New Hairdo

Caroline has decided she wants to grow her hair out.
She is in that in-between stage where her bangs are too long to let hang and too short to easily pull back.
She always comes home from school with hair that looks as though she has been on a three day bender, so I'm challenged to find hairstyles to keep her bangs out of her face as they grow.
We figured it out.
We were able to braid CJ's bangs into a french braid that wrapped from one ear to the other.  
Cool, huh?

Sunday Night.

We had a fun weekend.  T-ball, Soccer, Children's Liturgy, Beer Hunt, running, Women's Group, Softball...feels like I'm forgetting something...but that just about covers it.

This blog isn't about running, and I don't want it to be.
I just need to mention, though - I LOVE THE TAPER.
The countdown to 13.1 is on.
Even the kids are psyched for their races and asked to have "Boston Shoelaces".
Walkersville will be representing for Boston this year.  ;)

30 miles a week were taking a toll on my body.  I could feel it - getting out of bed, picking up the kids, kneeling down - all these were becoming laborious.  Not enough to stop me, but just enough to remind me that I was probably doing too much.
I can't tell you how good it feels to taper...what a difference a 23 mile week can make.  This morning I was able to do 6.7 miles in 1:10:29.  I felt like I was flying.  
When I got home, the boys begged me to take them running.
The last mile, I can assure you I wasn't flying - especially when Nate chose to run 2 feet in front of me and just slow enough that I would clip his heels.  I would move right, he would move right.  I would move left, he would move left.  Nate and I were slow and steady.  I think Sam finished about 3 minutes before we did...but they asked to run.  HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Beer Hunt.
We planned a relatively simple meal (meat, veggies, pasta and ice cream/cookies for dessert).
While the men were grilling, the kids hid two cases worth of beer cans in the yard.  
Then we went in, had dinner and dessert, hung out a bit and when it was nice and dart (and the kids were nice and punchy) - THEN we got Jim and Mike flashlights and let them search.
It was fun.
A TON of fun.
We're already making plans for next year.

The Fantastic Four - Bedtime Edition

Updated by the lovely and talented Sara Schulman!!!

In Review.

Seems like everything is in review lately because I just can't keep up. 

9pm comes earlier and earlier.  Let's face it - 8 hours of sleep just ain't what it used to be - especially since Benjamin has been favoring his pacifier instead of his thumb for soothing.  Anytime he can't find the bink...a scream fest results.  Do that a couple times a night (along with Nate, who has an owl living in the tree next to his room that freaks him out on an every-other-night basis) and 8 hours really amounts to about 6.5. 
See what I mean?

We were engrossed last week following all that happened in Boston.  We had the Marathon on for most of the day - I hooked the laptop up to the TV so the boys could cheer.  We were having an awesome time.  We turned off the TV to get ready to get the kids about 2:45. 
Just in time. 
When we got back, we couldn't figure out why they were re-playing the elite women finishing. 
We heard something had happened, but it took us a while to put together the pieces.
Caroline was freaked.  She still is. 
I took Mr Roger's advice and told her to look at the pictures and find all the helpers - the Police, Fire Fighters, EMTs and volunteers in their Marathon jackets.  She said there looks like there are "hundreds" of helpers.  When asked how many hurters, she answered, "Only two."  There will always be more helpers than hurters.  Always. 
I can't tell you how many times this week I've had to repeat that to myself. 

Put that with soccer, coaching/playing T-ball, 1/2 marathon training, Children's Liturgy, a Crohns flare and general existence...it's a pretty full plate. 

Sunday Afternoon.

It's a gorgeous day here.  Sunny, about 65 degrees with high clouds and a nice breeze. 
A day where you just should be outdoors. 
Soon enough we'll be at Jim's softball practice.  But for now we're watching the Red Sox game and snuggling on the couch. 
Patriots Day is one of the days I miss being in Boston.  The Sox game, the Marathon, the whole Lexington & Concord thing (this is not in level of importance)...
This year, I think I would have so much more of an appreciation for the marathoners.  I'm only doing a half and it's thoroughly kicking my butt.  I cannot imagine running twice that distance.  My body is protesting the 12.4 miles I ran this morning.  What would 26 miles ever look like?

I found the pictures from Easter to put up:
*courtesy of Grammy and Grampy*

A Week in Review

I'm glad it's Saturday and everyone is in bed.  Hopefully we'll get a good night of sleep.

It was supposed to be a busy week last week.
I'm loathe to use the word "busy".  Everyone is busy.  Everyone interprets busy in a different way.
So I'll say that we "had a lot to do".
We had planned to get our required concessions duties for GVAA done in one fell swoop last week on Tuesday and Thursday.  Put that with recovering from our week in NH, Benjamin's baptism last Saturday, the Science Fair at North Frederick on Tuesday, soccer on Tues, Thurs & Saturday, T-Ball on Wednesday & Saturday, Children's Liturgy and trying to sneak in some running and we figured it might be a week that we could do, but would be happier when it was over.

Until Jim got sent up to Boston for the week to work - leaving me alone with the kids with all the things above to get done.

Then my radio broke.
 This may not seem like a big deal - with living in a rural community and being at home with the kids without television - my XM radio is my lifeline to the world outside.  It is on probably 18 hours a day.  MLB Network, BBC, The Catholic Channel, ESPN, The Bridge.  They're all my binkies.  Without it, I'll admit, I felt lost - but I could handle it. There was more than enough to keep me busy.

Then my car broke.
I noticed the strong smell of hot oil coming from the garage after we got home on Thursday.  And the huge puddles of oil under the car.  After consulting with a neighbor, inspecting the car and assesing the amount of oil , we decided that it would be safest to get the car towed.  Thankfully Toyota was awesome about getting a truck here and getting a loaner Sienna (after explaining I did not drive a mini van simply because it's sexy - I needed room for 4 carseats).  They're still not sure where the oil came from and can't find a leak and all the oil levels in the car look good - but are keeping the car until the beginning of next week just to be sure.  They figure I may have run over something full of oil...I dunno.
Sam DID get his first ride in a tow truck.  He was apprehensive at first, but the apprehension quickly turned to joy.  I wish I had gotten pictures of him sitting in his carseat in the truck.  He would be totally quiet and then let out a loud "Woohoo!" every so often.  It was  precious.
  
Then my phone broke.
It's a piece of crap and I was expecting it to poop out at any time - so I wasn't surprised when it decided to go rogue on me this week.  A pain, but I was able to get by.  It's amazing how now I wouldn't imagine leaving the house without my phone when 15 years ago, nobody had cell phones. 

And we did okay.  You know, the whole "Keep Calm and Carry On" thing.
Didn't complain because - let's face it - it does no good.
So I rolled with the punches.  I remembered the advice of St Francis de Sales. 
I found I can get an amazing amount of things done when I prioritize and focus.
I asked for help when I needed it. 
I discovered people in this community are the salt of the earth.

And Jim came home very early this morning and we were in one piece!!!

A year ago, I'm not sure any of that would have happened.
Live and learn, I suppose. 

Guess who got two new teeth, crawls everywhere and is pulling to stand?

Peek-a-boo!  Superman sees you!

Mobile.  Agile.  Hostile.  Not really - this kid smiles way too much to be hostile!!

Sammy got a new to him hat.  He loves it.  Goes well with all his Red Sox stuff. 

We got to take a hike up to McAffee Falls.  It was 80 degrees on Tues and 90 on Weds! 

On our hike around the Duck Pond on Friday we found that the baby ducks had hatched. 

Very excited about the baby ducks!

This is how Caroline felt when she found out the boys got to see baby ducks and got to the Falls this week. 

Recovering.

Yesterday Benjamin was baptized.
It was a cool ceremony, done during the homily at Mass.  Of course, we couldn't be up on the altar with just Benjamin...so all 6 of us (and Ben's Godparents) were up in front.
-Sam looked nervous.  He stared at Monsignor.  He was concerned about Benjamin wearing a dress and getting that dress all wet. He later told me he thought it was called a "bath-tism".  His concerns seemed validated after that little tidbit was shared. 
-Nate was busy holding onto Baby Nate-Nate and picking his nose.  We were particularly amused during the Sign of Peace, Nate went from pew to pew giving handshakes.  Everyone knew his name!  The kid is like the Mayor of Walkersville! 
-Caroline was telling Monsignor how to perform the baptism and how it was different than how we did it in Worcester. 
-Benjamin didn't like getting his hair wet, but in typical Benjamin fashion, rolled with the punches. 
So, as usual when the Leahy-Watson Clan is involved, things got done - but we make an adventure out of it.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, in 4th child fashion, there are no pictures of the ceremony.  But we did get some shots of our little shindig afterwards.
It was so nice to have so many of our favorite people in the same place.  =-)

  Thank you to the McNiesh Family for making such a beautiful & tasty cake!

Turkey Boy himself. 

No matter what, everyone always ends up hanging out in the kitchen.  =-)

We also had Opening Day for T-Ball.  Pops was able to get some nice pictures from that.  As I said before, the game was good for the first inning and a half.  Then the natives started to get restless.
We've got some work to do at practice this week.

Sam and Patrick had some fun.  But only after Sam gave him a nice, long lecture (who knows about what)...

Caroline also had a soccer game...it was a crazy kind of day...good think we had today to rest.

So...now...the next goal.
Well...the next goal other than surviving day to day activities with 4 children age seven and under...
...13.1...
...4 weeks.
4 weeks that look to be challenging considering I had the worst training run ever today.
Really.  It was that bad.

So now we're going to let the kids run on the lawn with their cleats to aerate it.  We'll watch them go nuts and listen to Vin Scully weave his magic on the radio.  
I couldn't ask for a nicer way to spend a Sunday.
Thanks Be. 

Opening Day

First T-Ball game of the year yesterday. 
First inning and a half went well. 
Second inning and a half was more like a goat rodeo when we were on defense. 

We'll have to work on that at practice. 
Oy.

*courtesy of Pops*

Benjamin was also baptized yesterday...but in typical 4th child fashion...there are no pictures of the ceremony.  We did get some of the party afterwards, though.  ;)
We'll do a Baptismal/Easter catch-up soon.