Summer 2013 Is Coming To A Close.....

I must admit there is a big part of me ready to get back in the swing of the fall schedule. Not because the kids get back to school, but I need a schedule back. Less gets done, I get lazy, kids get lazy, we need order to return. Now I say this with one week of summer left for the big kiddos, see me in a month when I am juggling football practice, volleyball practice, and band with them and goodness knows what with the shorties....

I am happy to report that Emi's collar bone has been given the green light and she is now brace free and back to her wild ways... I have a feeling this will not be her only broken bone. The girl is fearless....

Miss Emi right after being released from her brace.

My dad had foot surgery, only to be told that he could not go back home until healed. I'm not sure who was regretting the surgery more, him or me. I love my dad, but moving him into my house without a head's up is a bit overwhelming. But we seemed to figure most of it out without bloodshed. Emi was thrilled to be able to spend so much time with her PawPaw and I think that if the time came and we had to make that a permanent situation, we could do it in this 4 bedroom house. He is back home now, but he still has the other foot to go....

We then took off for a quick last beach trip.....

Kevin was THRILLED to pose for me....

Some of us are more than happy to pose....
 

And as I start heading up to school for football pads and locker check outs, I will miss these hot summer days. This is the last year Aaron and Kevin are in middle school. I cannot believe that they are so close to high school. Kevin is now 2 inches taller than me. So wrong.....  :) So while a lot of the past year has not been good for us, I am hoping that the rest of 2013 is something special.....

Ok, I May Be Back Into Blogging..... Baby Steps Anyway....

We'll see how this goes.... So much has happened this year, I must say 2013 has not been the best for my family. I lost my mom in February. After many year of fighting Parkinson's and dimentia, she fell quite ill and eventually passed in hospice February 7th. I miss her terribly. The silver lining if there ever is one, was to watch my father with her in those last days and then planning her funeral and eulogy that he wrote over and over again. Somehow, he managed to stand up at the funeral mass and speak about his wife of 47 years. I didn't think he could, I had my husband practice the eulogy just in case my dad couldn't finish it. But he surprised us all with humor and deep respect and love for his wife. I will never forget that moment.

Since then, in the months that follow, we have struggled to define a new normal. My dad is still, at 80, fiercely independent. But I worry. There will be a time that he needs to move in and we have to be able to decide when that is. I have convinced him to have dinner with us once a week. He doesn't always come, but it's a start. Billy and my dad have become closer, something I never thought I'd see. They have always been pleasant and friendly, but since Dad is around more and they have started really talking, I see a stronger bond between them. Maybe it's because Billy's dad passed away and my dad is filling a void, I don't know.....

The kids are doing well. Kevin found out that he is pretty good at the pole vault, and ended up at the district meet. At 13, he's 5'7" and looking down at me. Where has the time gone? Aaron is still slow on the growth chart, only 5'2" right now. I'm hoping he has some kind of spurt to catch up with his twin... Olivia is immersed in being a tween, watching endless youtube clips and asking me to go shopping 24/7. And my last catch up are my 4 year old babies. Ahhh, no babies here they say to me.... Simon is still in occupational therapy working on fine motor skills that he struggles with. Emi, oh this girl is going to be the death of me as a teenager... She is sporting an awesome brace after breaking her collarbone playing "Ring Around the Rosy" too wildly.... 13 years of being a mom and that's our 1st broken bone....

That's my toe dip into blogging again, it felt right to return, but of course now I have to bore you with family summer pics....

Summer Birthday Dinner for the boys
 

Olivia and the shorties

Aaron, Emi and Kevin
 

Emi and her new brace