teenagers – Seven Friarys

Maine

Published on August 5, 2019August 5, 2019 by 7friarys4 Comments

We just got back from spending a week up in Biddeford. Out of all the vacations we take Maine is definitely the most relaxing. Although, I’m sitting here trying to figure out why I’m so exhausted. Emma was able to come up and spend a few days with us at the beginning of the week and then Megan was able to join us for the rest of the week. They actually crossed paths on the highway. Spending an entire week with everyone all together is getting harder and harder these days.

We spent most of our time at the beach with a few little day trips here and there. I have lots of pictures to share!

We took our annual trip up to Portland so we could stop at The Holy Donut (here)

THE BEST DONUTS!!

We went to Kennebunkport

Went out on Lynn’s boat

Celebrated Chloe turning 17!!!!!! Happy Birthday, Chloe!!!!!

Spent lots of time on this swing

relaxed

(Mama selfie)

Chased down the ice cream man

Hahaha!

Took walks

Enjoyed the beauty of Maine

Of course had lobster

But more importantly we enjoyed being together

A New Beginning

Published on September 3, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

Another school year and of course we had to have our annual back to school dinner

Then it was off to the start of junior year for Chloe

And 5th grade for Lucy

Beckett had to get in on the picture taking, too

Then it was time to move Megan into college

Emma starts this week. Her schedule is always busy and we barely see her these days but I’m definitely going to try and get that first day picture of her too 🙂

Happy Fall!!

California Part 3

Published on July 23, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I took over 700 pictures on our vacation and I’m about to dump a bunch of them here so I’ll always have them. I’ll let the pictures tell the story

North Beach

Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial

Belmont Park

World Famous on Pacific Beach

Ha!

Windan Sea Beach (our beach)

Newport Beach

Loving this road trip!!

Santa Monica Pier

Hollywood

Lunch

East LA

We are loving California!!

California Part 2

Published on July 17, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

Can we just stop for a moment and appreciate how beautiful the world is

I’m really missing those California sunsets!!

Balboa Park:

We spent another morning down at the seaport and grabbed an early lunch. Emma wasn’t feeling well so she stayed behind

We went to dinner that night at Jon’s second cousin’s house. It was the first time we met her and we all instantly fell in love with her

Jon and I left the kids one night and met up with an old friend for some drinks

We pretty much went nonstop the entire time we were there and I have so many more pictures to share. Soon.

California Part 1

Published on July 16, 2018August 2, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

Our vacation got off to a pretty rough start. After struggling to get Beck’s car seat installed on the airplane we were told that we had to get off the plane due to bad weather. There was going to be a 4 hour delay. We had a connecting flight that we were never going to make. So we had to rebook our flights for first thing the next morning. We had 8 hours to wait and it didn’t make any sense for us to go home so we waited it out………. at the airport

We had a quick layover in TX

But, La Jolla you were worth the wait!!

It was a long day of traveling and beach going and we were all exhausted but there was no way I was going to miss my first west coast sunset. Megan, Chloe, Lucy and I all walked down to the beach to watch

We spent the 4th of July at the beach. We went to Torey Pines first and then over to Coronado and met up with Scott

Then we went to the seaport to watch the fireworks around the bay. It was an incredible sight to see

The following day we went to Seaworld. Jon hated Seaworld but I’m pretty sure it’s because he had flashbacks of Shamu pinching his ear when he was a little boy. The rest of us loved it!

We stopped at The Taco Stand on the way home. This place was DELICIOUS!! There was a constant line down the street no matter what time of day or night we drove by

SO good!!!

Sweet Emilie came for dinner one night

SO good to see her!

A few more pictures from the beginning of the week

If you’ve made it this far you’re a trooper. I think that was only day 3!! More to come!

Graduation

Published on June 3, 2018June 3, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I remember the day I got these pictures back from her preschool teacher. They brought me to tears (surprise, surprise). I also remember thinking that seeing her in her high school cap and gown would crush me. But, I didn’t have to worry about that for 14 years.

I’ve been dreading graduation for months. I’ve been through this before and I know that even though I’m still their mom and they’re still my “babies”, things just change. Of course the feelings don’t change, just the day to day activities that we’ve been doing forever. Like I said in Emma’s graduation post, it’s not a bad change just different.

I lasted without tears until this next part (SAME as Emma’s graduation)

So even though I got a little teary eyed I really am so excited for her!!

It was upside down and it made us laugh. She really is a very smart girl.

I am SO proud of her and I know that she will go on to do great things in life.

And I hope she knows that where ever life brings her, she will always have this support system who will love her and be there for her no matter what.

Happy Graduation Megan Mackenzie!!

This Moment

Published on May 31, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

She was sitting on the couch while I was putting Lucy’s lunch together this morning. I turned and saw her staring at me. She smiled and I burst into tears. It’s gonna be a long week. Graduation tomorrow.

May Little Things

Published on May 29, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

Just a few pictures from May so I don’t forget

We had our first trip to the ice cream shop.

We found an awesome park close by. We plan on spending lots of time here once school gets out.

We took the birthday girl out for lunch. Can you believe she is 22?!?!?!?!

Beck got some new wheels

Jon and I went to a couple of concerts in May, including a double date with Matt and Jen.

Speaking of double dates….. we had lunch with Kirsten and G.

Now he thinks he’s the coolest thing out there.

Mother’s Day love with my kids

3 generations (who like to match)

My dad had some heart procedures done recently and I spent a few days with my mom

Megan’s chorus had their senior night and I pretty much cried throughout the entire thing. When her friend Kamryn sang I Will Always Love You I pretty much lost it. Her voice is amazing!! Her friend Lexi sang Thank God for Small Towns and I cried through that one too. It’s safe to say that I’ll be a blubbering mess at graduation and will probably embarrass her and my entire family. Ha!

Can’t forget Lucy’s Memorial Day program. I usually cry through that one too. This year Beckett kept me too busy to get teared up. He finally met Patrick (one of the babies that Megan and Chloe babysit for). It did hit me that I won’t be at the elementary school for this program for 4 years!! So sad!!

A few more photos from the month:

We did a collaboration with Herobility. LOVE their baby products! Use code Jillfriary20 if you’re interested in getting 20% off 3 or more products.

More Herobility

That pretty much wraps up May. Megan is out of school and busy having fun with her friends. Emma is done too and getting ready to hit Iceland next week with Tess. Chloe and Lucy have a couple of more weeks but I know that they’re eager to finish up. We have a fun summer planned and we are all more than ready to get to it!

One more thing, scroll back up and look at that last picture of Beckett’s face. How cute is he?!?!?!?!

Easter

Published on April 2, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

Boy was Beckett excited yesterday morning! We had a plan the night before that he would wake each one of his sisters up when he woke up so we could check out what the Easter bunny brought him. He ran into each of their rooms saying “Happy Easter”. He was just the cutest little thing!!

I decided to “get in the photo” this year so most of these are of me. Ha! Ha! Sorry….

We stopped at my parents for a quick visit before heading over to Marlene and Brians for dinner

Getting a photo where all seven of us are looking, smiling, keeping eyes open is getting harder and harder. This was the best one. hahaha…not great

Can I just tell you that these two are really going to miss each other this fall.

Check out B with his little buddies, Connor and Camden. It was so fun watching him be able to play with his boy cousins.

It was a really great day!! Happy Easter!

March

Published on March 20, 2018 by 7friarysLeave a comment

I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I’ve updated over here. Not that we’ve had anything interesting going on. Ha! I do have a lot of pictures that I want to post, though. Of course they’re mostly of Beckett.

Grocery store pictures are always my favorite!

February vacation started off with some pretty amazing weather!

And ended with two kids having the flu

Have you ever played hide and seek with a toddler?

Five toddlers later and I still think it’s funny

Megan finished up her cheer career

I’m not sure if I posted that one last month but I figured I’d add it again here. It was a little bittersweet She’s worked so hard over the last 4 years and has made some amazing friendships from that cheer squad. She’s ready for her next chapter though. We went to open house at her college and we got to meet her new roommate and her parents. I think she’s going to love living in Boston SO much!!

The way my driveway looks when teenagers have friends sleep over:

Lucy dressed Beckett up in her robe and he looked like E.T. to me

She is SO good to him!! All of his sisters are. This kid gets nonstop attention around here.

a couple of days ago I put Beckett in time out and told him to keep his bum on the stool. 30 seconds later he walked through the kitchen like this

I can’t say no to him so he ended up taking this puppy home from the grocery store

A few more Beckett photos

His little hand in his pocket kills me.

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Colton came up with my parents last weekend. EVERY time we see him I take a picture of Lucy and him together (besties).

Beck needed to get in there too

He thinks he’s so funny. Ha!

I’ve had a lot of companies reach out to me since the beginning of the year asking me to do collaborations with them on social media (soooooooooo exciting!! )

One of the companies is Ashtonbee baby. This is one of their bowls:

Another one is Jord watches

IMG_E9468

I’m going to have another blog post on the watch alone later in the week so be sure to check back. I’m hosting a pretty good giveaway with them so make sure you enter!!