Thomas's first birthday

Wow is August a busy birthday month.  A few days after Max's birthday was Thomas's first birthday.  I cannot believe how big he is getting.  He is toning down his yelling and loves to eat and play with his siblings.  We love him so much, and are so glad blessed us with him!

Max's 5th birthday

Max turned 5, and picked a lego ninjago party for his special celebration.  Now, these parties require a bit of work despite being mostly family parties.  However, I find it so special to spend time and energy focusing on just one kid on his/her birthday.  The birthday child gets to pick the meals for the day and the theme of their party.  It is so heartwarming to see the other kids pitch-in to help get all the decorating done.  We all enjoyed staying up late to decorate the house for Max.

Patrick's 40th birthday

Patrick turned the big 4-0 and we had a pool party with lots of friends.  Hopefully he felt special on his special day as he is so special to all of us!

August 2013

The easiest way to make up for my horrible job at keeping this updated is just to highlight the "highlights" of the last several months in order.  So here is August.  August brought a visit from great friends for  Patrick's (gulp...) 40th  birthday.  We just love getting together with them to watch the friendships between the kids blossom anew every year.  Plus, we get to hang out, drink, play cards, cook, cook, swim, do laundry, have adventures, cook....cook....not necessarily in that order.  So here we go.

Long Course Swim Team

The kids have spent the summer in the "big pool" swimming long course team.  It is a great change for them as they rethink and train their bodies for these longer races.  We had a huge meet out in the hot sun over three days.  The kids enjoyed the swims and the downtime with friends spent playing cards and eating.  My how much swimmers do eat!  The little ones were sick so Patrick and I took turns at home with them.  We all learned some things over that weekend.  Sean learned the importance of flip-turns.  I learned he has quite the competitive side (just who is that screaming like a maniac kid on the relay team?) Sarah learned how to better pace her stroke and breathing on the breast stroke so she doesn't look like a hamster in a wheel, as her coach said.  Luke learned it is hard to leave a swim meet for scout camp, but was glad he did...scout camp involved lots of fun as well.  It also had him on the winning canoe race team!

15 years....a few days late

Patrick and I weren't together for our 15th anniversary.  I was up in Cleveland with the kids and he was back working and getting ready to head on his mission trip to Bolivia.  Seeing as he is the thoughtful, romantic in our relationship, and I generally think of beer as a great gift for him, I decided to surprise him with a getaway trip when we returned.  I planned a trip to the mountains for us, and once I had childcare arranged and things packed up, I headed up to Boone, NC to pick him up from his day at the office up there.  We then hit an Indian food restaurant for lunch (what a treat), and then headed to Linville Falls for some hiking.  It was a lovely day with plenty of sun, which is rare here this summer (unfortunately).  A long, romantic, hand-held hike, it was not.  We had people chuckling along the path, as we raced from lookout-point to lookout-point.  Some box-jumps on stumps and racing led to a sweaty hike, but it was really a fun time.  Then we headed to Asheville, via a long-cut and some repeated sights, but we got there eventually.  We spent the night at the Grand Bohemian hotel which was really eclectic and fun.  We walked to a great dinner, had a great breakfast the next morning, and then hit the Vanderbilt Mansion.  It was beautiful and amazing, and gigantic.  Our tour through the home resembled the hike the day before.  We were running through the home and passing people on all sides.  (Patrick wasn't nearly as amazed at the home as I was...."yeah, yeah, another bedroom...") We made to the Basilica of St. Lawrence for noon Mass and then headed to downtown Asheville for some lunch.  We arrived home to one sick child (everyone else had been sick before we left).  And then Lucy proceeded to flood the bathroom at bath time and water made its way to the basement.  But we remained remarkably calm through it all.  It is blessing what a little quiet, relaxing, alone time can do!

Half-way through

Well, here we are at the half-way point of summer.  I had fully intended to back to school full time by now.  Yeah....that isn't going to happen.  Due to the near back-to-back arrivals of Lucy and Thomas, my bigger kids haven't had a true summer break in years.  They seem to be soaking up the fun of summertime, and I have decided to gently ease back learning.  We will do math, piano, and reading everday starting yesterday.  They are swimming 4 mornings a week, so we have to count that too, I suppose.  And that leaves lots of time for summer fun.  We had  playdates at our house 3 days this past week.  Sarah attended a week of sleep-away summer camp the week before (LOVED IT!).  Sarah, Sean, and Max have science camp following swim team everyday this week.  Luke has boy scout camp the week after that.  Our best friends from San Antonio come to town the week after that.  We celebrate 4 birthdays nearly in a row following that.  And then Luke and Sarah hit to the skies to head up to Connecticut to visit their cousins for a week.  So school should be back in full-swing by the end of August.  Just like it is for most "normal school kids" I guess.  I will try to hit science and art with kids before then....but grammar, latin, history.....the end of August it will be.  The kids are elated at this, and I keep looking at a daunting to-do list that needs done before packing and moving start in earnest.  (Just a few miles down the road folks!)  So here are a few more scenes from a summer well-spent.