At Colleen's Apartment

Mary Kate and I made the 7-hr drive to FSU today, and we're staying in Colleen's apartment tonight. MK starts her freshman orientation tomorrow evening, and we came up a day early. We went out to dinner with Colleen and her boyfriend Jimmy, then back to a game of Uno Attack with roommates and friends.

New Tattoos

Tim and Sean were upstairs in Mary Kate's room and called me up to show me their new "tattoos" drawn with dry erase markers.  Sean told Tim they needed to look mean in the picture.

Cupcake Bakery

 Mary Kate and Amanda strike again. They baked two different kinds of cupcakes over the weekend. Friday night it was the whale cupcakes.  Last night it was the cupcakes decorated to look like pies.  MK took the pies into her class today.  Our family gets the "extras" much to the delight of John and Sean...the biggest sugar-addicts in the house.

Office Ladies Reunited

Amanda, Mary Kate, and Rebecca, aka "The Office Ladies" who volunteered together for years in the religious-ed office.....posing after Mass this morning.  Amanda and Rebecca are both home from college for the summer, and the three of them are enjoying time together again.

Soccer Girl

Tessa displaying her medal for playing in the "World Cup" soccer league.  She's had a lot of fun playing in the 4 v 4 games.

Honor Grad

Senior Awards Banquet was tonight, and Mary Kate got two of her cords: Honor Cord for GPA and Service Cord for earning more than 250 service hours. 

Chinese for Dinner

Chinese take-out for dinner, and I braved the Early-Bird packed parking lot in order to pick it up. Dangerous place to drive, for sure.  Sean is not happy, since he wanted pizza.

Beachside Pickup

My stoplight view as I was driving to pick up Mary Kate and friends from their overnight after-prom.

May 13th....Mary Kate's Prom

Prom day for 18yo Mary Kate.  She and her boyfriend Justin went with a large group of friends, and had a great time.  They looked wonderful, too.

Business Trip

Kevin leaving on his first business trip. His expression says it all, "Why are you taking my picture?"  Couldn't help myself .  :-)

Magnolia Blossom

 Outside my kitchen window is a Little Gem Magnolia Tree.  The first blossoms are coming out and they're beautiful.

Happy Mother's Day

 With 7 kids, getting everyone together as they get older is getting difficult. So whenever it happens, I try to get a picture of them. The kids at Tessa's First Holy Communion yesterday.. ....From left back: Tim, Kevin, Colleen, Mary Kate, Clare holding onto Sean, and Tessa in white.

Tessa's Special Day

                                             Tessa received her First Holy Communion today. 

Beauty Shop

Colleen is hairstylist tonight, experimenting with Tessa's hair and veil to see what the best style is for the big day tomorrow. 

Pretzel Factory

 Colleen is making chocolate-dipped pretzels for Tessa's First Holy Communion party on Saturday. They've been sampled by everyone that's home right now and declared delicious.  Note the margaritas in the picture....Cinco de Mayo :-)

Sean and Tessa

At the end of swim lesson, Sean floats on a noodle and tries to squirt mom.

Tessa at her Field Day.

Muffins with Mom

Sean's preK class had a special Mother's Day breakfast this morning. Muffins and juice were served, and then we saw the kids sing some songs for us, present us with a special booklet they made with handprints and some of their favorite things about them and mom.

Home Again

                        Colleen's home for the week, and bunking upstairs with Mary Kate.

Happy, Proud Tears

 Mary Kate with "Aunt" Fran, a life-long close friend and religious-ed teaching mentor to MK, at the Confirmation Banquet tonight. MK made the "Where Do We Go From Here" speech talking about how to continue growing in your faith and become involved in the parish. Listening to her talk, and seeing what a faith-filled, loving, kind, funny, smart young woman she's become brought tears to my eyes.  I'm so proud to be her mom. 

Wolves and Fairy Godmothers

   This morning I chaperoned Tessa's 2nd grade class on a field trip. We walked to the high school, about 4 blocks away, to see a school production of "Mother Goose Was Eaten by Werewolves."  The Fairy Godmother and Wolf were walking around, talking to the kids before the show started.

Beach Afternoon

Tessa and Clare Surfing

Tim and Tessa

Sean

Lesley and Mary Kate

 The kids had an early release day from school, so after lunch, we headed northeast to Palm Beach Shores to meet up with old friends. They had a blast playing in the surf and sand, riding boogie boards, building sand castles, and it was great to spend the time with our friends John and Lesley. I can't believe it's been almost 17 years since we moved from Atlanta, where we were neighbors and great friends. Lesley used to babysit for Kevin, Colleen, and Mary Kate when I worked part-time, and MK was often found cuddling on Lesley's lap. We spent many summer afternoons at their house, along with several other families, the kids all swimming and the moms chatting.

Courtside Seats

Sean and Tessa sitting courtside, watching Clare's basketball game.  During every timeout, water break, and halftime, they ran onto the court with their basketballs and took some shots. Sean never got the ball more than 2 feet above his head, but Tessa made quite a few baskets.

Bike Ride

                                  Sean is enjoying his new Spiderman bike he got for his birthday.  

Zoo Field Trip

  I spent the day at the zoo with Tessa and the 2nd grade.  Lots of fun, but exhausting.

Wednesday March 30th, Giving little brother a lift

   Sean loves having big brother Kevin around to give him shoulder rides and toss him around.

First Basketball Game

Tessa's playing basketball for the first time, and managed to take 5 shots, and got one in!  We noticed that although she's definitely right-handed, she dribbles left-handed the majority of the time.

Thursday, March 24th--Lacrosse Fan

  Mary Kate explaining the poor ref calls during a high school lacrosse game.  She was pretty upset about it.

She's Off !

  Tessa took off on her own this morning. This is the second day she's tried riding without training wheels, and looked like an experienced bike rider. 

Game Night

                                                          Playing FSU-opoly.

On the Hunt

                             Wild Saturday night at home, playing "Big Game Hunter" on the Wii.

Ears Flapping in the Breeze

  Our dog, Jack, loves to ride in the car.  If I'm going to pick up the kids from school and don't take him, he'll sit by the door and howl when I'm leaving.  He came with us this afternoon and was so happy to stick his head outside of the window with his ears flapping. 

Mardi Gras

  Kevin and Jen cooked dinner and made a delicious Jambalaya Pasta.  Dessert was King Cake.

No More Dirty Dog

                              Bath time for Jack. The kids are having a blast.  Jack...not so much.

Friday, March 4th. Girl Scout Camping

                                   Clare was pretty excited to go on her first Girl Scout campout.   

Thursday, March 3rd. Shaving Sean

 I heard Sean making buzzing sounds from the bathroom and looked in to find him pretending to shave with Kevin's electric razor.

Sunday, February 27th, Nurse Tessa

                                             Tessa was playing in my lab coat and stethescope.

Winter in South Florida

                                          Shorts + Jacket = Cold weather outfit in South Florida

Nothing Says Love Like Meatloaf

   Dinner tonight is meatloaf, mashed potatoes & gravy, salad and corn. I make my meatloaf stuffed with monterey jack cheese, ketchup glaze and bacon on top. Thought I'd decorate the top for Valentine's Day.

Sunny Superbowl Sunday

 While the rest of the country has had snowstorms and colder than usual temps, we've been having warmer than usual weather this week.  It's been sunny and in the low 80's .   Even with the warm temps, our pool water is still pretty cool this time of year, so the kids mostly stayed on the floats.

Saturday, Feb 5th. Cowboy Sean

                         At a friend's birthday party at one of our local parks, Sean loved the pony rides. 

Friday, Feb 4th. Dancing the Night Away

                                       Clare and Tessa at their school's Valentine's Day Dance.