The beach!

We had a fabulous time at Topsail Island last week! Gosh, I love that place. One of us needs to win the lottery and buy a house on the beach there for all of us to descend upon every summer.

Annie's loving it.

So is Brennan.

And Nate!

The Schultz kids and Anthony kids had fun doing some improv games. Here they all are in crazy improv poses, waiting for Scott's interesting "interpretations."

Below is one of Scott's impressive sand castles:

The guys react to the waves threatening the castle.

Nate, John Paul, Annie and Mary Kate prepare to get wiped out by a wave.

Mark and Cathy mellowing out.


All nine kids report for duty to start the Friday night cleanup the night before we (sob!) have to leave.

What a great week! Anyone want to share great Topsail memories in the comments?

Nate's Very Big Day!

Nate had his First Holy Communion today! Though we wish we could have oodles of family trek out here to Illinois for these important family days, it was still nice with just the five of us. Our church is so small that there were only five kids having their First Holy Communion today, so the kids did a lot during the mass.
They read the readings.


Then Fr. Ray called them up for the homily. They each explained the banner they had made for the day. Here's Nate's. He had a picture of the cross, and the host, and the chalice on his banner. He called the chalice, "the Holy Grail," which made the church laugh. Nate loves his King Arthur stories!

The five kids also brought up the gifts for the Offertory.
Then they sang the reflection song after Communion. Very sweet!

Finally they process out with Fr. Ray.And here's our choir rocking the house. :)


And then, cake in the parish hall!
A great and good day. We love you, Nate!

This video will make you smile. Guaranteed!

Annie and I just caught this video on youtube and wanted to share it. It's a spontaneous(?) musical erupting in the middle of a busy Dutch train station. The first dancing starts 44 seconds in, and then...well, you'll see. It's the perfect antidote to the it-should-be-spring-already-but-it-sure-don't-feel-like-it blues. Enjoy!



You gotta love Julie Andrews!

Ugh. Uggity Ugh.

We woke up to snow this morning. On April 6! Yuck. The kids show their feelings above. I'm a little worried it will damage the budding flowers, or the lilacs buds on the bush outside our bedroom window. Though I guess I should be grateful we're not in Denver, which I heard got a foot of snow. Or poor Catherine up in Minnesota! Any snow this weekend, Cath?

Anniversary Gift from our boys

Here's a sweet story. Mark and I just celebrated our 15th anniversary, and the boys wanted to surprise us with something. So yesterday, after school, with me off on an errand, and Annie over at a friend's, Brennan told Mark he was going on a bike ride over to his friend Tim's, who lives a few blocks away. Nate's job was to distract Mark, so he got him to shoot baskets with him. (Good job, Nate.)

Brennan eventually got back home and surreptitiously hid something in his room. After dinner, he and Nate carried out this big cookie above, with a "Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!" on it. "How in the world did you get that?" we asked him. He said he had biked to the grocery store (about 3/4 of a mile away, accessible by sidewalks all the way, fortunately) gone in, asked the bakery folks to write the message and add a nice picture with it, went through the checkout line and paid for it, slung it in a plastic bag over his handlebars, and biked home. He took a spill on the way home, he told us. The cookie was intact (whew!) , but he cut his hand. So he looked around, saw a nice couple with a baby in front of their house, and went over and politely asked if they had any antiseptic for his cut. They bandaged him up and set him on his way.

We were touched, as well as deeply impressed by his independence. (We're also grateful no grinch stole his unlocked bike while he was in the grocery store!) I had biked with the kids to the grocery store just once before, last summer, and I hadn't realized Brennan still remembered the way. So, anyway, nine years from now, when he's eighteen? Don't be surprised to get postcards from Brennan while on a backpacking trip around the world. We could definitely see him doing that.

In the meantime, though, I'm buying him a lock for his bike.

Annie here

Hey Annie here!
Oh wow, I"m happy. Okay., so most of you people know that I have a Flip camcorder, right? My Mom reminded me that we have Windows Movie Maker on the laptap, so I began experimenting with changing speeds and stuff. Watch this! It's called 'Nate gets Wazoozeled.' If you don't know what wazoozled means, just watch the video! (By the way, my Mom wants me to say that Nate was not getting hurt or punished! He wanted Dad to bounce him that way, and it just kind of got sillier and sillier! )




Lol! We were totally just playing around at the hotel and we had so much fun!!! I think it was last summer...

Ooh! This next one takes a while, but you only have to see it if you want to.





This is how it turned out:


Is it okay?

Thanks for ACTUALLY READING through my post without falling asleep...

Ciao ! ~Annie

I'm going to try to be better!

I know. We've been bad. No pictures, no musings, nada. But I really will TRY to be better at posting about our life, even if it's only once a week! And I'll try to comment on all the blogs of my wonderful family as well. That's my new Lenten resolution! We do love you all!

By the way, the pic above is from last summer, when we had a picnic at a Napa Valley vineyard. (Santui, I think?) Glorious weather. Glorious food. Glorious scenery. *sigh* Here in the land of Spring-Is-Never-Coming, it's supposed to get down to 14 degrees tonight. On March 11 for heaven's sake. So I'm hankering for the warmth and sunshine of California. Thinking of you, Jen and Matt!