Week in Review: Dinners and Decisions

Since I've already posted twice this week (who even am I?) this will be a quickie like the month of February.  Happy Friday!

You know when you're traveling for a few days and you CRAVE fresh fruits and veggies because you've been eating fast food and treating yourself?  I had a feeling that Maggie and Eamon would feel that way when they both flew home on Monday, so I made a salad bar for dinner...and it was a big hit.  Declan cut up all the fruit for the fruit salad and was very proud of himself.  "Did you try MY fruit salad?"  "I cut the fruit up by myself!"  I really need to involve kids in the kitchen more, mea culpa.

Blue cheese dressing + croutons = the reason I love salads so much.

Speaking of salads, after our Mexican birthday feast, I took the leftover lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and meat and made a salad for lunch the next day.  I crushed up some protein nacho chips on top and added sour cream and it was to die for.  Lots of protein and low carbs for the win!

Unlike Maggie who sent me photos the whole time she was gone (girls are dreamy), Eamon and Andrew sent me a couple of pictures after the fact and after I asked (boys are fun).

Andrew played in a Dodgeball Tournament and his household won!

Twinning except for the eyebrow slit!

They also watched a frisbee game on campus:

And participated in a scavenger-hunt-sort-of-challenge with household friends:

The best part of the trip was that Eamon came home with a big decision made...

He's committed to Franciscan University of Steubenville for the fall, as a Biology major and looking into playing soccer, after Andrew talked to him about how much it helped him make friends in the beginning, and how great the soccer guys are.

He bought that green sweatshirt to commemorate the decision, but he must have forgot that he already had a shirt at home:

The shirt says Steubie U

We're so happy for his decision and that he will be with Andrew out in Ohio.  What a relief to have this decision made...three down and four to go!  Guys, I can't say enough how great the university is but also how generous they are with their financial aid and scholarships.  It's been the smartest choice for all of my kids so far and I can sleep well at night knowing they're in such a wonderful community.  Plus they have some great online professors ;)

I hope you all have a wonderful March weekend everybody!!

JP + Me = 68

The birthday buddies turned 46 and 22 and were able to be together on their birthdays for the first time since 2021.  JP is and always will be my best birthday gift.

Gorgeous flowers from Mr. Martin :)

There were so many lovely homemade cards and generous gifts that it felt like Christmas!  Probably the Christmas wrapping paper also helped make it feel that way ;)

Andrew + Eamon's card made me laugh.

JP's card made me cry.

JP and I both had to work that day like the responsible adults we are so we decided to do takeout for dinner.  ** JP shared a funny story about an ornery female patient in the ER who kept yelling at everyone and he finally said to her "Are you going to treat me like this on my birthday?" and she stopped...for a little bit.**  Our local Mexican restaurant has a great takeout deal on Tuesdays so Phil and I went after work and ordered it in person.  While we waited, we (twist our arms) had a birthday beverage and chips and queso:

Before all the feasting, I was able to fit in a treadmill run/walk uphill interval workout.  One minute for each year.  As JP said "you're not going to be able to do that for much longer".  Oh just watch me!  Also, I did 3.75 miles in total according to the treadmill and I hate when my watch says I do so much less *shakes fist in air*.

I got this email during the day from Phil...my first gift!  I listen to audiobooks on my lunch break walks, and try to use Libby or Hoopla which are free but the books I want are always on hold, and then when I get them I can't finish them in time before they get sent back.  Non-Reader reading problems y'all.  Now I can have way more access to way more books - yay!

After the delicious taco dinner (the kids kept raving about how much better the restaurant tacos were vs. our homemade ones) we had TWO desserts to choose from, both made by Phil the most generous husband and father.  Crème brulee (my choice): 

And his famous chocolate chip cookies (JP's choice):

I'm not allowed to post the video evidence, but we had quite the dance show from certain kids in the house while we were waiting for everyone to gather for presents.

These next two photos show why I hate opening gifts in front of people - I CAN NOT HIDE MY REACTIONS - good or bad you're going to know how I feel.  Also why I can't play poker.

JP's card from Maggie was very sweet

I was so happy to get Dove chocolates

Then I fell asleep at 9:30 which made it the end of a great day :) 

JP's Gifts:

Mac Book Charger

Portable Monitor

Shirt + Quilted Half Zip + Jeans

Caffeinated flavors of Oats Overnight for his early morning shifts at the hospital

Blue light glasses from Firmoo

My Gifts:

Diamond Stud Earrings (similar):

Double hoop earrings

Brooks sneakers

Audible subscription

Dove chocolates (from Declan)

Eucalyptus + Sage candle (from Xan)

Purple plant for my office (from Brendan)

Beautiful Claddagh earrings straight from Ireland from my Mum:

Franciscan Alumni sweatshirt (from Andrew + Eamon)

Texas sweatshirt (from Maggie):

Happy 22nd Birthday John-Paul!  This has been a trying gap year for you, but we love having you at home, especially to celebrate your birthday with you.  You are respected so much at the Emergency Room where you work, adored by the doctors you shadow, supported by SO MANY FRIENDS who call you all the time, are a great role model for the younger six kids, and have become a young man that we love hanging out with.  You kinda made this parenting thing look easy ;) You are open and honest and empathetic and have the gift of yap and we know you are going to be an amazing and successful doctor by the way you treat everyone in your life.  We couldn't possibly love you more than we do and we thank God everyday for the gift of YOU!

Week in Review: February Vacation, The Second Half

Happy Monday!  I never got around to posting at the end of last week but nobody cares so here we go!

Good Doers

Maggie comes home from her mission trip in Texas tonight and we've missed her so.  She just absolutely will never be allowed to go to college m'kay?  I am going to ask her to write a post about her experiences because it seems to have been life-changing from her texts and photos.  We are so so proud of her servant heart.  I'll just leave you with a few photos for now:

Good Days

The weather started warming up into the 40s lately which means lots of outside play time.  Phil brought the littles to kick field goals and Declan has the skills!  Not surprising since he is a soccer player, but it's crazy how much he is like a mini Andrew who was the kicker for one Covid weird fall two season of Varsity football.

Week in Review: February Vacation, The First Half

It's February Vacation here in Massachusetts, which means that Phil and the kids are off of school/work but I still have to work - womp womp.  I do get out an hour early each day at least.  We seem to have lots going on this week, so I thought I would split this week's activities into two posts.  I swear I used to write about all sorts of topics, but after blogging for 17 years, it's mostly just family updates now.  I've said it all y'all!  

For Valentine's Day, Phil and I ate out at The Mooring restaurant in Newport which was beautiful, right on the water.  We got the baked brie (tiny!) and I got the fish sandwich and he got the burger like the seafood lover and hater that we are.  Our hotel was meh, but you get what you pay for, and I had a gift certificate that I had paid half price for.  There was a very large and LOUD group of people that were down the hall from us and we had to be *those people* who called the front desk to complain about the noise at 9:30pm.  Of course I made Phil do it because I was too scared.  I'm not sure they got spoken to, but they all left after 20 minutes or so and we were able to fall asleep by 10 just like we like it, cough cough old.

On Saturday morning, we drove from Newport to Boston to watch Eamon run his two races at the State Track Meet.  We were just so happy to support him in his first track season, qualifying for states in two events and wondering why he has played basketball for the past twelve years instead of running winter track.  Ah well, you live you learn!  Plus he really did love basketball for all those years.  Eamon ended up getting a PR in the 1000m and his 4 x 800m relay team placed 9th, which was just shy of getting a medal.  It was a long but fun day, and we were very surprised to have one of my sisters show up to cheer him on, along with her husband and their son.  We drove home and went to a vigil mass in town because more snow was forecasted for that night, then ate pizza with the kiddos.

Before

After - dead on the ground

Recovering

Week in Review: A Lovely 25 Years, An Eggcelent Family, and Another Snow Day

Happy Valentine's Day Lovers!  

Ick. I actually hate the word lovers, it's too visual for me, ya know?  

The guy who asked me to be his valentine 25 years ago has apparently not changed his mind and is taking me away on a little overnight date to celebrate. 

Valentine's Dance in a ballroom in Gaming, Austria in 2000

 25 years together and he's still my favorite.

I think this all the time :)

OK that's enough mush, let's look back at what happened this week.

Eamon and a cousin went snowboarding and had a blast.  His phone, however, also had a blast when it dropped out of his pocket and was run over by a car or twenty.  He was due for a new phone anyway but man that was an expensive day!

Week in Review: A Pathetic Snow Day, An Almost State Qualifier, A Scam That Worked, and Some Chicken Biology

Another week of illness in the house, this time for the younger three boys.  I'm pretty sure it's the flu, as people they are friends with have tested positive for it.  I didn't bring them in because we are managing their symptoms at home and there's nothing the doc can give us for a virus except advice.  Lots of resting, fluids, and alternating tylenol and advil for the fevers.  Poor babies.  JP says there's tons of it going around at the hospital where he works.  Brendan was the first to recover and is back to school today, but Declan and Xander are still home.

We had our first Snow Day except that it barely snowed!  School was called off the night before and it only snowed a couple of inches, but we will take it!  I always try to do some deep cleaning or organizing chore on snow days because they are bonus days of no work.  I swear I'm fun ;)

Phil and I went through the three younger boys clothes and donated lots (no need to save the smallest boy clothes anymore!) and moved everyone up a size.  

Then we put winter sheets on their beds and washed everything in sight and opened windows and sprayed their room down with this disinfecting mist.  At night they all took showers and put on fresh pajamas, and there's almost nothing that makes me feel like a better mother than turning a sick room into a clean and healthy room.  Aaaahhhh.

Last weekend, Eamon ran in a track meet and got a PR in the 1000m:

He's in maroon tank and blue shoes

Even though he is a senior, this is Eamon's first time ever running high school track...as he has always played basketball in the winter since age 6.  But when he made the Varsity Basketball team last year and was a benchwarmer, he didn't want to go through that again.  The winter track coaches are very happy to have discovered him "where have you been hiding?".  They want him to run Spring Track and think he can qualify for states (he missed it by a couple seconds) at tomorrow's last chance meet.  I guess soccer players make great runners!

Supplemental Income

If health is wealth, then here is how we are supplementing our income diet in the Martin household.

The daily doses:

Started taking this iron supplement when pregnant and anemic, worked so good that I was told to only take every other day.

Mini Fish Oil because those big ones are hard to swallow

Nutrafol for the year of Colleen's hair regrowth

Magnesium every night before bed - no more charlie horses in my legs and magnesium levels are so important for so many things (google it)

Probiotics for adults

Probiotics for kids

Vitamin D3 + K2 drops for everyone (you're probably deficient and this bottle contains 600 servings!)

~

Under the weather helpers:

I prefer to drink an Emergen - C every day in the winter, made with hot water

Raw Vitamin C

Zicam (Phil swears by these when he feels something coming on)

Propolis Immune Support throat spray

~

Gummy candies, I mean vitamins:

These are too fun to take, so I'm not sure how effective they are but I figure if we are trying to eat a balanced diet, then these will fill in the cracks of any deficiencies we may have.

Men's multi

Women's multi plus Collagen (I also put this collagen powder in my coffee each morning)

Teen Boys Multi

Teen Girls Multi

Kids Multi plus Omegas

Cheers to a healthy and active 2025!