Busy, Busy, Busy...

The title of this post is really all I can say about our life right now! Between soccer, softball, t-ball, games, practices, birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, bachlorette parties, laundry, meals, housework, school, work and everything else that makes up our "Matthews Madness", I sometimes just have to stop. I have to stop and enjoy my family; stop and remember my blessings; stop and thank God that I have 4 crazy, healthy kids; stop worrying and start laughing more; stop growling at others when I'm in not so great of a mood; stop what-if'ing and start having more faith...I could keep going but you probably get what I'm trying to say.

I find myself saying the Serenity Prayer pretty often...sometimes just saying the first line gets me centered again - "Lord, grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change..." but more often than not, I have to say the entire prayer :) Most of you know me well enough to know I'm a bit of a control freak - I like schedules and structure and lists and order...I have to work at being spontaneous - a bit of an oxymoronic sentence huh?! I sometimes feel I'm my own biggest source of stress. I have to remind myself that while "my" way may be the best for me, someone else's way can be just as effective. I also have to remember that my kids need to find their own way - again, not my way, their's. Just some things I've been struggling with lately - sometimes just "talking" (aka blogging) about them helps!

So - back to what my fam has been up to lately...last weekend was totally nuts so I won't go into the details...suffice to say that just about everything mentioned in the 2nd sentence of this post happened in 2 days...totally exhausting. I will mention our twins' birthday though - Miss Hannah & Miss Emily are officially 9 years old now! They shared their birthday w/ my cousin Jessica's bridal shower but I really don't think they minded too much b/c they got to dress up AND go to Aunt Anna's for the shower - two of their favorite things! Han picked our breakfast - bagels & bacon - and Em picked dinner - Mi Pueblo - so we ate pretty well on Sunday! Shane's family, my mom & grandma, my dad & step-mom plus my brother Jonah all came over for cake/brownies & ice cream after dinner. Let me tell you, if you aren't a chocolate-lover, my house was not the place to be Sun. nite...Han picked chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting and coffee ice cream; Em picked double chocolate fudge brownies and chocolate champion ice cream...talk about coma inducing! They both got a lot of great gifts including clothes, girly stuff and cash - I feel a shopping trip coming on!

This week has been more of the same w/ practices and games for all of the kiddos. Kate had a "practice" game against the other Washington U10 softball team - she did sooooo well! Hit well and fielded what came her way...she may have found a new niche! She has another practice game tomorrow night then starts her season w/ a game against Barr Reeve next Thursday. Nick had his first tball practice of the season tonight and did really well too...let me tell you, that boy can hit the ball! His first game is next Tuesday. The twins did awesome last Saturday in their soccer game and have another one this Saturday - we'll be halfway thru their season at that point. I'm thrilled that all of our kids like being involved in sports/clubs/activities - we just have to find a way to manage it all!

Shane is in Talladega, AL tonight for work but will be home tomorrow - nothing like a 14-hr round trip drive for 4 hours worth of meetings! I'm heading to Toronto on Monday for a 3 day trip to our Corporate Office for training...at least as long as my passport gets here in time :) Its supposedly in route to me and should arrive by Saturday so let's keep our fingers crossed! Shane is going to take vacation while I'm gone - will definitely make it easier to manage our family with not having to make his 2-hr round trip commute every day. I was also worried about Sadie not getting her lunch-time potty break while I was gone so his being home means alllll of my kids will be taken care of!

I know this has been a long post that kind of jumped around and was sadly lacking pictures but my camera battery is dead and I knew I needed to get something posted before certain people started hassling me!

Hope all is well for all of you & your's...

Beach Monkeys on the loose!

We survived the Beach Monkeys!!! We had the girls' "combo" birthday party on Saturday at the Y - a swimming party with 25+ 8-10 year old girls plus Nick & Max, Madi & Molly, Shane, Stacy, Steph & Abbie - what a crew!! Believe it or not, the two hours flew by w/ very little drama...trust me, I was expecting drama w/ that much estrogen flying around but a good time was had by all! I kept it pretty simple w/ just a few balloon bouquets, a beach monkey photo shoot, tiki hut gift boxes w/ all kinds of monkey stuff (tattoos, rubber bracelets, leis, banana candy & bubbles), homemade cupcakes & Capri Suns...clean up was a breeze - just wrap everything up in the tablecloths & pitch it!

Katie & her friend McKenzie

Nick, Max & Abbie

Nick & HannahShane & Hannah

Emily & her friend Joy

Madi & Stacy

Hannah & Emily also had their first soccer game Saturday - they won 3-2...wish I could have been there but I was busy making 4 dozen cupcakes...which were devoured by the aforementioned Beach Monkeys...all 48 cupcakes disappeared in 5 minutes! After the birthday party, Stacy, Steph & the girls came over for pizza & a movie - I want to give a big shout out to Fat Boys Pizza in Montgomery - yummo!!

We celebrated our Beasley Easter along w/ April birthdays (Papa B, Uncle Donnie & our girls) on Sunday at Gma B's - good food, great family and some new friends. Its always funny when anyone brings a new "friend" to one of our monthly family dinners...I guess the sight of 6 kitchen tables lined up end to end to accommodate everyone surprises most people :) We try to go easy on the newbies - no quiz to try to name everyone or anything like that! Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't want us to hunt eggs in the backyard so we shoo'd the kids upstairs and hid them all over the basement instead...they managed to find them all in like 3 minutes flat...gotta love the chaos.

This week holds all of the craziness as usual - soccer practices, softball practices, school, work, etc etc...but this coming weekend is far nuttier than normal...Relay for Life yard sale for Team Andrea at Jenelle's, soccer game, opening day for softball, 2 baby showers & a trip to Eville to pick up Nick (This is all Saturday btw) then religion class, Jess's bridal shower & cake/ice cream w/ Shane's fam for the twins' b-day (Sunday)...whew!

Twice in one week?!

That's right...I'm actually posting twice in one week! Not b/c I have a whole lot to say, just trying to to be better at the whole blogging thing :)

Wasn't the sunshine wonderful this afternoon? Katie had softball practice so Hannah & I took her to that while Nick & Em went mushroom hunting w/ Shane...since he's a "guy", I have no pictures to chronicle their great adventure (lol) but they did come home w/ enough mushrooms for a maybe an appetizer for the 6 of us! The best part is Nick & Em both found some on their own...Em more so than Nick but she's got 3 years on him :)

Hannah is back under house arrest for the next two weeks...once AGAIN, caught hiding papers w/ bad grades in her backpack...I am so absolutely frustrated w/ her that I can barely stand it. We stopped "punishing" her for bad papers months ago (mind you, the "punishment" was no TV that night which she barely watches TV anyway) so the fact that she's pulled this just shows me we're dealing w/ a respect issue...so, other than her birthday party this Saturday, no fun stuff - including the very coveted trip to Wal-mart w/ Mom. I'm open to any advice on this one!

We have a busy weekend coming up - Soccer game & big "triple threat" birthday party at the Y on Saturday then Beasley Easter & a First Communion open house on Sunday. Let's hope the nice weather holds out for it all!

Kate's Birthday & Easter Weekend

Our Miss Katie finally hit the double digits last week...only happens once in a lifetime! We had Shane's family over for cake & ice cream the night of her b-day...white cake w/ strawberry icing and neopolitan (sp?) ice cream at the birthday girl's request. This weekend is the big "triple threat" birthday party at the YMCA - all 3 girls have invited the girls in their classes plus some special friends & family...yes, we're talking about over 30 nine and ten year-old girls!

Katie & her new swimsuit - can't wait to see her at the Y!

Kate is also getting her ears pierced as part of turning 10 - trust me, this took extensive campaigning on my part b/c her dad was pretty adamant that she wait until 13...whatever! I gave him a slight heart attack when I (teasingly) told him she would probably be dating by then ;)

We also have a new member in our family...Sadie, our 1-yr old Springer Spaniel - currently in the house but will soon be joining our mini-daschaund Hershey as soon as we "re-model" the dog kennel w/ a new concrete floor. We lost our first springer Buster the week of St. Patrick's Day and didn't expect to have another one for a few more months but my aunt had another breeder call her needing a home for Miss Sadie...we love her!

We celebrated Easter yesterday with Shane's family (lots of together time this week!) - my fam is next week...the Easter Bunny was pretty generous w/ our kids - but not too much candy - then we went to Mass. Miss Em had an upset belly about halfway thru the service though...probably the 2 hardboiled eggs that she had for breakfast that had been in her Easter basket overnight - which, according to her father, should be safe...again, whatever! After Mass, we came home so I could fix my taco layer dip & spinach salad w/ hot bacon dressing before heading to Shane's aunt's house for a late lunch...way too much good food but that's an ok problem to have! I ate enough that I didn't eat dinner...

This week is fairly low-key for us...hopefully some soccer & softball practices if the rain ever stops then the birthday party & Beasley Easter lunch this coming weekend...hope everyone has a good week!