Everyday Happenings

~ Even though it may have seemed like I was off on some exotic vacation because of the lack of posts recently, I was really just home here in good ol' Pennsylvania.

Not me.

~ The Fourth of July was awesome.  I love holidays like these.  They give you the excuse to chillax.

Tommy and I went for a bike ride.

Bill beat me in Scrabble.

 We got out the sprinkler and hose.

We got the kids sparklers for the first time.  We had them gather in a circle with their sparklers together.  Bill lit them all at once and since the kids didn't know what to expect, they dropped them and ran off screaming.  Most of them got over the fright, but poor Ann never recovered and only watched from the sidelines.

 

~ The kids' dinner-making has been slow this summer.  However,  Billy made empanadas last week and they were delicious.

4 out of 5 kids approved.

~ random shots of....

 

Basketball

Haircuts

Tempers

Silliness

Hideouts

Illness

Creativity

Vader

~ I'm getting my haircut tomorrow.  I had tried to do the "color in a box" thing, but I seem to be missing all of the gray!  I'm going to a new salon so this is the picture I'm bringing with me. 

Any thoughts?  Mary Kate doesn't like it, which is a little hurtful since I think it's my current style but longer.


~ If you're still with me, I would just like to mention that on my sidebar there is a spot to sign up to receive these riveting posts in your email inbox.  I know it's frustrating to check here and find I have not updated in a while.  Also, I've been hoping the count for my followers reaches 40 sometime before the year 2020.  So, if you'll notice, I'm following myself now, thank you very much.

~ I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get my new background to go all the way to the top.  It's driving me CA-RAZY!

 **It's fixed!!  Thanks to Casey from Hot Bliggity Blog for coming to my aid.

~I hope your summer is going well.  Keep in mind, this post is 25% of what we are doing these days.  The other 75% is complaining, boredom, fresh talk, and me wishing it was August 26th!  Just wanted to keep it real, people.  Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Weekend Highlights

I sure was happy to see the weekend come on Friday.  Some of my besties and me went out for a nice dinner.  You know you're with good friends when you each get a dessert and then pass them around for everyone to share!

Danielle, Cathy, me, and Andrea

Saturday morning I took Mary Kate to her track meet.  I'm not sure when I will learn that I never need to be there as early as they tell me to be, but  4 hours later we were done!  And boy was it ever cold. 

Mary Kate passes the baton to her friend Elizabeth

Saturday night brings us to a visit from Johnnette Benkovic at our parish.  For those who aren't familiar with her, she is a Catholic evangelist who has her own show on EWTN, hosts a radio show, speaks at conferences and retreats, and the list goes on.  She was fantastic; such a dynamic speaker.  I'm still digesting all she had to say.  I wasn't allowed to take photos once the talk started, but here's a picture of my beautiful church.

Another exciting event that happened here this weekend was the baptism of two very special boys.

My friend Eileen and her husband Ben baptized baby Henry on Sunday.  Eileen and I became friends a few years ago when she joined Moms And Tots.  She gifted me and Bill with the honor of being Henry's godparents.

My other Moms and Tots friend Emily and her husband Chris baptized their baby Stephen too!!   How cool was that to have a joint baptism for two close families?  And wouldn't you know, the godmother they chose for him is Jen, who is from Moms and Tots as well!  Stephen's journey here is as exciting as his mama's.  To read their story click here.

Emily and Stephen (l); Eileen and Henry (r)

 

Time for a little celebration afterwards...

 

 

 It was a great day.

The party was sort of like Linner ( between lunch and dinner = Linner)

The kids were STARVING come bedtime.  They were all smiles with either PB & J or cereal.

 

I made this cake today.....

 

For my little patriots.

 

With the changes in routine around here the kids have been troopers.  I'm so proud of them.

I love them so much.

Weekend Highlights

Is it bad to be thankful that the baseball game Friday night was rained out?  As much as I love to watch the boys play, being home on a Friday night is much more appealing.

That's how our weekend started and we were all in our pj's, snuggled in on the couch, eating popcorn, and watching Rise Of The Guardians by 8pm!  Pure heaven.

Saturday morning Tommy and I headed to his First Communion Retreat. It was a special morning together.  Okay, more special for me, but fun nonetheless.  While we were there Bill had the other kids at Opening Day Ceremonies at Little League.  Around noon we traded off--me to the track meet---him to snack stand duty.  We reconnected later in the afternoon.  It was a beautiful day so we snuck in a walk.

We had a special dinner Saturday night to celebrate Bill's new job.  (by special I mean we ate in the dining room instead of the kitchen and used fancy glasses to toast him)  I can't tell you how proud I am of Bill.  This promotion is not something he "went after" but was something he was summoned for, which speaks volumes if you ask me.   It will mean some changes within our family for a while, but Bill has proven many times over that he lets it impact us as little as possible.  He truly is THE BEST.

The rained out baseball game was rescheduled for Sunday at noon, which means we had to get up early for the 9am mass.

By my calculations, that was an entire weekend without Fox and Friends.  Boo!
We should be able to sneak it in next weekend before one track meet, two baseball games, a visit from Johnette Benkovic from EWTN, and two very special babies being baptized, where yours truly is the Godmother to one! 

Stay tuned!