The O'Neill's

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

A Day With Kristi

Today my cousin Kristi rode the train to Joliet from Chicago (and thankfully was spared her life while Mom and I made her wait a few minutes before we finally got to her to pick her up). We went to lunch at a cute little Italian place in Plainfield and then Kristi and I convinced Mom to get her first pedicure ever. After that we did a little bit of shopping and just hung out. It was a really nice relaxing time for all of us. Thanks for coming Kristi! Oh and for anyone who is wondering...Mom enjoyed her first pedicure and might even go back regularly! :)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Cuties!

Gotta love waking up to these 2 faces every morning while I'm here!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Organize. Simplify. Purge.

This should so be my motto. But anyway, my goal this week while I'm here helping my mom tie up loose ends, etc. is to help her do these things. She has spent the past 4 years taking care of 2 grandkids and a sick husband and has barely had time to breathe let alone keep her house clean and organized. Time constraints and stress have taken over and now I'm gonna kick this house's butt back in to shape. Not with everything, but with receipts and important documents, both of my parents are pack rats...and to me, keeping all of this [unnecessary] stuff would be ok if there were some organization to it....but no. So I bought a file cabinet and folders and labels and I have cleaned out all of the drawers and closets and have gotten to work making a system that I hope will make Mom's life easier. In the process we have also thrown away a ton of stuff and donated a ton more. So far our accomplishments include.....a clean and organized kitchen, 3 closets cleaned and organized, a dresser and a half emptied of papers of all kinds and filled with clothes that had no home, 4 garbage bags full of items to donate and 6 trash cans, plus 2 of our neighbor's trash cans filled with garbage and more bags of trash waiting to go out next week (we reached the garbage man's limit!). Mom thinks I'm a cleaning nag and is referring to me as "the drill sergeant." We have lots more to do so I better get some rest! I ♥ organization!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Realization

I probably always knew this, but more than ever, I realized this week that when tragedy strikes your life, you truly discover who your REAL friends are and that in the end, family are the ones who are ALWAYS there when it counts. Thank you to ALL of you who have been praying for my family, sending your thoughts, cards, messages, texts, emails, and general love and support. From the bottom of my heart, thank you! ♥

Independence

Happy 4th Of July!

My Date With Parker

Parker was so good yesterday and we kept promising him that his reward if he was good would be to see Toy Story 3 today, so I had to follow through and take him. He did great for the most part....aside for stealing a gummy worm out of the bulk candy box while I was in line paying for his kids meal and "sour kids." He felt super cool in his 3-D glasses and was pretty excited that he and I had the exact same ones on. He said, "I'm just like you Aunt Heather. No, you're just like me!" It was cute. About 10 minutes before the movie ended, he stood up and said "I want to go home." I think it was at the mushy part in the movie and he'd seen all the cool stuff already and was good to go, but I convinced him to sit on my lap and finish the movie with me. He was a good little date and the movie was cute. I'm glad I had the chance to take him. :)

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Celebrating Sara

Unfortunately, my sister-in-law Sara's birthday was on the day of Dad's wake, so to make it a happier birthday, we celebrated a few days late today with a family dinner out complete with yummy food, crazy kids, and an embarrassing birthday song!
The embarrassing birthday song!