LA trip

Last week BC and I headed out west to our old home of Los Angeles!  LA had the most rain it's had in the last 3 years, but that didn't stop us from having a wonderful time.  We got in late Wednesday night and the weather was super on Thursday, we were able to go for a run, ride bikes down to the farmers market for lunch and hang out at the beach:) 

 That evening I met up with the ladies I used to teach with, it's been so long since we've been together and it was awesome to catch up with Theresa, Megan, Susie and Ruthy!

 Later that night we had dinner at C & O's (BC and I had our first date there) with Seamus and Danielle.  BC was so happy to have his favorite dish, Spinacci!

 Friday morning we went to mass at my old school and were able to see some of the students from my last class...they're 8th graders now! It rained pretty much all day, but we didn't mind as we spent the day at Baja Cantina drinking margarita's and eating chips and salsa with Seamus! 

 Later that evening (it was still raining) we attended Lauren and Rob's rehearsal dinner (their wedding was the reason for our trip) at Michael's in Santa Monica. 

 Saturday morning we headed to Redondo Beach to have breakfast with my old room mate, Jessy and her family.  BC met Jessy first (thanks to Bill, who studied abroad with her) and then he introduced us and we lived together for a few years before she got married.  Bill and his wife Kara (and little Hudson) just happened to be visiting LA too, so we were all able to get together...and if you didn't know, Bill is the one who introduced BC and me!  The cute little girl is Jessy's daughter Taylor, her little boy, Keller, did not want in the picture!

 Saturday afternoon was Lauren and Rob's wedding at Shutters on the Beach, it was a very sweet ceremony (inside due to the rain) and beautiful reception. 

Before heading home on Sunday, we went back down to the beach for breakfast and one last walk out on the pier.  The waves were unbelievable!  It was such a great trip and thank you to Ya Ya and Pop Pop for keeping our boys while were gone:)  

Declan's morning at mass

This past Wednesday Declan and his class helped the third grade out in mass!  Declan's role was to help with the intentions, he raised his arm for the response as he said "Let us pray to the Lord"!  He did a great job:)  After mass his class and the third grade class sang a special song for everyone! It was a wonderful morning watching him participate and be part of school mass.

 



catching up

Here's what's been going on the past few weeks...

 Declan celebrated the 100th day of Kindergarten and he made a string of 100 fruit loops to prove it!

 Galvan has just been up to mischief, but is super happy about it!

 Conall had a party in the play room, he got out all of the apps for it!
He even made wheat thin and gold fish sandwiches:)

On the last day of Catholic Schools Week the boys and I joined Declan for lunch!

We all had pretzels from our favorite pretzel shop of course!



ski buddies

BC took the boys skiing this weekend and they're naturals!  They both picked it up easily...BC held onto Conall a few times down, but then Conall told him "let go" and didn't need him the rest of the (except to help him up when he fell)!  They lasted pretty much all day, after some lunch they were back at it!  Declan and Conall had so much fun (as did BC), but fell asleep after 5 minutes in the car:)  Galvan and I stayed home this trip, but we're hoping we can go on the next one!  Way to go BC teaching our boys how to ski!

 Skis!

 Up the tow!

 Pretzel lunch!

Our ski buddies:)



Mother Nature is not a mama

...because if she were, she would not have dumped 12 inches of snow and gave us subzero temperatures the week the boys were supposed to go back to school!  BC even had to stay home an extra day from work!

Here's a look at some of the stuff we did while snowed in:)

 Watched the snow fall:)

 Dad shoveling snow onto Declan!

 Conall helping dad shovel.

 

 All the guys in the snow:)  Galvan is unhappy because he wants his mittens off!

 Had a rock concert...it sounded awesome!

 Mr. Independent learned how to use a fork really well:)

 We made Peanut Butter Playdough...didn't look great, but tasted yummy!

 Delcan's snowmen in a sleigh!

 Conall's Ninja Turtle swords!

 Hanging out, playing drums together.

All three watching a movie:)

our christmas

What a magnificent holiday we had!  After Christmas Eve mass we headed home for a wonderful dinner, followed by putting cookies and milk out for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer.  The boys even had time for a bit of Home Alone before it was bedtime.  BC and I enjoyed Love Actually before we went to bed.  Declan came in a little after 7 am to wake us all up for Christmas morning!  It was one awesome morning!  Conall was so excited about Santa bringing him a big blue bike, Declan loves his new camera and Galvan's new hat is getting some serious use!  The boys all loved their stocking stuffers...mostly the chocolate and fruit snacks...Galvan ate all of his chocolate while opening gifts:)

Spiderman, Batman and Superman now all belong to the boys as do new Tag reader books, colored pencils, scissors, clothes, a vacuum cleaner and much more cool stuff!  The boys picked out a new charm for my bracelet (this is my favorite gift each year!)  It was such a fun year watching the boys open gifts, show them off and genuinely be thankful and so excited!  

Yes, that's a new vacuum behind me...Galvan's is much more fun than mine!

 



Christmas with the families

What an amazing Christmastime we all had this year.  We celebrated a little early with the O'Rourke's (all the boys and their ladies and all the cousins were in attendance).  Our boys had a blast with everyone, as did we:)  The boys opened new bean bag chairs, jammies and trucks!  This year we all went in to surprise Brian & Terri with a gift...it didn't start out with the end product, but we hope they enjoy it...it's a kegerator!

 We had them open the handle first, but they didn't quite get it...so the guys brought it in!!

 We headed up to the Butler's where we again celebrated with all of us kids and cousins (except Hannah, we missed her!).  After an Italian dinner the boys opened some awesome headphones, dinosaurs and Ninja Turtle stuff!  We played the annual Christmas Bucks game and a little ping pong too! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to both of our families for such a wonderful holiday, we are so blessed to have you!