Happy First Friday in November!
Let's back up to last Thursday, when Maggie was able to surprise her cousin for her Senior Night volleyball game. These three girls went to the same schools, played on the same teams, and have always been like sisters instead of cousins, for which I have been very grateful.
On Friday I took the day off from work, hit the gym, and then went out to brunch with my mom and my daughter or "The Margarets" as my mom is Maggie, my middle name is Margaret, and my girl is Maggie. Then Maggie and I got our eyebrows threaded and shopped at TJ Maxx before heading home for a nap. The best. On Saturday, we went for a family walk to appreciate the fall colors before they leaf :)
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| I love fall this much |
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| MA is beautiful even if her politics are ugly |
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| Babe Ruth with his Babe Ruths and other treats |
While the rest of us met up with family friends and had a great time trick-or-treating and laughing and eating and forgetting to take photos except for these two:
On Sunday morning, Phil had to work Religious Ed and I took Maggie to my current favorite workout class "Bodypump". She said she was sore for days after. The best.
But that didn't stop her from playing on both of her intramural teams - indoor volleyball and soccer - right after she got back to school. She said the games are so late because it's hard to get gym time, so one day she had a soccer game at 10pm and a volleyball game at 10:30pm that she went late to. I could never.
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| I said this soccer photo reminds me of Maggie from preschool through 8th grade. She said playing soccer reminds her why she switched to volleyball. |
Speaking of things I could never do, my niece ran the NYC Marathon and finished in 3:17! Mind-blowing. She just graduated from nursing school, turned 24, passed her NCLEX, and trained for a speedy marathon, no biggie.
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| And she's beautiful too! |
Eamon went with friends home to Michigan for Fall Break, and said it was a really fun time. Thank God for the parents who welcome all these active, hungry college boys into their homes.
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| Flag Football |
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| Golfing with the Guys |
Because All Saints Day was on a Sunday this year, the elementary school kids had to dress up as saints on Monday. Brendan dressed as the newly Blessed Fulton Sheen:
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| Gammy & Grandpa used to watch Fulton Sheen on tv |
We have been doing the Halloween costumes on 10/31 - All Saints Day costumes on 11/1 for the past TWENTY YEARS with seven kids, and now with Brendan in 5th grade, that stressful chapter has come to a close! Phil, we made it!
Will I miss the kids at these saintly ages?
Definitely.
Will I miss the stress of figuring out two costumes per kid each year?
Definitely not.
We are a family that decorates for Christmas only after Thanksgiving is over, but I caved and bought a holiday candle for my candle warmer at work. It's a Balsam & Fir candle I found at TJ Maxx and it smells so good. My all-time favorite holiday scent is this one in case you want your house to smell like Christmas feels :)
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Have you started holiday decorating yet?
You are an expert at putting together saint costumes! Where do you get a child sized cassock? Did you make it? Is there an All Saints catalog to order costumes from? (I didn't grow up Catholic, so I missed out on this tradition).
ReplyDeleteI wait until after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas decorations too. I did take down the things that were specifically Halloween, but all of the generic fall decorations will stay up until Thanksgiving.
Two costumes per kid each year?! Whew! No wonder this milestone feels like a relief!
ReplyDeleteLove those fall photos. Stunning!
I would never have handled two costumes each year! Congratulations on graduating from that requirement! I'm going to have to hit the archives and see who JP is with the beard. Most of them I can figure out.
ReplyDeleteWhat a happy visit from Maggie!
I hope Maggie and Andrew can raise all the money they need for their mission!
Enjoy the weekend.
Definitely an end of an era but somehow I think you'll all carry on bravely. Enjoy this fall weekend!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this look back at a family era coming to a close. It reminded me of my own childhood in rural Henan. I grew up eating at my grandparents' house until I was five or six, and the food there was always better than at my parents'. Their house was just across a lane, about twelve metres away, and when I was seven or eight I went there carrying a bowl, chopsticks and a small bag of flour, and stayed about ten days. My grandmother never asked why I had come, she just let me stay. Those small, ordinary meals at a grandparent's table stay with me still.
ReplyDeleteAw, I love the time spent with your Maggie and her close sister-cousins are so great. I get to see Curly the weekend of the 13th. Coach and I are going to see her. She has two games that weekend. I'm so excited. Fulton Sheen - so cute. Look at all those costumes. Congrats on graduating from that era.
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