Why, Hello There.

It seems we have taken a 2 year hiatus from our blog.  Oops!  Since I last posted back in November, 2103, here are a few family highlights to catch you up:

-We had a baby.  Finbar Patrick, born December 6, 2014.  He was 10 lbs. 6 oz and 23 1/2 inches.  He is now 1 and remains huge. Fin finds it difficult to learn how to walk because he has so much body mass to move around.  He does like to try to talk, and, not surprisingly, he likes to eat.

-Sean went back to school, at our parish (Catholic) school.  He skipped a grade, and after the kindergarten debacle, everyone is much happier. Sean is "transitioning" out of glasses which is bizarre after seeing him in glasses for almost his whole life.  He has lost a few teeth, reads like crazy, has learned how to swim and play baseball, made his First Communion, and wears boxer shorts (his addition to his list of accomplishments/milestones).  He loves Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Greek Mythology, spelling and word puzzles, but does not like to talk about anything to do with boy-girl relationships.

-Jamesie talks as much and whenever he likes and has started Kindergarten.  He is working on learning to read, he has lost two teeth, and is in love with his baby brother and his fluffy cheeks. He is betrothed to a girl in his class whom we carpool with, Caroline--because she told him he was.  He loves to ride his scooter, run, dance, and jump on the trampoline, but does not like to swim, ride his bike, or participate in any organized sports.

-Sissy is 3 1/2 and darling. Her passion is ballet, which she does once a week in lieu of going to preschool this year.  She also loves "characters," and depending on her mood she will tell you that her name is any of the following: Elsa, Fern, Clara, Ruby, or my favorite, Baby Jesus.  I walked into the boys' school with her last semester and a group of middle school girls saw her and waved and said "Hi Elsa!"  Sissy can (nearly) swim, but loves jumping in the pool by herself (with or without warning an adult first), loves dancing, flipping, running, baking with me, and has mastered her scooter.

-Cody now works for the Feds. After two years working in Monck's Corner (an hour away), he is back downtown, about a mile from school, and we all are benefiting from having him nearby.  He is benefiting from the more academic/cerebral nature of the work in federal court and the slower pace compared to chaos of managing 200 clients in state court.  He's still a public defender and has a passion for helping poor clients and giving them dignity through his work, but the work is much different in federal court.  More lawyering, less social work, which is a nice change.

-I was pregnant, then I had a baby, and that has taken up much of my last 2 years.

*Sean has recently found our blog, and has been reading the printed version at night for a week or so now.  He is laughing out loud reading about our early days as a family and begging me to start writing again.  I have so many thoughts and ideas in my head that I thought I'd take another stab at it, to document the history of our family.  My passion is my husband and kids and home.  Hopefully I can reflect that here so we can all remember what it was really like.