How Dare She Grow Up?

Somehow, someway this little beauty:

with the sassy attitude:

turned into this big beauty:

with a residual amount of sass:

Our Maggie in the Middle turned seventeen this weekend and awoke to some nice/funny cards from her little brothers and a joke gift, then real gift from her older brothers.  She certainly is loved!

Her dad, whom she has wrapped around her little finger, made her a hootenanny for breakfast because the birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants.

 

A Wicked Awesome Thanksgiving Break

We had such a nice long Thanksgiving break this year.  On Tuesday, I drove to the movie theater right after work to meet up with these three to see Wicked:

Ellie, Eamon, Galinda, Elphaba, Maggie

The movie was 3 hours long (including previews) and would go through dinner, so we had to eat and I snuck my pastrami sub from Jersey Mike's into the theater and devoured it during the previews.  I just love a nice hot pastrami and wish I lived near an authentic Jewish New York deli.

Wicked was SO GOOD.  The rest of the family wants to see it when it comes out on some streaming service, and besides the scene in the beginning when Elphaba's mom steps out on her dad (I can just imagine innocent Declan asking "But why is she hugging that man that's not her husband?" so we will fast forward that part) the rest is great.  We've been listening to the music non-stop and can't wait for Part Two.  I have seen the play and read the book (I don't recommend the book) and the movie had a much more clear storyline and entertaining scenes and was cinematically beautiful and powerful.

On Thanksgiving morning, we woke up at 7am and ran our own family Turkey Trot:

Maggie was fretting that we would look like weirdos running together, but not to worry as we all run at different speeds and distances anywhere between 2.25 and 4 miles.  One of us walked the dog instead of running, which was a necessary task since she would be alone the rest of the day and it would be rainy all day.

Maggie and Brendan were running buddies

We got this text from Andrew, who had run in the school's Turkey Trot in Austria:

Andrew and Smiles

Then he played in a football game for two hours before dressing up in Austrian garb and having an American Thanksgiving with the faculty and staff.  I guess the mayor from the town was there too and there was music and dancing and so much merriment.

Pinkies up!

Back in America, we all showered and went to 9am Mass to start Thanksgiving Day off right.  We have so much to be thankful for including JP's 1st med school acceptance!!  He got into a new DO school opening in Maryland, close to Phil's side of the family and his girlfriend's family and one he was really hoping to get into.  He had the interview about two weeks ago and got the acceptance news this week which is a huge stress reliever.  He's not 100% sure this is where he will attend, but at least he has one option thus far.  I have to admit, I kinda feel like *I* got into medical school with how much I guided and supported him through the application process ;)

Gift Guide 2025! Our Favorite Gifts Bought, Sought and Brought

Here are the gifts we actually gave and received this year!!  I hope this can be useful to your own gift giving during this holiday season.  Happy Shopping!

*When you click on any of the links, you will be brought to Amazon's site and if you purchase anything after clicking through that link, I will receive a small percentage at no cost to you, so thank you for supporting us in this way ~ you are the best.*

Scratchers (with a scratch ticket!)

Laneige Lip Balm Trio

Sleep masks

Tweezers

Curved Claw Hair Clips

Travel Jewelry Box

Initial Letter Stud Earrings

Illuminator Highlighter (a lovely dewy look)

Teeth Whitening Kit (non sensitive!)

Acne Patches

Vaseline Body Balm Stick

Scalp & Hair Strengthening Oil (I add 5 drops to my shampoo per my hairstylist rec)

Handheld Milk Frother, I use everyday for my greens powder and protein powder

Teen/Women's Quilted Vest (I had to purchase another one after Maggie kept wearing mine!)

Wallet and Keychain Wristlet, Maggie had to have this as soon as she could drive

 Fun ornament for the tree

DigitalAIRE Hair Dryer

The less expensive version of the uber popular Uggs

Wickedly on sale snow boots

A new Twin mattress to replace the (really) old ones

Beats headphones (awesome deal right now!)

Samsonite Luggage (a great gift before college)

Oral B Electric Toothbrush

Bluetooth Speaker

Pickleball Paddles

Nike Favorite Sports Team Gear

Birkenstocks, I love that these are back in style

$19.99 tall boots!

Theology of Home Book

Festive plaid shoes

Running sneakers (almost too beautiful to run in!)

The prettiest color Stanley, in my humble opinion

Womens fleece-lined leggings

Bling license plate frames

My favorite leggings, so soft and so many colors

Essential Oil Diffuser with Essential Oils

Yankee Candle

Bento Lunch Boxes (fun for creating your own lunchables)

Mens casual Adidas shoes

Shave Cream (lasts so long and in many scents)

Mens Puffer Jacket

Mens Hey Dude loafers

Fleece Pajamas for some extra cuddling

Electric Neck and Shoulder Massager with Heat

Reading Pillow for Bed (We used to call these husbands?!)

Weighted vest to build that bone density

Apple watch with adjustable band

Gabb Phone (not pictured but a great first phone, and you can get it FREE!)

Owala water bottle

Kids basketball, soccer ball, volleyball

Game Cube

Motion Sensor Mini Drone

Burt's Bees Kids Pajamas

Boys Columbia fleece jacket that they never take off

Redwall Books, a family favorite

Series of Unfortunate Events books, the little guys are obsessed

Bluey Season 3 DVD

Gap sweatpants

Funko Pops of their favorite characters

Cordless hand vacuum, a gift little kids love to get and use!

Hooded Robe

Kids Digital Camera

Trampoline for a big family gift

Echo Pop (so cheap right now!)

Monogrammed Doormat that looks more expensive than it is

Rubber Tote Bag, perfect for the beach or pool

Elegant gold mirror for a bedroom/dorm room/hallway

Air Fryer (we use ours just about every day)

Solar lanterns to brighten up the walkway or stairs

Week in Review: Boring Weeks are Best and What a Small Catholic World Story

Happy Friday!  Let's rewind and play back the tape of life from this past week...

JP bought his first car!  We buy family cars for the kids to use once they can drive, but he is now the proud owner of a 2012 Ford Focus with only 37,000 miles.  The timing of finding the car was great since he started his job this week.  He ordered three pairs of scrubs and got a short haircut and is a professional young man ready to help you if you end up in the Emergency Department, which I hope you don't.

Andrew sent this picture of his Austrian campus this morning:

Snow!  He said everyone has their Christmas lights up and it's so pretty.  Here's a couple photos from his recent adventures in Assisi:

And from Budapest this past weekend:

Declan and Brendan have also been travelling...to a field trip at Plymouth Plantation to learn all about the first Thanksgiving.  I don't even think these kids realize how lucky they are to live where there is so much history!

The Colonoscopy Review

 I'm sitting here on the other side of my first colonoscopy at the age of 45 and I want to talk about it.  If you don't want to know the nitty gritty details, please skip this post.  

Ok I warned ya!  

I don't have a family history of colon cancer (thank goodness) but I am a big believer in annual physicals and mammograms and skin checks and getting a colonoscopy as soon as age allows.  Why not catch something early if you can?  So if anyone needs a little nudge to make the appointment, please consider this your gentle reminder.

Long story short, it wasn't that terrible.

TMI Alert: Appointments are made months ahead of time, and as Murphy's Law would have it, I had my monthly visitor at the same time as the colonoscopy prep and procedure.  So that was fun.  I'm guessing this wasn't such an issue when women didn't start having colonoscopies until the age of 50, but I read about it online and everything said I could still have the colonoscopy so I went ahead.

I got the call on Friday to tell me that my colonoscopy would be at 8:30 am on Monday.  My last meal was on Saturday after Mass, and I chose fried scallops and sweet potato fries, followed by a cookie.  Hey calories don't count when you're about to flush everything out.

Week in Review: First Time at Costco, Fritters on Demand and Friends in Holy Places

After spending my first three years of this job saving my paid time off, I have some personal days and vacation days that I need to use or lose this year so I decided to take a bunch of half-day Fridays on weeks that don't already include a holiday.  My goal is to not work a full week for the rest of the fiscal year (ending June 30) .  I really sound like a government employee now :)  

On my first half-day Friday, JP and I went with my parents to Costco for the first time ever.  My parents have the Costco membership, but we have a BJ's membership because it's much closer.  Anyway, JP and I were like kids in a candy store and somehow spent $690!  

We shopped separately from my parents but when we were checking out, my mom and I realized we both bought the exact same sweater in the same color and we were cracking up.  When we got to the register, the elderly male cashier happens to  mention "nice sweater!" as he scans it and the giggles returned.  What are the odds to pick the same article of clothing in a giant warehouse?

 

We woke up to a freezing cold on Saturday morning, which also happened to be the last of the soccer games for our Declan boy.  It was worth braving the cold to watch every minute because at the very end he scored!!  He was so proud of himself and it was such a much-needed boost to his confidence.  He played a lot of defense this year and came close to scoring on his chances as forward.  We thought the season might end without a goal, but he pulled it off...phew!

Cheerleaders for life.

To everything turn, turn, turn

There is a season, turn, turn, turn...

...and so we now turn, turn, turn our attention to his basketball season.  We sponsored a team in this league, and the coach who selected Declan at tryouts made sure that their team got the name of The Ice Cream Cottage:

Our #2 scored 2 points in the game this week.  Maybe he should have picked a higher number?

Work it, work it

Xander and Brendan both competed in a swim meet on Saturday and beat their best times, always a great goal each meet.  The meet was almost an hour from our house and lasted 4.5 hours so you can do the math to realize it was a long day.  We need to rethink swim team for next year when it's only Brendan on the team (maybe move him down to the practice-but-no-meets level?) because Xander will be on the high school team and swim team is a very time demanding sport for littles who can't drive.

Brendan (in bottom lane) came in 2nd place in this race