June 2025

June began with our co-op production of As You Like It!

I enjoyed two weeks of creative fun building the set and helping a little with costumes for the show.  I have come to really enjoy these two weeks every year. 

I have also come to really treasure Shakespeare camp as the capstone project of my kids' last year of homeschooling.  Saoirse had a terrific time as Rosalind and she and her classmates did a great job.  It was fun to watch them warming up to the play and each other as the performance approached. They really played to each other's strengths for the final performance.

Austin had a handful of lines as Sir Oliver Martext, but as the director said, he made a meal out of them!

I couldn't believe how much his fake glasses made him look like my Grandpa Bruce.  He did a presentation in history class this year about Grandpa's WWII service. 

The next week we attended a very touching dedication of a street named after Fr. Tom.

We enjoyed having our college girls home.  Aine and Liam enjoyed a little swing dancing one evening.

Saoirse had a really huge few weeks.  I seem not to have taken any pictures of her Suzuki recital, but she did her first Bach Double!

With school finished, she did a deep dive into dance.  We traveled to NJ for a feis where she had nice results.

Caera had a cute friend from school visit, so she and Saoirse took her on a tour of the city, but the rest of us went for a nice hike.

Finally, included just for my personal amusement, and with the identities of the guilty withheld...

I just feel like this screenshot IS parenting teens in a nutshell:

They really do figure it out!

May 2025

May began with a beautiful First Holy Communion.  I snapped this photo of my very dear friend playing the piano beautifully after the mass while also enjoying a joke with her son.  I assisted her with our little choir for the mass and it was lovely.  

I began the month in a state of complete collapse due to allergies. I presented myself to the pharmacist at CVS and she took one look at me and sorted me out.

All of which is a little background for this touching Mother's Day card:

Austin and his soccer team.  Foreshadowing - being both tiny and pale is going to be a theme of our May.

Saoirse turned 14! It was her golden birthday.  With Memory Masters two days away, and Shakespeare a week later, our celebrations were muted, but chocolate-filled.

Austin making himself chuckle while preparing for Memory Masters.  Can you find Ralph (Waldo) Emerson?

Saoirse and the other 8th graders made posters for the end of year party.

More tiny paleness.

This was actually Saoirse's first time winning a competition in Open, which is a pretty big deal.  It was a beautiful, sunny, freezing, windy day for an outdoor feis!

Liam and I helped his best friend Jim and family celebrate a big birthday by going to a Mets game together.  They ALSO won, and it was also beautiful, sunny, windy, and freezing!

This is a terrible photo, but we never take pictures together, and it was a fun evening.

Jim and his sister. He's the best.

 

October 2024

Portrait of the artist.

Liam prepares for winter.

Each year this tree on our street is the first herald of autumn colors.  I documented its progress for the girls.

Saoirse applied to a high school that seemed to have pretty nice graduates.

Beautiful skies made us miss Caera.

Austin, Saoirse and I enjoyed a truly gorgeous month of sunshine and perfect weather.

Austin tried on a Revolutionary War period uniform.

We enjoyed viewing this evidence of a stamp tax paid on the wallpaper in a local historic home!

I enjoyed some creative neighborhood artwork while out running in the mornings.

Saoirse and I visited the city.

We dipped leaves, of course!

More skies!

More funny public art!

A very quiet Halloween, as it was a school night and we had a cold in the house.  Saoirse and Austin made a chips and salsa costume and did some trick or treating!