7 QT Before Christmas 2014

You know the problem with not blogging regularly?  Every time I sit down to write, it feels like it has to be something really super important or meaningful.  And ain't nobody got time for that!  So just an update to prove we're all alive (mostly) and well (mostly).  Linking up with Kelly...

1)

John-Paul is doing so much better in school since those first few weeks of middle school/new school transitioning.  He is playing basketball for the last year (his words), serving Mass and Latin Mass, hanging out with the middle school youth group, and constantly reading in between any activity.  We mostly yell at him to "Put the book down!" which is really a pretty awesome problem to have.  The above photo was on the way home from the orthodontist office when he found out he was getting braces on Dec. 29th!

2)

Andrew is on the left in that blurry photo - it's hard to get decent action shots with my iPhone.  He is playing basketball, and seems to be really good at it for his age.  He's a 4th grader on a team of 4th through 6th graders, but he plays a lot of the game, calls out plays, sets picks, scores occasionally and is super fast.  He just made the President's List in school too (all A's) and is kinda the kid that you would hate if he wasn't so fun to be around :)  He's also serving Latin Mass now, which is beautiful to watch - they understand it all so much better than I do!  He is usually found outside tossing a ball with Eamon.

3)

Eamon just recently made his First Reconciliation, and is preparing for First Communion this Spring.  He is always, always, always found throwing a ball up and catching it.  If it's not a ball, then it's some other close object.  He's a huge fan of football watching, and believes his stuffed Pat Patriot is a lucky charm so he holds it during the games :)  He is waiting for his basketball season to start, and is getting easily shuffled in the middle of our family (not lost, just hard to find!)

4)

I think I've used this photo of the toothless princess in our house already, forgive me.  Maggie is looking so old without her baby teeth, I love it and hate it at the same time.  She is usually found singing and dancing too close to her brothers for their liking.  So we put music on in the kitchen and have a girl dancing party as we clean up after dinner.  Haters gonna hate, but players gotta play.  Maggie loves reading like John-Paul and is excited to play basketball on the same team as Eamon this year.  She loves playing with her girl cousins and friends at school, and we try to give her special girl time every once in a while too.

5)

Alexander is a super fun, super exhausting, super time consuming, super cute toddler.  Since we have 6 kids, we should be giving each kid about 16.66% of our time, but Xander definitely takes up around 82.99%.  Phew.  He's usually found playing with musical toys, having parades, solving problems while wearing his cape, eating, singing Rudolph the NOSE RED Reindeer (I'm not correcting that cuteness!), coloring on walls and asking for a Magic Eraser "for no reason, I just need one, don't come look at the wall".  I know this stage will pass, and he'll soon turn four, which is my favorite age!

6)

Declan turned 8 months old, and can now clap on, clap off all the livelong day.  He's so stinkin' cute!  That photo is not really showing his cuteness, but it was from the night he started clapping, and documenter extraordinaire I long to be (video on Instagram)Somehow, he's still our happiest and easiest baby ever, and the most trouble he gives us is that he won't finish a bottle.  I can't blame him, though, because I hate finishing the bottom of a drink too.  Like crazy mother, like crazy son.  We recently switched up his daycare providers, and I think he is very happy where he is now...though he doesn't say much!  His favorite activities include fine dining, taking baths, and long walks on the beach.  Just checking if you're still paying attention :)

7)

Phil and I are doing pretty good too, really tired, but who isn't?  We've been waking up earlier than usual to accommodate our new morning routine of occasional exercise and dropping off the baby to the new daycare.  Waking up at 5:15 to 5:30 makes me fall asleep as soon as I sit down at night, which is something I need to work on.  

We're doing a lot of eating too!

We have turned a corner in our parenthood, where we used to have everything and everyone all set for the night by 6:30, and now we are prepping/cleaning/helping with homework/picking up from practices until about 8:00 every night.  Still not bad, as I know the teenage years go way later than that!  But it took us some adjusting and now it's the new normal, and honestly I kinda like it.  I feel a lot more productive and find myself meal planning and prepping a lot more than I used to.  I even made some homemade gifts last night:

Recipe here

I hope you all have a wonderful last weekend before Christmas, and I hope the elves come help with your to-do lists :)