Benicio is TEN months!

March 22, 2015... My shirt says it all, I'm ten months old!  I am movin' and groovin' all over the place.  I have retired my army crawl and am a full on crawling machine!  I also fearlessly pull myself up to stand at the stair railing, tables, toy baskets, you name it.  Pushing and walking the step stool across the kitchen floor is one of my favorite activities.  Peek-a-boo makes me giggle, and I have my own language now, including "mamamama", "dadadada", "nah nah nah nah", "ruh ruh", and "yuh yuh yuh yuh".  I have lots of important things to say!!  I just got my third tooth on the top, and another one on its way.  I make the cutest little clicking noise with my mouth right before I'm going to nurse, my mama thinks it's the most adorable thing ever, I even do it when I'm asleep!  I know it's hard to wait a whole month to hear my next update, but eleven months will be here soon!  Love, Benicio

First Day Back in the Valley of the Sun

Jetlag aside, we are so happy to be home.  Our first day back in AZ consisted of looking at a house in Gilbert (which we now have keys to, yayayaya!), eating at one of our fave restaurants, taking the kids to our old stomping grounds play area in Gilbert, and making a trip to Walmart (can u say kid in a candy store?!).  It didn't take us long to be reminded about how spoiled we are in this country!

Enjoying the day outside at San Tan Village in Gilbert.

Rubio's for lunch, yummmm!

Isandro's sour lime face.

Play area at San Tan Village.

Must have ice cream after playing, of course!

Jetlag.

More jetlag. :)

Sheena's Irish Ancestry

My mom's side of the family is of Irish decent, and after living in Ireland for a year and a half, I finally was able to make a trip to the town of Newcastle, County Tipperary, to see where my great-great-grandfather grew up (my grandmother's grandfather on my mom's side).  The town of Newcastle is very small, and the drive there was beautiful.  I was on my own with the three kids, but we had a blast exploring and seeing the town of Newcastle.  Unfortunately I don't know the exact house my great-great-grandfather grew up in, but it was pretty neat to be able to walk around the town in which he and my other Irish ancestors lived and worked many years ago.

Just about to Newcastle.

This is "The Old Graveyard" where many with the Hally/Halley name are buried (my grandmother's maiden name).

Very hard to make out the writing, but it is also one with the name Hally.

Another old Hally gravestone.

Welcome to Newcastle.

Slan means goodbye in Irish.

Love that sign: Knocklofty Road!