Post Xmas at our House

This week has been so much more fun for me than last week.  As much as I look forward to Christmas every year and try to savor the whole experience, I ALWAYS look forward to the week following the holiday. It seems like building up to the actual day is filled with busy schedules, WAY too much to do, frantic wrapping, late nights, wildly excited children that won't go to bed at night and in general a frenzy in our lives. As soon as we get through to Christmas and the presents are unwrapped, the lazy days begin. This involves sleeping in every morning, laying around on the couch, watching movies, lots of toy playing, and in general just a lot of mom and children time together. The other bonus this year was the ten day off work stretch I scored.  By working the beginning of last week and the end of this week I managed to get a whole chunk of time off which has been glorious. I have really enjoyed going to several girls night outs to the movies, ice skating with the kids, multiple cookie making/decorating days, wrestling with the kids on our bed, learning how to play our new Xbox games, and lots of puzzle doing and game playing with M and R after E is in bed.  Just this evening Maddie told me that she has loved how much fun we have every night before bedtime.  I am trying to soak it all up as best as I can for when our real life begins again next week.  On Tuesday morning Jesse and Maddie head back to school and once again our frenzied life begins.  But until then I think I will enjoy another relaxing evening and late morning tomorrow :)

We were so excited to all get a pair of ice skates for Christmas from my in-laws and were able to use them on Tuesday at the local ice rink next to our neighborhood.  M was literally in heaven and went around three extra times after we were all off the ice because she "just wanted to go around ONE more time...please?!" She did surprisingly well and was able to hold her balance for the most part and actually look like she was skating verses walking around on the ice. She is super excited to bring her ice skates to school and skate on the frozen pond at recess in January/February.  Robby also did fairly well and liked it...for the most part. He actually went around by himself mostly, but would kind of get frustrated when he started falling a lot. He was also pretty sad that he wasn't the fastest one skating.  He told us the other people kept "beating him".  But he was a trooper and stayed on the ice for the most part with a smile on his face. E was completely unsteady on his feet and practically did the splits in between my legs  as we went around.  But he was in heaven and begged to stay on the ice the entire time we were there.  Every time we passed the entrance/exit I would ask him if he wanted a break and he shook his head emphatically and declared he wanted to keep ice skating.  I can't wait to see the improvement in all my kids over the next few months! {Note the skirt Maddie has on over hover her pants....not there by mistake. She wanted to be dressed like all the "dancing girls" in the middle of the ice practicing their spins}

 Tonight we decorated sugar cookies for the second time in the past week.  Maddie has been in heaven decorating them all kinds of crazy, frosting and topping caked ways and has loved picking out the colors for the frosting.  She always makes me laugh because as she's decorating she will tell me exactly which cookie is for which person..."this candy cane one is for you Mom, and the snowman is for Dad, and this wreath is for Robby...."  One of my favorite parts in her winter break has been all the kitchen time I have shared with all my children, but specifically my daughter.  I cannot wait until she is just a bit older and can help me prepare more baked goods!

Eli, pant-less as usual and sporting his cute little underwear.  He got this fun Cookie Monster toy from Uncle Adam for Christmas and thinks it is the most hilarious toy ever.  He loves how the cookies go straight into the backpack and that Cookie Monster counts as you put the cookies in his mouth. One of the funniest parts about his toy though is all the "time-outs" that he has placed Cookie Monster in for biting.  He will play with toy and put the cookies in the mouth and then send him to our time out chair because Cookie Monster is biting his fingers "agaaaaain". I laughed out loud multiple times today when I saw him doing this.  He even goes over to our microwave and insists I set a timer for two minutes and then will come get his toy when the timer beeps.  Apparently my kids are quite the pros with how time out works at our house....for better or worse :)

Robby sporting a slightly painful looking smile.  The look of pain is because I tried to have him pause his XBox game long enough for me to snap a picture and he just wasn't having it. R has LOVED all the fun new games we got for Christmas for our game box and has spent a good chunk of time trying them all out.  His all time favorite continues to be the Sonic Kinect game where he rides a snowboard throughout the course....thank you Aunt Esther!

I love how Eli is concentrating so hard at frosting his cookie that he is sticking his tongue out. So cute!

Christmas Day

If I could describe our Christmas Day this year in one word it would probably be......relaxing.  This is one of the only years in my life that I haven't been to my parents or my in-laws house for Christmas.  In fact the only other time I can remember not going would have to be the year I had Eli and then we had everyone come to us.  Although I missed family like crazy, it was sort of nice to just relax at our house and allow the children to spend the day enjoying their new toys/crafts/candy/games/etc.  

After Christmas magic has happened, but before children have awoke {annual tradition for me to taken pics like this because otherwise I will definitely forget during the morning chaos}. I have to admit that although I get tired staying up late on Christmas Eve, I actually really enjoy arranging and presenting all the gifts for the Holiday.    

  

--FYI: never mind the tree that looks half decorated. Somehow we only ended up decorating 2/3 of the tree with pretty white lights paired with green wire.  It took three trips to Walmart just to obtain enough lights for this much of the tree and that point I gave up. Also Robby managed to program half the lights on the tree to be constantly blinking and the other half to be permanently on. Thus the tree looks like it hardly has any lights on in the picture.  The kids had a blast this year going all out and deciding where every ornament was going to hang.  They were being so cute about it that I totally gave up in my efforts to make our tree "perfect and pretty". There is always next year for that :)

This year my kids did AMAZINGLY well and Maddie didn't wake up until 7:30-7:45am-ish.  She was so excited that it was Christmas Morning and was nearly bouncing off the walls when she came running into our room.  We tiredly told her to go back to bed because the brother's are sleeping.  Next thing I knew it was 8am and three little sets of eyes were staring at me in the face telling me it was Christmas and time to see what Santa brought us.  We tried to get our annual picture of all three children before they headed downstairs, didn't quite turn out as good as last year....booo.  Silly Eli has his eyes closed, Robby didn't want anything to do with smiling and would only give me this partial grin and then M was so happy that she couldn't keep still. 

Maddie makes me laugh...of all the new toys that she has received, one of her faves was this $6 stuffed animal puppy that she picked out from Walmart with her piggy bank money and tooth fairy money (more on that later).  She is obsessed with this thing and loves to dress him in her personal clothing and insists that he sit at the table for meal time.

Robby LOVES the Little Critter series of books and so he was thrilled to receive a new one from the Hamelwrights.

I love how much Eli wanted and still wants these cowboy boots.  He spotted them at Famous Footwear a few weeks before Christmas and immediately added that to the beloved Santa list. He is such an easy kid to please and just wanted Cowboy boots, a flashlight and Legos. Needless to say, he was a very happy boy on Christmas Morning to see that all his wishes came true :)

Isn't she lovely?  This is seriously the only picture that I took in Sunday Christmas Day apparel. Maddie LOVES her new butterfly craft set from Grandma and spent lots of time painting her face with her new makeup from Robby. She wore her face like this for hours on Sunday :)

Below: proof of exactly how messy a small house like ours can get on Christmas Day.  I am semi-embarrassed to admit that we had quite a few of these messes in the next few days following the Holiday as well.  Apparently not embarrassed enough to refrain from posting about it however.  

Awe, much better organization, yes?!  This was after hours at the Toronto house and the living room immediately went to chaos once the kid-lets awoke the next morning.

Oh and proof that we did indeed sent a very late, very last minute Christmas card out to the masses.  And if you normally get a card from me and haven't yet then just FYI it may be still coming.  I just found another pile of cards that I thought I had already mailed.....yikes

One thing I was incredibly nervous about this year was the wish lists my kids came up with.  First M and R came up with Santa lists that were way too long and intricate.  I was concerned about this and talked with both of them. We decided to have each of them come up with their top three wishes and write them down.  Unfortunately this is what they came up with:

{I especially love the P.S. note where she reminds Santa that we have moved to NH}

He seriously cracks me up: "I'm trying my best to be good, but sometimes I'm bad". At least Robby is honest in his Santa letter right?! 

So Eli's list was obviously completely doable but then I stressed and stressed about the other two lists. They really ended up not asking for much, but the thing they asked for was a doozy. Number one, those Nintendo game systems are incredibly expensive and number two, why should I feel like I should by my child such a large present when they are 4 and 6 years old. I kept telling them that DS game systems are very expensive and that Santa might not be able to bring them such a large gift.  M and R kept the faith and reminded me that they were trying super hard to be good.  I went back and forth on what to do until J and I finally talked things out and opted against getting the game systems for them.  Luckily Santa came to the rescue and wrote them a note that they read Christmas morning.  He told them that he knew they weren't perfect but that he was proud of how hard they tried to be good.  Then the golden ticket was when he told them that he knew they would LOVE their presents even if they weren't exactly what they had wished for.  And you know what, there was no need for all the worrying I had done.  At first Maddie thought for sure the wrapped present by her stocking was a DS, but once she opened it up and found a kid camera she was perfectly content. And Robby was quite pleased with the remote control Monster Truck he scored from the big man.  Thanks so much kiddos for you gratitude for all the wonderful presents you received on Christmas this year.

Christmas EVE in New Hampshire

Christmas Eve:

 Eli modeling his Christmas Eve slippers. Normally our tradition is that every year our children get to open one present the night before Christmas.  In years past we have always done pajamas and occasionally accompanied with slippers.  This year as I was planning out presents I noticed we had already bought a TON of new pajamas since our move to NH, due to the change in weather, and none of the children had need of any additional bedtime clothing. So instead I planned on coming up with some really cute slippers for them, preferably fun animals. Well, this mother of the year got busy and somehow failed to purchase the slippers until two days before Christmas....yikes. At that point I had one night to buy them and the only location to purchase them was at the dreaded Walmart. So instead of really fun, cute slippers we got green camo and pink camo slippers for the children. Good news was that sweet little E was super excited about his and put them on immediately.  He told us thank you about 10 times and kept saying "they feel niiiiiice and snuggly and warm".  Bad news was that Robby threw his and refused to put them on for about five minutes, until Jesse put them outside and then he realized they weren't so bad after all. Maddie just kind of rolled her eyes, and said "really....this is our Christmas Eve present, really?"  Gotta love her sass, right?! 

Besides this annual tradition, we came up with some other fun things to do as well. I took the children to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" at the podunk movie theater, while Jesse finished up some last minute shopping and then we all met up and went to dinner at Chile's.  Eating out is always a little chaotic with three little children but it was fun to spend time together.  Then we traded cars and I headed off to Walmart for some last minute shopping before bedtime.  

Jesse was awesome and gave all the kids a bath and had them in pajamas when I got home, so that we could set out cookies and hot chocolate for Santa Claus.  On the computer google maps has this fun website set up where you can find out "where" Santa Claus is currently at and it shows him trekking across the globe for his annual trip. My children thought this was amazing and could hardly stay away from the computer because they wanted to see where he was going next.  Miss M is way too smart and kept telling us she didn't have to go to bed yet because Santa wasn't in New Hampshire yet :)  

We also did some late evening skyping with my in-laws which was so much fun and Eli proudly showed off his new slippers.  Right before bedtime we took some celery and carrots out and sprinkled them on the front pathway for a reindeer snack and then decorated name tags to put on each of the stockings.  And finally, finally it was off to bed for out three little nuggets. Maddie was hilarious and kept telling me she was so excited that she didn't know if she was going to be able to fall asleep. Luckily it was so late (like almost 10pm) that none of them had any problem falling asleep :)  That and Jesse genius idea to "call Santa" and have him tell Robby that he was going to skip our house unless he got into his bed and went to asleep immediately. Then it was time for us to do our magic.  I watched "It's A Wonderful Life" while I wrapped, arranged and attempted to make our living room look magical. Jesse in the mean time wrapped his own items and patiently waited for me to finish. We had the pleasure of visiting with several of J's classmates who came over to see a real Christmas tree and to behold the chaotic mess of preparing for Christmas with children {they are from India and have NEVER celebrated Christmas}.  Then it was off to bed for us to wait for Santa to make his magical appearance.....this years bedtime was 3am for anyone wanting to know.  Worse than last years time, but better than a few years back.  

 Eli, Maddie and Robby with their Christmas Eve gifts

 Hot Chocolate and Sugar Cookies

Eli's THIRD

Just a little shout out to my third child on his third birthday! 

We hope you stay sweet and super silly just like you are right now!

I seriously am in denial that he is three years old.  For so long it seemed like my children would never age.  I felt like I would always have at least one baby in diapers, needing my constant attention with other toddlers running around getting into mischief.  I mean when Eli was born, my oldest child was only three years old.  But somehow time continues to flow, and suddenly you realize that you no longer have any babies at your house.  But not today for me: today, tomorrow, and possibly for a long long time I am going to continue to claim Mr E as my baby, even if he protests and announces that he is a "big little boy".  After all, he still sleeps in a pack and play and is quite happy about it...oh and continues to use a pacifier for bedtime/night time :-)

Until he gets in for his well check visit at the doctor and gets his official stats, I wanted to make a list of things I don't want to ever forget about Eli at THREE:

*You are my happiest child hands down.  You almost always have a grin on your face, even when you're getting into mischief.  You are also very content and can play for hours building legos or playing make believe.

*You are the clown of our family and loves to make us all laugh.  The other day after you used the restroom you put your underwear on your head and were running around butt naked yelling "you can't find me".  When I ran over and said "I got ya" you screamed with joy and did your infamous deep belly laugh.  You are seriously so silly at the dinner table and keeps us laughing in the car when we go places {sometimes we wish you would be just a little bit quieter when Mommy or Daddy are talking on the phone or having a conservation, but it still cute and funny nonetheless}

*Eli, you are also my most tender hearted child and can get your feelings hurt easily.  When Nona and Papa were getting ready to leave to go back home, you were so excited to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them. Nona wasn't feeling well and politely declined a sandwich.  The next thing I know you were sobbing on the stairs because you were so sad that Nona didn't want a PB and J that you had made.  You also tend to break down easily when you get disciplined.  The moment you get placed in time out, the water works start and it takes every ounce of restraint inside me to not let you out when this happens.  You are very sweet after time out is finished and run right over and tell whoever you wronged sorry.  You can always tell us why we put you in time out and what you would do better next time.

*Eli, you hate to hear anyone being unkind to your Mommy and you are my little protector.  When Robby gets angry and starts to say mean words directed at me, you are the first to pipe up and say "Uh uh, not s'posed to say that".  If I ever get hurt, you will run right over and ask me if I'm okay and give me lots of kisses and hugs.

*You are still a great sleeper at night and go to bed fairly easily.  Initially you are never happy to hear it's time for bed and just a tiny bit cranky as we walk up the stairs, but once we brush teeth and use the restroom you are completely willing to grab a few books and sit on the bed for stories.  Typically once you are put in your pack and play for the night you rarely, if ever, get out of bed.  You still go to bed around 7:30pm and sleep until 7:30-8am, depending on when the other siblings arise.  You are also doing incredibly well at being potty trained and are dry at least 50% of the time in the morning.

*Speaking of being potty trained, you are a champ during the day at announcing you have to use the restroom and then running in the bathroom and doing your business.  Every once in awhile an accident happens {typically at the babysitter or with Daddy} otherwise I never have to think about setting a timer or reminding you to go.  You make us laugh with your enthusiastic "I've gotta go potty" that you belt out when it's time.  We have been a tad bit lazy around these parts and so on a normal day you run around in only underwear and a shirt, because it takes just too much darn work to worry about getting those pants on and off all day long.  It's a good thing you rock that style and look pretty cute with your little underwear bum :)

*Eli, you are also our most grateful and easy to please child.  For Christmas all that you asked for was a flashlight, cowboy boots and legos.  When I asked if there was anything that you wanted you just kind of gave me a confused look and said "flashlight, cowboots, and legos please".  You are also very polite and when we buy/give anything to you, you always tell us "thanks so much" and give us a big smile.  Most of the time going shopping with you is easy peasy because you rarely get the gimmies and will sit and play with one toy at the store.  When we get to the front to check out, you will put the toy back on the shelf without throwing a single tantrum.  Thanks E, it makes life sooo much more bearable.

*You are coming into your own as far as independence.  You like to pour your milk all by yourself, you like to put the movie in all by yourself, you want to start the bath water all by yourself......the list goes on and on.  Most of the time it is really cute and makes me smile to see you take responsibility for yourself and wanting to branch out on your own, but occasionally it can be irritating when we are running late and I just want to leave!

*You love to sing, especially at church! It has been really cute to watch you troop in with all your friends in Nursery that are preparing to go to primary in January.  You come walking into the Primary room with a big smile on your face and your arms folded.  You will enthusiastically jump to your feet and try to copy the teacher in singing all the songs.  You also love to sing several songs at home, some of your favorites include "Jingle Bells", "Happy Birthday", "If your Happy and you Know It", and "I am a Child of God". You also still love to jam out on your 'Paper' Guitar, which is one of the funniest things to watch. Sometimes at night when I put you to bed you will softy ask me to sing you a song; our favorite one is "Silent Night".

*You have really started to love Legos recently, which has made both of your other siblings also become more interested in them.  We have spent hours this month building pirate ships, houses, cars, space ships, you name it. You will even go up to your room and spend hours building to your hearts content. 

* Your favorite foods right now are pancakes, chocolate milk, anything dipped in ranch dressing, pepperoni pizza, ice cream and salad (no joke- you get so excited whenever you see that we are eating salad with our meal and it is the first thing you eat on your plate)

*Your favorite movies/shows include: Little Einstein's and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the cartoon series from the 80's)

*Your favorite restaurant/fast food joint: McDonald's--I think mainly because this is about all we have got in West Lebanon, NH

*Your favorite animal is a horse because that is what cowboys ride!  You always tell me this when I ask, but really I think your favorite is a doggy.  You and your sister spend hours pretending to be dog, to the point it almost makes your father and I crazy. 

*Your favorite color is Red because that is Robby's favorite color. Your favorite color used to be green when Robby's was also green. Before that it was blue.  I'm sure at some point you will settle on one color in particular that you actually like for yourself :)

*Your favorite books are All About Tractors book, 10 Little Ladybugs, Dinosaurs Love Underpants, and any of the Berenstein Bear Books.  You are really starting to get interested in books and love when we read stories at night time before bed. I still put you to bed separately from your brother and sister.  I hope you don't mind that we read our own stories together.  I love how you carefully pick out your stories and then come right over and sit on my lap during your stories.  I really enjoy the one on one time we spend together at night and I also like how much easier you and brother go to bed when I put you down first!

*You love to be Mom's big helper in the kitchen and are constantly dragging the step stool from the bathroom into the kitchen to "help". You get so excited when it is your turn to stir the food and constantly announce that you want to "help you cook dinner", even when we just finished eating breakfast. You are learning how to be patient and take turns with ingredients because both your sister and brother also normally want to help cooking at the same time as you.

*You and your sister have a really great relationship with each other.  For the most part you two always get along and she loves being able to baby you.  She will normally let you get in the bath with her and she does a great job soaping you down and then helping you with your towel.  You think it's hilarious though to run away laughing when she tries to dress you in pajamas.  Normally after several unsuccessful attempts, she will give the job of dressing you back to mommy.  You too have so much fun together and Maddie loves to have you come in her room and build forts with her.  Occasionally there are tears between the two of you, but mostly there are loves and hugs.  I hope you will always cherish and look up to your sister like you do right now.  I hope that you two will remain close throughout life and that your relationship will only grow stronger as you age.

*You and your brother have a love/hate relationship.  You think he is probably one of the coolest people around and always want to mimic everything he does.  Sometimes he likes this and sometimes it annoys him.  Case in point: Robby hates that you always want the same color cup/plate as him BUT he loves how he can get you to playfight with him at the drop of the hat.  Robby hates when you pick the same exact car or train to play with as him, but he loves how you are always willing to play whatever game he comes up with. Although some days I feel like you two live in a constant struggle at getting along, other days you two will spend hours building train tracks, putting together legos, playing with matchbox cars, and doing puzzles. A few weeks back, the two of you pulled out some old cups we have in the cupboard that have lids that sort of look like the end of a rocket ship.  You and Robby spent close to two hours running around the house "shooting" your rockets into the air and flying them all around.  I wish I had pictures because I loved how into it you two were! I think that next year when Robby is gone to Kindergarten it will be quite the adjustment for you to not have your fun, active brother around to constantly provide you friendship, entertainment and a built in playmate. I hope that as the two of you get older, you will continue to build a close relationship together.  You are so lucky to have a brother that is so close to your age!  We always remind the two of you that you both have "built-in best friends for life".

For your birthday we mainly just hung around the house and spent time as a family.  I am always amazed by how perfectly content my children can be to just do nothing.  Maddie is already on Christmas Break so it was a pretty lazy day where we watched movies, played games, went outside and played for a little while, cleaned the house and constantly reminded you that it was your birthday.  I loved how you just appreciated the little things that we did.  Such as inviting friends over for your birthday dinner and having pizza, veggies, and fruit for dinner.  We mainly just talked and played over dinner, and then we had a simple cake and ice cream.  You thought it was the coolest thing that we sang to you and that you got to blow out your birthday candle {after R blew it out five times during the birthday song....grrrrr}.  Never mind the fact that the only candle we had at our house was a "six".  Oops, I guess I will have to plan a little better next year when you know your numbers...this year it was fine!  You also loved practicing holding three fingers up and saying "I free" when we asked you how old you are.  The greatest part about your birthday is that there was no expectation of gifts. For the past few years we have celebrated an un-birthday for you every summer on your half bday mark.  For your Un-Birthday we typically have a family party with dinner, cup cakes and presents. And so for your real birthday we try to only do a family dinner with cake and the traditional birthday song. This year I simplified it even more and didn't even do any balloons.  I absolutely loved the fact that you still enjoyed yourself and felt like you had a great birthday.  Thank you for being such a simple, sweet, grateful, happy child!  And please, no more birthdays for awhile Mister E.  Momma can hardly stand the fact that you are already THREE!

Facebook Postings

 Collection of my Random Facebook Posts this Fall:

Sept 21st:
Just took a shower at work.  Apparently it's going to be one of those kind of days.
{I got sprayed at work during a spelunking job.}


Sept 29th:
 I love my notes from my Maddie:

"Dear Mom and Dad, I think I'm scared of halloween and you know before I wasn't but now I'm scared of it.
From Maddie
For Parents Tiffany and Jesse
Love Maddie

Sept 30th:
Eli and I love love love "Morano Gelato" in downtown Hanover.
{which by the way was voted the number 1 gelato joint in the United States}

Oct 6th:
Grrrrr, I hate when my body automatically wakes up before 7am. Silly day shift schedule this month.

Oct 17th:
Another cute note from my eldest:

"Madison
Hot lunch on Tuesday an Friday and snack milk everyday
To Mommy
From Madison"
{....and no, I did NOT agree to this arrangement.  Once a week hot lunch is the max and no extra snack milks}

Oct 18th:
Amazing view I have at work. I seriously feel so lucky to pass by this window multiple times a day!
{in regards to the beautiful fall leaves}

Nov 4th:
So nice to have Nona in NH with us!

Nov 9th:
My first time watching one of the hubby's "tripod" hockey games. Thank heavens for Nona {to babysit}!!!

Nov 21st:
Today was a "no accident" day for Mr E on potty training! Sure makes for a happy Mommy :)

Nov 23rd:
I'm dreaming of a white..............Thanksgiving?!

Nov 27th:
News flash: never realized how inappropriate "A Christmas Story" was until watching it with my four year old and six year old tonight.....yikes. We will be putting that on the shelf for at least a few more years.
{Maddie would not stop asking me what "f" word Ralphie said before his Mom put soap in his mouth}

Nov 28th:
Love when Robby tells me "Mom, you're driving me wild!"

Nov 28th:
E's been taking lessons from Tom Cruise on how to properly play a guitar in your underwear....we sure love him!

Dec 8th:
I never knew I would like working night shift again, but guess what....I do! It has been heavenly to be off work ALL week :)

Dec 9th:
When Maddie saw Eli watching "Little Einsteins" on the television she proudly announced "This is a baaaaby movie, I don't even like kid movies"-- heaven help me when she hits her teens

Dec 15th:
Christmas cards are finally ordered at the Toronto house! They will be coming pretty close to Christmas, but I will be sending them out to my normal peeps this year....please send me cards like always, it makes me happy to get a little piece of home from all of you! If you don't have my new address, message me and I will gladly send it to you :)

Dec 15th:
Number one most embarassing moment today: Robby addressed a very manly woman that worked at Kohl's today and announced that "he" was stinky. Then he continued to talk to this individual for the next few minutes as I dragged him away, beet red and ready to die.

Some random funnies {from the kids}

 Robby: "Mom, you're driving me wild"

Eli: "Daddy, you are just going to ruin Christmas" (in regards to Jesse teasingly tell the kids that he was going to open the present Eli had just wrapped for him)


I can't even tell you how wonderful this week was. I finally feel like my sanity is returning. My kids have been behaving and it's been oh so nice to just lazily play with my children.

date night with Mommy
Pet Museum
Playing in the rain
Playing at the playground
Mommy and Boys to McDonald's
multiple shopping trips with boys
Costa Vida dinner
Gingerbread house making at M's school
making corn flake candy with the kiddos
Decorating for Xmas

to Lighten things Up a Bit

My little guy is in LOVE with his "Paper Guitar" and especially enjoys rocking out in his undies (I think he may have been taking lessons from Tom Cruise recently).  We seriously love this little man and cannot believe what goof-ball he is turning into!  Oh.....and he is on his way to being potty-trained at the moment :)

Visitors

There were many things that were difficult about moving across the country to have Daddy attend business school. But one of the most difficult things hands down was moving away from our wonderful families.  We seriously have some of the greatest Aunts and Uncles out there (as well as parents too). As our lives got really hectic starting September-ish all the way into November they jumped in and rescued us. Jesse ended up having to take multiple recruiting trips into New York from Thursday through Saturday and I was already scheduled to work many of those days.  Luckily we had the opportunity to have three separate visits come our way to bring us lots of love, laughter, playing, and friendship to our little family. 

The first visit came in the beginning of November, right after Halloween, when my mother-in-law whom we all  lovingly refer to as "Nona" was able to break away from her life and stay 12 whole days with us.  I haven't felt so loved and taken care of for a very long time, until she came and shared the rigors of raising my children with me.  She helped me clean the house, watch the kids, prepare meals and yummy homemade treats, and we had many long talks together.  It was truly a godsend to have her visit us.  The only bummer for her was that she got sick towards the end of our visit and ended up with a nasty case of bronchitis.  Near the end of her stay, my father-in-law, "Papa", also came and visited.  The kids were ecstatic to see their grandfather come and many piggy-back rides and tickle sessions were shared.  I had such a great time with them here that I was so sad to see them go when it was finally time.  It made it a little more bearable to know that three days later we would get another visitor. 

{I was pretty sad to realize I didn't snap a single picture of Nona or Papa during their extended stay with us, Jesse took the few listed below}

 Eli loved climbing on this wood bear at the Quechee Train Village

We took them to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial (of course).  Take note of Eli's mid jump in the background below

Joanna was the next person to come see us.  It was so much fun to see her and have her do all kinds of crafty things with my kids.  One of the best parts about having family visit at alternating times is that you come to appreciate each of their individual qualities. Joanna spent most her time making all sorts of inventive creations for my kids to play with. After she left I found this paper she had written on that said "fun list" that had collect leaves, make bows and arrows, creature/squirrel hunting, wings out of leaves, tee pee outside,etc. All I can say is WOW you are amazing Jo and I feel so lucky to have you as my sister in law.  Thanks for all the late evening talks we shared and for letting me vent out my frustrations!  I miss you so much already.

The week following Thanksgiving we were able to host our last visitor, Aunt Esther.  She will always hold a special place in my children's hearts as well as mine.  She has always been there for me when I have needed her.  A few years ago when I went back to work full time, she was the one who stepped in and practically was their second mother.  She is always patient and kind to them and spends the physical time with them to truly develop relationships with them.  While she as in time we had so much fun picking out a Christmas tree together, going to dinner her last night in town at "Friendly's", playing soccer down the street at the soccer fields near our house, playing Xbox with our brand new Kinect sensor thanks to Esther, and enjoying her delicious cake pops. So once again thank you Esther for coming out and visiting us.  We really appreciated you, even if Robby was ticked off that you had to leave us so soon! :-)

Thanksgiving

I am writing this post with a semi-grateful semi-ungrateful attitude today.  I have put off posting anything of this nature, because I hate to appear like I don't appreciate my life.  I know that I am blessed to have three beautiful kids. I know that having a perfect house is not the priority in life.  I know that we are "living the dream" as we go on an adventure of a lifetime living in New Hampshire while my husbands attends an ivy league graduate program.  I know I should take time to "stop and smell the roses".  I know that soo many other people have it way worse than I do.  I know that I should appreciate my job more, because truly we could not live without it.  I know that I will look back on these days someday and say....wow, those were the good ol' days.  I know that life will always have challenges, those are what make us grow and learn to become more like God.  I know that I need to venture out more and seek out friends, instead of waiting for them to come to me.  I know that I will wish back on my childrens childhood someday.  I know that I do have some really great friends here in NH.  I know I have been incredibly lucky to have multiple Toronto family members come out and visit us/babysit for us while I work.

But.........................

*I wish my Mommy could come visit me, or I could go visit her.  This is by far the longest I have ever gone not seeing her.  Exactly 122 days that is, and unfortunately I probably won't see her until next May/June.

*I wish that I could have another baby.  Seriously, I see others around me announcing that they are expecting another little one and sometimes I wonder when my next child can come.  Then I remember that we are in school right now and my life is crazy enough as it is. 

*I wish that I could magically blink and have my house in perfect order with all the furnishings I keep imagining perfectly in place. And then stay that way.  Oh, and all the foot marks on the walls and finger marks on the windows could magically disappear :)

*I wish that I wouldn't continue to be embarassed when someone shows up on our front porch and I look at the house and realize it is trashed YET AGAIN.

*I wish my kids could be content playing in our yard, instead of constantly harassing our neighbors down the street.  And then I wish that this particular family didn't act so "not friendly" when I come to pick up my child/children from their house.  I promise they just really really like your dog Mandy (name changed). Oh and your fun sand toys and dirt spot on the side of your house.

*I wish that I didn't have to work Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Labor Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day. Also, every single 1/2 day and day off school Miss M has had so far this year. 

*I wish I could be the kind of Mom that is home every day as their children get home from school, with cookies in the oven and ready to just relax outside with everyone else while the kids all play together.

*I wish I could figure out how to get my two boys to fall asleep in the same room at the same time, and then they would not wake each other up in the morning.

*I wish my four year old had friends that were "his very own" and could accept not getting his way without a grand master temper tantrum each. and. every. time.  He has told me over and over that he thought I was finding him friends in New Hampshire before we moved.  It seriously breaks my heart when he tells me things like this.  Then he goes on to tell me he is a bad boy because he can't control his anger.  And my heart breaks yet again.

*I wish that I felt more connected with the people in my community and with the "Tuck Partner" group, and didn't feel like so much of an outsider.  Oh yeah, and add my church group to that list as well.

*I wish I had my Cortina 3rd ward church group here.  I miss them so much it almost hurts.  I became a Mom in Cortina and literally grew from being a semi-newlywed to an experienced Mom of three.  I had so many friends there that I could call up on a bad day or just to chat.  I felt involved in friend groups there like: co-op, queencreek friends, school carpool,  summer movie fun pals, girls night dinners, craft nights, etc.

*I wish that there were more children here that were my kids age as well.  I loved how I could arrange a playdate for any of my kids with just one phone call and then we could walk to that persons house in AZ.  I also miss my "Babysitting Co-Op" group from back home.  It made life so much easier to arrange guilt-free babysitting for the children when I needed a Mom only shopping trip, or for doctor's appointments.

*I wish that there were teenage babysitters in my area.  Or that the Clifford family could magically move into Sachem Village with me.  Their two girls were probably the best babysitters I have ever had.  They played with my kids and they loved my kids.  They would always ask when they could babysit again.  We had fairly consistent date nights with those two girlies around.

Now that I am officially done with my pity-party, let me re-iterate that we are okay.  We are enjoying the rural feel of New Hampshire.  We/I enoyed practicing cooking a Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday after the Holiday.  We have loved the weather thus far and are excited to be celebrating a {hopefully} white Christmas. We are excited to celebrate a more intimate Christmas with our little family.  I am learning how to be a more patient mother.  I am learning to lean more upon my Savior for help.  I am learning how to better teach my children more about God.  I feel myself being molded and stretched through a refining fire to someday become a masterpiece.  I feel myself drawing closer to God and trying harder to be more like Him. 

And with that I leave my Thankful/Unthankful Thanksgiving Post.

We love SNOW!!

One of the biggest thrills that my children looked forward as we pulled them from the wonderful state of Arizona, was SNOW!  We drilled into their heads over and over that it would be okay to be away from all of our friends and family because we were going on an adventure that would allow us to experience lots and lots of snow. And man has New Hampshire delivered for us.  We are in the middle of our THIRD snowstorm and it's not even Thanksgiving.  The most recent snow has been the largest volume and I think we were the most prepared for this one.  Snow boots, mittens, hats, coats and scarves have been purchased and have NOW already been put to good use.  This has by far been the most enjoyable of the storms because the volume of snow increased exponentially and has stuck around for longer.  Some of the fun things we have done in the snow the past few days include:

*take pictures of the beautiful white snow, perfectly clean before the kids went tromping through and made footprints 

*shovel the sidewalks, clean off the cars and continue shovel/sweeping the grass or any other area chosen by a certain little boy that may or may not be four!

*build snow "chairs" outside in our backyard.  The kids have loved sitting down and taking a break in them when they are outside playing.  We still have yet to build a snowman, but should cross that off our list by the end of the week

{Maddie announced to me that she was "building" a snow man with this pile of snow in her ice cold fingers}

*snowball fights; mainly with Daddy. I have politely excused myself from this one

{Eli decided he was DONE after about 10 minutes outside the first day.  He came right inside and refused to put his snow pants on and come outside for HOURS.  Luckily Jesse finally persuaded him to come out and ride the sleds down the hill and he relented}

*sledding down the hill by our house on flying saucers!  Probably one of my faves so far.  Jesse worked with the kids and made this awesome pathway that goes to the edge of the trees.  Even Eli got a kick out of going down the hill...after about 10 minutes of bribery and then several trips down with mom.  Towards the end of our sledding adventure, we were surprised by the Layton Family out on a walk.  We were so glad that Leah and Ryan were able to take a few turns down the hill. I think the funniest was when I looked over and Robby was literally tumbling down the sledding run head over hills.  When he hit the bottom he yelled "Whoa!! That was so awesome!"  I can already picture Robby as a master snowboarder that flies down the hill with a big smile lighting up his face :)

*making snow angels on the ground with Maddie. without snow pants on of course. who needs them when you have a Mom that is PERFECTLY willing to wash like five pairs of wet jeans a day right? wrong.

*and lastly hours of entertainment for Robby with his monster trucks.

Thank you New Hampshire for all the entertainment you have brought this little family of ours with your snow.  But please be kind to us this year, okay?  We are newbies at this and not quite ready for the sub-zero temperatures...............