Farewell 2014!!

2014 was a great year for our family. As I look back through all the pictures, I realized just how many cool things we did together as a family. Here are some of the highlights as we say goodbye to 2014 and ring in a whole new year! 2015...we're ready for you!!!

January
We started off the New Year right with our First Annual St. Dominic SF trip for Mass and to visit our old Pastor, Fr. Michael.

Brooke also got reading glasses!

February

In February we celebrated Scott's birthday in Napa!

 Scott's sister and fiance also came to visit!

March
In March the kiddos had their very first sleepover with friends!

...and we spent our weekends at the ballpark!

April
We had another sleepover with friends! 5 kids in a tub...really??!

May
This crazy girl turned 2 and we all found out the meaning of Terrible Twos!!

This girl wow'ed us all at Author's Night...

She also ran in the City Track Meet...

Scott golfed in the Blaise Olmes Memorial Golf Tournament....i went to the after-party :)

June
This guy graduated from preschool!

He also learned to swim :)

And we celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary....in Napa, of course!

July

We had our annual camping trip with friends to the Henry Cowell Redwoods in Santa Cruz:

Brooke did a mini-track meet at track camp and toughed it out in the 400!

We had the Shanks Family Reunion and said goodbye to my dad's house that he sold....

August

August was a BIG month for us!

We got to see all of Scott's family out here in California to celebrate the union of these beautiful people!

The crazy cousins were reunited once more...

We went "Glamping" in a Yurt in Napa and survived the Great Napa Earthquake of 2014!! Yes, we were CAMPING when it happened! I'll never forget the 1,000 text messages I woke up to when I turned my phone on the next morning! 

Soccer season started!!! 

These two started school...Kindergarten and 4th grade...where does the time go?!

September

Brooke went to 4th Grade camp in Coloma (Gold Rush Camp) and Scott chaparoned! It's definitely a trip they will both never forget!

October

October was all about Halloween...

..and Brookey's All-Star soccer game...

November

I got to spend time with my mom's side of the family at my Uncle's memorial. He passed away suddenly at the beginning of November.

We also spent time with all of Scott's siblings in an unforgettable Thanksgiving in San Diego!

December

We started a great annual family tradition of staying in SF before Christmas. We went to Scott's company Christmas party, checked our the Fairmont's famous gingerbread house and ate...a lot :)

Ready for Christmas Mass

These three...Christmas morning

The Rooneys wish you a happy, healthy, fun-filled 2015!! You can check out our annual Year in Review video in the post below!! XXXOOOOO

XO ~ Casey

Year in Review Video: 2014

Seven on Sunday: Christmas Edition!

This past week was the last full week of 2014--wow! Not sure where the year went, but it was certainly full of many, many blessings for our family. The 2014 Year in Review video is in the works--it's delayed because the company I have been using for the past 10 years in now out of business!

At any rate, here are some highlights from our Christmas Week. Scott was off the whole week, so it was so nice to have him home!!

We started the week with a Girls Date (ice cream!) and a Boys Date (In and Out!), and homemade hashbrowns! Yum!

We did lots of cleaning and organizing! Scott hung this shoe rack in my closet for my scarves! A Pinterest-inspired project!

Scott and I escaped for a date night at Redd Wood in Yountville--best meal we've had in a long time!!! Nevermind the horrible pic--it's the only record I have of the night! LOL!

On Christmas Eve, my mom arrived! She was having fun annoying Will trying to mess up his Minecraft world!

We had our traditional ciopinno for Christmas Eve dinner...sooooo good!!!

They wanted to sleep together on Christmas Eve :)

All ready for Christmas Eve Mass! Except Sarah--she stayed home :) Thank goodness she did--it was a zoo. We're going to have to figure something else out for next year. I spent the whole time standing in the back and the kids sat on a table. Ugh :(

Christmas morning!!!

A favorite gift...Nerf Gun :) He's a pretty good shot--look at the form! Ha!

Christmas Dinner! Filets, brussel sprouts with bacon and mashed potatoes with peppercorn gravy. Yum!!!!! Oh, and chicken nuggets for Will! Brooke on the other hand, ate 90% of an entire filet!!

We ended the week with a Family Game Night...popcorn, Coke, wine, Monopoly and Life :)

Wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year!!! I'll be back next week with Seven on Sunday, starting over with Week 1 this year :) Hopefully I will have figured out the Year in Review Video by then, too!!

XO ~ Casey

Seven on Sunday: Week 29

Still in shock that Christmas is just DAYS away! This past week, we did LOTS of "Christmasy" things, including probably my favorite night of the year--the school Christmas show!! It was awesome to see Buddy up there this year, singing like a champ. I really don't think I have seen anything cuter! Brookey's class was beautiful--singing beautiful, grown up songs. I always feel so blessed on this night and it's the time when it REALLY starts to feel like Christmas! 

Day 1: Sunday-- Breakfast with Santa. It was chaos and of course Sarah refused the picture and threw a fit...Brookey was super sweet and whispered, "You know, I think I'm a little too old to be taking a picture with Santa, Mom." And Buddy..sweet Buddy just kept yelling, "C'mon! Let's get this done! Hurry UP!" #welcometomylife

Day 2: Monday--One of my personal shopping clients (AKA: My husband!) sent me out to look for some holiday attire for him so after about 10 stores and 25 sweaters later, Sarah and I popped into the Gymboree outlet. Lo and behold everything was $12.99 or less! Too bad my kids don't need clothes :) However I did need holiday attire for Sarah so I scored this gold vest for $12.99. She wore it that day and the night next and got about a zillion compliments on it! I think I need one too.....

Day 3: Tuesday--My favorite night of the year! These two singing. #heaven

Here's Sarah sporting the now-famous gold vest :) Love my girls :)

Day 4: Wednesday--Holiday baking and cooking for a little teacher's lunch tomorrow. Not sure WHY I signed up to do this the WEEK BEFORE Christmas!! Am I crazy??! Those words kept runnng through my head all day!!! LOL! At least I had some hep :) BTW--Peppermint Chocolate Bundt Cake with Peppermint Sprinkle Frosting...to die for :)

On the flip side, I got the last 2/3 of my Christmas cards sent out! Whew!! I did my best. If I left anyone off, I am truly sorry...or as Sarah would say, "Too bad, so sad."

Day 5: Thursday-- One of my sweet students wrote me a card and gave me a gift card to Starbucks..he knows the way to my heart! Love this kid!

 Day 6: Friday--Friday was a CRAZY day!!! Kids school parties, my staff Christmas party, then we went to SF for Scott's Christmas party and an evening in a hotel. So much fun!!!! 

Kindergartners getting all wrapped up in Christmas fun!!

Scott's Christmas party was at his new office, so we got to check out where Daddy works!!!

The party had a "kids zone" so while Scott mingled with his co workers, the kids and I sat there, ate chicken fingers and took selfies. Brooke declared afterwards, "Yeah, that party SUCKED."

After the party, we went back to our hotel and just relaxed. It was GORGEOUS!! I had never seen this hotel during the holidays and it was such a treat! The kiddos got a kick out of the lights and the glass elevators...and frankly, Scott and I did, too!!!

Day 7: Saturday--The next day, we got up and walked to the SF Ferry Building and Farmers Market. We dined on overpriced pastries and coffee and bought some really cool carrots for dinner :) Then we rode the cable car up to the Fairmont Hotel to see the giant edible gingerbread house!

First cable car ride!!!

The gingerbread house--so cool!

It was so, SO cool to be in SF around Christmas. We all decided we wanted this to be a family tradition the weekend before Christmas. Next time, we'll have to do ice skating in Union Square and a few other fun things. We had to leave in the early afternoon because we had to get home for yet another party!!

First annual Christmas Weekend in SF!!!

We finished the day with one of our favorite parties of the year-the Knights of Columbus Christmas party at Church. I fully intended to get a fun family pic since we were all kind of dressed up, but I was too busy chatting (or maybe I was just too tired!!) to get any pictures but these! 

What would I do without this girl??!

 Boys :)

Ended the night with the Knights of Columbus choir...they got a resounding thumbs DOWN by the Pastor!! LOL!

Whew!! That weekend was a whirlwind and I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit now! Looking forward to a nice, Christmas Day nap, too!!! Merry Christmas to you and your family! May the blessings of the holiday shine upon you this week :) 

XXXOOOO ~ Casey