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9/10/2006
Life happens. It never ceases to amaze me how something as simple as keeping a blog going can get overlooked - for a year. Like I said, life happens. So what has gone on with the Family Delumpa in the past year? Let's start with the kids...

Brian
Brian is now a Senior at Archbishop Mitty High School. Can you believe it? He's an avid lacrosse and roller hockey player, and he's looking at attending school where he can play lacrosse and also study art. Lacross has been really good for Brian. As his roller hockey coach, I've seen a marked improvement in his body awareness and toughness. Where he used to shy away from mixing it up on the rink, he's right in each play. It's great to see him mature like this. Also, Brian recently got a job at Hot Topic at Valley Fair Mall in San Jose. If you're in the area, stop by and say hi!

Liam
Today - Sept. 9 - Liam had his first ice hockey practice game. After a few years of asking him to hold out, we finally got him started. He took several weeks of clinics, then graduated to in-house league. During his game, Moira inquired about the Cougars traveling team, and right after his hour-long game, Liam went into a 1-1/2 hour tryout. Poor guy, he was totally gassed, but he kept on going. It certainly impressed the parents who were watching, and I'm pretty sure it impressed the coach who saw Liam's heart in not quitting or giving up. In any case, Liam just started the 7th grade, and is looking forward to the rest of the school year.

Bennie
Bennie's a Boy Scout - need I say more? I think he's the only one of the boys that'll go to Eagle - at least I hope he stays with it. He and Mairead are starting 5th grade - they're finally in the same class, thank goodness! Anyway, Bennie just started his season in AYSO soccer. It's the one sport that he truly loves playing. And where he lacks in skill, he more than makes up for in heart and determination. It's a joy to watch him play!

Mairead
Mairead is playing AYSO soccer as well, and as soon as that is over, she's going to go to club soccer! Man, she's fast! In her games, she's all over the place! With time she'll learn the discipline of a position, but for now, it's great to see her play. She's one of the shortest kids out there, but with her speed, she steals the ball away from a lot of other girls. I overheard a kid say on the sidelines yesterday, "They don't have to worry about the ball getting too far downfield. Number 2 (Mairead's number) always catches 'em." So I'm not just the proud daddy bragging about his little girl...

Deirdre
For life of us, we just can't figure out where Didi got her long, slender legs! It surely wasn't from me! It's probably a recessive gene. Didi's not playing any sports right now, but she sure is a popular young lady, and has LOTS and LOTS of friends from school and Brownies, of which she is particularly active (it helps that Mom is a scouting leader...

Caitriona
Beenie-baby, as I call her is just sweet as can be at 6 years old. She just started first grade, and she's really excited to be in Mrs. Worley's class this year. The one thing about Beenie is that she's an observer. She'll get involved with things, but she'll watch for awhile. She's also a little mischief-maker, which makes her all that more endearing.

Mary
Mary is three and she just started pre-school at Bright Beginnings. I tell you, she's a little firecracker. Being the youngest girl, and a total daddy's girl at that, she uses it to her fullest advantage, the little sneaker.

Owen
What a sweet little boy. Owie is one year old and is finally starting to walk. It's so cute: He takes about 5 or 6 steps, realizes he's walking, the plops down on the ground and reaches his hands up. He knows the score - why trouble myself walking when I know someone'll pick me up?

As for Brendan and Moira well, we're busy. Very busy...

In addition to being the boss-lady of our home, Moira is very involved with Catholic scouting at both the parish and diocesan levels. Earlier this year, she was recognized by the Diocese of San Jose and given the Elizabeth Seton award for Catholic Scouting leadership in the diocese. It came as a total surprise to her! Moira is very dedicated to scouting and very dedicated to ensuring that the Catholic scouts in the area operate within the fundamentals of their faith. This is her life ministry, and we're all very proud of her.

As for me, I coach roller hockey for a club comprised of Mitty kids. We can't call ourselves Mitty Roller Hockey right now because of some supposed legal stuff with the school, but we're working on it. I'm still happily at E*TRADE, and really loving my work. It's great to make a contribution. I recently picked up fishing again after a hiatus of several years, and am really working on losing weight. I want to be around for my kids...

Hopefully, it won't be another year before I make entry again...

10/9/2005
Hockey's back!!! 'Nuff said! Well... not quite 'nuff said. My favorite Los Tiburones (the Sharks) are back playing. It has been a rocky start, but it's so great seeing the team back on the ice! Last night's win of 7 to 6 over the Blues was awesome. From a coach's point of view, that win just reinforces what almost every coach says to their players at one time or another: NEVER QUIT!

The Sharks came out strong in the first period scoring two quick goals, only to see the first period end with them behind 3-2. From there on it was a struggle. At one point they were down 5-3, in the third, and it didn't look good. But they kept their heads down, and plowed forward. In the waning minutes of the game, Jonathan Cheechoo struck from behind the net and that was the game!

What's significant about Cheechoo's goal is that under the old rules, there was no way he would've been able to get into position to even take the shot. But under the new, no-tolerance, no-hooking rules, he was able to break free of Doug Weight behind the net to take a pretty turnaround shot that was placed on the top shelf.

Personally, I like the new rules. It's opening up the game, and I've notice much few stoppages due to offsides, icing and two line passes. Of course, the players have to adjust to the infractions, so there seem like there are a lot more penalties, but that will go down as the players get used to the new rules.

10/9/2005
Heading into the second week of October! This also marks our fourth year of living in our house, and finally, after all this time, we're completing our landscaping and master bathroom. We are very excited by the prospect of having a yard, and with the birth of Owen, expect a pig roast in the coming year! It'll be great in which to have it!

7/30/2005
Please welcome into this world, Owen Daniel Delumpa! That's right, we had a boy, and he's absolutely beautiful! He was born at 1:30 am this morning, and weight 7lbs 12oz, and measured 20 inches long. Surprisingly enough, where we thought he was two weeks late, according to our midwife, he was only a week off. Oh well... he's healthy, and that's all that matters. Click here to see the photos.

5/21/2005
As many may know, I'm (Brendan) a professional web developer, and I'm constantly trying to keep up with current trends in web development, and also on the lookout for new and cool things. There are certain things in web layout that are considered "holy grail" items. One of those things is doing rounded corners without using any images! Just by chance, I came across a technique that I just had to try out. View the example here. This is totally cool technique that I've got to employ. For you webbies out there, you can read about the technique here.

5/14/2005
A couple of items for today:
~Didi graduated from Preschool of Religion! This was a somewhat momentus occasion because it marks her passage from preschool in the Church to the older kids' stuff.

~I just found out that Triona will be getting Mrs. Morris next year! Yay! Mrs. Morris is our favorite teacher at Saint Simon, and all but one have had her for Kindergarten. On top of that, Mrs. Morris' son Simon is the kids' dentist. Way cool!

~You'll notice that all the pages on the site have been converted to the new format. As I mentioned before, it was important for me to re-do this site in a standard way. It'll make changing the look later on so much easier.

5/10/2005
Today is my brother Carlo's birthday! Happy Birthday, Uncle Cai!

You'll notice that some pages are of the old style and some are of the new. I only have little time each day to convert pages, so that's why there's a discrepancy. Not to worry, though, should be done pretty soon!

5/7/2005
I decided to take the plunge and convert at least the home page to W3C compliant code. Okay, I know, it's a techie thing, but after having made the switch to compliant code at work, it's difficult for me now to code any site I work on in any other way.

Why is this important? Simply because by coding to the standards; ostensibly doing away with table-driven layout, I gain quite a bit:

• Content becomes forward-compatible. Because I've completely separated content from design, the next time I want to change the site, all I have to do is change the stylesheet.
• Performance, performance, performance. A couple of things here: 1) Smaller HTML to Content Ratio, which is great for search engine spiders; 2) Smaller code base, which means my pages load faster; 3) The actual HTML document is completely structural, which means the browsers will render the content faster.

3/14/2005
Today is a day of sadness for the family. Peggy Prendergast, Moira's mother, passed away at 1:30 this afternoon. We knew it was coming, but nothing really prepares you for when it actually happens. While we will miss her, we know that she's in God's loving hands now.

2/7/2005
Okay, I guess the cat's out of the bag. For those of you who were getting suspicious, Moira isn't gaining weight on her own... We're having a baby! We conceived sometime back in late October. We kept it quiet until now - at least until Moira couldn't hide it any longer. :)

12/19/2004
It is absolutely amazing what some people will do for a buck! Notice that our domain name is now delumpafamily.com. To make a long story short, our domain name expired, and someone took it, essentially holding it for ransom. Well screw 'em! They can have the domain name! But it is pretty inconvenient because now we have to notify all our friends that our e-mail addresses have changed.

9/28/2004
O MY GOD!!! Brendan finally landed a job, and it's a great one with E*Trade in Menlo Park. I just want to thank everyone who has given us help and support these past few years that we've been going through this. It has been a very long road, and yet it leads on a new path. Thanks for all the prayers!

9/20/2004
I've changed the "Thoughts" section to "Bren's Blog," and added the ability for people to comment on the topics. I encourage your comments! Click here!

9/20/2004


6/22/2003






5/1/2004
Yowee! May already! Well, it's just the very beginning of May as it's just past 1:00 am, and yes, Brendan the night owl is up. No, no job yet, and the company in Idaho that I was speaking with hired someone else, that was local to them, and cost them a lot less. I see the reason in it, and I'd do the same. On another front, I'm busy scoring a lot of songs I've written, and even writing new ones... yes folks, it's time for me to release a CD! People have been asking me if I had one for years, but it wasn't until recently that I believed my music was mature enough to be on a CD. It has taken a long time to get to this point, but I'm glad I'm going through the process.

In other news, Liam twisted his ankle a couple of weeks ago, and missed several baseball games as a result. He's going to try to play today, but we're leaving it up to the coach to decide if he's ready.

3/29/2004
Well, yet another month has gone by, and Brendan is still looking for a job. Thanks for all the well-wishers. It has really been a tough search. I went through 7 interviews with one company, and everything was really positive. They told me I had to meet the very last person, and now, going on three weeks later, I haven't heard from them. I called them last week, and the guy I was supposed to work for said he'd call me back as soon as he got out of a meeting. Never heard from him, so I guess I can scratch that one off my list. But you know, all is not lost. As Father Tony Mancuso puts it, God's providence will provide that perfect job for me.

In other news, baseball season has started. As some of you may know, Liam made majors this year, skipping minors altogether. This is a pretty young majors league, so he'll be there at least a couple of years before he goes to Juniors. In any case, last Saturday, he had a great game. He went 2 for 2 at the plate, and played a solid defesive game. He's really shaping into a great ball player!

Mairead is playing Farm baseball, and she's doing great! That little girl is so fast around the bases, it's amazing! She's a lot faster than many of the boys out there. Track and field later on? Who knows...

2/29/2004

Well, it's the last day of February, and things are starting to look up! Brendan has been actively interviewing for jobs - he's had more interviews in the last month than he has had in the last two years, so it looks as if he may be employed soon. Cross your fingers!

1/25/2004
Sorry... No More Forums....
Due to some miscreant abusing the message board, I've had to remove the forum from the site. I tried to reason with the person, but to no avail. From the looks of it, it's one of the kids' friends who's simply being mischevious, but unfortunately, at our family's expense. It's really a shame because I was hoping to use the board as a way for all our friends and family to have some fun, online banter. Frankly, I'm very disappointed, and can't fathom how anyone could be so malicious.

12/28/2003
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
Thank you to all the folks that made our holidays so special. You will not be forgotten!

12/20/2003
















7/28/2003

Mairead competed in a feis (pr. FESH - an Irish Dancing Competition) this past weekend in Seattle. She won two first places and a third place! We're so proud of her! Way to go Baby!

7/14/2003
Already the middle of July! Well, nothing really exciting has been happening, but just wanted to say that we're all well.

6/3/2003
It's time for a pig roast! On Sunday, June 8, we'll be having yet another pig roast. But this time it's in celebration of three major events: Moira and Brendan's 10 Year Anniversay, Brian's Graduation from 8th Grade, and Baby Mary's Baptism! Get ready to party hardy!

5/13/2003
Yikes! Brian and Moira spent half a day at the emergency room today. Brian took a spill on his skateboard yesterday and sprained his knee. Looks like he'll be on crutches anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks. OMG!

5/12/2003
Every couple of years or so, I grow a wild hair and do a full site remake. Over the course of the next few weeks, you'll see the site gradually change to the new updated look. Please be patient with us!
Thanks!

5/10/2003
Yowee! What a day! Mary Aoife was baptized at noon, we then had a luncheon until 4 pm, then whisked everyone out the door and back to St. Simon for Brian's Confirmation! No telling it was a very busy day... We did learn a good lesson though... we gotta start a LOT earlier in getting the house prepped. That way we're not so stressed by celebration day. Hopefully, we'll have everything ready by the pig roast.

3/28/2003
I can't believe that this is the first entry here for the new year. Oh well... Let's start out with some exciting news...

As some of you may know, I started coaching roller hockey at the high school level by taking on the head coaching position at Mountain View High School (formerly known as Awalt). Back in December 2002, a couple of the kids at a hockey facility I've coached at for years approached me and asked if I'd coach their newly formed team. At first, I said I'd help them out, but couldn't guarantee that I could make all their games. I'd train them to be a team. Well, if you know me, when it comes to coaching, I put my heart and soul into my teams, and this was no exception. I fell in love with that group of kids, as I always do, and stuck with them for both practices and games.

Coaching at the high school level is completely different from any kind of coaching I've done in the past. In fact, of all the age groups I've coached, I've got to say that this level is the most exciting and rewarding in which to be coaching. The league director of Rollin' Ice (where we play) and I were talking about what makes coaching high school sports so rewarding, and we both agreed that at this level, most of the players have acquired their hockey skills, and haven't developed any prima dona complexes like you see at higher levels. The kids at this level readily respond to coaching input, so if a coach is prepared and gains the respect of his or her players, the kids'll respond in kind.

Rollin' Ice has a huge high school hockey league, with five divisions and over 20 high schools participating - most high schools have two squads competing at different levels. As a first-year team, we had to start at Division 4 so the league could evaluate us. In other words, we had something to prove. So I told the kids at the beginning of the season that our entry into this league was all about earning respect. This meant that we all had to be dedicated to doing our best, and most importantly, enter this league as the "class act." We were going to prove our worthiness to compete in this highly competitve and established league by showing up as a team that was clean-cut, played an agressive but fair game, and never mouthed off at refs or league officials, and especially, other teams. It was going to be hard work, but our hard work paid off. Here are the results:

We finished the regular season with a record of: 8 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie, scored the most goals, and had four of our players in the top 10 of all goal-scorers, with one our players holding the top spot. And on top of that...

WE WON THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

To reach the finals, we dominated Monta Vista 9-2 in the quarter finals, crushed Bellarmine 9-1 in the semi-finals, and overcame a 3-2 deficit to win the finals 6-3 over Pioneer.

This was a really rewarding season for me. I am one of the very few "rookie" coaches that has entered the league, took the regular season, and won the championhip - all in a single season. But more importantly, the league director told me that of all the coaches that are coaching in the league, I'm the only one for whom he has heard nothing but respect and praise from his players. To me, more than anything else, having my players feel that way for me out of practice and games makes me feel proud. I do love to coach!

12/18/2002
I'm sorry to say that we had to give Nabby away a couple of weeks ago. He was a great dog, but unfortunately, the little girls were a bit afraid of him (he'd jump and tug like puppies do), and that scared them. Luckily though, he has gone to a new home up in Stevens Canyon where he has tons of room to run and frolick. We miss him, but it's better this way.

9/5/2002
It is with great sadness that our beloved Shadow was laid to rest at 5pm two days ago, on September 3rd. Brian and I were with her until the very end. She went very peacefully.

Shadow came to us 9 years ago when she was about 1 ½ years old. She somehow adopted Brendan the second day we moved into our new house on Caroline Dr. We patiently waited for her to outgrow her puppy phase of eating up our new yard; Brendan was completely smitten with her. Shadow turned out to be such a fabulous guardian and protector of the children. She was patient as she let them take horsey rides on her and use her as a stepping stone to get to higher places. She would follow them out front and bark ferociously if anyone came near our yard. She truly loved these kids, and the feeling was mutual.

Perhaps the hardest part of letting her go was that we had just been given a renewed hope that she was getting better. On August 1st we had her hot spots treated and she was put on a strict diet and exercise regime. She was making remarkable progress. All the children were taking responsibility and caring for her. We saw her weight drop and she had a new energy which we were all excited about. Brendan took care of her sores with natural Tea Tree Oil and Aloe Vera and her sores were healing fabulously. We were so startled when she started bleeding from her nose nearly two weeks ago. It was infrequent at first. But soon she was sneezing out blood at every movement. By last Friday we realized it was chronic. They ran blood tests, x-rays and did a search of her naval cavity. The most alarming result was the liver enzyme. What should have been a normal reading of 10~150 was elevated to 7000! The vets could not “confirm” any diagnosis without further (expensive) testing such as a sonogram, but the educated guess of the 3 vets was probably a form of cancer.

We took Shadow home with us for the Labor Day weekend and monitored her around the clock. The bleeding didn’t let up; she left puddles every time she moved, which wasn’t often at this point, but we moved her to the garage as we couldn’t keep up with the blood in the kitchen. On Tuesday morning we made the decision to let her go, although we were always praying for a miracle. After the kids came home from school they all said their goodbyes with Brendan. Brian and I took her to the vets, where we were treated with respect and compassion. Brian was given the choice to come and I was very proud of him for staying with Shadow and me. We stayed with her, petted her and talked to her until the vet gave her the final check. We were then left alone to grieve with her in peace. It was a relief to see her pain go away. Brian and I drove home in silent tears. That night the children lit a candle in their prayer corner and prayed to her. They will always have an angel watching over them now.

I miss Shadow. She was my “third” child, before all the babies started arriving. She was loyal and loving. I was blessed to have had her in my life all these years.

~Moira


9/1/2002
Wow! Already the first of September! And we have four weeks to go before the birth our new baby. Moira's in the anxiety stage now, poor thing. She's doing pretty well, though she really does need to relax a bit more now that we're so close. By the way, for those of you who haven't heard, we are doing the birthing at home this time. We figured after six kids, we were ready to have a home birth. We're working with a really great midwife who has been just a joy to work with. She's kind and funny, and her whole personality really sets everyone at ease. Thanks so much Yelena!

If you're not familiar with how homebirthing works, and have an opinion about it, I'm going to respectfully ask that you please keep it to yourself, and do some research and inform yourself. Since we decided to do a home birth, there have been several people offering free advice about why not to do it and the dangers involved. Rest assured we spoke with several people who have done it in the past, and did a lot of research on our own before we made our decision.

Frankly, we're hurt by the negative comments and opinions. And it's unfortunate because most of those comments come from people close to us, and we end up shaking our heads in sadness at their ignorance and close-mindedness. This is meant to be a joyous occasion for us. Please don't take that away from us.

In other news, the family is doing really well. The kids finally started school - it couldn't have happened sooner! Didi will be starting preschool in a couple of weeks. Triona is just incredible. A couple of months ago, she decided it was time to go potty in the potty chair. She's completely potty trained now - and unlike the other kids, we didn't have to do a thing! I guess she observed Deirdre doing it for so long, she naturally got the hang of it.

As far as our moving situation is concerned, we're still a bit touch and go, but the contracts are starting to come in again (which means I'm starting to bring in income), and I'm really busy, which is great; especially after a year of seeing relatively little in terms of contracts. If I can keep the momentum going, we should be okay. Actually, better than okay. I've started going after larger projects that'll bring in nice income without me having to do a lot of work other than the marketing and sales.

Finally, and this is really sad, our dog Shadow, who has been with us since we moved into our house - nine years - looks as if she is on her last days. A few days ago, she started bleeding profusely through her nose. We woke up last Friday to find her laying in a puddle of her own blood, too weak to move. We took her to the vet, and they put her under to see if there was a foxtail stuck in her nasal cavity, but there was so much blood, they couldn't find anything. However, a blood test revealed that her liver enzymes were incredibly high. Well, not just high, off the scale. Normal levels are around 10-150. Shadow's levels are over 7000!

The vets are going to confer on Shadow's case on Tuesday to see if there's a course of action. However, if they suggest more tests just to find out what's wrong, we're just going to request that they put her to sleep. Shadow has suffered for several months. We'd rather not subject her to a battery of tests that will only reveal that she's terminally ill. You can see it on her face, poor thing.

Being the real animal lover in the family, I'm just broke up about this. Shadow has been a faithful companion to this family for years. I'm going to be sad to see her go. But I know this is the best thing for her.

7/14/2002
Okay, it's July, and we haven't moved. In regards to those who've asked about what we're doing, the answer is: We're still not 100% sure. It's tough living month to month, and having to come up with money just to pay the mortgage is difficult. Actually, it's not just tough, it's absolutely painful! But somehow we're pulling through by the skin of our teeth.

Kidskate (www.kidskate.com) is doing well. By next year, we should be doing some really good business, and hopefully we'll be able to hire an operations manager to run the company in Moira's stead.

In the meantime, I've bit the bullet and started speaking with some executive search firms to get a regular job after not really having one for the last couple of years. It's kind of unfortunate though because my business and technology consulting company is starting to pick up after several months of being practically stagnant. And while the future looks great, that money doesn't pay for my bills right this instant, so I've got to get a regular job. I'm praying everyday to keep a clear head and do the right thing.

5/28/2002
Man o man I seem to never get around to updating this page, but I finally got it. Okay, in the past... um... nine months, let me give you a rundown...

1. Moira is now five months pregnant with number seven


2. Bren and Moira are actively looking for funding for our Kidskate business. Moira recently joined me and is VP of Ops.


3. The kids are growing faster than we can keep up with...


4. One thing I noticed is that Brian, who has traditionally been a light eater, has now started to eat A LOT more. It's not a concern, but it tells me that he's becoming a teenager. Oh My God!


5. After nine years, Moira has decided to call it quits with running the Baptism program at St. Simon. She's now running the Altar Server Program... what a die-hard... Me? I've left both the Music and Youth ministries at least for an indeterminant length of time. I need a break after 22 years of service.


6. Bennie and Mairead are graduating from Kindergarten in a couple of weeks


7. Liam is Mr. Baseball.


8. Deirdre is a precocious 3 year old, who keeps on amazing us with the increase in her vocabulary and expressiveness. Just the other day, we were in our bed and we wanted some privacy and asked Deirdre if she would close and lock the door to our bedroom on her way out. Her reply to that was, No Mommy and Daddy because I won't be able to get back in. What a piece of work!


9. Triona is such a silly! She's a very happy and loving baby. She makes faces and laughs all the time.

In other news, we've finally decided to call it quits with the house and move. It's too difficult to keep up with the mortgage payments, so we're getting ready to fix up the house, sell it, then move into a rental. We're not too happy about it, but the expense savings will go a long way.

I'll try to keep you posted on what's new with the Delumpa's more often...

8/26/2001
Liam had his championship game today, and we won! I coached both Brian and Liam's team this past season (head coach for Brian's team and assistant coach for Liam's team). Brian's team unfortunately got eliminated in the first round - Yikes! We had a great team, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. It was great to see these kids play. I'm so proud of the boys!

8/22/2001
Well, we've become the hockey family, so much so, that I'm about to embark on a journey to start a company that is based on hockey (can't tell you what it is just yet). Anyway, I'm still skating a lot - I can fit in jeans that I haven't been able to wear for 8 months. Yikes! And I'm having a lot of fun!

In other news, my 12 and under hockey team lost in the semifinals this past weekend. :( However, as a coach, the game my team played was their best game yet. They dominated through two periods, only to lose their lead in the third. We lost by one point in overtime!

All in all it was a great game and a great season!

5/12/2001
After several years of using work as an excuse, Brendan has finally decided to start execising. Inline hockey season is soon approaching, and I've decided to bite the bullet and start coaching hockey. To prepare for this, I've donned my skates to get my cardio up and muscles working again. It's amazing how much I let my body go to waste these past years. Oh well, life is good. I'm excited to get back into a sport I love so much, and especially excited to help develop young kids' hockey skills.

2/9/2001
Yikes! I've really missed entering news, haven't I? Well, lemme give you the skinny...

Last weekend, we celebrated Deirdre's 2nd birthday! She's such a bundle of joy. Anyway, for a long time I've been telling Moira that Didi looks just like her, to which Moira would reply, "Who're you kidding? All kids look like you!" In any case, we found a picture of Moira when she was Didi's age, and guess what? Didi's a spittin' image of her mommy at that age! It's uncanny!

As far as I'm concerned, things are going well. I'm consulting on various projects concurrently, though I am about to limit my engagement to one project at a time. These late nights are killing me!

The kids are all doing great! Though everyone of them stayed home from school at least a day this week because of this weird stomach flu that was going around.

By the way, Moira's pregnant again! Nah, just kidding. Gotcha!

Well, love to all, and I hope everyone is doing well!

11/26/2000
We went to South Lake Tahoe the day after Thanksgiving. Overall, the company was great, but the mini vacation was not. On Saturday, we went to Squaw Valley to play in the snow play area there, and all three girls got hurt with Deirdre coming away with a scraped cheek and black eye. I fell on Caitriona and Mairead got plowed over by some dumbass who couldn't control his toboggan. She wasn't really hurt - mostly scared - but he came away with a bloody mouth. Serves him right. The guy didn't even apologize or acknowledge us when we spoke with him.

In any case, we learned some valuable lessons about traveling on that weekend:

• Leave early or leave real late to avoid traffic.

We spent seven and a half hours in traffic going up. It was great until we got into the hills and then we crawled at an average speed of 10 mph to the Pioneer Trail.

• Don't sled or tobbogan in a crowded area

Those damn things are hard enough to control, and to keep things safe, go to a place where there aren't many people so you can control the flow better.

• Move the little kids to a place where no one else is. Or, if there are people, make sure they're parents like yourselves who are watching their kids as well.

Kids are total speed-demons and they love the adrenaline rush, so safety is not always foremost in their minds. The little girl who nailed Deirdre was completely out of control and unsupervised. Besides that, little kids don't know to get out of the way.

11/23/2000
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We hope that everyone has a safe and happy day!

By the way, you might have noticed that there haven't been any entries on the site since October. That's because my web hosts machines completely crashed! Yikes! I lost a bit of data, but it's okay... we'll just have to build it up again!

10/14/2000
Brian had his first game in inline hockey today. Even though his team lost, he scored two goals. When he was out playing, he pretty much dominated the rink, skating faster than everyone out there. Go Brian!

10/4/2000
Moira and Caitriona come home from the hospital today. Yipee!

10/2/2000
6:30 PM - Well, after a very long wait, and 12 hours of labor, Moira delivered a healthy baby girl. Her name is Caitriona (we're calling her Trina). She was 7 lbs, 4 oz. and 20" long. Once again, I got to deliver the baby! What an exciting experience. The kids are all excited and exuberant about our newest arrival.

Now, before anyone asks or makes a smart-aleck remark, we are done - at least as far as we know. Six is definitely enough for us!


10/2/2000
12:00 PM : OK, Moira's been in labor all morning, but it's not active - at least not yet. I just stopped back at the house to change clothes and pack my bag. I'll keep everyone posted.

10/2/2000
7:00 AM

Could it be time? I don't know, but Moira's having those "pains" again. Hopefully we'll be in the hospital today with a new baby.

9/28/2000
Moira's plug came out today, so it looks like it could be any time now that we go to the hospital. Even though I'm an old hand at this, I'm still a bit nervous.

10/1/2000
Yikes! It has been over a week now, and still no baby! Cross your fingers, and say a prayer for us. It has been a tough week.

9/24/2000
Okay, the reunion was awesome. I saw some great friends there that I haven't seen in ages. In particular, my friends Jenny and Selena were there (I went to college with Selena, and crossed paths with Jenny several times since high school) - and it was trip seeing them! I also saw a girl whom I had a HUGE crush on in high school - still sweet as ever. Moira was the hit of the reunion, even though we're not in the same graduating class. Being "ready to drop" kind of made it that way. It was great. I didn't know if Moira would really feel comfortable, but I should've known better by now. She rocked as usual, striking up conversations with several people. We had a hoot!

9/23/2000
Tonight's my 20 year high school reunion. I wonder what it's going to be like... I'll let everyone know...

9/24/2000
No, we still don't have a new baby, though it's going to happen any day now - at least we hope. Moira has been having light labor since last Friday, so it makes sense that it should happen soon. However, if memory serves, this happened for several days with Deirdre, so who knows what's up.

9/18/2000
We're counting down the days until the baby is born. Hot dog! Moira's due on the 23rd, but I've got a feeling it's going to be early - at least within the next couple of days. Cross yer fingers!

9/17/2000
Today, Brian and Liam's Roller Hockey team played in the finals. Unfortunately, they lost the game, but they only had 6 players as opposed to the 12 of the other team, and they played their hearts out, losing by only a point in double overtime! Way to go guys!

8/21/2000
Bren just arrived back from Rome. Wow! What a trip! Even though I took 7 kids and two other adults with me, I came back totally refreshed, and ready to face the world again. If you have a chance to go on a pilgrimage, do so. The revitalization of your soul has an incredible effect on your outlook on life!

9/17/2000
Today is Moira's birthday! Happy B-day Sweetie!!!

8/5/2000
Moira's doing well. She's got 7 weeks left until the new baby arrives (cross your fingers that she doesn't go into early labor while I'm in Rome).

8/5/2000
Brian and Liam have been playing in a roller hockey league and are just loving it. Liam's a total scrapper, and gets right in the middle of the action, stealing the puck away from guys much bigger than he is. Brian is the star player on the team. His second game out, he scored a hat trick (three points/goals), and the third game, he scored the only two goals for his team. The league coordinator was watching him play, and it looks like Brian will move up a division this coming session. Way to go Buddy!

8/6/2000
Brian and Liam will be going to Colorado to stay with Alma and family. This is the second annual trip for them, and they always have a lot of fun with Auntie Alma, Uncle Curt and the kids!

8/6/2000
Bren leaves for his Rome trip today with the St. Simon Youth Ministry. Yikes! This has been a year and a half in planning, and it's hard to believe that it's finally come. My first stop will be in Toulouse where we'll take a bus into Lourdes. We'll stay for a couple of days in Lourdes, then travel to Assisi (St. Francis of…) and stay for three days with a host family. After that, we'll head to Rome where we'll mingle with 5 million people from around the globe to celebrate World Youth Day 2000. I'm really excited about this trip, and I know it'll be as spiritually fulfilling as I think it'll be.