Coasting to Christmas

I'm one of those people that wholeheartedly believes in waiting until Santa arrives on 34th Street before I begin my Christmas season.  I have such warm memories of watching the Macy's Day Parade on Thanksgiving morning as a kid and getting so excited for Santa to arrive.  The voices of the telecast, the large balloons in the sky and the music create this incredible memory of anticipation and happiness in me.  I hope so much to transfer this tradition onto my children.  Unfortunately, this Thanksgiving Braden and Gracie didn't get to watch the parade with me because my in-laws' T.V. is up in loft in their house that isn't really safe for kids to be up in.  Luckily I was able to go up and watch a part of the parade (the last half hour - I got to see Santa arrive!) by myself and report to everyone when it was officially Christmas season!

From that moment on I feel like I sat myself down on a roller coaster and before I know it, it'll be Christmas day.  Does every mom feel that way about this time of year?  I feel this incredible need to create Christmas  traditions for my little family.  I always wonder how do traditions begin?  You have to do something over and over again I suppose.  I want B and Gracie Girl to look back on their childhood and think how special I (or the hubby and I together) made this time of year for them.  I feel like every day that goes by during this quick season that I don't do something special with them I'm wasting time.  I feel like there are a lot of "I should be doing..." feelings going on with me.  I am challenged by this because sometimes I just don't think I am as creative as I hope to be.  I'm working on it though.  All I have to do is try, right?

This year both of the kids are on the move and interested in things so I think it's going to be a pretty fun year.  We already have had a pretty good start to the fun:

We bought the tree.  We went to Home Depot this year and bought a wreath that literally is as tall as me.  I was carrying it with my arms stretched up above my head and the bottom was barely off the ground.  It's awesome!  Pete decorated it with lights and a bell and bow.  We hung it on the front of the house and it seriously makes the house look festive!  We also bought our tree and have it in the Christmas Tree room (or during other seasons we call it, The Desk Room - there are two desks in it).  It smells SO yummy.  If that smell doesn't put a smile on your face there is something wrong with you.

We visited the Enchanged Village.  On Tuesday the kids and I went to Jordan's Furniture with a group of our friends.  I had never been (since I suppose I was a kid and it was owned by Jordan Marsh) so it was a new experience (and possible tradition created!) for me.  I'm so excited that we brought my mom with us and she was able to experience the fun with us.  She was a HUGE help with Gracie Girl too - Thanks, Mom!!  You walk through a maze of village scenes and there is Christmas music and every few minutes it snows!  At the end there is a change to sit on Santa's lap.  Braden and I chose to go on a 4D Polar Express ride instead.  Oh my goodness, my little guy is a brave kid!  The chairs move ALL over the place (apparently 8 directions) and there is water sprayed and Christmas tree smell and obviously you have to wear 3D glasses and get buckled in.  All things that he really hasn't had to do before.  He kept looking over at some random boy sitting next to him and telling how EXCITED he was.  Too Cute!  I gleamed the whole time.  I was so proud of him.  It was a blast.  My mom took the pictures on her phone so I'll have to upload those as soon as I get them from her.  Very, very fun experience for us and I definitely think we'll go back.

We're watching Christmas Movies.  Pete and I have a tradition of our own that I'm attempting to begin with the kids.  From Thanksgiving to Christmas Pete and I attempt to sit down together every night and watch a Christmas movie.  It doesn't always happen but we probably watch about 4-5 a week.  We LOVE it and I am so happy we do this together.  I find it a little more difficult to do with the kids (mostly B - Gracie isn't into watching T.V. yet).  Some of the movies are too old or bring up the question of "Is Santa Real?".  I literally dread that question and DO NOT want the idea even remotely suggested to my little boy.  He's a smart 4 year old and I just don't want any spirit of Christmas challenged yet.  So we watched the old cartoon Grinch and Thomas Christmas shows and so far that's been it.  I would take any and all suggestions of other young kid friendly Christmas movies.

Christmas Song Sing Along/Dance Parties.  It may not surprise those of you that know me out there that Braden, Gracie and I spend a lot of time having dance parties in our Christmas tree room/living room area.  We put on a record or the iPad and just dance our little hearts away.  So we do this on a regular basis but during this time of the year we do it to Christmas music.  I LOVE Christmas music.  In fact, I do not listen to any other type of music from the day after Thanksgiving until the day after Christmas.  I love it.  I love singing along to it.  It makes my heart happy.  It also makes my heart remember all the good memories and my grandparents and old family stories and just good, good stuff.  I am so thrilled that Braden already has this same love for the music.  He sings along and remembers the words and just makes it so much fun.  I love having a (almost!) 4 year old this year.  You should see us singing carols in the grocery isle.  Neither one of us cares who's listening :)

Decorating the house.  It's been a slower process that I would like this year.  I typically have the house completely decorated by now.  By this weekend it will be.  It's pretty fun how much B wants to help me.  We bought Santa and Tree and Snowman window decals and he loves putting them on the windows.  We have all sorts of other decorations and candles and things and he is so eager to put the around the house.  On top of the children's enthusiasm, I am blessed to have my hubby so into the season as me.  He  enjoys every piece of the cheer and it is something I truly love.

Coming up...In the next few weeks Pete and I have a bunch of Christmas parties and we're going to The Boston Pops Christmas concert.  The kids are having a cookie decorating party and going to my parent's golf club Christmas party (Santa arrives in a helicopter!!).  We have extended family coming in from MN (yay!!!), both my sister and Pete's sister arrive from far away, we have Braden's 4th birthday (Dec. 8th), my MIL's birthday (the 9th) and my mom's birthday (Christmas day!).

So as you can understand I feel like I bought myself a ticket for the Christmas Season roller coaster and I'm headed on a fun ride for the next month...but as I've been trying and promising...I'm going to slow down and hopefully enjoy each and every tiny little moment.  I don't want to miss a thing!

heading north!

My Thanksgiving weekend started off this morning with a special pie baking morning with my mom.  She makes the yummiest pies and her crust is so delicious that I knew I had to bake something with her before we headed to my in-laws for Fox Family Turkey Day.  As we're chatting and skyping with my sister (remember she's in Italy?), my mom is just whipping together the crust ingredients and rolling out the dough like it is no big deal.  First of all, I can't get the ingredients to mix well.  I try, but it always turns into crumbles instead of a big dough ball.  I'm dough dumb.  Seriously.  I put together the pumpkin pie ingredients and we pop it in the oven.  We even added a few "leaves" on top to make it look festive.  Since I've been married I've spent almost all of my Thanksgivings away from my parents.  Even though I absolutely love spending the holiday with my hubbie's side, I miss her and the "comfort" of the Thanksgiving that she puts on.  I have the fondest memories of waking up to the sound of my parents both in the kitchen getting the turkey going.  My dad chops the bread for the homemade stuffing.  My mom does the pies and all the other "trimmings".  The parade is on in the background.  The house smells yummy.  It's just a fun fond memory I have of being a kid.  I felt like I got a little piece of that today by spending a few baking hours with her before I leave.  I'm so grateful for little special moments like that.  It kind of goes along with my slow down post.  Enjoying the small moments of life that happen sometimes so fast that we don't appreciate them.

With that all said, I also am so so excited to be hopping in the swagger wagon and heading north to new hampshire in about three hours or so.  The kids cannot wait to see "Grana and Poppy" and frankly, either can I!  This week (ok, pathetically it's only Wednesday!) has been so long.  I just cannot wait to leave our (extremely messy!) house behind and be a visitor in someone else's house.  My MIL is one of those amazing types that makes you feel "taken care of" every time you are at her house.  When I first started spending time with her I used to feel like I couldn't do anything to help out but I realized that she loves to take care of people.  I try and help as much as possible but she always has things in organized or done beforehand.  She's always prepared with food in the house, meal ideas, wine to drink, things to do, magazines to read, walks to be taken.  Her motto of doing things simply is so incredibly comforting because I can't seem to pull that off in my every day life.  I feel like I complicate everything I do.  So being up there makes me feel much less complicated because life just feels simpler around my in-laws.  I'm rambling, but the point is:  I'm MEGA excited for Thanksgiving at my in-laws.  I cannot wait to see them.  I cannot wait to relax in N.H. together.  I am so excited that it's snowing up there.  I am so excited my hubby has four days in a row with us.  I cannot wait for our annual Thanksgiving weekend 1st ski!  There is so much to be excited about this coming weekend!  Ok, with that said, I NEED to fold the laundry, and pack, and make my sweet potato casserole, and shower, and fold laundry...yeah, said that twice because there is THAT much to fold!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

sisters

Today is the day I am thankful for my little sister.  She's my only sister and she is the best.  We are ten years apart but the age difference isn't remotely recognizable to me.  I have always treated her as if she was my own age (sorry mom!) and I will take all the responsibility for why she is so mature!  Ha - not really all thanks to me - but seriously, she has always acted much older than her age.  Elizabeth gives me the gift of myself every time I'm with her.  She is one of the only people in this world that I can truly be who I am completely.  We have the ability to make each other laugh (even with her all the way over in Italy I still look up to her bedroom windows whenever I drive over my parents house expecting to see a nice "full moon" - typical, Eliz).  She's seen me cry more times than you could count and never has judged my reasons for tears.  She has always provided such a sense of comfort for me.  She brings out the best of me and has always given me a large amount of confidence in myself.  She and I love each other unconditionally!  No matter what we are always and will always be there for each other.

me, our brother michael and eliz

Elizabeth is currently in Italy for the entire school year living the traveling college girl dream.  As happy as I am for her excursion it has been hard having my little sister so far away from me.  I miss texting and chatting and seeing her so badly.  Luckily, we can skype and email and facebook but there is nothing like sitting on the couch and hearing her coming down the stairs to hangout "late night" in our basement.  Pete and I have been so lucky that she (and her friends!) enjoy hanging out with us so much.  When we first moved into our house, she still was a senior in high school, living five minutes down the road.  We had so much fun having her and her friends coming over to hang out.  It's amazing how "used" to things you can get.  I totally took it for granted and I realize now how much I miss her in my daily life.

Eliz is an amazing sister but she's even more of an amazing aunt.  She loves Braden (her godson!) and Gracie so much.  She loves to play with them.  They love to play with her.  B used to call her "uh-riz" and now Gracie girl calls her "Lala".  It's so cute!  They both LOVE to skype with her.  I don't feel like I get many words in when they are around because they both are constantly yelling, "hiiiiiii!!!!!".  It's cute.  One of my most favorite memories with her since I've had kids was the day she came to visit me in the hospital with Gracie.  It was a quiet day and her and I just literally laid in my hospital bed while she held Gracie.  She and Gracie just cuddled and got to know each other.  It was so sweet and special.

So today, on November 21st, I'm thankful for Eliz.  It's her 21st birthday.  I'm so proud of her.  She's beautiful, bright, happy, smart, funny, talented, passionate, committed, loving and enthusiastic lady.  She loves the people in her life, especially her family, with all her heart.  I'm so thankful for each and every moment she and I have together!  I love you Eliz!  Happy Birthday!!

Hey, Slow Down!

I find it amazing how easily you can get lost in the day to day mumble jumble and forget to slow down and enjoy each tiny moment.  We've been busy lately with school, friends, parties, playgrounds, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, the list could truly go on.  I think today I'm going to try and put my foot on the break pedal and slow down a little bit.  This is the the fastest time of year and if you don't freeze, take a mental snapshot, and enjoy where you are in the moment, it'll fly by.

I laughed when people told me to enjoy every moment of my babies baby-hood when they were first born. I wished away sleepless moments (with Braden especially) and was hopeful for the next stage.  That changed with Gracie because we knew the time would go by and eventually we would sleep again.  I find myself understanding the advice I got more and more these days.  I look at Gracie and feel like it was a minute ago that she was born.  Now she's 16 months old.  Practically running around.  Talking up a storm. Enjoying life to the fullest.  She's a dream to watch.  I'm in love with the little world her and Braden live in.  I love watching them play, fight (seriously!), sleep, cuddle, yell, laugh, eat....they do everything together.  Their faces light up to each other when they enter a room.  We are in an amazing place right now.

With Thanksgiving coming up and Christmas right afterwards I'm vowing to slow down.  Enjoy the moments and be thankful for where I am.  Life is better than good right now.  I'm so blessed to be able to see that.  I am looking forward to a weekend full of friends and family.  We have a birthday party with old friends tomorrow morning, a cocktail party with all our friends from around here tomorrow night and dinner at my parents' house Sunday night with my brother, sister-in-law and niece.  It's a great weekend and I'm so thrilled to be spending it with my hubby and two little cuties!

I'm thankful today for perspective.  I find it easy to lose it and I'm happy to have it today.  Life goes by and without keeping things in perspective and enjoying the small stuff you can't enjoy it to the fullest.  So today I'm thankful to have my own perspective and to have a hubby who keeps me grounded when I lose that precious mindset!

30 Days of Thanks Catch Up

30 Days of Thanks is really showing how poorly I've been at blogging lately.  I have four days of catch up!  Sorry!!

14th:  College Friends ~  Without a doubt my experience living with my roommates at Quinnipiac has changed my life.  I was blessed to have such wonderful ladies in my life.  Life has since gotten in the way of us all seeing each other very often but the memories we created together forever make me smile.  I fondly think back on the silly things we did and am so grateful to have those memories when things are chaotic in my life.  I know each one of those girls would drop what they were doing if I said I needed them and that is pretty awesome to know.  So ladies, Thank You for all the fun, laughter, love and shoulders to cry on!

Becky, Laura, Deb and I at the CF walk May 2011 

Sarah and I at her son Jack's 1st birthday party 

15th:  My parents ~ I am blessed to have parents in my life that have forever been role models to me.  I always say the best thing they ever did for me was to guide me by their great example in all aspects of life.  Their love for each other, their friends and their children have taught me about the great importances in life.  They are supportive of me and my family.  They love my children with their whole hearts and I am so very thankful they live just five minutes down the road.

I don't even know if my mom likes this picture
but I'm obsessed with how cute it is!
(they're waving to santa arriving last year from a helicopter)

Gracie and Granddad moments before the cops arrived because
Gracie called 911!

16th:  My In-Laws ~ Or as Braden and Gracie call them, "Grana and Poppy".  Never did I think when I got married that I would be so lucky to have a second set of parents that are so great.  They welcomed me into their lives (and home!) immediately and I have never had to question their love for me.  I'm lucky to have the kind of relationship with them where we talk on the phone, share all aspects of our lives and look forward to being together as much as possible.  I am so thankful for all of their love, support, guidance and fun that they bring to my life!

Christmas 2010 ~ how cute is everyone?

17th:  My Brother & Sister-in-Law ~ Michael and Crista are two amazing pieces to my life.  They have an amazing love for each other, their friends and their siblings.  I look forward to being with them, miss them when it's been awhile since I've seen them and am filled with happiness when I am with them. I am thankful they life close by and we can share the "little things" in life so easily.  The love and joy they provide in my children's lives is something I can barely put into words.  The way Braden's face lights up knowing that Uncle Michael and Aunt Crista are coming over is adorable.  I am so grateful for that simple gift of joy they have given him in his life.  It has been a amazing, over the last four months, to watch them grow into loving parents to their own daughter, Anna.  I only hope that I can provide the same amount of happiness and pleasure into her life as they have into my children's!

Gracie, Uncle Michael and Aunt Crista giggling!

Uncle Michael continuing the tradition my uncle
started with us - jumping off the top of the fridge!

Tantrums

Yesterday I whole heartedly planned on blogging.  Writing my days of thanks entries and catching up on some of the blogs I haven't read in awhile.  Braden was at school.  Gracie and I had little planned but I couldn't get to it because my darling little sweetheart of a daughter was unpredictably The Tantrum Queen!  The last couple of days she can be so happy and then BOOM! she's a nightmare.  She's screaming, flailing, biting, name a tantrum behavior and she's doing it.  I don't remember going through this so much with Braden.  My theory on that is that Gracie sees an older sibling that she wants to keep up with, communicate with and share life with but she can't do all those things easily yet.  It's frustrating for her.  So, her reaction, to freak out.  I mean FREAK OUT!  She doesn't even have tears when she's doing this.  She's just arching and screaming and throwing things and just all out flipping out.  It's awful to see.  It's uncontrollable and I have no idea what to do to help her out.  I often just let her go and then she jams her two comfort fingers into her mouth and she's silent.  It's crazy.  From one extreme to the next.  A this point, I'm just praying for patience.  Praying no one gets hurt from flying objects.  And holding out hope that she won't remember this horrible anger that comes over her when she is older!  Poor little angel!  I hope other Momma's out there can give me some advice on how to help my baby or what to do!?

how could that sweet smile turn to such anger :(

those sweet comfort fingers first thing in the morning

the picture I have of her crying - not really a tantrum cry though!

Energized and Ready to Go

As I'm sitting here tonight watching Sunday night football with my hubby I'm finally feeling a little more like myself.  Last week was just an "off" week.  Pete was away, I was sick and daylight savings changed.  Individually all of those things are doable but together they completely rocked my week.  Thankfully, I'm starting to feel better or at least a little less beat up.  Pete is back in town (after three days away for work last week and then being gone all weekend working the ski show).  I'm still not completely used to the time change.  Is it me or does it feel awful that it is getting dark so early?  This year it feels like the change happened so abruptly.  I feel like it was light until 9 pm and then suddenly dark at 4 pm.  Obviously, that isn't true but, man, does it ever feel like it is.

Tonight I'm feeling energized.  Back to my usual "life is good" attitude.  Feeling all warm and happy about where I am in life, how great my kids and hubby are and how amazing this little world I call home is.  Thank goodness!  I wasn't into blogging, I wasn't into eating well, I barely worked out.  Blah, what a bad week.  But, hey, we all have them.  Can't beat ourselves up for having them.  Just need to move on and be more grateful for what we have.

I'm ready to tackle this week.  Pete and I had a kid free night away last night (free hotel room for working at the ski show) in Boston thanks to my incredible friends and neighbors for taking care of the babies and doggy.  Sometimes I think just a few hours of alone time with the hubby can be a game changer.  I think I needed it more than I realized.  Looking ahead at the week, I can barely believe we're almost within a week away from Thanksgiving.  I'm feeling that giddy Christmas season is just around the corner feeling.  Christmas music and movies are starting to sneak into our lives.  I can't wait!

I hope everyone out there has had a few good days and are ready for a good week!

I owe a few days of thanks...

11th:  Running.  It's always been my go to workout and my body craves it.  I am by no means a "runner" but I certainly enjoy doing it.  It makes me feel great and I love that feeling of knowing my body can do something that sometimes feels so difficult.  My biggest running accomplishment is running the Disney World Half Marathon in January 2008.  I would love to run the Boston Marathon someday.  We'll see.  For now I'm pretty excited to be getting a treadmill and starting my adventures in "basement running towards weight loss".  Yippee!

12th: Sleep.  Seriously, what Momma isn't thankful for sleep.  Both of my babies are great sleepers now. Now being the operative word.  People always talk about how lucky we are because our kids sleep so much and give us looks like we're nuts and aren't grateful enough for it.  Trust me.  We know how amazing it is to have your kids sleep.  Both of them did not sleep for more than 2 hours chunks for the first 4 months of their lives.  It wasn't until about 5 or so months that we finally could consider them "sleep through the nighters".  I was a walking zombie.  All I did was nurse for those first 4 months.  I LOVE getting a full nights rest.  I am SO thankful that I can go to bed most nights and not expect to see one of my children until the morning (knocking on wood currently).

13th: The fact that my hubby doesn't travel all that often.  I have other mommy friends (one in particular who has TWINS Gracie's age) who's  husbands travel weekly for many days at a time.  I cannot imagine how hard that must be.  Well, I can, after this week.  Three full days and nights of no one but me doing everything was tough.  I can link this day of thanks back to my first day of thanks because I'm clearly just super duper grateful to have my hubby.  But this thanks is for his job.  He loves it, he's good at it and it doesn't require major traveling.  I am a much better human being because of this.

Rainy Day Baking

Braden had his last swimming lesson this morning.  I don't know what was off about him but he wouldn't get out of the pool and when he finally did he started yelling at me and demanding a lollipop from the front desk.  Sometimes I wonder if I have an almost four year old or an almost fourteen year old.  What is up with this teenage attitude!?  He is the sweetest little guy but then out of nowhere he turns some invisible corner and is meaner than mean!  Yikes!  After a lot of tears for him and a lot of holding back tears for me we managed to get back into the car and head towards home.  We made a quick pit-stop to the grocery store to pick up some spices because I had set my heart on doing some baking during nap-time today.  B managed to get through the market with a limited amount of whining while Gracie, in her typical fashion, yelled "HIIIIIII" to anyone with a beating heart.  She only once practiced her daredevil grocery cart acrobatics.  Here's a pic of her doing the same thing on our last rainy day outing to Lowe's...

a little blurry but I love how she's laughing!

Some how we made it home without fighting or crying or bothering each other much more.  The kids had lunch.  I cleaned up.  Gracie went in for her nap and me and my pink Kitchenaid got to work.  Before baking I was feeling crummy (still under the weather) and the rain was making me feel less than chipper and I just needed something to perk me up.  The smells of vanilla extract, pumpkin spice, banana's and cinnamon did the trick.  The food network was on in the background, the rain was pounding on the skylight and I got to escape into my little baking world.  Sweet perfection.

Here's what I made:

Pumpkin Bread

you can find the recipe here: Pumpkin Bread

I didn't use any nuts because I wanted Gracie to be able to eat it as well...otherwise, followed the recipe.

While the bread was in the oven I cleaned up the kitchen and got ready to make cupcakes for Bunco tonight.  I'm so excited for my little night out with the ladies in town.  Everyone signs up to bring either a bottle of wine or a sweet or savory snack.  I love, love, love sweets, so I signed up for that!  Here's what I made:

Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

cupcakes without the frosting

you can find the recipe here: Banana Cupcakes

and with the frosting....

you can find the recipe here: Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Keeping with my 30 days of Thanks promise today I'm thankful for our big black dog!  Six years ago one of my MIL's coworker's dogs had an "oops" liter of half golden retrievers, half bernese mountain dog puppies.  She wanted them all to go to happy and loving homes - free of charge!  Pete and I had been craving our own puppy (both our families have always had dogs) and the minute we heard about this amazing opportunity we were in the car headed to Farmington, ME.
Fenway Foxy is by far the most loving and goofy dog I know.  He never leaves my side when I am home and wishes to be with us when we're not home (he's known to hop in the back of the car and stay there just in case we are going somewhere - he doesn't want to miss out!).  He loves playing with other dogs, catching frisbees and having his belly rubbed.  He jumps at anything and cracks us up every time he bolts away from a noise that startled him.  We're challenged by his allergies and ear aches but love how funny he looks shaking his head both when he's itchy and excited.  When he was younger we taught him to "speak" and ever since he has had quite the voice.  When he was a puppy he would answer back when we told him "I love you".  He also can puke in the toilet...one of his most famous talents!

Blogging Guilt

For whatever reason I'm having total blogging guilt today.  I didn't write yesterday because I just wasn't really in the mood.  I thought that was completely acceptable and let it go.  Today, I have had my two days worth of thanks in the back of my head but haven't had the motivation to open up the laptop to write!  The only thing I can blame it on is that I'm completely under the weather.  I have a cold that seems to be brewing up pretty strong.  Topping off the cold I'm feeling all achy and nauseous and exhausted!  Yuck.  Being a sick momma is an impossible job.  We don't have a sub line or a boss to call and announce we won't be coming to work so we have to just buck up and show up!  Handsome hubby has been out of town since Monday morning, which always gets me out of sorts in itself.  I guess it makes sense that I'm off on my usual doings!

Eh, with all of that said...

I'm thankful yesterday for the fantastic preschool Braden goes to.  His two teachers Beth and Judy are simply wonderful.  They love and care for their 12 little students.  The happiness that preschool has brought to B's life is something I am so grateful for.  I know there will be days in our future when he'll dread school and for now the fact that his face brightens up when he knows its a school day makes me pretty happy!

Today I'm thank for my above average immune system.  Although, I'm sick right now, it is a rare occurrence for me.  Fingers crossed whatever I have now comes and goes without a long stay!!

Self Improvement and Positive Attitudes and Home Sweet Home

Reading over this I realize this is a bit of a random, rambling, and multi-subjected post but it's where I am today...

Self-Improvement:  Over the weekend I took advantage of Pete being around and went for a run both on Saturday and Sunday.  I love this alone time so much and I don't know why I don't push myself to do it more often.  I've been really wanting to lose the rest of my pregnancy weight (yes, Gracie's 15 months old but I'm still calling it pregnancy weight!) and am finally feeling motivated/capable/sick of the way I look enough to do it!  I started counting points again thanks to weight watchers.  I am starting to be "active" again.  And lastly I've decided I'm going to work hard at cutting out the "bad" things I do too often (alcohol, dessert, watch tv, not drink enough water) and lets just hope that this is the beginning of a good thing!  We'll see...maybe since I wrote it here I'll feel more accountable for it.  Maybe I'll even get gutsy and take a "before" picture so I can post it next to my "after" picture soon :o)

Positive Attitude: I realized as I was out running along the pretty tree-lined streets in my neighborhood, how one of the things I love about exercising is how it provides me a quiet time to think.  It is a rarity for me to have time that isn't interrupted.  When I'm running (minus the running stroller) I find myself in a silent, peaceful situation that allows for some good thinking time.  During this "me time" yesterday, I noticed how easily I allow myself to think negatively.  Mostly of of things that I want to change about myself, my house, my habits, my parenting, my wifing.  I find myself thinking of my "I wish I had this/I wish this was different/I wish I was better at" list.  I think these lists are important and good for me but I realized how negative it can be if I am to focus all my thoughts on things I don't have or things I wish were different.  It is important to me to be a positive person.  If I'm consistently thinking negative thoughts about myself or other things in my life I'm not being the person that I want to be.  Sometimes its easy to let this get away from us - especially during a particularly frustrating moment as a mommy, wife, homeowner, sister, daughter, friend...the list could go on.  Let's be honest, life can throw us some lemons but all we can do is make is spectacular lemonade - at least that's type of person I want to be.  It's not always easy to maintain that - but it's an ongoing goal of mine.

Sticking with my 30 Days of Thanks promise...Day #7 I'm thankful for Where I live.  


Home Sweet Home: Moving to our cute little burb outside of boston has been one of the best decisions Pete and I have ever made.  This town has...  Great schools.  Fun playgrounds.  Good pizza.  Pretty neighborhoods.  Fun events in town (one of my fave's coming up soon: the tree lighting ceremony).  A cute town center (that we can walk to!  Pete likes to ask me if this is Stars Hollow enough for me?  Any Gilmore Girls fans out there!?)  And lastly, great neighbors.  We're so lucky to live next to and near some pretty great people.  I'm thankful for how easy life is thanks to our wonderful little place we call home.  I can see us here years and years from now even happier than we are already.  How lucky are we to be so in love with our cute little town?

For those of you craving cute pics of my little sweeties...

B did this whole alphabet puzzle by himself while
we were at Gracie's 15 mo appointment 

She's a ham - posing for the paparazzi! 

Go Patriots!  Love how cute they are in their
matching jerseys!  

Kisses!

Remember when I recently posted about sibling love?  Well not only are they playing and having fun together but now they are showing their love for each other....

could that kiss be any sweeter?  It was a two way kiss....true sibling love!  And they are proud of themselves every time they kiss each other!  Ah, I'm so blessed!

30 Days of Thanks ~ Day 6

One of the things that I am truly most thankful in this world for, is the relationship I have, my husband has and my children have with my grandmother.  My grandmother, whom we call Grandmum, is probably the most caring and loving person I know on this earth.  She loves all 8 of her children, her daughters and sons-in-laws, her 18 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren with every fiber of her being.  Grandmum is a roll model of strength, commitment, patience, and love in my life.  She lives her life with such happiness that I pray I will have when I am her age.  She's the matriarch of our large family and there isn't one person that doesn't hold her to the highest respect.  Grandmum's love and commitment to her God and spirituality is another piece of her that I am so thankful for.  She lives this commitment with simple love and teaches us all through example how to incorporate religion into our daily lives.  On top of all she's majorly cool!  For instance, last year on her 88th birthday the present she asked for me to give her was an account on Facebook.  Seriously!?  How many 88 year old's are not only on Facebook, but actively post and respond?  She's awesome!  We all know we need to behave wisely and appropriately since she has eyes everywhere - including Facebook :o)

I can't say how grateful and happy I am to have Grandmum in my life.  I feel such a sense of comfort when I am with her.  I am blessed to have her guidance, support, admiration and love.  She's been an amazing person in my life and I feel so lucky that she has continued to be this same special person in my children's lives.  Grandmum, you are the best and I am so very, very thankful for you.  I love you.

Grandmum, Gracie and my dad (aka Granddad) on Thanksgiving 2010

Grandmum and Gracie Turkey Day 2010

and a couple of not perfectly clear but perfectly beautiful pics of Great-Grandmum from my iPhone...

Grandmum and her newest granddaughter, Anna (my 1st niece)

Great-Grandmum and her three great-grandchildren

30 Days of Thanks ~ Day 5

The one and only Jessica Eves...

Today I wanted to write about one of the people I am most thankful for in my life:  my incredibly special friend Jess.  She and I met in "chorus" during 8th grade.  We sat near each other and very quickly became friends.  We spent the next 5 years of school doing everything we could together.  There are few memories I have of high school that don't include her.  Since high school we have been through so much life together.  College years, good choices, bad choices, many happy times, a few hard times, meeting our husbands, weddings, my children being born, buying homes...the list can go on.  I feel so thankful that I can share each and every aspect of my life with her.  Through every change that has happened in either of our lives we have successfully "gotten through it" together.  That is a true sign of an amazing friend.  We have forgiven each other for every weakness we have had and grown with each life event that has made us either more similar or more different.  The amount of laughter and love she and her hubby Todd have provided in our life is immeasurable.  I feel blessed to have a friend in my life that I can be 100% of myself around 100% of the time.  So, I love you, J ~ thanks for being you and always giving me everything I've ever needed out of you!

30 Days of Thanks

There are lots of blogging ideas out there but one of the ones I came across this morning that I really liked was: Blogging each day for the 30 days of November something you are thankful for.

So here I am catching up to this a few days late but I totally want to join in on this little trend...

4 things I'm thankful for for November 1-4:

Day 1: My husband.  My hardworking hubby has brought so much joy to my life from the very first time we met at The Squire almost 8 years ago.  I never knew what it felt like to be loved and cared for so much before I met him.  I am the kind of girl that daydreamed and prayed to fall in love every single day before I met him.  He provided me with the love story I believe everybody deserves.  I'm so lucky to have him by my side through every up and down that we encounter.  He's an incredible daddy, friend, son, son-in-law, brother, brother-in-law and employee.  He is passionate about everything he does and I admire his commitment to everything he puts his heart into.  He loves life and the people in it.  How lucky am I!?  I know.  That's why he's my number one thing I'm thankful for!

Day 2:  Braden and Gracie.  These two little humans have changed my life to the utmost level of happiness.  As much as I daydreamed about my love story I also daydreamed about being a mommy.  The thing is, I couldn't have imagined how great it was going to be.  These little beings have made my life so complete that it hurts.  Their cheeks can't be kissed enough.  Their hands can't be held long enough.  My eyes can't stop looking at them.  I am so in love with B and Gracie Girl that I sometimes can't imagine my heart won't burst at any second.  I'm blessed and I know it.

Day 3:  Other blogging mommies!  Okay, the first two were super sentimental - I don't think I can keep up with that for 30 days :)  My days are filled with "my life" and "my day-to-day happenings" that it's fun to check in with Hilary, Amy, Kate (yes, I'm a fan - so what!?), Lisa, Tessa, Jess, and Stef every day or so to see what kind of things they are up to.

Day 4: My real life mommy girlfriends.  The ladies I spend most of my time with are pretty darn awesome.  I think it is pretty rare as an adult to find a group of ladies that like to have the same kind of fun that you do and are in the same place in life that you are.  I'm not sure if this statement is true or not but I'm going to say that it is.  I'm so thankful to have girls I can call on when I have something to brag about, something to cry about, something to worry about, something to smile about and most importantly when I need to have some fun.  So thank you ladies, I'm so thankful for you and all that you have brought into my life!

Happy November Everyone!

Power's Back! Happy Halloween Post!

Even though Halloween was only two days ago it already feels like days and days have gone by...life's been nuts!
Before Halloween arrived we had quiet a few crazy days starting with Saturday.  I was part of a committee that threw a huge Halloween party at one of our elementary schools.  I have been working on the party planning since August and finally the party came and went.  It was a huge success and lots of fun!  I, of course, was working the whole time so I had to steal a couple of pictures from my brother and sister-in-law (thank you uncle michael and aunt crista!) to show off how cute the kids were!

Braden didn't smile once in his costume because he was always roaring!
This is our best "cousin shot" we could get!

Gracie, me, Aunt Crista and Anna

so I bought the costume and tights in 18 months
but the head piece and shoes in 2T, oops!

Gracie wasn't so sure she liked sitting on hay in tights,
can you blame her?

Is there anything more rewarding than
 getting your 3 month old niece to smile!?

That night leaving the party we drove home in a big, wet snowstorm!  On October 29th!?  What!?  The roads were covered in snow and the winds were blowing!  As tired as I was after the kid party, Pete and I still had some partying to do.  We had planned to have a little costume party for my group of girlfriends and our husbands in honor of my 31st birthday.  We all acted like bunch of college students again.  We dressed up, ate yummy food and drank lots of adult beverages.  We even played a few adult beverage games.  I owe a big shout out to, Emma, Erin, Whitney, Liz and Erin for making the night a blast!  I know how much you all have been wanting to make the blog.  Unfortunately, the photos from that night just aren't really blog friendly.  But trust me...it was fun! :o)
Everyone made it home safely that night but we all woke up to dark and cold houses!  Not a great situations after having a big, messy party, I'll tell you.  Dips in dishes, cake, plates, wine glasses, bottles, etc. that all needed to be cleaned but no disposal or warm water made that very difficult!  Yuck!

The next few days is where I feel I've lost time.  We lived in the dark for three days.  We're lucky to have a woodstove so our house didn't completely freeze, although it was still pretty cold.  Actual Halloween came on Monday but it was a snow day for the kids and our town even postponed trick-or-treating until this Friday.  We had already planned on trick-or-treating at my parents' neighborhood since they have a great road for taking the kids out safely, unlike ours unfortunately.  Once again, I was completely neglectful to my camera and I'm SO grateful my friend Whitney took on the paparazzi role for the night...

earlier in the night Braden and Maisie said, "I love you"
and then trick-or-treated holding hands....SO CUTE!

close up of the hand holding

Braden the Dragon making sure someone was home 

Gracie wore her skeleton jammies instead of her
costume because it was way too cold!

All in all it's been a crazy couple of a days.  I'm SO happy to have power back and my poor neglected house is really ready to be cleaned and laundry is begging me to do it.  In fact, instead of blogging, I should be doing that...but, I missed writing!

Happy Halloween 2011!

no power, no posts

so the four foxes and a hound are powerless after this nor'easter. it's making it a little difficult to post my blog. I downloaded the "blogger" app on my iPhone for now but I'm not a huge fan of typing long things on my phone. I promise a very long and informative post as soon as we have a little light! it's been a fun two days to fill you all in on so just stay tuned!!

for now pics from breakfast at Joe's this am with the kiddies...

Pee, Poop, Blood and our First Snow!

I swear it goes in waves in our house.  Everything will be going fine and then BOOM we have pee and poop and blood everywhere.  What!?  It's been a crazy morning....

I was lucky enough to go out with my girlfriends last night to celebrate one of our friends' birthday.  We had a a fun dinner filled with lots of drinks, stories and many many laughs.  I love that I have the kind of hubby that totally encourages me to take advantage of going out with the ladies...because after a morning like I had today it was great to think about the night before and be grateful that I got to recharge!  So here it goes...

Braden came in for a visit in the middle of the night last night.  I hadn't gotten into bed until one a.m. so his visit not so long after that wasn't what I was hoping for.  In my sleepy fog I let him snuggle for a few minutes and then sent him on his way back to his bed.  Back to sleep for me only to be awakened again by Mr. B-man.  At this point I didn't care about our "kids don't sleep in our room" rule and told him to pull up a pillow and sleep on the floor.  Done.  Then Fenway apparently decided to join the party.  Mind you, this dog is not allowed upstairs in our house but for the last few weeks he has completely stopped following that rule.  In fact, this morning B told me that Fenway actually had gone into his room while he came into our room and was sleeping in his bed when he went in there.  What!?  Crazy Fenway.  Anyways...long middle of the night story short, Braden got in bed with me when Pete got up for work.  We slept nicely until suddenly he jumped out of bed and stood there staring at me.  He had peed the bed.  I was really, really hoping to stay in bed but unfortunately my little guy was soaked - as was our bed.  Bummer.  Out of bed I got, stripped the sheets off the bed and headed to the bathroom to help the little guy undress.

I put B in the shower.  I hear Gracie girl start yelling, literally, yelling at the top of her lungs for me.  Moooommmmmmaaaaa!!!!  So I grab her.  Figure she can get in the shower now too.  The three of us take a shower, they play on the floor with their boats and cups and everyone is happy.  I decided to get out first and let them keep playing.  I'm not sure why when I leave it opens up the door for complete chaos to ensue but it does.  Braden starts taking toys from Gracie, Gracie starts trying to bite him for doing it.  Gracie starts to open up the door over and over again allowing the water to come out onto the floor.  I didn't even have a chance to get myself dressed while all this was going on!

Finally Gracie had enough and she wanted out.  I took her out and let her dry off.  I don't know what possessed me to let her "air dry" a bit while I checked my email on my iPhone.  I left her in the bathroom playing and "drying" while I sat on my bed (where Fenway was laying on the ground next to again - after being told to go downstairs - no one listens to me, not even the hound!) reading emails from my girlfriends about our night out.  Pretty quickly Gracie appears next to me and I immediately smell something that reminds me an awful lot of her poop smell...

She had pooped.  All over the bathroom floor.  Apparently while she was standing because she must have landed on it when she sat down and then proceeded to crawl from the bathroom, through my closet, into my bedroom.  Can you say, poop trail!?  Uuugh!  The amount of poop that was smeared on the bathroom floor was horrendous.  It was one of those clean up situations where I was thinking, "is there any way I could not deal with this and someone else will?"  The only help I got was from Fenway.  He decided to eat a little poop chunk she had left behind on the carpet - absolutely disgusting.  After that with the help of some paper towels, Target bags and lots and lots of bathroom cleaner later the floor was clean again and Gracie was having shower number two of the day.

Post-showers - B was SO thrilled to see the snow on the ground that I quickly dressed him in his snowsuit, sent him out the door and started to get Miss Poopy ready to go out.  She was eating a Graham cracker in her diaper, happy as can be and this is when I saw the blood.  Somewhere she was bleeding.  Her face had blood streaks.  Our hardwood floors had blood streaks.  The Graham cracker she was eating had blood on it.  I couldn't figure out where it was coming from - was it her lip? her hand?  Finally I saw her little middle finger had two little slits in it.  I have no idea how (maybe playing with the shower door?) but she had cut her finger and she was bleeding ALL OVER THE PLACE!  Uuuugh, again!  I couldn't get her finger to stop bleeding.  I couldn't keep her still so she wouldn't get blood anywhere.  I couldn't get her to keep the little band-aid I was putting on the tip of her finger on.  I literally did not not know what to do.  When I picked her up she bled on me.  When I left her on the ground she crawled everywhere leaving a blood trail (similar to her early poop trail!).  Eventually I just sat there wrestling her with a papertowel on the tip of her finger. I tried raising her little arm above her head.  Aren't you supposed to do that to stop bleeding?  Or is that for swelling?  A nurse, I am not.  Fenway decided to add his help to this clean up, too.  As I'm wrestling the little lady I look over to see him licking each little blood streak off the hardwoods.  Gross, but helpful. :o)

Just another little misadventure (remember this?) for the Foxes and our Hound...I think hubby's glad he was at work for this one again...

post-shower daydreaming about playing in the snow