Week in Review: #5 Turns 15, Summery Things, and 24 Years of NFP

 Happy Last Day of July!

Alexander Blaise turned 15 this past weekend, and he loves to remind me how big of a baby he was (almost 9 pounds) and how fast and hard my delivery of him was (3.5 hours, no drugs, big and long baby with a 3 foot umbilical cord, wrapped around his neck twice).  But he was worth it!!!

Somebody was thrilled to finally be a big sister at 3.5 years old!

Xander was the FUNNIEST little kid.  Almost all of my "That's What He Said" posts are about him.  He loved to eat and would tell me I was "the best cooka ever".  He loved to suck his thumb while holding anything with a tag.  Even a bag of garlic would do:

Xander loved music and would pick up a drumstick and say "And a one, and a two, and a one, two, three, four" before he started to play.  He would dance or clap and tell me he was "just feeling the beat" so we knew from a young age he would be musical...and he is!  He won many a piano competition growing up, and even though he stopped piano lessons when he went to high school, he can be found playing popular songs by ear on the keyboard.

After informing us that he was retiring from soccer at the age of four (I told you he's funny) we never found a sport he liked until he finally joined the swim team at age 12.  He swam on the team for a few years, and started running on his days off from swimming because he realized that he slept better when he exercised (he's also smart) and then switched to Cross Country and Track in high school.

And now he's 15 and about to be a (young) Sophomore in high school, so I guess he can't be called a "little" any more.  He got a new phone for his birthday and he's now able to be part of what was "The First Four" group chat and has now changed to "High Five" to include our 5th born.

Andrew took him out to breakfast after Mass, and the night before he went to see The Odyssey with Andrew and some cousins.

He spent the day at the beach with his friends, and then we had Weiner schnitzel, mashed potatoes, salad for dinner, and cake and ice cream for dessert:

The kids made him nice cards and bought him some gifts, as well as a promise to see the new Spiderman movie tonight!  A very good birthday indeed.  We love you Xander B... to the moon and back and back again!!

Week in Review: Not Scoliosis, Not Short Ships, Not School Already?

Declan had two appointments on the same day last week, one with a pediatric orthopedist at Boston Children's for potential scoliosis, and one with the orthodontist to get braces.  I was at work, so Phil brought him to the first appointment, where the doctor examined Declan and decided he did not have scoliosis, just very tight hamstrings that were making his hips uneven and one knee turn in a bit.  This diagnosis made sense since Phil and I both have very tight hamstrings, and I also have the hip issue.

  After talking about our family, the business, etc. she suggested Declan do stretches at home instead of having to take him to physical therapy and she would re-evaluate him in 6 months (we love a doctor who "gets" us).  The stretch is very simple and Phil and I are doing it with Declan (and Brendan, also genetically tight) each night while praying the rosary.  Basically we just have to sit with our legs stretched out in front of us, push our bums all the way back to the wall, sit up straight and breathe/pray through the pain for tenish minutes.  It's so sad how inflexible and tight we are.

Phil had some time to kill in between appointments, so he brought Declan to get Five Guys for lunch. 

Feeling Fine

 Declan took a few bites, said he felt sick and then threw up a few minutes later.  Phil drove to the orthodontist office and Declan threw up again (into a bag in the car).  Phil walked in and told them what was happening, and they asked if it was possibly a case of nerves?  Nope.  Declan was actually really excited to get braces.  So they rescheduled the appointment for a week later and Phil drove the 50 minutes home (we do have orthodontists that are closer but we love the one we use).

The night before the new braces appointment, Declan felt like his nose was stuffy and said he was getting a cold and was worried how they would put the braces on if he couldn't breathe through his nose.  I gave his some Airborne gummies and he told me he was going to pray a rosary in bed to help feel better.  The next morning he woke up saying it had worked and he was all better and ready for braces!  Phil and Declan drove up with some ice cream treats for the office staff, and they turned my little boy into a preteen:

Summer Schedules for Kids + Dorm Room Essentials

Phil created a daily summer to-do list for the youngest kids, which has been working surprisingly well, so I wanted to share.  These are merely suggestions, but the main point is for each kid to do something spiritual, educational, physical and a chore that helps the family/house run smoothly.  

We let them have their beloved screen time in the late afternoon only if they've done something from each section:

Their schools assign summer work, and then I also buy workbooks to make sure the littles keep up with some skills after their assigned reading and math work is completed.  

Top row is for Brendan (age 9, almost 10) - Middle row is Declan (age 12) - and Bottom Row are the two books that Xander (age 14, almost 15) was assigned to read.  Links here

Maggie's been ordering items for her dorm room (I can't think about it without crying!) and talking with her roommate to coordinate comforters and headboards and general dorm room vibes.  Links here

I don't know if these things are helpful to you, but it's what's working for us right now :)

Weeks in Review: July Flies By

Growing up on Cape Cod, we always said that summer was over once July 4th came and went.

Depressing? Yes.  Accurate? Also yes.

  It just feels like a blink of an eye to go from July 4th to school starting back up, and yet I want to make the most of these days!  

My coworker and frequent customer to the Cottage dropped off a bowl of patriotic candy salad to keep the workers energized over the long, hot holiday weekend.  Considering what some fresh produce is doing to people lately, maybe candy salad is the way to go ;)

The World Cup has been on all.the.time in our house, which makes Declan very happy.  I discovered my love for Erling Haaland just before England pushed Norway out of the series, hmmph!

My brother hosted a July 4th BBQ at his house, and then we drove back home to watch the fireworks from our family room windows...so much better than standing out on the hot and crowded beaches.  Lucy decided that she wanted to lay right next to my side of the bed when the fireworks were going off.  This is the most high-maintenance as she gets.  What a good lowkey girl.  Yes she is!

A Kindergarten teacher from town dropped off a book her students had made about ice cream flavors they invented.  We rewarded them with a sweet treat for their adorable efforts.

Week in Review: Vitamin Sea, TPC, and ABBC

Happy Friday Monday - darn this holiday weekend really got away from me!

But let's rewind to last week, when Andrew's friends - Smiles, his soon to be wife Colette, and Mahoney came to stay for the weekend.  My brother was gracious enough to take them out on his boat to swim at a little island which, according to my little boys, had thousands of tiny crabs.  They thought it was really cool.  I made them wear their long-sleeved swim shirts and they did not get burned, unlike some of the bigger boys who went shirtless and sunscreen-less.  Ouch!

They also made a few trips to the Cottage of course, watched the World Cup, went down to the Fort/ocean, had a Casino night and were very fun company to have around!

Week in Review: Summer Daze (and we were on tv!)

Happy last (!) Friday of June! 

It's that time of year when the days roll into a summer daze and I can't remember much unless I have photographic evidence, so that's how this post shall be written.

Last Saturday morning had Maggie and I attending a Spin class, which was fun and sweaty:

Throwback to our first workout class together, when she was still shorter than me:

Dang, I'm going to miss my gym buddy.

Maggie babysat on Saturday afternoon and brought this cutie-patootie to Mass with her, which was so fun!  She did great, barely made a peep, and didn't even cry or run after Maggie when Maggie had to go up to lector.  Can I be a grandmother soon, pleeeeease?  I mean, after they find love and marriage, of course.

We celebrated Father's Day by running in our town's Father's Day 5k - well, I don't like to race anymore and JP was away at a wedding, and Maggie hates running in general, but the rest of the boys did it for Team Ice Cream Cottage:

Week in Review: Work Outs, School's Out, and Hair's Falling Out

Happy Friday!  Happy Juneteenth!

My friend suggested we try an outdoor Sunday morning workout in town, a slightly scaled down version of Hyrox training, where you complete a station and then run a lap around a track and repeat 8 times.  So you end up running 2 miles and completing 8 one-minute exercises.  It would have been great except for the leader who tried to mansplain and overly demonstrate the exercises to us (we may be slightly chubby but we work out) and also had the audacity to try and cut our time short because people were waiting.  Dude!  If the workout is to row for a minute, you can not tell me to only row for 30 seconds because you let too many people into the class because you wanted more money.  That's a you problem, and I want to finish a complete workout.  Got it?

Anyway, I stole these pics off social media...

I'm pushing the sled while my friend is guiding

We are in the background doing step-ups on the big tire

I met up with Phil and Lucy Doodle for a nice walk after the class.  I think Phil would like the class (minus the leader) once he fully heals from his plantar fasciitis.  I did buy him these insoles to help, so fingers crossed.

On Saturday morning, Phil and I were walking the dog and passed by this same track and we saw people setting up for the Youth Mile.  We went home and asked Declan and Brendan if they wanted to run in it (we typically always sign up and it's a week before the town's 5k that they run in, so it's good practice).  They hemmed and hawed until I said they could get whatever they wanted at the Cottage later if the did the race, and then they quickly got dressed and we headed over.  Brendan came in 4th and Declan came in 2nd in their age groups!  They got a medal, chocolate lollipop, tshirt, powerade, chips, and a banana and were very happy with themselves!

Repping the Cottage

Week in Review: Full Swing, Full Habits, and a Full House

 Good morning from sunny New England!  This week was the kids' last full week of school, so the end is in sight (2.5 more days) and we are all ready for summer break.  We've been slowly signing up the littles for camps, mostly half-day sport camps at the high school, and for a weekly golf clinic to see if they get hooked like Andrew and Eamon are.  Eamon has been giving them some pre-lessons before the real lessons start:

Golf by the Sea

One thing about our family and sports is that we want them to try lots of new things, stay active, and learn invaluable life lessons on a team BUT we are in no way thinking they will ever become a professional (or even D1) athlete.  We don't specialize in only one sport (we think it's bad physically and mentally), we almost never do travel or club teams, and there's no pressure to be the best.  Phil and I both played multiple sports throughout our lives and still want to keep active, and that's all we hope for them too.  We've seen too many kids burn out on a sport before college.  Our hope is for them to not feel embarrassed when they are teens/young adults and their friends want to play a pickup basketball game or throw a football or go swim in the ocean.  Maybe it's due to having so many boys, but they are way more confident if they know sports rules and basics and can get in the game and keep up.  Sports are not the ultimate goal and we'd much rather that our kids focus on academics and faith.

Trying to outdo each other on the trampoline while Grandpa watches in horror

JP started his internship at Brown University's hospital and is enjoying it!  He gets to shadow with a psychiatrist, watch therapy sessions, and work with psychologists and counselors to help the children in the program by tutoring and playing outside at break times.  He said he's the only male intern and when he came back the second day, all the little boys in the program cheered to have him back to play with them.

The white sign needs a comma

We got a nice review online for the Cottage and they are like love letters to a small business.  Reminds me to do the same for other businesses!

Senior Events: Prom, Awards, Baccalaureate Mass and Graduation for Our Girl

It's been a whirlwind of senior events for the one and only girl in Casa Martin, and we have celebrated her to the fullest!  Starting with a Memorial Day party on my side of the family:

Grad school graduate, and 2 high school graduates this year

Then it was time for Senior Prom!  When the big boys went to prom, we bought them a suit (or they borrowed from a brother) and they took a shower, shaved and put it on.  Boom.  Ready for Prom.  It's verrrrrry different with girls, even with a girl like Maggie who is a very low-maintenance, not in the least bit vain, overall sporty girly.  But for the months leading up to Prom, there was dress shopping, jewelry shopping, shoe discussions, nail appointments, hair appointments, and flower ordering.  Her friend Raf asked her to go to prom with him, and she was very happy to have him as her date.  We couldn't take our traditional lighthouse photos because it was raining off and on, but we managed some at the house:

We were trying to come up with poses!