memories – Page 6 – Seven Friarys

December Little Things

Published on December 30, 2017 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I can’t believe we are closing out 2017. It hit me this week that 2018 will bring Jon and I TWO adult children. How is that even possible?

December was filled with a lot of fun but also a couple of stressful days.

Trips to the doctors are never fun but when you have to bring one of your children to a cardiologist in Boston it’s pretty scary. Luckily we have 5 healthy children!!

We’re starting to get things like this in the mail for Megan

Each time I find one in the mailbox my heart beats with excitement for her but then I can feel it breaking a little. I tear up EVERY time!

We had her final (ever) choir Christmas show. We’ve been going to these since she was in 2nd grade!

I’m hoping that Lucy will continue so we have a lot more of these to go to.

Chloe sent me this picture of Beckett while babysitting one night

I can usually find Lucy and Beckett snuggled up under a blanket watching tv together or hanging out on the heater in deep conversation. Ha! It’s cold up here!!

Sometime he’ll snuggle up to the dog

I like to sit and watch him play. I try and take as many pictures as I can because it’s so sweet to watch and I’m sad that I don’t have many pictures of Emma, Megan and Chloe playing when they were little.

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We celebrated Baba’s 72nd birthday this week with our other favorite boy, Colton.

practiced a little yoga

Did a little after Christmas shopping

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The month was filled with lots of shopping, lots of music, lots of dates for Jon and I. A lot of love, laughter and really good memories.

Our 2017 Christmas Card

My best 2017 photos on Instagram

Happy New Year!! See you in 2018!!

Christmas

Published on December 29, 2017 by 7friarys1 Comment

I always say that I’m going to take more pictures at Christmas but I never do. It’s one of those days that I just try and live in the moment. The pictures that I do take NEVER come out great but I’m going to add them here because it really was a great day and I want to remember it always. Bad, blurry, unflattering pictures and all.

Collin brought Emma this big teddy bear that Beckett fell in love with

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun with my parents. You could just feel the excitement in the house that day. Lucy and Beckett were pretty much bouncing off the walls, excited for Santa to come!!

The kids do their sibling gift exchange on Christmas Eve. It’s always so fun to see the thoughtful gifts they buy for one another.

Tracey sent this great unicorn blanket to Lucy

The sky that night kind of stopped me in my tracks. I just stood by my kitchen door and watched every last second until the sun finally sunk behind the trees.

After my parents left we put on our new Christmas pajamas, took out the big tin of popcorn and watched Christmas movies until it was time to tuck those babies in

As you can see my house was already trashed and it wasn’t even Christmas morning yet!!

Jon and I stayed up late watching It’s a Wonderful Life

We woke up to a blanket of snow outside and a pile of presents under our tree

Brian, Marlene and Liz drove through the snow to come spend Christmas with us

And of course I don’t have any other pictures.

Beckett is loving his new presents!! The tv hasn’t been on Disney junior at all the last couple of days

Pottery barn kids reached out to me asking to use that picture of Beckett in his new sleeping bag.

It all seemed to go by in such a blur!! The entire month did!! I have lots of updates that I will post before December is up. Right now I’m going to go pour myself a glass of eggnog and see if there are any Christmas cookies left.

Christmas Weekend

Published on December 5, 2017 by 7friarysLeave a comment

It’s here!! Christmas time!!!! We had such a fun and busy Christmasy weekend with the kids. We started off by taking Lucy and Beckett to the town tree lighting on Friday night. The look on Beckett’s face when Santa Claus came in on the fire truck was priceless.

We’ve been talking all things Christmas including Santa Claus so it’s been pretty exciting to see his reaction.

Saturday morning we took the two of them to Lucy’s school for breakfast with Santa

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He did a lot better than he did last year

Hahaha! And the year before:

Oh man, someone needs to stop this baby from growing up so quick! Both of them!! Look at how little sweet Lu was!

Saturday afternoon the seven of us went to our favorite Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree

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Sunday morning I took off to do a little Christmas shopping with Megan. We did a little decorating when we got home

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On Sunday night we decorated the tree while listening to Christmas music

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While shopping on Sunday morning I bought this new tree topper. It was 4 years ago on Sunday that I found out I was pregnant with the baby I never got to meet so I thought that the angel would be absolutely perfect.

Only 20 days to go!!!

Halloween Tradition

Published on October 30, 2017 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I realized last night that Halloween was only 2 nights away and we hadn’t carved our pumpkins yet. When one of my older daughters (who shall remain nameless) asked what was up for the night I told her that we were planning on turning on Halloween music and carving pumpkins. She rolled her eyes and said, “yeah, not really feeling it.” Ha! Gotta love teenagers. I told her that it was fine and she didn’t have to participate if she didn’t want to. I actually didn’t expect any of the older girls to want to do it this year. But, I’m a sucker for family traditions and I want to make sure that Lucy and Beckett get everything out of their childhood that the older girls got.

Lucy was sick yesterday and spent the morning on the couch watching home movies. It made me realize how important these traditions are because time is flying by so quick. It’s great to know that the traditions we started in our old house with three little girls are things we still do today.

By the time we put the newspaper on the kitchen table and put the Monster Mash on the stereo all five of my kids were gathered around our kitchen table. I have to admit that I LOVE the fact that my kids (and husband) are also suckers for family traditions.

When we finished with the pumpkin we baked the seeds and watched Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. The kids were less enthusiastic about that one. Ha!!

Just Wait

Published on October 24, 2017 by 7friarys2 Comments

“Just wait”, they would say to Jon whenever we told people that we were expecting our third and fourth daughters. “Just wait until they’re all teenagers”. “You poor thing”. “Your poor husband”. “Hopefully the next one will be a boy”, they would say. People can be so dumb, so insensitive. Especially since they would say this in front of me. A WOMAN!! Our third baby girl is 15. Our first is 21! I’ve been parenting teenage girls for 8 years now and I LOVE IT! I even had three teenage daughters at once. They’re good girls, all of them!! Sweet, kind, caring, helpful. Fun to hang out with and talk to. They’ve never given me any trouble! I can count on one hand how many times they’ve each given me an attitude. They don’t get into any trouble, and if they do then they’re pretty good at hiding it, so I’m going to go ahead and give them props for that, too! I feel blessed to be a mom of 4 girls. I’m on the couch right now, sick. (Probably just a 24 hour thing.) Three of my girls are home with me right now. Chloe made dinner while Megan and Lucy entertained Beckett and cleaned up the kitchen. While putting Lucy’s laundry away this morning, Emma kept me company and made Lu’s bed. I didn’t ask any of them to do anything. They all took over and did what needed to be done to help me out. So the next time I see a pregnant woman who is carrying a baby girl I’m going to go out of my way to tell her how lucky she is.

This Moment

Published on October 3, 2017 by 7friarysLeave a comment

This was my view from the kitchen this morning while I was busy getting everyone ready for the day. They sat snuggled under blankets while watching Nickelodeon. Beckett usually gets up an hour before Lucy and has his banana while watching Mickey Mouse but today he actually slept in!!

Little moments like these are the ones I always want to remember.

This Moment

Published on September 30, 2017 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I think the terrible twos hit about a week and a half early. This little monkey has been throwing temper tantrums all week long! Is it a boy thing? I don’t remember the girls throwing massive tantrums like this. Well, Chloe did a few times but it was short lived (fingers crossed B gets over it quick, too). Last night when we were leaving the football game Beckett had a full blown meltdown. He didn’t have a nap, it was an hour past his bedtime and it was freezing! As I was walking out an old man laughed and said “boy, you have your hands full (probably also noticing the gaggle of children walking with me). I just smiled,because tantrums don’t really bother me all that much and said to him “better full than empty”. I try not to take any of these fleeting moments for granted. Three years from now both Megan and Chloe will be in college. I’m sure Emma will be out of the house by then too. My house will seem so quiet with only the little ones here.

I will forever take the temper tantrums over a quiet, boring house!

As I rocked Beckett to sleep tonight and his little body melted into mine, I sat and listened to him breathe in the quiet. All the tantrums of the day were quickly forgotten and I just thanked God for sending me another sweet little baby so late in life.

Back to School

Published on August 30, 2017 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that summer is over. When I dropped Lu off this morning it felt like I was just there. How could that have been over two months ago? Crazy!! I am looking forward to seeing some of my mama friends at pickup this afternoon.

We had our annual back to school dinner a couple of nights ago. Now that cheer has started and the girls have work at night I had to wait until all seven of us were around.

I took Lucy on a little back to school date

I got woken up at 5:30 this morning by the superintendent of schools calling to report a safety issue. Apparently someone made a threat to the high school. Nice! Not really how I wanted to send my girls back to school. I guess that’s the way of the world right now. Sad.

These two were ready to get back, though.

My last first day of school picture of Megan. 😥
Lucy was excited to get back too! She has both of her best friends in her class this year!

Beckett didn’t want to get out of the pictures this morning

I keep trying to convince him that he has another 4 years at home but he’s ready to go too!

Other than the 5:30 phone call and the fact that the oil man decided to deliver our oil (and block the driveway) when I was already running late to get Lucy to school, it was a really good morning. Fingers crossed and prayers going up that this is a great school year for all my girls, Emma starts on Tuesday.

10 Years Ago Today, A Look Back

Published on July 31, 2017July 31, 2017 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I honestly can’t believe that it’s been 10 years since Jon and I packed up our first little house and moved up north with our three little girls. It’s amazing all that we’ve been through over these last 10 years, including welcoming two new members into this family. Here’s a look back on some of our memories from the last 10 years (warning, there are a lot of them!)

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The holidays, parties, first days of school, family movie nights, playdates, ice and snow storms that knocked out our power for days, traveling (and living abroad for a little while) long walks through the neighborhood, playing in the yard, rocking babies in the middle of the night quiet, sending kids off to college, helping with homework, bedtime stories, picnics, our thankful tree, family dinners and bringing new babies in the house. Too many moments to list here. It’s all been exciting. My favorite memories are the everyday moments. We are in the middle of “the good old days” right now. Watching this family grow and change has been the greatest joy of my life.

Home is wherever I’m with you.

I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years brings!