Lots of home time and family time

Well, most of you know we have been having quite a lot of snow. Breaking all records just like last year. So, consequently we have been staying at home most of the time enjoying our new toys. Joe made us delicious Egg Benedict's on the morning after Christmas using left over meet from our dinner with the Yetters and using garlic toast. It was insanely delicious. It also set the tone for the day: lethargy and gluttony. :)

We did go out in the afternoon to tool around a little bit. We took the boys to the play area at the mall which they thoroughly enjoyed. They ran amok and burnt off a lot of energy. Then we went across the street to Applebee's to use our $25 gift card. The boys are getting so much better at restaurants. It is almost enjoyable. :)

Randa's package arrived on our doorstep by the time we got home. It was Christmas all over again. Loaded with goodies such as K'nex kits which they love putting together. Mason got a giant Bug book which is perfect for his entomology class he is participating in through 4H. Talan got a Elmo book which has puzzles and it is a huge hit with him.

So while life has slowed down a wee bit here, we have been spending a lot of time playing games. We played Driedel with the boys, a game Mason brought home from school. The boys love spinning the Driedel. We also played one hand of GO FISH with Talan being my partner and Mason being Joe's partner. I tried to get Talan to practice speaking by having him ask if they had any Goldfish or Rainbow fish but instead he just turned the card around and said "this one?". It was funny and cute. He has so many tricks he uses to get out of speaking. Cunning really. Joe and I have played Chess, Mastermind and Scrabble. I will have spelling on my TEAS test so I figure it is marginally helpful as a study tool. I love playing games so it has been really fun for me. This is the stage of the boys development that I have always looked forward to. I hope they love playing games as much as I do.

Christmas Day

We put the presents under the tree last night after the boys had gone to bed so that they would think Santa came to visit. I bit into all the cookies left out for Santa, drank the milk and spilled kibble on the table that was for the reindeer. "Santa" left a note for the boys on our chalkboard. As Barclay slept on our coach she was able to report that Mason came out at 2:30am and then 5:40am at which point she snuggled with him and then told him he could wake us up. My clock said 5:50 when Mason jumped on top of me wild with excitement that there were presents under the tree. Even though I was so tired I was so excited for the boys and remembered well that I had done the exact same thing to my parents. :)

We started with stockings first while the coffee brewed and we were all waking up. The boys stockings had lots of gum as this is Talan's current passion. The first thing Talan opened was a bag of small gumballs. He ran into Mason's room to grab the gumball machine and that has been a hit all day. Loading pennies and filling up the curly track with gumballs, then dumping out, restocking the gumball globe and doing the whole thing all over again. :) He needs help with each turn as he is not strong enough to make the penny go down the shoot.

Some gifts were a hit and some were not. Barclay bought Talan a piggy bank that is a butt crack and when you insert the coin, it farts. You have never seen such delight and giggles. I thought the boys would totally dig their Santa nesting dolls as they love their Russian nesting dolls but they haven't looked at them since I made them see how many dolls there were. The light bright and the wedgits were a hit. Barclay got them a wacking mole game which they like and they use their mallets to wack bubbles too. The balloons were a huge hit, they have always loved balloons. The gum and candy, of course, were enjoyed all day. :)

Right now they are in the bath with icicles which is the only way I am able to take the time to write. Talan says "help ma" every other sentence. Help with the light bright, gum ball machine, the wedgits and unwrapping lifesavers. I bought the boys these lifesaver books that we used to get as kids. Talan didn't seem to know what lifesavers were and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was candy! :)

Mason said it was the best Christmas ever. Talan seemed equally pleased. Joe had bought the boys both Ironman bathrobes with matching pjs. The boys put the bathrobes on right away and wore them most of the day. We previously had only one bathrobe and it was a fight each bath time who was going to get to wear it so Joe's gift was perfect! I can't wait to see their faces right now when they get out of the tub and put on their robes.

One thing I was pleasantly surprised by is that they played with their gifts all day. The also didn't really seem to "own" anything so that they could each play with whatever interested them. I remember Barclay and I being much more possessive. Maybe all the directions I've given them to share has partially sunken in? Maybe. ;)

I can't list all the toys but they are spoiled and delighted. We did have our traditional bagel, smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onion lox for breakfast. After that it was a free for all eating left overs from last night. I have had three pieces of turtle cake. Yes, just totally gluttony over here! We are in heaven. It has snowed all day. The only time I have been outside is to grab icicles for the boys for their bath. :) Luxury. Hope you all have had as pleasant a day. Oh, did I mention I took a two hour nap with Mason. That is just the icing on the cake. :)

Christmas Eve Dinner

As many of you know today marks a year since Susie died in her sleep. We called her best friend Avonda and Joe's stepdad Curt to check in with them. They were both pretty depressed which isn't entirely unexpected. Joe busied himself with a complex dinner menu.

The menu was:

Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin with natural jus

Dover Sole Muniere with natural jus

Potatoes Gratin

Heritcot Verts with toasted hazelnut

Celery Salad with shaved parmesan and capers

Grilled Butternut Squash with brown butter and lemon

Grilled Fennel with sun dried tomato vinaigrette

Roasted Garlic Loaf

We had our neighbors Keira and Matt over as well as Barclay. The food was delicious and the company wonderful. Afterwards, we went to Real Life Ministries with Matt and Keira for the 7:30pm family service. The boys were not used to being in a service and asked where the babysitting was, well actually when we walked in Mason asked if we were at an Alanon meeting! So much for anonymity.....

After the service we came home and spent close to an hour cleaning up the kitchen. We had to do all the dishes by hand as Mason had crashed and landed on our open dishwasher door and broke it (Joe hopes to fix it but hasn't yet). At 10pm Barclay came over to spend the night so she wouldn't miss a thing in the morning.

We put out milk and cookies for Santa and some of Misty's kibble for the reindeer. Mason wasn't really all that into it but I tried to give him lots of ideas of what he could say in his letter to Santa and he eventually came up with something. The boys went to bed very late which meant I was wrapping presents very late.

McCarthy Family Christmas Letter

In the photos, the boys are taking a bath in green bathwater compliments of some bath soap confetti given to them by their Aunt B. You can see the green dots don't always dissolve. I have had to discontinue using it as it has given Talan a rash. But they LOVE it. We have taken a red bath and a green/red bath dumping more confetti than recommended by the soap manufacturer. LOL

I sent out a Christmas Letter last night via email. I got lots of error messages as apparently my address book is severely out of date. High school friends, college friends, Georgia friends all sort of lost along the way. I think about this every year. How much effort to put into these friendships when we are so many miles apart? It is not as if I dislike any of them by any means it is just time has drifted us apart. If I saw any of them tomorrow I would great them with open arms. While I'll admit I used to hate the Christmas Letters as I saw them as self-obsessed, I realized that I do like to hear what is going on with people. Isn't that how we feel connected, by the commonality of similar experiences? Whether child rearing, death or vacation woes I enjoy reading it all as it is real life. Life isn't always pretty but it often tells a meaningful story. Some of our worst experiences have become our favorite "war" stories. If you don't believe me, just ask Joe about Craigslist!

Just in case this blog reaches someone that I didn't catch in my email campaign last night, I am going to post my Christmas Letter here. If you haven't heard from me in awhile, please drop me a line at icusignbaby@yahoo.com. I would love to hear from you and I might not have your current email address.

McCarthy Family Christmas 2008 Letter

As I write this, we are blanketed in a massive amount of gorgeous snow. I am getting the white Christmas I have been dreaming of all year. As many of you know, we have spent our most recent holidays in California, trying to spend as much time with Joe’s mom as possible while she stoically battled cancer. She died in her sleep the morning of Christmas Eve last year. We had arrived the night before. I have to believe she waited to see us one more time and also to make sure that Curt wasn’t alone to deal with his grief. We were fortunate that we were able to stay for a week and assist in the memorial preparations and see the extended family to celebrate her life. This holiday season brings with it a lot of memories of last year. We miss Susie terribly and her absence is palatable.

One of the biggest surprises and blessings of 2008 was that my sister moved up here to Northern Idaho. We purchased a bank repo with her, just down the street from us, and she moved in at the beginning of May. She has endured the remodeling process which is semi-complete. She now has a functioning kitchen and living room and her master bedroom suite and bath are next. The boys are in hog heaven having Aunt B so close. We see her almost daily. Her presence has made such a difference for me personally as I used to feel so lonely while Joe traveled for work but when he is gone it just gives us more of a chance to hang out and marvel at the boys’ antics.

We had a wonderful summer. We drive with Barclay up to Seattle and spent the 4th of July taking in the town. We then met up with my folks on the 6th in Vancouver for a week cruise to Alaska. The cruise was fabulous and we thoroughly enjoyed the free style dining, the free kids club and time with family. We stayed in Vancouver two nights after the cruise to celebrate my mom’s birthday and enjoyed ourselves immensely there. Vancouver is one of our favorite cities (after Sydney).

Talan has been receiving speech therapy for most of this year with remarkable progress. While he still omits the end sound of words he does add new words all the time. He has endearingly started calling his brother “May Con” for Mason Connor. The boys’ best friend is also named Mason so we call him Mason Paul (Talan calls him “May Paul”) which is presumably how he came up with May Con. We all laugh when he says it and find it very sweet. It is exemplary of his preference for one syllable words.

The big news for me is that I have gone back to college as I have decided to apply to nursing school. I started in January taking (re-taking) Anatomy & Physiology. As only the second semester of the class had an opening that is the one I took. Well, that was probably a mistake as it was the hardest class I have ever taken in my life. It was like a full-time job and it made me seriously question how I would ever be able to handle/juggle a full load. This semester went much more smoothly despite the fact that I took two classes. I just finished first semester of A&P as well as Sociology 101. I submitted my application to the Nursing Program at NIC, our local college, this month and should hear by the end of March my status. It is a very competitive program but I think I have a good chance of getting in.

Another change is that I have started a property management business called P3 Management Services to manage the development in which we live, Ross Point Estates. Joe was elected the President of the Board in March and his first assignment was to hire a property manager. As no one apparently wants to manage a development that is mostly renters, I jumped on it. I submitted a proposal and presented it to the Board and was hired. Joe wants to expand on it and do more property management and that is fine with me as long as my primary focus is nursing school.

I am still teaching baby sign language although I am not really promoting myself as I don’t truthfully have the time for it. With Joe being on the road so much it is expensive and difficult to find babysitting when I commit to a five week class. In contrast, the property management I can do on my timeline, when I have time, and it is far more lucrative. I enjoy it and it is a good opportunity for me to practice being confrontational and firm. There is a lot of letter writing involved with the job and that is right up my skill set. I did stumble through the first round of filing leins against delinquent property owners but I now know what that entails and it is really pretty basic.

Joe continues to work on the race circuit. The series have merged and so next year will look different and we don’t know if it will be more weeks on the road, similar set-ups to what he has done in the past or if they will be bouncing from one gig to the next. We love the lifestyle is affords us as he gets plenty of time off to allow him to indulge in some of his other interest: real estate. He spent 6 weeks at the beginning of this year fixing up a property we purchased with his friend Adam in Coeur d’Alene. We had it rented before the first mortgage payment was due! He also managed to paint the entire exterior of our duplex by himself this fall in addition to working on the remodeling of Barclay’s house. Needless to say, he is never lacking for things to do. He has become so handy, learning some really useful skills through all these remodels. He was joking that he should start a business called GotCrownMolding.com. He and Adam struggled to do it, apparently it is counter intuitive, but they have it down now and since it is such an inexpensive but noticeable improvement to upgrade your home they ought to market themselves. Joe has all sorts of ideas. That is what I love about him. Our life is never stagnant.

Joe has been catering for Melons this month as he has done for the past eight Decembers. He enjoys the chance to hang out with his Dad, which is where he stays, and reconnect with his cousin and friends in Marin. He did swing home for two days last weekend when he didn’t have any gigs lined up which was a wonderful surprise for both me and the boys. They miss their Dad a lot and I can’t possible play as rough with them as he can and they miss it so much.

One hobby that we started to enjoy as a couple this year is running. We competed in several events with the longest being 7.46 miles in the Bloomsday Run in Spokane. I impressed myself as I would never have dreamed I could accomplish something like this but really once you get into the grove it really isn’t too bad. Unfortunately, Joe has had injuries for the past several months which have prevented him from exercising at all. I have started taking more classes at the gym to change things up. I love my boot camp class. It is insane but fun. I have become fond of being sore and as we studied muscles this semester, it was cool to make the connection between learning about muscles and building them. And since childcare is now free it is an added incentive to get to the gym more frequently.

Bottom line is we are all happy and well. Well, except for Misty. She is dying of liver failure but I am not ready to put her down. The boys and I adore her so. She is such a big part of our family. Joe proposed using Misty and her picture was on the wall of my hospital room when I was in labor with Mason. I feel grateful for each extra day we have with her. Other than Misty, life is good. The boys are healthy and active. They adore each other one moment and are clobbering each other the next. They test each other, provoke each other but ultimately they are buddies. Completely different personalities but they each offer a different take on the world. We are enjoying them immensely although some times I’d like to wring their necks. We hope that your holidays are festive and meaningful. We appreciate you being a part of our lives.

Love,

♥♥♥The McCarthy Family ♥♥♥

Joe ♥ Brianna ♥ Mason ♥ Talan ♥ Misty

Snowed In Today

We are having tons of snow. It is beautiful and nonstop. While Matt snow blowed our driveway and the repair man just left fixing our garage door, we have no reason to go out. We have been very busy at home drumming up things to do. We have busted out two different Thomas the Train sets that are complicated and quasi broken but the boys loved it. Our neighbor Dakota who is 11 came over and played with the boys for a few hours. He had never done Thomas sets so he was very wowed. They are truly complex, with elevators and dump trucks etc. It blew my mind the first time I set it up. I don't know how someone conceived of these things. So one set is taking up our entire kitchen floor and the other is on our table. We lack a lot of hard surfaces here as it is mostly carpeted. There is a photo of the boys eating their mac & cheese while playing with the Thomas train set in the kitchen.

We started the day with making the dough for ornament cookies http://www.imagitek.com/xmas/crafts/cookie.html which took 3 hours to bake. Thank goodness for the trains as my boys aren't very patient. Well, just like I remember as a child, they had to lick them to see if they were edible. They have a cup of salt in them, they taste terrible I imagine. So we did start to decorate the cookies. Aunt B stopped by to admire them as well as the train sets. She left for Walmart, she called first to make sure they were open. It is amazing that they are but anything for a buck right? My package from Fat Brain Toys arrived via UPS. He looked so cold. I couldn't believe he was making deliverys. I told the boys the package was for Daddy because otherwise they would have opened it. It is more Wedgits for Talan. I would love to bust into them today as I am running out of ideas. We haven't napped yet and I am debating on just skipping it and putting them to bed early.

Mason's recital at school was ok. He did get pulled off the stage by his teacher before it started and we were concern she might not let him participate. But, he came back subdued and while he did wave to the crowd as if it were all about him, he did manage to control himself somewhat. Talan was a bit of pickle prior to the performance but in a mostly cute way. He got very excited about the boy in front of Mason wearing a train on his sweater. Funny boy! Right behind Mason is a red haired boy named Jackson. This is the boy Mason pushes, punches and mistreats even though Mason absolutely adores him (he just takes it too far). The photo of Barclay and I was taken my Talan (that is why it is so cropped). None of the singing was very spectaclular. It was all off key and garbled, exactly what you would expect from 105 three, four and five year olds. :)

Otherwise all is well. I am done with school. I got an A- in A&P and an A in Sociology. I missed a solid A by 3 points. But a huge improvement over last semester where I got a B in A&P. I do need to study for the TEAS test over break as I have to take it on January 8th but that is manageable. Joe did come home for two days and that was great to see him. He will be home hopefully Monday. My computer had tons of viruses so it was in the shop for two days and, thus, I am scrambling to catch up with my photos and news. :)

Starting to Decorate

I started to rearrange the living room this afternoon in anticipation of getting a Christmas Tree soon. After the boys went to bed, I opened some of my Christmas boxes to see what I have as it has been a very long time since we have taken all this stuff out. I got very sad when I saw some of Susie's things that we took last Christmas. Curt wanted us to take whatever we wanted and I had always enjoyed this little Christmas tree that she had plugged on top of her kitchen counter. I put it on my kitchen counter next to the giant Chef chalkboard we inherited as well. I smiled when I opened the Nativity set that the Mormons gave us a couple of Christmas's ago. We never found out who it was, we just found a piece each morning at our doorstep (one for each of the twelve days of Christmas). Who else would have given us such a religious gift? I enjoy it now though and it brings back good memories from Georgia. (Incidentally, yesterday Talan pulled out the Georgia piece of our USA puzzle and said "I born" as he held it. He also pulled out the Idaho piece and said "live here".) He is very smart!

I did find all of our stockings, so Mom you don't have to worry. Maybe you have made two Mason stockings? I did get a little teary when I ran across the Guiness stocking and looked at Misty's and realized this is in all likelihood her last Christmas. So, lots of emotions. I am glad I am alone. I have my thoughts and feelings to myself. No Talan around to ask "why". Poor Talan had such a hard time falling asleep tonight. He wanted me to get in his crib with him. I finally picked up Misty and put her in the crib with him. He tucked her under his blanket and within five minutes he was out cold with his arm draped over her. Misty was wide eyed but calm. I got her out about 10 minutes later and thanked her for helping. She is so frail and mellow these days. I weighed her this morning and she is 8.5 pounds. She was 9.2 at the Dr. office last month. She used to weigh 12 plus when she was healthy. She is on my lap right now. She is just a total cuddle bug these days. All she wants to do is snuggle. It is sweet but yet sad. I don't have the courage or conviction that her time is up, it is just nearing.

I had no idea I had so many Nutcrackers. Most of them are hunters from my Stevie days. I do remember while we were dating that all the nutcrackers I received had rifles. I only have one Chef nutcracker and he isn't real. That doesn't seem right but it is what it is. The Christmas trees that Curt gave us of Susie's are in the middle of the Nutcrackers. Those bring back memories as does the little Sally dog that sings/barks a Christmas song.

One of THOSE days

Baby Talan had diarrhea down his leg earlier today. He kept saying and signing poop but I was distracted. I asked him to get me a diaper and wipes and he said "no ma" and pointed down. I got up and saw runny poop dripping down his leg and on my carpet. I whisked him up sideways and carried him to his room while he asked "why". :) Then Mason peed the largest pool of urine I have ever seen in my bed during nap time. Thus, lots of laundry added to my day. Then this evening Mason threw up and is running a fever (I should have known as he kept telling me how cold he was). So now he is curled up in my bed, despite me telling him he is not allowed to sleep in my bed anymore (the natural consequence to peeing in my bed), with a vomit bowl and a large towel. I hope I actually get some sleep tonight. I did manage to get him to swallow some baby Motrin so I hope he feels better and sleeps some of it off.
No saying how tomorrow will be. Just for tonight, I am OK. Misty is alive. Joe is making money and my boys are safe just not well.

Muscle Eval Over

My muscle eval was this morning. I memorized and dissected every muscle in the cat's body. I felt really good about it as I was well prepared. I got a 22 out of 25 so I am very happy about that. My lab partner got a 20. One girl got a 13 out of 25 and she most likely will have to repeat the class as she hasn't been doing well. I forget how hard this class is, a lot of people drop out or have to repeat it. So, now that this exam is over, I can focus on next weeks lecture exam on Wednesday and Friday's lab practical which covers all the material from the entire semester that we have covered in lab. In one week I will be feeling a whole lot better as these will be over! On the 15th I will take my final exam which is a recap of our previous exams so most people score 100% on that one, its kind of a freebie.
Barclay and I went to Lori's tonight to play poker. It was a nice evening. I haven't had an adult evening in awhile. Talan sat on Barclay's lap for a long time and then finally joined the kids downstairs. I think I could get used to a weekly poker night. It is just night to hang out and be with good friends. :)
Tomorrow we hope to get our Christmas Trees. "That'd be fun!" I am looking forward to the kids' reaction to it. We have not had our own tree since before Talan was born. I can't believe he will be three next month. He wants a Batman party. :) Ever since he was Batman for Halloween he has really taken a liking to Batman. Very cute.
I am off to bed. I am beat.