Fun Weekend!

Molly had her first friend party at "The Enchanted Village" today and it was the cutest birthday party and was fit for a princess. She had the best time...even if she did have an ear infection! (Unfortunately she woke up Sunday morning with yet another ear ache. And she was just at the doctor on Wed. for a re-check of her ears and we thought they were clear! After the appt. this morning she is getting in to an ENT tomorrow and go from there. Maybe some tissue or adenoid blockage somewhere...Since June she has only gone July & August without infections and the last two months on to her 4th antibiotic...ugh!)
Molly is lucky enough to share her birthday with Grandma since they are just a day apart. We had the family party on Sunday and then Grandma came down today to stay with Ben and Rachel while we took Molly to a doctor appt. for her ears this morning and then she got to go to Molly's party too. I LOVE this picture of them together!
On Saturday we had the Hanlon Family Christmas here. So fun and a full house! We opened Christmas gifts had a big lunch and then opened more gifts. Then Sat. night the doorbell rang and it was Santa & Mrs. Claus. The kids loved it! (They were here 2 yrs ago) Ben & Rachel said they both looked the same, that even Mrs. Claus wore the same dress & the only thing different was her eye sight was worse because this time she had to wear glasses!! They read a book, sang songs and all took a turn telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas...although Rachel's comment to that was...well if you read my letter you would already know!

I love Christmas! I love the kids being out of school! I love our family! I am blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving we are thankful for many blessings....one of those blessings is the newest addition to the Hanlon Family. We have a new niece/cousin. Baby Reilly was a big hit over Thanksgiving break. The kids couldn't wait to go to Uncle Sean & Aunt Cosima's house to meet the new baby...and I couldn't either.

Isn't she precious!!!!!!!!!!!!

And my girl, Rachel did quite a bit of this over the break!

She was so excited!

And Baby Reilly didn't mind the kisses

from her cousin Molly either!

After church on Sunday they had baby Reilly's baptism.

So here are all the cousins on the Hanlon side of the family.

The whole crew!

And precious baby Reilly. She was so sweet & slept through the whole thing. Going to church & getting baptized was hard work! We had a great 5 days in Bloomington with family! We even got a nice surprise visit from my brother & sister-in-law from AR (Jeff & Debbie) while we were in Indiana, and they got to spend Thanksgiving with the Hanlon crew. As fun as it all was, it was back to reality this morning and very hard getting up & back into routines...for everyone! I think we are all ready for Christmas break!

From soccer to basketball............

Soccer season is done.....and do you really think this house could handle not running to a practice or game? It would be nice....but no..........so it's, basketball season, here we come!

Happy Halloween!

From: American Girl Kit Kittredge, Little Miss Ladybug, & Harry Potter!

So glad we got to do Trick or Treating on Saturday night instead of Sunday this year!

Watching Kyle Golf.....

Last week, I left Trevor in care of the kids and headed to St. Louis for 3 days. I got some free time with my dear friend Debbie and we watched her son, Kyle play in the Great Lakes Regional. He is a senior at Drury University in Missouri and I love to watch him when ever I get a chance. And anytime he is close to Ohio, Trevor & I try to see him play so this was an added bonus trip for me. Hopefully he will be back somewhere in the area next spring before he finishes his senior season. The team was in 2nd place after the first round but came back the second day and tied for 1st in the 15 team field. Pretty exciting golf round! Way to go Kyle! The course was beautiful and the weather was perfect! These are a few of my favorite shots that day.

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday after the 3 soccer games we decided that there was reason for a celebration since all of 3 were in the (W) column for the day! First time all season that all of them had wins on the same day! Woo hoo!!! And since it is the middle of October and I didn't have any of my fall decorations out yet...we headed off to the pumpkin patch! Ben of course loved the corn maze and went through it numerous times. After much contemplating they finally all decided on a pumpkin! You know it has to be just the right one, then it has to get a name, then get some love....very cute! Here are the final results! Happy Fall!

Soccer, Soccer & More Soccer..............

How have we been spending our weekends? And yesterday was no exception with a game at 9am, a game at 11:30 and a game at 3:15. Even though they were all spread out at different times and all at different locations, it was nice to see all of each game. This doesn't always happen. We are all doing great and enjoying soccer season!

Happy Birthday Calla!

Last weekend, our niece Calla turned 3 and we spent the weekend in Bloomington with Trevor's Family. She was so cute and the kids always have the best time playing together with their cousins.

COUSINS...........Will, Rachel, Calla, Ben, Molly & Michael.

Preschool....here she comes!

My sweet baby girl (who doesn't seem too little any longer) started preschool this week. She was excited and ready! (Especially since Ben & Rachel had been in school for a few weeks and she thought that didn't seem fair) She had a great few days and has made some new friends. She even has a few friends returning from last years two day program in her class again. This year she will go Monday through Thursday from 12:30 until 3. So we still have our mornings together! Yea! I can't even think about next year....not having her with me all day! :(

Look at this sweet face!

Here is my little rocket with her teachers, Mrs. Regina & Mrs. Cathy. Take good care of my girl this year. And hopefully they will still be smiling at the end of the year! :)

All About Molly!

So a couple of weeks ago Ben and Rachel went back to school and at the end of the first day, I told Molly how good she was and that I was really proud of how good she was all day. Her comment back to me was, "Finally, some alone time!" Needless to say, I think she has liked having some special attention and Mommy time! We have done some fun things: Like above when we went to Kings Island and rode everything she wanted with no lines to wait in.

Soccer Time! This is the first year that she is old enough to play and boy was she ever so happy running around out there. The smile on her face was there the entire game!

This week we did a couple of fun things too. Like meeting Aunt Reenie yesterday at the outlet mall for the day and having a girls lunch. Then today we met a friend, Lauren and her baby Hunter at the park. The weather was so nice and after playing at the park and walking the trail we all had lunch together at Molly's pick, Red Robin. We even took a little nap together after we got home. This girl doesn't nap but we have done that twice in the last couple weeks.

Next week my girl starts preschool and I will be missing her every afternoon, Monday through Thursday for 2 1/2 hours. We have had a fun couple of weeks. I love this little princess!

4th Grade

Today was the first day of 4th Grade...(boo hoo...me), but they were both ready. Rachel more so than Ben, who was up having some anxiety issues last night but seemed better today. This is the first year that they will be separated in their homeroom class so hopefully they will both have a great day and a great year. I miss them already!!!

Me & my girl this morning. It looks like fall in the background, and it felt like it too. Thankful for beautiful weather the last few days, just hope it continues.

Bye Daddy, we will miss you! Cute!

Ben with his teacher, Mrs. Rockstroh.

Rachel and her teacher, Mrs. Tucker.

Garage Sale

We had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and I saw this picture on my camera as I was unloading them. Rachel cracks me up. She was my helper and put this on the door to the unfinished part of the basement to keep Molly and Ben out! ha!

Summer Seems to Fly! :(

Okay, yes....I know I have been a bad blogger this summer. Here's the latest picture of the kids that I took across the street in front of the golf course. We had our picture made for the church directory and I wanted to snap a few pictures on them on our way back home.

I can not believe it is August already! Where did the summer go? We were a busy family. Summer camps (track, tennis, soccer & art), then lots of swimming, we had our nephew (Will) for a week, a trip to Arkansas, doing a big clean out of the unfinished basement/garage sale (not a lot of fun..but so glad to have it done!) and now soccer practices have started for the upcoming season. So our life is about to get even busier! All three kids are playing & Trevor will be with them for practices & games! Asst. to Ben's team & Coaching Rachel & Molly's teams. Yes...My Molly is old enough to play fall soccer! She is so excited, I can't even tell you how happy she was getting ready for her first practice last week. The cutest thing and I did get the camera out for that, so I will post some of the pictures with this post. She was on cloud 99 and couldn't wait! And as fun as it is for them, it sometimes gets stressful with meals & not being home eating together as a family! Someone always has a practice or a game and those nights of all eating at the same time are few and far between! But as you can see, Trevor is the best Daddy in the world and I am so lucky to have him!

Off to soccer practice!

Track Camp

Week one of camps...Done! And here is my boy with his certificate and ribbons after the track meet today and his last day of camp. He had the best time and couldn't wait to go back each day. He got to compete in 3 events today and got ribbons in 2 of them. A 2nd Place ribbon in the 4 x 100 relay and a 5th place ribbon in the 200 meter dash, and he was as happy as he could be because all he cared about was that the 5th place one was his favorite color....Green!

School's Out!!!

Yea, I am so ready for the kids summer break! Not that we have any major plans for the summer, just lots of little things, and not rushing out of the house every morning! Molly's preschool has been out since May 18th. Friday (June 4th) was the last day of school for Ben & Rachel. And it's not like the kids did much the last week, we really should have been able to cut it a week shorter than it was. The last week was filled with parties, field day, field trip and fun! This week is track camp for Ben, and after the first day he's excited and can't wait to go back tomorrow...so that's a good thing! Both girls are getting ready for their recital weekend (coming this weekend) so we will be busy with that. Then followed by art camp for Ben and Rachel next week, tennis camp for Rachel the following week (so she can whoop up on Grandpa & Cousin Steph) lol! Then we will have a week where our nephew (Will) is coming to play for a week so the kids are super excited about that! July is followed by soccer camp and then a trip to Arkansas to visit family and friends. Yes, we will be busy but after we return the last week of July and August are pretty calm so if anyone wants to visit, that would be a great time. I am sure we will be making lots of trips to the neighborhood pool and Kings Island this summer as well.

So with the end of school comes home loads of stuff in the backpacks! (I am pretty sure it was everything left in the classroom and the teacher needed the room cleaned out for summer!) But, as I am looking through their stuff I find story journals from the year. One story was titled, What would I do if I were left home alone...................

Rachel - If I were left home alone I would be nervous. I would go to my room and get my Pinky (favorite blanket) and my bear Mattie. I would take them to the couch and turn on a show to watch to keep my mind off of my Mom not being home. I would wait there until my Mom gets back. I would not like being left home alone!

Ben - If I were left home alone I would love it. I would call up all my friends to come over for a party. We would have to clean up the mess before my Mom got back so she wouldn't know. We would be crazy and have lots of fun. We would play outside too. I think it would be cool to be left home alone. I would love it!!!!!!!!

(so that's the difference in boys & girls! And who we will leave home alone when they are older!)

How to make a decision?

Or how to make a decision and then just do what you want anyway! lol

Happy (Late/Half) Birthday!

We didn't do a party for them with their friends in January because it was too cold and someone always gets sick...so they had asked for a half/summer birthday this year at the neighborhood pool. I had hoped they had forgotten...but look what we did last week, before school was out and vacations started! Fun!

We had pizza and the best fruit...which was completely gone and all the kids loved!!!

Rachel and her friends!

Ben and his buddies!

Spring Break Week!

The week started off with Trevor and I getting a break from our kids (Thanks to Grandma for a day and Uncle Sean & Aunt Cosima coming to relieve her) we got to go down to Georgetown, KY for 2 days to watch Kyle (A friend who I used to baby sit and carry around on my hip). Kyle plays golf for Drury University in MO. We are fortunate enough to get to see him when he is playing close to us during golf season. He did great! It was a fun trip but we had to get back Sat. afternoon in time for Easter Sunday!
Easter morning after church we drove up to Grandma & Grandpa's house to be with them. The kids love it when all the cousins are together and they had lots of fun. The kids hunted eggs (over 200 between the 6 of them) and then we spent the night since we were leaving Ben & Molly with the Grandparents for another night. The next morning, Trevor, Rachel & I took off for Chicago. As part of Rachel's birthday gift she got a trip to the American Girl Store. She had got her first doll (Kit) from Santa this past year and she was so excited to go! (And for all those wondering, Ben wasn't left out! He chose a day trip to Perfect North to snow tube and got to take a friend along!)
We stayed right around the corner from the American Girl Store and had the best time!

I love this picture of Rachel. It's about how her expression was the whole time...she just kept saying, "everything is so fancy!" and was just thrilled to have some one on one time with just Mommy & Daddy! We even got a king size bed at her request so she could sleep in the middle! :)

We had lunch reservations at the American Girl Cafe. So worth the money for the experience! She got a seat for her doll and was just so excited about everything! And not to mention the wonderful conversation the three of us had, so special!!

And finally....shopping done, birthday money spent (& then some) three hours later we were heading out the door with one happy, precious, & thankful daughter!

We did some walking on Michigan Ave. and it was a beautiful day & evening!
The next morning we were going to go to Navy Pier and go up in the John Hancock building since the weather was supposed to be nice again but we woke up to cloudy, wet skies & fog. So we did a little shopping and headed back to get Ben & Molly before coming home. Not sure there would have been much of a view up in the building...do you?
We came home for a few days which Ben had to spend indoors because his allergies were soooo bad. He looked like he had been in a boxing match. We had lunch with their first grade teacher from a couple years ago and got to see her new house and just hung out and so enjoyed not getting ready for school each day! Then Trevor and I were off again on Sat. night to go watch Kyle golf again! (Thanks to Grandparents who came and took care of the kids until we got back Monday afternoon late)
And he did super! We were so proud of him. The course was the Purgatory Golf Course in Noblesville, IN. Tough hilly, sandy course. He shot 4 over the first day and one over the second day. They ended up 7th out of 22 teams . They stayed in Indiana and played in Columbus a few days later....we had to come home because the kids missed us too much & Trevor had to get back to work. But Kyle went on to place 2nd individually in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and third as a team. He shot 73-71-73! He was also named to the All-GLVC team for his performance there! Way to go Kyle!!