4 kids!!!

i know i should probably write about our thanksgiving, and my black friday shopping experience, but i'm going to skip ahead for a second...

my 15th high school reunion was saturday night. i went with some of my friends, and the majority of the people left their spouses at home. so craig was not able to experience this with me fully!

first of all, you can tell who pays attention to facebook and who doesn't by just the questions they asked... where do you live, how many kids, etc.

let's just say, that i am going to have a button made that says "yes, i really have four kids!"

it was like a foreign language i was speaking or something. four kids!!! who the heck has four kids these days!!! (well actually quite a lot of families in the town i live now... but not so much where i grew up.)

my friend lori who i went with had to deal with the other end of the questions... "when are you having kids?" "why don't you want kids?" "are you having problems getting pregnant?" her button should say "i love my life, and i don't want kids... not because i don't like kids, i just don't want to have any thankyouverymuch!"

it was great to see a lot of old friends... some people i ignored, the same as high school, some people i never made an effort to talk to, i had great conversations with. all in all, it was a fun night.

here's a couple pics that were on facebook - i didn't bring a camera.

my mason...

i'm so very thankful for my mason... what a joy! i love his smile and eyes! he gets so excited about everything. he wants so much to be just like his big brother... it is cute and annoying all mixed together.

he loves to snuggle, and get hugs! he is a good boy! loves school, sports, and life in general!

when you have four kids, it is nice to have one just like him! he fits into our family perfectly, and isn't high maintenance.

i love my mason man!!!

i love you

i am very thankful for carter... he is my oldest boy and when he is not fighting with mason, is a big help with the littles. he loves playing with graham, and is really a great big brother to hadley. he and mason have a love/hate relationship going on.

lately carter does the cutest thing... he picks out his clothes at night and leaves a note to ask if what he picked out is ok. often he asks me to write back... my little pen pal. the other night he left his note, and then at the bottom it said "p.s. check under your pillow" so of course i go to check right away, and there was a note that said "i love you".

how cute is that??? it totally made my day!

happy birthday graham!!!

dear graham,

happy 1st birthday baby boy! you are the sweetest baby ever! i love you to pieces! you are so lovable, cute and happy! you are a lucky boy to have 3 older siblings to love you so much... they always want to hold you, kiss you and give you hugs!

you are such a sport... you go to all their games, schools and activities. blessed... our family is blessed to have you part of it.

you are my baby! and no matter how old you grow, and how big you get, you will always be my baby!

you want to move! you crawl like a champ, and pull up on everything you can. you want so much to walk... you are just not brave enough to try. soon enough you will be on the go, so for now, we will just wait and watch.

i am so proud of you though... you are now finally an eating machine. for the longest time you would gag whenever we tried to feed you real food. but now, you finally figured it out and love it! you eat pretty much whatever our family eats. you love pasta, mac and cheese, yogurt, and cheerios.

graham, i just love you so much... you make my days brighter and happier. i am so lucky to be your mom. i can't wait to see how much you grow and accomplish over the next year!

love you forever,

Mommy

xoxo

my hubby...

i am so thankful for my hubby! he is my best friend, an amazing husband, and an awesome dad! we make a great team...

i love you craig!!!

xoxo

thankful for my girl...

i am so thankful for my beautiful girl... she is so sweet! of course she is 2, and sometimes likes to remind me, but for the most part she is a good girl.

she is adjusting well to school, and has even made a little friend (johanna)... they are cute together. she loves her teachers, and they love her! she is clearly teacher's pet, but that's ok. she needs the extra tlc. her favorite part of the day is playing with the play doh and painting. i am even letting her stay for an extended day (until 1:00) once in a while since she loves it so much.

miss hadley loves dancing school!!!! it is her favorite!!! she no longer holds her teacher's hand and participates in all the activities. for the rest of the day she practices what she learned, and will show anyone and everyone all her moves! i can't wait for her recital!

she still loves all things pink, girly, and of course the princesses... today she was so funny. i put on her dress and then some aqua leggings, and she told me that those are her ariel pants for swimming. ariel doesn't wear pink like aurora. we just started watching "tangled" and love it!!! it's nice to get a break from star wars!

catalog season is in full swing and she is my girl! she will sit with me and look through all the catalogs and the pictures and tell me what she likes. she's just so cute!!! we have made quite the list for her birthday and christmas!
my hadley is sensitive too... i have been very sad about stephanie and hadley came into my bed and saw that i was crying. she asked if was sad, i told her yes, mommy was very sad. she laid on my chest and just hugged me for about 5 minutes. and then she got up and asked if was happy now. i am thankful in my house full of boys i have a little girl to keep me company. i can't wait to see how our relationship grows over the years.

not enough hours

i'm just going to vent for a moment... i don't do it often, but sometimes i just gotta let it out.

lots of parents were not so excited with the time change... gosh, i loved it! an extra hour! there is just not enough hours in the day to get it all done. i could get more done if i was willing to skip naps or have the kids nap on the fly, but i enjoy my quiet time too.

every night there is something to do... a meeting, an appointment, a conference, or a game. most days i just go with the flow and i love my life and everything that goes along with it. but weeks like this, i just need more time. graham's birthday is this week and i need to get some things for his party. and then of course i need to get the little man a gift. i was all set to order him a chair from pbk, but it was back ordered. now what to do?

ok, that's it... my little whine for the day is done. just feeling a tad bit stressed this week with everything going on.

here's a couple pictures of the kiddos... they are all growing up way too fast!!!

so sad...

today miss stephanie passed away. i am so sad! she was so amazing, and so positive. she will be missed so very much.

i pray for her children... that they have the strength to get through this difficult experience, and always hold close their memories.

rest in peace stephanie...

miss stephanie

it's after midnight and i can't fall asleep... too much on my mind, and i feel like crap.

my thankful post today is dedicated to miss stephanie. who is miss stephanie you ask? well, she is the most amazing, giving, loving, and generous woman. over 5 years ago she started babysitting for me. she is in her 40's, with 3 kids, and due to her terminal cancer diagnosis, was unable to keep her job at the preschool she worked at.

she was my mary poppins... always showed up in her big black suburban, with the back filled with toys, ready to play and do crafts with the kids.

she would be there for me as much or as little as i needed, and in return, when she had treatment, or wasn't feeling well, she could stay home.

she loves my kids. and they love her. we all do.

when i met her, she told me she had colon cancer... it wasn't curable, but treatable. and she has been doing her best to beat cancer, and live her life to the fullest. around the 4th of july she got bad news... her tumors were spreading and they were giving her 6 months to live. it took her over a month to tell me the news. i was devastated, and i cried for days. it just broke my heart.

she continued to babysit for me for another month, and then her health was going downhill. i was scared and nervous when i didn't hear from her, and texted her daughter. my gut was right... she was in the hospital, in the icu. i felt so helpless.

she is home now, and i think this is it. i send her texts every week to let her know i'm thinking of her. and i send pictures of the kids to make her happy. but it has now been another week with no word, and i am worried.

hadley asks for miss stephy all the time. it breaks my heart...

i am just so thankful for the time we had with her... and all the love and support she gave me as a mom, and to my kids.

(here's a pic of her with her daughters)

Thankful...

it's november. seriously, i feel like we were just at the beach yesterday!!! september just flew by. soccer sure does keep us busy! and i couldn't imagine spending my saturdays any other way! i love it. carter is on a travel team, and the games are fun to watch. i am the assistant coach for mason's kindergarten team, and it is just so much fun! he just loves it so much!

i am going to do my best to blog this month with the little things i am thankful for... today, it is easy. power!!! we had a storm saturday night, and although we don't usually get snow this early, it wasn't that crazy either. but man, you would think a tornado came through my town... trees, poles, and wires down everywhere!!! we woke up sunday morning to no electricity. i was a little shocked, since we were one of the lucky ones that didn't lose it when hurricane irene hit.

at first it was fun... we had to bundle up, because it was freezing out. but soon reality was hitting... it was going to get dark and colder. the patriots were playing at 4:15 and craig wanted to find a tv to watch (priorities), and they were predicting power outages until thursday. so when our friends called and said they could book us a hotel, we jumped on it. and so glad we did... hotels were selling out everywhere!!!

so we packed up and moved into one hotel room, for our family of 6... it was a "staycation"! schools were canceled monday and tuesday... heck, even halloween was postponed until friday. we made the best of it... we were with friends and we kept the kids busy, although they were going a bit stir crazy!

i was very thankful to come home today to my nice warm house... and a little personal space too!!!