Sweet Christmas

So peaceful 

The stockings were hung...

 Santa Came :)

Christmas turned out to be perfect for us (remember my last post....) ;) Miss "I" woke up feeling much better and was able to enjoy the day! The other 3...well I don't really know who woke who up...they change the story around as they are telling it (haha) but anyway...at 4am I heard a stampede and quickly ran out to catch them before they made it all the way down. One said the other woke them up...the other said no it was her.... yeah...so someone woke two up said "Hey, Santa came....let's go see!" Oh silly littles :) I sent them back to bed and they actually ended up sleeping until about 7:30!!

So we gladly opened gifts then ..........

 She LOVES her couch! 

 OH MY GOSH!!! The Soccer guys he wanted!!!! happy??!! :) 

Karaoke machine & Orbeez Spa!!!!!!!.....OH BOY!!! (haha) 

I just love their excitement! They had the best smiles. So I just kept snapping.....

 Mommy & Daddy had fun too ;)

We had a great morning. Later Nana & Pape came over with Auntie "R" ......so of course there were more gifts....and hugs! 

And Auntie "R" played Santa...and passed out the rest of the gifts...

Warming by the "Fire" (haha) 

 Pape playing with his new camera :)

Daddy showing off his new shirt! :) He says the only difference between him and "The Batman"...is that he can fly ;) 

"Batman" made some pretty good shrimp pasta for dinner though! 

later we enjoyed sweets...LOTS of sweets! We were serenaded by the girls and their new Karaoke machine ;) And we relaxed and enjoyed a drink. It was a good day! 

by the "fire" of course ;)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm feeling very blessed! 

Christmas eve.....

Holidays this year are proving to be difficult for sure! Looking back to this past Easter.... My in-laws had planned to drive down to spend it with us in Alabama. However a snow storm made that drive not possible. (We enjoyed it none the less)

Thanksgiving, we were planning on hosting in our new home...our first holiday here...we got a storm that began as pretty snow, but ended as heavy, slushy, icy, rain. Which in turn caused a 3 day power outage and we packed up all our food and headed to my parents to cook dinner there instead. (It turned out fine and we had Turkey!)

Christmas....well, vacation officially began when school got out on Friday afternoon. Lil Missa began puking over the weekend. K man took over on Monday around 3am...and now Christmas Eve, "I" went down and spent the evening on the couch with a bucket next to her.

I know...like the other two holidays...it will turn out fine...great actually. We already had one Christmas with my family. A special guest showed up and there were huge smiles on the kids faces! 

That day we managed to be healthy :) So I am hopeful and praying that tomorrow, Christmas day, we will be healthy again. Praying miss "I" will wake up feeling refreshed, and no one else will be taken down! 

I admit...I was a bit "annoyed"..... the fact that I was looking forward to Christmas back here in NH, and now the snow that we did have is all washed away, it is actually a bit on the warmer side and it is pouring. I just wanted a white Christmas. Then to have children puking left and right, and having to keep canceling play dates we had planned with friends to celebrate vacation, and Christmas with them. The kids have been quite sad about this. We had plans to go to an annual Christmas party at friends house tonight....but they had sickness there as well, and plans were canceled. Just as well, seeing it would be a pretty miserable hour drive home with a sick child. So really, that was a blessing in disguise. It was much nicer for her to be in her own home, on the couch. The big question was...how is Santa going to come. Or not so much how, I knew it would obviously happen...but when!? Thankfully she fell asleep on a makeshift bed on our bedroom floor...and I was able to sneak all the gifts out before bringing her in there.....now....she is soundly sleeping (God willing, done with this bug)....and....... Santa was able to come. So..... as much of a bummer as things have seemed to be, we are BLESSED...beyond measure! I am so thankful for that....and despite holidays going NuTs, I'm thankful for each of them, and our family! 

I am thankful that our Savior was born on Christmas day, and that because of him, we are filled with so much love. I am thankful that we are blessed by a savior who allows us to also enjoy the magic of santa with our children, while teaching them the reason as well. Looking forward to tomorrow being a healthier...happy day! 

BLESSED!

Merry Christmas to all.....and to all...a good night! 

my chalk paint project

In November I went crazy with chalk paint. I have always wanted to make the kids a chalk paint chalk board...it was finding the right spot that was my issue. Daddy thought right on the living room wall would be fun. (he's another kid though) I saw chalk dust ALL OVER the house with that idea!

The previous owner of this house left us a very large work table and work bench with storage, in the basement here. I decided that was my new chalk board! So I got to work.....

This is what I ended up with! I LOVE it! So do the kids. They now have a giant arts and crafts table and a place to store all their supplies. I painted the entire top of the table and the top of the work bench and the doors. I could have painted all the walls too but I made myself stop ;)

heres some before...

and some more after....

It took a few coats of the chalk board paint. I did prime the table first...but not the work bench. I actually decided to do the work bench after and just went with it. I wiped it down and then painted 2 coats of chalk board paint. Of course it looks amazing in these pics... if you could see it now with all the dust all over it WOW. The erasers we found at Staples, really aren't the greatest. We have to wash the table down every once in awhile to get all the dust off so they can really see their new drawings. At some point I might even add a third chalk paint coat...but yeah.... sometime when Im feeling ambitious and I'm done my other projects ;) 

The table needed some benches...so I went onto the local yard sale pages and found 4 very cheap. I got 2 pair...so 2 of them are taller and 2 are shorter, but they work. I painted them all black. Here are my tall ones one is done and one is not...they were a green color before I attacked them with black to match the chalk board. 

The kids love it! Slowly tackling rooms....I worked on K mans a bit today...I'll share that when I have more done :) 

5 & 7

I have been so behind with the posts (again) I am finally getting the kids birthday pictures off my phone and onto the computer, and realized I never posted about them. So here it is, better late, than never.....

We are over the "big" birthday parties. it takes so much work and it gets expensive. We decided if we are going to spend the money, we would rather it be for each kid to do something special. The girls did that for their birthday over the summer and it worked well...so we continued it onto the littles. Who aren't so little anymore :(

We did have a small party for K & B together, very small. Grandparents, aunts and uncles..two families who are pretty much our family ;) and God parents. It was perfect and the kids (and adults) enjoyed themselves. Smaller does help make it more enjoyable and less stressful.

pinata surprise cupcakes, YUM

They all enjoyed their cupcakes....

K man loved showing off his gifts...B was off and playing with hers, too busy to hold them up for a picture. ;) 

So K man's Bday comes first, so we took him out for his special day. A trip to lego Land for the day and he got to pick out a lego set while there. Let me tell you...that place is pretty sweet!! Those lego creations are amazing...and seeing we were in Boston, there was a a huge display of the city made of legos. SO COOL! 

 Hanging out at Fenway Park! 

 Sweet right?!!?!!!!! The Zakim Bridge... the Children's Museum and The Garden! 

Logan International Airport 

my fav...the city at night..The Prudential building and the John Hancock Tower.

Yes, I took a ton of pictures, because...well...I was Amazed ok! Just look at how cool this is. So when you enter lego land, you go directly onto a ride. It's kinda of like a lego video game you ride through and save the princess by shooting the "bad guys" with your laser gun. Then you walk through the City built from Legos. We spent a while in that room. (as you can see) It was on a timer so it would be day and then slowly it would get dark and all the lights would come on in the buildings. Just so impressive. 

Rowing on the Charles 

Cheers!!! "Where everybody knows your name...." 

 Gillet Stadium! 

inside the Patriots locker room! ;)

Enjoying the 4D Lego theater....K man had a great day! 

And this is what happened when we got home! They were very inspired! :)

So B's birthday fell right on Thanksgiving this year. So she picked out a turkey shaped Ice Cream cake. Ice cream cake is our thing...we get one for each of our birthdays and we celebrate together after dinner. :)

B's special day was a trip to the American Girl doll store! It was finally her turn to get her very own doll like her big sisters (who also got theirs when they turned 5) She had been counting down to this day, asking daily if it was the day we were going to pick out her doll. So off we went! 

With her doll by the American girl doll Christmas tree....so girly! 

So of course there are much fewer pics from B's day out.... but I think most people have seen American girl dolls. ;) The store however, if you have never been...is quite a mazing and is 2 giant floors of anything you could ever imagine for those dolls. My girls love that place! We only go on special occasions...like their Birthdays ;) 

B and i had a fun little selfie photo shoot in bed Thanksgiving night.... We were soaking up the fact that she really just turned 5! 

We just can't believe it.... 5...REALLY?!

O.M.G....we Can't believe it!!! 

She's a little bit silly 

And then...she went to sleep with daddy

(Yes, camped out at Grammy and Grampas...because we had no power at our house from the storm we had the day before.....that's another post......) 

Birthdays were a success and I can not believe (yet again this year..) that my babies are getting older!

They certainly are a blessing!