Week in Review: Gaelic and Garlic and Lessons in Humility

Happy Friday and Happy First Day of Spring!

This is my favorite week of Lent every year, when we get two cheat days for St. Patrick and St. Joseph!  

Our kids are both Gaelic and Garlic so it's fun to celebrate our heritage (mostly through food).  We had chicken tenders and a green salad and potatoes for the Irish side and then Chicken Vodka Pasta with salad and rolls for the Italian side.

Maggie got the kids Shamrock Shakes on St. Patty's Day and they had Snickers ice cream bars for St. Joe while Phil and I indulged in my new favorite ice cream, Coffee Biscoff Swirl.  It's dangerously delicious, and will be having a permanent home on our menu. 

We took the youngest three boys to get Passport Cards just in case we want to cross any boarders anytime in the next five years.  We get them passports in high school or college, to make sure that they can study abroad when the time comes, but until then the cards should work just fine.  They wanted to feed the ducks seagulls after.

I had another gym folly the other day, when I realized that I forgot a towel for the shower and found a hand towel in my car to use instead.  It reminded me of my mom's honeymoon story when she thought the bathmat was a towel and came out of the bathroom, wondering why it was so small.  Pretty sure my dad didn't mind the mixup.

If you've ever wanted to grow in humility, may I suggest having lots of kids?  Case in point, Andrew went on a mission trip where he led retreats and was a great example of a Catholic college kid...and then came home and had to go to court to take a Distracted Driver Safety Course after getting pulled over while looking at his phone to get his friend's location.  He's lucky that was the only result and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PUT DOWN THE PHONE. (A lesson to all of us, if we're honest)

In medical news, both Phil and I scored A+ on our yearly skin checks.  Then I had my annual mammogram, and everything looked good, thanks be to God.  Phil recently got a CPAP machine after having been disgnosed with moderate sleep apnea, and he is struggling to get used to it.  I think some of the struggle is admitting that he needs it in the first place, and the other part is the actual physical discomfort.  As his light-sleeping-bed-partner-for-life, I am very happy with the quiet nights!

Declan had his last two basketball games this week, which means that all sports have come to an end for the school year!  This cutie patootie young and short CYO team won exactly zero games this season.  We might try indoor futsal next winter instead :)

We did it guys!  Volleyball, cross country, soccer, swim, winter track, and basketball are over.  No spring sports this year because between sacraments (Phil's the DRE at our parish) and getting the ice cream shop ready, we can't handle it.  Know thyself.  The kids will still run some races and work out at the gym to stay in shape, but nothing official.  Xander is so lucky to have a dad and four older siblings who can help him at the gym:

My personal favorite weight machine

 And that's a wrap from the last week of winter, though today still feels like it - brr!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)