Peace out 2013. Don't let the door hit ya!

As always, I'm playing catch up. Shocking, I know.  Doesn't seem right not to close out 2013 though so I'm going to do a wrap up.

2013, well, the last month anyway was not a good one. I was hit from all sides, completely unexpectedly.  By "friends," by home, by everything it seemed.  My mantra is everything happens for a reason though, so I'm holding onto that with all I've got. I took three weeks vacation at the end of December and I've never needed it so badly.  I needed time to gather myself, reevaluate some things and just breathe. I played stay at home Mom and loved being home with the kids while they were on vacation. Bliss. Knowledge is power, I believe that too. Well, I'm the smartest woman around these days and I'm good with that.  People will always show their true selves eventually.  As long as you know the truth, you have the power. You may not like the truth you now own, but at least you know it.

Moving on. NYE. My birthday. We hosted our annual party and it was a great night. Kara, my oldest friend came to town. We share a birthday but this is the first one we've celebrated together in about 15 years. Maybe longer. It was wonderful.  Great night, surrounded by wonderful friends.  Once again I was sober (one of these years I'll be the drunk one!! LOL) but there were enough people for me to live vicariously through, have no fear lol!!  This year I think the last person that was leaving (we ended up having a couple of couch crashers) left at 2am. Yahoooo!  As always, the kids hung until the very last minute. I love that they do this!  I'm so impressed that they can hang just like the adults do. Neil and the boys slept over and we had a big Irish breakfast on New Year's Day. Perfect way to start the New Year!!

So, needless to say I'm happy to see 2013 leave. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad - there were definitely some ups. Erynn started full day school, Ryan and Aidan loved school and started playing more sports, we had a great vacation to Florida with our Donaghy family, Cheryl and I started talking again, John was promoted to Lieutenant, we did a lot of camping, spent tons of time with our friends and made some more amazing memories.  But there were some really rough times too and I'm happy to have a fresh start in a brand new year. So bring on 2014, I hope you're ready for the brand new me!!

Kid-isms

It's been a while.  I admit I am guilty of slacking on these.  I'm missing some really good ones and I'm mad at myself because my kids have had me in stitches with some of the random things that have been coming out of their mouths lately!  I love the thoughts that will just escape from their little minds!  I've got two good ones this time around.

Aidan:
I want Ryan to be my kids Godfather so he can teach them to face the facts and take bullies off the school property and kick their butts so they stop being bullies.  (yes, all one sentence and one breath. Oh my.)
Me:
But won't that make YOUR kids the bullies if they are beating those kids up?
Aidan:
Oh yeah.  Ryan, you can't be the Godfather then.  
Me:
Well, he could still be the Godfather, he just doesn't need to teach your kids to beat other kids up.
Aidan:
Good point Mom.  You're back on Ryan.

Ryan:
Hey!  There's that 8-ball thing!!  (We were camping for Halloween and at a party)  I'm gonna go and ask it my future.  See if it knows.  My dream is to be a cool dude and get a hot ride.  

I love them.  They keep me laughing!