Week in Review: Undergraduate Awards, Retro Meals and Haircut Hopes

Happy Friday the 13th!  I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious so I always recognize the date, look out for black cats and that's about it.  I do not watch horror movies so I don't really know what is supposed to be feared on Friday the 13th and as they say "ignorance is bliss".

Let's look back at the week...an almost uneventful week after having a high school and an 8th grade graduation...yet in this big family, there is literally always something going on with someone.  I wouldn't know how else to live life, honestly.  Like what do people DO when they aren't being scheduled and planned by their kids activities and events?  Will I be bored once all of this is over?  Will Phil and I just stare at each other and reminisce about the good old days or will we love having the freedom to choose the activities?  Or maybe there will be grandbabies to love and it never ends, just changes a bit.  

OK Colleen, let's get on with it already.

Yes ma'am!

Maggie had undergraduate awards after the Closing Mass for the school year, and I was able to take my lunch break early to pop over and attend.  Look at these beautiful door greeters:

Maggie, Maggie and Maggie, jk that's my niece Abby

  Maggie did the first reading and the Prayers of the Faithful:

She also won three awards!  She is in the Top Ten of the Junior Class, received the St. Julie Billiart Award for having over 150 hours of community service this year, and won the book award from St. Bonaventure's College (where my brother attended for one year - ha!).  When she won her last award, I leaned over to Phil and said "we have peaked as parents...it's all downhill from here".  Maggie is just such a wonderful daughter, easy to parent, is virtuous and hard-working, and takes initiative.  Unlike my boys, she needs no nudging at all, and seeks service hours and shadowing opportunities all on her own while playing sports and getting all her school work done.  One might say she is my favorite girl!  One would be correct!

Cousins both in the Top Ten of their grades

The Maggies

The Maggies doing the Maggie Face

On Wednesday evening, the Women of Grace group at my church had a talk given by my friend, Pam:

Pam is besties with Phil's sister, Diana, so we had to send her a selfie

It was a really great topic, about spiritual battles faced by women in particular, and how to combat them.  Pam is a therapist and gave some really useful tips that I want to remember to use going forward.  

While I was at the talk, Phil and Eamon were at a scholarship dinner where Eamon received the Fairhaven Colonial Club scholarship for $1000!  Scholarship applications are a lot like scratch tickets - you can't win if you don't play - and the rewards have been worth the time spent for Eamon.

The spotlight has been on Eamon and Maggie lately, but there are five other kids to talk about!  

JP has been managing The Cottage, finding an apartment in Pittsburgh via his med school roommate (a college gymnast!), getting blood work/medical appointments done and doing mandatory training to prepare for his early July start date.  He was accepted into a bootcamp type program at Duquesne for students who want to get a head start on medical school, which takes place a week before school starts for everyone else.

Andrew has been managing The Cottage, going to the gym, meeting up with Franciscan friends who live within an hour to go to the beach, and golfing with his cousin.  

Xander has started training at The Cottage now that school is out for him, mostly making waffle cones and cleaning but also starting to scoop.  He is also excited to go to an end-of-the-school-year party and the Freshman Picnic at the high school, both happening this week.

Declan has had a week of fun at school with highlights being watching the movie Holes, eating Italian Ice, walking to the park, teaching the teacher (he chose to teach her how to play soccer) and presenting his report on Jayson Tatum (a Celtics player).  

Brendan has also been having a fun week at school complete with an ice cream party and no homework.  I created little coupons for a Free Ice Cream for him to give to his classmates and teachers, but they printed out much smaller than I anticipated (a little smaller than a business card) but Brendan told me that as he passed each one out he said "Don't lose this.  Don't lose this.  Don't lose this." so it's all set :)

A friend of mine has been having a lot of curve balls thrown at her family lately, and I found this quote and sent it to her because it helped me to feel better in the craziness of the last couple weeks:

I caught Declan and Brendan playing a game wearing their eye masks and drawing on the whiteboards that have provided so many hours of fun in this house:

Food around here:

I've been obsessed with bagels and cream cheese like it's the 90s and I still have a teenage metabolism

One of the kids favorite meals - Thai Coconut Chicken Ramen

We had grilled sandwiches for dinner one night (this is going to be a thing for the summer, once a week, easy and a crowd pleaser, and why have I only thought of sandwiches as lunch food before?) and does anything beat a good hot pastrami sandwich?  OK maybe a good steak and cheese.  Or a really good tuna sub.

After work today, I am getting a haircut at an actual salon (as opposed to having my sister trim it for me) and this is the look I am going for.  Shoulder length with a side swept bang:

I always have to ask myself...is it the hairstyle I want, or her perfect skin and face?

But knowing my luck, I will probably come out looking like this:

See?  Even Queen B has bad hair days.

I hope you all have an awesome weekend with good hair and good eats!  Happy Father's Day!!