Samantha "Sami" Adams Hurley 3/20/1997 - 12/30/2009

Hitler


Devil

B**ch

Evil B**ch

Lucifer

Psycho



These are just a few of the evil, unkind names I had for Sami. She and I have had a somewhat tumultuous relationship. It all started just before Easter 1997. Brian and I had been together just about a year and he was now living in New Haven. I was living out by Boston and I felt like Brian should have a "friend" to keep him company. After checking out several shelters and each one said the same thing. "Kittens go quickly..." One cold, rainy afternoon I made my way into Arlington for one last ditch effort to find a furry friend for Brian. The shelter was above Main Street, small and clean and quiet. There were about 20 cages in a small office. This particular shelter was a cat rescue and had recently been brought a feral mother who'd been hit by a car. She was about to have her kittens when it happened and the vet had been able to save the kittens but not the mother. The kittens all survived without their mother due to the dedication of the shelter workers and most had found permanent homes with the staff before there were even weaned. Sami happened to be the sole remaining kitten from that litter and she was living in a cage with another cat. Sami was still at the shelter, unadopted because she was full of piss and vinegar and determined to live by her rules. I guess, now that I am a mother, I would not bring home an animal the bit. But she was the cutest ball of fur I'd ever seen and I kind of liked her "spunk". She bit and scratched and did her damndest to show me who was boss for the next several days. When Brian arrived to spend Easter with me he was greeted by a black and white puff of fur that was all whiskers and looked like she'd stuck her paw in a light socket. She had black cow spots on white as snow fur. She had fur growing out of her eats and between the pads of her paws.  I always said that she had a goatee, but Brian thought it looked like she'd stuck her little face in ink. He was not sure he wanted a cat and she stayed with me for about a month. She did not however, bite Brian once! She was in his lap or next to him all of Easter weekend.

A month later I made the drive to New Haven with Sami in tow and dropped her off at her new home. I have been told that from that night and for the next two years Sami slept every night on Brian's pillow with her paws hanging down on either side of his head like a pair of ear-muffs. Meanwhile I was still trying to heal scars from her teeth and claws. Brian and Sami were clearly meant for each other and became thick as thieves.

When Brian took the job in Houston and made the long drive to Texas, Sami rode shotgun and co-piloted from an open cat carrier. She was snuck into motels under cover of darkness and I am sure was loving life with Brian all to herself. It would be about 6 months before Mac and I made the move to Houston and Sami and Mac would share time between my apartment and Brian and Mike's place. It would not be long after my move to Texas that Sami and Mac were dragged to the vet to be declawed. Brian and I were concerned that my 4+ year old fat cat might struggle with the procedure. Fully aware of the risks we were taking with Mac's life we picked a vet we trusted and held our breath. It was late the afternoon of the procedure, and we were growing concerned we had not heard from the animal hospital. When we were finally able to get the doctor to call us back he advised that we come right down to the clinic. The surgery did not go as planned. Panicked we few to the hospital expecting to be told Mac did not make it. On the contrary, Mac had come through the surgery like a champ and was chewing on his bandages and shaking his paws like crazy; spraying blood all over his self in the process. Gross, I know! It was Sami, she had a reaction to the anesthesia and had gone into cardiac arrest on the table. It took them several minutes to revive her and when they had she was a lump of fur. Blind, mostly paralyzed and laying in a pitiful heap of fur. They advised us that the most humane thing to do would be to put her down. They had attempted to purge her system of the anesthesia all day in the hopes that she would regain motor function, sight, etc... She had not improved at all and they had no hope that she would. Brian and I did not know what to do, what to say, how could this happen? She was only 2?? We expect fat Mac to have trouble, not Sam. Somehow we asked if we could take her home. They said yes and we did. For two days she sat unchanged and we prepared to say goodbye. On the third day she leapt off the bed at something. Hit her head on the night stand, but she moved! Then she spent the day stumbling around, walking into walls, but she was walking by day 5 she seemed to be better. She was walking, eating, seeing, responding.... A miracle! I swear she was never the same and I am convinced she held me personally responsible for the drama and subsequent declawing, but she was alive.

A move to California and five sunny Southern California years later and we were expecting a baby. Once again Sami was packed up and moved to Arizona. Not long after the move we lost Mac to renal failure, cancer and old age and Sami was the only cat again. She seemed truly down about the loss of Mac for a while but perked right back when she re-discovered life as a solo cat. That life was short lived, there soon was a new baby, new house which meant another move and a whole new beast to deal with when the baby began to crawl and found her feather duster tail to tempting to ignore.
The arrival of two babies was hard on Sami. Her anger was growing more and more apparent and then “Handsome Hal” entered our lives. Sami had reached her breaking point... Last night Sami climbed into bed with us for the last time; Curled up next to Brian, for the last time; Slept warmly and happily with her master and best friend, for the last time – Then this morning Brian placed her in her carrier, the one that took her cross the country and part way back, for the last time and took her to the vet and said good-bye, for the last time. Her ashes along with her buddy Mac’s ashes will be buried under the willow tree in our backyard.

Sami, you and I had our ups and downs; we clearly had a power struggle over who the woman of the house really was… But there is no doubt that I miss you already and I will always hold a special place in my heart for you. Sleep sweet Sami, tell Mac I miss and love him and take good care of each other. I am sorry that I called you all those evil names, you were a really good cat... to Brian.  Rest in Peace...

Pink Christmas

Well this year was a pink Christmas for me. I woke up yesterday morning only to discover that my eyes were glued shut. After a scalding hot shower to pry them open I took a peek in the mirror and was heartbroken at what I saw... Bright, hot, burning, pink eyes. So off to Urgent Care I flew in the hopes that Christmas might be saved. A diagnosis of Pink Eye and a bottle of antibiotic eye drops later I was out the door, in the car and on my way home to get ready for Christmas Eve Mass then dinner at the O'Connell's.


Surprise, surprise, the Hurley's, well I should say the ‘Brian Hurley's’ did not make it to Mass. The ‘Thomas Hurley's’ do not often miss Mass, let alone Christmas Eve Mass, but, well... they're visiting us and we do not often make it to Mass- ever... So we packed up and loaded into two cars and made the trip down to Scottsdale with a plan to maybe make 10pm Mass at the Franciscan Monastery or get up, dressed and make it to morning Mass. For now we were off to have dinner and Christmas Eve with Aunt Dottie, Uncle Chuck, Auntie Whitney and Uncle Rory!! The girls did not know that Uncle Rory had flown in the night before to spend Christmas and New Years with us. When I left them with their father and grandparents the night before to meet Rory and have dinner I did not tell them where I was going or who I was seeing. They were torn when we got to Scottsdale -- Be more excited about Rory's being there or Whitney's being there. In the end it didn't matter, they had the best night!


I suppose that since we've made it tradition the past few years to celebrate Christmas Eve in Scottsdale and then have my family spend Christmas day and dinner here with us, we have also made it tradition that "Santa" is up until all hours - likely half in the bag - putting 'his' toys together. Thank God, or Thank Santa that Grampy Hurley and Uncle Rory were here this year to help. I am thinking that should be part of the tradition too!! After Grampy and Hurl put together the girls' new slide, Hurl took the Pottery Barn craft table and chairs upstairs to assemble. Grampy and Rory then tackled the shopping cart and Cozy Coupe. When Hurl finished upstairs he joined us down here - having a blast and a few more cocktails by the way - and put together the girls' easel. By 2am all of "Santa's" gifts were assembled and under the tree. We brought out all the wrapped packages and placed them under the tree and sat around and patted ourselves on the back for at least another half hour before we realized the kids would be up all too soon!


Christmas morning began with Grace asking "Did he come yet? Did he come??" - and then a barrage of "Oh My God! Oh My God!" - upon seeing all the stuff both up and downstairs. In addition to the slide, craft table, easel, Cozy Coupe and shopping cart, the girls got another "Bruce". For those of you who do not know, Bruce is the giant teddy bear that sits in our living room, Lily now has a bear of her very own, his name is Barry. - And for those of you related to Rory, you know why he named the bear he gave Lily "Barry" - They got a train set and new bath towels - They got a tea set and arts and crafts supplies - Books, toys and Mrs. Potato Head - An entire set of Disney Princess dress up shoes and a tiara - Movies, perfume and a talking Woody doll (from Toy Story). The girls got way more than they can appreciate, but it was so, so, so much fun to watch them open and enjoy their Christmas gifts.


Hurl and I got a new video camera and will do our best to figure out how to get the new videos on the web. Thanks Dad and Penny! Brian got the refrigerator for his bar and grill outside. I got a new chest of drawers for the guest room and a few beautiful new pieces of Polish Pottery -Thanks Mom and Dad Hurley! Brian got a new, fancy coffee pot and down vest (love you baby!) and I got pj's and a Tiffany's bracelet I've been admiring for quite some time - Thank You Baby! You're the best!!


This was a great Christmas and I look forward to the next few days of family without the stress of the Holidays. Uncle Rory will help me weed out the girls toys and donate the ones that are collecting dust or have been outgrown to children who are not a lucky as ours. Cleaning up Christmas always proves a project so I am thankful for all the help to pack up and store away Christmas. Now I very much look forward to the girls getting to show off their running, climbing and sliding skills to someone other than me at a few of the neighborhood and valley playgrounds.


...And I hear him exclaim ere he drove out of sight "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!"

Crafty Bitch

I would have normally put this post on my other blog. It should fall under my Mommy Story, but Grace hijacked it...

My neighbors are crafty ladies. Across the street, Morningstar can sew. Like sew clothes!! Down the hill Kristin can make anything and does! From personalized wine goblets to ceramic tile coasters, ghost lollypops and just about any and everything in between. If Kristin can dream it, she and or her kids can make it. Around the corner Rachael is the Scrapbooking Queen and I actually stole this craft idea from her. Keeping up with the Jones' has new meaning here. I will never be as talented as any of the three aforementioned ladies, but I like trying new things and Grace and I have been having a lot of fun this year with arts and crafts.

I did a lot of baking for the neighbors after Thanksgiving and had quite a holiday treat stockpile in the freezer, but Fed Ex, UPS and Vikki, family, friends and a myriad of other people needed or deserved a holiday treat or a thank you - So my freezer now stands empty. Money is tight and baking the quantity I had before all over again was not going to happen. But I wanted to give something and figured a small something was better than nothing at all. At least a little something would let my friends know I was thinking of them. Then there was the need to find something to deliver the treats in... Here's where Rachael's genius comes in..

I scavenged the recycle bin for our tin cans. Thank God my girls love their mandarin oranges and green beans - And thanks to a stocked craft closet and a few beautifully wrapped gifts for the girls from Massachusetts I had ribbon and bells and a glue gun to create these little containers.

Here's where Grace hijacks my story. Despite the fact that I scorched all of MY fingers while the girls napped this afternoon putting these together - The moment Grace came down from her nap and saw the tins she exclaimed.....

"Oh! What did I make?!"

You make? Grace Elizabeth, I made containers for our neighbors. We're going to put treats in them and bring them to our friends.

"OH-MY-GOODNESS, My friends will be so happy I made these for them!"

No, Grace, Mommy made these. But you can help me bake some treats if you would like.

"No, let's just give my friends these things I made. They're beautiful!! My friends will be so happy I made these"

This is about when I realize that I am arguing with a two year old. This oddly enough seems like the story of my life these days and I’m not just talking about Grace. So since I have all this experience with arguing with two years olds, I give up, give in and say...

Yes Grace Elizabeth, you did a beautiful job and your friends will be very happy!

So here are just a few of the tins that Grace is sure she made...

Angels

In October Brian and I high-tailed it out of Massachusetts with 6 of the New England Maple Syrup favors from his cousin Jessica's wedding. We were only trying to do Auntie Krissy a favor lighten her load - * Wink-Nod * - It was upon our return home that I realized the beautiful bows tied around all of the favors had been handmade by Jessica and her Mother. It seemed such a shame to throw all their hard work in the trash. The bows were cream colored with gold tones and looked, to me... like angels wings.


I decided that I would make a few angel ornaments using the bows as wings and send them to Jessica. Maybe I'm corny, but I thought that a few handmade ornaments from her wedding favors for her first Christmas as "Mrs..." would be special. Then two weeks ago Jessica and Brian's Uncle Gary lost his battle with Esophageal Cancer. It just seemed that the angels I had decided to make for Jessica had a new meaning. So instead of sending six to Jessica for her tree there is an angel for Uncle Gary's wife, his siblings and of course one for Jessica.

Gary's memorial was this past weekend. I wish I had finished them in time to send back him in lieu of Brian. I know that a few handmade baubles cannot make up for the fact that Brian was unable to make it back east in time, but maybe it would have reaffirmed the fact that he wanted to be there.


"Goodnight Sweet Prince - And Flights of Angels Sing The to Thy Rest."

The best gift!

Saturday evening Brian and I went Christmas shopping. Then we had a late, leisurely dinner at P.F. Changs - So good!! And then made our way home to our empty house and watched a movie - Okay, well most of a movie. It was so flipping scary that we couldn't finish it - Sad, I know. We stayed up past midnight and slept past 8am. When we finally did roll out of bed, we wrapped presents and put up the Christmas Tree. Then the girls were returned to our front door at Lunch time and right before nap time!


My favorite Aunt and Uncle - and I am not just saying that because they are here - My favorite Aunt and Uncle took the girls for an overnight on Saturday. It was possibly the best-gift-ever. When our families come into town, we are always encouraged to go out and spend some alone time - and we are always grateful. Or when we go visit family, they encourage us to go out, see our friends, take a break from the kids - and again we are grateful. But somewhere in the back of our minds the whole time is that we shouldn't stay out too late and take advantage of the help - or thinking about being able to be a parent again at 5 or 6 in the morning. But not Saturday night - We were able to go home and have another cocktail or two and not worry about waking up in the middle of the night to rock Lily or getting up before the sun to play with Grace. It was so relaxing!

The girls, well the girls did not even miss us! They made cookies and fed the horses. Played with the dogs and all around enjoyed themselves. I am told they did not ask for us once - and as much as it breaks my heart - I believe it!! Grace slept on an air mattress next to Aunt Dottie's (or as Grace calls her Auntie Dot) bed with two dogs as her bumpers. I am told that Tally - the hyper dog did not leave Grace’s side all night and must have woken her with kisses since Grace's first words upon waking were "Stop licking me!!"

They spent Sunday morning at the playground and had a pancake breakfast - After hearing about their good times I started to wonder if Brian and I got the short end of the stick - But I know we really didn't. It's nice to know that the girls are comfortable enough to spend the night with their Great Aunt and Uncle. They've slept in enough strange places in their short lives that I did not think it would be a problem, but you never know. I just cannot say it enough - Best Gift Ever!

A Mother’s Musings, Mishaps and Milestones

"I've made my bed and I sleep like a baby with no regrets..."

Missing the Millers

It was a year ago October that Grace & I met Monica and Rylan. We spent less then five minutes in the Miller's driveway the evening they first moved in. Rylan and Grace drew chalk pictures while Monica and I made small talk about where she came from; How she got here; And how her husband and brother-in-law were on their way with the U-Haul. It took less than those five minutes for me to know that Monica and I were going to be friends. Sure enough, while waiting for Lily to be born Monica and I found ourselves chatting on the phone like Junior High School Girls. Only a few doors away yet on the phone for an hour or more talking like we'd known each other forever. It was easy... It was - The best! Then Lily was born, and so was an amazing friendship.

The last few months without the Millers have been difficult. The anniversary of the day we met was sad - Celebrating Lily's birthday without them seemed strange and now Christmas is coming and it feels wrong that The Miller family, part of the Hurley family, will not be here with us to celebrate. We've been preparing the guest room for our Holiday company and Grace insists every time we are in there, that a photo of me as a small girl is Rylan - Then she gets sad that her best friend is gone. Or we take a walk around the neighborhood in the evening and she insists that the new cars at the Miller's old house are Monica and Robbie and we need to go say hi to Rylan... It's not been easy, on any of us. The Miller's miss Arizona too and Monica and I have avoided frequent conversations as they are painful reminders that we are apart...

So today we decided to avoid anything that reminded us of Rylan and do something new and fun. We drive by the Alta Vista Park and playground a few times a week and it has always looked like a fun playground. It's not in our neighborhood - and “Yes” we have more than a few playground/parks here but we needed a new adventure. So off we went. What a great time we had. It was a crisp, sunny day. The sand had just been raked from the rain we’ve had and there were a few other kids there to play with. The slides were new and big and purple. It was one of the best days the girls and I have had alone in a while.

It's about time!

With regard to a level playing field, it has been a long year when it comes to Grace and Lily... Since the day Lily came home from the hospital Grace has loved her sister and Lily still thinks that Grace hung the moon - But Grace has not ever been aware of her size or strength compared to Lily. In her excitement Grace often crushes, smothers, bowls over and in general and most often unintentionally - abuses her sister. Lily is not a big girl she is below average in size, but next to Grace who is well below average in size Lily seems a giant! -- A touchy subject with me - My baby is not "huge"! – But I digress. Even being a larger baby than Grace, Lily has still been a baby and a smaller, weaker child until very recently. Brian and I along with some of our closest friends laugh frequently about that day, off in the future, when Lily realizes that she is bigger and stronger than Grace or even just realizes that she is as strong and knocks Grace out! I will fully admit that while I do not condone violence I have been giddy waiting for the day when Lily finally lays her sister out! All the while hoping that that the tide would turn and we would see a whole new Grace.

At Lily’s 12 month doctor appointment we found out that Lu is about 2 inches shorter than her sister and only 3 and a half pounds lighter. Four pounds is nothing... It is practically the same size! So I knew it would not be long before Lily got to fighting back and Grace would never know what hit her. I waited thrilled about the day when I would not longer have to say or hear “Grace get off your sister!” I cannot say enough how I am really getting tired of that phrase.

I am at the stove cooking breakfast for the girls the other morning and I hear Lily hit the glass portion of the entertainment center. Now, I know it was Lily for two reasons. One – She thinks that she has to stand there leaning on the table to watch television. Two – because I immediately hear her cry out. Before I even look up I yell “Grace! What did you do?” Oops… I then look up and as Grace is saying “Nothing! Lily fell!” I see Grace sitting across the room in Bruce’s lap. So for once it wasn’t Grace. No one pushed Lily or shoved her out of the way or bowled her over as they ran by to do/get something. Lily simply slipped. But the poor thing cut below her eye on the edge of the table and now has an egg on her forehead and a shiner worthy of ‘Brunhilda the Roller Derby Queen’. As I am icing Lily’s face I am realizing, this is what life will be like for years to come. Even if Grace and Lily aren’t injuring each other, they are my and Brian’s kids and they will be hurting themselves just as much. Either sports injuries or bike accidents, I’ll just have to try to steer them clear of chicken wire fence poles… Sigh…. I have to laugh and make a mental note to stock up the first aid kit.

The very next morning I am cooking breakfast again and my back is to the living room and Grace starts crying “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Owwwww! Mommy!” I turn around to see Grace face down on the floor and Lily on top of her – Two fists full of Grace’s hair, pulling her head back and laughing. It-was-awesome! Yay Lily! She is finally big enough to start defending herself from Grace! It was as exciting as I thought it would be. I know that someone out there reading this is thinking this is sick, or awful or inappropriate, so don’t get me wrong - Fighting is not allowed in my house. Hitting is a punishable offense and I have zero tolerance for hitting. But Lily and Grace both needed to know that Lily is capable of defending herself so that Grace will think twice about bullying her.

Oh happy day!

GELK

So, our 'Elf on the shelf', GELK, made his appearance on the morning after Thanksgiving this year.  He has been moving around sitting on different perches, observing the behavior of the Hurley Girls and reporting to Santa each night if they have been "Good" or "Bad".  GELK got his name last year when he made his debut at the Hurley house.  After much debate Grace Elizabeth Lily Kathryn won out and GELK was thus named.  Last year GLEK was a fun idea but Grace was too young to understand any of what he meant. This year Grace is a little wiser and starting to understand the theory or myth of Santa Claus and has attempted to behave in front of GELK.  She has been excited to look for his wareabouts each morning and giddy when she finds him. This morning GELK was no longer perched in the living room - He had decided, upon his retun from the North Pole last night, to sit a-top the wall sconce in the dining room/kitchen.

This morning Grace came downstairs business as usual. Ate breakfast, watched a show, played with her sister and never thought to look for GELK. But as Lily was headed up to her nap Grace proclamed...

"GELK is gone!"

So I asked her... "Where do you think he is?"

To which she replied  in a dejected tone...

"Oh man... He's telling Santa something..." 

I couldn't help but laugh out loud.  He's telling Santa something?  What could he be telling Santa? Is there something that I missed? Is she feeling guilty?  It was simply priceless!  

Grace is a good kid. She is willful at times. She likes to be the boss, but hey, who doesn't? She is genuinely kind and cares how others feel. She wants to please, but will not sacrifice herself or compromise what she  feels is right and fair. There is a lot I find admirable about that... But if one time a year I can blackmail better behavior out of her by telling her GELK is watching... I'll take it.  I just hope GELK is telling Santa what a good girl I've been all year!

The Year Of The Cat Part 2: "THE CHRISTMAS CAT"

This is Hal - "Handsome Hal" as he's been dubbed by my Aunt Dottie. Hal is a Christmas gift for Grace and Lily from their Great Aunt and Uncle. A few months back Dottie and Chuck adopted Gabe - Sorry - "Gorgeous Gabe" ... Gabe is a love - big, fat, lazy, easy - we all were enamoured with him from the start. It was Gabe that prompted the adoption of Pablo. (ah, Pablo...) The girls are so smitten with Gabe that they have been trying to make Sami their pet. Well, if you know Sami - even a little bit, then you know that that is never-gonna'-happen! So Brian and I started looking for a cat for the girls to grow up with. We found Pablo and we all know how that ended. Dottie and Chuck are animal people. Currently with 3 dogs, 2 horses and 1 cat - they know animals. Brian and I asked Dottie to keep an eye out for a Gabe for us and...well... I got a call on Friday asking me to come to dinner this weekend. Dottie and Chuck had something to show me...

Ta-Da! We walk in the door this afternoon and there sleeping on the couch next to Gorgeous Gabe was Hal. To be honest the name throws me. I can't help but think of 2001: A Space Odyssey "Good Morning Dave." There are any number of names I would have given him, 'Big Mo' for Mo Vaughn. Or "Bo Sox' - 'Bo' for short. Or Oliver or.... Well I can't think of any other great ones at the moment, but Hal - not my first choice. Then again, he is not my cat and Grace likes the name Hal. She cannot quite say it yet. It sounds like she is saying "How" or "Owl" but she likes "Handsome Hal" and that is what he will be called.

It already appears that Hal is going to work out. He's been boldly exploring the house since we got home tonight. Sami is following him around with minimal growling and hissing. She even licked him right off the bat. He isn't cowering under a bed and he has been okay with the girls attention - even jumping up into Grace's bed tonight to tuck her in. He's big and sweet and young. A lot of his personality seems like 'Mac' and that is a huge plus in his favor! McGuire was one of a kind and the girls would be so lucky to have a cat like him for a pet.

Uncle Gary

I know I am insanely overdue for a post. I have a lot to tell, Thanksgiving was a good one this year and an anniversary of sorts...but this is not the time for that. I have a story that I need to share. It's maybe, to you not a very good story. One might find it mean or stupid. But it has a lot of meaning to me and I need to share it.

I started "seeing" my husband back in 1996. Our families had "history" and neither one of us was serious about the other at this point nor did we feel it necessary to share our relationship with our families. But in November 1997 Brian and I defined our relationship as a relationship and went public with our families. Not as dramatic or eventful as I may have lead you to believe here, but... I was none-the-less nervous. Christmas 1997 was to be held at Brian's parents home. Every year the Hurley clan gets (got) together for Christmas Eve and they rotate homes. Christmas Eve would be the first time I met Brian's parents, let alone the extended family. I come from a big, sarcastic, Irish-Catholic family. Brian comes from a big, sarcastic, Irish-Catholic family. I knew his uncles before I even met them, they are my uncles. I arrived like any good New Englander would, with gift in hand for the hostess. I baked Christmas cookies for the party. I, in my haste or nervousness, over baked a batch of cookies. They happened to be bells and I happened to have frosted them blue. Gary and David, Brian's uncles, jumped right on that! To this day have not lived down the "Burnt Bells". At some point, not long after meeting the family I did or said something to put me in the cross-hairs of Uncle Gary. Whatever it was Uncle Gary bellowed out "O'Connell - Go stand in the snow in your socks!" He meant it! Seriously, and his nieces and nephews did it! I of course laughed it off and refused and Brian was sent to the snow in his socks for me... But for as long as I live I will never forget that. Uncle Gary made meeting Brian's family for the for the first time - comfortable. Uncle Gary and Uncle David made me feel like one of the family from that point on. Never cutting me any slack for being a stranger or girl or and O'Connell. Most definitely never cutting me any slack for being an O'Connell, but in my weird, big, sarcastic, Irish-Catholic family, I am not sure I would have known how to react to genuinely nice. Sarcastic was right up my alley. I knew it came from a good place and later from love.

Uncle Gary lost his battle with cancer this evening.

Rest In Peace Uncle Gary. I promise to stand in the snow, in my socks this winter in your honor. Thank you for making my entrance into the Hurley family a memorable one.

Sneaky Sneaky....

There are a number of things I've been meaning to blog about.

• 
  
  I've been trying to recall all of the sassy things Grace says to me.


• 
  
  I've been wanting to talk about my adventures in child photography. Christmas card coming up and all, it's been... "an adventure" to be sure.


• 
  
  I've wanted to talk about how insane-it-is that local radio station 99.9 has been playing Christmas Music ALL WEEK LONG - Oy Vey!! It's not even Thanksgiving yet!


• 
  
  I've been wanting to talk about my "Plan" for Christmas this year. How I feel that; If I treat it like I did my wedding. And I enjoy all the minutia and details and days leading up to Christmas, it won't come and go and be a big build for a big let down as it is every year...

But this post... This one is a Hallelujah to my pal Grace and her lending me "The Sneaky Chef" All hail Grace Laba!! I've heard about the Sneaky Chef and Deliciously Deceptive. I've known that with Grace's eating issues I'd be facing the need to figure out a few tricks to get better quality of food in her; But for one reason or another I've not taken the initiative to go get the cookbooks. Thanks to Sunday night football, our Wednesday play date and playing around while waiting around for the news on Thursday, Grace had time to tell of and show me the wonders of The Sneak Chef .

Today with cookbook in hand I immersed myself in the world of sneaky. To date my kids eat french cut, canned green beans. If you count a cucumber as a vegetable, they eat that too, but canned, nasty, soggy green beans. That's it. They loved sweet potatoes when it was in baby food form. Every once in a blue moon I can get them to eat a cooked carrot, but their diet consists of chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, spaghetti, string cheese, yogurt, smoothies, fruit and milk. That's about it. So as I started to say; Today I got sneaky. Thursday 'Big Grace' made the kids Mac n Cheese with sweet potato and carrot. Lily ate it as if it were going out of style. Grace ate quite a bit considering she was at someone else's house surrounded by toys calling, no, screaming her name. That was it. I was hooked. Even if that was going to be the only recipe that my kids ate it was still way better than what we were doing at the moment.

So today was a big risk. With big risk comes big reward, right?? I made the Green Puree and mixed it into "Tinkerbell Eggs" The book calls them Popeye Eggs, but my kids don't know who Popeye is and Tinkerbell tends to be a pretty good bet. They ate every bite! They don't usually eat every bite of the regular scrambled eggs and they like them! That and the thought of spinach, broccoli, and peas mixed into eggs turned my stomach, but eggs in general turn my stomach... BUT THEY ATE THEM!

To be sure it wasn't a fluke, dinner tonight consisted of a side of Tinkerbell Eggs and they ate them again! I am loving this book! And though I am always loving her, I am especially loving 'Big Grace' today! I can't wait to try chocolate chip pancakes and oven fried chicken and see if those are as successful! Thank you Big Grace, you're pretty sneaky!

P.S. Way too much to photocopy... I'm buying my own copy of this book!

The Last First Birthday

I have been putting off writing this post... You know the joke... "D'nile ain't just a river in Africa". I guess I figured if I put it off and put it off I could deny that Lily is a year old. But - "Time marches on''... "Time stands still for no one"... Okay - No more time in a bottle stuff, I have just been taking this birthday a bit hard. Grace's first birthday was so exciting! I was happy and... Lily's was a little more emotional.

On Wednesday Kelli and Charlotte came over to help Lily celebrate her actual birthday. That helped me get into the spirit a bit and the girls adore their Auntie Kelli (as do I) and Charlotte becomes one of the gang more and more everyday! That was about it for Lily's actual birthday. The four of us had a spaghetti dinner on the patio and Lily had a birthday cup cake. It was a nice family celebration.

Then Saturday our neighbors came out in force to celebrate Lily with a BBQ play date and cup cakes. It was a beautiful day, it was an amazing party and we had the best time! The kids played in and out of the bounce house (still one of the best investments we've made!) ran around the yard and sat at Lily's (and Grace's) new picnic table for Hot dogs, burgers and cup cakes. The Desert Trails (& beyond) Gang made this a very special day. To all of you who were able to make it - Thank You! and to the few of you who couldn't make it - You were missed!

I tried to get at least one photo of everyone in here, but some of you ducked the camera and some of the pictures were not flattering, so I regret that not everyone is here but.. Here's Lily's first birthday and the Hurley Family's Last First Birthday...

Happy Birthday Lula!!

1 year ago today

On November 11, 2008

at 8:13am

Lily Kathryn Hurley was born.

Happy 1st Birthday Lily Kat!!