March Madness

Slowly but surely, Phineas has recovered from the profound disappointment of BC's first round loss to the University of Spoiled Children (USC Trojans). There was a night of tears, followed by the begrudging admittance that the Big Least conference is having a very good tournament. We did love the Villanova game. The only thing that interrupted our non stop parade of basketball awesomeness was hosting some great visitors this weekend.

First, Hosana and Grandpa Bracken stopped by on their way to see Twelfth Night at the McCarter theater. They got to have a pre dinner meal with Finn before heading out to see what is supposed to be a fantastic, hipster staging of the Shakespeare classic.

On Sunday, Bill and Wendy drove down from central New York to kick off a week in the city. We had a great visit with them and walked to Shanghai Park to get some pork and crab meat soup dumplings...love those. We were pleased to provide Bill with the first Guinness of his vacation. Wendy does a really cool "Photo of the Day" blog and although I tried to compete with some "artistic" shots of our lunch, she says she is going with a shot of Finn to represent the day. Check out her blog at:

http://wide-angle-lens.blogspot.com/

She has some really fantastic photos on her site. I am also put to shame by her ability to successfully do a post a day on her blog. That said, I am getting better. Baby steps, baby steps....

Bananas for Bananas

Finn took the plunge and moved up the food pyramid from a bottle diet to solid food. That is if you consider pureed bananas solid food. Since it did involve a spoon and a bowl we will give him the benefit of the doubt. It took some selling; he was definitely against the rice cereal - so much so that he became ninja-like in his spoon swatting abilities. After a few failed attempts with the rice mix, we gave the bananas a try. We really had to sell it and I ended up eating some puree as a "role model." I have to say I now understand his reticence... it was nasty. After some animated chewing and talking up how tasty it was, Finn decided he would follow my lead and take spoonfuls from Mom. He ended up having a blast. I hope to be planning our first trip to Hoagie Haven by the end of the week. Who doesn't want a cheese steak? He needs the protein, I think.

Beannachtai Na Feile Padraig

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. This is a big, big day in the Dunne household. As 100% Irish Americans, we are proud to embrace our quarter and half blood brothers and sisters. We also begrudgingly embrace our brothers and sisters who use this day as an excuse to drink excessively during a weekday. Thanks for promoting Irish stereotypes. Finn was pleased to sport Irish-themed gifts from Aunts Colleen and Anne. Perhaps people aren't aware that Phineas Robert Dunne is Irish... this should clarify things. Molly even made little gift loaves of Irish soda bread and I am tapped to make corned beef and cabbage for dinner for Molly, Colleen and Harrison. Somehow, it sounded like fun when I was in the grocery store last night... now I want to figure out how to microwave the whole thing and call it a day.

Also, this would have been my dad's 80th birthday. So, happy birthday to Robert V. Dunne and I am thinking you would have made an outstanding 80 year old. In recognition of this special day we include a picture of the birthday boy Bob on the happiest day of his life (not sure why they were taking wedding pictures in what appears to be a public bathroom) and a picture of Jer Bear kissing the family stone... very appropriate.

Lastly, Molly and I got engaged on this day... that fateful night in East Pyne courtyard. So, happy engagement day to us. Let this be a lesson to all the ladies out there... you can pay a lifetime for quick decisions; don't get distracted with the shiny little sparkly things... nothing in life is free.

Tempus Fugit

The Finn-man is officially 6 months old. We can't believe how he has grown and how quickly he has broken us down and dominated our household. We celebrated with a walk into town to get a cupcake at the Bent Spoon, one of our favorite spots. Man, for a little guy who has never swallowed solid food, he really smashes the living hell out of a cupcake. Our boy is ready for some solids!

(Ok, I am stopping here. Molly says if I don't try and write a self-indulgent novella for each post, I may update this more than once every two months.)