The "BVV"

It's here.  Our annual Beach Vacation Video.  This video showcases our week in Avalon, NJ with my brother John and nephew Johnny.

I hope you enjoy it.  I recommend turning up the volume :)

Summer Wrap Up Series: Part 3

The kids had some commitments this summer that kept them occupied.

Vacation Bible School was in July.  Billy and Mary were crew leaders and Ann and Matthew were participants.  Tommy is in that in-between year where he's too old to attend and too young to volunteer so it was just the two of us for a couple of hours at home. 

Or at the diner.

 ....or at Dunkin Donuts

Once August came, it got really busy around here.  Mary is now in high school and band camp is 3 weeks long in the summer.  It was 8-1pm every day, and on some days the woodwinds section stayed until 4.  Add that to the cross country she did almost everyday at 5pm, running up to 7 miles and that girl is my new hero.  She's grown up so much these past couple of months.  Love to see her shine.

Picture day:

In uniform, minus the ascot tie....haven't figured that out yet.

Tommy also had 2 weeks of band camp.  Since I volunteered to help out this year, we had to be there at 7:15 every day.  Mary helped out before she headed over to her camp.  She helped me sell lyres and folios.

I had such a great time helping out this year.  I had a front row seat in seeing these middle school kids go from sounding "so-so" to sounding wonderful at the end of the two weeks.  The parent preview night was rained out, so these poor kids crammed into the auditorium to play for us what they had practiced for two weeks.  Unfortunately they didn't get to march though. 

I tried to capture a video....it starts out slow, but when the brass comes in...I think it sounds great.  Of course I'm going to say that because Tommy plays trumpet :)  They are playing Coldplay's Viva la Vida and also Build Me Up, Buttercup.

Of course I have to give a major shout out to Billy for watching Matt and Ann while I was gone every morning for 2 weeks.  Thanks, Will.

Our twin nephews celebrated their second birthday.  They are just as cute as ever and are the happiest little boys I've ever seen.

Eric and Jason

Matthew and the twins' big brother Michael

Last but not least, I recently sent this text to the Six.

And on that note, that wraps up this Summer Wrap Up Series.

We Interupt This Series....

I'm putting the Summer Wrap Up Series on hold to bring you this important announcement.

School Has Begun.

Monday we had staggered start times.

Mary was first.  Freshman year.  How about that?

Tommy was second.  First day of Middle School.

This is the text I sent Bill after the two of them were off to school.

Next were my elementary school kids.  Ann, 5th grade and Matthew, 2nd grade.

Billy is a sophomore this year. 
He had a delayed start to give those Freshman some adjustment time :)

Oh, wait.  Who's this?

First day of my new, part time job.  More on that later....

And one more first....Matthew started soccer!

Here's hoping for a great year!

Summer Wrap Up: Part Two

It wouldn't be summer without the annual Sexy Six Sleepover.  This is a night in August when my five childhood friends and I get together.  To read more about our history click here. 

In short, we've been friends for over 30 years, named ourselves the Sexy Six, and get together a few times a year -- one of those times is our sleepover.  We take turns hosting and kick out the husbands and kids.

This year, it was my turn to host.  Bill graciously took the kids to his parents' house for the weekend and in turn, Bill's parents graciously took them all in.  Going to spend the weekend at Gran and Gramps' house isn't exactly a hardship for my kids.  See those happy faces?

The girls starting arriving late afternoon.  We hit the 5 o'clock mass...a must due to the "up all night" nature of our festivities.

So basically the night consists of the 6 of us sitting around a table, eating all the food we each contributed, some festive drinks, and lots of catching up.  There's laughter, there's tears, there's total awesomeness....because I love these girls.

We started fading around midnight but then someone had the brilliant idea to turn on '80's music.

Oh, yeah....

We've been doing this pose since 1985

We were fast asleep by 3am but then up again by 8:30.  More food and Mimosas!

It's always sad when it's time to say goodbye.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

Summer Wrap Up, Part One

This post is about Jenny.

My "little" sister in law who was in a serious car accident on July 7th.  I want to thank you all for your prayers for her.  She has made a miraculous recovery.

We had gotten the call that night around 10pm saying we needed to get to the hospital.  We heard the words, "Medivac" and "head injury."  It felt like something out of a movie to be quite honest.  Even though each day brought marked improvements, we thought Jenny and the family were going to have a long road ahead.  We were told it could take years for the old Jenny to come back, if at all.

Prayer requests went out all over the place.  Two great blessings....Large families and email.  Talk about a prayer chain!  We even have a friend who lit a candle at the Vatican.

You probably already know this, but prayer works.  We were lucky in this case that our prayer was God's plan.  I know it doesn't always work out that way.  But when it does, Hallelujah!

Jenny was back home in a little over a month, released from medical care....even outpatient rehab. Can you even believe it??  God is good.

So thank you, fellow blog readers & prayer warriors.  You are in my prayers as well.

Wait, What?

I'm still here, even though it's been over a month since I last posted. Crazy, right?

I'm going to have to do a summer wrap up series to summarize all that's been happening over the last month or so.

I will also be working on our BVV.  ( that is, our Beach Vacation Video)  We just got back from Avalon, NJ today and it may have been one of the best vacation years yet!

But tonight, rather than working on all that, we will be kicking back with a movie, some egg rolls, and a Smirnoff Ice (or 2).  Last day of summer vacation, People.  School starts Monday.

Over and out.