The Next Generation

Intrepid

This was somewhat exciting ... the Intrepid as seen from our 35th floor office as it is tugged down the Hudson to Bayonne.

Happy Birthday Meghan O. Mahoney!!!

Hey Meghan
Hope you have a GREAT day and a WONDERFUL year!!!!!!

Love you,

Aunt Maureen

Happy Anniversary Suzie and Al!!

Happy Anniversary to you both....can't believe it has been 11 years!
Time flies when you are having fun!
Have a great day!
Love,
Corrie, Glen, Ashley and Ryan

Smile...Christmas is less that 7 weeks away!

Happy Anniversary Jeanne and Chris!

"Love is patient, love is kind..."

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Birthday (+1) Maureen!

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy". Thich Nhat Hahn

You've been flashing those dimples and that smile since you were a wee lass....providing the source of much of our family joy with your sweet smile...keep on smilin' and may all of the joy that you give to others come back to you tenfold....

Happy Birthday!!

We love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG LOVER!!! (aka Aunt Maureen)

Hope you have a great birthday Aunt Maureen!!!!
Love,
Corrie, Glen, Ashley and Ryan

Oíche Shamhna!

Our Jack O'Lantern and ... some history on Hallowe'en I just learned ...

Halloween originated among the Celts in Ireland as the Pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain (means November). Halloween is most popular in Ireland, also known in Irish Gaelic as "Oíche Shamhna" or "Samhain Night". The Celts celebrated Halloween as Samhain, "End of Summer," a pastoral and agricultural fire festival or feast marking the end of the harvest, and when the dead revisited the mortal world; large communal bonfires would be lit to ward off evil spirits. In Ireland they continued to practice their deep-rooted, ancient pagan rites well after the arrival of Christianity in the middle of the sixth century.

The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Pope Gregory III moved the old Christian feast of All Saints Day to November 1 to give Halloween a Christian interpretation. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when the spiritual world can make contact with the physical world and when magic is most potent. (Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.)

On Halloween night in present-day Ireland, adults and children dress up as creatures from the underworld (ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches, goblins), light bonfires, and (especially in Derry and Dublin) enjoy spectacular fireworks displays. The children walk around knocking on the doors of neighbours, in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival. Salt was once sprinkled in the hair of the children to protect against evil spirits. The houses are decorated by carving pumpkins or turnips into scary faces and other decorations. The traditional Halloween cake in Ireland is the barnbrack which is a fruit bread. Each member of the family gets a slice. Great interest is taken in the outcome as there is a piece of rag, a coin and a ring in each cake. If you get the rag then your financial future is doubtful. If you get the coin then you can look forward to a prosperous year. Getting the ring is a sure sign of impending romance or continued happiness. Here's to getting a coin or ring!

Happy Birthday Kelly Liz!!!

Happy Birthday Kelly Liz!!!
This should have gone up yesterday (sorry)! Thank you so very much for coming into my life.........I love you so much and am so very proud of you! You are terrific, Monkee!
All My Love
MaMa

Happy Birthday Mom!

"Isn't she lovely......isn't she wonderful....isn't she precious"
-Stevie Wonder (and the rest of the O'Neills, Burrows's, Martin's, Moore's,etc)

Mom,

Happy Birthday! We love you soooooooooooo much!!! You have been the best mom in the world, and you continue to inspire us to be the best we can be!

Love, Laurie, Erin, and Sean

Newest Kimani Pic

Hey Grandbaby....can't wait to see you again soon!

Love ~ Grandma

Contacts Anyone?

Dear Family,
At the suggestion of Aunt Kathy, whom I know as Aunt Mom, I am making an appeal to all of you who have lived in the Boston area to find out if you have any contacts or ideas of the best place to start looking for an affordable apartment in Boston. I have been searching Craigslist like crazy and found some places, but figured I'd try with all of you as well. I am hoping to move to the Harvard/David Sq./Porter sq. area cause that seems most affordable and young. So, yeah, if anyone has any ideas of where I can look or who I can talk to please give a shout.
Cheers,
Meghan

Celebrating Sue!

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate" Oprah Winfrey

"Real Birthdays are not annual affairs; real birthdays are the days when we have a new birth"Ralph Parlette

"Birthdays are GOOD for you; the more you have the longer you live" author unknown

We LOVE you Sue....and celebrate today and every day, the wonderful gift you are to our entire family!!

Pictures

Everyone, I finally decided to add stuff to my personal blog including a wedding pic. If you don't want to go there, here are some pics of Kev and Rachels' rockin wedding day(sadly, my camera is not very good) and of wine country:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AbNWzRs5csbS

Then, more pics of Northern Calif. here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AbNWzRs5csa0

Christmas is Coming!!!!!

I know, I know....we are still enjoying the summer but for those of us who like to plan ahead (AKA neurotic, Type A, "planner"), Christmas is only 4+ months away.
I didn't know how everyone feels about the drawing now that we are continuing to grow with spouses, kids etc
Basically, do we want to continue and add people as they join this crazy bunch? discontinue the whole thing entirely? find a middle ground?
Any thoughts, comments and suggestions would be appreciated. I would be more than happy to find out who is in and do the drawing if that is what we decide.

Jingle Bells to everyone!
Corrie

The O'Neill Chronicles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORRIE!!!!

Hey "Little Lover" Just wanted to take a moment to wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Hope you have a great day and a wonderful year!

Love Aunt Maureen

In Memoriam

Unfortunately on of the "girls" unexpectedly passed away yesterday. Apparently she was very sick and didn't make it. Please pass along condolences to MB 1 pup if you get a chance.
Corrie

The O'Neill Chronicles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZIE!!!!!

Dear Suzie....I have made several attempts today to get this birthday wish posted, however, I think that I may need some "blogging lessons".

Hope you have a GREAT day and a very WONDERFUL year!

Love, "The Babysitter From Hell!!!" (JK - just kidding)

The O'Neill Chronicles

The O'Neill Chronicles

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you have a great day and a WONDERFUL year!

All Our Love, Always!

Closing Time

Well, we bought a condo in Jersey City. We FINALLY closed today! That's all I have to say right now. Seems pretty crazy, It hardly seems real .... but the bill sure brings it all home.
I'd post my new address but "they" say it's not a good idea to do that. Here are pics:
www.laurieandbrian.net
Yes, it's smaller than some bedrooms. It's only 640 sq. feet, but it has a deck!

Happy 4th Birthday ASHLEY!!!!

Our girl is turning 4!!! Happy birthday to Ashley!!!
We love you!

Happy Birthday Laurie!!!

A day late and a dollar short...

"Y"????? Because we LIKE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday, Laurie!
Hope your day yesterday was wonderful....and only the beginning of your best year ever as it unfolds before you....

We LOVE you!!!

Ashley's first dance recital

Here is our little super star dancer!

Happy Mother's Day!

Since I am the first one to experience mother's day here in NZ, let me be the first to wish all of our wonderful mothers, grandmother, aunts and great aunts a Happy Mothers' Day! And an extra special one to Kelly on her first ever mum's day!!!!

You're all a great bunch of gals...and quite good lookin' to boot...and have done a wonderful job raising some terriffic, interesting (to say the least children).

This quote is somewhat self-serving, but I think you'll understand the sentiments as it works both ways:
"She discovered with great delight that one does not love one's children just because they are one's children, but because of the friendship formed while raising them" (from "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Marquez).

Have a wonderful day and eat lots of pancakes (that seems like a mothers' day kind of food).

Cheers,
Meghan

Donate ?

Hey Everyone - I hate to take advantage of the blog, but you can always ignore this message and I'd never even know! My friend Jocelyn is walking in The Rock’ n ’Roll Marathon in San Diego, California along with the other members of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program from New York City. If you are just out there waiting to make a donation you can click here: http://www.active.com/donate/tntnyc/tntnycJRussel

Thanks!

Tear it up, Taurus!

April 30 - Happy Birthday, Erin !!!!

Hope you have a great day and a Fabulo-TASTIC Year!

We love you, miss you and wish we got to see you every day.

Erin and Sean of yesteryear looking way too incredibly adorable...



Erin today with the same great smile still looking pretty...


ENJOY! Love,
Mom, Dad, Sean, Laurie and Brian

Stop Having Babies!!!

I would just like to request that all of you please stop having babies. There was a time when I was not only the cutest baby in the world, but also the baby of this family and, perhaps, the most cherished among us in grandma's eyes.

I would therefore appreciate it if you would all stop having children to usurp my position (ahem...Jean, Corrie, Kelly...and don't go getting any ideas, Laurie!). That is all.

Thank you for your time and consideration and if you can think of any ways to remedy this matter, do let us know.

Yours in New Zealand,
Meghan O'Neill Mahoney
PS: I hope you all know that I'm joking and I'm very happy for you and your children (though I am a bit miffed that Kelly did not follow my advice and name her daughter Meghan). Also, check out my own blog which has been recently updated. Love you all!

Happy Birthday Sean!

April 17th and One More for "Aries" -- Your horoscope says: You'll have a great day and you rock!
We love you. Love, Mom and Dad, Erin, Laurie and Brian.

The Young Professor ....


I can never pick just one photo ...

Everybody Party...

It's aunt Kathy's birthday!

Happy Birthday Aunt Kathy!

Happy Birthday Devin O. Mahoney!

Happy Birthday, Devin O'Neill Mahoney!!!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful son! Cherish this day, Devin for it is a celebration of YOU and the wonderous gift you are to us...and to the world.

It's sunny and warm here today....unlike the day of your birth which was snowing...for the third day following a blizzard! Of course...now you're warm in CA pursuing your dream!

"human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but...life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves..." Gabriel Garcia Marquez

You inspire in the way that you've chosen to nurture your passion...to reinvent and continually give birth to yourself to live your dream and in having the "courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are" e.e. cummings

We love you and we cherish the gift that you've been and continue to be in our lives.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Happy Birthday Papa Bull! April 1, 1918- July 17, 1976

Remembering Daddy on his birthday....oh and all of the times we teased him mercilessly about being born on April Fools Day!

Hard to imagine....what do you think he'd have been like at age 88?!

Happy Birthday, Dad....we love you!

Happy Birthday MB!!!!

A big Happy Birthday to MB on this beautiful spring day!!!!

Fair turnabout

Hi all,

This may be a day late and a dollar short...since they're feeling better each day...but since grandma's always praying for each and all of you (and the various intentions you bring to her attention for her powerful prayers) I thought it might be nice if each of you keep HER and Pete in your prayers....the colds they developed last week turned into pneumonia....they're on the mend now and feeling much better... but i'm sure will appreciate your prayers and well wishes....so keep them in your thoughts and prayers....and maybe even send them a little note to let them know you're doing so!
Thanks!

....and Happy Spring (I'd have put this in as a separate thought but Devin's imposed a one message limit on me!).

Love you all!
Kathy

La Fheile Padraig Shona Dhuit

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We had a great time at the parade.



Former Mayor Ed Koch.



An old guy pulls up his pants,



and another old guy watches.

I call it "old guy series #1". See "MOORE" pics at:

http://www.laurieandbrian.net/stpats.html

Laurie and Brian

Birthday Boy

Here are a few pics from the big 1 year old birthday party!

Hello From Cape Town!

Hello one and all. Thanks to everyone for your posts, it's really been great to keep up with the fam while I'm gone! Since I haven't posted here in a while I thought I'd pop my e-head in to say hello. Kelly, congrats on being preggers and stuff and I presume that the child will be named after me. Kevin, congrats on the wedding and stuff and I presume the bride will be named after me.

I am currently in Cape Town right now, playing hockey and soaking up the sunshin, which is quite a nice mix. The people and atmosphere here are terriffic and I'm truly enjoying myself. Now, it took me way too long to update my own blog and since I'm utterly lazy, I will just give you that link, rather than retyping it all. So go to www.meghanabroad.blogspot.com to learn about my recent goings on; there you will find such fascinating tales as my last weeks in Denmark, my trip to Italy, and my initial perspective of South Africa.

I'm sure you all miss me terribly, so good luck with that. Fortunately I'm always with myself so I never have to miss me, but I'm certain it must be very hard to deal with! ;)

Peace, love, puck,
Meghan

Clifton Park Shower

Hey, It was great to see everyone at Kelly's Shower this Saturday. Kelly, you look beautiful!

I wish I had taken more/better pics, you can view them all at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AbNWzRs5csXi&notag=1
(Just click, "View Pictures")

Here are some good ones....

Disney

We had a fun time in Disney...these pics are the breakfast at Cinderella's castle. Sleeping Beauty gave Ryan a big smooch!