Happy Ho Ho!!!

Well... It's Holiday season and we're having loads of fun getting ready for it... The two most notable gifts this year are

1. Our new Neice... She's a beauty!

and

2. Contracts for our house! We're due to receive them next week.

Life doesn't get much better... New family and new home. I look forward to meeting the small girl next year and moving into our new house shortly after... What a NEW YEAR it will be!

The kids and I saw Santa this week... LOADS of fun!










Happy Holidays to You All...

May this year's BEST,

be next year's worst.

The McSweeney Four...
xoxo

Post Turkey Depression

Well... we survived Thanksgiving, only to get a very nasty cold... ALL of us. That's very rare considering Mr. Man never gets so much as a sniffle year round. It must be a whopper of bug. I've been on meds and we've been juicing the kids up in the evenings with all the regulars. I've discovered a good ole' slathering of Vicks is a wonderful thing. Luckily theirs hasn't been so bad as to need meds, but we're still keeping a close eye on them.

Beyond that, nothing much to report (other than moving office AGAIN, but that's a LONG story for another day). Thanksgiving went very well. I was disappointed though, that I forgot all about the corn bread stuffing. By the time it was pulled out, it was a bit more like roasted corn maize. :) Nobody seemed to mind and there was more than enough food. Luckily the leftovers didn't last too long and we'll be able to stomach turkey again for Christmas. One of the highlights was the fact that we had PUMPKIN PIE! Thank you Fi!

The kids had a blast. We had the proverbial kids table and it was a huge hit! I don't how much food actually made it into mouths versus the floor, but hey... what does anyone expect from four kids from ages five down to 2 1/2? :)

I look forward to Christmas and we've already got some decorations up. I'll probably put up more this weekend... I'm finally starting to feel human again. I got a bit pangy last night... watching ads with images of Christmas dinners... all the family around the table. It's very easy to get caught up missing those that are far away and those who have departed... especially Mom. Although I know she's present... somehow.

My appreciation for parents grows daily. With Christmas fast approaching, I'm enjoying imagining what my parents were doing, thinking and considering when we were small. Of course it was a different world altogether, but I can only imagine they enjoyed it just as much and I am... the BEST part is all the SCHEMING!!! I LOVE IT! :)

My sister is about to become a parent for the first time... she's due on the 9th... I'm so excited for her and her husband... They are about to discover the overwhelming wonder that is parenthood.

Turkey Day... Fast Approaching.

Well here we are... three days away from our Friday Thanksgiving. I'm gathering all my pieces and seemingly have my act together. We've got a good crowd this year... 12 adults, 4 kids, 1 toddler and 1 baby... and a delicious menu... OF COURSE! :) There's a been a bit of shifting on the attendee's... he's not coming, she's not coming, he IS coming... blah, blah, blah... but I've finally pinned it all down. Phew!

I did forget, however, that this week I'm taking the small girl to the Ballet. I meant to give her the tickets as a birthday gift, but good ole' jet lag got the better of me and I only remembered last week! I told her about it and and all she knows is that it's a surprise. I think her head's about to explode! She keeps making guesses every day... she hasn't come close once, so I'm delighted. :) Unfortunately, the ballet is on Wednesday, which is a crucial preparation day for my dinner... I guess I'll just be up a little late... I can survive on 6 hours sleep, I've done much worse (like last night when the small fella was up ALL NIGHT... no really... with tummy, teeth and throat problems).

Never, EVER boring in the land of McSweeney, I tell ya!

I'm looking forward to the dinner... It's going to be a real family affair. Four different couples with their kids, grandparents, a pseudo aunt and a pseudo uncle. It's going to be all warm and fuzzy all over. I can't wait.

I'll post pics over the weekend... I'm hoping to catch at least ONE person with their top button undone!

Playing Catch-Up...

I just remembered that we hadn't sent out any photo's of the wedding in Cali... I thought I should do that.

Here's a snap of the Irish Contingent... with the two American Wives!... so far! :)

It was lovely... The Bride and Groom were dazzling hosts, the venue, the food, the cake(lette's) and of course the MUSIC! :) Everyone had such a great time and nobody went too crazy... Although there was an Aunty who managed to collapse a table... all the while sipping her cupp'a tea. You can't pay for entertainment like that! It's a shame no one got a picture.

To the left is a very proud Mama with three of her four boys. She looked amazing... And as good looking as the groom and right hand man are... well that Best Man on the left... he's some handsome bastard! I heard he's in a band... :)

And then there's me and my little man... I LOVE the faux-hawk we gave him for the wedding! It went so well with his con's! His dad had matching con's... but only after the official ceremony... he wore them when he was singing... A tux with con's... so Rock'n'Roll!


















I also wanted to post the small girl's school pic... It was taken shortly after we returned from the wedding, unbeknownst to me... well, maybe I did know about it, but jet-lag can be so evil! It's just as well they wear uniforms. :)

Baby vs. Turkey

We seem to be in the middle of an extremely profitable baby season.

No... that wasn't an attempt to hint at any 'news' from us. We're DONE!... 'thank you veddy much'!

However... we have numerous friends and family conceiving, gestating and birthing babies recently. since late August last year to date there have been five births, two adoptions and there are four more on the way due before the end of January... but I'm sure it's just a fad... :)

I'm going to visit my sister late January next year to see my new niece and can't wait. She's meant to come along early December... ANOTHER girl in the family!

I wonder... am I destined to be the only boy-bearer? What a difference! I'm so used to girls... that's all that's ever been around... sisters, nieces, daughter... and now my little fella. He's a little wilder! A completely different species from day one. Amazing.

We'll have a couple of those new babies at Thanksgiving, but I have to do it on the Friday... My Irish Thanksgiving. :) I can't really expect people to attend a feast of eats and bevvies when they would have to work the next day...

People in Ireland seem to think that Americans make more of Thanksgiving than Christmas... do we? I never thought so, but the more I think about it, they might be right. At Christmas, you've only got ONE day off... two for Thanksgiving... I suppose that says it all. At any rate... I'm looking forward to the do... I've got 12 adults and 5 kids. I'd have 30 people if I could fit everyone, but no can do. I suppose my space restrictions are a blessing in disguise... although I do love feeding a big group! We'll have all the standards on the menu... Turkey, Ham, corn-bread stuffing, roasted/smashed/sweet potatoes, corn on the cob (maybe)... so on and so on. I can get most stuff here, so that's great. I can't however get canned pumpkin... so I'm going to have to try to find some fresh ones, but they usually don't hang around long after Halloween here. I'm on a mission.

I'll post pics after the feast... I'm sure we'll have at least one button undone! ;)

In The Beginning There Was Blog...

Well here we are... in blog world. I'm surprised it took me this long to get it together to start one. Better late than never, eh?

Anywho... I'm just going to jump right in!

As most of you know our small girl turned 5 shortly after we arrived back from the wedding in California. Three days after we arrived back home to be exact. As you can imagine, our jet lag was ever present, and it took pretty much all we had in order to have the birthday party we promised her... Mind you, I only got TWO photo's the entire time because we were so out of it... Unfortunately, they were only of the aftermath! Our poor sitting room floor didn't know what hit it! :)

We eventually got over our jet lag, although it seemed to take FOREVER!

Halloween was super fun and the kids wanted to be SCAAAAAAARYYYYY... We did our best...

You'd never even know I was dressed up in this pic... except for the REALLY thick eyebrows! ;)

Well... I think that's a pretty good first attempt... I'll do my best to Blog weekly. We'll see how it goes... but at least once a month!!! :)

Ciao for now.

-d