An ending and a beginning

This blog isn't working for us anymore, so this will be the last entry. To keep up to date with the Rooneys, please visit us in our new location at www.kcrooney.wordpress.com. Hope to see you there!

Yankee Stadium

Click the picture below to see more photos from our trip to the Bronx...

End of School Hiatus

OK, my Dad is kicking me in the butt to get back on track with this blog, so here I am. The end of school crazies kicked in and finishing things up at work before the summer got me swooning. But now the lazy days of summer are finally here-yeah! I'm writing now at 9:30am and the kids are still zoned out in front of the TV and haven't even had breakfast yet. But my plan is to do a better job with keeping up with this blog by going mobile! I just set up my cell phone so I can blog-on-the-go. As soon as I'm completely registered, I'll try it out later.

Laziness is over...the kids are behind me now and wanting to know what we're doing today. Other than a dentist appointment this afternoon, we have no plans! So I better think of something. Here's a few pics:




This is Thomas at his end of the year party at school.






This is me after camping this weekend. Tired but still smiling!








This is Thomas buried in the sand. He has a lazy eye so we have to keep a patch over his good eye 4 hours a day for a month so the bad eye gets stronger.





This is Chester at the end of day one. He was very tired.







This was the kick-ass meal I made the first night of camping. We had grilled salmon, hashbrowns and salad with lettuce from our garden.

Baseball

We are already almost half-way through the baseball season. We had a rocky start with no winning games, but our luck is finally turning. We won a game last week, and Nolan had a great game last week too. He pitched 2 scoreless innings and got a homerun (actually a triple and then a run home, but who's counting?). His ball hit the fence left center. Here's some pics. The one of him running home is the 'homerun'.

We just finished tennis. Nolan has had a lot of orthodontist appointments, getting ready for his upper expander and braces which will go in in a couple weeks. Thomas lost one of his front teeth last night. Today starts the ABC countdown in school...which means 26 more days of school. They have an Assembly today...A. Tomorrow is B for blue day. Thomas continues with swim lessons and is now taking a really neat art class that he loves. He tells me he wants to play soccer in the fall and try baseball again next spring. All of a sudden, he wants to join all this stuff which is great.

I've been working at the church a lot, learning my new job. I was in Albany most of last week taking classes. It's weird not to be home so much, but I really like it and seem to be getting used to a new routine. I'm starting to plan out our summer. We may not go to Silver Lake this year because the dates don't work out well, so I'm looking into other places. Chris has started his new job. The kids and I helped him move into his new office over the weekend. He might even have his name on the door!

So, as always, life is good. Our eyes are looking towards summer now.

Music Monday

Here are some clips from tonights spring concert. Nolan performed with both the school chorus and orchestra. Enjoy...

God bless our home...and God bless America!

We got our new door today -- the finishing touch on our newly patriotic house that has recently been painted.

Spring Activities, home improvements and career moves

This is our Gaba at a church in Queensbury. She was nominated as 'Woman that Says Yes to God' and I was privileged to go with her. She was just tickled to be chosen and got to shake hands with the bishop.











There was this giant grub at Home Depot the other day and Thomas wanted us to take his picture with it. He's pretending to be fighting the grub.








Chris ran another 5K and happily waved to his adoring fans! He bettered his time by 2 minutes.

We've been too productive lately to update the blog much, or take many pictures unfortunately. We went to 2 banquets this week--basketball and the Blue and Gold Dinner --and forgot our camera. We've been running by the seat of our pants and just lucky to make it there let alone remember all the gear we're supposed to bring too. Oh well. Hopefully we'll remember the mental pictures we have.

So basketball has ended and both kids loved it. Now they are both learning tennis. Nolan is playing baseball. The team he is on is mainly younger players, so it's a little bit of a struggle for him to be challenged. But he's getting to pitch a lot, and he hit a triple last night (made the paper!). So he's getting good play time. Thomas is really excelling in swim lessons. He has got the hang of breathing now and can go across the length of the pool. He starts an art class this week too. We didn't mean to sign him up for so many things. It took Thomas so long to want to participate in anything that now that he wants to, we don't want to say no! And tonight was the Blue and Gold Dinner for Cub Scouts, where Nolan became a Webelos II and Thomas a Wolf Cub. I'm not going to be Thomas' leader anymore so I'll keep helping Chris with the Webelos and work behind the scenes. We all just love Cub Scouts, but it's nice that it's winding down too. We just have the Niska Day parade and a picnic in June before it's over for the school year.

Our house is almost done being painted. Home renovations are so much work! But it looks great. There's still some final touches, and a few more shutters to put up. It's a crisp white with navy blue shutters. The door is a brownish red...Sundried Tomatoes is the name of the paint. But what really makes it is the great big star between our upstairs windows. It just really pulls the whole thing together. I got a cute copper pail to put our mail in and planted a couple shrubs today. We'll take a picture soon.

Chris was promoted at work to web manager. He's slowly moving into this new role and really likes it. He hasn't gotten a new office yet, but he's psyched to get out of the closet he's been working in for 13 years. His hours are a little more flexible, which works well with the baseball schedule. I've been volunteering a lot of time in the church office while the administrator is out on bed rest. I will be working part-time in the fall running the religious education program at St. Helen's. After 10 years of being a stay-at-home mom, it's weird to be out of the house so much and trying to find time to do everything that needs to be done. And not wear jeans everyday! And the idea of actually making money, albeit very little, what a concept!

So we are blessed in multiple, abundant ways. I need to remind myself of that when I complain about having to go to one more thing. How lucky we are that we have such good things to go to. Life is good!

Florida Photos

Florida 2010

Nickelodeon Hotel, Disney and a Floridian Birthday

What an awesome trip! Beautiful weather, no meltdowns, no sickness (other than a puking incident in the pool-yuck!). Just good times and lots of family fun. We landed in Florida Wednesday morning around 10:30am with no problems. The kids really liked flying and seemed to do okay with their 4am wake-up call. We couldn't get into our room at the Nick Hotel until 3pm, so we had lunch and figured out where everything was. Once we got in our room, we hit the pool where the kids had their first 'sliming'. We also saw a show that night which was like a Nickelodeon game show.

On Thursday, we went to Epcot - loved it! They were having their flower and garden show and had beautiful flowers and topiaries of Disney characters everywhere. I think our favorite ride was Spaceship Earth. I was impressed with how everything was educational but so much fun. Like we played one game where we had to flash a flashlight at fire hazards for points. We starred in our own video game.

Friday we went to Hollywood Studios. There were fun moments but I thought it was a little bit of a dud for us. It felt like we did a lot of walking for not a huge payoff. It was also very crowded. But the kids loved seeing the Indiana Jones show and going on Star Tours.

Saturday we stayed at the hotel and did lots of swimming. It was Thomas' birthday so he was just happy to have all the wonderful attention he loves! He got to see Spongebob, so what could be better than that when you are 7?! We also saw a few movies at their 4D movie theater. The hotel was great because of the characters the kids like, the movies and 2 water parks. It could have been a little cleaner, and we had issues with the air conditioner in the beginning, but minor incoveniences compared to the big picture. All in all, we feel very fortunate we got to go to such a fun, beautiful, tropical place. We are already thinking of where to go next!

Dinner at Hana's

Sorry we've been in a whirlwind lately. We went out to dinner tonight at a Japanese restaurant and got to experience hibachi dining for the first time. It was so much fun! The boys absolutely loved it, and it tasted great. Here's some pics:

2 weeks to Florida!

We are so blessed and excited for our trip coming up! I have to pinch myself that it is really happening. This will be the second trip for the kids and the third for Chris and I. But the kids' first trip was AWFUL for all of us, so it is nice for us to go again and wipe out the bad memory. The kids were too young, Thomas got really sick, Nolan was afraid of all the rides... But this time they are raring to go. And we are also approaching it a lot differently, like we aren't planning it at all. We still don't really know what amusement parks we are going to. We have our hotel and airline, we know we are going to Disney for one day. But we aren't sure what we are doing the other days. We figure we will get our tickets when we get there and wing it. It's going to be fun no matter what, right? I'm actually a little proud of myself! I'm usually such a planner.

So we are coming into a little of a lull before spring sports start. Thomas just finished with swim lessons and we are debating whether to start one more session before summer. Religion classes end this Sunday. We have 3 more basketball clinic days. Nolan has been taking a few baseball lessons privately already, and once we hear what team he is on then practices will be sure to follow. It is a little sad to end basketball...both boys really enjoyed it this year and improved their skills a lot. Nolan seems like he loves it just as much as baseball now. I'm glad that both kids seem so well-rounded in that way...loving all kinds of different things. Like Nolan was just in a choral festival recently where he sang with elementary up to high school kids. He loved it and did great (pics soon)! Thomas is excited to start his language art classes soon. Anyway, it's nice to have a little lull before the craziness of spring begins.

With Lent in its final days and Easter coming on its heels, there are a lot of churchy things we've been doing lately. Our church is slowly merging with the church where we were married. Some people are resisting it while others are ready for change. It's in an in-between stage right now. We find ourselves connected to both parishes and know people at both. It's a little exciting to see changes happening that are for growth, but hard to let go of habits that were comfortable. It will be interesting over the next few years to see how it all develops.

Well, I'm rambling now which is a good sign to stop writing!

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Geese are honking

I heard some geese flying back north yesterday, and I saw crocuses pushing their way up through the dirt on our walk today. So spring is quietly "honking" its way back to Niskayuna. As I write, Thomas is in bed after a long day at school and then a play date with his old friend Leo. Well, old for a 6 year old. Nolan is at baseball tryouts right now. He is trying to make a higher level team that is mainly 10-11 year olds. They only let a few 9 year olds play, so there's a good chance he won't make it. And he's okay with that. He will just play the same level as last year again if he doesn't make it, and he would have a lot of friends doing that too. So baseball is slowly starting too!

We had our parent-teacher conferences this week which went pretty well. Nolan is one of her stronger students, I'm told. He is also doing great on his violin too. He is hanging in there with the advanced math class, but might need to step it up a little more. Thomas is also doing really well. His reading level is very high...at a third grade level! He is also needing to get a little stronger in math and his speech too. But his teacher loves him in his class...the class clown she says! Thomas will have her again in second grade. They are doing this thing in their school called looping, where they have the same teacher for 2 years. But we are choosing to opt out of looping for Nolan's teacher. We really want him to experience different teachers before he moves up to middle school where there are lots of different teachers. I can't believe he's going to be a 5th grader.

So Thomas is doing better at swim lessons. The weekday class is better than the Sunday class. I still want him to be a little stronger at it, so I think I'm going to sign him up for another session. Between baseball, swim lessons and an art class, we will have a busy spring. It will be great when we can go to Florida to get away from it all...26 more days!

Thomas also had a fun night this week at our neighbor's house. Our neighbors across the street have no grandchildren, so they've adopted ours. Thomas wrote her a note to say that she missed her and her dog Murphy. He got to cross the street by himself and stick it in her door slot. She came over later to invite him for dinner. So yesterday Thomas went over and had pasta, salad and chocolate sundae with them. I think they were so happy to have him for themselves. We had to go over and get him when it was getting close to bedtime! They are the nicest people.

Well, Nolan just got back from tryouts and he thought they went pretty well. We'll find out in an email later. Pinewood Derby tomorrow!

Pinewood Derby Preview

Chris stuck in the tunnel!








Chester gettin' some lovin'.

















The cars are done! Chris took pics of construction and the final outcome. Nolan made the Harry Potter and Thomas is, of course, SpongeBob. Thanks, Dad for the idea of using sinkers. We glued them to the bottom of Thomas' car to make it heavier and then covered them up with brown electrical tape.

Not so lamb-y

March, I mean. We've started March with a lot of activity going on. But the weather is like a lamb. Today the sun is shining and 42 degrees outside! I just had to be out in it, so I left all my chores, grabbed my skis and hit the Bird Sanctuary. It was beautiful! I saw morning doves, titmouses and chickadees. The snow was so easy to slush my way through, although that didn't stop me from falling a few times. I'm not the most graceful skier, but I just love it when I make the time to go. So now I'm back home and I'm continuing to procrastinate my chores by blogging here. My day is going to pick up like gangbusters later, though. I have a meeting at 4:15 which means dropping the kids off at Gaba's before that. Then I have to leave the meeting early to go get Thomas and bring him to a swim lesson at 5pm (more on the disaster of swim lessons later). Hopefully we'll be back at Gaba's by 5:45pm so we can slam down some kind of dinner and then go to an art reception that Thomas is a part of at 6:15pm. If I am still functioning, there's another meeting I was invited to at 7pm. Whew! So some down time right now is okay I think.

So swim lessons for Thomas have taken a nose dive. He can swim now, but I'd like to see him a little more confident and able to swim the length of the pool before quitting. Now that he is at Level 3, he has a different teacher and we also switched to a different time. I think that combination is making him nervous and not so cooperative. So we got permission to try another time that might not be as crowded. We are crossing our fingers that he'll get in the water and be confident to swim. I think sports just aren't in the cards for Thomas, at least not yet. But with swimming, it's a safety issue so I just want him strong enough so he can do it and then we can wave goodbye to swim lessons. On the upswing, we did just sign him up for art lessons. Maybe he can put some of his energy and talent in that.

We are in full gear getting ready for the Pinewood Derby. We are in charge of it this year, so there is a lot to organize and not a lot of volunteers willing to step up. But the boys have their cars half-way done and planning seems to be going okay so far. Nolan has a Harry Potter theme for his car and Thomas is doing SpongeBob. The cars get weighed this weekend and then the race is next weekend. As much as we love Cub Scouts, we are getting a little weary now that it is close to the end.

Parent teacher conferences are next week. Nolan has a Choral Festival to attend soon, and baseball tryouts are in 3 weeks!

Pictures from our Getaway

Chris with Point au Roche State Park in the background. This was the view from our room. How can Paterson think he can close this beautiful park?









Me on a bridge on the Shelving Rock Falls trail in the Lake George Wild Forest area in Fort Ann.









It was a warm day and the water was running through the ice.









Lake George with ice fisherman out there.

No kids for a weekend-It's a Miracle!

After 3 years of waiting, Chris and I are actually getting out of the house for 24 hours without the kids. We're staying at www.pointaurochelodge.com where we've stayed the last 2 times we've been able to get away. It's a beautiful bed and breakfast off of Point Au Roche State park in Plattsburgh. I know Plattsburgh isn't a huge vacation destination for most, but it's where we met, not far to get to and close to hiking trails. We're hoping to check out the state park while we're there, since it's on the chopping block to close if the governor has his idiotic way. Our plan is to ski at Saratoga battlefield (since there's no snow in Plattsburgh), check in, go to dinner at Irises Cafe and then leave in the morning. This is all thanks to my sister Kim who is sacrificing her weekend to take care of my two little monkeys. Their plan is to see the new Percy Jackson movie, eat pizza and play Wii. Hopefully we will all have a great weekend if it all goes to plan (fingers crossed).

So we have kept very busy this week with minimal sibling rivalry! We built a book at the Open Door, went sledding many times (including a home-made hill in our back yard), accompanied friends at a cool new water park we found in Colonie and got through lots of achievements for Cub Scouts. I really enjoyed being with the kids. They just love to play together. Yesterday, Thomas wanted to skateboard on the driveway and Nolan didn't. Nolan sat on the floor, complaining how bored he was and how much he wished Thomas would come back in so they could play again, which happened a few minutes later. Happiness ensued once more.

So next week we get into the routine again as we say goodbye to February...already! We have a pack meeting and basketball practice. On Thursday, Jeopardy is going to have a scouting category, so we're going to watch that. Chris is going to videotape the local high school musical, Bye Bye Birdie. We were supposed to go snowshoeing with Cub Scouts next weekend, but we didn't get enough sign-ups. So I think the plan is to start working on our Pinewood Derby cars. And of course it's Lent so we're working on doing acts of kindness everyday. Lent means Spring, so we're on our way!

I'm a techy fool!

I just recently have discovered the joys of texting. So much fun! I feel so connected. I'm writing on my blog, the phone just rang, I get a text while on my land-line phone, and I'm on Facebook at the same time-wow! My husband's geekiness is wearing off on me big-time.
So it's the first day of vacation and I'm already feeling the laziness of not having to be anywhere. The kids are tuned out watching TV, and not fighting yet. (Wait, I might have spoken too soon.) We had a fun trip to Moira this weekend, ending with a visit to the ice castle in Saranac Lake. I have some ideas on how to keep the kids busy this week, including a new water park I just found out about, sledding, museums, and hikes. So I will try to be better with posts and pics. Gotta get started!

And a few more...

Sledding at Glendale Nursing Home on MLK Jr Day.









Thomas having fun at the NYS Museum Camp IN.

Some pictures

Nolan having fun with the Davenports on the carousel at the Museum Camp In.








Thomas at Nolan's violin concert. He fell asleep as soon as we sat down! He woke up before Nolan performed. Chris will post video soon.








Nolan all dressed up before the concert.










What I look like when I go out running on these freezing mornings. By best friend is a hot shower!








Thomas getting his Bobcat badge!

Will he see his shadow?

I'm starting to look forward to warm temperatures, so I'm hoping he doesn't! But, we don't get to choose the weather, so life goes on. And on it does! Since the Frost Faire last weekend, we've had a lot on our plates. We had a pack meeting where Thomas earned his Bobcat Badge...his first Cub Scout badge. He had to learn the Cub Scout motto, handshake, salute...all those little tricks that make a Cub Scout. The ceremony includes getting your face painted, so I'll be sure to post pics of that soon. The night after that, Nolan had his first violin/chorus concert. That was awesome! I never though Nolan would be musical, but he definately is. And it was weird for Chris to go to his high school auditorium and see his son up there singing instead of himself. We have video of it, so that will be up soon too.

And this past weekend, the boys had a blast at the New York State Museum Camp In. We joined another Cub Scout pack and slept in the museum Saturday night (actually, I left at 9pm and Chris slept with them. Lucky me!). There were all kinds of activities and free time for the kids to explore on their own. There was very little sleep going on, so we are still recovering. It was Thomas' first Cub Scout sleepover. A big success.

Other cool news is we did our taxes and our refund is paying for a trip to Florida! We are going at a very busy time-spring break. But it will be great for the kids. We are staying at the Nickelodeon Hotel and hope to see the new Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios. The boys also want to go to MGM Studios at Disney and see the Indiana Jones show. We will be there for Thomas' birthday, so he will be spending it with SpongeBob. They are very excited. I can't believe we're really going! We went 5 years ago and it was not a good experience...Thomas was sick and Nolan was afraid of most of the rides. I think they were too young. So this time we are hoping to erase all of the bad memories and make some good ones!

Thomas seems to be doing well in art. He made a clay fish that is going to be on display as part of an Elementary Art Show for the district all this month! I hope to go see it this week. At the end of the show, he is invited to a reception for all the artists. He also is working on a poster explaining why basketball is good for our muscles. The poster will be on display at the school science fair this Friday.

Also this weekend is the final tournament for Nolan's basketball games. We are going to a River Rats game on Saturday night (Albany hockey team). And it's Super Bowl Sunday! I have a feeling February is going to go even faster than January...

Fun at the Frost Faire

I've written before about how much I enjoy going to theSaratoga Battlefield. It is just so awesome to stand amid such beautiful scenery and know you are surrounded by history.

We paid another visit to the battlefield today for their annual Frost Faire.

We started out by taking a horse-drawn wagon ride out to the big tubing hill. And when I say big, I mean BIG. There was more snow last year. This year there were actually some patched of grass on the hill that slowed things down a bit. But it still went pretty fast. Nolan and I went for a few good runs down the hill.

Thomas was a little intimidated by the steep slope. So he hung out by the campfire at the top with Kris, who was nursing a sore knee, and worked on a assembling a life-sized puzzle of a British soldier.

Then it was off to the warming tent for hot chocolate and cookies before taking the 3/4-mile wagon trip back to the visitors center. That's where Nolan got a lesson in how to handle musket (it was only a pretend one) and Thomas got to practice writing with a quill and ink. There were some crafts to work on and -- best of all -- one of the big canons was fired off a few times. I never, ever tire of that!

It made for a pretty fun afternoon, and every time we go to the battlefield we leave having learned something new.

New Year's Eve Pics

Happy MLK Day!

What a great day to celebrate the freedom and peace we have! Martin Luther King was such a brilliant man, and excellent at speaking such true goodness. My most recent favorite quote is, "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that." We are celebrating MLK today by eating a pancake puff for breakfast, going sledding on this beautiful new layer of snow we got last night, watch a movie from the library and have roast beef for dinner! Sounds like a good day to me, except Chris has to work. Always a bummer.

Chris and I went out to dinner last night for the first time in ages. We saw the movie It's Complicated which was laugh out loud hilarious! Until the end, which I won't spoil but we weren't thrilled about. Still a good movie. Then we went to Bellini's for dinner which was sooo good. Good wine, yummy salad, wood-fired pizza and we shared a piece of hazelnut chocolate cake. We groaned on the couch when we came home, we were so full! But we talked a lot about how we started dating 19 years ago, and we met when we were 19. So from now on, we will have lives where we have been together more than not. That's pretty cool! We have a great life. We're very grateful.

Chester seems like he is getting older and older. Of course, he is. He will be 10 in April. Lately his hips seem to be bothering him more, or maybe it's his paws--I'm not sure. I think arthritis is settling in. He may not be a mountain dog anymore. He spends a lot more time on the couch these days. But then there are other times that he's running around the backyard like a puppy again. So, he still has spurts of spunk. He's just the best, snuggly dog there is.

So we have a nice short week ahead of us this week. Thomas had the flu bug most of last week, so he's getting kicked back to school tomorrow. We continue with swim lessons and basketball. We're fighting the winter blues! I'll post pics soon.

Lazy Saturday

I'm enjoying a cup of coffee in my warm house instead of running in this below-zero wind chill this morning. Nolan and Chris are at basketball and Thomas and I are being lazy. We have to meet them at 10am at Lowe's so the boys can do a do-it-yourself clinic on making a coin bank. Other than a car appointment this afternoon and needing to cut Nolan's hair, we don't have many other plans today. Oh, there's a game night at church tonight. So I guess it isn't much of a lazy Saturday, but it feels like it right now.

So I don't have a lot to report about the kids. Nolan is doing a basketball clinic on Saturdays through the school and both boys are doing another basketball clinic on Wednesdays through St. Helen's. Thomas is loving it! There's a science fair at school next month, and Thomas is going to make a poster on how basketball makes you healthy. Thomas is continuing to do well with the swimming, especially the backstroke. We're hoping he moves up to Level 3 in the next session. It's a lighter month for Cub Scouts. But at the end of the month, we are all going to spend the night at the New York State Museum. This will be Thomas' first sleepover with scouts, although I don't think there will be a lot of sleeping. I'm still on the fence whether I might go home when it's light's out.

I wish it would warm up a little so we could play outside more. It's too cold to even go sledding. When's January thaw coming?

A New Year, a new hope

I thought this picture was funny of the cousins...together but either with an electronic device or a beer! :)








Thomas on Christmas night...a little too much fun!









Christmas morning-Nerf guns! Now they can really battle!








Thomas telling Santa and Mrs. Claus (What is her first name anyway?) what he wants for Christmas.


There is something very uplifting about starting a new year, despite what the howling winds outside say. Even just remembering to write 2010 instead of 2009 helps refresh us. It's a good time to shake the dust off of our bad habits and maybe start some healthy, new ones. My New Year's Resolution is to keep in better touch with family and friends. Even friends that live just a few miles away I sometimes don't see for weeks, getting too caught up in the routine of things. But we shall see at the start of 2011 if I actually get any better at it. I have to be hopeful. A new year makes us think about the new adventures that could happen in it...trips we might make, skills we might learn, relationships we may kindle. They are all good thoughts.

Christmas came and went in a flash. The highlights were the moments with family and friends...the Barsottis coming into town, seeing my parents and sister and her husband, and seeing our friends the Reeds. I had coffee with all of the running gang on Christmas Eve which was fun...so many different women yet all just varying degrees of being runners. The kids and I went to see the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. We saw a lot of movies at home too. There was A LOT of fighting this vacation, and they seem to be getting more physical with it. BUT, I guess that comes with being brothers. The VERY COLD temperatures kept us inside a lot, which didn't help. But all in all, it was a nice break from reality. And also nice to send them off on the bus tomorrow!