Here Come The Irish

"Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below."

Ok ok, enough of the nostalgia....Bill and I have been talking about taking the kids up to South Bend to walk around campus at Notre Dame. On impulse we made our 2 hour pilgrimage up to South Bend last Saturday. It was cold, drizzeling and a little windy...typical South Bend weather. We went to the book store and bought all of our goods that we would need for another football season. (I TOLD BILL NOT TO LOOK AT THE AMOUNT WHILE I PAID!!!) Then we walked around campus. Emma and Nicho loved all the trees and "meadows" as Emma called them. Really they were grassy knolls and flowers, but it was really cute. We walked by the statue of Father Sorin, the kids didn't seem to care, but I could tell it was bringing back a lot of memories for Bill. So we walked to the "Golden Dome" and tried to get the kids interested in it. It's so beautiful to see in person. I'm sure the picture won't do it justice.

I tried to change the shading on the picture so you could see the dome...but it didn't work...so now it blends in with the sky. But Bill and the kids look cute.

So then we went to the Basilica and did a quick walk thru...then on to The Grotto. We wanted to walk around St. Joseph's Lake, but since it had been raining, we decided not to. The kids were getting tired so we went back to the car. On our way back this older couple walked by us. It was really funny...they said hi...and the man says "wow, these freshman keep getting younger and younger every year!". It was pretty funny. Bill said we were showing the kids where they will go to college in a few years. Combine the drizzling rain and two whining kids...that equals "let's go".

After that we made our way over to LaPorte. Debbie, Bill's sister, was nice enough to have us over for dinner. It was wonderful to go up there. They have a Christmas tree farm and it's absoultely BEAUTIFUL up there. The kids had a great time! I wish I would've taken more pictures, but as they say hind sight is 20/20! We had a great visit with Debbie and Mike. Mike even taught Nicholas the correct way to dunk an Oreo! It was hilarious!!!! They have a yellow lab (Bo) and a black lab (Molly) and a one-eyed cat (Kelsey). The kids really adored them!!! We left a little after 7, which put us home at almost 10pm. It was a great day!!!!!

I love spending time with my family! Special thanks to Debbie and Mike for hosting us for dinner! We love you!

First Day of School

I really have dropped off the face of the earth! I was enjoying our summer vacay with the kids and have such lost track of time. I will try and catch you up on what we've been up to this summer.

First, I need to tell you that my WONDERFUL husband bought me a laptop as an early birthday present. I got it on Monday. I LOVE IT!!! This one runs on Vista, so I had to download something from Sony so that my pictures would work on this. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring this out on my own. Many times I just wanted to call my bro Rich and have him come do it for me...but I kept telling myself that I could do it...and I did! (I'm giving myself a pat on the back even as we speak...ha!)

My posts will be out of order, but I figured I would start with the most recent event first and work backwards. Emma started 1st grade last Wednesday the 12th. She was so excited to get back to school and see some of the friends she wasn't able to see over the summer. Here are some pics of my big girl Emma!


And here is a picture of Nicholas saying that he wants to get on the bus too! He really was going to miss his big sister that day!

(That's a rug burn on his forehead...no worries, it was gone a couple of days later)