate that her birthday is 9 months away!

if you are interested....here are some construction pictures on flickr

olympics

i am really sad that tomorrow is the last day for the olympics...i love watching it. it amazes me that for most of these people competing they have been preparing for this for the majority of their lives. think of all those people that train most of their life and don't even make the olympic team...maybe one of my two will make it and i can be the new debbie phelps! how does michael (..you know, michael phelps my new best friend) handle that kind of pressure and still not crack at all!

this could be a new book for me...where michael??

what i want to be when i grow up...

i want to be a children's book writer and illustrator. i found this great website today. It is a site for children's book illustrators. maybe it will motivate me to start thinking about possible stories or characters...here are some of my favorites...

Lauren Child is the creator of charlie and lola


Ian Falconer is the creator of the Olivia Series
do you think that this is just another way to procrastinate...i really should be doing laundry, cleaning the house, and unpacking! man, i am good at procrastinating...i wish there was a career in that!

now taking reservations...

to marry the cutest little boy in america...approximate wait time...25 years. his mommy has to love on him a lot more before i can promise him to someone else!


by the way, this was at mom and dad's a couple of weeks ago. they have a sprinkler system that is fed by the lake (so technically no watering ban) anyway, will and mm ran from zone to zone jumping into the sprinklers. grady wasn't as brave getting into the full stream, but he sure liked running away from him...come to think of it, he is the bravest one by going in his birthday suit, but if my bottom looked as cute as his, i might too...well, probably not! please notice that his shoes never left his feet!

happy birthday bug!

happy 2nd birthday sweet grady. this child is a complete mess, but that is why i love him. he has changed so much in the past year. this time last year he was the quietest most gentle soul...now he has let it all loose, but that is why i love him so much. i love his little words, he funny little laugh, and loving nature. he is all boy and i wouldn't have him any other way. i love you grady, i am looking forward to many more changing years!

weekend gone wild!

what does a weekend with all 6 grandkids at mom and dad's consist of?

lots of golf cart rides...lots of sharing well...lots of not sharing so well...parades of children on ride on toys/strollers through the house...running through the sprinklers...dad chasing geese through a neighbors yard at a high speed on the golf cart...mom thinking that the screaming coming from the speeding golf cart could only mean someone was seriously hurt...some paper airplane flying that led to parachute making...fun on the playground...lots of mosquito bites...approximately 42 "GRAAAA----DDDYYY"'s...super tired kids, parents...and grandparents!...and lots more! we had a great time with all the cousins, but it was WILD!

here are some photos of one of the calmest moments of the weekend.

Mom and Dad's yard, part 2

Guest Blogger Sinead sneaking in with some pics of Mom and Dad's house that Dad wanted to share with the family over in Ireland and England. It's been a while since some of you were here, and he wanted you to see the changes in the yard. :)

and then I thought I'd add a little picture of Dermot and his newest love, Regan.

Happy Saturday!

Céad mile fáilte romhat

dad told me tonight that a lot of my family in ireland has been reading this little blog, so...


isn't it amazing how technology can bridge so many gaps? it has been so long since i have last visited ireland or england. y'all probably don't want us to visit once the see all the crazy stuff we do!!! seriously though, i hope that it will be soon that i can help my kids experience some of that wonderful culture that i was so fortunate to have every summer growing up.

by the way, in case you didn't know, Céad mile fáilte romhat means "100,000 welcomes" in gaelic.

mom & dad's house

this summer they had to drain the lake at mom and dad's to fix a leak in the dam. lots of people on the lake took advantage of the low lake level to build retaining walls to help with erosion. i thought i would share some pictures that i took tonight. (sinead is going to upload some that were taken from the lake too) i think mom and dad like it so much because it reminds them of the walls in ireland...kinda cool huh?

i thought that i would include the last one for those of you that were at our wedding. as you can see, where y'all sat is now full of hydrangeas, crepe myrtles, and holly bushes...isn't it amazing what 6 years and a lot of work can do?

mommy & g

here is a picture that lindsey took with my camera at a neighbors birthday party a while back. i absolutely love it. i need more pictures of me with the kids. thanks lindsey!

happy birthday p!!!

happy 30th birthday p!!!

we share too many memories to count. i cherish each one of them. i hope that you had a great birthday. love you!!! fiona & co

it sure is quiet...where's mm?

anybody with toddlers know that if they are quiet, they are up to something. this is especially true for mm who could possibly the chattiest 3 yr old ever. after noticing the silence, i walk down the hall and hear something dropped which is followed by the clear sound of mm's tiny feet running full speed out of the bathroom...this doesn't look good...

i laughed so hard. is it good that she knows about where to use the mascara, or bad that she doesn't know exactly where to put it since she doesn't see her mommy using it very often? check out the blush on her forehead!

i met someone very special yesterday

we welcomed a new member of the family yesterday. my brother, dermot, his wife, aimee, and son, will welcomed a new baby sister into their family. regan marie waters...6lbs 15.5 oz at 7:54 am. she is so tiny and precious. i can't wait to spend more time with her.

here is will holding his new sister.

she doesn't seem too impressed with her auntie fi!

i got mm out of school early so she could go to atlanta to meet her new cousin...she was super excited.

here is mm and maggie waiting so patiently to see the baby.

Happy Birthday !!!!!

Happy 30th Birthday Mommy!!!!

We Love you, MM & Grady