Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Epiphany

I know…I know…It's January but I am a little behind! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, New Years, and Epiphany. We have been back in Ireland now for 5 days and two of the four of us are still having serious jetlag (T and I). I even got a phone call from T's school on Monday that he was so tired and he actually fell asleep at his desk. Oops! That was definitely a little embarrassing but the school was so nice about it, and agreed it was best to just have T stay at school to get back on schedule. They knew we had just made the trip back from the US. 
On New Years Day I got a phone call from my aunt in Canada that my mother was in the hospital. Apparently everyone in Ireland decided it was best not to inform me until they knew what was going on with her. Its such an Irish thing to do! I was so grateful my aunt called me. I made everyone promise to NEVER do that to me again. After almost 48 hrs of testing they determined my mother had a mild stroke (it was a bleed in her brain not a clot). She spent two days in a chair in the hallway until a room opened up for her with a bed. (this is where we are headed everyone - socialized medicine!) I was really emotional for the day  and wanted to go back to Ireland, but everyone there (including my mother) made me promise that its best to stay in the US until the 10th. She wanted the children to be with Joe as long as possible. Luckily there is so much family over here and she was getting visitors all day long, meals, etc. I was grateful for that. My mother has a lot of family history of strokes and heart attacks so its in her blood. I guess I just never thought it would happen at 70. So far the only side effect is her right peripheral vision is gone and she is unable to read. She can see the letters but does not understand what they mean. They don't know yet if that will return. So as of right now she is unable to drive so I'm thankful we will be here for another 6 months. She is supposed to start therapy soon (still waiting for the discharge letters from the hospital in the mail). 
On the bright side we had a great trip home and it was probably a week too long since the children got comfortable back in their American lifestyle. We had a hard time getting them back on the plane except for L. L could not wait to get back to Nanny's house and her preschool. I was afraid we were going to have to pull out the metal chains for the other 2 children. It was great though to see everyone at home. We fit a lot into a three week period - buffalo wing factory, ice-skating, soccer sleep over, snow storm, visiting with friends, buffalo wing factory again, cousin sleepover, big family dinners, shopping, date night, more shopping, another date night with friends, daddy date nights, arctic vortex, more visiting with friends and family. It was a wonderful Christmas vacation!

Christmas Day