Art Work

I came into the kitchen this afternoon to find this paper hanging on my fridge. Maggie had thoughtfully taken the time to not only make this for me but display it proudly for all to see. Thanks, Maggie, for making your mom smile!

Last Day of School

Where in the world did this year go? I can't believe the girls are done already. My little Kindergartner is going to the first grade! It's amazing how much Maggie has learned.. she is reading, spelling, doing fractions, writing stories..wow! And Katie is sooo excited about going to 2nd grade. Vann is going to be big time too because he gets to go to pre-school at his big sisters school next year. Then I'll only have 2 at home, what will I do with all my spare time?

Memorial Day on Barkley Lake

We love going boating. There is nothing really quite like it. The kids love the rhytmic bounce of the boat in motion and usually crawl under the dash for a nap, or they get their chance to drive the boat which makes them all feel like king of the world. It's fun to watch Brian show each one of them how to navigate the water and how fast to go and what to look out for... it's a real bonding moment for everyone. Of course jumping in the water, going tubing and swimming are major highlights as well as the food!! It's great family fun and we are so glad that summer is here!

Jack..hanging on while the boat is moving

Beau loves to sit there and watch the water spray, he just keeps repeating, "Look..Look"

Vann taking the helm from Brian....

Katie on the tube...

Maggie on the tube....

Fun Family Getaway

Me with Dana, Ashley, Elaine and Jen

We had a great time in North Georgia with my sister, Ashley and friends Elaine, Jen and Dana. We all stayed at my parents house and did a little relaxing, a little shopping, a little dancing, a little talking, a lot of eating and had tons of fun! It's always good to goof off for a few days then get back to my family and enjoy my ever busy life. Would you believe I couldn't even sleep in those three days! I guess your body just gets into a routine.. so sad, I wanted to sleep past 8 o'clock. And Brian actually had a great time at home with kids and even said "This parenting thing is pretty easy!" Good deal, because I might do this again real soon :)

.....Dad, Me, Ashley and Mom

Getting Away For A Few Days

This weekend I am going on a short trip to visit me parents and sister and do a little shopping, eating, laughing and maybe some sleep! I'm excited for this rare childless weekend and intend to rejuvenate and let my hair down all in the same weekend. Hopefully I will have some good pictures to post and maybe Brian will be able to supply me with some good father time stories too!

Soccer Games

Maggie and Katie have just one game left this season and then they will no longer be on the same team again for a few years. Katie will be moving up to juniors and it will be a whole new ballgame for her. No more goofing off in the goal pretending to be a ballerina or practicing on her cartwheels, she is actually going to have a position! They both have alot of fun though, Katie has really excelled and has been following through on her kicks, she is able to kick with both feet now and has a scoring average of 6 at the games. Maggie is still learning the ropes and gets too excited when she gets the ball. She only cares that we are all watching her and tends to kick the ball while watching us with a "look at me" grin and always falls down! Here is a picture of Katie going after it with Maggie looking on.

The girls with Sister T...

Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day at school today. We had muffins, went to Mass and made a craft. We also got to check out the girls' classrooms. We made a "Grace Box" to fill up with all those special things they give me. Afterwards, we rocked out with Sr. T singing Awesome God and Go Make A Difference.

Breakfast

I was feeling guilty since Vann hasn't debuted on the family photos so I grabbed my camera this morning at breakfast to catch him and Maggie goofing off. Sometimes those two are like oil and water because they are just so similar in personality. Maggie just hates it whenever I tell her that!!

The Fabulous Foursome!

The girls are at my nephew Owen's baptism. The blondies are our neices, Shelby and Samantha. They are all pretty inseperable.

Jack loves to eat!! Our little two year old could put Brian under the table when it comes to eating. He always has a smile on his face and, well, he is always eating. Go figure.

I figured out how to upload a picture. This is baby Beau, who is not such a baby anymore. He keeps us all on our toes and definitely a grin on all of our faces. Isn't he adorable? I've got 4 more just like him to show if I can ever get those uploaded too!

I'm so excited!!

I'm so excited to be a part of the blogger world and not on the outside looking in. My goodness, with 5 kids and an active husband I have so much to share with everyone, or do I? I'm worried I won't be up to the same standard as all of my family and friends blog, but I well do my best to be creative. Mostly I just want to give my family an opportunity to keep up with our family since we see each other only a few times a year. We just had our school talent show and Katie and Maggie participated with their grades for the bell chimes. Katie also did an individual performance with her reading of Shel Silversteins poem, "Fancy Dive." It was cute, she had it memorized because she performed it for the past month about 15 times a day. I taught her how to deliver the last line and she nailed it!