"Hey!"

I've found that we all say, "Hey!" A LOT in this family!  We say it when we're happy, sad, mad, frustrated, and when we want someone's attention.  It's no wonder that "Hey!" is one of Eóghan's first words!

Jayden was sick a few days last week, and while home from school he was watching a lot of TV.  So on one of those afternoons while Eóghan was napping in his playpen I told Jayden to turn off the TV so we could read (we will be visiting Gettysburg this Summer so I had gotten him some books on the Civil War and I thought it was a perfect time to get started), so we sat together on the sofa and we read for awhile. 
While reading I could hear that Eóghan had woken from his nap, but he was just babbling and playing with the toys that were in the pen with him.
After a little while Jayden and I heard, "Hey!", and we look over and see this:

Eóghan had pulled himself up to a standing position, and got our attention by shouting, "Hey!", and Jayden just found it to be the funniest thing!  He ran and got me the camera so I could take a picture, and then he said, "Wait!  Let me pull the pillow away so you can really see him better!"

Now that this little 'rug rat' is crawling about, and now that he's not all that happy to stay in the pen anymore he hears, "Hey!" A LOT.


I find him getting into all sorts of things, and my response is usually, "Hey! What are you doing there?"
This day he was getting into the basket of bibs and washcloths that I keep in the kitchen:

And when I yelled, "Hey!", he just laughed and laughed.

And one evening recently Jayden came running into the house shouting excitedly, "Hey!  Hey! Everybody come look at something so beautiful!"
We went out and saw this:

It really was a beautiful sight!  I'm not sure if you can see it very well in these photos but it was a 'double rainbow'!

My pictures don't do it justice, it was amazing! 

Hey!  Come to think of it, I get to see a lot of amazing sights everyday! 

Thank You, God!

You Can't Fight City Hall...

...but that hasn't stopped Ray from trying!


Back in December we were ticketed  for putting our garbage cans out thirty minutes too early.  We never even knew this law existed.  My response was, "What are you gonna do?  You can't fight City Hall."  Ray ended up paying the $100.00 fine but he also called and complained to everyone he could think of including Senator Tony Avella, and he also complained to different news outlets.  At that time his story was picked up by Arnold Diaz at Fox News:

And then there was renewed interest this week and his story again was picked up by Monica Morales on WPIX Channel 11 news:

And his story made the Queens Courier.

So I guess Ray has had his fifteen minutes of fame and then some!


(Part of the reason we were ticketed according to the New York City Department of Sanitation is that our garbage cans were blocking the sidewalk. Now, this photo below is the exact spot that we always leave our trash at, near the curb.  I ask you does this look like our garbage cans are blocking the sidewalk?)

Plenty of room to walk by, right?


Now look how the sanitation workers leave our cans AFTER they have dumped the trash into their truck:

You can see the garbage truck still on the block.

And this is the norm for them!

See, here it is on another day (they had just picked up the regular garbage and left the can blocking the sidewalk):

And later in the day, after they picked up the recycle, they left the lids...

...blocking the sidewalk!

Now, I ask you ~ who deserves the fine????

Happenings

What's been going on in the Jansson Family?

Baby Ray's Baptism was in March:

Brian and Flora chose to have Raymond Francisco Baptized on my Mom's Birthday.  They also asked that we have a photo of my Mom brought to the celebration to display.  Ray did a beautiful job of framing a picture of my Mom along with a picture of Raymond and this poem:

I know you see me, small and bright

And smiling in the quiet night

Though you may wander sweeter lands

You come to me and hold my hands

Though loved ones may have gone their way

With little ones they come and stay

They visit softly, and with tender care

Whisper to us a sweet silent prayer

Happy Birthday, Mom-Mom!

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful celebration.

And...

Sophie is walking!  Here she is on her First Birthday, taking some of her first steps.

That was at the end of March, she gets around a lot better than that now!

We had a visit from my youngest brother Joey and his son Jake:

Here's Miss Mia showing off her 'big girl' bed (I love her princess motif in her room):

And here she's showing off her sister Sophie's room (owl motif):

And ~

Eóghan is crawling (combat style):

Ray and I took a trip to Pennsylvania with Diane & Steve over Mother's Day weekend to attend our nephew William's graduation:

(William is also our Godson)

Here he is with his sweet girlfriend Dana:

(Dana graduated third in the class and William graduated eighth)

The weather was perfect, the campus was beautiful, it was really a wonderful weekend and lots of fun!

I'll have to post about that trip sometime soon.

The following weekend there was a big party to celebrate!

And it's been babies, babies, and more babies at our house!

(I've never before tried potty training a baby this young ~ but he's doing very well!)

And I have to introduce the newest member of our family ~

Zoe Xaia

Her parents ~ Jackie & Scott

Here's Jackie on Easter Sunday, looking like she's ready to pop!

And she was!  Jackie wasn't due to deliver Zoe until mid-May, but Zoe had other plans ~ she was born on April 18 (which is also Helena's Birthday [Helena is Ray's Mom])!

We've all been enjoying this new addition!

And I've been busy re-arranging furniture and changing out slipcovers, carpets, and curtains...

...and Ray's been busy getting the pool and decks ready for summer (this is actually looking good compared to when he first uncovered the pool!  It was the worst I've ever seen it, all this green sludge on top of the water!  Yuk!)

We unfortunately lost four outdoor dining chairs, the rattan was beyond fixing, and even the metal frames were worn, so we are on the lookout for some inexpensive replacements.  And I think the little cabana Ray made will be gone too, he wants to get a big portable awning for the side deck this summer.  And I guess he'll be spending this weekend power-washing the decks.

Ray's also been very busy landscaping, laying bricks, and planting around the tree by our curb and in the front of our house:

(Our front lawn is the size of a postage stamp, so there's not all that much anyone can do with it, but I think Ray does a nice job making it look pretty!  And I can't get over how expensive plants are!  What do people with lots of property do?!  Some of these plants are supposed to come up each year, but ours never seem to survive the winters.)

(Eóghan enjoyed sitting out and watching Ray toil and labor!)

And that's some of what has been happening here at home.

(Now that I've finished playing 'catch up' between this post and my last few on Family Circus, I'm hoping to post more often and hopefully they will be much shorter posts!)