Busy September

I've been wanting to post about all of our activities, but it seems with the end of the slow summer days came busy fall days and I've been too lazy to do anything at night.

So, going back to all the way at the end of August, the kids enjoyed their final days of heat at the pool and MJ enjoyed his first day of Kindergarten! I've forced myself to become more of a morning person, and the little breath of fresh air as we take the short walk to school has helped. I was not 100% sure of our decision, but seeing how things are going well and that St. Theresa was just awarded the Blue Ribbon of excellence (I believe Luke's parish school won that last year) I'm feeling better about things. Joey and Sheila have enjoyed their time together, and it is fun to see Joey being the BIG brother.


We went to ND's first game of the season vs Purdue. We enjoyed the pep rally (where my embarrassing TV clip was filmed) and our traditional trip to LaFortune to buy their bagged bulk candy. The kids had fun at the tailgate.


And on the walk to see the band play.



The weather was gorgeous, my mom watched the kids, and Mario and I enjoyed a very pleasant date at the football game.

It is so hard not to think about my pregnancy with MJ as I go through this one. Exactly 6 years ago, I went to ND's first home game with Mario while carrying a kicking little MJ. His youngest sister also seems to like football!
We stayed Saturday night so we could go to mass at the Basilica on Sunday and have another casual walk around campus before leaving.



The kids were very helpful in the car as usual, though I have now determined it is best to give them all Dramamine just in case. Sheila is the only one who has actually gotten sick (on a short drive to Baltimore) but MJ and Joey have both complained about symptoms. Even the drowsy kind doesn't make our kids sleepy. Fortunately, they are usually pretty happy in the car. Sheila can sometimes get antsy, but she knows how to work Mario's i pad. We have a video of her hitting the home button, scrolling through pages, selecting and playing the app she wants.

Pretty scary... incidentally, this was Sheila's last day in diapers. We got back Sunday night, and on Monday Sept 6th I began the rigorous potty training that worked so well for Joey. She's in big girl underpants, and I wanted to get a cute picture of her with them on, but haven't seemed to get the right shot yet. While I had scheduled this potty training week a month in advance, I did not anticipate her learning to climb out of the crib at the same time. It is not recommended to go through 2 major transitions at once, and I know why... it drives mom crazy! Sheila would get up out of bed saying she had to go to the bathroom, and as we were training, I had to comply. This resulted in some pretty late bedtimes for both of us. The potty training has stuck, and now we are on the right track to getting her to stay in her bed and lay down.

The following weekend, MJ had his first flag football game. Mario is the head coach and he is really enjoying it. He is a really good coach, though at this age the game is a little different. MJ was the quarterback for his first game, and I have a few pictures of that I will share in a slideshow later.

We don't want to leave out our sweet Joey - who while not achieving many "first" milestones is doing quite well. We are making an effort to keep him from getting lost in the shuffle. I wanted to post about his first K4J "Kids for Jesus" class which he attended last year in the shadow of MJ. But his first class this year was on Friday, and Mario also had a special plan for Joey that day and offered to take him in to work. Joey had an awesome time and is still talking about his special day with daddy at the office.

And just last weekend, Mario invited his office to our house for a BBQ. We've known about this for awhile; I had grand plans to have the house in perfect order to put the best foot forward for family life. The plans didn't all work out (there are still fingerprints on the doors and windows) but still, I think the BBQ was a success. I believe it was our best tasting BBQ ever - I'm not sure if I can say it b/c it's sounds like I'm praising myself too much, but it was really a Tabitha style party. I chopped and prepared for HOURS and every item on the menu save one (Sabra Hummus) was home-made. We had an amazing BBQ skirt steak which Mario got the recipe from a restaurant in NJ, Jerked Chicken (not on kabobs which saved us some time), sliders, guacamole, mango salsa, Tabitha's salsa, fresh cut veggie tray, fresh cut fruit salad, chocolate chip cookies and brownies.... gosh, when you list it out like that, it doesn't seem like it should have taken me so long. The other plus to this BBQ on Saturday is that after the kids were asleep and we started the ND game, I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I'm sure this drove Mario crazy, but I literally woke up as the announcer made the last call of the game. I was in a bit of a daze, realized I should be somehow helping Mario emotionally, but quite refreshed for taking such a nice nap.