Recent Events

We have been busy! We camped at Glacier National Park last weekend. We lost Talan's bicycle from the back of the trailer so he got a new bike which looks like a motorcycle. We had a wonderful playdate with Talan's classmates at his teacher Jessica's house. We went to Mason Paul's 5th bday party at the Fort Sherman park in CDA (where we had Mason's 1st bday party). Lots of fun and enjoying the summer weather which finally arrived in Northern Idaho! Oh and we tried to have our first sleep over with Tyler but he ended up wanting to go home at 10:30pm (thank God he lives next door)! Brianna McCarthy Sent from my iPhone

I am coming to visit next week

Surprise! The boys and I will be in Marin from the 16th to the 23rd. Hope to see everyone and enjoy lots of hiking, catching up and fun excursions. I'll be at my folks house enjoying some grandma and grandpa time!
Love to all of you,

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone

Photo update

I just wanted to share some photos that were taken recently.

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone
I just wanted to share some photos that were taken recently.

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone

Happy Anniversary - 8 years today!

Eight years ago, we tied the knot in beautiful Mill Valley. It is amazing to both of us that it has only been 8 years as it feels much longer. We celebrated a little early as Joe leaves today for 3 weeks on the road. We took the kids camping for 4 nights in central Idaho. We had a fabulous time. The boys caught trout and are now hooked (literally) on fishing. :) We made a lot of smores (my personal favorite) and hiked and biked our little hearts out. The weather could not have been better and we really enjoyed some quality family time. I am done with my first year of nursing school. I ended up with a B for the second semester. I am happy that all that stress and chaos is over for the next three months.
Talan and I are out of school while Mason has three more weeks. I just helped his class take a field trip to the fire station and that was cute and fun. I am helping out on a couple more field trips which they are trying to cram in before the end of the year. Mason has been "invited" to summer school to improve his reading. That will start in late July. Of course, our vacation arrangements will have to work around that. I am opting to do a two week intensive clinical class at the beginning of August to help me prepare for next year as I will be expected to be able to handle 3 or 4 patients per shift by the end of the third semester. I am barely able to handle two now, usually I check in on one and then devote my time to the other one! Not very fair or safe! Lots to learn especially in time management and excusing oneself when the patient is in the middle of a long involved story that isn't relevant to anything I can do for them.
If anyone wants to visit we would love to have you. :) Lots of love to everyone.

Goodbye Grandma Fred

Some of you may know that Joe's dad passed away last week. He is finally out of his suffering but we miss him terribly. Fortunately, Joe was there visiting and was able to spend some quality time with his dad before he died. There is a memorial on the Marin IJ website to view if you are interested. I just wrote a quick note saying goodbye on it. My poor husband has lost all three of his parents in the last 29 months. Thankfully a lot of family was around visiting Fred, his sister Beth, Greg, Katrina and Kevin, Joe and Candy. The lesson we are learning is to live and appreciate life now. There are no guarantees.
I have less than two weeks of school left and then a three month summer break awaits me. I plan to spend lots of time with my boys and perhaps take a trip or two. I can't believe the first year of nursing school is coming to a close. It has been a lot of work and I have learned so much. I feel blessed to have this opportunity to be in this fabulous field and I am excited to continue with it in the fall.
I will hopefully write more and post more as I have "free" time. Not even sure what that is anymore! :)

Mason just lost his 2nd tooth!

We are anxiously awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy. I need to
rustle up some money. Thank goodness Joe is still here to witness this
exciting milestone. He leaves tomorrow for three weeks in Florida. The
next time we see him will be in Hawaii!!!

Brianna McCarthy
Sent from my iPhone

Back in School

Well, the first week of school is underway. I am already drowning in homework and material to read, memorize and all that fun stuff. Talan claims he now hates school but his teachers tell us he is having a great time there. Mason went back to school a week before Talan and I started. He has a big screening test coming up at the end of the month so we are really working on our recognition of letters (upper and lower case) as well as the sounds associated with them. He thinks lower case "l"s look like "i"s and he thinks a lower case q is really a p. It is confusing, I can only imagine. When he sees a "Y" he says yellow instead of "Y" and for "W" he says water. Close but no cigar!
I love having Joe home. It is so wonderful to jointly care for the kids and all the responsibilities at home. Joe has been making wonderful meals for me since I started the food addicts diet (no sugar, no flour, no snacking). I am taking it one day at a time although I have lost three pounds which is exciting. :)
The weather is cold but not snowing. We've actually had some rain. In some places there is still snow on the ground but for the most part it melts almost right away. I am reminded of the bumper sticker Barclay had on her car when she was a teenagers "The weather is here wish we were beautiful". I look forward to beautiful weather and Hawaii at the end of March to celebrate my father's 70th birthday.
Lucy and Luna got spayed last week which was quite dramatic for the boys even though they were only gone half a day. You would not believe the tears that were shed for "my baby kitties". Joe is convinced Lucy thinks she is a dog. She begs for food like you wouldn't believe. She sits on top of the garbage can which is just slightly lower than the kitchen counter (which she knows she is not allowed on) and waits for scraps. We have taken to calling her "garbage can kitty". She is not offended in the least. :) She is where the food is, at all times.
I haven't been blogging as much as usual but you will find me on Facebook which is just so quick I can't resist being on that site.