Family Updates

Let's do this by age order, shall we?  Oldest to youngest.  Which means I'm first.  Did y'all know I was 19 months older than my hubby?  Yup, and he'll never let me forget it!  Here goes....

Colleen

Loving my job, wishing it wasn't full-time, but we need that paycheck each week.  We are sticking to paying off our debt according to our Excel spreadsheet I made up last November.  I love Excel and I love having a plan.  Nerd alert.  Next month, my car will be paid off!  Then we snowball those payments towards Phil's car.  I am still exercising bunches (5 or 6 days a week for 60-90 minutes) and feel great about that, but I go through phases with my eating that aren't consistent.  The 17 Day Diet was awesome for losing weight fast, but then Easter came and as soon as I started eating bad carbs, the weight came right back on.  I know if I actually followed the plan I would be able to lose the weight and keep it off (because you slowly introduce healthy carbs back into your diet) but I also know that I love to eat carbs and treats and would rather do so in portion controlled amounts than none at all.  So it's back on Weight Watchers to lose 16 pounds.  I'd be happy with ten.  I am 20 pounds above my wedding weight but I figure I'll never get back there realistically.  I am in the middle of Catching Fire, and loving it.

Philip

This is Phil's busy time of year as he teaches Seniors and they are finishing up high school this month.  He is also tutoring and working security for some extra moolah.  He has signed up for his last three classes to finish his second Master's (first was in Theology, this one is in Administration).  So his classes will be completed by August, and then he will only have an internship left.  Then I hope he will be done with taking classes forever.  Speaking of forever, he has been married to his wonderful wife for ten years on May 17th!!  He just read Childless, and is starting the Hunger Games series.  Honestly, I don't know when he finds the time to read for pleasure!

John-Paul

This boy has decided to forgo baseball this year and take an extra swimming class instead.  He is almost to the end of third grade and about as tall as my shoulder.  When did that happen?  He just finished his big end-of-the-year project on Chicopee, MA (every student researches a MA town) and is rehearsing for the show that his Junior Choir puts on in May.  This morning he was reading through the Narnia books as he ate his breakfast.  He loves his books and sports, so I think he is becoming a balanced little boy, which is great since I always worried about him socially.

Andrew

My mature first grader.  Andrew is so excited to be receiving First Communion on Sunday, and we have been practicing at home.  We even got some unconsecrated hosts to practice Communion with.  He said they didn't taste too good! This is what we are thinking of giving him as a gift, since he won't.stop.talking.about.it.  But he also wants a children's missal (do they exist?) and a Miraculous Medal necklace.  Andrew is also opting out of baseball and choosing swimming for now which I think just might be his sport in the future.  He is such a goofball with his brothers, always trying to make them laugh, and has loads of friends at school.  He still struggles with his temper when he gets in trouble so the teenage years should be interesting. 

Eamon

Eamon is in his last year of pre-school and super proud of himself that he is reading.  He was having such a hard time grasping the concept, and then one day, he just was able to fly through words with no problem.  Now he has to read everything just to prove that he can!  He is also swimming right now, and learning how to dive off his bum and knees.  He's still the runt of our litter but it doesn't slow him down at all.  He runs and jumps and climbs with the best of 'em.  Sometimes he gets upset that he is paired with Maggie (both in preschool, both the same size) and tries to disassociate himself with her.  They used to like each other so much, and I hope one day they get back to that point.

Maggie

Oh my stubborn and beautiful girl.  She is the big tattle tale in the family and likes to pretend she's the boss of everyone.  She can be melting into a puddle one second because we gave her an "itchy shirt" and then the next minute she is complimenting us all on how we look, and giving out hugs and kisses like crazy.  She is loud...very loud.  And she loves her baby brother...a lot.  While the boys are outside playing, she is usually found inside, helping me cook or asking me to paint her nails or something else equally girly.  We are so thankful God gave us a daughter, and also that He only gave us one.  He knew what He was doing!

Xander

My gigantic baby boy is doing awesome after his ear tube surgery yesterday.  He slept through the night  - Alleluia!!  We are looking forward to getting back into that schedule now that the ear infections and fluid pressure are gone!  He is still army crawling on his belly to get everywhere.  I think it's because he's too fat to lift his body weight up.  His nanny is still completely smitten with him, and calls all the time to check in on him (evenings, weekends, vacations).  He has a whole bunch of tricks he regularly performs to get attention, and trust me, he gets plenty from his lovestruck parents and his four siblings that adore his every move.

Ok, that's all for now....happy first day of May!