Chauncey Creek Goofballs from Shaun Casey on Vimeo.
I found this web site called "Wordle" where you can plug in your blog URL and create "word clouds" - it basically gives greater prominence to the words that appear more frequently in your blog posts.
If you have a blog of your own, try it!
Will is SIX YEARS OLD today! Where, oh where does the time go? It seems like yesterday he was turning five!
He's a super little boy who is kind, funny and smart. He does well in school and is not a trouble maker. He cracks me up on a daily basis. He was convinced that he was going to wake up this morning much taller than he was at five (in fact, he even showed me how he can clearly see over the island in the kitchen about a half hour ago). He's loving - last night he said, "I love my baby brother." Not too long ago he said to me, "Can you get me a drink, my love?" And he adores his sisters. He can't wait for Friday to come around so he can see them (and they can drive each other crazy). And when they leave on Sunday, I almost always hear, "I miss the girls."
His favorite thing besides his family is probably snacks. The skinny kid lives for a good snack. We stop at the gas station, "I want a snack." He goes to the ball field, "I want a snack." I go grocery shopping, "Did you get new snacks?"
He more or less listens (okay, so he's not perfect) - in general he's just a good kid. I love him. A lot.
*I would be remiss if I did not mention my father's birthday yesterday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEPE/DAD! We Love You!
It’s been really difficult to fully process my trip to
Africa, and specifically Ethiopia. How
do you recount a journey that felt as though it were a dream? In the span of 24 hours I was on 3 different
continents and then swaddled in the cradle of mankind for 9 days. Ethiopia is like another world – how does one
explain the sounds, the smells, the sights and the feelings accurately? Words fail.
Even the incredible pictures Erin took only tell so much. Sure, one can see the beautiful faces of the
children, but you cannot smell them or hear them or touch them. And all of that was so central to this
trip.
We had a debriefing on Friday night before our flight home. We were asked to share our thoughts on the trip - things that surprised us, stuck with us or touched us. For me, the biggest surprise was how incredible the kids were. It’s not that I thought they wouldn’t be, but not to the magnitude that they actually were. These children would come up to you without hesitation, with their hand extended (other hand on their elbow in a sign of respect) and greet you. They looked you in the eye. We visited at least two orphanages/care points each day – we probably saw/touched over 500 kids. I know for certain some of these children have HIV/AIDS; some of them had been beaten; some of them raped - both boys and girls. Most orphaned. All destitute.
These kids gave me so much more than I gave them. Sometimes I feel like, “What did I really do for these kids?’’ I mean really. Yes, we played with them for a few hours, we hugged and kissed them, we gave out candy/stickers/bubbles/balloons, etc., but in the grand scheme of things, what did I do? I didn’t change their lives, yet they changed mine forever. There’s a video out there that Erin sent me, and it’s called, “I need Africa more than Africa needs me.” It’s the truth.
And then there were those particular children that we made personal connections with – the ones that the minute you walked through the gate, they grabbed your hand. You were theirs and they were yours. It was constant hugs and kisses, and they would play with my hair, tell me they loved me, or … call me mother. Or when one of them would look up at me with their big, beautiful brown eyes and ask, "Tomorrow?" in broken English. And I had to tell them, "No." There wouldn't be a tomorrow with them. It was these connections that hurt my heart. I miss the children.
Africa is beautiful…it gets under your skin. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve been there. I would urge anyone and everyone to go. I missed my family immensely, but I would go again in a second. And I hope someday to go back. The last line in the video I mentioned above sums it up completely:
“Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands….will never be as valuable as peace in my heart.”
Here is a link to their blog: Lobsters in the Rough They are are updating regularly from Ethiopia.
My blog nazi, I mean my "conscience", gave me a beat down nudge to update this blog. Yeah, yeah. I'm not like some people who update their blog every ten minutes. Ahem.
So, this is for you - and you know who YOU are.
Here is a list to help you out:
Yup, it's Shaun. He's the big 4-0 today. As in forty. As in "holy-cow-he's old" forty. Forty is here, baby. So Shaun, you old fart, Happy 40th Birthday!! And to this I say:
I love you. You are not only a great husband and friend, but you are the ultimate dad. I know you inherited much of your "dad-ness" from your father. You live for your four children. You teach both by words and example. You show affection - you're not afraid to tell the kids you love them. You don't set unreasonable expectations. You love tradition (insert commercial for Hart's Turkey Farm or Lost River here). You are, by far, a fun dad.
You have set the bar high for Joelle and Marina's future mates.
I love how you take care of us. In the recent ice storm you barely slept a wink to make sure we were warm and had some comforts to get us by. You are by far the most honorable and stand-up man out there. Anyone who truly knows you understands this. I know your father would be very proud of you.
I look forward to our lives in the next forty+ years!
Much Love,
Wendy
Erin recently tagged me in her Monday meme post. The rules were this:
1. go to your documents/pictures
2. go to your 6th file.
3. go to your 6th picture.
4. blog about it.
5. tag 6 people to do the same.
6. smile (Erin added this to keep with the "Six" theme, ain't she smaht?)
So here is my 6th picture:
Yesterday I went skiing for the first time in 13 years. I took Marina, Will and Joelle along for the ride. For Marina and Will is was a first time event. We went to King Pine Ski Resort which is about 60 miles away. It is an outstanding resort and very family oriented (i.e. not a lot of yahoos)
Joelle Skiing from K-Sea on Vimeo.
The next video is of Will at Ski School. After every run I would check into see how he was doing. He appeared to be having a blast. As a bonus he lost his second tooth while in ski school.
Will in Ski School from K-Sea on Vimeo.
Mina's First Ski Run from K-Sea on Vimeo.
Overall the day was a success....I think...Do you have any idea how much it will cost to go skiing with a family of 6?
One more month away from the BIG ONE - literally!! Where did the past year go?? I have to admit when he was first born, time went so slow. Face it, infants are not easy, and Beckett was no exception. My mantra in the first few months was, "this too shall pass." Now that he's developed his personality and he's not so fragile, I'd like it to slow down a bit.
He's just starting to pull himself up on things - he gets one leg up and that's about it. I doubt he'll be walking by one, but that's okay. The baby proofing is really going to have to go into full effect once he is, so I'm fine with waiting a bit.
No words yet either, just a lot of growls, grunts and other odd noises. He makes the funniest sounds!! He also has this odd fascination with lights..he just stares at them. He may not even be human. I mean look at that Richard Simmons perm will you?? Admittedly that picture was taken right after a bath, when the curl was at an all time high. It usually "softens" a bit (thank goodness, that's a bit too tight for me!!).
For those of you who may be shopping early for the big first birthday bash, he's into designer hand bags (favors Coach) and he loves massages at the Wentworth Spa. Hey, I'm just trying to help!
Anyway, we love you, you grunty, curly mass of cuteness!!
Just going through some photos and found this classic..
Will was recently sent home with a picture for a school coloring contest. Each grade was given one particular picture to color, and the winner of each grade was to receive a certificate and gift card. When told of this task, Will confidently said, "I'm going to win!!" With this confidence in mind, I did what any other good mother would do - I pulled out all the craft stuff and secretly told myself, "No, we are going to win!"
As we he began to color in the picture (for Kindergarten it was a smiling ornament), I anxiously watched. Anytime his crayon threatened to cross over the line, I barked quietly said, "STAY IN THE LINES!" Okay, fine, all caps means I was yelling. Fine. And when his poor hand became tired from the coloring, I did what any good mother would do - I helped color. Just a little. Okay, fine. Maybe more than a little.
We glittered, we snow flaked, we used pipe cleaners...my his masterpiece was finished!!
Weeks went by. One day, after school I brought Will over to our rec center to sign him up for basketball. I handed the form to the lady, and as she studied his name on the form she said, "I have something for you." When she came back from the other room, she said, "You won the coloring contest for Kindergarten!!"
"I did?!!" I yelled. Okay, fine. I didn't say that. Out loud anyway.
The look on Will's face was beyond priceless. She handed him his certificate and $10 gift card to Wal-mart. As we got in the car, he said to me, "I knew I would win!"
And I thought to myself, "I knew we would win too...."
File this one under "may only be interesting to the author"
I just had a Deja Vu moment while watching "Clash of the Titans" with Will. I used to love that movie when I was younger and decided to share it with him.
His real name is Gordon Murray, but most people know him as either “Bud” or “Gordo” or “G-Man”, or as the grandkids call him, “Papa Gordo.” Well, most of the grandkids. Mina affectionately called him, “Caca Dodo” as a toddler, and then Will followed suit with calling him, “Purple Girdle.” The grandchildren all love him and he the same.
Case in point, in the recent ice storm we had many trees come down. One hit the shed and the boat, damaging both. Gordon came over the next day, chainsaw buzzing. He fixed the hole in the roof of the shed, and helped re-cover/winterize the boat. He also wired our house so if/when we do lose power again, we simply turn on our generator, and a good portion of our house will be operational.
He knows the sea like he knows wood as he literally grew up on a boat, and he is currently building his own boat. His current hobby is art, and he's pretty darn good at it.
Enjoying some Blue Seal
Hi there..
*Before you go calling DSS on me, please note that I did remove the dog food from Beckett's mouth before he could fully enjoy it.
(Don't mind the booger on his nose)
Ten Months! Just two more and we hit the big ONE! Well the little bugger is now into just about everything he can get his hands on (and his mouth on), although it’ll get worse. He sits on his knees and is just starting to attempt to pull himself up on things (once he does, enter “worse”). His second top tooth (his only two) finally broke through, so we will probably rename him Beaver. Beaver Casey. I think he's going to be a trouble-maker. In fact, it's starting already. His daycare teacher told me he and his "girlfriend" Fiona crawl off together looking to see what trouble they can get into. A real Casanova like his dad.
Speaking of his dad, the poor kid is looking more and more like his daddy’s baby pictures every day. If he turns out as good looking as his father, he'll be one lucky boy. Fiona doesn't stand a chance!
Happy Ten Months Little Guy! We love you!
It's about 7am and I have been awake for about an hour. The rest of the family is sound asleep. Hotels are not great for early risers when the rest of the family is asleep. I have been laying here silent for what seems to be an eternity. When will it end? Who knows.... So in the mean time I will share a few pics I took with my iPhone last night.
This place (red jacket-n.conway) is a real good place for families. We checked in yesterday at 3 and immediatly hit the waterpark. The park has 4 large waterslides, a wave pool, a basketball court set in a pool and a kiddy play area. We stayed at the park for about 3 hours and then went to the restaraunt for some food. The food was MEH but the convience of not having to leave the hotel made it acceptable. After dinner I took Mina and Will back to the pool while Wendy and Joelle relaxed in the room. Nice day.
If/when everyone wakes up we will hit the breakfast barfet (buffet) and then do another couple of hours in the waterpark.
After that we head to Meme and Pepe's house to pick up Beckett and head home for some Christmas decorating.
So there it is my first blog post from my phone.
Today is Wendy's Birthday. We are very lucky to have her in our lives. To Celebrate this day we are going to take her on a very special trip to North Conway where we will stay in a
luxury 5 star motel that has all the ammenities a classy lady like Wendy will enjoy such as a SPA, fancy restaurant, quiet accommodations and an indoor water-park. And to top it all off we will be with out the kids.
Obviously I am kidding. Today is a perfect example of why she is the greatest. Instead of spending her birthday doing something for herself she planned a family getaway day at in indoor water park in the mountains.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEN-WE LOVE YOU!
We have a tooth!
Beckett finally broke a tooth - we noticed it this morning on the top of his mouth. It's funny because I always thought the first tooth came in on the bottom. But what do I know?
I should also mention that about a month ago Will lost his first tooth. Oh the drama that went along with that! The darn kid had this tooth literally hanging out of his mouth, but he wouldn't let us near it. He was so scared there was going to be massive amounts of blood once the tooth came out. Finally it came out on it's own, and there was zero blood to be had (but plenty of tears!).
Parenting is funny...we celebrate teeth coming in and teeth going out...
I love my husband to death – he’s one of the greatest humans on this planet. Anyone who knows him will agree. That being said, he’s still a boy and very predictable. Case in point, last weekend we were over Erin and Jermaine’s house, and Shaun spotted a really cool “man-toy” that Jermaine had (some sort of cordless screwy/drilly thingamajigg). I could smell the jealously oozing through his pores.
Wow, seriously didn't I just write a post about how Beckett turned eight months old? Why does time have to go so fast these days? If I could, I'd give Time a speeding ticket. "Listen Mister, you're doing 75 in a 15 mph zone. Slow down!!"
I guess it only makes sense I can't stop time since I can't stop Beckett these days. He's full-fledge crawling now (hands/knees) and is starting to move fast. If you want to find out how dirty your floors really are, put a nine-month old down for a few minutes. I call Beckett my human swiffer. He's also become full-fledge cute. When he's awake in his crib, he pulls his bumper down and waits...peeking out for a human to come rescue him. He also makes these crazy growling noises (I told you I had a crush on the Wolf Man from Clark's Trading Post) and funny faces (think gummy old man).
He also has this wild curly hair when he comes out of the tub or the humidity gets him (think YMCA pool) - if I slapped some Baby Phat on him he'd be the white Lil Bow Wow. Will keeps asking me when he's going to talk because, "it's taking a long time." Yet I'm still waiting for that first tooth!
Happy Nine Months Lil Bow Wow guy! We love you!
This post goes out to Erin, since she "spoke aloud" on Twitter. She said she wishes we would update our blog more. Yeah, yeah. I'm no Wonder Woman lady!
Erin is like my blog boss. If I go a few days (or, gasp, a few weeks), I get called into her office.
"Thank you for coming into my office, Mrs. Casey. I asked you to come in here today because I've noticed you've been slacking in the blog department. I'm wondering what we can do to remediate this situation. Hmmm??"
I probably tell her something like, "I'm sorry. I'll try harder. But the coffee stinks around here and the guy in the next cube over has bad gas. It's very hard to concentrate."
Knowing Erin, she'll tell me to, "suck it up" and that the guy in the next cube over is her brother. She's ruthless like that.
But she did get me to update our blog.
I took Will and Mina last night to see Joelle in her new
play, “Schoolhouse Rock.” I remember
seeing the clips of SHR as a child. It
was squeezed between cartoon shows, and I’d sing along to, “I’m Just a Bill” or,
my personal favorite, “Conjunction Junction.”
Good memories. Anyway, Joelle has
been practicing for this show for awhile, and I was really looking forward to
seeing it. It didn’t disappoint!
This is Joelle’s fourth show now – having had a part in The King and I at the Ogunquit Playhouse and then Honk! and Treasure
Island both at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre (where SHR is also running until next Sunday…shameless
plug!). At each show I feel this
tightening in my throat for Joelle – it’s this feeling that comes over me of
sheer love and a proud feeling of being her (wicked) step-mother.
I’ve been in Joelle’s life since she was a toddler, and it
has been fun watching her evolve into a young lady. From
the first day of Kindergarten to now ... sixth grade and school dances. Yikes!
Where did the time go?
So as I go about my day today singing songs stuck in my head like, “Interplanet Janet” (could be my new favorite) or “Conjunction Junction”, I think of Joelle – and how proud I am to be her step mom.
Here is a video of Marina getting her Nerd On. She is practicing for Halloween.
It was recently brought to my attention that a post I made a month ago about Erin was deleted from our site. For some reason it caused technical difficulties and Shaun deleted it (he couldn’t see it on his computer…?). Anyway, I wanted to re-post it for two reasons. One, I spent a great deal of time putting Erin’s head on Wonder Woman’s body (I don’t have Photoshop) and Two, I want to have it in our archives. So here it is again, from my memory bank:
I'm late with this post due to sickness, but Beckett turned eight months on Friday! Eight months! Time flies! The little bugger does the "military crawl" but he does get on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He has found his genitals (always a good time). My sister said this is the age of "elation." Basically that means he's pretty much always happy. He has big smiles for his sisters and brother!
Happy Eight Months little guy! We love you!
P.S. Still no teeth!
APPLLES?
(I took this picture near my parent's house. They live right across the street from an apple orchard. My guess is that the Jamaicans that work (and live) at the orchard made the sign. What's funny is that the word "Apple" is correctly written on the bottom.)
It has been 7 great years that we have been married. I am the luckiest man in the world. Wendy is a great friend and mom and I look forward to many more years of good times. Happy Anniversary Wendy, I love you!
I completed my first 5K road race today. My time wasn't great, but considering up until one hour before the race I had mentally checked out of running it (due to what I thought was going to be inclement weather), it wasn't too bad.
I have to say, running is a lot like going through a natural child birth. It starts off and you're like, "Alright, I can do this." Then it gets harder, you want to give up, at some point you crown (either the baby or the hill) and then the final push to the finish line.
After you are done you either get a baby or donuts/brownies/bagels/cookies/apples/oranges/goldfish crackers/soup/nachos (yes they had nachos after the race!). Unless the nachos don't sit well with you, you are pretty much assured a good nights rest after a race. The baby? Not so much.
Anyway, I learned a few things after today's race:
However, like natural child birth, after you cross the finish line you think, "Well that wasn't too bad." You forget the pain, the physical exhaustion, the boob sweat and the ill-fitting underwear.
A beautiful baby in your arms or a yummy cookie in your mouth does this. So while there will be no more babies for me, I do see another race in my future.
P.S. I'd like to give a shout-out to my running mate, Shaun. Thanks for letting me cross the finish line first!
I was able to witness the miracle of life today...from the other side. My little sister, Jill, had a baby girl today. I got the call this morning at 4am that they were going to the hospital - at 5am another call that Jill was at 5cm and was being admitted. Jill had previously asked me to be in the room with her (and her husband, Eric) when she was in labor. I, of course, was honored. So I had some kid/work/school scrambling to do at the wee hours of the morning and then booked it to Manchester. I was so afraid I was going to miss my niece or nephew making their first appearance that every traffic light, every slow car and every slow elevator heard my wrath. Good thing I was kid-less.
I made it just in time for the pushing to begin (a natural birth!), and, one and a half hours later, I watched a little girl come into the world. A little girl with lots of dark hair and a cute little cry. It makes me emotional just writing this.
As I was showing Will the pictures of his new cousin, he pointed to the umbilical cord and said, "Is that the tentacle?" Ahh...kids.
FIRST BATH
WEIGH IN
NEW DADDY
The baby doesn't quite have a name yet, although they both like the name Alice (it's a family name on Eric's side). I took to calling her "Autumn" since she picked the first day of Fall as her birthday!
Congratulations Jill and Eric!!
Congrats to Joelle who made the cast of School House Rock which will be playing at the Seacoast Rep in Novemeber! She will be featured in the classic "Conjunction Junction" among others. Nice Job Joelle!
In our state of illness these past few days, I almost forgot that Beckett is 7-months old today!! I swear, wasn't he just 6-months old? So little guy, Happy Seven Months! You are grabbing everything you can get your hands on, you pivot and "scooch" on your belly and you weigh almost 17 lbs! But still no tooth yet!! I've slowly introduced some cheerios and puffs to which you made the funniest face, and yet you went back for more (most of which never entered your mouth but stuck all over your clothes and high chair).
We Love You!
Wow! Mina turns 9 today! How time flies HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
We call this one "Messy Mina". She is 6 months old (Feb 2000)
Still Messy on her 1st Birthday.
We love you!
Has there ever been two worse games for local fans than the two most recent Patriot games? As New England sports fans we have been through our share of one game disasters. Dent, Buckner, Pats/Giants, Pedro 2003...the list goes on and on. The great thing about sports is that there is almost always a tomorrow. The Sox redeemed themselves the by erasing the great Pedro melt down of 2003 by winning it all in 2004. The Celtics went from the worst team ever (?) to World Champions the next season.
The 2008-09 Patriot season was supposed to be the season of redemption. (yeah I know it’s ridonculous to say a team that has won 3 Superbowls in 6 years needs a season of redemption...too bad). Instead the season opener dealt us a rare “KICK IN THE STONES UN-PERFECTA”. The Patriots gave us back to back killer losses. As if the Superbowl wasn’t enough..now this? Tom Brady out for the season.....Not since the Sox lost two in a row to the Mets in ’86 has there been back to back games that have dealt it’s fans such a double dose of disastah...
There is always tomorrow..or next Sunday in the NFL. The Pats are still a good team even without Brady. They are now Cinderella all over again and that’s what makes sports great. The Pats have a chance now to do something special...win without the best player in the NFL. The season starts Sunday.
Today was Will's second day of Kindergarten - I neglected to
do this post yesterday. Perhaps it was because I was in a state of
shock/denial that my oldest baby son got into a moving vehicle (aka a
bus) without me and was delivered to a foreign place (aka school) without
me. I’ve had a pit in my stomach for
weeks concerning yesterday’s traumatic big day. It’s not that I’m not used to him being in a “school”
setting – he’s been going to daycare three days a week since he was three
months old. But this..this is
different. This is big boy
material. This is a system…a thirteen
year system. We now have to deal with
ungodly amounts of paperwork (most of it is insanely redundant), parent/teacher
conferences, scheduled school vacations and, at some point homework, potential
bullies, friend issues, clothing issues, girl issues and…I just puked a small
amount of dinner in my mouth.
Our Handsome Son
School Boy Walking
"The Yellow Enemy"
This morning Will came into bed with me for a bit. I'm not sure how we got on the subject of Christmas, but he asked me, "When is Christmas?". Seeing as he doesn't quite grasp how time works, I told him, "First comes Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas." He processed that for a bit and then said, "Oh, I don't like Thanksgiving. No kids like Thanksgiving. It's boring, you can't play. You have to eat bad food. Kids don't like the chicken."
So there you have it...
I compared cucumbers with my neighbor over the weekend.
My cucumber (above)
Neighbor's cucumber
Just sayin'
So I found the most amazing place to pick your own blueberries. It's one of those "word of mouth" places. I'd tell you where it's located, but I can't- it's my little secret. If I tell you, then you'll go there and pick all of my blueberries!
This place is amazing. I felt like I was walking in Sonoma County, except instead of grapes I was surrounded by little berries of blue. Row after row after row of beautiful blueberry bushes, bordering a scenic cove, with little pin wheels made of soda cans scattered about (to scare off the birds I imagine).
I love finding places off the beaten path.
If you are good (and you give me a lot of money), I will tell you where it is. Maybe...
I was going through some media this morning and found this gem. This was after a sleep over earlier this year. We caught the kids dancing with their pajamas jacked up. I thought it was funny. Avery's "moves" were particularly disturbing err I mean funny :-).
