Lyons Den Mom

Home sweet home - setting up house for five tykes under four

I relished giving all five of our children bottles on the front porch. Watching them play in the backyard. Helping them climb up the stairs, out of cribs and into my arms. In the seven years we’ve lived here, our babies have become children and we’ve all grown older and wiser. It’s time to move on. But it’s so hard to go. Especially when I don’t know where the road will lead us. I can only hope that when we find our second house, it too will quickly become a home as sweet as this.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day with the family at St. Patrick's Day Cathedral

We finally arrived on the steps of St. Pat’s where we met my husband, Liam and Ciara and were eventually joined by my parents, brother, sister-in-laws, niece, nephews and friends old and new. As the pipers played and drummers drummed, I said a silent thank you to St. Patrick. Not just for chasing the snakes out of Ireland but, for giving us one day a year to honor our heritage, tap our toes to the music, wear our green with pride and truly cherish our family; St. Patrick’s Day is a reminder of just how blessed I am to look into smiling little Irish eyes and see the wonder of the world from their point of view – for it is a very nice view indeed.

Twas the week before St. Patty's Day - a poem about prepping for our family holiday

Twas the week before St. Patty's Day

The Battle of the Zoos - Dublin vs the Bronx - VIDEO

I am a zoo-lover.  To me, one of the gratifications of having children is the ability to share my love of animals and wildlife and create little zoo-lovers to follow in my footsteps.  With five tykes seven and under, we've been quite busy exploring every zoo within reasonable -- and not so reasonable --distance from our home in the suburbs of New York City.  To date, we've been lucky enough to visit the   National Zoo in Washington D.C., the San Francisco Zoo ...

The Bronx Zoo (on numerous occasions) and, on one stellar day, the Dublin Zoo.