School's back ...

It is hard to believe another year has gone by and that Brendan is entering middle school and Clare is the king of her class in 5th grade at the Elementary school.

I remember the 5th and 6th grades like they were yesterday - the good and the bad. Making up dances on the playground to Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUSDS9pkA2Y) and Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY1RNuzT4XU. Friday night video's, pre MTV and VH1, the Pet Shoppe Boys ... Prince, Whitney Houston and the Bangles!

Sleep over's at my friends when we would try to say bloody mary in the mirror three times, played with a weegie board and put shaving cream in someone's hand and then tickled their face. The confusing part of this stage in life was that I still liked Barbies and took my Cabbage Patch babies everywhere, but I also got my period? What's up with that?

Fashion took on a whole new meaning. Going from the simple days of 3rd and 4th grade where Kangaroo tennis shoes and flannel lined pants were the best things ever invented to wearing my most favorite Swatch skirt, tied in a knot at the corner with sunglasses that had slit's in them -- ahh, the 80's!

Side pony tails, ratted bangs, torn up jeans and Coca-Cola shirts! This was the point in time when all things that I knew to be true started to change, boys were more interesting, I had to wear a bra, the computer game Oklahoma and the space shuttle Challenger blew up. 1987. Lastly, the prank call entered the picture as did impressions of any kind. My friends and I would tape record ourselves making commercials, made up commercials about Ole and Lena.

Today, for the first time, Clare and her friends Andrea and Maddie 'pranked' me ... it starts so innocent. The phone rings and I hear a strange voice, "Is Morgan there?" No- pardon me, who is this?" I say back ... then, some giggles and "Is your refridgerator running?" um, Clare? who is this? "well, you better go catch it!" -- Mom, it's me, we're calling from Andrea's cell phone in my room. Click. Trouble.

Summertime Blues

By about the middle of July I was starting to wonder which end was up ... kids needed to be at about 55 different places during the same 30 minute period. Between Brendan playing baseball, Morgan in soccer and Clare in swimming I needed a nanny just to jet around with the kids!

Finally, we made it through and didn't lose anyone along the way! There is a certain amount of excitement and anticipation that comes along with a busy schedule shuffling kids from here to there and cheering them on in their various sport of choice.

For instance, Morgan in soccer. While he didn't score a single goal this year he kept up enthusiasm and met lots of new friends (and didn't keep score of who was scoring or not scoring).

Brendan's team made it all the way to first place, regardless of wanting to quit early on, he pulled through and was part of a winning team.

By next summer, I'll have all four kids in a sport, LORD HELP ME! When does Brendan get his license????? Shoot, 5 more years and we'll have another set of wheels in the family!

Future Gold Medalist

Clare had another amazing swim season, it continues to inspire me to watch her strecth herself in everyway. She is stronger and faster than she has ever been and she's only 10! I wish I could bottle up every ounce of self confidence so that she can use it in junior high when things go a little south of center for girls!

Although her hormones are starting to rage, she is as bright and witty as ever and her smile brightens everyone she encounters.

So as we prepare for Fall season, here is a quick recap of the finals in Winona in July.

Clare qualifed for 5 events, compared to the Fall/Winter season that is a huge accomplishment. Watching all the swimmers on the team improve in leaps and bounds is just so neat - as is the friendships that we're forming through the club!

Road Trips

We've been fortunate this summer to go on several 'road trip' theme vacations! My poor Acura is now reaching 85K miles and I've only had it 1 year. Our first trip of the summer was to California for the launch of the new Audi A4.

Car trip fun in the back seat with 4 monkey's and over 5,000 miles logged!

Me and the kids at the San Francisco Zoo

Auntie Kate, Liam, Morgan and Cody the morning we left Park City, UT

Getting ready to hop on the trolley from downtown San Francisco to Fisherman's Warf

What a trip, the first stop was to see Kate, Mike's sister in Park City, Utah ... 18 hours after leaving Minneapolis, we pulled into Utah. That's is a long haul! Then we were off to Lake Tahoe and then to San Francisco. I think out of all 6 of us, Liam and I were the only two that had never seen mountains - wow!

A little adventure to a peak near the Golden Gate bridge (kind of looks small from this height)

Mike and the little boys at a small cafe in San Rafael, CA before our trip to the city

The last night in San Francisco - a hole in the wall Italian restaruant with the best food ever!

The beach at Point Reyes National Sea Shore where the beach stretches over 50 miles

Poolside fun!

Our next trip was to the Serpent Lake over the 4th of July, the shortest of all the trips but certainly not lacking in fun! We spent a long weekend at the lake with friends and family. I always value the time we spend with my parents friends and their children, it never seems to be often enough.

In late July, we hit the road again. This time, just my mom and I off to Indiana. We pushed ourselves after a full day of work, we left Minneapolis at 7:30 PM and drove through the night to arrive at Francie and Tom's by 9 am the next day. Yikes! The kids always seem to do well, but Mom and I were ready to crash by about noon.

Climbing the silo at Uncle Donald's farm in Winchester, IN

Kids at the farm, in the background is a barn built in 1870



In August, our last trip, I was in Tucson Arizona for work (which in itself was both productive and fun). Touring a 2 million square foot Distribution Center and a few other Target facilities. A few trips down a crazy water slide, the lazy river and 12 holes of golf - ahh, it did indeed feel a little bit like a vacation. Then I hopped a flight to Houston for Michael Love's wedding (Mike's aunt Mary's son).






I am telling everyone, that is was the celebrity wedding of the year! Puffy Combs and Lawrence Fishburne look alikes and all!


Now that summer is ending, it is always fun to reflect back on all the memories we've made the great times that we got to spend enjoying the summer sun and life with Mike and the kids along with extended family and friends.

I LOVE TARGET

Every year at this time Target assembles leadership from every store in the company along with the more senior members of the Headquarters team for a fourth quarter RA-RA. I am continued to be amazed at the enormity of the company and what they are able to do in partnership with government, fashion design greats, celebrities and ordinary people doing awesome things for others.

In the last three years I've been able to hear a motivational speech by Colin Powell, listen to amazing pianist and vocals by the likes of Maroon 5, Tony Bennett, Michael Bouble, KD Lang, Elvis Costello and this year, Christina Aguilera and John Legend (go check his music out if you haven't).

I celebrated 9 years at Target this August, on Clare's 10th birthday and feel fortunate to have held several positions of varying responsibility and challenge. Target has provided a foundation for me to learn so much about corporate america and life in general.

Swimming memories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAPgWj5zgvY
You have to click on this link to gain an understanding for the oustanding effort and drive that it takes for our little babies to get in the pool day after day and pour their heart into swimming.

Tammy Gallagher, mother of the kids best friends Maddie and Will that live across the street) pulled this stream of music and photos together from the season. Pretty awesome! As a footnote; it made me cry too- and I am sitting in Caribou coffee, people are probably wondering what I am up to!

Here is an email that I got from Clare's Coach (Michelle) - it will melt your heart the way it did mine. I can't think of any other words that would sound any better to me.
===========================================
[From COACH MICHELLE 2/21]
OMG…Clare is so stinkin cute! Last week I had a few kids stay after to work on Underwater pulls in Breaststroke. She LOVED every minute of it and did a great job. So today she asks me if she can stay late…I said we had to wait and see how many older kids there were to see if we could get an extra lane or not. About 5 minutes goes by and of course I am doing a million different things, then I look down and realize she is still standing there…Huge smile on her face. I said Clare what do you need sweetie…and she said I am wondering if I can stay after! I started laughing and said …geez I got side tracked, and sorry but there is too many older kids so we don’t have an extra lane. Then I asked her what is it that she wants to learn and she looks up at me with the BIGGEST SMILE and said “EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING YOU WANT TO TEACH ME”!!!!!! Oh my gosh……..Melt my heart! What an awesome kid and how cool that she is so driven and so COACHABLE!!! Love it!!!

With her attitude she will have success in everything she does!

Just thought I’d share….
Cheers!
Michelle

Mike, if you're checking the blog, I will keep you up to date on our happenings until you get back home on Wednesday. Have a great time in California and by the way, who has such a cool job that they get to drive Audi's on the race track in Sonoma for 2 days?!?!! You rock!

Bring me some good wine honey!

p.s. Liam in recounting the story of when the bird flew into the house and how daddy the hero grabbed a fish net to capture the bird and get it back outside. The end of the story, then that bird couldn't fly and it died.

Tale of the lost boy

Every parent's nightmare is to lose their child- I share this same fear but today, only one single flash of it because I didn't know Liam was lost at all until I saw my friend Tammy with panic look on her face and Brendan at her side.

To set the scene, we were at the swim meet all morning, camped out on a sleeping bag with all of our stuff in the cafeteria, me in the hallway with Liam watching a movie and going in between to check on the kids. At one point, I ran to get a Diet Coke and when I came back Liam was gone. It didn't register at the time because he too had been going in between the cafeteria and the hallway (where I was) and I knew I would catch him if he ran by.

Randomly, a stranger struck up a conversation with me, completely distracting me from my task at hand. So, long story short, Tammy was running by to go get Liam- he was at the announcers table because he had been lost from me.

As soon as I scooped Liam up and knew that he was ok, the story started to unravel. I was laying on the couch this afternoon and Liam said "mom, there was a bald eagle at the pool today", I reponded with a, "what"? Then he elaborates by saying the Clare and her friend said that there was a bald eagle at the pool and that was how he got lost. In the words of a 3 year old, it is diffucult to unwind the facts from fiction. But as he retells what happened, Clare and her friend were trying to ditch him, so they decided to tell a little story about an eagle, which resulted in Liam going for a hunt of sorts and then realized he was lost. In his words, "the eagle was not in the pool, I didn't see it cause they were teasing me about that eagle.....then me just started to cry to see what was the matter and to just help me."

Good to know my wonderful, loveable, creative little Liam is safe and happy- when I found him he was drawing pictures of a fish next to one of the announcers with a big smile on his face. He said- there's my Mom, header!" (aka- Heather)

Go Swimmers Go!

Brendan asked that I shave his head the night before the C finals to increase speed...almost, but not quite! 

To be overwhelmed with pride understates what I felt last weekend as I watched the kids swim in the C Final events at St. Catherine's pool.  This past season (their first season of swimming) has been a great testament to how humility, hard work and perseverance pays off even at this stage in their lives.  Clare, who is full of mite and energy pushed herself through the last 6 months going from an adequate swimmer to an excellent backstroke. She struggled in the early meets to get make it through 100 meters and now is excelling in a multiple strokes. 

Brendan on his way to meeting his 100m breaststroke to achieve a 'B' time  

Brendan, who has always been my 'daisy-picker' in sports, sort of floating through the motions in soccer, football and wrestling is now motivated and excited to achieve his goals.  He cut 9 seconds off his personal best in the 100 breast stroke to make it to the B final competition.  

Clare won her heat in the 50m backstroke

For all of you asking yourself 'what does C or B' time mean, in the simplest sense, it is the goal time set for each age bracket and stroke that the swimmers try to achieve.  At the end of the season, if they are able to achieve a minimum of a C time, they can attend finals for that event.  Clare swam the 50m backstroke and Brendan swam (5 events all told) 100m Freestyle, 50 Freestyle, 100 breast stroke, 50m breast stroke and the 50m backstroke. 

Brendan has always been a little fish, in fact I told him he was born to swim! Clare is a fighter and will always succeed in anything she does because of her will. 

Enjoy the pictures!

Don't fall asleep!

Last night, like many nights, I was laying in bed with Liam trying to help him fall asleep. He was fighting every minute of it and the minutes just kept ticking away. First, I was sitting on the floor, giving him a chance to fall asleep on his own and 'directing traffic'...."stay in your bed", "put your head on your pillow", etc. Finally I gave up and laid down with him and he proceeded to sing songs to fight off sleep. They went something like this.....

Once upon a time, I got to go sledding with Ryan down his big hill, then Jenny made me hot chocolate with my friend Ryan and we sat on his couch and drinked it while we watched power rangers! Then we ate some chicken dinner and some cheeeese sticks!

Of course, it is hard to articulate the inflection that he used in hig song, but over and over and over he sang the same basic chorus - so cute!

Do brunettes have it made?

Why change the color of my hair? Boredom? Does a new look, mean a new me? Nah. My first day as a brunette, weird and sort of shocking, not only for me, but those around me. Mostly, the first night was spent letting the kids look at me, touch my hair and put aside the fact their Mom looks a little different....but underneath the hair, it is still me. Clare just followed me once I got home, right behind me up to the bathroom, then she brushed my hair, pushed it all away from my face and said "there you are"! Liam just kept repeating "what you do to your hair Mom?" and then "why you change your hair Mom?" and then, "your hair look really nice Mom, it really soft Mom".

The best though, was when I got home tonight and Morgan came running to meet me at the door...."there's my beautiful Mommy!"He hugged me, kissed me and hugged me some more. Good to know under a pile of very, very brown hair, I am still just me.

What is most curious to me is if the brown hair will elicit a different reaction in strangers that don't know me.....reaction of a blond vs. brunette. Is there any merit in the natural sterotypes of a blond. I guess I will find out and report back!

BEFORE (with a little touch of summer sun)

AFTER

Freezer Burn

Why do I live in Minnesota? I scratch my head, especially on days like today when the temperture on the bank clock read -14.

yuck. brrrrrr.

ugh.

I told the kids stories about how bad things happen if you don't cover all your skin on cold days like today. Then I scratch my head again, why do I live here? Who said this is a winter wonderland? We have almost no snow and it is so cold the dog will barely go out to pee.

My cross country skiis are lonely. My lungs want to breath fresh air and my toes want to squish sand, feel the warmth of the sun. Send me somewhere with a bikini and my pony tail holder and leave me there until the thaw comes........ugh. Really. I checked flights south today, I was two clicks away from booking tickets to Florida.

Happy Birthday #3 - Morgan Francis

Mr. Morgan turned 6 tonight, in fact, almost to the this very minute I gave birth to sweet baby mo....seems like it was only yesterday and where the time has gone, is hard to say. I recall this day clearly, we lived with Tom and Sue as the final touches were being put on our 'new house' in St. Michael.

Skateboarding Mo - all the safety gear was he gift from Mike and I

In fact, the night before Morgan's birth, Mike, Brendan, Clare, Great Grandpa and Grandma Culhane drove out to the house for a quick walk through and then had dinner at Chammps in Maple Grove.

I had been to the doctor earlier that day and she said she was going to 'help things along' and she expected to see me at the hospital within 48 hours. Sure enough, by the time I went to bed, the contractions had started. When I woke up, everyone went to work just like it was a normal Thursday and me, Brendan and Clare kept ourselves busy- me, timing contractions, Clare and Brendan asking every few minutes, is it time to call daddy? is it time to go to the hospital?

Near lunch I called Mike, for certain the contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and it was near time to go. I had done my part to keep labor in motion; jumping jacks, walks, Tom's Gazelle, anything and everything to keep my body moving! By 1:00 Mike and I were at the hospital with hopeful anticipation. We had not yet decided on a name, tentatively, we had called the baby Connor, but really had not agreed that this baby boy was a "Connor"....we just couldn't wait to see him before we'd know what name was right. We walked the hallways of Abbott, talking and admiring the donated tiles on the wall, we found the name Morgan and both really liked it. "That is his name" we said, almost in unison. The clock just kept ticking, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, I was beginning to think the midwife would send me home soon. I was only dilated to 3, no progress to speak of.

At 7, their was a shift change and the mid-wife offered to break my water, PLEASE! I almost begged...if you break my water, I swear I will have this baby. By 8, hard labor was upon me, dilated to 9 and the pain was intense, everyone took turns rubbing my lower back..until their hands hurt, so reinforcements were called in "aka" the portable whirlpool tub where I soaked until I was fully dilated, 9:45 time to push. No drugs, only a room filled with family- Mike at my side, the cryin' grannies right at the door and the grandpa's in the hallway with Bren and Clare....waiting to hear the healthy cry of a new baby.

With a couple of pushes, he was in the world, cord wrapped around his neck, but fine, happy and with his family.

Today, six years later- he is a big boy, skateboarder dude that dances to hip-hop, cuts pictures of girls out of People magazine (don't ask...he says they are for his friend at school) and takes his Dad's Polo cologne with him in his backpack- luckily that only happened once. He also loves everyone, he still kisses me goodnight and asks me to snuggle, he thinks his big brother rocks, he believes in himself, he makes up a lot of funny words....and he is now learning to read, another major accomplishment that he is now starting to brag about. Pretty cool to be a mother of a dynamic 6 year old.

What will Morgan grow up to be? He asked me last night why everyone says he has beautiful blue eyes, I said, because you do -- his response "oh, I knew that, they're just like yours and Dads". Melt my heart. I wish I could hold onto 6 for a little longer.

Family Party - Hipperts, Brendan, Clare, Susan, Mo, Tom, Liam, Mike and me

Dad and Susan - the non-bowlers cheering everyone on

Where did 6 months go?

I can't believe that 6 months (or near that) have gone by since I posted last. Pathetic, no other word for it! Can an individual really be that busy? Really? I have given myself a million and one excuses, but what I keep in the back of my mind is that the blog is for me and my family and secondly, I love to write.

So, I need to just do it, enjoy it when and I can remember that there is no pressure for me to blog or not blog. Do it when I have something to say and when I need an outlet, oh yeah, and when I have the time.

So, let's review quick with photos ...... We'll see if I can do them in order! This might take some time, so, I'll have to just recap summer and then go into fall! One day at a time.

Brendan - heading at boy scout camp! July 2007

Summer Trip to Green Lake


The Great MN Get Together! Aka - State Fair

Grandpa Tom, Grandma Pee Wee and Liam

August 9th, Clare's Birthday Dinner - Benihana - Quite fun for all having a private chef make us dinner!

The birthday girl in all her glory!

August 2007 - Jay Cooke State Park Camping with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Beth

One more from Jay Cooke - Me, Mom and Clare, hiking near the gorge.

Camp-A-Lot

While the grime...oh, I mean the memories are still fresh I want to write about our camping expedition, truly an expedition like no other. Picture three unsuspecting adults and seven extremely enthusiastic kids ready for the over night camping experience they have been asking for all summer. Well, being the pleaser that I am, I was glad to be able to come through on my promise and lucky enough to have great neighbors who are fully equipped with gear.

The Scene: Lake Maria State Park, Monticello, MN - thankfully only 20 minutes from home

The Landscape: Hike-In Campsite, .75 miles from the parking lot - primitive I would come to find about after arriving to the site.

The Weather: 95 degrees and 70+ % humidity (deep in the dense forest, it felt like 107 degrees)

The List: 3 full coolers, 3 boxes of food/supplies, 1 wagon to haul our stuff, 2 tents, 4 chairs, firewood (2 bundles), 2 Dogs, 10 sleeping bags, 10 pillows

LOL - I am laughing aloud while I am writing this, it bring a smile to my face just picturing what we all looked like lugging our laundry list of gear. We made a pact when we set out on our journey, NO WHINING, or be on the mandatory return trip list for round 2 of "gettin' gear". With 7 kids, that was no small feat and the only one who complained was Morgan, although I never had to hear him because I was the second to the last person from the end of the conga line. Touting the wagon, loaded with wood, coolers, sleeping bags, pillows and the tent. Plus, I had our overnight clothes strapped to my back and another sleeping bag attached via a bungee cord on my front. While the children, adequately loaded with gear danced ahead, Tom and I held up the rear. Eventually finding our way to a very dense and primitive site -- trees, trees and no people. Oh yeah, there was a latrine.

The nearest bathroom with a flush toilet and running water, .75 miles from our site. We initially picked Lake Maria because we knew it would be hot and hence, LAKE -- so the big leap was made that Lake = swimming beach. That we found out to be simply not true. Although after a good 2 + mile hike we found that swimming at the boat landing near lily pads and what felt like quick sand wasn't so bad....even though the lake was so murky we couldn't see our toes.

Ahh, finally, at least we were cool, then we trekked back and made dinner, all the while the thunder clamored above us. We did luck out, no big thunderstorms or lightening, just some rain drops post dinner and clean-up. After a beer to take the edge off and the three littles kids sound asleep (9:15 pm I'd like to add) we cozied up by the fire and played games...thanks to Tom's daughter Sam for enlightening us on some games we'd never played before!

By 10:30 we were all tucked in, 8 in one tent, 2 in the other.....nothing between us and the owls, coyotes and stars but a thin sheath....I laid awake for what felt like half the night, evidently I should have had more liquor in order to get the rest that I needed.....after the longest night of my life, we all were awake and starting to stir by 6:30, our over night expedition came to a close quickly. After a delicious breakfast of sausage, eggs, donuts and OJ it was time to pack up.

Scroll all the way to the bottom for another great picture of the camping site.

Soccer Mom

As I reflect back on summer, realizing that the majority of it has passed my thoughts gravitate to the many nights we spend on the soccer field -- 4 per week to be exact for the first 8 weeks of the summer season.

This was Morgan's first year and clearly he has natural athletic ability and besides one of his teammates, Ty, he towered over the other kids by at least 6-10 inches. It was so fun to see him race up and down the field and score goals....many goals, success is such a thrill at that age. "The Wildcats" ended their season strong and enjoyed every minute of play!

This was Clare's second year of soccer and again, she was very lucky to play with a great group of talented and driven girls. The "Breakers" really learned how to work together as a team and play off of each others strengths. Clare is a small power house, she easily can weave in and around her opponents and is quick, although she did not score this year, she did have a part in many assists and shared the teams success.

Brendan found his passion in the pool, he took level 4 swimming this year and really enjoyed learning a variety of new strokes and basic diving techniques. He is interested in joining the St. Michael swim team, which will be a great esteem building activity and one that I think he will thrive on.
All the kids gained a great amount of confidence in the water this year, both Brendan and Clare learned how to water ski and Morgan and Liam gained comfort in jumping and swimming with their life jackets. I will save the suspense about Liam for the next entry!!

Mother's Day 2007

A highlight of early Spring was the second annual girls trip to Florida -- my mom, aunts and Grandma spent 2 great days on the beach sharing stories, playing Blockus, drinking wine and relaxing.

One evening we gathered at the beach at sunset, arranged all of the beach chairs in a circle around one another and talked about the legacy of the families and women of our past. Stories of being strong and persevering through challenging times, marriages and moments that test our ability to with stand more than we thought we were capable of.

Mostly the trip was about taking care of Grandma -- a time for her to be herself at her most favorite spot in the world, the beach. The 5 of us being there together was a rare and wonderful treat that I hope we repeat over and over again.

Where does time go?

It is difficult to fathom that 2 full months have passed since my last entry, I thought it would be simple to find the time to blog! But, unfortunately, it has fallen to the bottom of the list of daily/weekly tasks that need attention.

So, I will attempt to recap the wonderful events that have happened since May!