Missing...

So it's been a while. So much has happened, yet nothing has changed. (Can anyone name that song?) It's 1:10am and Ben thinks I'm sleeping, so this has to be brief. I'm hoping that a newly revamped blog will motivate me to post our crazy summer. More later, he stirs every time the keys click!

The Riff Raft Club

We spent the fourth of July this year with Bennett's family in Severna Park. The weekend began with a birthday party for his Mom on July 4th. Though it was her birthday she gave all the little girls a red cheerleader costume which turned out to be a huge hit. Former Baltimore Colt cheerleader Aunt April lead the squad in practice and the girls think they are all ready now to hit the football field. It was very cute, thanks Mom!

On Saturday, we went to the Grachur Club on the Magothy River for some swimming and sand playing. Grandpa delighted in escorting the grandkids from the beach to the big floating wooden "raft" out in the middle of the water. The Grachur Club has been around for literally 100 years and apparently it is tradition that whoever can swim from the shore to the floating raft officialy becomes a member of the "riff raft club." The kids were super excited to become members.

My Shark

Swim Team. Not the most relaxing thing in the world, girls. It is very hard to watch your barely swimming just turned 5 year old swim up and down the lanes for a half an hour daily with you just sitting on the sidelines! So yes, I am the only mom out there carrying a (big) three year old on her hip walking her 5 year old swimmer up and down the lanes, in case she drowns! Plus there is the added stress of little me too wanting to be on the team...and the stress of not knowing any of the other moms which is made worse by the fact that I am not a very social person!

All that to say Mary Claire does LOVE swimming and she is getting better at it. She can do the back stroke, free style, and today the coach was even teaching her to do the breaststroke (gotta love swim team for the free daily swim lessons!). Every Tuesday night we have a meet, and although Mary Claire is last every time, she always finishes and we are really proud of how hard she has been working. At practice she is literally all smiles all the time, and loves being teased and thrown into the air by the coaches.

Strawberry Girls

This month we also picked strawberries from a nearby farm. That was hard work! Why didn't anyone tell me that? But the work was worth it. They were the best strawberries I have ever had. And the girls got to sample the best ones while we picked. How great is it that I have two beautiful little darlings to do this with?

A visit from friends in VA

May has been a busy and fun month for us. One of the highlights was a visit from my college friend Kathleen and her 3 kids. It was so fun. I met Kathleen the night before classes began our sophomore year at Maryland when she was with this guy I liked named Bennett. Kathleen claims I gave her an unnecessarily hard handshake that night, which is probably true. I, of course, immediately disliked her. So when she showed up in my art history class (what was an engineer doing taking art history anyway?), in the seat in front of me, I was all attitude. Turns out, though, although she was with Bennett that night, she wasn't "with" Bennett, so we could be friends. Our relationship began with, among other things, weekly viewing of Party of Five in her living room where we would ooh and ahh over Matthew Fox (we still ooh and ahh over Matthew Fox each week in LOST!). Now we laugh at how eerily similar we are. We found out when she was here that not only did we have the exact same pajamas, we had the same bathing suit! Anyway, that's all TMI I digress.

So of course when they visited I HAD to introduce them to Boj's (right Uncle AJ???). Is that weird? I can't get enough of that place.

Her kids are so great. There were slumber parties every night and crafts and we even went to the pool. We had fun even though it was FREEZING!

You are the best, Kathleen, I love you! Thanks for coming!

Mom and the girls...

Most everyone has heard me talk of the granddaughters on the Mooneyhan side (1 grandson, born first, then seven granddaughters all in a row). Needless to say when we get together there are girls literally everywhere. For mother's day we were in Maryland celebrating Mom's birthday and I thought this was a great shot of mom and her granddaughters. From oldest to youngest, Zoe, Abby, Sarah, Mary Claire, Ellie, Sophie, and Phoebe. My dad is in the picture, too.

Gearing up for camping...in the backyard!

Last Friday night Bennett took the girls camping in the backyard. They did very well and went to sleep soon after dark (dark is after 9pm though now!). They were thrilled. This weekend the dads from Sunday School

are taking all the kids camping in one dad's wooded big backyard...which means a night free for me and a night of fun for them! Everyone wins!