So, it’s been three years.  I know.  Instead of trying to catch up three years in a few paragraphs, I am going to just jump right in where we are now.

Maura is in 7th grade.  Although she seemed to get off to a great start at TE middle, she didn’t love the size of it and asked to go to Notre Dame for 6th grade.  She is there and is doing great so far.  There’s a lot of work and she has studying and homework to do, so it’s not a breeze by any means, but she loves it.  She plays soccer there (has retired from travel) is on student council, and played lax last year.  Unsure what her spring sport will be this year.  She loves golf after playing in the applebrook team last summer.  She is having lots of medical issues, and we are constantly trying to figure out the cause and what we can do to help her.  Her stomach basically hurts 24/7.  It’s so hard to watch.  She is such a caring girl and really is such an easy 13 year old.

Maggie is in 6th grade at TEMS.  She thought about Notre Dame but decided against it.  She still says she’ll go there some day.  We will see.  She has some really good friends at TEMS, grace gallagher being her best.  She still hangs out with her original friends, Eva and Marin, and had added a little a long the way.  Her first true love is still gymnastics.  She loves every second of it and adores the girls on her team.  She is on level 7 now.  She is having a good year.  She is struggling a little on her giant right now but we are hoping it will come easier in the next few weeks.  Maggie is very busy.  And when she’s not busy, she makes herself busy.  She can’t stand to just be home.  She is constantly making plans.  Sometimes she forgets her manners.  Sometimes she seems a little selfish, but we are hoping it’s a phase.  She’s killing it at school.

Bridget is still our little empathetic one.  She feels so deeply and is always worried about all of those around her.  She still struggles with school.  She just doesn’t live it.  She has a tutor that comes once a week who she loves but doesn’t love that she has to have a tutor.  She is still besties with Claire LeComte.  She plays on a recreational soccer team.  She also did cheerleading this fall and loved it.  I am hoping she gets to do it again next year.  She got to go on her 10th birthday trip last summer to San Antonio, Texas.  She had a great time.

Kerri Jean is off and running.  She is busy at school.  She’ll do anything you sign her up for.  She is on level 3 gymnastics.  She also plays soccer, basketball, and softball.  She loves them all.  She has lots of friends but this year really likes playing with Maia Asselta and Price Orcutt.  She also loves playing with her gymnastics carpool friends, Paige Cherny and Mia Chuss.  We just traveled to San Diego for a gymnastics meet for her and Maggie.  It was very fun to see her get to play with her friends and have fun with them.  She is really excepting at gymnastics this year and it is fun to watch.  Her and Maggie have a fun relationship and are super close.  It is so nice to see as a mom.

Sean and I are busy keeping up with the kids and really do enjoy all their stuff.  Sometimes we wish we had more time to ourselves, but other times I get so freaked out that we don’t have much time with Maura left at all.  Then once Maura leaves, Maggie is next, then it’s just boom, boom, boom!

Middle School

Maura has started Middle school.  She goes to TE Middle School.  I was not thrilled, okay, very nervous, about her going to middle school in fifth grade.  I love our school district.  This is the one thing I do not love.  I thought she was surely too young.  I could not imagine Maura, who typically lacks organizational skills-like her Mama, being able to handle 7 different teachers and all the scheduling that goes along with it.  I also was not happy that she would be mixed in with 8th graders!  Well, she could not be loving it more.  And, wow, is she doing so well.  The hardest part, for me, is getting up so early (she has to be at the bus stop at 7:10am).  Maura loves to sleep, so I thought she would have trouble getting up too.  I was wrong, again.  She learned to set her alarm and is up, dressed and downstairs before I even get out of bed.  She is loving the "freedom" that comes along with middle school.  She has met new friends and loves most of her teachers.  Apparently, one teacher "hates" her.  This is something she is not used to!  Her grades are great too- our first experience with real grades.  In elementary school we don't have real grades.

I am very proud of her and love how happy she is.  I can't wait to meet some of her new friends and meet with some of her teachers and see how she is in school.

The other three are still at Beaumont.  This is my first year having all day to myself... which really is a game changer.  I am trying my best to slow down and not take on any new volunteer 'jobs'.  Mags is flying high in fourth grade as the oldest in the school.  She has Ms. Senior and loves her.  B has Ms. Fisher who she just thinks is so fun and nice.  Kerri has Mrs. Joers (who Maura also had) and is so similar to Maggie in that she loves doing homework and studying for her spelling test each week.  So far she has scored all perfect tests.

B has a tutor this year that we got for the summer to help her with her reading.  Sean and I were a little concerned at the end of first grade.  She is reading a little below grade level, and we just did not want to see her struggle.  I know how hard she works.  I am happy this year with her progress.  She is loving pretending she is a teacher and reads me a book or two every night from her teacher chair.  She sits in such an interesting way with her foot underneath her, almost like she is posing for a picture.  This is her teacher pose.  She also likes me to sit like that when I am the teacher.  It is adorable.  I really hope this love continues, and she does not get frustrated as she continues to learn.  

Skiing

What a fun weekend we had this past weekend.  We went to Camelback Ski Resort with the Smiths for some skiing and sledding.  Our girls love skiing, but we usually only go once a year to a small ski mountain near us.  This would be the first time the girls hit the bigger slopes in the Poconos.  They did great.  It was only Kerri's second time skiing and just third and fourth for other girls.  We arrived at the mountain and headed right up the chairlift.  First run down was bumpy.  I think everyone fell at least once.  Kerri declared that she was done skiing for the day.  Luckily she gave it another shot.  By the end of the day, they we all doing great.  They had the most fun when they got to ski with the Smiths and do the longer runs together.  It was a really fun day for everyone.  Dinner and a movie finished out the day.

The next day we headed back to the mountain for tubing.   I had never been tubing and was not that excited about it.  But boy, I am glad I did.  It was fun for everyone.  The kids had a great time linking up the tubes and going down together.  There were lots of racing involved too.  Some trash talking also!  I wish we had the chance to go more often.  If only we did not have school all the time and it was not so expensive.

I think the kids will remember weekends like this for a long time!

Thankful

We just wrapped up a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  It was filled with lots of family, friends, food and drink!  Really it was perfect mix of all those things.  I feel so lucky to have family so near to us and friends that really feel like family.  We started off with the Friendsgiving.  It was a fun new tradition we are doing with what Kerri calls our Framily.  We saw my mom's family in Delaware, Sean's family, friends at the 5k (which was the first 5k Maura and Maggie ran, and they got 2nd and 3rd in their age group!)  It was a fun, fun weekend.

It ended with conferences for all 4 girls.  I am so thankful that when I go into these conferences, I am confident that the teachers will have nothing but positive things to say about our girls' personalities... for now!

Our kids are squares

We got the health report from the school with weight, height, BMI, etc.

Maura is 52 lbs, 52 inches
Maggie is 49 lbs, 49 inches
Kerri is 42 lbs, 42 inches
and
Bridget is 48 lbs, 49 inches (a little more rectangular!)

My baby is six.

I know, I say it every birthday, for every girl, every year... stay (insert her current age) forever please.  It used to be cute, funny even, but now it is starting to really upset me.  I mean, I am not kidding.  Please, I don't know if I have it in me to go to the next year, the next step, the next level of parenting.  As a matter of fact, sometimes I think I am failing miserably at the current step, so how could I possibly go on to the next with success?

Well, guess what, I don't have a choice.  So Kerri went and did it.  She turned 6, a year older and loved it.

Kerri is stubborn.  She has a temper.  She will NOT do what she does not want to do.  She will beat you in a show down.  She will refuse to do her homework.  And you know what?  I think all these traits will serve her well in life.  Not only is she the youngest of four, but she is younger than her eldest sister by only 4 years and two months.  Her mama and daddy were quite busy when she came along, and she had to make sure people heard her, knew she was there.  And she has.  She may be stubborn but 98% of the time, she is occupying herself in her classroom or bedroom.  She plays by herself so well and really can keep herself busy with any arts and crafts project you give her.  If you ask her to clean up, she will refuse.  But if you leave her alone, she will, in her own time, clean up her mess.

Her artwork is still astounding.  She can draw things that her older sisters can not.  Her creativity is great too.  She will come up with the neatest uses for all of her art supplies and can make a princess, snowman, reindeer, dog, you name it, out of anything.

Kerri is funny.  She has a great sense of humor and can make you laugh.  She likes to laugh too, and still has a great belly laugh when you get her going.

Her best friend right now is Kate Gallagher.  The two of them can play for hours and never be seen! She loves gymnastics, but went to one of the shooting stars practice and chose to not go back!  I thought she loved it when she was finished (she said she did) but the next week when I told her to go get dressed for gymnastics, she said she was not going back... it was too hard.

She started soccer this year and loved it.  The first game she went nowhere near the ball for the first ten minutes, but then somehow she touched the ball, happened to score, and never looked back.  I think one game she scored around 12 goals!

She likes kindergarten but would be much happier if it were full day.  Every day I pick her up she gets upset that it is just her and me again.  Her sisters, on the other hand, are so jealous that she gets a "mommy date" every day.

Kerri is a smart, funny, talented, and stubborn gal and we love every inch of her.

Summer, School, Birthdays, oh my...

Yes, lots has gone on since March.  School ended (everyone passed, thank goodness).  Bridget turned 7!  7!  I can't even stand it.  Summer was full of good things.  I did not work this summer, so we had lots of time for things like hikes, the pool, play dates with friends.  Girls went to camps off an on.  It really was an ideal, relaxed summer at home.  We went camping with Lisa and Laura and their kids, so fun!  We went to the Chesapeake for Bridget's birthday.  We spent a day at Dutch Wonderland with the Arlington O'Reillys.  We took our annual trip to Avalon with the O'Reillys.  And we started a new tradition of going to the Outer Banks with the Gallaghers, Browns and LeComtes.  It was a blast and we have already booked for next year!

School started.  Some of the girls were nervous about their teachers, but all are happy and thriving now.  New friends have been made.  Soccer season started.  Everyone played.  Turns out Kerri is following in her sisters' footsteps.  She is quite the player.  She was hesitant at first, but after she scored her first goal, she got the fever.

I turned 39.  Sean surprised me with theater tickets for me and three friends.  We had dinner dowtown and saw 9 to 5.  Maura turned ten.  We had a big party in the back yard to watch an outdoor movie.  Very crazy, but fun.  Sean turned 40!  We did a bar crawl on the R5 with lots of friends.  So much fun! Maggie turned 9.  Still waiting to celebrate that and Kerri turns 6 on sunday.  Holy moly!

Maggie had her first competition for gymnastics.  She did great.  She got three medals.  One for beam... 4th place.  One for bars... 6th place.   And 8th all around!  Her team got 1st place!  It was so much fun to watch.  I was so proud of her.  It can't be easy to go out there in front of everyone.  She did three two things that she had never done before even in practice.  Her coaches all hugged her and were so excited.  I can't wait until the next one in two weeks.

Kerri is doing great in kindergarten.  She does not love the half days and hanging out with me, but never complains about going (just coming home).

Sean started a new job and The Pinehill Group.  We were used to a laid back schedule at the end of his last job, and this one is not, but he is happy and is doing well, so I am happy.  I am very proud that he made this move.  It was not the safest choice, but I am so glad he did it.

We celebrated another new tradition with what Kerri calls our "framily."  we had Friendsgiving on Sunday.  It was so fun and I am looking forward to many more friendsgivings.

We are all healthy.  Life is good.