Carmen playing at the Celtics play off game

Carmen's AAU basketball team was given the honor of playing during half time at the Celtics game 2 in their first playoff series! We went on April 20th (yes, I'm late with many posts!)


Here's view from our seats. We not only were given the opportunity to see our daughters play on the Celtics court, watch a fantastic game, but our seats were amazing! The entire team fit in balcony seating.

I tried to get a picture that captured the feel of our balcony seats. My brother Joel was able to join us for this game.

We were given "rally" towels when we entered the Garden. As you can see, Tobin found a comical way to use it.

Paul Pierce and others are warming up on the court.

Here's the Celtics mascot at the beginning of the game.

Before the team is introduced lights were used to shine Celtic emblems onto the floor while flooding the court with the color green. I'm impressed I was able to capture this.

Half time, the girls are on the court with their coach.

Carmen's got the ball and attempted a basket.

She's got good form. The hoops feels further than a high school court. I know that the 3-pt line is further out, but I don't know if anything else is.

The girls were told to let everyone get a chance to move the ball, take shots and not block each other. Carmen did receive several opportunities to handle the ball.

Here's my star of the night! People we didn't know wanted high-fives from here after half time. She said it was weird to have spectators treat her like she was a celebrity.

Ok, Joel and Carmen are two peas in a pod! I am glad he was able to come and see her play with her AAU team.

It was a great night! Although not featured in this post, Sarai and Rachel came too. It was a family night out at the Celtics.

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day began with basketball as all of my sundays in May have! One benefit was that all games were done by 12:30 and they were all held at the same college. Sarai and Carmen had their tournaments at Holy Cross. I was able to see both girls play.

Here, Sarai is trying to move the ball.

Sarai and two of her teammates trap the opponant.

I believe she's shouting "no ball"

Carmen is known for her steals. Here she comes for another. She played a team from Maine. I love that they have Mainiacs on their shorts!

Quick passes.

Carmen is number 22 for Shamrocks. Ironically, that was Sarai's number for the Oak middle school. Sarai's number is 34 for travel Hoops and Shamrocks.

Just thought this was a great picture of Carmen with her empty Gatorade bottle.

Carmen had back to back games on Sunday. During Sarai's last game, Carmen and Rachel found a table to work on Sophie and Luke's birthday cards. We were having dinner with them in NH.

I have two great stories to tell about this mother's day.

Story #1: Saturday was very busy for me. We had 5 basketball games in Worcester and two scheduled soccer games. The weather was horrible in Worcester. We had thunderstorms and downpours all morning and into the early afternoon. Carmen's home soccer game was canceled enabling my day to be a bit slower. Rachel had an away game about 35 minutes south of Shrewsbury. I am the assistant coach for both Rachel and Carmen's soccer team. This weekend, I was coaching the U10 team on my own. Rachel had her game under sunny skies, thankfully. While we were traveling home from Rachel's game, Abram asked if we had anything to grill. I wanted to get take-out, but thought grilling would be faster since we had to get back to Worcester at 6:30. (Rachel's game was at 4:00. Sarai has her third basketball game at 6:30. So I am driving home at 5, rushing to get Sarai food she can eat with her gluten allergy and food for the rest of us.) I returned home tired, but rushed to bring Sarai food before her third game she would play on Saturday. I had asked Abram to get the grill ready and marinade the chicken. I had hoped he would put things on the grill while I was driving Sarai's food to her. I returned home to find out he didn't get the food on the grill. A bit peeved, I walk into the house. Rachel asked "Did you see what's on the patio?". I am thinking, "what's wrong on the patio!". I look out and see this:

a new grill for Mother's Day! I was SO happy. 11 years ago we bought a grill. It had served us well, but we needed a new one. This new grill is large and cooks so much better than the old one. For those of you who don't know, I am the grill master in the house. I chose a grill over a dryer 11 years ago! That's how much I love to grill my dinners. I forgave Abram for not putting the chicken on the grill while I was out. I guess he rushed with Tobin to get the grill up from its hiding spot in the basement before I returned from my travels. Nice job guys and great surprise!

Here's story #2: Sunday's weather was sunny, but very windy. There were warnings of 20+ mile an hour winds. Despite this, we decided we wanted to have an adventure after the basketball games were over. We would bike to NH and Isaac would drive the kids in our van up to NH. We were having dinner at Marie's with Leah, Nettie's family, Isaac and Jenna and Marie's parents. The ride was wonderful. The wind wasn't too bad. Occasionally we had a cross wind. I felt safer on the tandem than I would have on my own bike. We weigh more on the tandem. Jenna took this picture of us when we arrived in NH. It took us 3 hours to bike 48 miles!

Now, we are in the house and here are some pictures of the birthday celebrations.

I caught Tobin playing the piano at grandma's.



Rachel gave Luke a koosh ball, which he seemed to enjoy.

Carmen picked out a cool skirt for herself and a matching one for Sophie to wear. I will have to get a twin picture of them later.

Carmen and Sophie have a love for Starbursts. Carmen gave Sophie 3 lbs of Starburts and 2lbs of Jellybeans! Should I mention that Sophie recently got braces.


Happy birthday Sophie!

Happy birthday, Luke!

Happy birthday, Leah!

It was a wonderful mother's day. I decided many years ago that it was ok to attend sporting events on mother's day. I enjoy watching my children grow as athletes. Without them, I wouldn't be a mom. I saw my daughters play well, received a new grill, went on a great bike ride with my husband and spent time with family.

I feel so loved and blessed by my hubby and children, thank you!

Tobin and his Junior prom date

Yesterday, May 15, Tobin went to the Junior Prom again!

Here his is in front of our house before we went to his date's house for pictures.




The elegant couple! Tobin met Nicole through track. She runs three seasons of track just like him.



Nicole is putting on his boutonniere. Her dress was stunning.



More couple pictures.

Nicole's dress had a short train which kept snagging on the brick walkway. Tobin was having fun holding her train.

I kept trying to get more relaxed pictures of them.


Last year Tobin went with Juhi, pictured in the center, to the junior prom. Nicole, Juhi and Tobin are all good friends. Juhi came over to take pictures and we captured her with them.

Then a photo was taken of us with Tobin. I truly felt very under dressed. Tobin loves to have fun with the camera. I wished I had more to choose from since I'm not smiling. I really was happy.


Tobin also went to the afterprom party at the YMCA. He was very tired when he came home at 5:30am! He said he had a great time and that it seems like a short time, which means he really did enjoy it!

Sophomore Semi

Tobin went to his sophomore semi on March 27th.



Here are the pictures with the friends he went with. He wanted to wear a bow tie and blue suspenders. Luckily, we found pants with blue suspenders in Abram's closet. We cannot remember where he wore them, but I'm glad we found them. I also learned how to tie a bow tie!





A fun shot!




I have to get these pictures out before the junior prom. Yes, Tobin is going to the junior prom again! It is this weekend.

Easter weekend 2010

Easter weekend wasn't much different from other weekends. We had sport events to attend!

Carmen and Sarai played in their first tournament for Shamrocks. Thankfully, they were both in the same tournament. Carmen also had her last indoor soccer game. She played three sessions (each are about 6 weeks long) of indoor soccer this winter. For the last session, her coach purchased new shirts for them.

Here you can see her coaches and teammates behind a short wall. Carmen has a great kick and speed; all of which are vital for indoor soccer. There will be a separate post just about this team and how much she enjoyed indoor soccer.



Carmen uses her speed in basketball to steal often from the opponent. She is never afraid to cover a taller player.



Here she sees the opportunity to move the ball forward once she stole it. This was her first time playing competitive basketball. Her skills from soccer and being an athlete enabled her to adapt to this new sport.

Saturday morning was filled with basketball. Carmen's soccer was in the late evening. At the last moment Abram suggested we go to Easter Vigil mass. We've never taken the kids to the vigil before. I hadn't thought of dinner, nor had I finished much for Easter baskets. But despite all of this, we managed to get ready and go to mass. It was an amazing mass and very long! I couldn't believe arrived before 7 and left after 10.

We all slept in and enjoyed a relaxing Easter. As I looked back on these pictures I realized that so many of them are of the cats! Easter day was beautiful! We let the cats come outside with us to play and as you will see, they enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed them.

Zori is relaxing under the slide.

Cappi loves to sit on top of the edges of the swing set and watch for creatures and birds.

Isaac, Jenna and Aidan came over in the morning to say hi and play with us a bit. It was wonderful to be able to run outside and play without having to go anywhere. Such a blessing.

The favorite red ball game was back in play.

Isaac is trying to get his son to hang on the monkey bars. Don't worry, he didn't let go (for much time!).

Aidan loved climbing up the ladder on our jungle gym.



Here's the family picture I took of Isaac, Jenna and Aidan.

Zori loves to climb the apple tree in the back yard. Aidan and Isaac are watching her in the tree.

Aidan is giving Cappi a good rub. I am impressed that Cappi is so tolerant with Aidan. Cappi has never hissed nor done any negative or aggressive behavior towards Aidan. Even when Aidan grabs a lot of fur!

Ok, here's my cat lady. She and Zori are always together and have meow conversations.

Cappi pillow.

Hanging with Zori.

Rachel is playing with Cappi and a rope. The cats love chasing rods and ropes in circles while we are outside with them.

My mom and Lawrence came over in the afternoon for Easter dinner. Cappi hung out with them too.

Now these two are just plain silly.


Easter day was beautiful and relaxing.