happy new year to all!!!

Just want to wish everyone a great new year. hope all your holidays went well and everyone is healthy.

we had a wonderful Christmas. busy as usual but I wouldn't have it any other way.

we are still burried in snow. we made it thru the ice storm in Dec but then we had the 2 snow storms back to back on the following weekend and now we just went thru another wintery mix mess over the past few days.

the school district still isn't sure what they are going to do to have the kids make up the 9 days they lost of school. They are looking at taking 3 days from April vacation and 2 teacher workshop and then asking the state education board to waive the rest. The board has already said that they will waive all of them as the state of NH was declared a national disaster per the president (amazing something he did right). the school district just doesn't want to have the kids miss to much more of school as then the students will fall behind the national levels. And we have a great school district with amazing teachers.

I christmas gift I wasn't expecting is the little bundle of claws below. My wonderful husband has been feeling pretty guilty (for the past 3 years) about me giving up my long hair calico Ceasar when I moved in with him. he is allergic but he does good with Cleopatra who is short haired. So his mothers cats had a litter and he was able to get this little guy for me. He is a bit scitzo and nutty so he fits in with this family perfectly. The dogs and him have gone at is a couple of times but the dogs really aren't sure how to deal with him. Cleopatra is older and much more calm and doesn't bother with the dogs but Taz (yeah that is his name) wants to play and attack them. It is great fun to watch. Cleopatra still isn't sure about him but she is getting used to him slowly and i have even caught her playing with him a couple of times.

I am in search for a job and having one heck of a time finding one in my field. I may have to give in and go work retail for a while until one comes up. It is getting pretty frustrating.

well i wish everyone a healthy and safe 2009!!

Love to all

winter storms

OMG!!! it is ever going to stop. we just got our power back on after being in the dark for 8 days. That isn't easy with 3 kids and animals. But we did survive it. Now it is snowing and they are saying we are supposed to get 5-1 inches today and then tomorrow we are supposed to get another snow storm that is supposed to dump another 7-12 inches on us. I am really starting to hate living in New England. During the ice storm we had a couple of our pines trees lose their tops and one almost hit the house. it was so scary listening to all the branches and trees breaking through out the night of the ice storm. we had a tree down on one side our our neighborhood and then a telephone pole on the other. I didn't really get out to take pictures as I have been so sick with bronchitis. I was in the hospital 2x in the past week. Oh Joy!!! I am already hating and dreading this winter. I just hope it doesn't turn out as bad as last years. Although the dogs are loving the snow and it is hard to get them back in the house after they go out. LOL

We still haven't finished Christmas shopping for the girls and not sure if I am going to be able to get out in the next couple of days to finish it. I finished Aaron up yesterday before this latest storm it. yeah!!

My favorite time of year

It is now that time of the year that I love oh so much. I love all the lights and the spirit of the holidays. It always makes me feel so happy. I am hoping that we get our outside decorations up soon. we are a little late this year. Aaron is working 3rd shift so it is so hard for him to do much during the day or even on the weekends.

I am watching my favorite Christmas special right now..Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.. I am just a kid at heart.

We have already finished shopping for Joe but we still have to find stuff for the girls. I think Aaron loves to shop for Joe. It was so cute. He is seeing more in the stores and says he wishes we weren't down with him yet. After all he has only ever had a little girl until a couple of years ago when he met me and my kids.

Sabrina's toe is doing better. They said it is healing perfectly and she seems to be moving around easier and says she isn't in that much pain anymore. We go back to the doctors again in about 2 weeks for another follow up. Thankfully there will be no need for any pins.

they are all doing well in school so far this year. They all have perfect attendance again and Sabrina (8th grade) made high honors again (not a shock there) Joe seems to be doing much better this year (they don't have actual letter grades until 6th grade-next year for him) He really likes his teacher this year (So don't Aaron and I) Felicity is doing much better also. She seems to be really listening this year and not being disruptive to the rest of her 2nd grade class.

Hope everyone enjoys this wonderful and magical holiday season. Lots of Love

Sabrina's First broken bone

So my daughter finally broke her first bone. She tripped over a dog toy and we think smacked her foot on the coffee table. We thought at first she just cut her foot because her toe was gushing blood. I couldn't get it to stop. Finally it slowed down and we had her sit with her foot up. She went to bed and then got up the next morning at 5:45am and came in to tell me that it bleed thru. So I took off the bandaging and it was still oozing. So I decided I was taking her over to the ER. I wrapped it back up and told her to sit and relax on her bed until the other kids got up and off to school at 8, I then took her over to the ER and we took off the bandage again and it had bleed thru again and now it was all black and blue and swollen (hadn't been yet) They took her over to xray just as a precaution and came back saying she broke it at the growth plate. So it is the big right toe she broke) The ortho doc was in surgery so they splinted her and wrapped her up in ace bandages and said make an appt within the next couple of days with the ortho doc. (they usually don't see a patient until the swelling goes down but because it was at her growth plate they needed her in the next day) So we went to the ortho doc yesterday and he said that if it was any worse than he wouldn't have hesitated to put pins in to keep it straight. But for right now he isn't going to. We are just going to keep a close eye on it and if he finds that pins will be required then we will have to think of what to do. Her toe will grow crooked and probably will not grow much more than it is now. But it wont be anything that throws off her balance (anymore than it is already LOL) She goes back in a week for them to check on it. They wrapped her and put a "shoe" on her foot. She still is using her crutches and probably will for at least a few days. She isn't feeling to secure without them right now. OF course she is 13 so she is milking this for all it is worth. thanksfully she has great friends at school and a great staff that is helping her get around the school. She didn't miss a day of school thru this though. She would never do that unless she was in the hospital. LOL After the ER she wanted to go to school and then i picked her up early yesterday for the ortho doc. Here are some pictures of her after the ER visit. I have pictures of her toe on my cell phone but i cah't get them off it. I will have to take pictures of the "shoe" later and post them....

New hair color

this was a change just for fun. I always wanted to see what my hair would look like going dark. We were in Walmart one day and Aaron said he would buy the stuff if I would color it. Of course I wasn't going to turn that down. It was alot darker than I thought but it has lighten up quite a bit now. (been a couple of months) It took sometime to get used to it but I really like it.

I just got the Cricut Expression and this is one of my first LO with it. I used the Schoolbook Cart for the daiseys. I took the makers and drew out the daisy's first and then cut them out. I then put them in my Xyron upside down so I could get the top nice and sticky so I could put glitter on them. I then put it back in the xyron so I could stick them to the page. For the title I used the Schoolbook cart again and this time I didn't cut out the letters. (I tried but it didn't look right) But I really like the way it looks.

updates

Ok. So I haven't written for quite some time now. So hear I am trying to update this. we had a great vacation! went down to visit my sister in Kansas City Kansas. Got to see my beautiful niece. Boy time flies. The kids are all growing up so fast. Felicity is coming home on Friday. She was visiting Nana in PA for the past 3 weeks. we all miss her so much. But we do have a great surprise for her when she gets home. I can't wait for her to see it. we have painted her room her two favorite colors. Green and Yellow. She is going to be so happy.

Been a busy summer. Although it has been raining most days. we still find things to do. I have been scrapbooking more again. It feels good to get back into doing it.

We have had some car trouble over the past few weeks. The started went in Aaron's car before we left on vacation and we just can't afford to have it fixed yet. We have to have the car towed to the mechanic. Then the other day the alternator started to go on the van. We got a new one put in today. we had to fix one of the cars, we just couldn't be with out both of them.

Getting ready for the Jaffrey Fireworks in the next couple of weeks. we have some good friends coming up for the weekend and to go with us. We are so excited about that!! I think the fireworks and the Deerfield Fair is what we look forward towards the most each year. we wouldn't miss them for the world.

once I figure out how to set up a slide show of pictures on this blogger I will get one up and running with updated pictures.

love to all.

Doctors

well Felicity's doctor did say that it can happen but she wants to still rule out seizers and all because of the fact that she stares off into space sometimes and that she appears not to hear alot. So we are waiting for the Neurologist to call with the appt date. Her doctor does seem to think it is more behavioral than medical though. She mention ADHD. And maybe it is her way of acting out because of the abandonment that she may be feeling from her mother. Although Lori has been much better at taking her on her weekends. But if she doesn't spend time with her than it is the same thing as not getting her for the weekend. I did talk to Lori about not calling after we took her to the ER and she said that she figured if it was important we would call her. Hello you f'ing idiot. It is important. Anytime you child is brought to the ER it is important. some people just don't get it. Anyways the doctor said she can play like normal and all. If it happens again, it will happen after she is done playing and she is still and quiet. Felicity is funny though. She is telling everyone that she has to go to a doctor so he can look in her brain. LOL I think it is so cute coming from a 7 year old. So we are hoping the Neurologist finds nothing wrong. Although I am not sure I am up to working with a child with ADHD. It is hard (I watch Keith go thru it with Jon) but we love her and we will do whatever it takes. LOL I can't trade her in for anew model. LMAO....

Our Scare

Felicity gave us a good scare yesterday while grocery shopping. We were at the checkout line and it looked like she just squatted down like she sometimes does because she "gets tired" . Well come to find out her legs buckled. Aaron gave her a tap on the tush and told her to get up and then she fell back on her back. We called her name a couple of times and I looked at her and saw she wasn't responding. Her eyes were open but there was no blinking or any kind of acknowledgement in them. I yelled "something is wrong" and was down on the ground with her as Aaron was picking her up. She came too and I asked if she was ok. she said she felt weird. So I asked her to tell me what feels weird and she said her face was all tinglingly and numb and she had a bad headache. We paid for our food. Brought it home and Sabrina and Joe put it away for us. They hadn't eaten lunch yet so my two made their lunch but Felicity (the girl who is always hungry) didn't want to eat. She just laid on the coach very lifeless and out of it. So we took her to the hospital. They drew all kinds of blood work and took a urine sample and it all came back normal. Thankfully!!! They said she just blacked out. I asked is that common because my kids never had and I have never heard that before with young kids. He said it was very common. I still don't believe that. But we go to her pediatrician in a couple of weeks and I will ask her. It took her about 2 hours to get back to her normal self and strength. Poor Aaron held it together in the store but once we were outside he lost it. i was dying inside but I had to be the mom and hold it together for everyone. I hate that. When do I get to loss it when one of the kids gets hurt. LOL I will be talking with the school to keep an eye on her. The ER doc said that if it happens again then we might be referred to a neurologist for them to run some more test but he said it shouldn't happen again. So if it is so common why would it happen again. You and the worse part about this whole thing isn't that she blacked out. (now that we know that is all it was) The worst part is that we called her mother to tell her we were going to the ER for her and she said she is going to just stay home and so Aaron told her we would call when we got out. So he did and she said I will have to call you when i am out of the shower. She never called back. If my ex ever called me to tell me one of my kids was going to the ER. You couldn't keep me away. I just can't believe any mother would be so no chalant about anything like that. We weren't sure what it was at first. We thought OMG she is having a seizure. So Aaron asked her mother if there was a history of it in the family. She seems like she only cares if it is connvient for her. I hate that!! She is her mother wether she likes it or not. She is a perfect example why you shouldn't get pregnant at 16. I know I am not a perfect mom but I will always be there for my kids. She doesn't have custody of either one of hers and her ex wont even let her see the baby (who is 2) Ok I need to get off the mom thing. Bottom line is she is doing much better and i am still going to mention it to her doctor and see what she wants to do if anymore testing. And the best part is we got Dad to promise to bring the family for Ice Cream today. (because she was so brave and let them take blood from her. She is as afraid of needles as I am) I am just so relieved she is ok and bouncing around like normal, but that doesn't mean we wont be nervous for the next few weeks.

baseball has started

Joey had his first practice of this year last week for little league. Aaron is one of the assistant coaches and me I am the official photographer for the team and i also update the team page on the website. we had opening day ceremonies on April 19, which include a walk thru downtown to the field. What a long walk. OMG!!! I was beat after the walk. Aaron got lucky and was just getting out of work when it all started so he didn't have to march. It was fun though. At the flied the announced all the teams and they passed out the awards from last years winners. They had the flag ceremony and then thru out the first pitch of the season. It was alot of fun. Joey's team (THE TIGERS) don't play their first game until the 28th of this month. But we hung around to watch the Braves and Indians play their first game. I told Joey he can't hang with his best friend anymore. He is on the Yankees. Boooo....LOL Zach hates being on the team named the Yankees. He is a boy after my own heart. A Red Sox fan. But the boys don't get a chance to be on the Red Sox until they are in the Minors of Little League which will be next year. I love this time of year and baseball....