Tag: family

2021 in review

I feel like maybe the last thing I want to do is revisit 2021, but you know, there were some real high points, so let’s do it.

January

I turned 46. I sat around the fire pit at my friend Jen’s house and it was all I wanted to do for my birthday – so it was perfect. Spending time with my friends was what made 2021 bearable, but it happened so infrequently, so that is what made it terrible.

February

Mardi Gras! I spent a lot of January preparing for this, the Schitt’s Creek house float that I participated in. It was one of the high points of 2021. I had so much fun making my Moira costume (and Jen’s!) and helping with the creation (mostly telling Chris what to do) and then on Mardi Gras day, seeing all the people and BEING INTERVIEWED BY THE BBC.

You know, in case you wanted to watch it.

That wasn’t the only excitement in February. The boys were also enrolled in a COVID vaccine trial (Moderna) and we learned later in the year that they actually did get the vaccine (first one in February, second in March.)

March

Really, not much happened. Well, I got my vaccine. That was nice.

April

My sister & fam came down for Easter.

Our yard renovation was completed!

May

I went to visit Kiki! We baked a lot.

Linus was hospitalized for asthma. (He’s fine.)

June

Things were looking up. We found out the boys were fully vaccinated. Was it over? We were able to take off our masks and do things! I took the boys to a couple of soccer games. We ate at a restaurant! We booked a trip to California! Life was back to normal! I call this “the golden time.” Boy were were we naive.

July

My blog turned 20.

We got devastating news in the middle of the month when my sweet cousin Molly died suddenly. I still can’t believe it.

The boys and I went to California to visit Evan and Jennifer and Ellie. It was a lovely trip, even though it was under a cloud of sadness. Things still felt normal. We went to Disneyland and to an LAFC game and to the beach, and I got to meet my best friend in person finally. (She’s 3.)

This is when the golden time ended. LA had re-introduced a mask mandate not long before we got there. Delta was coming. Thank god we went when we went, or we wouldn’t have been able to go at all.

August

We got to hang out with the Murphys, which was wonderful.

The boys started 8th grade.

We went on a terrible road trip. Thanks Ida!

September

We finally got to go home! After spending 11 days in Houston and Baton Rouge, we were ready. And that’s about all I can say about September.

October

I went to the Rosebud Motel with my friends. That was fun.

That’s about it. Oh, I did some sewing.

The boys finally got to start soccer again. Or was that September? I don’t know. One of those months.

November

KIKI CAME TO VISIT! That was awesome. We did a lot of stuff around the house and ate at restaurants. Things were starting to feel normal-ish again.

I made a quilt!

Obviously it was Schitt’s Creek themed.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving, just the five of us.

December

My sweet baby boys turned 14!

My mom turned 75 and my brother and sister came in for it.

Finally, we celebrated Christmas with Grandee and Larry and negative COVID tests.

On to 2022!

Girls’ day!

Last Thursday, I took the day off to spend with Ellie, who was in town while her parents went gallivanting around New York City with some tennis players or something.

Yes, this Ellie! ❤

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Okay, not exactly that Ellie. More like this Ellie:

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She’s a little taller now. I mean, 13 years does that to a person.

We dropped the boys off at school, and got beignets (her first! okay, my brother says she’s had them before but she doesn’t remember so they don’t count)

and wandered around the sculpture garden at City Park a little bit (shh it wasn’t open yet but the gates were open so we wandered around a bit and didn’t get caught – we’re such rebels!)

Then we went to get manicures. She got blue and I got red.

After that, we went to my favorite local fabric store and she picked out some blue fabric so I could make her some pants for school. With pockets! Then we went and met our cousin Lisa for lunch at this great place called Toast. Ellie and I had crepes, yum! I didn’t take any pictures at lunch, boo! So unlike me. Ellie was very excited because there was a Tesla parked outside. She is a tad obsessed with Teslas.

It was pouring, so we headed home so I could start on her pants before we had to head to the bus stop to get the boys. We didn’t embarrass them too much there but of course, I did make them take some pictures together.

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Goofballs. Don’t worry, that house is vacant.

The boys were supposed to have soccer that night, but it was canceled. For the life of me, I can’t remember what we did for dinner. I know the night before we made pizzas, which was notable because we got a cauliflower crust from Trader Joes for one of the pizzas and no one noticed! SCORE! Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter what we had for dinner that night.

The next day we headed to Baton Rouge to hang out with my brother and sister in law, who were back from NYC, and we did fun things like swim (MY MOM WENT DOWN THE WATER SLIDE) and went to LSU to take the bench picture again and I made Jennifer an apron for her birthday. Pics!

Jennifer in the apron I made her
Pants for Ellie
Jump!
In the pool!
Linus and Miles and Ellie underwater
Miles
Miles
Ellie

Later, we went to LSU to take the bench picture again (here are the 2012, 2015, and 2017 versions) but it was pouring rain. When there was a break, we got the photo. Whew!

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Playing in the rain:

They went home the next day, but we’ll see them again in just a few months at Thanksgiving!

Sewing and soccer

I started to make this just about sewing, but there’s more to life than sewing, you know.

There’s soccer, of course.

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Speaking of, my latest post for NOMB came out today.

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Generally tongue in cheek, as I am wont to do. Check it out!

Okay, this is probably really, really wrong of me. But I was videoing some of the soccer game because I knew the boys would want to watch it, and I just happened to get a video of this kid on the other team getting knocked over by a ball. He was FINE. But the video is VERY FUNNY. SO I can’t decide if I should share it or not. Hmm. How about I won’t embed it, but I’ll put a link here so you can click on it if you want to be as evil as me and watch a little kid get conked in the head with a soccer ball? Fair enough. (And yes. I slowed it down so you could see it even better.)

Last weekend, some long-lost (not really) cousins were in town and we had lunch with them. I wish I had some pictures. We were half an hour late because the French Quarter was packed so it took us forever to park so I was too frazzled to take pictures. Except of my barbecue oyster poboy. Mmmmmm.

Oh, and my Uncle Lee was here and he showed me a photo of my Aunt Nancy from when she was younger. She was my dad’s big sister, and of course I only knew her when she was older so it was lovely to see this.

Oh, look at these adorable sailors in the FQ for Navy Week!

Sewing-wise, I made this dress and this dress and both were fails (one was WAY too big, and I don’t feel like going back and reprinting and taping the pattern in a smaller size, the other was just…meh) and then I decided I needed to try the Cashmerette Springfield top again because by golly I wasn’t going to give up on it, and I was much more successful the second time. Except the bust darts were too high and the arm holes a smidge tight.

Try three was a winner! My friend Jessica sews kid’s clothes for a living and had two full boxes of adorable fabrics that she gave me and I am in HEAVEN. I made both of those Springfield tops out of fabric she gave me. I love the plaid!

Not bad.
Much better!
SO MUCH FABRIC!

And then last night I decided to try the Cashmerette Washington dress and as seems to be the case with these patterns, they don’t fit right the first time so I am going to re-make the bodice in a different fabric tonight and see if it works better. I hope so!

I also am excited about trying out this dress pattern and this skirt pattern. This weekend, I hope I can get to at least one of them!

Dress
or dress
or skirt

Oh, but my nieces’ birthdays are coming up and I want to make them things too. So much to sew, so little time!

Ooh, and look at my cute shoes!

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Also I’ve been to Orangetheory five times in a row now because I want to get this stupid t-shirt that you have to earn by completing “a marathon” in April. Which normally, fine, 26.2 miles over the course of a month’s worth of workouts wouldn’t be so difficult except that I was out for about 10 days of the month because of travel and a funeral last week. So I might fall apart by the end of the month but BY GOD I WILL HAVE A SHIRT THAT IS PROBABLY TOO SMALL.

Well, this has been a week

And it’s only Thursday? Argh.

Monday was possibly the worst, with sickness of the human and canine variety, but Tuesday came in a close second. I drove the kids to school (each trip is about an hour round trip – longer during rush hour, maybe a little shorter when it’s not) in the morning. And then a couple of hours later, I got a call from the school nurse. No, not Linus. This time it was Oliver.

I was in the middle of the first of two interviews I had scheduled, so I asked if he could hang out in the nurse’s office until I was free. She said okay, so around lunchtime, I made the trek to get Oliver.

He just needed a little medicine and a breathing treatment, but before too long, he was fine. Whew.

And then two hours later, we had to make the trip again, this time in afternoon rush hour, to pick up from school. (I don’t usually drive in the mornings, only when Mary Catherine travels for work, which fortunately isn’t that often. And it’s fine because I travel for work too.)

Okay, driving to school three times in a day probably didn’t warrant four paragraphs. I’m being overly dramatic.

Wednesday was fine. No one was sick. Ziggy’s digestive system is definitely responding to his meds and disgusting wet food. Yay! Finally got my correct Christmas cards in the mail (from the other family, not Minted) so now I just have to go stand in a very long line to get postcard stamps.

I did write a scathing (well, for me) review on google of the place the boys had their party at last weekend. I’m not ready to think about that yet, much less blog about it.

But how in the world is it only Thursday?

Tomorrow will be good. I don’t have to drive to school at all! Ziggy has a vet appointment, and fingers crossed he gets the all-clear and his vaccinations so we can start going on walks again!

In other news, happy birthday to my mom! Since we gave her her birthday gift last weekend (a giant framed copy of this), now I can share:

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My mom’s birthday gift 7 years ago was an engagement ring from Larry. So glad she said yes, and not just because we got a free cruise. Ha!

Cruise on the Norwegian Dawn (recap)

Okay, sit down, this is gonna be a long one.

Sunday, November 22

Stephanie drove us to the cruise terminal, so we were able to avoid paying for parking or a taxi. The boys were so excited. I was proud of my minimal packing skills. Though later I will have wished for more clothes. We waited in several lines to get on the ship, but finally, we were on!

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Month 88

You know what this means? Twelve months from today, we’ll be taking #100. Then, maybe I can consider stopping. (No, not really. As if.)

This month, we had a very special guest, all the way from Los Angeles! Give it up everyone, for COUSIN ELLIE!

88 months

Cousins!

My brother made standing in a line, in birth order, into a game. Voila! Pics of the boys and almost all of their cousins. (Andrew is at home, but we’ll see him next month when we go to Virginia.)

Ellie, Emily, Linus, Oliver, Miles
Ellie, Emily, Linus, Oliver, Miles

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Jump!

 

Linus and Mommy go to California

I could make this a very long recap, but so that I don’t put everyone to sleep, I will make it snappy. But we did a lot, so it will be sorta long.

Friday
Got up while it was still dark out. Sob. Got Linus up and dressed and to the airport. Had much fun lugging 24 lb baby in Bjorn (over the weight limit, shhhh), suitcase, huge carseat, and diaper bag. Made it onto plane without incident. We were moved to Economy Plus (yay!) and had our own row, as well as empty rows in front of and behind us.

Linus was pretty good on the plane. Finally fell asleep as I rocked him while walking up and down the aisle. Whew!

After arriving, met up with some friends at a cute little park. That was awesome. Linus was the oldest kid there and he enjoyed showing off his walking skills. Nearly stole his friend Declan’s truck. After leaving that, I thought I lost my wallet. Found it. Whew!

Went with Evan to pick up Ellie from daycare. Cute story…she was sitting in the front office when we arrived. Evan thought she was in trouble. Turns out, the principal said she kept saying she was “waiting for Linus.” Principal thought Linus was imaginary friend? Didn’t know who she was talking about. Evan pointed out Linus, and confusion was cleared up. But how sweet that Ellie didn’t want to play with her friends, she wanted to wait for her baby cousin! Gaah!

Went back to their house, went to Trader Joe’s (why why why don’t they have them here? Hmmph.) and Evan cooked dinner. Linus likes slurping spaghetti noodles. There was much playing going on.

Friday
Went to Disneyland! Met up with Jennifer’s dad and brother and sister in law and nephews. Fun! Linus liked: teacups, cotton candy, fast rides. Linus did not like: strollers, lame baby rides that don’t do anything, mouse ears. Linus LOVED: It’s a Small World (it may be slow, but it’s eye candy for babies.)

Saturday
Went to the beach! Linus did not enjoy the water nor the sand, but did like the swings.

(he would not let go of my cell phone for practically the entire trip)

That evening, Linus and I took a trip to visit our triplet friends and their parents. So fun! I got really lost going to their house, though, and a trip that should have taken 15 minutes took almost an hour. Dang! So we didn’t get to hang out as long as I would have liked. But it was so great. I’m so glad we got to meet up! The kids played together, it was ridiculously cute. Brian and Cindy have genius babies, too. And next time I go, I may swap out one of my boys for Alexis. She’s such a girl! Ack!

Anyway, their triplets are just a few days younger than the boys, so Cindy and I were pregnant at the same time, and would comment on each other’s blogs all the time. It was so awesome to finally meet her and Brian and Alexis and Zachary and Jackson in person. I already felt like I knew them, so it was v comfortable, not awkward at all.

Sunday
Just a relaxing day. My old high school roommate Betsy came over, and we took a walk to Trader Joe’s. I’m telling you, it’s my second favorite store in LA (first being Paper Source.) Later, Jennifer and I went to Old Town Pasadena to go in some of the shops (like Tiffany) and have a snack at a cute little bakery place.

Meanwhile, Evan turned Linus into Linda.

Monday
Linus and I took the shuttle to the airport and had a thankfully uneventful flight home. He fell asleep literally as we took off, and woke up 3 hours later. Thank goodness there was a movie on the plane, even though it was about football. Better than nothing!

So now we are home. Linus was definitely happy to see his Daddy and his brothers, but I’m not sure Miles and Oliver even noticed he was gone. Ha!

Videos! and other stuff

Bathtime!

(oops, are the links not working? I can’t fix right now, but if you go to YouTube and search for “pyjammy”, maybe you can find them. dang.)

New jammies!

(yeah, another cute video here.)

We had a lovely weekend at my aunt Mary Beth’s house. I don’t call her Aunt Mary Beth, that would be very weird. She’s always been Mary Beth to me. Probably because she lived with us when I was little, so she is more like a big sister than an aunt. A cool big sister that would take us to the mall and honk at the speed bumps.

The boys and I had a lot of fun hanging out with Mary and Grady and Daisy and Sara and her fiance. Daisy’s a dog, by the way. The boys enjoyed getting licked by her. Really! At first, I think they were a little freaked out by the sheer size of her, but I’m glad they got used to her. I was beyond terrified of dogs when I was little, and I really don’t want them to be.

Mary and I took the boys to lunch. They were very good, eating their sweet potato fries and flirting with a two year old girl who would run her fingers through her hair whenever you praised her flaxen locks.

Here are two of my children pulling themselves up on the coffee table so they can read Southern Living and Cabela’s catalogs: (note they are naked, and therefore harder to identify. Am pretty sure Linus is on the left, and I’d bet a few dollars that Miles is on the right.)

Grady, my uncle, is a huge outdoorsman. When I put the boys in their camo sleepsacks, I was half afraid he might spirit them away in the middle of the night and take them hunting. While he didn’t do that, we did get to see some deer frolicking in their backyard.

Playing with a jug of water (best toy ever!) at Mary’s feet:

Oliver and Linus at the restaurant:

Miles eating a sweet potato fry:

Oliver eating one:

My first Mother’s Day and 5 month stats

Hope all the mommies out there had a nice Mother’s Day. Mine was pretty good. The weather was beautiful, our moms came over, and we ate steak. It was nice. The boys posed for a picture with me. I think it’s probably the last time I’ll be able to hold them all at the same time. They’re getting so big!

On Friday the boys had their five month ped visit. They’re huuuuge! And the biggest news is that Linus is now bigger than Oliver!

Linus: 15#12oz (25-50th); 26″ long (50-75th); HC 42.5cm (25-50th)
Oliver: 15#11oz (25-50th); 26.5″ long (75th); HC 43cm (25-50th)
Miles: 15#0.5oz (25th); 26″ long (50th); HC 42.5cm (25-50th)

Miles is now rolling both ways. Oliver can roll front-to-back and so can Linus, I think. I’m not sure if I’ve witnessed those two doing back to front like Miles. They’re all babbling all the time, and the best part is to each other. It’s so cute to watch. Oliver is a champion thumb-sucker. They now sleep unswaddled, just in their sleep sacks, which has made for some rough nights lately. Like last night. Let’s just say I’m wearing my glasses today, not my contacts. That’s something I only do when I can’t have the weight of contacts weighing down my already heavy eyes. Zzzzz.

The ped says when they start eating solids, they should drop their middle of the night feeding. Man, I hope so. They still show no interest in eating off spoons:


Obviously, they don’t mind having it around their mouth. Just not in it.

Linus had pinkeye last week. He looked like a pirate. Arrrgh!

On Sunday, the boys are getting filmed for the news again. Did I already mention that? Anyway. Exciting! I’ll post more details when we have them.


Edited to add: Just goes to show how tired I am. I already posted their new stats. And about the news thing. oh well. zzzzzz.

3/3/08

Had such a lovely weekend. 🙂

Took the boys to Baton Rouge (sans George, so he could have a little fun time too) because my cousin Laura was in town with her two daughters Charlotte and Kristen. Charlotte just turned four, so there was a big ol’ party for her at my aunt and uncle’s house. I got a sparkly Hello Kitty sticker/tattoo. We party hard, we do. And Kristen is the newest member of the family, a good 17 days younger than her older wiser triplet cousins. She has much to learn from them, with the wisdom they have gained from their time on this earth. Hee!

They all seemed to like each other well enough…

Actually, by the looks of it, Kristen was bored by them. Hmmm. Must work on honing their sense of humor or something.

NOTE TO FAMILY: SEND ME YOUR PICTURES, DANGIT!

This is referring to the papparazzi treatment Laura, Kristen, the boys and I got during our photo shoot. Ha ha! It was fun. But I have no pictures from it, so I am asking anyone who took pictures to send them to me. And I know yall read this, because you knew all of our stories already! (Email is pam@pyjammy.com.)

I also should post these pictures here. Because they’re funny and I didn’t post them before. And some people think I don’t take/post enough pictures of Miles. Poor little Miles. He likes to dress up…

Devlish little guy, isn’t he?

And here’s a cute picture of Oliver wearing an outfit (from our friend Hadley’s boys) that makes him look quite tough:

ha!

Note: Not sure if anyone came here from our new domain, kocketriplets.com. It’s just going to direct you here until the day comes when I have enough free time to make them their own website. Which will be never! Ha!

Aunt Jenny’s visit

This was a big weekend for the boys! Not only did they meet Aunt Jenny…

but they also met their great-Grandpa and great Uncle Kevin!

They were v good boys for their visit. And Aunt Jenny hardly got any sleep. I’m sure she’s secretly thrilled to be going home to a baby who sleeps through the night.

Grandee and her friend also came to visit on Saturday, and they brought a ton of yummy food that we’re still eating. Mmmmm!