Mother’s Day Weekend

Although Mother’s Day weekend was cool and rainy, we spent a lot of time outside.  Saturday was the annual Clarksville Little League parade.  It’s always a lot of fun, except it seems like it’s always freezing cold.

 

Sophie is not a big fan of the noise, but she loved watching the kids go by!

 

On Mother’s Day, we started out with Mass at 8am, followed by brunch at That Place at the Goss Avenue Antique mall.  They have a Sunday brunch buffet with food that is to die for and it’s very reasonably priced.  Tony and I discovered it by accident, and it’s our favorite place now.  Obviously judging by the chocolate and smiles on the kids’ faces, they like it too!

 

We left brunch and headed to Churchill Downs to watch a few of the races.    Despite begin cold, the sun was shining and we had a great time.  Unfortunately, the kids and I didn’t have any luck picking the winning horses.

 

 

So. Far. Behind.

I am SO very far behind in updating the blog.  I have three weeks worth of pictures, and no time or energy to get them all uploaded.  The two weeks of Kentucky Derby Festival, coupled with Aidan’s First Communion and piano recital, have kept us running.  So, to get at least a little caught up, here’s the best of the best:

Thunder of Louisville – the fireworks show kicking of Kentucky Derby Festival

A pretty Sunday dinner on the Waterfront:

My handsome guy’s First Communion – he chose the bow tie.  Loves to be different!

Piano recital!  Right before we left the house, he burned three finger tips on the stove.  He played incredibly well for three blistered fingers!

Tony is always working for Louisville.com at the track during Derby week.  This year, I got to go with him to the Oaks!   

There – now I’m caught up, for better or worse!

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We’ve managed to keep ourselves fairly busy over the past week or so since Easter!  This weekend was particularly chaotic.  Aidan and Sophie had play auditions, Andrew had baseball, and my brother Stephan got married.  We were on the go all weekend!

Andrew is so thrilled that baseball season finally started!  He and Tony got lucky and scored some free tickets to opening day for the Cincinnati Reds, which just got him even more pumped for his own season.  He has matured so much and it is truly a joy to watch him play (much better than tee-ball!)

His favorite position is catcher, but his coach puts him at 3rd base more often than not.  Andrew doesn’t like it as well, but he’s a darn good third baseman and has had some awesome plays already this season.

As soon as the game was over Saturday, we cleaned up and headed out for the wedding.  We weren’t really “in” it, but Tony was singing, I was reading, and Andrew was serving so we had to arrive a little early.  Sophie was so excited she could hardly stand it.  She is obsessed with brides and princesses.  She was so disappointed at the rehearsal that no one was dressed up  and that the dessert was pie.  On Saturday morning, she woke up and said, “Is today the real wedding?”  When I confirmed it, she told me, “Good, today we can have cake and not pie.”

My beautiful niece was the flower girl.  I tried to get a picture of her with Aidan and Sophie, but she didn’t want to sit still long enough.  I had to make due with grabbing this shot as she was in motion.

This picture is so corny, but I love it because I can just tell how happy he is.

Sophie didn’t want her picture taken with Uncle Stephan, nor did she want to dance with him.  She only wanted to be with the “wedding girl”.  She even took her dollar from the dollar dance to dance with Denise.  Sophie has good taste, though, and so does Stephan – Denise was breathtaking.

 

 

 

Here’s my obligatory picture with the man of the hour.  Notice that my “little” brother is a good head taller than me.  I was wearing inch and a half heels.  Now we know where Andrew’s height comes from.

 

Besides being part of a very special day, there was another wonderful part for me.  One of my cousins came in for the wedding.  I hadn’t seen her since 2001.  I so enjoyed spending time with her, her husband, and her two beautiful daughters.  It just warms my heart to find a little piece of family I thought I’d lost.

Although we left the reception by 10:30, the kids were tuckered out.  They had run around and danced themselves silly all evening, on top of the busy day earlier.  I love this picture – it makes me imagine what the three of them will be like as adults.  Andrew is doing a face plant in the back and Aidan’s shirt is unbuttoned.  I totally turned around in the driveway and discovered them this way – not at all a posed photo!

Happy Easter!

 

 

Happy Easter!  I don’t know about your house, but ours is filled with tons of chocolate and sugar-filled children.  We started Holy Saturday with the Clarksville Parks Department Easter egg hunt.  Although it was supposed to be a pretty afternoon, the morning was foggy and kind of gross.  The kids didn’t mind, however!

 

The Easter bunny arrived by fire truck – although you almost can’t spot him!

For some reason, Sophie has become increasing terrified of people in costumes lately.  It’s so crazy, it’s almost funny.  She talked to our bear mascot at school for a long time, as long as the costume’s head wasn’t on.  The minute it went back on, she started screaming.  It was the same with the Easter bunny.  Sophie knew that our neighbor, Lindsey, was wearing the costume.  As long as her head was off and Sophie could see her face, all was okay.  But with the head on?  Chaos.

 

This was major progress – but you can still tell that Sophie is clinging to her friend and just barely touching the bunny.  Not sure what we’ll do when we make a return trip to Disney.

 

Despite the weather and bunny fear, the kids ended up with plenty of eggs and candy.

 

 

 

Sophie wanted to help me make the deviled eggs.  She lasted long enough to take a picture – then she said they smelled bad and walked away.

 

We always go to Easter Vigil Mass.  Besides just being a beautiful service, I also enjoy seeing new members join the Church and it allows us to sleep in a little and hang out in pjs on Easter morning.  So after egg hunting and cooking, we cleaned up and headed off to Mass.

 

Easter morning was rainy, so we had to hunt for eggs in the house.

 

 

 

Andrew was REALLY excited to find a book he’d been wanting in his basket, while Aidan was more of a chocolate kind of guy.

 

 

 

 

We had lunch at my mom’s with all the Courtney cousins.  Not a bad looking group!

Next weekend is opening day for Little League!

 

Spring Break 2013

Like so many things lately, our Spring Break plans were spur-of-the-moment.  We didn’t have any plans, so we decided to head down to Georgia with my parents to see my aunt.  It’s about a seven hour drive to Clarkesville, Georgia, which is the longest trip we’ve ever taken with all three kids in the car.  We left before five so that the kids would sleep in the car – and they did!  They slept all the way to the Tennessee state line.  When they woke up, we stopped at the welcome center.  While there, Tony had to extract a whole dead bird from the front of his car.  Yuck.

Overall, the kids were pretty good travelers – thanks to the electronics!

 

 

For a good chunk of the drive, the highway circles around the Smokey Mountains.  It’s a pretty drive, but a little nerve-wracking in spots.

 

When we arrived, it was lunchtime.  We had a yummy lunch at a local diner call the Sautee Trail Grill.  Andrew enjoyed it so much that he emailed Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network.

After lunch, we headed to Babyland General Hospital – the place where Cabbage Patch Kids are “born”.  In case you can’t tell, the kids are sitting on a giant cabbage with a baby head in the middle.  Sophie brought her “cabbage baby” from home.

 

When a new baby is “born”, the “nurses” ask the kids there what its name should be.  Aidan was chosen and gave Michael as the middle name.  This is him holding his “namesake” (which we didn’t buy!)

 

Because it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend, there were special crafts and all the kids left with  chocolate gold coins.  Sophie, of course, also left with a new “cabbage baby” (as she calls them).

 

 

 

 

After Babyland General, we went back to Aunt Connie’s farm to visit the animals.

 

 

Sophie only wanted to feed the calves, and she was not fearful about telling the big cows to go away!

 

On Sunday morning, we went to church with Aunt Connie.  Their church is new, but built so that it looks like it’s been there forever.  Aidan, of course, made friends with the pastor before Mass and tried out his Spanish.

 

After Mass, we had a picnic and then hiked to Anna Ruby Falls.  It was gorgeous!

 

After our hike, we returned to the pretty little town of Helen, Georgia.  If you’ve never been there, I suggest you Google it and check it out.  It’s like Gatlinburg, but not so touristy.  It used to be a logging town but then reinvented itself in the 70s to become a tourist destination.  It’s made to look like an Alpine village and has managed to attract some authentic Germans as well.  The town has a huge Oktoberfest each year.  One attraction that Aidan loved was called “Charlemange’s Kingdom”.  It was a huge model train exhibit set up by a German man and his wife.  I enjoyed watching Aidan run back and forth trying to figure out where the trains were going.

 

By this time, we needed a break.  We stopped in to Hoffer’s, an amazing German deli.  So many choices!  I settled on strudel, Tony picked some veal sausages, and Sophie chose the very authentic chocolate cupcake.

 

Although the kids enjoyed all the animals at Aunt Connie’s – cows, chickens, cats, geese – but by far the favorite were the baby chicks!  I posted this picture of Aidan on Facebook saying “Aidan is picking up blonde chicks in Georgia”.

 

We ended up a very long Sunday with a little mini-golf.  Andrew and Aidan hadn’t been since they were about three and Sophie had never been.  The weather was great, and the view was gorgeous.  We had the place to ourselves for the most part and the kids had a blast!

 

Tony tried to include a little golf lesson so he could help the boys get credit in scouts for their experience.  Aunt Connie ended up beating all of us!

 

Sunset over Helen:

 

I’m so glad we got all our big tourist things out of the way on Saturday and Sunday, because it rained all day Monday.  We started off at Nora Mill and Granary.  The kids enjoyed looking at the falls and attempting to feed the trout.  Except for Sophie.  She sampled the fish food.

 

We visited a couple of wineries, stopped in a historic general store and a local wooden toy store and then broke for lunch.  After lunch, we went to the candy kitchen – everyone’s favorite stop of the day!

 

Unfortunately, after our stop at the candy kitchen we had some car trouble.  Tony and Dad got the car fixed while the rest of us went back to the condo.  It needed a new starter, but luckily one of Aunt Connie’s friends gave us a hand.  After being cooped in the condo in the rain, we piled the kids into Aunt Connie’s car and went back down to Helen to shop a little.  Andrew was thrilled that he found an IU hat and a Notre Dame hat in town to buy.

The kids spent the rest of the evening swimming and just visiting before we headed to bed.  We headed north again on Tuesday morning.  The kids fell asleep once we were out of the mountains, so we were able to drive from North Carolina to Lexington without stopping.  We had a nice sit-down dinner together at Olive Garden and then made one more stop – the whole reason we chose Lexington for dinner:

Joseph-Beth is my all time favorite book store and a place I spent a lot of time when I went to Transylvania.  I took Tony once and he was dying to go back.  It’s safe to say that it made the correct impression on the kids:

I told them I’d buy them each one book and they had a lot of trouble choosing.  When we left, we drove through town and past UK and Rupp Arena, much to Andrew’s disgust.  I also point out Transy, but they weren’t impressed.  We ended up pulling in around 8:00.  We had a great time and I’m so glad we were able to work it out!

Weekend Away

Tony and I had a little weekend getaway, but not exactly to a vacation destination.  We left Saturday morning to head to beautiful…Fort Wayne, Indiana.  My oldest Girls’ State friend was getting married!  Julie and I were partners our first year at HGS 15 years ago, and she and our friend Angie drove down to Clarksville for my wedding (a million years ago).

Anywho, Tony and I made the most of our brief weekend away.  The wedding was at 2, so we got to town earlier enough to check into our hotel – which was walking distance from everything.  After the wedding, Tony and I went to 5:00 Mass at the Cathedral with my friend Hannah (also from Girls’ State).  The Fort Wayne Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was breathtaking inside.  I was so glad we decided to go!

If you notice in the picture, we were not so lucky with the weather.  We left 60 degrees and sunny in Clarksville to find lots of snow left in Fort Wayne.  It was still pretty, though.

I found my friend St. Theodora in front of the chapel!

After Mass, we met back up with everyone at the local minor league ball park for the reception which started at 6:00.  I had such a good time catching up with everyone, and it was nice to introduce Tony to my very favorite people – after all, he gives me up to them for over a week each summer!

Angie and her husband, Andrew, and Tony and I stayed until the reception venue kicked us all out.  A security guard was available to walk those of us left through the ballpark and back to the hotel, which was nice.  We ended up in the hotel lounge visiting until they shut that down a little after midnight.

I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that I could get everything arranged to leave the kids for the weekend, but I’m so glad it worked out.  We had an amazing time and I am so blessed to have these beautiful women in my life!

Catching Up

 

 

 

We’ve been noticeably absent from the blogging world recently, and for once it wasn’t just because of our busy schedules.  My camera died at Sophie’s birthday party and I’ve been using my camera to take pictures for a month.  While the iphone doesn’t take bad pictures, it doesn’t take great ones and it’s more of an effort to get off the phone and on the blog.  After hemming and hawing for awhile, I decided a camera was a necessity and found a little one for $50 at WalMart.  It’s not quite the caliber of what I had before, but it works – which is more than I can say for the other camera.

So, we’re at the tail end of the basketball season at school.  Sophie really wanted to play this year, but she isn’t fond of it.  I’ve had to drag her out to the court every game.  Thank goodness we’re down to the last one this coming weekend.  At least she looks cute.

Aidan, on the other hand, is really enjoying his last year of “biddy ball”.  He’s not sure he wants to play next year on the 3rd grade team, but he’s having a good time now.  That’s him in the red.

 

Two weeks ago we took a spur of the moment trip to Nashville.  Unfortunately, the reason for the drive was a memorial service for the baby of a dear friend of mine.  We ended up taking the kids along for a number of reasons – first, we were staying with other friends in Nashville that we hadn’t seen in a while, and our kids wanted to visit their kids.  Secondly, although my kiddos have only met Angie and Andrew (the parents of the baby) once, they loved them and the boys wanted to go.  Lastly, it’s just a lot of trouble to find an overnight sitter for three kids at the last minute.  We were gone from our house a total of about 28 hours – we left after school on Friday and were home by 8:00 Saturday.  We managed a stop by the Opry Mills Mall for a meal at the Rainforest Cafe for the kids since they were such good travelers.  They had never been to a place quite like it outside of Disney, and they were amazed.

Here’s a random shot of Sophie’s Valentine’s hair-do!

This past weekend Aidan made his First Reconciliation.  I was so proud of him!  He was an angel through the whole service and was even good for about two minutes after church let out.

 

Sunday was the annual Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.  Here are our entries.  Can you match the car to the kid?

None of our entries won any prizes for speed, but Sophie’s pink pony won the “Most Artistic” medal!

Finally, Andrew has made it to 3rd grade “real” basketball.  He was stoked to pick number “0″ like Will Sheehey.  Tony says with the way he fouls, he’s more like Dane Fife.  Just a little Hoosier humor, but my son with monkey arms may very well foul out before the season is over.

Now you’re caught up with us – but we’ve got a lot coming up!  Stay tuned – I promise to be a better blogger!

 

Princess Party

Our little diva turned four years old today.  Thank goodness, today didn’t come with the ice storm that accompanied her arrival in 2009!  Smart and sassy, there’s no doubt Sophie knows her own mind.  She’s extremely opinionated and very prissy.  She loves shoes, clothes, and purses and thinks nothing of using both brute force and feminine charms to get her way.

 

I cannot believe how grown-up she looks!  But at the same time, she still loves to snuggle with mommy and she’s a daddy’s girl through and through.  I hate to see her get bigger, but I can’t wait to see what God has in store for this amazing little girl.

I see so much of my personality quirks blended with Tony’s in each of the boys.  But it’s something else entirely to look at Sophie and see the physical resemblance to myself.  It catches me off guard occasionally.  Especially when she’s got an attitude like mine.

All Sophie has talked about for months and months is having a party for her friends.  We decided to have a “Princess Party” at DanceWorks, where Sophie takes dance.  It was wonderful!  All the guests were invited to dress as princesses.  They played games, painted, danced, ate cupcakes and opened presents.  The best part?  All I was responsible for was the cake.  DanceWorks provided all the entertainment, paper goods, drinks, and even goodie bags.  Sorry if I sound like a commercial, but anyone who has ever thrown a party for kids knows what a gift this is to a parent!

Sophie decided that the princess she wanted to be was Rapunzel.

 

 

Sophie and Emma waiting in line for Aunt Linda to give them some princess curls!

 

Painting!

Happy Birthday to Sophie!

 

All the pretty princesses (and two princes!)  We are so blessed to have wonderful friends and family – everyone Sophie invited was able to come with the exception of two with prior commitments.

Presents!

 

 

 

After her princess party, we came home to bake another cake and do it all over again with the grandparents.  One of Sophie’s very special gifts was a desk.  It belonged to Memaw (Tony’s grandma).  My mom took it and had it refinished for Sophie.  She loved it!

 

Happy birthday to our favorite little girl!

Dreaming of Warmer Weather

 

 

I’m about a week late posting this, but last weekend the cub scouts held their annual luau event.  It always happens in January, and my boys look forward to it every year.  It starts with an hour at the indoor pool at the YMCA.

 

Followed by a pitch-in dinner eaten picnic style.

 

After dinner, there’s a costume contest, limbo, and hula hoop contest.

 

 

Guess who won the costume contest this year?  The competition was not very stiff, and Aidan really loved his grass skirt!

Hope wherever you are is warmer than Indiana!

 

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year (about 12 days late)!  We are back to school and in regularly scheduled mode again, but I wanted to share some pictures of our last few days of Christmas vacation.  Every year for Christmas, the kids get a little bit of money from Papa to buy themselves something.  This year they all picked out new shoes.  Interestingly enough, the shoes match their personality.  Andrew picked out “Tony Hawk” shoes because that’s what the cool kids wear.  Sophie wanted boots to be stylish, and Aidan chose bright neon orange and yellow tennies because he just doesn’t care what anyone thinks about his style sense.

They all donned their new clothes to go to a New Year’s eve party.

Since having kids, I don’t think Tony and I have done the same thing twice for New Year’s Eve.  Last year we spent it with just the boys at the IU basketball game.  This year, the entire family was invited to the home of some friends of ours from church.  There were four couples and their kids and we had a great time.  The guys watched football, the kids played and the women played board games.  Not your usual New Year’s eve celebration, but just our speed lately.  This is what Sophie looks like after playing nicely until midnight:

New Year’s Day we headed to Mom and Dad’s for our traditional New Year’s Day lunch – corned beef and cabbage.  They still had a significant amount of snow left at their house, so the kids had a ton of fun playing.  Papa had rounded up a couple of sled and the boys had a ball racing each other down the hill.  They had even more fun watching Grandma, Papa, and Aunt Connie race down!  Tony and I didn’t bring our snow gear, so we were the designated photographers.

 

Not a fan of sledding, Sophie called herself the cheerleader.  Then she and Aunt Connie built a snowman.  Somewhere there exists a similar picture of Aunt Connie and I playing in the snow when I was little.

 

 

Here’s a couple of random shots from the past few days.  Sophie loves her Disney World castle from Grandma and Papa.  She also adores her Mary statue.  So much, in fact, that I often catch her playing with it.  I walked through her room the other day and had to snap this picture.  I call it, “Our Lady of Disney”.

Going back to school was tough for all of us – but mostly for Sophie.  She came home from preschool and started playing with her Leap Pad only to fall fast asleep with the stylus in her hand and the game still going.

We have so many things to look forward to in 2013  - hope you have a wonderful year as well!