We survived May!

It's been a few weeks since I've had time to write a post, because life has been so darned busy!  We have had lots of travel (3 out of 4 weekends), baseball games, dance competitions, concerts, field trips, birthdays, and end-of-year celebrations.  There have been so many wonderful things, but it was a lot to pack into a few short weeks!  The other big story of New England has been the weather.  We have had some nice days, but every weekend has been rainy.  In fact, we haven't had a dry weekend since November!

What the heck do we wear for this weather?!

Last dance class with Kayla, the amazing dancer from UVM who trained at McFadden while she was in school.  She will be greatly missed!

Field Trip at the Flynn with Noah's class

STARBASE rocket launch day

Evie and I had the opportunity to travel for a long weekend to Denver to celebrate our nephew Stefan's high school graduation a few weeks ago.  Our air travel had a little hiccup on the way out to Denver, and we didn't land in Denver until 2am, which felt like 4am to us!  We napped in the airport and on the plane, and somehow, we didn't feel all that bad the next day.  It was a whirlwind weekend of celebrations, and we even squeezed in a quick visit to Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  We were so glad to be there for the fun, family-filled weekend!  The boys held down the fort at home, enjoying some fun of their own with pickleball and homemade pizza.

Post-travel exhaustion has hit!

Our next travel weekend was a road trip for Irish Dance to Portsmouth, NH again.  Evie competed on Saturday and Sunday, and she did really well!  She finished 7th the first day, and 4th the second day.  She also really enjoyed having some other McFadden dancers there to support each other, and we all had a fun dinner out together on Saturday night.

The boys enjoyed some pool time while Evie got ready for the Feis

McFadden support crew!

Noah needed a little break from watching dance, so he did a run around the bases outside the school!

Murray the Moose!

Portsmouth NH

Pre-wig hair!  Ha ha!

You've got to trust the process, because it turns into this!

Yay Evie - 4th Place!

Feis Dad!

We got home from traveling and changed gears into birthday celebration mode for Noah's 11th birthday!  His family party was a day before his actual birthday, and then we celebrated with just the 4 of us on his birthday.  Noah requested a steak dinner and then he wanted to try out a new ice cream shop for dessert that night.  His big gift for this year from us was a new drum set!

He's 11!  How can it be?!!

Cousin love with Carly

Noah with godmother Donna

He had to unscramble the letters to figure out his big gift

Surprise!

First swim of the year on Noah's birthday!  It was bone-chilling!

Noah celebrated with his friends over the weekend at Talent Skatepark.  The boys scootered, skateboarded, and drove remote control cars.  It may sound a little boring, but they had an absolute blast!  Matt even joined in the fun on his skateboard!

Evie and Noah both had their final band concerts over the past couple of weeks, which is a little bittersweet, because Evie is going to be done with band after this year, although she will keep doing orchestra in high school.  Noah is still deciding if he'll continue with band at school next year, but we know that both kids will keep music a part of their lives in one way or another.  

Somehow, in between all the kids' activities and events, I managed to get our mini garden planted and found a little time to enjoy a sunny day with Aunt Pea and the dogs at Indian Brook.  I have tried to savor these quieter moments to recharge amidst the craziness!