When Irish Eyes are Smiling

We started celebrating St. Patty's Day on Long Island a few weeks ago and continued the celebration in Baltimore. We also celebrated Sydney and Evelyn's Grandma's Birthday while we were on Long Island.

Sydney trying her hand at the chicken dance

Dancing with Aunt Rebecca

Icecream with Uncle Sayed

 

St. Patty's hair bows for school

Now we are in Baltimore and Evelyn is helping Leah eat her cheerios.

Mike and his corned beef

Maddie and Sydney sporting their St. Patty's Day wings

The view from the back (Evelyn wanted in on the fun in her St. Patty's vest)

Team Walsh prepping for their party.

You may think Maureen and I are out of focus...but look at what is in focus and everything will make sense in this photo.

Sydney and Leah enjoying the bagpipe player. Evelyn and I enjoyed much of the performance from the comfort of their front stoop. There was a pipe band at the party on Long Island so Evelyn's eyes got big when she saw the piper walk into the Walshes. She and I went in and out of the house as her stimulation toleration permitted. He was great!

We spent a good chunk of Saturday helping the Walshes decorate for the party but the four booster seats in a row were by far the most frequently discussed decorations in their house.

Leap Day!

Here are some photos from Leap Day 2012!

We have about 5 inches of snow and the university cancelled classes which started after 1:30. Did I mention my class starts at 12:15? I made it home before the roads got bad and in time to enjoy the snow with Joshua and the girls (and Sadie who LOVES snow). Evelyn and Sydney (and I) got to make some snow angels and Joshua had the girls take turns with their saucer rides!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Special shout out to Sydney and Evelyn's Nana for helping them with their Valentine's Day shirts!

Fa ra ra ra...Move it!...and a bit of poetry

Sydney came up with some pretty good lines this weekend. She let us know she didn't like the Sun Chips we bought. I explained to her that someday she will do some chores and earn an allowance so she can buy whatever kind of chips she wants. She thought this sounded like a good idea. I asked her what jobs she would like to do and she replied "Eat, Sleep, and...Play." (At least she has a good handle on her official job responsibilities.) Later that day I asked her who she wanted to help brush her teeth (Mommy or Daddy?) to which she replied "Daddy, because he's the teeth officer." Yesterday we introduced the girls to the idea of an obstacle course in their basement playroom. Sydney enjoyed it. After several rounds she was ready to create her own "obstacles." She said to me "Mommy, do you think we can do a dancing popsicle?" In video land - Christmas carols are still all the rage at our house - Evelyn is auditioning for a singing part in A Christmas Story. Next, Evelyn is assuring everyone she likes to move it (and she likes to say "cheese" for the camera). Last but not least, Sydney is reciting her new favorite poem.

Go Patriots!

I have been working with the girls on their "Go Patriots!" exclamations. Since the AFC and NFC Championship game, every time I put Evelyn in her Patriots sweatshirt I say to her "Ready to go make some friends?" Thankfully, I haven't heard anyone give her too much grief for her allegiance. Me wearing my Patriots hat on campus on the other hand... Enjoy the girls' game faces and Patriots pride (complete with high-fives!)

MLK - OK Style

We had a nice time celebrating MLK weekend with some Peace Corps friends in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We certainly had an eventful trip. Sydney face-planted on cement our first afternoon there and scraped up her lip and face quite impressively. She was very brave about the whole thing and could not have been in too much pain because she jumped at the chance to join Lucy Claire's ballet class the next afternoon.

Here is a nice "before" picture - Sydney got her first haircut the next day.

Sydney's first hair cut!!! (She got 8" cut off so she could donate it)

Sydney's post-haircut princess braid (a major selling point for why it was a good idea to cut her hair)

The "big" kids with their haircuts and Evelyn wondering when her number will get called. I'm not sure we'll be able to wait for the 8" since she seems to have an aversion to hair elastics and barrettes. Thankfully, she likes to wear hats!

Leah

Sydney's newly improved shorter pig tails (or piggy tails as she calls them)

We celebrated Mindy's bigi yari a little early

Bfast at the kids' table

The kid contingent

The whole group

Christmas and New Year's

We spent Christmas and New Year's with family on Long Island and in Rhode Island. Here are the Top 30 pics from the events of the last couple of weeks. Sydney had her festival of light celebration at school. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Munzes. We enjoyed the 4th annual bake off versus Joshua's siblings (this year was non-dessert pies). We went into NYC and went to the World Trade Center Memorial. We enjoyed a visit with my Aunt (sorry there are no photos!) We headed to RI and enjoyed a second Christmas celebration with Jon, Kim, Ryan and Erin before breaking in the New Year - New Year's in Barcelona style - (so we could celebrate with the girls at 6pm instead of midnight). We were happy to visit with my grandmother and are sorry we forgot to bring our camera for that visit. Enjoy the best of pics...

Sydney's Snowperson is doing a backbend!

New puppet theater from Nana and Papa (with a nod to Joshua for assembly)

Evelyn is quite the harmonica player - just ask other passengers on the LIRR

New Year's Rockin' Eve

We were fancy for the pre-party and the toast and then went casual for dinner. Evelyn is showing off her counting down skills in the video below.

Happy 2012!