HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy 2010 to all my friends and family and even you blog readers out there too! I cannot believe that 2009 came and went in what seemed like a blink of an eye. So many wonderful things happened for us in 2009. Ezme's arrival of course. All of the kiddos are a year older and have changed so much. Olivia was able to attend Summer camp for the first time and loved not only being away from home, but riding the bus everyday. Emma-James started Pre-School and seems to be enjoying her time by herself. She always comes home with a big smile on her face and tells me "I had so much fun today." Though we never really know what she did as she always forgets. Owen had a great year learning how to talk. And talk he does!! All in all, I would say 2009 was a pretty good year. I will say this though, I am pretty sure 2010 is going to be even better.

We rang in 2010 by putting the kiddos to bed by 9pm. Jason was working until 3am and I fell asleep before the ball even dropped. I vaguely remember Jason coming in to tell me "Happy New Year" and I think he was holding glasses and a bottle of wine. But, he just kissed me goodnight and I rolled over and fell asleep until he came bed. FINALLY. So, there is our New Year's in a nut shell.

Its snowing out today, so our plans are pretty simple. Sticking around the house. Unpacking from our week long adventure in Maine. Cleaning the house a bit. Laundry, dishes. You know, GROWN-UP WORK!! Hehe. Hope you all had a wonderful New Year.

Owen and Santa Claus

Last night, as Jason and I were getting ready for bed. We did our usual night time routine in checking all of the kids. As we were leaving Owen's room he slightly woke up and asked me "Mommy, when Santa coming" This has been an on going question of Owen's since Christmas. The poor little guy expected to see this jolly man, at our tree, giving out gifts. We have told him he has already come. But I guess its hard for a two year old to understand the concept of someone "delivering" presents. I think its the cutest thing really. I just tell him he will come again when he is three and that seems to make his mind happy :-)

His other questions he asks lately too is "When is papa coming." Or are we in Maine? His vocabulary is really picking up. Though not everyone can understand him, its pretty easy for Jason and I to get almost 90% of his sentences. Gosh, he is getting so big. Makes me want to cry.

Countdown to New Years

New Years is only 2 days away. And I am curious if anyone has any life changes they hope to make for the New Year. I would love to see what others have in mind! If you comment on this post, I will happily add everyone's on this list. It would be fun to see what kinds of changes everyone hopes to make for the New Year. I will start.

*More patient with my kiddos
*Work harder with Olivia on school
*SPEND LESS, SAVE MORE. That bigger house is going to be needed sooner then later
*Spend more time with my husband. We seem to not get enough 1 on 1 time
*Find a job

Mrs. Said:
*Becoming a super Mom to our first born
*Saving more money
*Not letting house projects drag on, getting them done promptly
*Make a revised plan for work
*getting back to practicing yoga daily

Trisha said:

*I, with the help of my husband, will jump threw all the necessary adoption hoops to adopt a child from Kazakhstan. Hopefully by 2011.

So what kind of changes do you hope to make this coming Year? I find that making Changes in your life is much better then trying to make it a "Resolution" So, what's yours?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! Sorry its a tad late in writing, but time seems to slip away when your visiting family.

It was really a wonderful day. The kids woke up at 7:30am and begging me to wake up and see that "Santa" had eaten all the cookies and drank the milk. And even more exciting was how cute Emma was to notice that the reindeer had eaten the apple she left him. She is completely in heaven with reindeer and her favorite movies as of now are "The Santa Claus 1, 2 and 3" We basically watched them the entire trip up here about a dozen times in the van. Thank heavens for DVD players!

Any-who, we had a wonderful breakfast cooked by my dad. Pancakes, french toast, scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon. YUMMY. We patiently waited for the rest of the family to arrive. My sister and her family and my grandparents. But ended up having to call and tell them to come over. My kids were NOT waiting anymore. After breakfast, the big kiddos, Olivia, Emma, Tyson and Owen opened up their stockings. That managed to get a good 15 extra minutes for us adults to get cameras and videos ready. By then, the chaos had begun.

Jason was "SANTA" this year. His job was to pass out all the gifts to the adults and kids. We tried to make it be so each one of the little ones opened a present, we all oohed and ahhed it and then they would put it in their "pile" and someone else would open it. This of course lasted all about 3 presents and then bam, it was pretty much a free for all as paper went flying everywhere. The kids had a great time and so did the parents. Here is a few things each of the kiddos got this year:

Olivia:

*Nintendo DSi (Jay and I promised this to her if she was up to a good 2nd/3rd grade reading level. She is doing fantastic and so Santa brought it to her)
*2 DSi games
*2 new Barbie dolls
*A "Project Runway" fabric set. ITS HUGE
*A Liv doll (Sophia)
*A Nutcracker (She has been bugging me for one for years now)

Emma-James:

*A dragon dungeon
*A camera of her own
*Fancy Nancy
*Play-dough
*A little play laptop

Owen:

*Rocky the truck
*Chuck the truck
*matchbox cars
*Zoo railroad

Ezme:

*New outfits from Auntie Ryann and Nana
*mittens

Mommy aka Kiley

*A new pair of PJ's
*Hubby bought me a cute little jewelry ring
*My mom got me the best gift ever. She had a brick engraved with Anabelle's name and a little saying on it. It will be laid at Woman and Infants hospital. I am so very excited that after 5 years, she will have a little place to call hers. Because we never wanted to have a proper burial, I feel this just gives us a nice place to have others remember her without ever knowing who she was. Seeing her name and reading it will give me the best hug ever. I can't wait to see it!

Daddy aka Jason

*A fun Scrabble computer GO JASON GO beat my mom.

Christmas was so much fun this year. The kids even though they didn't get a lot, I made sure what they got was something that they would play with often, keep the mess at bay, and they would use it even as they got older. I would say all of my purchases this year, not to mention Santa and my family, it was definitely a success.

Unfortunately, I don't really have any pictures right now. I will try hard to post some soon. But with New Years right around the corner, my birthday and Anniversary as well as the kids birthdays, it might be hard to think about Christmas. Until then, I hope everyone had a wonderful and VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve and Church

We arrived at my parents home safe and sound. Though we didn't have long to visit before we were out the door again. We managed to get a few bites of food, the kiddos dressed in their matching PJ's and out the door in time just to make the last half hour of the church gathering before Christmas Eve service began. I have to say just how much I love and miss my old church at home. I always felt so loved and wanted their. I loved being a part of something and how close I felt to God when I was their. After Father Lance died over three years ago, it really never has been the same without him. I still go though. Many of my "church family" is still attending and its really great to see them. I have yet to find the same warm and welcoming feeling in a church near our home in RI, but I am sure someday.

The kids had a wonderful time with the new Father. He did a great little exercise with all the kids that were attending church that evening. He had them all go up to put together the tiny manger. Adding Mary and Joseph, the goats and cows, and of course the Angel. The first thing he asked all of the kids were "What is one of the animals that was their when Jesus was born?" And my wonderful loving three year old Emma-James, very matter of fact and loudly stated DRAGONS. To which he said "No no, no dragons I am afraid." Of course the whole church started laughing. She then proceeded to say "OK then, Dinosaurs!!" To which again he said no no. She then gave up and said to me, "Mommy, then their wasn't any important animals their that day." God I love her!!

Though Church was a little longer then I hoped. And my kids could have been a bit better behaved then they were. I was mostly impressed. They were in a car for 7 hours and barely had time to loose that energy before being we took them to church to sit for 2 hours quietly. But honestly, I am glad we went as a family.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone. I hope you have a wonderful one with family, friends and those who mean the most to you!!

Merry Christmas 2009

Due to a lack of funding this year. Christmas photos had to be cut in half. Everyone will receive a Christmas card, but sadly I wasn't able to give the usual family photos and individual photos of the kids to everyone. If you like to have one, please feel free to contact me and I am happy to order them for you. The gentleman who took our photos Mr. Genes as the kids call him, does not destroy any photos he takes. So they will be around for a long time. In the meantime. Enjoy the beautiful job he did capturing a great family photo of us!!

Christmas Family Photo 2009 (Daddy, Mommy, Olivia, Emma-James, Owen and Ezme)

 

Individual Photos of the Kids

 

Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy. We did not ask for proofs, and the photographer was nice enough to mount the pictures for us free of charge. So I wasn't able to scan them.

The snow must fall

Here marks the pictures of the end of the 14 hour blizzard we received from Saturday straight through to Sunday evening. We managed to score about 17-20 inches of snow in a small period of time. It started right on time at 10pm on Saturday and lasted until about 4pm Sunday evening. Sadly, I don't think this wonderful white stuff will be melting. The kiddos tried to enjoy the fluffy stuff. But ended up going from my front door, to my back door in 30 seconds and begged to come inside. Definitely not winter children. Despite the fact they they were all born in the winter. Here are some pictures that I managed to capture after things settled down.

The cars covered

 

The car dealership across the street.

 

More snow in the streets. Notice the snow in between the window and the screen

 

The backyard and some of the porch

 

This is how Ezme enjoyed the snow

 

Baking our Christmas Presents

The kiddos and I have been hard at work today baking up a storm. Can I just say again how much I LOVE my double ovens!!!!! Seriously, it cuts down my cook time by more then half. I am actually able to get things in and out and not have to fuss around with different baking times. Its fantastic.

Anywho. Since we have moved into the house over 4 years ago. We decided that it would be fun to bake yummy goodies for those special people in our lives. It first started out for our "trash buddy" friends. These guys work so hard all year long picking up other peoples "leftovers" that they deserve to have something special. We also included our mailman in that "through sleet, or rain, or snow". Sadly, he left us about over the summer. But we were blessed with a nice mailman, who just got married in fact!

So besides are good buddies, we also bake for our wonderful neighbors. They are all so terrific with our kids. They are the only ones in the neighborhood, so they put up with WAY MORE then they have too. I try hard to keep the kids from bothering them, but its hard when they love talking to them so much. So, today we are baking for the people we love. Pumpkin bread, Choc. chip cookies, smores, even moose balls! I will probably be baking until tomorrow afternoon, with the hopes to deliver sometime tomorrow or Tuesday before we head out. Pictures to come of all our goodies. I am really excited!!

Owen

I took this picture of Owen the other night. I can't help but laugh when I see this picture. He looks so serious. I swear he is thinking "Don't mess with me mommy". Doesn't he look like he could be in the mob???

What you lookin' at?

 

No News

So, I haven't heard anything more about the house. It looks like its pretty much a dream at this point. I know that there is a huge company looking to purchase the home and they might be signing the agreement tonight. On top of a bunch of other things going on, I am feeling super blah right now. I find that I am super hard on myself with situations that are beyond my control. Or even in my control where I feel I have somehow said the wrong thing, or have done the wrong thing. I try hard to be honest, and sometimes my honesty is a little too much. So today, I am feeling really blah. Blah about a lot of things. I am trying to have a "positive" outlook, but its hard. So if you could, would you think of me today. I sure could use some peace in my heart and know that I am still a good person, despite all that is going on.

Dream House Continued

Just wanted to update everyone about the house Jason and I are dreaming about purchasing. He will be calling some mortgage companies in the morning to see if they will even potentially give us the loan for the house. If they will, then we will be calling the Realtor that I have been in contact with to start the paper work on both our home, and the purchase of the new one. Then things will get a little complicated. We are hopeful and saying many prayers. So if you think about it, could you say a little one for us tonight. Nervous right now for sure.

Our DREAM HOME need prayers

About a week ago, I was searching through the REMAX website just to look around at homes in our area. I wanted to know what the current rate of homes were going for as we are gearing up to start looking for a BIGGER home. We love our home now, but the size is becoming a bit of a issue. We have managed to make our 2 bedroom 1 bath home work for us. But now, with homeschooling, gearing up to start baby-sitting, and lets not forget Girl Scouts here once a week, my home is less then desirable. We are starting to slowly to feel the crunch. I feel bad that I am constantly telling my kids to pick up. They really don't have a designed area to play, and its not far to them. Plus we are doing all of our school stuff on the dining room table, and my "classroom" is a tiny little corner at the far end of our dining room. We did a lot of remodeling last year on our home. Completely gutting out the bathroom and kitchen. As well as new ceilings, new roof, new windows, brand new hot water tank and new rugs upstairs. Its a great little home for a small family, or even a retired couple. But for a family of six, with two cats and a dog. Its starting to feel cramped.

So, onto my adventures in house hunting. Well, I found the perfect home. Fell right in love. Jason of course was less then thrilled that I was home hunting. But because he loves me so much, he amused me with a LOOK-SEE of the home. Well, to make a long story short. We are in love. The kids are in love. We wouldn't have to compromise on space or anything for ANYONE. Plenty of bathrooms, plenty of bedrooms. Office for Jason. School room for me. Place to have company, the whole nine yards. Yes, it will need work. Yes, its a little pricey but we believe we can talk them down. The biggest problem is our financial situation is well, not terrific, but not so bad that we are bound by the home we are living in now. We have figured out some creative ways to get this house and make the payments as well as the tax on the home work for us. Me getting a job, Jay asking for a raise, renting out a room to a local college student, etc. etc.

We are praying so hard that this works. And I am asking you if you read this, could you please say a little prayer that things will fall into place for us when it comes to this property. We are trying to be optimistic and truly believe that we found this house because we were suppose too. It would be such a great opportunity for all of us. So if you have a moment just think about us. We will be talking to some loan people next week. See what we can do. Plus the sale of our home will be the biggest obstacle.

I promise to keep everyone posted as how things are going. There will be a lot involved, and we are ready to at least try. Both Jason and I feel if we didn't at least try to buy this home, then we will both feel like we didn't listen to our hearts, and most importantly, listen to the kick that God is giving us. Until then.