More Christmas (Edited)

Michael's First Christmas.. and He just mastered Sitting Up--
And he has his first TWO teeth!

Peter with the Train Table from the Elmen's! The boys Love it!

Christmas 2007

Christmas Morning.. Silly pic!

Christmas Eve-- The brothers exchange Gifts!

The Choir directed by Me :)
It's a long one.. 7 1/2 minutes. Enjoy!

Choir !

I am getting so excited about Christmas Eve Mass, that I finally put together short movies of the choir last Christmas and Easter.

Come see these wonderful kids at 5pm Mass!
And, Have a Blessed Christmas everyone!
We sure wish we could be with all of you this time of year!

************And to my wonderful choir kids: I hope you are READY!*******
I am ready and I can't wait to see you at 4:15!
(Some of you will need to tell your parents 4 o'clock.. you know who you are!)

SAA Band Concert!

Patrick is in the 7th and 8th grade band. They did a terrific job!

Rejoice, Indianapolis South Side!

This is a short video showing a bit about what my sister is doing in Indianapolis... Missionary work with an ecumenical community. It certainly looks like an adventurous life.. I am really proud of her. (Mary 'Molly' is the redhead in the video!)

Gaudete Sunday, Decorating the tree and... It's Snow Time in Michigan!

We were trying to get a picture of the 2 of us, but are cuties just had to jump in!
Oh, boy, we LOVE having an artificial tree! I don't think we will EVER go back!
Quick.. and Easy! The tree is up and looks beautiful!
We decorated Saturday night and woke up to...

A Winter Wonderland!
The top pic is of James shoveling at 7am. The boys were out helping him by 7:30! What a riot!

Our chopped off, sorry looking tree!

Seussical Jr.

Great News!
Patrick auditioned for Seussical Jr. at school and...

He got the LEAD part! Horton!

Clear your calendars now!
The weekend of March 13-15, he will be performing!

He is so excited. He loves singing and performing.
It will be a challenge learning all of the parts..

That is our good news for this week!
Just getting ready for Christmas..
:) Katie

Thanksgiving Mass

Look at my cuties!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

I will post a picture of the kids later.
We went to Mass, which was a huge Blessing.

Katie

I grew up with sisters

And I have to admit, I think it is weird that boys love to wrestle/play like this all of the time. Someone always ends up crying.. yet, they get right back to wrestling!

Here is a game of "Bull Riding" that they were playing today. Enjoy!

Peter's Bday Oct. 28

This is a long one.. feel free to use the FF!

Prayer Request

An 11-year old friend of ours, Emilija, is in needof your prayers!

2 years ago she battled cancer.. and now she is battling it agan.

EMail me for more details, but just know that this beautiful little girl really needs your prayers!

Katie

Redheads Protest Wendy's

This video had me laughing so hard, that I cried. It is sort of along the lines of 'funniest home video' a hilarious staged 'protest' involving about 50 redheads.

Enjoy!

Funny things kids say.. and snakes!

Today, Francis was talking to me about how much his "Gigi" loves mice. And how she HATES snakes so much (Because they eat mice) that she won't come to visit us anymore (Which is NOT true!!) Then, he said "I love mice too. It IS kinda freaky when the mice get killed, though." LOL.

Strikey the snake got 'loose'' last time Gigi was here.

Maybe we will have to find a 'pet sitter' next time she comes?

Have a FUN day, everyone...

The weather here is beautiful, and we are looking forward to enjoying it!

Katie

Our Pets

Blast from the past.. OK, this is Patrick's birthday in 2003...

I thought it would be fun to see Strikey (and Patrick) so SMALL! They are both so big now.. see pic...

We also have fish. In case you haven't heard, Peter, the "mighty armed" Peter, (he is 2 and 1/2) threw a matchbox car at our ten gallon tank and put a HOLE in it on Saturday. (Did I already tell you this?) Anyway, I bought a new tank yesterday.. a 20 gallon! I just couldn't resist the opportuniy to get a bigger and better one! LOL! I sure hope I don't regret it!

Michael's First 'Solid' Food!

Michael has been kicking and 'talking' begging for food. So, I tried it out today. You would have thought he was eating cake (raher than nasty oatmeal baby cereal). He loved it! Enjoy the video clips. I was cracking up, He is so cute! (There are 2 seperate ones..)

Peter and Michael

October 2

Hey everyone! I have received SO many birthday greetings today! Thank You!

I have been really busy today. But, I am doing stuff I love, so I can not complain! I got LOTS of gift cards for my birthday.. I can't wait to go shopping!

I think a blog is a great place to write funny things that your kids do/say... or perhaps not so funny! Today I had to buy a new fishtank. This weekend, I was on a cubscout leader training day. I was gone a little over an hour when James finally sat down to eat a bowl of cereal. Moments later, the boys ran to him, "DAD, HURRY! Look at what Peter did!" He went into the living room to find that Peter had thrown a matchbox car at the fish tank and popped a HOLE in it! Oh, yes, fish water. All over the living room (new) PERGO floors! Yikes!

Well, other than trying to establish a new fish tank, and the crazy routine of school, homeschool, carpool, homework and scouts.. things are going well here!

The video of Patrick was very popular, so I have added some here. It is nice for us to be able to play together. My mom and I both play flute (she taught me!) and it is always so cool to have that 'shared interest'.

That's it for today!

Katie

Fall 2007. Busy, but fun!

Scouts, scouts, and more scouts. I am a cubscout den leader this year. Patrick is a boyscout, Seamus is a wolf and Francis is a Tiger. I took my den (The wolves) and our whole family to an EMU football game. It was fun!

Michaels 4 month picture taken around the 1st of September.

It's time for his 5 month picture already! I can't believe it!

I love to see my boys so happy reading. This is so typical of my boys after coming home from the library. I am sure these memories are imprinted forever in my mind!

(But just in case, I took a picture!)


Patrick and Seamus are in school together and Francis is homeschooling until he gets a spot at the same school. Things are in full-swing. School, scouts, children's choir.

Thanks for saying hello! Leave us a comment!

Patrick playing the saxophone!

Patrick just started playing in July. He seems to be enjoying it!

Oscoda, MI : LAKE HURON, so beautiful!

" I love swimming with my mom!"

" The beach tires me out! Give me a gun and 2 pacifiers... and I will take a nap! "

Sunrise. I took this picture from inside the house we stayed in. What a terrific view of Lake Huron. (James and I and kids really loved that jetski, too!)

Pat at Camp.. me and the other boys Bluberry picking!

We missed Pat a ton while he was at camp.. but we did some fun things, too!

We went Bluberry picking, swimming, had friend over...

Here are a couple of pictures from that week. Coming soon: Pictures from the Wittgens/Quillan wedding, and our trip up north last weekend.. What a blast!

:) Katie

I just want to go BACK to the beach! Boo hoo!

OK, the beach was fabulous.. perfect... wonderful. Sigh.

Unpacking, cleaning, getting back to life in general.. kind of stinks!

But, I am getting there. Most things are put away now. I hope to finish today.

Enjoy the pictures!

The Whole Gang- Mom and Dad Seale, James and I and our 6 boys

My Grandma, My Sister BethAnne and her children, Virginia, Matt, THomas and Sean

My nephew, Sean

Our Family!

One of my favorite beach activities.. braiding my niece, Virginia's hair.

"Blind Man" Our favorite beach song

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiIjtEtpuZw

Well, it isn't technically a BEACH song, but we always sing it at the beach. The boys love it! Check out this video!

Holden Beach... we LOVE it!

We are on Holden Beach this week. We SO love it here! It is wonderful!! We are already exhausted from all of the swimming we have done since Saturday afternoon. The water is perfect! Peter was scared to death of the water until yesterday, Tuesday. Now, we have to bribe him to get him out of the water! S,F,L can all swim with floaties out in the "deep" and they LOVE it! Patrick swims with no floaties. It is a fun year for us, because the kids love being in the water! We have seen lots of dolphins, too! Right from our porch! I will post pictures when we get home.

Have a good week!!!!

Katie and Gang

More pictures in NJ. The weekend of the big party!

The Ladies. Working hard to cut veggies for the party~

My Aunts: Laurie and Lois. My mom. My Grandma.

Beautiful, aren't they?

Francis found a frog to play with. No, I did not let him put the poor little guy in a jar and take him back home to Michigan... he survived some playtime with the boys and was then set free!
James and Michael. Playing baseball?

Grandma's 80th.. A celebration of the McCarthy Family!

Friday.. Grandma's Actual birthday. The little cakes to "make do" until the party on Saturday. ALthough, they were REALLY YUMMY cheesecakes. :)
My sister BethAnne and her little Sean

My cousin Jim with Patrick. We hadn't seen Jim since James and I got married!

What a treat!

The Friday night gang~

What a blast!

Michael's First Smiles

There is something really amazing about the first time(s) that your baby engages with you.. and smiles at your silly antics and chatter. Finally.. the baby can communicate! WOW! THis happens around 2 months. He has also started cooing, which is just too cute for words. Here are the pics of his beautiful smile (and dimple!)

Long Island Fun!

My Cousins, Colleen, Kelly and Emily.. and my Uncle Patrick came to visit with us at my Grandma's house. The girls are so much fun.. and they love the boys!
If you are in the McCarthy family, then you have "grown up" getting your picture taken in front of this fireplace... The tradition continues...

Robert Moses beach.. The only problem was the sunburns. Ouch!

My Uncle's Monster Truck was flying over the kids...what a riot!

OK, so it is really annyoing that these pictures post in the opposite order than what I downloaded them to be... but here is the packing ordeal. Have you ever wondered what it is like to pack for 8 people for 5 days?!? SOME chore!!

(Notice the color coordinated choices.. outfits for each day are horizontal.. each person goes vertically. Then, I pack each day in a seperate bag, and mark it. Then we look somewhat 'put together' and I am less likely to miss important pieces of clothing!!)

Miscellaneous pics!

I thought maybe some of you had not yet seen our pet snake, Strikey. He is a Ball Python and is about 3 and 1/2 feet long.

We love picking time! We picked strawberries (above) and pease (below).

My grandma was visiting, and she came along to help! (Thanks Grandma!)

Michael's Baptism.. and celebration of Seamus' First Communion

I actually made these cakes, and they were OH SO YUMMY!

The boys outside after the Baptism.. all six!

Me and my sweet baby. Notice the bracelet.
A gift from a friend when we miscarried JoseMaria last year the same weekend--
Father's Day weekend. Bittersweet...

The GodParents, Sam and Don

The GodFather's Family: Look at those pretty girls!

COUSINS! The 12 cousins unite again!

Our family. This is the best shot we got. Man, the kids were SO wound up!

Sigh.