Weekend Wrapup: Poland Pics, Fall Sports, and Partying with Friends and Family

Labor Day weekend was so fun if perhaps a leetle beet too social for this introvert, but worth it to wrap up summer on a high note.  I think maybe I'm an extroverted introvert and my husband is an introverted extrovert if that's possible.

Let's check in with JP's #AustrianAdventures as he had a long weekend in Poland!  He arrived in time to see the unveiling of the Black Madonna...how beautiful.

Prayed in front of Saint John Paul II's cassock that he was wearing during his assassination attempt... 

Visited Auschwitz and saw the cell of Saint Maximilian Kolbe (one of my favorite saints)...

And visited the Pope's birthplace.  That's JP with JP and I'm totally JP (Joyfully Proud).

Meanwhile back in America, we have been attending scrimmages for Andrew and Eamon who have both been starting for their respective soccer teams...

And volleyball for Maggie (she skipped the Freshman team and made JV!!)  She's the one in the center at net, playing the role of middle hitter.  Also can we start a petition against these volleyball booty shorts?  I actually bought her the "long ones".  Yikes.

Making the gangsters high schoolers pose for a picture before the Back to School Dance...

On Saturday, we hosted a big Sweeney party with my whole side of the family.  My cousin Brendan came up from Philly with his wife Karen and daughter Lilly, on their way to watch their daughter Caroline play field hockey at Northeastern.  It was so fun catching up with them and we totally don't see them enough.  My Dad is the last of 12 kids and only he and two siblings came to America, so those are the only kin we really know.  Brendan is his late brother Tom's son, and my dad and Tom were builders together back in the day.  Brendan also owned an Irish pub in Philly called Finn McCool's which is just so very mccool.

My Brendan with his namesake

While the big kids danced away Friday night, we hung out on the porch with some friends, and my dad (who ives below us) said he heard me giggling for hours!  On Sunday, the whole family went to another friend's house for dinner, which was so delicious and nice.  It takes a brave family to invite over our huge clan!  We're polite, we're just a lot :)

Let's see, what's on deck?  Declan and Brendan start soccer this weekend and Xander starts competitive swim as well.  Back to School nights (where parents meet the teachers) are happening this week at both the high school and the elementary school our kids attend.  On Saturday, Phil will be attending a Diocesan Parish Leader Convocation with Bob Rice of Steubenville fame and then holding his first parent meeting as the new Director of Religious Ed on Sunday.  Never a dull moment around here, but we wouldn't know how to operate on any other level ;)