Please "friend" us on Facebook if you haven't already.  Although we've been unable to update the family website "journal", we have regularly posted monthly photos on FB.  We soon hope to get this site updated!

Our "blog" updates are getting less frequent as the kids get older and as the activities increase in addition to trying to balance and manage work and travel.  However, as you know, we are never at a loss when it comes to pictures!  It's just the time it takes us to get them off of the camera, downloaded and then uploaded that is increasing!!  So, with these few words, we'll direct you to the 2011 photo folder to see what we've been up to from the first of the year to the end of March. Highlights include getting a new kitty "Ginger", celebrating Keeley's 8th birthday with a big party, Valentine's day, activities at school, indoor soccer, winter basketball, a recital at the Senior Center, Amy, Carey and Natalia visiting us from WI, a few (too many) snowdays, gymnastic and dance practices.  the annual Father-Daughter Dance and our first Mother-Son dance.  With the bad winter we've had, the terrible snowstorms and horrible weather ---- we are more ready for Spring than we have every been!!  Hopefully some of these photos help brighten your day!

We finished off the fall sports in early November, wrapping up an awesome soccer season for the kids!  We spent Thanksgiving at Nana and Papa's house with the family and then a couple week later visiting Sean, Kelley, Falyn and Ryan in CT for some between T-day and X-mas holiday fun.  Late fall/early Winter included MANY school activities and field trips (which you'll see lots of in the picture postings).  Keeley was in a really big Thanksgiving Play and was the only "Native American Girl" in her class - the outfit is super cute. She got her picture taken for the local newspaper and was patiently awaiting the weekly paper, but was disappointed when the photographer called us to tell us that the picture was out of focus and couldn't be used :-(.   No worries though, we took about 100 and posted them of course.  We started to connect via SKYPE with Grandmas and Grandpa and Amy, Cary and Natalia in WI.  It's such a nice way to keep in touch - especially for the kids.   Keeley and Kaelin's classrooms both had December holiday concerts - adorable.  We celebrated Ainsley's FOURTH birthday at the beginning of December. We can not believe how quickly our baby is growing up - too quickly.  We had a small family party and we got to celebrate with her in her classroom at school. She also enjoyed being the center of attention at Dance and Gymanastics classes during her birthday week.  Her birthday highlight was her new American Girl doll which she was patiently awaiting the past year (we thought she should be older to get one, but with Keeley and Kaelin playing with there's and her not having a "real" one, it was making it touch!).  We are awaiting Mikey and Tracey's bundle of joy (a baby girl expected in mid-January) and help them celebrate with a beautiful baby shower thrown by Tracey's sister with goodies made by Nana.  Christmas....gosh, where do we begin (how about by just referring you to the photos!). Lots of celebrating!  he kids enjoyed making Grandmas famous christmas cookies, trimming the tree, shopping and making lists upon lists for Santa Claus.  Santa was good to the kids as usual...Nintendo DSs, a Gymnastics Bar, Basketball Hoop, American Girl doll "stuff", Justice clothes for the girls, games, tons of Legos for Aidan, electronic kits for Aidan, and on and on and one...!  Kaelin also got tons of kitty cat supplies - a prelude to her picking one out the following week.  A little female 10 week old she named "Ginger" (truly the best kitten EVER).  We stayed home for the day on Christmas as we usually do and had Nana and Papa and most of the O'Shea clan over.  A great day was had!  But, we are glad the holidays are over and all the food that goes along with it, we each packed on some weight!  Plans are under way for Keeley's 8th birthday party bash with 50+ of her closest friends in a couple of weeks. No rest for us really!!

I'm just about to upload 5 new folders of pictures from September and October. Hope you enjoy seeing what the kids have been up to!

It's been a great fall but so crazy busy between school, homework, piano/voice, soccer, ballet/tap, gymnastics, lots of soccer, CCD and tons and tons of friend's birthday parties, sleepovers and playdates.  School work in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade keeps everyone very busy at night...many projects due each week and classroom activities, plays, etc.  And that of course is in addition to the reading, spelling and math!  We started a "no electronics on Mondays through Fridays" this year and after the first couple of days of whining, it's been a breeze, so freshing, really!  They don't even ask any more until Friday night (still family popcorn movie night!!).

Keeley and Kaelin are revisiting Spanish lessons in their 1st and 2nd grade class and both enjoy learning a second language. Their favorite subject though is still ART and they are both terrific artists.  All of the kids have adjusted really nicely to their new (and large ...) classrooms, love their teachers and new friends. Aidan is doing awesome in full day Kindergarten, so cute taking the bus and hanging out with his friends. Our little man...is growing up so quickly too.  Ainsley is doing terrific in her second year at the Montessori School and making amazing strides academically and is really a little leader - NOT at all shy or reserved like the other three kiddos!  Can you believe she turns FOUR in two weeks...our baby girl.

We celebrated Jeff's birthday (39) on October 5th and also had a wonderful trip up to New Hampshire in mid-October, renting a townhouse nestled perfectly in the mountains. We crammed a week's worth of activities into a 4 day trip - from taking a old cog railway up to the top of Mt. Washington, going to StoryLand and Santa's Village, hiking, shopping in North Conway, taking a tram up to the top of Loon Mountain, ziplining and bungee jumping (only on a trampoline though!) and just relaxing at the resort in the pool/hot tubs and game rooms.  Halloween was great!  Keeley and Kaelin were gorey (but still very cute!) vampires -- no more princesses :-(...Aidan was a shark and Ainsley was her favorite animal, a giraffe.  And, now the holidays are almost upon us.  I'm exhausted just thinking about the next 6 weeks! 

I've been in LA much more than I'd like to say the past couple of months.  But, we've worked out great schedules with the kids so I can help them with homework at night (albeit 3k miles away via video polycom!). 

More updates later...tons of pictures to post now!

Wow has it been so hot this summer, I am not complaining though, since it seemed like it rained all last summer...wait...it did!  Perfect beach and pool weather.  Our little blondies are now little light greenies! Lot's of pool time has turned their hair green!  Nightimes of late night swims in the pool, roasting marshmellows, making smoars, catching fireflies, and way too many ice-cream shoppe runs (not to mention that all 4 kids can hear the sound of ice cream truck coming from miles away and then wait patiently for an hour on the front lawn on look-out!). Keeley, Kaelin and Aidan are enjoying their 1/2 day summer camps and Ainsley is LOVING being spoiled by Jeff in the mornings.  You will see in the photos their Daddy/Ainsley blueberry picking day. Ainsley can eat a whole bucket of blueberries in one sitting, ever since she started eating she was a blueberry girl!  After blueberry picking, they made a blueberry pie (with Kaelin and Keeley's help).  Ainsley got into the pie making with full on chef gear as you can see...She didn't like the pie though (it was "too jelly" for her), so yes, Jeff ate the whole pie himself and I think will be happy to never, ever, see another blueberry pie again.  We reaped the benefits of Nana's famous Blueberry Buckle Cake from Ainsley's good picking's though!  YUM!!  Ah, memories of childhood, blueberry picking, and freezing blueberries for warm blueberry buckle cake all winter long...

We spent the beautiful 4th of July weekend with lots of family and friends, cook-outs each day and fireworks each night!  We scored a great spot again this year for the fireworks over the lake down the road from us.  Pictures tell more of that fun...

My work continues to be crazy - 18 hour days the past couple of weeks with no end in sight (just when you think you can not possible put in another minute another urgent crisis hits)....Way too many trips to LA, nearly every week.  Even the massive amount of FF miles and "perks" I get for being "executive platinum" can't help with the pain of summer travel.  Although it does help having a place to call "home" in LA after late nights in the office.  Unfortunatley, we have no time for a true summer vacation, but the kids don't mind staycationing in the back yard and day trips to the beach.  We WILL be planning one this fall though, for sure!!

Happy Summer 2010!  As you can tell from our photo albums it was a very busy Spring (do I always say that??).  Kaelin celebrated her 6th birthday with a horse party at the house. We rented a couple horses and she and 16 friends had a blast riding them, playing pin the tail on the pony, smashing a pinata, playing find the tiny horses in a haystack and decorating cowgirl hats.  We lucked out with a beautiful May day.  Soon after her party the flood gates opened with end of school activities. We've got about 200 pictures of those!  From Field Days and Field Trips for Kaelin and Keeley, to "Dad's Day" for Aidan and Ainsley at their school, from piano and voice recitals for Keeley and Kaelin (incredible musicians!) to end of school year parties for Aidan and Ainsley and trying to get required volunteer hours in before the end of the year.  Lot's of soccer for Aidan, Kaelin and Keeley with Ainsley as cheerleader at the games.  Also, Keeley's art work made it into the annual show, so that was VERY cool too.  In just one Saturday between the hours of 8am and 4pm we had 3 soccer games, soccer awards ceremony, soccer pictures which had been postponed from an early rained out day, piano and voice recital for K&K and three birthday parties to go to (and trying to fit showers, baths and eating in there too!!). And, yes, we know...this is JUST the beginning with the kids still so young.  The kids all got excellent report cards too, we couldn't have been more proud of all of them.

We opened the pool somewhere during the month of May, pretty early as I recall, the kids couldn't wait to jump in the frigid water.  Keeley learned how to ride a bike without training wheels and Kaelin is on her way as well, but she's been more busy finding baby chipmunks to take care of, butterflies to catch, birds to rescue and in between begging for a dog :-).   Aidan was busy riding his motorcycle (with us on back and Papa and Uncle Tony too...) and Ainsley was busy keeping busy and up with the rest of the gang.  She's a water bug and will spend hours and hours at a time in the pool.  She's an amazing and hysterical little girl with a BIG personality.

Jeff's been busy building a deck out the pool area. Looks amazing so far.  I've been in CA most every week the last month, can barely keep my head straight or on one time zone.  Work is nuts as ever and 12-15 hour days have unfortunatley been the norm.  Talk about stress... 

We celebrated Aidan's 5th birthday two weeks ago, just a family party. Bit party for him next year for him for sure, just no time this year (can you imagine that??).  He got some great gifts and loved his new, bigger bike too.

We made it to Cape Cod last weekend. What a blast. We went to an terrific family beach - Corporation Beach in Dennis. Lot's of shallow water, nice showers, bathrooms and good close parking and concession stand. Lot's of ocean creatures kept the kids busy.  On the way home we hit Sundae School ice-cream parlor and two (yes two) candy shops (and we still had time to go out to eat for Daddy's Day Dinner).  On the way home, the kids were very excited to see, literally right next to us, a car explode on the highway from an apparent engine fire (see the pictures...scary how close we were).  If we were minutes later, we surely would have been stuck in traffic for hours.

Keeley and Kaelin finished up school this week, projects done, teachers gifts purchased, now the sorting, packing, storing and saving of pile and piles and piles of art and school work begins... Next stop 2nd grade for Keeley, 1st for Kaelin, K for Aidan and pre-school again for Ainsley.  Wow, the year sure went by quickly.  A couple 1/2 day camps on tap for the summer, gymnastics, attempting to keep up on piano with home lessons this summer and Keeley wanted to join up for pop-warner cheerleading -- Practice every night in August, seems somewhat excessive at 7 years old, so we'll see how that goes.  The kids will have lots of free play and pool time and Mommy and Daddy are hoping for some at some point too!

4th of July BBQs on tap for next weekend!  Wishing everyone a great summer!

 

Back from 10 Days in California with the kiddos. The weather was not so great the week we were there, a couple days of rain and in the mid-60's. Despite that, we had a couple really fun beach days. We spent one day at Disneyland, mainly for Ainsley who loved it. But, we also hit just about every scary ride - after Space Mountain Ainsley exclaimed she never wanted to go on another ride again - then the "Small World" boat ride got her to change her mind!  We spent a day at Legoland as well - of course for Aidan (and Jeff...).  Lots of cool rides there too, more legos to buy and tons to touch (gave them some building ideas...).  On our way home from Legoland we came upon a strawberry field in Carlsbad, perfect timing (dinner). We all got filled up eating strawberries and then ate them for breakfast the next few days too!  Jeff took the kids on a hike in Malibu and to the La Brea Tar Pits while I got a couple days of work in at the hospital.  The hike was cut short when Keeley saw the sign "Beware of Rattlesnakes!", that was just a second before Aidan fell and scrapped up his knee.  The kids got to visit my office and were treated to a suprise b-day treat for me with cake and balloons for each kids (and a decorated office).  Kaelin and I had a chance to go horseback riding in the mountains - in the absolute pouring rain, but she could have cared less. Neither one of us could walk straight until the next day.  I can not believe we did NOT get sick. Check out the pics of her riding by herself on a huge horse!  Keeley loved going to Hollywood and shopping in Beverly Hills (we are in trouble when she gets older...). We tood some pictures on the Stars just like we did a few years ago when she was a baby.  We also went to the California Science Museum on one of those rainy days and the Rose Garden (where again we took some pictures for historical look-backs!).  We chowed down at our favorite Mexican Restaurant - Don Antonio's in Santa Monica, best chips and salsa anywhere! Jeff got a dive trip in with his buddy Tim (cool pics). We spent some time kicking around the old stomping grounds in Santa Monica and Malibu. We had a lot of fun on the the rides at the Pier (but the kids could care less when we were driving around time pointing out where they were born, where we use to live, the farmer's market, where we walked down to the beach every night when we got home from work, explaining why it was so appealing for homeless people to live in CA...etc. etc. - that tour was really more of a walk down memory lane for Jeff and I!.  Jeff and I never did get our date night in LA, but will manage to grab one this weekend for sure.  The last night we were in LA, we where driving down Sunset Boulevard on our way home from the beach - we hear a scream, look back and Keeley has blood practicly spraying out of her mouth...the tooth she had been wiggling all week (because it would be cool for the tooth fairy to visit her in LA) popped out!  Yes, we took pics of course!  And, she was psyched when the tooth fairy visited her, left her a special prize, some money and a note in her special fairy handwriting (all 7 hours before we had to pack up for the airport. 

The gang was great on the 6.5 hours on the plane, but I think next trip we'll be heading East and not West. They never really did get use to the time zone change the whole time we were there. Of course, I'm more than use to it!  Our apartment next to the hospital fits all of us, but was definitely "cozy."  The kids loved the pool and especially hot tub (now they want one). They seem to also have the impression that I actually have time to go in that pool and hot tub when I am working in LA...

Overall a good trip, but this was definitely a vacation where we need a vacation to recover..But, alas, now we are in planning mode for Kaelin's horse birthday party in a couple weeks, end of school year activities, recitals, shows, etc. etc. etc.

Enjoy the photos - there are plenty of them of course (no time to organize or edit!

I'm sure you have noticed that there has been limited commentary since September. When the kids started up in school again, along with a million activities, and the increasing commutes to Los Angeles, it's been hard to find that precious few minutes to summarize what we've all been up to. I have a zillion sticky notes around my office with funny sayings and things the kids did - like just today when Kaelin came home from kindergarten and I started bombarding her with the normal questions about how her day was while she was attempting to untie a knot in her back and she ever so politely, sweetly and kindly says "Mommy, may you please stop annoying me for a minute?" and Keeley tonight saying "Mommy, can I share a secret with you?" (Nana if you are reading this you know what that secret is....), Ainsley blasting out the French song she learned in Preschool today and then asking me as I lay in bed with her putting her to sleep if I wanted to "suck on (her) stinky with (her)" . If you know Ainsley and her green blankie this is a very big deal!.  And finally Aidan asking me to hold him like I did when he was a baby and "sing our song" while we looked out the window at stars with him falling asleep on my shoulder.

Someday, I will backtrack with all the funnies over the past few months!  I think it will be great for the kids when they get older. Already they love sitting at the computer and flipping through years and years of pictures of themselves, laughing all the way.

I've just posted pictures from February and March.  Our Easter Eve and Day pictures are in a separate folder.  Have fun putting the stories together!  

A few (more than a few...) photos from the month of January and also Keeley's birthday are now posted.  Check them out!

Pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are posted!