7QT: Going Out, Shopping Online, and Big Kid Problems

It's Friday and we're going out tonight!!  Isn't that the best feeling?  I hope you all can get in a date night this weekend too!

1)

We're going to our children's school gala tonight.  It's one of my favorite events of the year!  Lots of friends and bidding on cool items and a live auction that is fun to watch.  

I'm a member of our School Events Committee, so we have been working on this gala for months and months (I only do a small amount compared to the other moms who do so.much.more) so it's always nice to see it come to fruition.  Plus, food and drinks and music.  Whee!

Three New Catholic Books: A Review and GIVEAWAY

There have been a bunch of new Catholic books published recently.  Forget Spring Cleaning, it's Spring Reading right now!  I have been able to read each of these books and have teamed up with the authors to offer a giveaway to one of you!  

That's right, the winner will receive ALL THREE of the following books:

Baby Yourself, Baby

Can I have another cookie?

But I'm not tired.

I don't wanna go outside.

Vegetables are gross!

The things our kids say, am I right?  They always seem to want to choose the unhealthy choice...more candy, less sleep, more screen time, less veggies.  As parents, it's our job to teach them how to make the healthy choice and hope that one day they will grow up imitating those same decisions.  We take good care of our kids.  We make sure they get enough rest, enough fresh air, enough healthy foods, have a prayer life, and we steer them away from bad choices.  

The Day My Purse Was Stolen

Ok, I think I'm ready to write about That Very Bad Day.

It's been a week already!  I 've gone through all the stages of grief - denial, anger, chocolate, depression, ice cream, and acceptance.

So here's what happened...partly so I can remember the incident, partly so I can stop retelling the story all the time, and partly so I can protect any other innocent moms out there with big mutha bags from getting them stolen.  Full disclosure, I'm gonna reference the thieves as plural men because this is how they look in my head:

even though we all know that thieves can look like this:

Alrighty then!  

Spring Break 2018: To Maryland We Go!

This year we drove down to Maryland to visit Phil's side of the family for our April break.  Phil normally does ALL the driving EVERYWHERE but upon reaching his brother's house, realized he had forgotten his wallet, and so I had to drive the Beast (12 passenger van) for the 3rd time ever.  Jesus took the wheel and we all arrived back to his parent's house safely.  

Hershey Park, You Sweet Thang

We did it.

We surprised the kids.

On our way to visit family in Maryland, we stopped to eat breakfast around 10 am.  We had all been in the van for 6 hours already, and the kids were hungry and tired.  As they were eating their breakfast sandwiches from Dunkin, we told them we were about to go right next door to Hershey Park.

They were too tired to fully comprehend at first, but then got super excited (or as excited as teens and tweens can get!)

As a large family with a wide spread of ages to account for, there are not that many activities where everyone can have a good time at the same time!  It's a sad downside to our awesome big family life, but it is a reality.  When we can find a place like Hershey Park that accommodates all the ages (from 15 down to 1) and is large enough to keep them entertained but small enough to visit in one day, we are all over that!!