Photos!

 Here are some photos from Bridget's friend of shots that I missed. I never even saw the kids walking down with that sign, cute! Gorgeous dress, I don't think I got a full shot of it myself.

 I can't get this to rotate, just had to show you Patrick's mischievous look in his class photo

 Patrick has always declared himself the goalie even at the stage when no one is supposed to really be the goalie, so this might be one way we'd continue with soccer... if he could have this position.

 I am realizing that he might not get that tired if he is official goalie though.... he got to try this out at a little mini soccer festival last weekend.

 Kids getting another use from the wedding clothes, mass on Mother's Day.

 Megan cheered up Emily with a makeover... check out those freakishly long eyelashes.

 Kindergarten tug of war, Patrick's class won as he is telling everyone. There is an army unit or something attached to the school so the soldiers come out for field day to help out. Sean said that Patrick was probably going nuts when they pulled up in the Humvees with the gun things on top. Sorry Patrick, Daddy isn't in that part of army...

 Where's Waldo? Patrick is on the left side with a black and white hat covering most of his face.

 Fun with ribbons!

 Zoo field trip.... MCS uniforms match the zoo uniform (other random kids in the photo too).

 Cheese! Patrick's good friend Charlie behind him is so chill.

 Baby chimp always gets a crowd.

 Sweet kindergartners... hope they are all still here in 8th grade!

 And this is his favorite part of soccer... the participation medal.

 My monkey. I took ice cream to the 4th grade and Patrick was also out  on the playground then. Lots of energy out there, wow.

 Face paint before the race. Kind of smeared after the sweaty race...

 Ready to go?

 Eating pizza while I sweated it out with Anna?!

 Getting face paint while I sweated it out? Half-zebra she told me.

 Whoo-hoo, another participation medal! She worked hard for this one though.

 Great group of girls!

 Okay, now for the yard portion of the photo stream. I decided to dig out these overgrown plants that just traps leaves and garbage. I thought I could put in my hydrangea bushes there instead. Well, it was no small task, look at that root that I cut through with a shovel. My shoulders hurt as I type this.  I got most of it out, will get the yard men to finish the job, maybe in phase two. I like to walk around and show Sean "stage two". I'm sure he is rolling his eyes but at least he isn't playing a role in phase two. There are just a lot of overgrown bushes or picker bushes that need to go and be replaced with something prettier.

 My latest yard toys. Snake boots! I no longer fear having a snake bite my ankle. I will still run and scream if I see a snake but I am no longer on paranoid high alert every time I prance through the ivy to water flower boxes. And then I got myself a saw for the bigger branches I need to trim. I will hire tree guy to do the big stuff... phase two....

 This was a surprise I found in the back beds, love them! I'm sure my mom knows what they are, I call them pink flowers.

Michigan trip advice for Jeanette

I was just going to email you, Jeanette, but I thought this way my family could chime in with their advice. We mostly go to Stevenson Lake on our trips but that's just for the people, so I will recommend some other places that have more to do and better restaurants (no offense, Stevenson Lake people). The two kinds of trips we have done lately:

1. Beachwalk in Michigan CITY, Indiana. It would be a much shorter drive for you obviously. It's a master planned community across the street from Lake Michigan. Great houses to rent and easy access to a very nice sandy Lake Michigan beach. Then there is stuff to do in Michigan City, good places to eat, some outlet malls. We usually rent here when we have an event at Notre Dame to go to as it's 45 minutes away.

2. Boyne Mountain, Michigan. It will be a bit of a haul for you from Morton but will definitely feel like you're getting away. Northern Michigan is very beautiful and has some great little cities. We stay in condos at Boyne Mountain Resort because my parents have a time share there but there are many places to rent in the area and many are directly on lakes. If you want to rent a boat and do all that fun stuff there are big lakes for that. Torch Lake is amazing and is often compared to the water in the Caribbean. Now, it's not as warm up there though so go in July if you want to swim.  Lake Michigan beaches are fabulous but can be windy and rough.

There are other lakes in that area too but I am forgetting the names, so Michigan people, put some things in comments to help out. Petoskey has lots of good restaurants, as does Boyne City, some of the best in Michigan I would wager. Bay Harbor is unbelievable, many multi-million dollar homes overlooking the bay (including Madonna's although I am skeptical that she ever goes there). You can drive for hours looking at homes up there and there is the Tunnel of Trees that is so cool. Many, many homes and lots for sale as the economy is terrible up there. They will be grateful if you eat and shop there.

OH and you can go to Mackinac Island for an easy day trip from there. Just catch the ferry in the morning and enjoy the day. Wow, that would be fun to just stay there too although it gets super crowded and the Grand Hotel is very expensive. There are other places to stay though. We had a great time riding bikes around the island. The kids want to go back and do it all again this summer but it is such a drive, ugh. Maybe next year we will fly into Traverse City and skip that part.

Okay, that is all my advice for now. Short drive or long drive, either way you can get to someplace great. We are skipping the big trip this summer I think. Kids can go to Virginia but I am too exhausted to deal with the logistics of a big family trip. The wedding trip was perfect!

Ready to slow down

Like everyone else, we've had too much going on lately. Lots of activities wrapping up but that just means end of season picnics and banquets and recitals (the last of which we are skipping due to lack of time and motivation to practice). I haven't bothered to take many photos because none of them turn out at these types of events. I will just summarize them for family record:

Patrick and Anna had their school music program, something patriotic and Anna had a little speaking part. Patrick wore his hat pulled down too far over his face, now I think I did get a photo of that at least, it was hilarious. The new music teacher is fantastic and full of energy and I feel like I need to give her envelopes of unmarked bills to bribe her to stay at MCS as long as possible.

We also had the school picnic at Anneberg Park this year which was a nice change (playground is fenced in) and we had a huge turnout. We do love the other families at MCS so I look forward to all these events so I can see friends. I went on Patrick's class field trip to the zoo last week too, again, mostly to see other parents. I spent most my time literally running after the group I was in charge of though. I am feeling old these days.

Megan had her last track meet, the conference one and she ran in two relays and got ribbons so she was happy about that. This was definitely a learning year and I look forward to seeing how she does in the future. She tried high jump but I think that desire is gone now. She likes sprinting and her time improved once she started using blocks. Imagine that. Patrick had his last soccer game/practice before he moves up to the next level where they have real teams. He has a love/hate relationship with soccer so we aren't sure if/how we will continue. We will never be in a position where we can do traveling teams but perhaps we can find ways to participate at a less intense level. He is happy just kicking the ball with us in the backyard....

Anna had her Girls on the Run 5k on Sunday which was the end of a really long program, like nine weeks I think. It is more about life lessons than running which was what Anna needed. I think she will do it again in the fall because she loved it so much and then we can also have her do the cross country club which is mostly about running (and is much much much cheaper). It sounds like I am booking up the fall pretty solid too, hmm. Haven't even tackled summer yet. Anyway, I was Anna's running buddy so I went with her to motivate her. It was very hot and we weren't speedy but we finished and she had fun. The kids all made me cards and various crafts for Mother's Day too.

Then this week it cooled down for Emily's preschool picnic and the MCS field day. Usually those are both hot events. Sean and I worked the ball toss game and my back is paying the price now. Too much picking up bean bags. After that Megan had her track water balloon fight which was not as fun in the cold either. Megan also had her music program at school, both band and vocal. I can't believe how much better they sound this year, lots more practicing required. Anna will start band next year and has chosen the saxophone she thinks so we are tuning up Sean's old sax for her to use. What luck!

This fabulous music teacher is offering free lessons this summer too just to keep the kids in the habit of practicing. I need to sign up for those...  summer is filling up fast though. Patrick and Anna are doing First Tee golf program. Megan is doing volleyball which I just found out will be having 5 practices or games each week. Hmm. It will really help prepare them for the school season in the fall though. Emily is thrilled to be in some dance classes and in fact sobbed when she found out they didn't start the day after her school was over. She is ready to go. We have some other camps lined up too, Vacation Bible School, Jr CYO camp, writing camp, reading classes, basketball camp... we need this to minimize the electronic addictions though. Too much time sitting around the house is bad news. Patrick could spend his entire day watching YouTube videos of kids and adults talking about Legos and Star Wars. It is such a strange genre...

Photos tomorrow if any of them turned out. I just had to post this boring update for the kids someday.

iPhone photos

 Reception was so beautiful, also a good shot of the girls in their coordinating dresses.

 I was not coordinating, nor particularly springy. I rented this dress before their spring dresses came out. Lesson learned.

Some how this is the only shot I have of the boys. Okay, that is all for now. I need to go figure out what is happening in our normal life now, probably a chaotic week ahead since it is May.

Wedding Weekend Photos

Bridget and Anthony got married in Virginia this past weekend and I have photos from some of the events. I just tried to get shots that the professional wasn't getting and then some of my kids since they rarely all dress up at the same time. Just realized that I didn't get any of Sean and me together but I remember posing for one. Hmm, wonder whose camera that was? Too tired for the full recap but needless to say every detail was perfect for this wedding and Nana deserves many months off now!

 Anna before the rehearsal

 Caroline and Andy. We had some time before dinner so just hung out at the winery and took photos. And maybe drank some wine...

 LEO

 The horse barn at the winery. They have polo matches there, just a gorgeous venue.

 The kids did go under the chain at some point...

 I'm so white.

 Nana, Pops, Bridget and all the grandkids. This was a challenging shot.

 Pops somehow got stuck at the kid table at the rehearsal dinner... such a good sport.

 Before the wedding

 The lighting was perfect

 So serious, must have been thinking about the Lego bribe he was offered by Sean. He was supposed to help manage the younger three kids as they went down the aisle and then stood up front.

 This is more like his personality...

 Reception set up

 Caroline and Pops going over their speeches, both of which went very well.

 Perfect weather for the outdoor ceremony, a stark contrast to the pouring rain they had earlier in the week.

 Just a random close up of Emily. I need to get this camera out more often.

 Sean and some of the kids by the horses. You can kind of see the mud stains on Patrick's pants. It was kind of ridiculous how quickly he did that...

 This was at least after the ceremony....

 Caroline and Sienna

 So anxious to get some food

 Happier with a fruit plate in front of him, great idea.

 Annie and Maria stopping to chat.

 Who is this ham?

 Pops during his speech.

 The first dance, hard to not get the real photographer in all my shots.

 The beginning of "get down, get down" on the dance floor.

 Patrick was done with photos for the night...

 Cupcakes! and thousands of cookies! Not kidding. I am sick just thinking about them, ate so many.

 Jay and Anna getting down. Anna LOVED dancing at this wedding which was the opposite of two years ago at Jackie's wedding. Megan loved dancing at Jackie's, kind of skipped dancing this time. I think age ten must be a less self conscious age than twelve.

He slept like this for a while at the end. Kids were all so tired but we stayed until sparklers at the end.

Iphone photos next...