I forgot I even had a blog. Can a few (exactly 12 over 4 years) even be considered a blog? I am pledging to get back in the saddle (to myself only, as who else cares) and write about the funny and cute and not so funny or cute things that happen here every day!
I started my new job this week and am very excited about the possibilities! I will be working an amended schedule during the summer, and am so looking forward to being with the kids a bit more than usual!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Not to be outdone by little brothers....
We did tons of skiing and riding as you can imagine. Jack was there every weekend and every school break. He competed a lot and placed a lot in the rail competitions. Emma went back to skiing and was riding in the woods and going over jumps. AJ was not to be left behind on his board and loved the Terrain Park!
For April break we went to Boston for a few days to see a Red Sox game. Our only one this year. We sat in the bleachers but everyone had a great time and the Sox won (lot of good that did them). After the game we got to go down on the field and the kids ran the bases. That was so awesome. Here is a picture of them near home plate:
After April break I have nothing to report but soccer and baseball. Jack played baseball for the Astros during the regular season and then made the 11/12 All Star Team. They won their division title, but lost states to Brattleboro in a hard fought tournament. What a bummer. AJ played soccer and baseball and he made the 9/10 All Star Team. They won their division and continued undefeated to win states! Emma played soccer and was a great fan for all the All Star games. If you are interested, she would be happy to send you her rating of snack bar food at ball parks throughout the state!
Here are some all star pictures:
AJ's team after winning states
Whitney boys at the plate
After baseball ended we had exactly 6 days before football started, so no long beach/lake vacation here. We did manage a great family weekend in Boston with the Chris/Patrick/Nana O'Donnell families. It was so hot but the 9 kids were great. We took an awesome tour of Fenway (top picture from the green monster) and that was a blast. Here are some cute kids:
Quick beach stop on way to Beantown
Weird pirate.
Swan boat rideThis was not our best summer. We said goodbye to Gracie on 8/1/09 and it was a very sad end to over 14 years together. Emma was with us and she was so brave. We still forget that she is gone and worry about leaving her, listen for her tags jangling, etc. What a special, loving, patient, lumpy dog she was!
School started too soon. Jack entered 7th grade, AJ in 5th and Emma in 2nd. Our second year of dealing with three schools. Please note Jack missing from picture (he goes in earlier and did not want picture) and Emma's missing front teeth!!
In keeping up with Whitney tradition, we have tons of fall sports going on now. AJ is playing football and soccer. He is playing running back instead of QB and loves when they hand it off to him and he passes it! I know there is a formal name for that, but I have no idea. He gets some defensive time too and enjoys playing tackle this year instead of flag. Jack is QB and loving the game but not the coaching staff. Won't be the first time! Emma is playing soccer and loving every minute of it!
And I will leave you with some family apple picking photos (sans AJ) and a promise to update more frequently!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Fractions of my Life By Jack Whitney
Fractions of my Life
By Jack Whitney
1/6 of me is baseball. You run, you hit and you score.
By Jack Whitney
1/6 of me is baseball. You run, you hit and you score.
You pitch, you catch and you have fun.
1/6 of me is football. You run, you pass and you catch.
1/6 of me is football. You run, you pass and you catch.
You hit, you block and you have fun.
1/3 of me is snowboarding. You ride, you get air and you do tricks.
1/3 of me is snowboarding. You ride, you get air and you do tricks.
You fall, you compete and you have fun.
1/6 of me is school. You study, you take tests and you read.
1/6 of me is school. You study, you take tests and you read.
You make friends, you do math and you have fun.
1/6 of me is family. You have brothers, you have sisters, and you have a mom and a dad.
1/6 of me is family. You have brothers, you have sisters, and you have a mom and a dad.
You have cousins, you have aunts and uncles, and you have love.
Please pass the "butt!"
AJ: "Mom, can you cut me another piece of bread? From the end?"
Maureen: "That's called the 'heel' of the bread, did you know that?"
AJ: "No, why is it called that?"
Maureen: "Well, I guess because it looks like the heel of your foot?"
AJ: "Hmm. Well, I think it looks like a 'butt.' Mom, can you cut me a butt please?"
Maureen: "Sure AJ, one butt coming up!"
Maureen: "That's called the 'heel' of the bread, did you know that?"
AJ: "No, why is it called that?"
Maureen: "Well, I guess because it looks like the heel of your foot?"
AJ: "Hmm. Well, I think it looks like a 'butt.' Mom, can you cut me a butt please?"
Maureen: "Sure AJ, one butt coming up!"
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Baby it's cold outside...
Brrrrrrrr!
Winter has hit hard here in the Northeast. I really try not to complain about the weather, I mean I live in Vermont - DUH! My neighbor/friend/workout buddy exclaimed to me one 5:30am day last week when it was below zero - "I'm freezing! I am so ready for winter to be over!" I replied, "Beth, you need a winter hobby!"
So, this is not a complaint, just some comments for those of you not living this with us!
Two weekends ago my thermometer read -24 degrees. Can you believe that? Have you ever seen that temperature on a thermometer? I have heard that number before, but usually when wind chill is taken into consideration. Nope, this was actual temperature that morning. Did we stay in and hibernate you might ask? No, of course not! Jack was at Bolton Valley both Saturday and Sunday! I went with him on Saturday and the temperature up there never got above -11. I took 4 runs, two before my lunch and hot chocolate and 2 after. I think that is pretty good! Why was I at the mountain you might ask? Well, Mike was home with hair dryers trying to thaw our heating pipes. Didn't work - even after 8 hours! $250 later the plumber thawed the pipe in 1 1/2 hours.
This weekend the temperatures were again below zero and I was at Bolton both Saturday and Sunday. Why was I there again and not Mike? Yup, you guessed it, frozen pipes again. This time we got a deal from the plumber so it was only $199. Also, only took Mike an hour to realize he should call him! We have a vent cut in our basement ceiling in the area where the pipes froze hoping this will help prevent this again.
Other than that, things are good! Jack is on the Bolton Valley Snowboard Team and practices with them every Saturday and Sunday. He loves it. He is set to be in his first "slope style" competition Wednesday night (1/28). Wish him luck! He has never done this and doesn't really have a routine practiced, but he has to start somewhere. I'm psyched for him!
AJ and Emma are both on snowboards as well and I took 5 runs on mine last weekend. It was not horrible, but still hard to go back to the beginning again! I would just like to master skiing and not worry about riding! Only if that were acceptable to this family!
AJ and Emma are both playing indoor soccer and loving it. AJ is also playing basketball and Jack has every other week baseball clinics, so we are not having a slow winter as we did last year! However, everyone is moving, staying warm and still finding "Highs" each day to talk about over dinner during "High and Low."
We had a great Christmas/New Year's holiday! Both Mike and I were off for 2 weeks, it was awesome! The weather did not really cooperate for as much skiing/riding as we would have liked, but we had a great time anyway with family and each other. AJ exclaimed it was his best Christmas ever. Wonder if the inappopriate gifts he received (air rifles and combat Wii games) had anything to do with that!? We spent a lot of time with Patrick, Cristin, Tegan and Finn and then David, Kaleigh and Declan came up for a few days. Amy had to stay home as Elsie had a double ear infection! We really missed them - I have not seen Elsie since she was a BABY, but had a great time with who was here. We made it to Bolton Landing for a long weekend after Christmas and caught up with most of Mike's family! The kids love hanging with their cousins! Rita again cooked like mad for a zillion people each night and Tom had us trying great wine. WE had a blast.
I'm attaching some great pics from our holidays.
David and Kaleigh riding at Bolton - it was cold! These southerners did great!
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No, we are not being invaded by little white men! These are the 48 snowman cupcakes Mike and I made for Aidan & Emma's classes! Aren't they cute?!?
Kids on Christmas morning with all their loot!
Christmas Eve at the Malle's!
Dex would not put down that shovel! He came around to sledding though! Lots of smiles!
The Fam:
Cristin, Finn and Patrick
Finn and Dex - the three year olds!
The Girls! Emma, Kaleigh and Tegan
Emma and Tegan
Declan and David
Hope yours were just as memorable!
Winter has hit hard here in the Northeast. I really try not to complain about the weather, I mean I live in Vermont - DUH! My neighbor/friend/workout buddy exclaimed to me one 5:30am day last week when it was below zero - "I'm freezing! I am so ready for winter to be over!" I replied, "Beth, you need a winter hobby!"
So, this is not a complaint, just some comments for those of you not living this with us!
Two weekends ago my thermometer read -24 degrees. Can you believe that? Have you ever seen that temperature on a thermometer? I have heard that number before, but usually when wind chill is taken into consideration. Nope, this was actual temperature that morning. Did we stay in and hibernate you might ask? No, of course not! Jack was at Bolton Valley both Saturday and Sunday! I went with him on Saturday and the temperature up there never got above -11. I took 4 runs, two before my lunch and hot chocolate and 2 after. I think that is pretty good! Why was I at the mountain you might ask? Well, Mike was home with hair dryers trying to thaw our heating pipes. Didn't work - even after 8 hours! $250 later the plumber thawed the pipe in 1 1/2 hours.
This weekend the temperatures were again below zero and I was at Bolton both Saturday and Sunday. Why was I there again and not Mike? Yup, you guessed it, frozen pipes again. This time we got a deal from the plumber so it was only $199. Also, only took Mike an hour to realize he should call him! We have a vent cut in our basement ceiling in the area where the pipes froze hoping this will help prevent this again.
Other than that, things are good! Jack is on the Bolton Valley Snowboard Team and practices with them every Saturday and Sunday. He loves it. He is set to be in his first "slope style" competition Wednesday night (1/28). Wish him luck! He has never done this and doesn't really have a routine practiced, but he has to start somewhere. I'm psyched for him!
AJ and Emma are both on snowboards as well and I took 5 runs on mine last weekend. It was not horrible, but still hard to go back to the beginning again! I would just like to master skiing and not worry about riding! Only if that were acceptable to this family!
AJ and Emma are both playing indoor soccer and loving it. AJ is also playing basketball and Jack has every other week baseball clinics, so we are not having a slow winter as we did last year! However, everyone is moving, staying warm and still finding "Highs" each day to talk about over dinner during "High and Low."
We had a great Christmas/New Year's holiday! Both Mike and I were off for 2 weeks, it was awesome! The weather did not really cooperate for as much skiing/riding as we would have liked, but we had a great time anyway with family and each other. AJ exclaimed it was his best Christmas ever. Wonder if the inappopriate gifts he received (air rifles and combat Wii games) had anything to do with that!? We spent a lot of time with Patrick, Cristin, Tegan and Finn and then David, Kaleigh and Declan came up for a few days. Amy had to stay home as Elsie had a double ear infection! We really missed them - I have not seen Elsie since she was a BABY, but had a great time with who was here. We made it to Bolton Landing for a long weekend after Christmas and caught up with most of Mike's family! The kids love hanging with their cousins! Rita again cooked like mad for a zillion people each night and Tom had us trying great wine. WE had a blast.
I'm attaching some great pics from our holidays.
David and Kaleigh riding at Bolton - it was cold! These southerners did great!
.jpg)
No, we are not being invaded by little white men! These are the 48 snowman cupcakes Mike and I made for Aidan & Emma's classes! Aren't they cute?!?
Kids on Christmas morning with all their loot!
Christmas Eve at the Malle's!
Dex would not put down that shovel! He came around to sledding though! Lots of smiles!
The Fam:
Cristin, Finn and Patrick
Finn and Dex - the three year olds!
The Girls! Emma, Kaleigh and Tegan
Emma and Tegan
Declan and DavidHope yours were just as memorable!
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Day After...
Well, the 6th Annual Whitney Christmas Party is over, but it is definitely one for the record books! Here are some of the numbers for you!
* People attended: 48
* Yankee Swap gifts: 34
* Beers spilled on rug - 2 (that I know about!)
* Empty wine bottles - 10
* Empty beer cases - 6
* Empty vodka bottles - 1
* Karaoke songs sung - many, many, many!
* Karaoke songs sung well - very few!
* Table dancers - 6
* Fires - 1
* Number of guests pulled over on the way home - 1
* Number of tickets issued - 0 (Phew!)
* Years the chicken pitcher has made it to the Yankee Swap - 6
* Time the last guests left: 2:45am
It was an absolute blast and wish I had photos to prove it! Will have to remember that next year. In the mean time my memory will have to suffice and I will not soon forget:
Kelly dancing on the table
Carney wearing Laura's red leather jacket
The candle on the mantle catching fire and the smoke detector going off
The soot covering my wall and ceiling
Peter flying across the coffee table on his belly
The mistletoe belt
The picture of Mike asleep at Fenway that made it to the Yankee Swap
All of the karaoke songs
Can't wait until next year!
* People attended: 48
* Yankee Swap gifts: 34
* Beers spilled on rug - 2 (that I know about!)
* Empty wine bottles - 10
* Empty beer cases - 6
* Empty vodka bottles - 1
* Karaoke songs sung - many, many, many!
* Karaoke songs sung well - very few!
* Table dancers - 6
* Fires - 1
* Number of guests pulled over on the way home - 1
* Number of tickets issued - 0 (Phew!)
* Years the chicken pitcher has made it to the Yankee Swap - 6
* Time the last guests left: 2:45am
It was an absolute blast and wish I had photos to prove it! Will have to remember that next year. In the mean time my memory will have to suffice and I will not soon forget:
Kelly dancing on the table
Carney wearing Laura's red leather jacket
The candle on the mantle catching fire and the smoke detector going off
The soot covering my wall and ceiling
Peter flying across the coffee table on his belly
The mistletoe belt
The picture of Mike asleep at Fenway that made it to the Yankee Swap
All of the karaoke songs
Can't wait until next year!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Happy Labor Day!
It's Labor Day and instead of sleeping in like I should have (especially after arriving home at 11:30 last night from taking AJ and Emma to the Jonas Brothers concert - can you say SCREAMING girls??) I got up at 6:45 to run with my "girls." And thank goodness for them as I would never haul my butt out of bed if they were not pushing me to do so! It looks like it will be a beautiful day here today so it was a nice, albeit a bit stiff, 4.4 miles!
Labor Day is the day we celebrate the working people, right? So I'd like to celebrate my Dad who worked so hard every day of his life (and continues to do so part-time even though he turned 70 yesterday!). Thanks Dad! Thanks for getting up every day and going in there, even when some days (or years) I know it was painful for you to do so!
And my Mom - yes she took time off when we were little (thanks Dad for being cool with that), but went back to teaching as soon as we were in school. She had jobs she loved and jobs she did not enjoy, but went into the classroom every day to help Dad put all 4 of us through school - amongst other things that they helped with but didn't need to!
Like when I graduated from college and had no job and no money. I moved to Boston and my parents paid my rent until I found a job. And, when I got an offer that would have removed their "rent liability" but I just did not feel good about the job, Mom said - "Don't take it!" Thanks again Mom and Dad!
And Mike. He actually likes going to Burton every day, but thanks Mike for never complaininig as I cut my hours more and more without figuring out how we were going to do it financially! Now if he would only let me quit!
And lastly - a shout out to all my "Mom" friends who know what REAL labor is!
Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day is the day we celebrate the working people, right? So I'd like to celebrate my Dad who worked so hard every day of his life (and continues to do so part-time even though he turned 70 yesterday!). Thanks Dad! Thanks for getting up every day and going in there, even when some days (or years) I know it was painful for you to do so!
And my Mom - yes she took time off when we were little (thanks Dad for being cool with that), but went back to teaching as soon as we were in school. She had jobs she loved and jobs she did not enjoy, but went into the classroom every day to help Dad put all 4 of us through school - amongst other things that they helped with but didn't need to!
Like when I graduated from college and had no job and no money. I moved to Boston and my parents paid my rent until I found a job. And, when I got an offer that would have removed their "rent liability" but I just did not feel good about the job, Mom said - "Don't take it!" Thanks again Mom and Dad!
And Mike. He actually likes going to Burton every day, but thanks Mike for never complaininig as I cut my hours more and more without figuring out how we were going to do it financially! Now if he would only let me quit!
And lastly - a shout out to all my "Mom" friends who know what REAL labor is!
Happy Labor Day!
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