The last one is off!

Well, it's the end of another era. Shannon is now mobile! On Wednesday she started creeping, and on Saturday she was officially commando crawling. Sigh - my baby is moving around. Darn-it! It was so nice having at least one child who would sit still!! ;-)

The boys have been dying to have a camp out in the tent, so Chris set it up in the basement and on Friday night they had a sleepover. They were pretty excited to say the least, but they managed to fall asleep, AND sleep through the night!


On Sunday we went to a Pirate birthday party which was a blast. There was a water trampoline (which was a big hit), boat rides, and a treasure hunt! Everyone dressed up for the occasion:

The End of an Era?

Well, it's been over three weeks since we started "Mission to end thumb and finger sucking". It appears to have worked! Yep, Quinn is pretty much done with finger sucking. In fact when you ask him if he sucked his fingers he says: "No fingers - ewwww!!!"

Aidan is almost done. He still slips occasionally, but the thumb-sucking is down SIGNIFICANTLY. Thank goodness! We're keeping our fingers crossed that it sticks!

Here are some pictures of the boys with their guards on:

Happy Father's Day and: I did it!

We had a great weekend. On Saturday we took the kids to the Funfest where neither of them really wanted to do much of anything except find all the candy and gum they could! They still enjoyed themselves though. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and going to the pool, and in the evening Tush, Dave and the kids came over.

Sunday was the big day: Father's Day and the Boys Home 10K. I woke up on Sunday feeling pretty good so I decided to go ahead and try the run. Well I certainly didn't break any land-speed records, but I finished the damn race!! My back actually felt really good during the race - too bad my cardio absolutely SUCKED since I hadn't run in two weeks. But, at least I accomplished my goal of running the race!

Sunday was also Father's Day so a big shout out and lots of love to all the Dad's out there, especially to Chris, my Dad, and Mac. We headed over to Brigitte's house in the afternoon and had a great time there. Aidan could NOT get enough of the dipping pool, despite the fact that his lips were purple and he was shivering - but he swears he wasn't cold!! Quinn had a blast playing with Adam and Emma, and Ms. Shannon was her usual smiley self - charming everyone!!

Happy 60th and a baptism too!

Well, we survived the weekend!

We hosted my Mom's 60th birthday party on Saturday (Happy Birthday Mom!) and it was lots of fun. The weather cooperated and we had a beautiful sunny day that wasn't too hot. The kids had a blast playing in the bouncy castle, slip and slide and we even managed to hit the pool and go for a nice swim. The grown-ups had a great time socializing, eating, drinking, eating some more and heading to the beach for a belated sunset. All in all, it was a fantastic day!

On Sunday we had Shannon's baptism, and it went really well. As always Ms. Shannon was a superstar, and didn't even bat an eye when she was doused with the holy water. God-parents Steven and Laura stood by, and all the cousins were as good as gold during the ceremony.

By Sunday afternoon the festivities had wound down, and Chris and I pretty much collapsed. A very busy weekend indeed!!

The birthday girl:


Ms. Shannon in her baptism gown:


Having just too much fun!:

Owwwwwww......

Well, in our mad rush to finish the basement bathroom before all of our guests arrive this weekend I was painting like a mad-woman. On Monday I said to Chris: "Gee, my back's really sore". To which he replied: "Well, you've been painting so it makes sense."

Fast forward to Tuesday: I was putting the kids in the car to go to playgroup, and I put Shannon (who is still in the portable car seat thingy) in. My entire lower back completely and totally seized up. I was in agony! I couldn't even bend over to pick Shannon, let alone anything else below waist-level, up.

I went to the chiropractor and he said that I had a severe strain of the lower back muscles. He basically said: "Yep, it sucks, and the only thing you can do is rest it so that the muscles loosen."

Ummmm.... rest it? I have my Mom's 60th birthday party (which I'm hosting!) tomorrow, plus Shannon's baptism on Sunday, plus my 10km run next weekend. Note to back: This is the ABSOLUTE WORST time for you to seize up!!!

So I'm walking around pretty gingerly, and taking lots of Advil and using lots of ice packs. But, no rest for the wicked - there's just too much to do!!