Maaaa Ma

Yup, that's me. Maaaa Ma. It's music to my ears :)
Thomas said Da Da first and I've secretly been dying for him to say my name and mean it.
And now he does and it melts me every time!
We have a frequent guest at night in our bed because for whatever reason he doesn't like his own. Well the other night, we tried to let him cry it out. And cry he did for an hour. Then all of a sudden he stopped. And he started in the sweetest voice saying "Ma ma..........Maaaa Ma. Ma ma ma ma..............Maaaa Ma." That was it. He had me. I went in and got him.
Here he is on Christmas Eve with his "Maaaa Ma."

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Go Patriots!

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The Christmas Eve PJ Picture

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For the Love of God.............

please take these turtle things away from me!!!
I made a little tin that was meant to be given to my father. However, on Christmas Day, while loading the car with all of the other gifts and food, I forgot this tin.
And well, he's not getting it now because the little suckers are almost all gone!
And I am the only one to blame!
Stop the insanity!
I have no self control!

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For a good laugh..........

Check out this website.
It's hilarious!

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Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone out there a very Merry Christmas!

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Ahhhh cookie!

Here's Thomas thoroughly lovin his cookie with.................... a side of snots :)

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My First Digi Scrapping Project

I took a dive this month..................into the world of digital scrapping!
And oh how addicting in can become!
It's kind of funny because it was through the digi scrapping that I learned of "blogging". I didn't know what a blog was until my sister started showing me some that were digital scrapbooking ones.

I was intimidated at first. I didn't think my pictures measured up. I had never TOUCHED photoshop before and well, as much as I like to think I am creative, I just can't compare to some out there! Long story short, I wasn't interested in that scrapping stuff.

UNTIL I bought my camera. Then I jumped into photoshop to try to edit/enhance my photos. Then after a couple months of getting a feel for things I bought my first "kit". Digi kit that is. (am I using the right terms? I totally feel like a virgin scrapper here!)

Any who..........after about a year of lurking on a few blogs, I bought the 2008 Calendar Kit from Heather Ann. I thought I could use it to make a cute gift for a certain someone out there for Christmas. It was SO easy and FUN! I don't know what on earth has taken me so long to give this stuff a try!
Here are a few sneak peeks:

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I love that dirty snow.............Boston you're my home

NOT!
(omg I just said NOT! How lame!)
Any who............driving through Boston on a good day, is a nightmare for me. Driving through Boston with dirty snow every where is well.............the worst nightmare I could have!

I HATE IT!

My work is located in South Boston (Southie) which is just about 3/4 of a mile from Downtown Boston. Good Will Hunting, The Departed and Mystic River were filmed in Southie. (There are a lot more movies coming too because I see the movie crews filming daily!) It's a grid like neighborhood full of triple deckers (some really gorgeous ones too!) with NO parking.

Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Everyone parks on the street because there are no driveways or garages. So when it snows........it's like a free for all out there! The already narrow streets become one laners. I feel like I should decorate my car with bumpers on every side with bright reflectors!

I really need to try to take a picture of this mess some time this week! Since there are no "assigned" parking spaces on the street, when it snows, people claim their parking territory! They shovel out their territory and then it is "theirs". How is it theirs? Well they mark it. With chairs, sun chairs, trash cans, diaper boxes, broken stuff, childrens fisher-price fred flinstone cars, you name it! It's quite a sight..........a trashy sight that is!

And don't even get me started about the kids from the projects that throw snowballs at the moving cars. I've been victim to this twice before and both times I thought I was being shot at! Yeah, it's scary!

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Another favorite Christmas Song...........

Enjoy! They are even better in person!

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It's Christmas time.........

I love this song :)

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Yummy Appetizers and Cute Cookies

So I found this recipe from Jenny over at stickyfeathers.
There were a HUGE hit at a Christmas party we went to today. And the best part is that they are really really easy to make!
I also made these and they were a huge hit too! Thanks to my sister Lisa for turning me on to them :) I used the already made sugar cookie dough and I forgot the tiny marshmallows for the hat. Oh well.............they were still cute :)
I love finding new goodies to make!

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How many rolls in your bakery?

Seriously, have you seen more squeezable baby legs than these?!?!

I should let you know that the shoes in this picture belong to a 3 year old little girl. William (the chubba bubba above) and Thomas were really liking these red shoes on Thanksgiving. So we let them each try the ruby slippers on. The Dads weren't thrilled with their guys wearing the ruby slippers but they sure did look adorable :)

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I'm home!

The snow let up and I made my way home. I left the T-man with my parents though. He was sleeping as snug as a bug in a rug when I left. (I'll flip if he sleeps through the entire night for them!!)
The drive was a little creepy.
And being at my parents really isn't as bad as I may have made it out to be. As all of you probably know..............it's just different going "home" when you don't live there any more. Get all three (my sisters and I) of us back there for a night at "home" and well then that would probably be a different story! A story out of a horror book for sure! ha! I wonder if I'd still get a "Mary Lynn KNOCK IT OFF!!!" It's been a while since I heard one of those :)

Thanks for keeping T for me Mom :)

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Help!!!

I'm stuck for the night at my parent's house!
I think that says enough!
I've been here since 3:00pm. We had to bum diapers and pj's off my sister Lisa. It took us 1 hour to go 2.5 miles!
Damn SNOW!
I think people forgot how to drive in the snow. And it was like a mass exodus leaving Boston at 1:00pm!
Grrrrr! I had a lot to do at my own house tonight. Guess none of it will get done.
Help.............I'm trapped!!!

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Free Coach bag drawing...........check it out!

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The Dancing Santa

I pass by a candy store every day on my ride to work. They have the BEST chocolates! Well every year around Christmas they have a person dressed in a Santa suit standing outside the store. He dances and jumps up and down. He looks quite jolly for 7:00am!
So every morning this week I have decided to give him a little "toot toot" as I'm passing by. He immediately pauses his dancing jig and gives the biggest wave ever!
I wonder if he's caught on that I do this? I wonder how many other people toot at him? I wonder if he appreciates it?

I sure do appreciate his wave back every day :)

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21. The Alvinator
22. Ms. Kilowatca and Delores Dip Doe Me
23. Shantilly Lace and a pretty face hanging down, just a wiggle and a walk and a giggle and talk makes the world go round round round...............
23. I have one memory of Nana C...........sitting in the middle seat up front in her car going to McDonalds. It's a random memory but I can see it as clear as day. It was in there old blue car. Would love to be able to talk to her today to know how on earth she had 10 kids!
24. Graffiti Hall........what parents let their kid take a pencil to their entire bedroom!
25. 471-1559..............yeah I still remember that phone number and know who it belongs too!
26. Buck and my game of Super Mario Brothers! (Remember that Amy!?)
27. The sight of someone "scooping" on the couch! Yup I think I'm still scarred from that one!
Okay, I have to take a break from this before I start blackmailing people with my vivid memories!

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Things I love.............

and things I don't ever want to forget :)
So this might be a little too mushy coming from me but well, it's the truth!
So, in no particular order, here they are:
1. Ben & Jerry's ice cream rides
2. Bike rides on the dike
3. vacations in Maine......the old Maine and the new Maine
4. My cabbage patch bed tent
5. The feeling of a "little miracle" in your belly.
6. The smell of a new baby.
7. "bye sweetie"
8. Little baby hands and feet........can those bones really be so small!?
9. Popcorn parties
10. giggling with a good friend in the round room on Hatherly Rd.
11. car rides
12. pimp tours (really its innocent)
13. the way Thomas says "yup"
14. Chocolate the pound puppy
15. baby hugs
16. citizens arrests
17. dance parties in baroody hall
18. 2.13.04
19. making Norman "talk"
20. the volleyball days
to be continued later....................

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The Santa Picture

So here it is.................
Thomas' picture with Santa.
I am a bit disappointed. I was hoping for an expression one way or the other. Either a smile or a scream.
We got nothing.
An expressionless Thomas it is.
Check out this link for the funniest one ever! Seriously, I laugh every time I see it!
And one more thing............Charlie is convinced this is the real Santa, right Lisa?

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Guess Who?

I'll give you two guesses.
And this post might give some hints.

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John David

I posted a picture and a little story about this guy two posts ago. He's my nephew and he's the oldest. Him and I have a bit of a history. It's hard to explain but I practically grew up with him for a couple of years. Some times his Mom has to remind him that our relationship is not on the same level as brother/sister though. Some times he gets a little smart with me and she'll have to remind him of this and that I am his aunt, an elder, and he needs to treat me as such. But he's a GOOD kid. Just as all of my nephews and niece are.
Some times I forget that he's only 7 and a half. Probably because he seems like he's been around forever. He gets the jokes now. He laughs when it's appropriate. And he throws his two cents in a lot now. But just when you think he's older, he'll do something to remind you that he's still little. And it totally melts my heart.
Today I picked him up from school. When he came out we started walking and I touched his hand to guide him. I wasn't grabbing it to hold it, only to guide him. I wouldn't want to purposely hold his hand at school in fear that I would embarrass him, you know, because he's getting older. But today, he grabbed mine. And he held it tight throughout the entire walk across the school yard, the street and to the car. He probably didn't even realize that he was holding my hand because he was talking a mile a minute. But I realized, and I held on to every moment of it because some day, there will be a last time he holds my hand and I won't know it's the last :)
Thanks for making my day John :)

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MIA

I feel as though I've been MIA from blogland these days.
I've been busy trying to design a Christmas card.
I have my picture but I'm determined to design the whole 4X8 thing myself. And when I want to do something, such as this, I become obsessed and can not get away from it. I feel as though I've been taking crash courses in photoshop for the last two days in any spare time that I have.
It's getting good though and I'm liking what I've done :)

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Stubble

Last night I was still at my sister's with her kids and Thomas. I was getting them all ready for bed. Thomas and Matt had a tub together and John took a shower. He's getting pretty independent now and favors taking a shower over a bath. He does everything himself but just has you get the water ready for him. So here I am, sitting on the edge of the tub with my hand in the water waiting for it to hit just the right temperature. Then out of no where John says to me, with the straightest face ever "um, Mary............do you think I need to shave tonight?" I did everything I could to compose myself. I turned away for a sec and turned back. And he says "Really, I do shave." Out of the corner of my eye I see a toy/pretend razor on the side of the tub with Star Wars shaving cream/soap. With a straight face as serious as I could, I said "No, I don't think you need to tonight. You look good." He replied "Okay."
John is only 7 and a 1/2.

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We were on time though...

So this weekend I have been staying at my sister's house while her and her husband are away for their romatic tree cutting trip. It's always interesting and never dull around these kids. Last night we had a great night at my other sister's house. Her neighborhood does an annual tree lighting party and it just happens to be right outside her house. So we went early and had a pizza party for dinner and then BUNDLED up to head on out there. It was about 20 degrees out with the windchill making it feel around 8 degrees. Yup it was COLD!! Any who, the kids had a blast because there was a Santa there and hay rides and hot chocolate.
So today we went to church. It was especially important to go today because Lisa's family was doing the lighting of the first Advent Candle. They did awesome and they all looked adorable! So I was feeling real confident and good about myself because I got all four of us (Me, Little John, Matt and Thomas) to church with time to spare. (Amy is NEVER on time for church! Sorry Amy.) So we're sitting there, and in the pew behind us I hear Lisa and Donald start laughing. Then I realize they're laughing at Matt and Me. Then I realized WHAT they were laughing at...............Matt had two of the same shoe on. Two left feet of the same shoe. One was his and one was his brother's. They found it so amusing that they even took a picture of it. Probably to show my other sister! Ha!
BUT, we were on time :)

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