Happy Birthday to Dad!

We Are...

N.D.!



Congratulations to our cousin Ben who was just accepted to Notre Dame for undergrad!


Ben is the epitome of a Notre Dame man-- hardworking, family centered, responsible, athletic, smart, fun, gentle and generous. We are so proud of him! Its these sort of decisions that renew your faith in admissions offices... they DO get it right sometimes!



Just for good measure. (Thanks to Mrs. Sullivan for the hat!)


Congratulations to Ben from the whole family!

A Rich Man

If you measure a man's wealth by his friends, Sean is indeed a very rich man. Along with Mr. St. Francis, his best friends are Pup-pup (left) and Oliphant (right), who keep him in good company!

I'll Have the Duck

I know when you start baby on solids you are supposed to start with boring things like rice cereal, but Sean insisted on duck for his first real meal...


eyeing his prey...


making his move...


this is going to be so good!

success!

All done!

Milestones

This morning Cody said, "Sean..." and sean looked at him. Cody said it again, "Sean?" and Sean looked at him. Cody stood behind the baby and said "Sean..." and Sean turned his head all the way around to find dad. He knows his name!

Food, please!

Sean is making his case to try solid food...

First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving marked Sean's first and Cody and my first time hosting, and it was a great experience. As I remarked to cody the other night-- life can be tough, trying to balance work, marriage, diapers, feedings, family- but at the end of the day, I love our little way of life and I am so thankful for it. That being said, here is a small tour of just some of the things that brought joy to our holiday of Thanksgiving this year:



The day started as Denise, Monkey boy and I accompanied Cody downtown to watch him compete in the 31st Annual Turkey Day Run. My boss is the race director for the whole event, so it was fun to see the whole thing come together after months of preparation. Cody did great, even after 2 weeks of travelling sans training. He's awesome.

Monkey Boy Sean cheers as dad is about to cross the finish line!

After we returned from the race Cody turned right around to go to the airport to pick up my mom and Pete. While he was there he picked up a surprise guest-- Eva!! We were so excited to have Eva around this weekend-- she added so much life to the party. We watched movies, she babysat Sean, conducted a cross-word contest (I won) and was just a pleasure to be around. I can't believe how much she is growing.

Meanwhile, dinner preparations were underway in the kitchen. Recognizing the craziness of our last two weeks and our relative inexperience at making thanksgiving dinner, especially while in survival mode, Cody made an executive decision for our family and bought a pre-made turkey. As the spriritual head of our household, this was a phenomenal decision.

We did cook everything else on the table! And, we got to use our beautiful yet neglected china :). A beautiful meal and a beautiful family!


Mmmm....wine.