Summertime Updates

Philip "Dad" Martin

Well I don't call him Dad, that would be weird.  I call him all sorts of other pookie names that you guys don't want to know about ;)  Phil is in his busy three weeks of summer, directing camp at our kid's school.  The kids come home from camp everyday exclaiming it's greatness, and Phil comes home every day like:

But he's so good at it.  Way better human than I, no doubt.  

After camp finishes, we will be travelling down to Maryland to visit his family and friends, and he is looking forward to the rest and relaxation that will bring.  Once the school year starts up, he will be teaching an extra class in not theology, but health.  Hahahahaha, he will be a health teacher.  Remember how awkward and unlikeable your health teacher was when you were 15 and hormonally charged?  Yeah, that should be fun for him.  The good news is that since he is the Theology Department Chair, and is personally the most moral guy I know, the kids will be learning health with a big side of Catholic chastity and love.

J-P

Oh my first born is getting so tall and grown up.  The other day he informed me that he was sorry, but he is definitely not staying little anymore, he is turning into a man.  Ugh.  I think he might become the only teenager I like though, so that's a blessing.  So far, so good.

His soccer team just won 2nd place in their tournament this weekend, and he's serving daily Mass, funeral Masses and even a wedding this summer.  He got $20 for the wedding, double the funeral pay!  I tell him to save up his money for a car, but he just spends it on amazon.com like his momma.  He is dying to get through his summer math packet so that he can get his hands on his summer reading book.  Love my big reader so much!

Andrew

Andrew is always on the go - running a race or playing soccer or throwing a ball or shooting hoops.  He can't sit still, this one.  He is definitely loving camp so he can play with all his friends and told me this week that he feels "really mature" (though perhaps stating that lowers the maturity factor?) because his age group gets to help set up camp activities for the younger kids.  He made the winning penalty kick in his soccer game yesterday that led their team into finals, which they lost (but hey, 1st is the worst, 2nd is the best...I never said I was feeling "really mature"). 

 He is always watching out for his younger brothers, which is just the sweetest.  He is dying to get through his summer reading books so that he can just focus on having fun.  Love my big sports nut.

Eamon

Eamon is pretty much wonderful lately.  He is a pleasure to have around, such a great helper, and loves to be anywhere that older boys are.  He's the one who will be stealing Andrew and JP's friends when they are older...he just loves to hang with the big guys.  

He is the first to say "Yes, Mom" when I ask the kids to do something, and says grace before meals, and decades of the rosary before bed without being reminded.  He's such a good doobie, and serves Mass at any chance!  His soccer practices haven't started yet but he goes to the big kid's practices and just plays all around the fields.  He is excited to move up to 3rd grade, so that he can join his school's track team and even more excited that his cousin Tommy will be transferring to his school next year!  Love my holy roller!

Maggie

Maggie's little inverted crop cut suits her so well, we love it.  She spends her time reading, drawing pictures and love notes, and making cards for friends and family.  She also loves to talk.  A lot.  Camp is wonderful for her so she gets to play with other little girls who also love to talk a lot.  She has continued Irish Step lessons through the summer, and still jigs her way around the house.  It's so cute!



  Sometimes her and I escape to go grocery shopping, run errands, get our nails done, or whatever I can classify as "girl-time".

  

The lady next to us at the salon asked how old Maggie was. "Eleven?  Ten?" and Maggie was super stoked to reply that she is only 7 but she looks older because she is so tall.  Truth.  She melts down on the regular when she's tired or feeling lonely without a sister (does that ever go away???).  She wants to find a guy when she's "at Steubenville, that is Catholic and nice and holy, and I don't care if he's handsome as long as he loves me.  He'll never be as handsome as Daddy anyways." Truth again ;)  So if any of you moms have holy, nice, ugly boys planning on going to FUS in about 10 years, let's play matchmaker.  Love my little romantic!

Alexander

Oh this boy.  He's turning four later this month, and that is my favoritest age ever, and I really hope it mellows him out like it did with the other kids.  Please, Lord, please.  

On July 4th, we were hanging around the house, waiting to head to a party later that day.  Declan had crawled up the stairs (with an older kid supervising) and taken one of our kid's favorite wooden games off the shelf.  Then he turned around and dropped it down the stairs, where unsuspecting Alexander was standing.  Boom, smack, right into his face.  Blood everywhere.  Much crying and panic ensued.  I got the cut cleaned up, and the bleeding stopped, but I knew it needed stitches because it was wide open.  Phil took him to Urgent Care where there were 9 people waiting ahead of him at 9:15 in the morning, and didn't come home until noon with a bandaged and stitched up little mustached man:

He could not remember what his stitches were called, and kept referring to them as "thingies, tweezers, hairs, and pinchers" but now he looks like this:

All better.  He is a major source of laughter, stress, and delight.  Love my little crazy man!

Declan

 My baby is 15 months old already!  I used to feel so great when a baby turned 15 months old, like phew, now I can get pregnant and they will be 2 years apart.  But Declan is still VERY much the baby, no urges at all for the next one.

 He is climbing everything, and has mastered going downstairs (which is the best once they learn to go upstairs).  He is busy busy busy, just as a boy should be.  He like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and doesn't talk at all.  Unless you count "Mo!" for more food and "Shhh" for what he says at Mass when I shush him.  We're going to make sure his ears are okay at the next physical, after having four kids that needed ear tubes, I wouldn't be surprised if his speech delay has something to do with that.  When I  drop him off to his wonderful babysitter during these camp weeks, he starts to get sad :(  When I pick him up, he looks all around the car like "Where's my five buddies?"  Camp weeks are not kind to Declan.  He especially misses his roomie, Xander who loves him so much he even shares his ice cream while repeating "sharing is caring" to remind himself to be generous.  

Declan has learned that age old baby tactic of flailing on the ground and crying if we tell him no, so that's been fun.  But otherwise, he still is such a happy baby boy, sweet and adorable. Love my little monkey!

And that's all she wrote because, wow, that was a lot.  Thanks for reading that novella :)

Happy 75th Birthday, Dad!

Today is my Dad's 75th birthday!  

Aren't they the cutest?  The day we had the party was the anniversary of his moving to America from Ireland.

Our whole family got together on Sunday to celebrate him with food and entertainment.  

Food:

(Wo)manning the grill.  For like 30 seconds before my oldest brother claimed control.

The delicious spread, which included steak, chicken kabobs, lobster rolls, meatballs, caprese salad, fruit salad, garden salad, hot dogs and hamburgers and cakes.  I'm feeling full just typing that.

What is this?  LOBSTER ROLLS!!

Entertainment:

Irish step dancers in bare feet

Irish step dancer with hard shoe

My sisters on their fifes

My brother on the (kid) drums.  My four older siblings used to march in a Fife & Drum band.

Relay races galore - this one was hug your partner and hop, and I almost peed my pants.

Basically it was just an awesome time spent with family, exactly what my Dad wanted.  

Here's our family - my parents, their 6 kids, their 6 kids-in-law, and their 21 grandkids:

And just the grandkids, from ages 18 down to 1, what a crazy crew of cousins who are the greatest friends:

I told Xander that his smile would be his present to Grandpa, so after the photos, he said "Was my present good?"

Happy happy birthday Benny!!  We love you and are so blessed to have you as our Dad/Grandpa :)  

P.S. Hope Mom lets you eat onion rings today!

Five Favorites: Summer Health Foods

Joining up with Jenna for #5Faves Fun!!

Summer makes it so hard to cook, doesn't it?  It's hot and you're on the go, and there's fried seafood and burgers and ice cream everywhere!  Here's what we've been eating to stay cool and somewhat healthy.

1)

Caprese Salad

I just can't get enough of this.  I'm growing tomatoes this year, but they aren't quite ready for picking, so I just buy the little baby tomatoes and the little balls of mozzarella and pick some basil and add this dressing, and voila!  A one minute side dish.

2)

Grilled Chicken

I mean, duh, everyone grills chicken in the summer.  

We marinate it in this dressing (don't use the lite version, the full fat is much better for marinating) and all 8 of us gobble it up.  I throw any leftovers in a salad the next day.

Lunch for two.

3)

Sweet Potatoes and Onions

While you're grilling outdoors anyways, make a foil packet with sliced/chopped sweet potatoes, sliced onions and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper and garlic.  So good and easy.

4)

Salads

I eat them all sorts of ways, just load up on the fresh veggies and add some kind of protein - boiled eggs, leftover chicken, chickpeas, chopped ham and cheese, blue cheese and walnuts, this isn't rocket science :)  And pick a yummy dressing you like, don't worry about choosing something low-fat or less-calorie - just look for an oil based one, not creamy.  Fat is not the enemy!  Carbs are, sadly.

5)

Chobani Greek Yogurt

While I am a big fan of their Flip varieties (loaded with candy treats), when I'm looking to eat healthier I just pick up their blended greek yogurt.  My favorite current flavors are:

WATERMELON

COFFEE

KEY LIME

We eat yogurt every.single.day. for either breakfast or lunch.  It's such an excellent source of protein and antibiotics.  And it's easy and portable for work/camp.  

Bonus:

Cottage Cheese with Fruit

Ignore the croutons with a side of salad, this was during my last pregnancy!

Protein, cheesy, salty, and sweet.  It hits all the cravings except the crunchy one, so add some baby carrots on the side :)

What are your summer healthy favorites?  Dish... (get it, dish?)

The Marital Debt

Phil and I met during our semester abroad in Austria, began dating pretty quickly, and began planning our life together soon after that.  Hey, when you know, you know.  We were young and in love and happened to be taking a course together called "Christian Marriage".  We would sit together in class, and study for the exams, all the while discussing our values and faith and what was important to us to have a holy Catholic marriage.  We were both on board with everything the church taught - chastity, NFP, being open to life, being married until death do us part, and having God as the center.  The whole shebang.  We were lucky to see eye-to-eye on all of the big things, and I'm sure the wonderful examples of married love we had from our parents was the main reason why.

Six kids later, and we're still happy at any chance to be together.

But...then we came to the part of the class where the Professor started talking about the marital debt.  I had never heard of this!

Here is the definition of the marital debt from the Bible: 

[1 Corinthians]

{7:3} A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should also act similarly toward her husband.

{7:4} It is not the wife, but the husband, who has power over her body. But, similarly also, it is not the husband, but the wife, who has power over his body.

{7:5} So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence.

The husband and wife have a moral obligation (called the marriage debt) to have natural marital relations with each other.  Only for a grave reason could a married woman deny her husband marital relations for an extended time. 

In my naivety, I thought this was a troubling "rule" of the Church.  What if I was feeling sick?  What if I wasn't in the mood?  What if I was mad at him?  I still "owed" it to him?  That didn't seem loving at all, it was more like paying a bill and checking off a to-do list.  

But Phil, being his ever patient self, described it in a way that I would understand.  If we love each other, he said, then we want what's best for one another.  Simple as that.  He explained that the marital debt worked two ways, and if I wasn't feeling well or really tired, then he would be obligated not to even try anything, because he would want to put my needs above his.  I liked the way Phil explained it, and turns out it's never been an issue for us to feel obligated to pay the marital debt to one another (hello six kids!).  We naturally want what's best for each other.  If I'm tired, but I know he's been looking forward to a date night, I try to rally because I love making him happy.  And that definitely ends up making us both happy.  

The reason all of this was on my mind today was because I heard a song on the radio this morning with the following lyrics:

Best believe that, when you need that,

I'll provide that, you will always have it.

I be on deck, keep it in check,

When you need that I'mma let you have it.

She doesn't even know it, but she's singing about the marital debt!  (Of course, the song is terribly inappropriate and she's probably not singing about married love, but nonetheless, the sentiment is the same).  

When it seems sometimes that it's anti-feminist to be a good, dutiful wife who is generous and loving and happy to take care of the house and kids, it's nice to get reminders that it's our God given duty to put the needs of our spouse before our own.  We shouldn't be ashamed to do just that.  At the end of the day, I want to be known as a good mom and wife, with my eyes on the Heavenly prize.  After all, it's not in taking that we are fulfilled, but rather in giving that we receive.

Happenings and Goings On

It's hard to sit down and write in the summer time.  When I'm not working, I want to be outside doing stuff with the family like the rest of you.  But, every once in a while I need to document things so that my yearly blog book holds all the memories.

So, first up is the most important thing that's happened recently...Eamon served his first Mass!  He attended our parish's Altar Server Bootcamp for three days, and now he is allowed to serve with his big brothers who gently lead him around the altar and whisper his duties.  It is so beautiful to see.  Eamon has a Godly heart and I think surpasses me in his holiness already at age 8.  

Even better, his cousin and bestie, Tommy, became a server with him!

Declan is finally getting his molars, so that's been...fun.  When he's not crabby, he loves being outside, which is great because between all the sports practices and summer activities we do, he's outside a lot!  

We've had a few cooler days here recently, so I've been able to run after work, and look at my view yesterday while I was running around the city park.  I had to tiptoe through those feather brains and their droppings because someone was feeding them bread.  Don't feed the birds!  It's bad for them.

On the subject of feeding, Phil and I are trying to eat healthy because we both noticed some winter insulation that never got the summertime memo.  So it's been lots of greek yogurt, grilled chicken, and salads for us.  But we have so many reasons to break the diet (birthday parties, holiday parties, we lost a pound parties) that we're not really losing any weight.  

Maggie got her haircut!  I had cut it about a month ago, but it wasn't straight and was driving me crazy, so I had it professionally done.  It came out so cute that I want to cut mine the same!

I don't know why I don't have any photos of Xander, the resident comedian, on my phone, but I'll leave you with a Xanderism:

(Seeing Phil give me a kiss)

Xander: "Why you guys always marrying each other???"

Because we like it ;)

Have a wonderful Fourth of July, here's a video from a few years ago of the oldest parade in the country in Bristol, RI: