...and then there were four.

Alexandra, Kambree and Eliza with baby Kanyon.

Oh, little Kanyon. I think you and Uncle Logan need to have a heart to heart. He grew up with three (amazing, might I add) older sisters and look how well he turned out. You are just as blessed to have an older sister and two older cousins who already love you so much their little 7 year old and 3 year old hearts can't understand it.

No doubt they will want to paint your fingernails and toenails. It's OK. Logan actually liked it and would ask for "color" on his fingernails. Our Dad, your Paw Paw, did not like that one bit.

Your big sister and cousins like to play dress up, too. Before you are potty trained, they will probably make you play dress up. I am sure you will end up in a dress. This, too, is okay. I have pictures of Logan in my "Aggie dress" and he has jewelry on and he's smiling for the camera. (Paw Paw didn't like this either but I still have the pictures in a secret place!)

These sweet little girls will also pick on you. You see, Kanyon, for the first 15 years of your life, the girls will always be bigger than you and older than you and smarter than you. They will take advantage of this situtation. I know this because I have two older sisters. But you are a boy! And you have some good boy genes. Just look at your Paw Paw's and all your uncles. They are BIG and TALL men! Your dad, too. You, too, will be big and tall. And these girls won't pick on you anymore. Ask Uncle Logan - it's now me running from him when I come home. He's much, much bigger than me.

There is one thing Kambree, Alexandra and Eliza will do. And I can promise you this - - they will never stop doing it. They will love you. They will love you everday for the rest of your life. They will teach you the ABC song, how to color in the lines, how to tie your shoe and how to ride a 4-wheeler. They will stick up for you when some other kid isn't nice to you or when Mom and Dad are being too hard on you. Sometimes, they will probably even let you hang out with them and their friends.

Girls know how to love. You have one big sister and two cousins who are in love with you, sweet baby Kanyon.

IT'S A BOY!

Kanyon Lee Kothmann

March 26, 2009

10:56am

7 lbs. and 5 oz.

20 inches

Very proud big sister Kambree

The Kothmann's

IN LABOR!

Not me, but my sister. Woo-hoo!

10:56am - HE is here! Literally, just arrived. They haven't even weighed him. Or named him. Yay!

Just got the statistics...
7 lbs and 5 oz
20 inches long
and a mess of dark hair.

Still.No.Name.

Name. Finally!

Kanyon Lee Kothmann

I'm still waiting patiently to see a picture of the little guy.

Southie Sunday

with Billy and Lauren

Colette making Irish stew...yes that is a Guinness.

Representin' TEXAS!

Tiffany, Lesley and Jenny

South Africans with their "alice bands."

Chicago, Ohio, Texas, Nebraska times two and Massachusetts

Our Union of the Transplants album cover

Colette, Chris, me, Brooke, Mandy and Lauren

I love these girls!

Willie and Chris

Mandy. Beer goggles.

And then there were hats. Thanks Colette!

Chris, Colette, Lauren, Mandy, Brooke and me.

Hats followed by a Union of the Transplants pyramid.

Dropkick Murphy's

So, I have some catching up to do. And I need to do it fast because I'm going to have a nephew (or niece) arrive any minute now. If I don't blog St. Patty's week now, I'll never do it. (As a side note, I've been extremely busy. And by extremely, I mean my refrigerator consists of bottle water, beer and condiments.)

So, Dropkick Murphy's LIVE in concert at the brand spankin' new House of Blues by Fenway. The Dropkicks are a native Boston band. They had their first big break when the Southie based movie, The Departed, used one of their songs in the movie. They became a household name with the 2007 World Champion Red Sox pitcher Jonathan Pabelbon danced an Irish jig to one of their songs on national tv.

The Dropkicks played seven SOLD OUT shows in six days at the House of Blues in Boston. It was madness.

I've never witnessed a "mosh pit" in all my years, but I have an injury from one now. Imagine how crowded the floor is of a sold out concert. Now imagine a huge void in the middle of that floor. Throw in the mix some meatheads running around like chickens with their heads cut off. There is no rhyme or reason as to where they run, but they purposely hit each other. It's dumb. I don't understand it. But it happened right where we were standing on the floor. Luckily, the guys I went with were seasoned in "punk show" go-ers and formed a barricade around us girls. Unfortunately, I still got kicked hard in the shin from a mosher. I got kicked so hard, it even took a few days for the bruise to form. I'm sure Liz will be thankful for the bruise in her wedding pictures in two weeks. The craziest thing of it all, was that no fights broke out from the madness that is a mosh pit. If nothing else, it was controlled madness.

I also witnessed "body surfing" at the Dropkicks. This is when you lay flat and have many, many people (ie: random people you don't know) holding you up above their heads and passing you around the crowd. Why anyone would want to do this, I don't know. You are trusting complete strangers, and mostly drunk strangers, to hold you up. At any point a stranger decides they don't want to hold you up anymore, BOOM! dropped on your head you go. Again - dumb.

All that being said, the Dropkicks were awesome! They played song after song and were so involved with the crowd. It was by far, the most energetic concert I've ever been to. During one song, they asked the girls to come up on stage. After I while, I obliged. Two girls were on a mission to get up there, so I squeezed in between the two of them and we made our way to the crowed at the front of the stage. A guy turned around and asked "you goin' on stage." I said "yes." He picked me up and I kid you not - I.body.surfed.my.way.on.to.the.stage. And then got dumped on my head. But it was fun.

A picture from my cell phone, as Oakie can't find the cord to upload pictures from his camera. But, like I said earlier, I'm on a baby deadline here, folks.

Congratulations Mrs. Toone's Class!

Mason, Texas. Population 2,134. Or at least that is what the city limit signs say. Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays are all very important days in Mason, Texas.

Fridays are high-school football games.
On Sundays we go to church.
And on Wednesdays, our weekly paper, The Mason County News, comes out.

The Mason County News is filled with everything that happened during the past week. How the high-school athletic teams competed, who got engaged, who had a baby, who killed the biggest buck that week, what 6 year old killed their first buck, community events, local fundraisers, birthdays, anniversaries, obituaries....the usual.

When I went to college, my Dad got me a subscription to the Mason County News. It would arrive in Lubbock on a Friday and I would catch up with my small town happenings. The subscription followed me to Dallas for another three years. Unfortunately, the paper didn't know how to swim, so it didn't make it across the ocean to Tokyo.

Years later in Boston, I still follow the Mason County News....online. Yep! Mason, Texas population 2,134 has the eeen-ter-net. Every Wednesday, I log on to check out the local happenings.

Surprise, surprise! Guess who made the paper this week? Good ol' Momma! Click here and read why -
http://www.masoncountynews.com/news/article/13443

And just in case you're interested in the happenings of a small town in the hill country of Texas, here is the link. Wednesday is the day.
http://www.masoncountynews.com/

Let the Party Begin!

...no, not the Barbie party. The big ol' Saint Patrick's party. Let me tell you, people, it last FOR-EV-ER. Longer than FOR-EV-ER if you live in South Boston.

The year I moved here, people kept talking about "St. Patty's Day this" and "St. Patty's Day that" and "it's so much fun" and "you have to be in Southie on Sunday" and "blah blah blah." It was like everyone was celebrating their 21st birthday on the.exact.same.day.

It did not disappoint. The entire weekend was madness. My college girlfriend, Melissa, came in from New York for the festivities. We went out Friday night. We went out Saturday night. We spent all day Sunday in Southie and stayed out late on Sunday. As in really late. As in past my bedtime late. I went to work Monday morning. The commute reminded me of a Saturday morning in the Financial District (ie: ghost town.) I went to lunch Monday with the four people who actually showed up to work. Yes, it was legendary.

Well, friends, the week long celebration has already started.

Exhibit 1: Friday night at the St. Patty's Day Festival at the Harpoon Brewery in South Boston.

(if you can't find me it's because my green was camo. Be sure to read the cap...a little shout-out to Old Yeller. It was the first time out of the gate for this cap. Still a little stiff here.)

Happy 50th Birthday, Barbie!

Boston.com put together a nifty little slide show of the progression of a girls' favorite childhood doll - Barbie. Although her measurements can not be anatomically correct for a living human being (I heard that once....), there are some interesting facts included about her plastic surgery over the years, her friends, siblings and even her relationship with Ken.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/fashion/gallery/barbie2009/

I hope I look as good as Barbie at 50!

ps: that's just 20 more years...