Trying Again

Well, lets see, its been over a year since our last entry.  Not a good way to start this, but perhaps we will get better this time.  Since our last entry, we have added another member to our family- Nora Kristine.  Nora was born on March 1, 2013 and had been a pure joy!

She is now a little over 3 months and has discovered how fun it is to put her hands in her mouth.  She has been a trooper so far, and has done so many things that we would never have dreamed of doing with our 1st two babies.  She's gone to professional sporting events, camping, dance recitals, and Race for the Cure to name a few.  She is adored by all of us- especially her sisters!  

Speaking of her sisters, Anna Rose finished Kindergarten this year.  She was blessed to have an amazing teacher, Mrs. Young.  She worked hard and learned so much- learning how to read and basic math facts- she is off to a good start!  She also made some great friends.  

And then there is our Kate, she will be turning 4 soon and she had a busy year of preschool, gymnastics, and speech therapy.  She is coming along great with her speech- we still have to translate quite a bit for her, but she is much more verbal than before.  She is one goofy little girl and she recently put together a medley of songs she is happy to sing on request! 

Back in action

Well, just cause it's been over a year since the last post, doesn't mean this thing is dead. Just means we have been insanely busy with life for the last year. Not that that will stop, but I intend to make this more of a priority in 2012 (I can't speak for my wife) :-).

So what's new these days? Well...another Christmas season came and went and this one was memorable for many reasons. First, Kara got sick on Christmas day which was not cool. Tory was in town which was awesome. Christie, Joe, Claire, Carmen, and baby boy in utero were not here which was not cool. But they got to go to Dubai which sounds like it was amazing. Grandma and Grandpa Murphy hosted, what I'm told, is their final Christmas Day brunch. This is sad, but also fun in a way because it has brought back so many great memories of Christmas brunches past.

What else? I got to go to Kansas City right after Christmas and see my good friend Kris Kaminsky for the first time in many years as he was back visiting from China with his new fiance, Brianna. It was great seeing him and meeting her. Art, Kristine, and Zoe came to St. Louis to spend New Years with us. That was fantastic. Art and I kicked things off by going to see Umphrey's McGee at The Pageant where they treated me to a stirring rendition of Hall & Oates' Maneater. We had a great dinner on New Years Eve, and overall had a great time. I was asked to be Zoe's godfather, which was unbelievably flattering. Yes, I accepted.

It was around this time that I began writing a weekly Royals column for I70baseball.com. I am now 5 columns in and really enjoying it. My amazingly ambitious wife has worked out every day of 2012 so far. I am so proud and impressed, even if one of those days was dancing at a party (she was dancing pretty freaking hard). I began P90X2 on Jan. 10 and am rolling along pretty well with it. It feels good to be back in the swing of things with my fitness and eating and diminished drinking. The holidays really kicked my butt this year...kind of starting with Halloween.

Going back further, we lost a very good friend in Brian Hoffman in September. Brian lost a courageous battle with cancer. Nobody deserves to go like that, especially at such a young age. But I'm not sure I could think of anyone who deserved it less than Brian Hoffman. He will always hold a very special place in my heart as a great friend and I think about him daily.

Katherine Margaret is still getting by with just about 4 words (this is probably not any different from the last post). But I'm sure she'll be blabbing all sorts of stuff soon. She's a smart cookie and a doll. Anna Rose just got her hair cut off today to donate to Locks of Love. She is very proud of herself and we are even more proud of her. While we will miss the long hair, she looks darn cute with her new short hair. I am trying to add pics to this post of the before/after but can't seem to figure out how to do it. Speaking of Anna, she had a great season of soccer this past fall and winter playing first outdoor, and then indoor with the kindergartners. She was the only 4 year old on the team with all 5 and 6 year olds. While sometimes the age difference was somewhat evident, overall she did great and it was at the very end that I really started to notice her making significant strides. And it was in the last game that I noticed...she is FAST!!! She must have gotten her Nana's speed. I'm sure this year of playing with the older kids will serve her well when she plays kindergarten soccer again next year. Oh, and speaking of kindergarten, we have made the decision to send her to St. Gerard next year. We are happy to have that decision behind us and are very excited, as is she.

And the last thing(s)...first we got to see Joe last night as he's in town working for the week. HE and Burke came over and hung out for awhile and it was great catching up. In a few weeks we get to see Christie and the girls as they will be here, and a month after that we are going to BELGIUM to see them! We made the decision to go on Dec. 30 and will be leaving on March 15. We are all very excited for the trip. Anna is excited for her first airplane ride.

I think that's it for now. Hope to report again very soon!!

-Nick

An end to the Holiday season...

They say that each Christmas/holiday season is very special in its own way. They all create different memories that last forever. This one certainly will leave its mark as being memorable for many reasons. I would say that the season kicked off on Friday Dec. 17th. This was when Christie, Joe, Claire, and Carmen arrived in from Arkansas and that night was their going away party at the Burkes. That was one heck of a party. From that night on, it seemed like the activities were pretty much non-stop. The next night Kara and I took the girls up to the "Train House" in Overland, Candy Cane Lane, and then Ted Drewes for the 2nd year in a row. I think we've created a little family tradition with this and I'm sure the girls will enjoy it even more as they get older. Tory also arrived in this day and was here until the Monday after Christmas. It was good to spend some good time with him. We were very fortunate to have Christie, Joe, and the girls spend the night with us on Christmas Eve. We'll always remember being able to watch all 4 girls opening presents together on Christmas morning. I hope they enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed having them here. Speaking of the Gallo family, this holiday season will also be remembered for their departure to Belgium, which took place yesterday. Personally, I am very excited for them and think it will be a great experience and an awesome adventure. At the same time, I am sad to see them go and sad for all of the other people who are affected by their departure. As soon as I finish this post, my next order of business is to get the Skype set up on the computer so we can not feel so far away from them. I'm especially excited to watch Anna Skype with Claire. We wrapped up our holiday celebrations last night with the Niedbalski family here at our house and that was a great time. I learned that I am one hell of an Apples to Apples player. Now it's time to start getting back into a normal schedule, eating right, getting back to a regular workout schedule (if my back ever starts feeling better), and start being normal again. Happy New Year everyone. I have a feeling 2011 is going to be a great year.

Bon Voyage Gallo Family

Well today was a bit of an emotional day.  After several weeks of gatherings and celebrating Christmas & New Years the Gallo family took off for Belgium today.  Though they have not lived in St. Louis for the last year- it has been really sad to see them go.  In talking to Nick, I said I keep getting really sad.  And he processed it for me (like he does a lot of times to help me out) that it was not only sad for me- but sad to see the effects of their departure on everyone else- especially Joe & Christie's parents and our girls.  Anna started to tear up at the departure gate and that just about did it for me.  We know they are off on a great adventure and we wish them the best and can't wait to hear all about their time there.  But they will be missed and thought of often and we will always look forward to seeing them when they come home! 

PS- we provided for some great people watching at the airport!  Keeping track of a 4,3,2, and 1 year old was rather amusing!!  

Wizard of Oz & Christmas Lights & Walking

Anna Rose said she was a lucky girl tonight and she sure was right about that.  Our night started with a walk around the neighborhood and it would be nice if the reason was simply to go out for a walk.  But in reality, I was about to pull my hair out and needed a break.  We bundled up (it was about 32 degrees) and headed out in the double stroller, with Greta trotting alongside.  As we started the walk, Anna started to point out and talk about all the Christmas lights and decorations.  She would say, "I want that one.  No I want that one."  The past weekend we had talked about her helping Nick put up Christmas lights and since then she has been scoping out what kind she wants.  Once we got home, I made a mental note of how a little fresh air seemed to help out all of our moods and behaviors and I plan on doing that more often. 

After dinner, we touched up Anna Rose's fingernails, got her dressed, did her hair in a make-shift "up-due," and applied a touch of lipstick.  She was all ready for her date with her special guy- Daddy!!!  I sent them off to go see the Wizard of Oz and had some fun time with Kate- giving her a bath and reading books.  It amazes me at how much she seems to be soaking in and understanding these days.  Pointing out the baby and duck in the book and following simple directions.  Now that she is a walking girl- she is all over the place and I find little pieces of evidence to support that throughout my day.  Currently there is a piece of food from the play kitchen and a magnet on our kitchen floor and earlier I stepped on a piece of chalk while cooking.  She is very proud of the fact that she is walking and one of our favorite activities at the moment is to chase her calling her name- she smiles and giggles and then does her full out belly laugh once I get her- it is precious! 

Nick and Anna Rose arrived home and I was anxious to hear all about it.  Her eyes and mouth opened wide when she saw the ice-cream I had set out and proceeded to say, "I'm a lucky girl!"  While she enjoyed her ice-cream treat, Nick and Anna told me about their date- including the funny questions and comments Anna had during the play (Toto turning into a kid, "That's a different Dorothy,"  "Is it over?"- after every scene change). 

My first post

OK...so I'm taking a little break from what is again a crazy work day to post a few words on here. First, I am so glad that Kara got this up and running. We had talked about doing it for the last 18 months or so, to the point where I actually added it to my to-do list in June of 2009 and it has just sat there in red ever since. Little did I know Kara would be able to put it together in about 5 minutes. That's why I love my wife.

Anyhow, I wanted to comment on Kara's post about our night with my parents and grandparents about 10 days ago. It was indeed very special and not a day goes by that I don't appreciate how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family and 4 amazing grandparents that I get to share my own children with and appreciate in my adult years. So, much thanks to Kara for arranging this special night which was the first of my 34th birthday celebrations. Since then, I've had one other and have one last one coming up this coming weekend. In reality, I really don't care about celebrating my birthday multiple times. Not sure why it always seems to happen though?!?

We just returned from a long, fun trip to Chicago for Thanksgiving, which is where I also got to go out on my actual birthday. It was great to kick off the trip with the night out with Kara, Kristine, Art, Stacy, Rustin, and CA. We saw the highly regarded Talking Heads cover band, This Must Be the Band, and I must say, they were outstanding. I can't wait to see them again. It was great getting to hang in Chicago with my in-laws, meet Elena Ruth Knickerbocker, spend a relaxing Thanksgiving Day at Tommy & Kim's, stay at Davey & Kim's for 3 nights, and go out to dinner with all of Kara's siblings and spouses on Saturday night. So, not only do I feel very lucky for the family I have of my own, but also very lucky to be married into the family that I am.

So, now it's back to work and I am going to try to get in the habit of posting on here with some regularity.

Memorable and Amazing Evening

With the catchy title- one might think that we were out and about seeing and/or doing something amazing.  When in fact, we were at home having dinner- a rather simple and ordinary event.  What made this meal and evening so special is that we were celebrating Nick's birthday with his parents, and all four of his grandparents.  To me, this is amazing!  All four of my grandparents have passed on and after an evening like Friday night, I so wish that I could spend an evening with them all- talking, sharing stories, and laughing.  Nick's grandparents are wonderful!  They each have their own unique character and I treasure the times we get to spend with them.  I tried to take some photos to capture the evening but I hope I can always remember the smiles and stories that they were sharing.