Cullen's first soccer game!

Cullen had his first soccer game this morning. He did great and even scored two goals! I'm so proud of my big boy! Here he is with his best buddy Gavyn after the game. :)

Farmer Finn

Our playgroup visited local Prairie Winds Farm just south of South Bend this week. It was so much fun! We were able to hold chicks, roosters, feed goats and Taffy the pony, meet a 1 day old calf, ride Taffy, sit on a tractor, hiked thru the woods, and have a picnic lunch! It was a great day! I think Finn's favorite part was chasing the chickens all over. He never caught one, I don't think he wanted to! It's more fun to chase. :). We bought some fresh eggs and butter. Yum.

Blue-Gold Spring Football Brunch, TailgateAtht & Game

The boys ready for the Player Brunch to start. :)

Football players sat at some tables, unfortunately none sat at ours!

Coach Brian Kelly speaking before the brunch.

Finn's favorite ND football player.  :)

There are three football players with red hair.  Tony is Finn's favorite. He's a huge guy!  About 6'4" and 287 pounds.  I have seen him walking around campus..  His line was the first one we got into.  I told him he was Finn's favorite player and we like to cheer for red heads.  :)  And that Finn is starting to point out other red heads to me.  Tony smiled really big and said "That's right, you just got to embrace it."

Another redhead on the team told Finn "Hey, I like your red hair!"  Finn smiled really big.  The players were all so nice and really tried to talk to the boys.  For some reason our boys were star-struck and won't talk!

Getting autographs on our football!

More autographs!

Time's up... time for the players to leave and get ready for the game.

Face painting at the FLC tailgate.  :)

Beautiful, but COLD day for the game.  Didn't even get into the 40's...

 If you look closely, you'll notice Touch Down Jesus in the background. :)

The boys with their friend, Annie.

We had a great time at our last ND football game... while living here anyway!  It was a full day of fun.  Brian Lohr continues to be a blessing to us and gave us 4 tickets to the Players Brunch before the game.  The boys had a great time being up close to those big football guys!  Hopefully we'll make it back each year for a game....

Pinewood Derby!

Before we weighed his car.  :)

His first race!

He looked so serious!

Cullen receiving his 2nd place medal!

Finn really enjoyed watching the races!

The pack after the races.

Some of the cars...

Cullen racing for an overall place.

Cullen's fast green car!

We have our first Pinewood Derby race under our belts.  I'm happy to report Cullen got 2nd Place in his Den.  He lost to the overall winner, also a Cub Scout.  It was really fun and all the boys had a great time!

Indian Food

Friday night we went to dinner at another MBA Family's house.  They are from India and we were excited to try their authentic Indian food.  Swetha's mom was in town and helped her make the meal.  It was really good!  The rice had eggplant and some nuts and chickpeas in it.  The round ball reminds me of a hush puppy, but made of lentils and had a big kick to it! The red dish with peas and homemade (cottage) cheese cubes was my favorite!  It was delicious!  Most of the food was spicy, but they told us it was very bland to them.  Ha!  They boys didn't eat much, it was too spicy for them.  They did put yogurt on the table too, to help bring down the spiciness. 

Swetha loves ice cream, and told me at playgroup that she has been eating a ton of it here in the states because it's so accessible and cheap here.  In India a small Ben and Jerry's is about $30 and it's hard to find and they have very few flavors.  Since I knew how much they love ice cream I told them I would bring homemade ice cream for dessert.  They loved it and asked many questions on how to make it.  Swetha's mom made the comment that it's nice people still make their own ice cream.  She has a sister that lives in NJ and rarely makes it.

It was a really fun night!  I was worried it would be hard to understand them.  Swetha's mom spoke amazing English and made lots of conversation.  The boys had a hard time being good... we went to their house straight after Cullen's soccer practice, so we got there at 7:45pm- their bedtime.  Ohh well. 

One awkward moment... it came up that Swetha got married at 22.  I told her I did too... she said their 3rd anniversary was coming up on April 26th.  I said ours is too.... on the 26th of April but we've been married 11 years.  She said that her husband is from central India and she was from the coast.  I asked how they met and she said it was an arranged marriage.  Oh! I forgot some places still did that!

out of the mouths of babes...

I love preschool artwork!

Finn has said a few funny things lately, I don't want to forget them.  :)  Swim lessons have started back up at the Knute Rockne Memorial.  As we were leaving the boys were curious about Knute's bronze bust that we always walk by...  Cullen asked if he was dead, I told him yes they built this building after he died and named it after him.  Cullen asked how he died.  I told him he was killed in a plane crash in Kansas.  Then Cullen asked if he broke into pieces.  ???  To which Finn was quick to answer- "Yeah Cullen, look at him... he doesn't have any arms."  Ha.

Yesterday, I was busy working on upcoming events for the FLC and Finn came in and climbed onto my lap.  He told me (for the 3rd time recently) that he wants to marry me when he grows up.  My little sweetheart.  :)  I told him I'm already married to his daddy and he will marry a nice girl someday when he grows up... a long time from now.  He didn't seem happy with my response.

Christ has died, but He is risen!

We had a wonderful Easter, our last here in South Bend. The boys were up early hunting for their Easter baskets. We went to the 10 am (2nd of 3 Masses) Mass at the Basilica. It was standing room only! We got incredibly lucky and got 2nd row seats, as they opened some reserved pews just where we were standing. It was a beautiful Mass. As we left there were loooong lines waiting to get a seat at the noon Mass.

We walked straight over to the South Dining Hall for their famous Easter Brunch. Food was great, atmosphere was perfect, and it beats preparing a huge meal for four!

On our walk back to the car, we stopped at my beloved Grotto to light a few candles and pray.

I hope the boys share my special memories of these blessed days!