7QT: The Week Off

How have I not posted for a whole week?  Thank goodness Kelly keeps me accountable on Fridays with her Seven Quick Takes link-up!

1)

This was our February vacation week here in Massachusetts, so that's why everything felt a bit off kilter.  On Valentine's Day, which also happened to be the coldest day of the winter here (-9 degrees when we walked out the door at 7 am), we took the kids to breakfast.  If you're gonna take the kids out to eat, breakfast is by far the easiest - everybody's in good moods, there's so much food that even picky toddlers like, and it's way cheaper than dinner out.

We got asked if they were all siblings twice, and if they were all ours a few times, and got about 99 stares and out-loud counting of how many children we had.  They were mostly older people, so they probably didn't realize they were counting out loud, but geez.  Our waitress was very nice though, and was excited to tell us that the cook came from a family of 9 kids.  I love having a big family so much, but it's a little challenging for an introvert to be the center of attention whenever we are all out together.  Although I totally get it, I still stare and count heads when I see a big family :)

2)

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we headed to the Cape and stayed at a resort that had lots of fun activities for the kids during vacation week.  We will definitely be making this an annual overnight - it was a blast!  They had a nice big pool and jacuzzi that the kids lived in while they weren't doing some other activity.

3)

The first morning there, we went to the Breakfast with Elmo.  John-Paul eats like he's never seen food, and he's so fit, it drives me crazy - oh to be an *almost* teenage boy!  

When Elmo came out, Declan ran away until we finally talked him into getting this close:

And Xander just said he would go see Elmo later.  Then after Elmo was long gone, he said he was ready to see him, and I said it was too late because he went back to Sesame Street  The boys asked Xander why he was scared of Elmo and he yelled "I'm not scared!  I just wanted to see him LATER!"  Ok, Xander, you do you.

4)

While we were at the hotel, the genetic counselor called with results from the testing.  She told me that the baby looks awesome, and all test results came back extremely low-risk.  Phew!  I was really on the fence about getting these tests done, but now that the results are good, I feel like I can go through the rest of this pregnancy without worrying!  

13 weeks with a healthy baby!!

She asked me if I wanted to know the gender, and I wanted to scream YES! but I told her to put it in an envelope and I would pick it up later.  I called Phil, who was down at the pool with the kids (I was in the hotel room while Declan napped) and let him know the good news, and we tried to figure out when we could pick up the envelope and go out to dinner to open it.  But we couldn't really get the logistics of it all down, and I was dying to find out, so I called back the office and asked them to leave me a message on my phone telling me the gender.  They did, and when Phil got back to the room after swimming, we snuck into the bathroom and listened to the message.  "It's a ......

5)

...baby!"  

You didn't think I was going to tell you that easily, did you?  Hahaha, we will share as soon as the kids know.  They want to cut into a cake to see the frosting color - pink for girl, blue for boy - but we gave up sweets for Lent so we have to wait until Saturday night to reveal their new brother or sister to them.  I might actually make cupckes with m&ms inside, that would be yummers.  Speaking of sweets, we actually broke our Lenten fast the whole time we were on the Cape, because there were ice cream parties, and ice cream gift certificates, and Trader Joe's Scandinavian gummy candies to be had. 

Soooo good, and my thighs wish I never discovered them!

 But I think God will understand because I told Him we were breaking the fast on these two days before Lent even started.  That's totally a get-out-of-purgatory move, right?

Phil and I shared the sampler - 6 scoops of ice cream!  Xander had a little bowl envy :)

6)

After our wonderful overnight trip, we headed back to my parent's house where we will be living while our kitchen gets renovated!!  Thank you all for your helpful tips on my last post.  We will be going with a white island, and white subway tile as a back splash to tie it together.  You guys are the coolest!  Since living at my parent's (they are in Florida), Declan has made a new bestie:

I tried to have him give up the pacifier for Lent but he said he was focusing on his prayer life instead, and who am I to judge?

7)

Eamon broke his toe when he banged it into a door jam at my parent's house.  

But got a hot chocolate out of the deal, so not too shabby.  What's also good timing is that he was supposed to play in three tournament basketball games for his All Star team this weekend, and the games were an hour away, and we were dreading it, and now he can't play.  I mean, I wouldn't want him to break his toe to get me out of driving hours and hours, but it was a nice perk of the whole situation for us.  Not for him, he's bummed, and his team is down the cutest little point guard.  Seriously, I always prided our family on not breaking any bones with all the sports they play (even Phil and I never have) and Eamon is shattering (pun very much intended) our family record with two broken bones within 5 months.  Aye aye aye.

7)

So we'll see you on the flip side with a pink or blue announcement!  

Tata for now!

Peace out!