Week in Review: Birthday Recap, Thank You Texts and Hugs from Above

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!  

Theology Lesson 101: Today we celebrate when Mary was conceived without sin in her mother's womb - hence why Mary's birthday is 9 months from today on September 8th.  Jesus couldn't be conceived and born in the same month and still be fully human.  I'm not a theologian but I'm married to a theologian so you can trust me ;)

Speaking of birthdays... when we left off, it was Maggie's 16th birthday and she had her two besties over after basketball practice.  They ate pizza and we had cake (she requested Chocolate cake with Mocha frosting) and then they went ice skating.  When she came home she opened her presents that included a Mother Daughter ring, earrings, a Cape Cod bracelet, mini Uggs and then a scavenger hunt (Maggie loves scavenger hunts!) to finally find a promise note to get her ears double pierced after basketball season (no jewelry allowed during games).

Flowers from Dad and cards from little brothers :)

Ugly but tasty.  The cake, not Maggie.  She's beautiful AND tasty.

Flowers for me from the hubby (a birthday treat seven times a year!)

And then boom! Advent started.  I love putting my pregnant Mary statue in the middle of the Advent wreath to remind us all what we are actually waiting for.  She was a gift to me when I was struggling through a pregnancy and I found another nice version here.  You can see another painting of Our Lady in the back, I'm a wee bit obsessed with the Mother of Our Lord :)

Maggie got her permit!  She finished a two week Driver's Ed class in November and then took the exam at the RMV and actually passed.  Haha, she said she almost didn't pass because she misunderstood when the lady told her she could skip some questions since she only needed a certain number of correct answers.  Maggie started skipping a bunch of questions in the beginning, thinking that meant she could come back to them and answer later but then realized that by skipping those, she now HAD to answer the rest of the questions correctly in order to pass.  Good thing she's cute!

Brendan started basketball and he has inherited the overly sweaty gene from his paternal side.  Luckily he also is cute!

On Dec. 6th, St. Nick came and brought chocolates and books.  Xander was beyond delighted to get the newest Michael Vey book, and read it in one day - a day that included going to school and swim team practice.  JP is now fully committed to reading it even faster.  Aren't brother nerds so fun?

We mailed some treats from the Chatham Candy Manor to the boys at college which they appreciated very much.  Andrew had a friend record him doing a funny unboxing which is the best kind of thank you for this mama.  He must be aiming for current favorite child.

He approved a screenshot, not the whole video , and I'm sorry for your loss.

I am participating in the 12 Days of Christmas at work, and I came in 2nd place for this crazy hat:

But I only got one vote for my crazy socks:

"Snow you didn't" c'mon, that's funny!

Maggie and Eamon had their first basketball scrimmages (no pics of Eamon because his was away) and Maggie played against our town team that has one of our scoopers on the team.  They hugged and chatted throughout the game as opponents often do don't.

This week's after school events:  At least Eamon can drive himself to practices and games and is therefore our current favorite child (sorry Andrew but A for effort):

It is very, very easy to get overwhelmed with our schedule (knowing we have nobody to blame but ourselves) and just in general this time of year so seeing the beauty of a sunset on my way to the gym made me feel like God was giving me a little hug and encouragement:

Tomorrow I am off to an Advent retreat on the Cape with some great friends to see my favorite Catholic mom author/blogger Danielle Bean speak and I am so looking forward to it!  I am going to try NOT to embarrass myself like I did back in 2011.  What can I say except that I have no chill.  Phil is a saint for handling our Saturday schedule alone, but then he is leading a Confirmation retreat next Saturday and I will get my payback ;)

Have a great weekend everybody, I hope you feel some hugs from above when you need them most!