Week in Review: Olympic Excitement, Spectacular Sunsets, Family Togetherness, and Superbowl Sundae

 Happy February Friday!

This week brought the stomach bug to the parents in the Martin house, and while the male species got a mild case, the female didn't know if she was going to make it through the night.  But she did!  With the male's help, whatta guy.  He was also the cause of spread virus but still, it was as romantic as it gets nowadays.

I'm very excited for the Olympics to start and hoping the Opening Ceremony doesn't offend my faith this time.  

What were they thinking?

Let's just have a nice non-political celebration of these awesome individuals who make me cry because they are so talented and determined and strong, m'kay?  Also me:

Catholic Schools Week got split into two weeks due to snow days, and the only photos I got were of the "Parent Picnic" where Maggie got to appear as the third parent she's pretended to be all her life:

It was also crazy hair and wear your clothes backwards day, in case you think he always looks like this.

And the 100 Days of School, where Declan turned his favorite bball player into the number 100 and Brendan dressed as a centenarian who has fallen one too many times and now wears a life alert (he just wanted an excuse to wear Maggie's old boot):

Week in Review: Snow Globe, Prom Dress Stress, and a Fitness Faux Pas

 Happy last Friday in January!  Did y'all het hammered with snow and/or cold temps this past week?  We sure did!

JP's roommate digging out in Pittsburgh

Grandpa looking at the snow drift outside the window

Andrew's view of campus

Eamon + friends playing in the snow

Week in Review: Say it Ain't Snow, Skin and Bones, Tata Toys and Anyone Have a Meatball Recipe?

 Happy Friday!  Winter has certainly arrived in Massachusetts, and driving home from watching the Patriots game at my brother's house was frightful.  I put the Rosary on and we prayed our way home.

But it was worth watching the Pats win and *most likely* go to the Superbowl.  My niece's boyfriend is working in construction on a house across the street from Drake Maye's house, and his wife Ann, who is famous for being the cutest baker, brought over cookies one day to the crew.  How sweet!

Phil made pigs-in-blankets and I made a Maple Dijon dipping sauce and those suckers got eaten up fast!

Week(s) in Review: Back to Ordinary Life

Happy Friday!  I'm looking forward to a three-day weekend as these five day workweeks after Christmas break have felt extra long.  Do you feel the same?

JP went back to Pittsburgh on Dec. 31 because he had to fly out to a wedding in Nebraska on Jan. 1 (he did a reading) and school started back up for him on Jan. 5.  He loves any chance he has to get back with his college buddies!

There was one night this week that I looked at the kids' locations and I saw JP and Andrew were 1 building away from each other in Pittsburgh.  Turns out JP was still at school studying and Andrew was at a Duquesne basketball game with friends.  So close!

Christmas Break 2025: Disney Springs, Aquatica, Celebration and New Year's in Maryland

On the day after Christmas (and a long park day at Busch Gardens) we stayed at the resort for the day.  The bigs played pickleball before swimming, and the littles just swam all day:

After showering and dinner, we surprised the kids with some Christmas gifts!  We had originally asked them if they would rather have gifts or a vacation for Christmas, and they chose a vacation unanimously.  But then JP mentioned wanting an instant pot for his apartment, and Eamon needed a winter coat, and my mother's heart couldn't only buy two kids gifts...so one purchase led to another, multiply by seven and carry a one to make it all "fair" and we ended up with some presents for everyone.  They really had no clue, so it was extra fun to give them gifts:

Christmas Break 2025: Florida and Christmas and Busch Gardens, Oh My!

We arrived in beautiful Davenport, FL (right outside of Orlando) on Tuesday, Dec. 23 "Christmas Adam" and drove straight to Publix, which is such a treat of a grocery store but the prices - oh my!  Next time we will just go to Walmart.  The Grinch happened to be passing out candy, and we split into three teams and divided the list into threes and off we went...

The weather for the week could NOT have been any better, it was sunny and 78 degrees every single day that we were there.  It was cool enough to run in the mornings too and this is why we dream of being snowbirds one day.

We settled into the rental house, which was really perfect except for a dirty rug and walls (why get a white rug in a rental?) and the handprints on the wall reminded me of home.  But a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom house feels LUXURIOUS to this family of nine, since we're used to living in a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home.  Oh my! I don't have a photo of the house, but I do have a photo from the front door looking out:

The house was part of a resort, so we could use the resort amenities which were really nice.  A huge pool, waterslide and lazy river gave us the perfect Christmas Eve day plans:

We also had a little pool back at the house that was used every night by all, and every morning by some.  When I asked for the pool to be heated, I was told it was broken and they couldn't heat it, but after lots of emails back and forth, they fixed it right before we arrived and it was steaming and sooooo relaxing.  The chemicals were super strong though, and Declan ended up with what appeared to be a chlorine allergy by the end of the trip (rashes and swollen lips).  Oh my!

We watched Man vs. Baby as a family - one episode per night - which was really fun to do around Christmastime.  I think the kids liked Man vs. Bee even better, but we are huge Rowan Atkinson fans.