January 2008

After recovering from the Christmas festivities and a very entertaining cocktail party for New Year, it was back to business as usual for 2008. As you can see from the photo, Mrs K/C/KC couldn't quite decide what to wear for the Guys and Dolls theme so came up with this montage.

We facilitated on the St Joseph's marriage preparation course (which we have now been involved with for over a year), which is always good fun and very rewarding.

A rather chilly day was spent in Brighton, visiting Claire, although none of us were brave enough to face the seafront for an afternoon stroll !!

February 2008

This was the month that it became very apparent that Little T was soon to have a sibling ! We were all delighted to find out.

Little T 'helped' me on Valentine's Day to create a special something for Mrs K/C/KC.

Both myself and Mrs K/C/KC celebrated another year of getting older.

March 2008

Mrs K/C/KC had the chance to present a paper at an international conference in Melbourne, Australia. She thought long and hard about going and after those few seconds booked her ticket without any hesitation. We worried how Little T would cope for the first time without Mummy, but she was just more interested in riding the escalator at the airport.

Later in March, we all went to Lourdes in France as part of the HCPT pilgrimmage with Group 2 (see link). Little T behaved fantastically, which was just as well as both myself and Mrs K/C/KC were busy as carers for the children. Of course, we always managed to find a little time to let our hair down !

April 2008

A quieter month for us. We were honoured to host some friends who travelled from afar to see us. Jessie and Tara from New York (although now the lucky devils live in Honolulu) and Dan, Siobhan, Aoife & Emily from Frankfort, Germany.

Little T got to visit a doctor for the first time in her life (at the age of 2). She promptly kicked him in the genitalia and ended up with a general anaesthetic for her troubles. We both spent many hours after this lecturing her on exactly why stones were not designed to be inserted down ear canals. Hopefully she has learnt her lesson !

May 2008

One of our busier months for travelling this year.

We initially spent some time in Washington DC with Mr & Mrs dl004d. Little T made a new friend of Mr Pusskins (whom we miss dearly). Their hospitality was second to none.
I myself had not been to DC before and was very happy to finally make it there.


Highlights :

• Close encounter with a butterfly in the Natural History Museum
• My first experience at a baseball game
• Being introduced to a half-smoke

We then hopped on a flight to get us to Smith College in Northampton, MA for Mrs K/C/KC's 10 year reunion. It was great to meet up with all the Smithies !!
Of course, we still found time to head over to the Eric Carle museum and Little T was even able to produce her own masterpiece.


After a fun-filled few days, we sadly said goodbye to Mr & Mrs dl004d (and Mr Pusskins) and headed back to Manistee for a relaxing break (incl an anniversary special at The Inn At Bay Harbor)

June 2008

It was good to meet up with everyone again at the Lourdes Group 2 reunion. We were blessed with a lovely day of weather and the children all had fun in and out of the pool. I seemed to be the only adult willing (and stupid enough) to get in the water with them.

The monotony of work was also broken up by a garden party at Little T's friend's house. She discovered that there's nothing like the taste of barely ripe strawberries from someone else's garden !!

July 2008

A sad month. Not only did we lose Mrs K/C/KC's grandmother, but a close friend also lost her father and a family friend lost his wife to cancer.

Not to mention it was the 8th anniversary of Mrs K/C/KC's mother's death.

As Little T keeps saying..... "don't worry, we'll see her in heaven".

August 2008

Mrs K/C/KC had a nice relaxing month off, carrying around the biggest pregnancy belly I have seen in some time (and believe me, I've seen some in my time). There was twice the joy, of course, as pregnancy was rife amongst our friends (Clans Ahern, Hanna and Robson were also due to expand at the same time). What was in the water ?

I undertook a lot of work and preparation to enable me to become a trainer of new GP's, which should keep me busy for the next 30 yrs or so. Nice to know that I am judged to be competent enough to entrust this responsbility to !!!

Congratulations were in order for Laura & Chris on their wedding day (7th)

September 2008

Of course, the month of September was dominated with the birth of Little O on the 12th. Despite our best efforts of encouraging him out (meals out, trip to the cinema etc), he decided to come in his own time. Typically, he interrupted a nice drink at Chez P&A !

After several hours of intense pain, suffering, swearing and screaming, I was finally able to quieten down when Mrs K/C/KC let go of my hand and gave birth to our beautiful boy. Sadly he has his father's looks, although the blonde hair may yet persist !

Congratulations were also in order for Lisa and Kevin on their wedding day (27th).

October 2008

Wow. A big month for a certain little girl. We decided to go against all possible advice and try to accomplish the following in a short space of time :

Little T turned 3 (she chose to have sushi and go on the London Eye to celebrate)
Little T gave up nappies (diapers)
Little T started nursery school
Little T got use to being a big sister
Little T moved bedrooms and now in a bed as big as ours !!!


All went very smoothly.... but how long can this last ?

November 2008

Plenty of travel this month. We started off with a short trip to the Isle Of Man, for my sister's 40th birthday. We all had a great time and the cousins were delighted to meet up again.

After a break of 9 years, we also managed to get back to Manistee, Michigan for Thanksgiving. Much fun and turkey was had by all (except K/C/KC who opted for freshly caught Lake Michigan fish).

Little T had great fun playing with new toys (the best no doubt being the toy Mayflower and pilgrim set - see link).

We all had to freeze ourselves to death in the annual Sleighbell Parade (although the wiser amongst us snuck into Goody's for a sly hot chocolate !!!)

December 2008

Little T was obviously very excited with the prospect of Santa visiting. This is the first year she has had such awareness of the festivities.
Her favourite song is 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town'

Little O is growing well and starting to sleep better at last.

Mrs K/C/KC and myself are looking forward to a peaceful time together as a family.


The most exciting event is of course Mrs K/C/KC's acting debut as Mary in the Wintershall Nativity production (Little O will no doubt shine as baby Jesus !)