ireland in phoenix

The Burches had their annual St. Patty's Day Block Party on Calle Redonda once again and as always it was a grand old time that would have made my Irish grandparents proud (However, my grandma probably would have requested "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" instead of the Pogues). My dad and Pete re-painted the pub walls and added a lot of new additions to the inside. It just keeps getting more impressive every year. The name of the pub in Gaelic is the "The Little Bridge" and it was modeled after a real pub in Dingle.

The Bartenders

They added a "Snug" in the storage room (which is like a tiny booth in its own room) just like in the pubs in Ireland.

There was Corned Beef and Corn Hole...

Cute kids...

And old friends.

And Emily's creative contribution: The photo wall.

Kind of disturbing, but by far the funniest picture:

My little Irishman

Oh, and lots of darts too.

Good Night and May the Luck of the Irish be with you!

disneyland fix

Lately, my household has been desperately craving to go to Disneyland. Jimmy talks about it all the time. Of course, I was the one that originally put the idea in his head, but he has really gone with it. It started because I hung a map of Disneyland in his room by his bed.

He loves looking at it and wants me to tell him every ride and attraction on the whole thing. He loves to name all the different trains (ie: Passenger Train, Monorail Train, and Casey Jr. Train). The first time we looked at it he said, "I want to go right now. Let's go!" I had to explain that it is a far drive away and costs lots of money so we better start saving our pennies. Jimmy helped Zach put tons of coins into a coin sorter one night and now all of our loose change has been designated "Disneyland Money." Now when he brings up Disneyland, Jimmy says, "We have to save our pennies!" Hopefully this will be a good lesson in the value of money. Fortunately, Disney is helping us out this year with their Give A Day, Get A Day Program. My siblings and I all signed up for it and spent a day working in Habitat for Humanity's Thrift Store and we all got free one-day passes for Disneyland. Jimmy is still free so we just need to save up for Zach's ticket and food... and of course a few souvenirs as well. We haven't set a for sure date to go yet, but we are hoping to go pretty soon. My whole family is trying to go together so we have a lot of schedules to arrange. I can't wait. I guess, as a pregnant lady I will be banned from Space Mountain which is my very favorite ride, but since this trip is all about Jimmy anyway, I probably won't be doing any of the "scary rides." Jimmy says those are just for big kids like his cousin Jack. Finn has decided we are going on the Dumbo ride first, so fortunately, Jimmy has been going along with that idea. In the meantime, we will just look at pictures and make Disneyland set-ups.

This set is from a variety of sources (including my old Polly Pockets to make Main Street). Some of the pieces are from a Disneyland Train Set I had when I was little and Jimmy inherited two Christmases ago. The castle and some of the other rides were bought by my mom to be a Grandchild gift. She gave it to all of us one Christmas before anyone had kids and said it was just something she wanted her grandkids to play with someday so she just had to buy it. We are lucky enough to have it at our house for now. The play mat was something I found at Toys R Us in the Clearance rack for a dollar a long time ago. I didn't have kids yet, but I thought it had to go with the rest of my mom's set. I love play mats in general, but what could be better than one of Disneyland? (well, actually if I designed it, it would be a little bit better and more thorough, but I guess I will just have to wait until someday when I have my second career as a toy designer).

So Jimmy's room has pretty much become Disneyland central. I found a bunch of old Disneyland postcards so Jimmy and I taped them to the back of his door and he loves to look at them. I also showed him the picture from our honeymoon and a bunch of pictures from when my family went as kids. He loves sitting and looking at pictures and he squeals with excitement at the thought of actually getting to go there himself. I just wonder what he expects in his little brain. I am sure he won't be disappointed, but I do imagine the waiting in line being a test of his patience.

Lastly, I give the following information with qualifications and disclaimers. I found a YouTube Sing-Along Video about Disneyland that Jimmy loves to watch. It is pretty cute as far as these kinds of things go (especially if you like shows from the same era as Full House), but I don't want any blame for getting anybody else's kids hooked on it. Watch a little of it yourself first before you decide. It does give a pretty good look at all the rides and characters, but the Country Bears kind of creep me out so you may want to skip that part. It is broken down into three parts so here they are if you want to see: Part One, Part Two, Part Three. I hope you enjoy and that I have inspired everyone to take their own families... hopefully for free.

pregnant

Yup, I am pregnant. Sorry to tell you all on my blog, but this way at least it is kind of from me and not from someone else. I am probably due in mid-October, but no official due date yet. I will keep you posted. Feel free to spread the word now that I have made it public. That is all.

PS- Sorry to add another friend to your list Pry!

digger

While the constant construction near our house is a little annoying, the fact that they parked one of the "diggers" in front of our house one day made it worth while. Jimmy was so excited and was telling me all the parts. Then one of nice construction guys came up and asked if Jimmy wanted to sit in the driver seat. Jimmy was scared of the idea despite my best efforts to convince him it was okay. I would have loved to get a picture of that. There was also a big truck that all the diggers kept dumping dirt into so Jimmy loved watching that. Then they repaved out street and Jimmy is now obsessed with the paver as well, but he decided it was called a "cleaner truck" so we went with that. Trucks are just so exciting to little boys!

big boy bed

Just another plug for Ikea, but that is where we got Jimmy's first real bed and I must give them credit. He is very excited about it, but I must say I am too. Not only does this bed have drawers in the bottom, but the bottom also slides out to make it into a king size bed (this description does not probably explain this because I didn't understand until I saw it happen). I was debating between a bed with drawers or one with a trundle so this bed was the best of both worlds. But enough about the practical reasons that I like it, Jimmy is very excited to have his own bed "big boy bed" to jump on and play in and sometimes sleep in. The only downside to this is that now I lay with him at night and immediately fall asleep...Ikea mattresses are also surprisingly comfortable.

His first night in the bed.

As for the rest of decorating Jimmy's room, it is still a work in progress, but it is closer than most of the other rooms in our house. The plan is to paint it green, which Jimmy is excited about, but I just need to stop debating about which shade is perfect and just go get it done. I did hang up a map of Disneyland that he loves to look at and Zach's Monkey collection has found a nice home on on old curtain rod.

I also got these shelves at Ikea and love them as well.