A RARE picture of all six of us - cleaned up and smiling...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Love, George, Laura, Danny, Erin, Benjamin and Kelly 

Doesn't the day start when the sun comes up?

And why don't my boys know this? Oh, well, I assume it's cause they both crashed by 6pm last night. Benjamin in his crib (as usual) and Danny on the sofa. Couldn't believe it when I carried Danny to bed and he went back to sleep and STAYED asleep - until 5:45am this morning. NOT a problem. I got time off from Mommy-land from 6pm last night until then. Not that I slept more, mind you. Got the Christmas cards done, you all - you'll see them in the mail soon! Benjamin's already asleep for his morning nap - gotta get stuff done while I can.

Later -

UH-OH - Benjamin issues an understatement

The word of the day from Benjamin is - Uh-oh! Once again, he threw his juice cup on the floor during breakfast but instead of just grinning at me this time, he looked over the side and as plain as day said, "UH....Oh". It was incredibly cute - which he needed to be since he got up at 2:30am, 3am, 3:30am...and so on all night. Thank goodness George stayed up and handled him at 2:30am. By 5:45 or so (I think) I asked George to take over again so I could get a little nap before sunrise and thanks to that and caffeine, I'm back on the Mommy track again. I think it was teeth. He's got an upper one that is THAT close to coming in...where are the bottom ones? He's doing it his own way, I guess!

Trip back from PA last night was fine, uneventful and sad. Got home at 7:30pm after around 4 hours and the boys slept almost the whole time. Life has been a great big "Uh-oh" this week. We lost someone we all loved so close to Christmas. It will be so hard to have a fun holiday this year, but we are determined to make it wonderful for the kids, especially since this is the first year Danny really "gets it".

Love to all

Danny hits the wall and falls asleep with a nugget in his hand 

Zach and Little Ben 

Morning has broken

Yep, it's Monday already! Finally have a place to record all the cute and adorable things these rugrats do. I'm gonna email this site to everyone today, so hopefully everyone will see it as a chance to pop into our house over here and see all the cute stuff that goes on and they won't see it as just goofy Laura doing goofy stuff!

Great pictures came back from George's run to the Giant last night. Loved this one of Danny and Zack:

Not THAT George and Laura

Welcome! I was just piddling around on the computer as usual when I'm trying to get away from housework and steered to this page from an article in the Sunday paper (yes, I do actually read printed media as well as this stuff!). Got me thinking. I journal all the time, in my head until I can hit the computer or paper, whichever comes first. What if I could save all the precious moments with my family and beautiful children and keep an online diary of everything we did so I didn't miss a thing? I do try to update their baby books, but I'm not doing that well since Benjamin came along and it's just one more thing to add to my "to do" list everyday. And what if I could let everyone in the family who wanted to know how my little darlings are doing log in and check on us whenever they wanted? Well, here's my try at that. I'll try to journal as I normally do - every day - sometimes, less sometimes more. It's not all grammatically correct or every interesting to anyone who doesn't know my darlins, but to those of you who do, here you go!

So, what went on today in the exciting life of our family? Actually, we've had a great time. We took the boys to our timeshare in Massanutten for the first time since we had Benjamin. The last time we took Danny and the girls in 2003 was a disaster. Danny didn't sleep more than 40 minutes at a time all night and we gave up and went home the next day. What a difference! The first night we got there, on Thursday (after a 5 hour drive in the rain and traffic), Benjamin went right to sleep in the portacrib in the little bedroom and Danny finally fell asleep on the sofabed in the living room when we fell asleep in our sofabed around 1am. Not too bad. Next day, Friday, is sort of a blur, but I do remember that Danny woke up at 7am right after Benjamin did. Benjamin was a trooper, as usual, and took good naps and was just great. We tried to go the Book Fair out that way which is only open 5 times a year and has 90% off book prices, but Danny didn't do too well with that, even when I tried to get him to look at the kids books. He was running around overtired and finally fell asleep on the way home. I know that we would have done fine with just Benjamin - he rolled around in the portable stroller and loved it all! Everything went well that night. I cooked spaghetti and we were all passed out on the sofabeds by 9:30. And everyone -including Danny-slept all night. Benjamin was up at 5:30 (I think), but Danny slept until 8:15 when I had to wake him for his little preschool class down at the lodge. He LOVED it - never looked up when I left and was so happy when I picked him up 2 1/2 hours later. He played, painted, made a craft, had a marvelous time. They have a class for kids 3-12 he can start next year and I know he will have a blast. Anyway, that 2 1/2 hours was our only time to really relax. Benjamin slept for about 1 1/2 hours of it and we just vegged out and stared at the ceiling. It was GREAT! Rest of the day yesterday we packed up and finally got out around bedtime at 7pm. Didn't hit Ellicott City until around 11:15 but the boys were asleep when we got here and got put right in their beds. Took another hour or more to unload, unpack and unwind. But we made it through our first family vacation and actually had a good time! Can't wait to use Massanutten more each year as the boys can do more - ski, swim, etc.

Today - recovery mode. I went to 11:30 Mass to sing, came home and helped a nice lady take this extra mattress/boxspring off my hands. Finally! I had advertised it for $60, but God really put it in my heart to just give it to her and I'm so glad I did. Also got a call about the Geo in the garage and she sounds determined to buy it, so we'll see if it's for real! That would be another Godsend and to get my van back in the garage before the first snow - yes! George was happy the Steelers won and went to a new "rock" Mass at 5pm today at St. Mark's. He said it was "interesting" - but it's nice that we can tag team on the boys and both still get to Mass on Sunday.

Now it's 8:38pm. Danny didn't take a nap today and I think he's finally quiet in his room. Of course, Benjamin the angel is already asleep. Did I tell you he said he first word this week?!!!! I'ts "light". And it points to every light he sees and says it. I can't wait to tell Aunt Mary! George is at the grocery store getting milk and some other basics we need. I'm looking at a house full of bags and luggage to unpack, but after packing, driving, unpacking at the timeshare, packing back up, and driving home, and all the other stuff I did today including laundry and making dinner, I'm not in any hurry to unpack tonight. That can wait until tomorrow. Another day. Another blog.

I'm outta here....