Helena 7th Birthday Letter

Dear Helena,

Our sweet, sensitive, OVERLY-dramatic baby girl.  This year has been an exciting time for you.  You started first grade in Mrs Maloney's class all by yourself.  You were nervous to be on your own without Katie and Seamus but seem to have come into your own as the year progressed.  We are going to have to keep an eye on you as you get older.  You are very concerned about the social side of school, so much so that sometimes your academics suffer.  Helena you are very smart and need to learn to trust yourself and try.  You are more than capable of being an excellent student.  If only we can get you to believe in yourself and not let others do things for you!  You can be very stubborn as well which makes things even harder for you at times when you are convinced you are right.  We do need to work on your writing though.  Unfortunately, you inherited Mommy's and Daddy's terrible writing skills and you being left-handed doesn't help.  You played softball last year and again this year and you absolutely love it!  Your batting and catching have gotten so much better since last season.  At this point you are ready to move up from your Knights of Columbus team to the next level, but need to get a little older and bigger first.  Dancing is still one of your favorite things to do.  You were the line leader again this year and it was so cute to watch everyone else follow you around on stage.  We still see you doing your ballet twirls around the house.  Cheer camp was one of the highlights of your year last year.  You loved the hair bows, the stunts, and were so happy being a "flyer" for the bigger girls.  I'm not sure how I feel about all this cheer stuff, but I'm trying to deal...  You lost one of your front teeth a few days ago- finally.  It sounded like someone was killing you the whole time Daddy was helping you get it out.  Oh the Llama Drama!   You now weigh 52.5 pounds and are 3 feet 10 3/4 inches tall.  I can't believe how much you've grown since you were our tiny little "Bean."  Have a great year Helena, we are so proud of who you are growing up to be!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Katie 7th Birthday Letter

Dear Katie,

Today is your 7th birthday and as I look back on the last year I am in awe of how much you have grown and matured.  So much has happened this year that it's hard to know where to begin.  You started first grade in your very own class.  Your teacher Mrs Bruski says you are a very helpful and wonderful student to have in her classroom.  Your reading has improved so much since the beginning of the school year.  You started out needing a little extra help but have worked very hard to bring your reading scores up.  As of yesterday, you are now at level 24 for reading which is well into the second grade!  We are so proud of your hard work this year Katie.  I know you will have great success in your life because you have learned the meaning of hard work early on.  You were also the only one to get all 1's on your last report card, great job!  You have taught me and your siblings more than once how to do your math homework when we didn't have a clue. This year you started taking tennis lessons.  We were looking for something you could do all on your own and tennis is what you chose.  You have learned how to hit the ball, serve, volley, and even use your backhand!  This summer you are taking lessons again and seem to really enjoy it.  You continue to play soccer with Helena.  This time your team name is the Purple Shooters and I am your coach again.  We don't win or score very much but you are a very good defender and have saved many goals from being scored on our team.  You also continue to dance but I think you do that more for your sister than because you like it.  You had a chance to go to cheer camp this year as well.  Hanging out with other girls and being silly seemed to be fun for you, I don't know how much you really liked the cheering part of it though.  Swimming still seems to be your passion.  Hopefully this next year we will see you move up a level or two and be able to join the Dolphin Swim Club which is what you say you really want to do.  You now weigh 77 pounds and are 4 feet 1 1/2 inches tall.  Daddy and I are excited to watch you continue to grow and excel in everything you do.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Seamus 7th Birthday Letter

Dear Seamus,
I'm sitting here the night before your 7th birthday and trying to think of all of the things I want to say about you.  You are reading this over my shoulder as I type so I guess I should start there... you have become a phenomenal reader and an awesome all around student this year.  I really think putting you into your very own class allowed you to excel far more than if you had been placed with your sisters again.  You teacher Mrs Solinski is so proud of how far you have come this year and we are too.  You constantly come home telling us you got to "move your clip up" for good behavior.  Thank God you save all of your silliness for at home and behave while you're in the classroom!  You loved your Mad Science Forensics class that you took after school.  It looked like so much fun that I wish I could have been it it.  It was good for you to have something all of your own to tell us about though.  You took gymnastics lessons this year and did very well.  I can't believe how strong you are for such a little guy.  Speaking of that Seamus, don't be so worried about catching up to your sisters in size.  Your time will come and even though you are the smallest right now, you definitely make up for it in wit!  This year you tried Flag Football instead of soccer.  You did pretty well but don't seem to love it like you do hockey.  You started playing Roller Hockey at the New Rink after football was over and have improved so much that I can't believe it's the same boy out there when I watch you play.  At 7, you are already a way better skater than I will ever be.  Daddy and I are so proud of the smart, strong, silly, and sensitive boy you have become.  I know you miss Grandpa Murphy every day but I'm sure he is looking down on you and very proud of how you are growing as well.  You now weigh 47.5 pounds and are 3 feet 9 3/4 inches tall.  Keep being the best son we could ever ask for!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

7th Birthday Party

The kids 7th birthday party was this past Sunday, the day before Memorial Day.  As is tradition, Pat made their birthday party invitations and this year's theme was Star Wars.  We had a tough time deciding whether to do a big family party or a friends party so I have a feeling this might be the last big birthday party for a while.   We made light sabers for the party and designed a bunch of Star Wars themed food.  It was the best party yet!

Star Wars Birthday Cake

Part of the Light Saber Crew

Happy Birthday guys!!

These are just some of the people who were here to help us celebrate!

Deb and Kev

Mary and Pat

Melanie and Steve

Aunt CarolAnn

Ed and Stephanie

Dave and Laura

Mel,John, and Thea

Cathy and Brenna

Shari

Nicholas, Suzanne, and Jim

Grandma Murphy

Grandpa Huddas

Darth Vader

Tim, Robin, and Conner

Kathy

The table crew

Shannon

Evelyn

Grandma Huddas

Darth visiting the cake

Meg

Kim, Drew, and Becca

Happy 7th Birthday!

May 2015

May is birthday month for the trio!  We started the month by celebrating Mother's Day with a brunch at Andiamo's.  The food was good but it was a little crowded for my liking.

Helena's softball started again as did Katie's tennis.  Helena played third base in her first game and had great hits every time she was up to bat.

Star Third Baseman

 Polish night at Comerica Park was this month too.  It was fun to have all of us dance on the field but it was super cold sitting in the seats after!

The kids 7th birthday party will be in it's own post but I wanted to include a picture from a great night with the Murphy ladies from Memorial Day weekend!

April 2015- Kiawah Island Spring Break

The highlight of April was our annual spring break trip down to see Kathy.  She's back in Charlotte, NC which makes us all happy because we're that much closer to the beach!  Boston was nice last year, but nothing can compare to a week of relaxing at the ocean.  This year was a little different though because we were not alone on our journey.  The McAleers's (minus Bryan) and Grandma Murphy made the trip as well.  We drove down with Deb and the kids while Pat McAleer flew down with Grandma.  She had never been on a plane before so this was another first for her!  We had such a great time that we've already booked a condo for all of us next year.  We made it to see the dolphins which is something we've tried to do in the past but never timed right and rode bikes on the beach and paths.

Finally saw the dolphins!

We went to church on Easter but didn't see Joe Biden this year.

Easter Morning

The whole crew after dinner on Easter at Jasmine Porch

Hanging out in Savannah

While we were down there we decided to spend a day in Savannah, GA.  We had a great time shopping and hanging out.  We plan to try and make it there again next year.  It's also close to the college Shannon will be attending in the fall, another great reason to go spend time down there.

We finally got to see the Angel Tree on Johns Island

We got to see our alligator friends again!

Night sky over the Atlantic Ocean on Kiawah Island

March 2015

The month of March brought more chilly weather but that didn't stop us from enjoying the month had to offer.  We started the month off with Pat hanging with the kids while I got to go skiing for a weekend with some friends.  We stayed at a one of the girls cabins and got to ski at Boyne Highlands.

I'm the one in green!

The Sunday before St Patrick's Day we all ran in the Corktown Race downtown with a bunch of the Murphy/McAleer crew.  Well, maybe the better statement would be some of us ran and some of us "ran" aka shopped during the race.

St Paddy's Day is also Pat's birthday.  Debbie always has a big party so that is where we spent the evening.  For his birthday we gave him tickets to the Big 10 Ice Hockey Tournament which was fun.  We got to see most of 2 games and the kids liked being so close to the ice and having the college Pep bands there.

Nutcracker and Pat Celebrating

Big 10 Trophy

Seamus started attending a science class called Mad Science Forensics Lab after school on Tuesdays.  He absolutely loved it!  He was able to do it on his own without the girls which was nice for him.  They performed experiments and ran lots of labs.  To be honest, I'm jealous!  It looked like a lot of fun.  This month also brought about our Zamek Dance Recital.  All 5 of us danced this year!  It took some convincing but even Pat seemed to enjoy it in the end.  He was nervous about performing in front of others but the kids convinced him he would be fine.  He did tell me he couldn't smile and dance at the same time though...

Can't smile, dancing...

Ballet Class

Dancing Murphys