Payback....

Don't let her fool you...  She's not so innocent...  She may look like she's just sitting nicely and enjoying company at our family Christmas party but she's not...

She's making fun of her innocent little sister's pecan pie. The first pecan pie her very sweet and wonderful younger sister ever made.  Possibly, said pie didn't come out overly great but that's not the point...

So when the younger sister sprayed whip cream all over her face she deserved it!!!!!

Who's laughing now?!?!?!?

A snow day!

Oh, how I remember those mornings when I was little and the news reported that it was a snow day.  The excitement and anticipation of piling on our snow clothes and playing outside all day.

For my children it is no different.  They were begging from 7:30 to go out and play.  I held them off for a bit while we waited for friends to come play.

Katelyn's best friend Ryley was dropped off and within minutes the kids were outside playing.

 Throwing snowballs

Snowboarding

Laying in the snow

Looking adorable and loving it even if it's hard to move with all this winter stuff on.

Snowboarding and throwing snowballs at the same time

Ben loved sliding down the little hill and rolling on as he hit the bottom

You're rocking it Mag!!!!

Happy Snow Day!!!

Outside Christmas lights

One of the very exciting things that our new house has that our old house didn't is outside electricity outlets.  Every year the kids wanted outside decorations but since we didn't have outlets, and we weren't willing to run a cord out a window, we didn't get to have any.

But....  Yay!  Our new house has outside electricity!

We didn't go too crazy, just a couple of trees, a reindeer, and some net lighting on two bushes, but it was so pretty. I loved looking at the lights but knew it was time for them to come down as Christmas was over weeks ago.

Then it snowed and the lights were no longer just pretty, they were absolutely beautiful!

So out there they stayed a while longer.

I tried to take pictures of them and got some decent pictures but I don't think it is even possible to capture the true and amazing beauty that they actually were.

The other day I decided it was time to pack 'em up and bring 'em in.  I did get some inside but our reindeer and one of the trees is frozen in the ground and I have no idea how to get them out.  The one tree I did get out broke while trying to get it out of the ground so I gave up on the other one.

I'm not a big fan of this time of year at all but I will say that the beauty of the lights on the snow makes it a little easier to deal with!

Lego man

Connor LOVES Lego's! He has such a creative mind when it comes to playing with Lego's and comes up with some great creations.
For Christmas he was very excited to receive some amazing Lego sets from Nana and Pa and from Santa too.  He got right to work on them and worked for hours.  I also happen to love Legos so when he needed some help I was right there.  I may have even taken over a time or two and became a little obsessed myself.

One set was over 1200 Legos and the smaller sets were just a few hundred! This fireball spitting dragon was the first creation he put together and was so proud of it.

This is made of all Legos, little tiny Legos!  It may not look like it from the picture but take my word for it.

AMAZING is what I think when I watch my seven year old have the patience and ability to put something like this together.

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After putting all of his Lego creations together Connor set up a Lego exhibit for family and friends to see when they came over.

The Legos have now been moved up into Connor's room but he still plays with them all the time.  I wasn't sure how he would still be creative when following step by step directions but he is definitely still being very creative!

Great job Connor!

I now have a card reader and a six year old...

Yay!  It's time to celebrate!  I went and bought a card reader so I can get my pictures off my camera and on the computer...
So the first picture that I will share is of my Maggie girl who just last week turned 6!  So hard to believe really. 

At six years old Maggie is a wonderful girl who loves to chat away the day.  She never stops talking, even when she's the only one listening.  She has a clothing style like no other and I LOVE it! I truly try to embrace this girls happy-go-lucky and laid-back personality.
(However, since I want to remember everything from these days I also must mention that Maggie can have some serious attitude at times!)
Back to the positives though, Maggie loves school and has made  a few friends that she talks about pretty regularly.  She even got a phone number from a friend on the bus and calls her often.  Leah has come over to play a couple of times which is so nice for Maggie.

Oh, the style this girl has!!!!



Maggie is playing basketball on Saturday mornings and is having a blast.  She is also still taking swimming lessons and is back on the swim team.  I never tire of watching this amazing girl spread her wings and live her life!

Happy Birthday Maggie!!!! LOVE YOU GIRL!!!

A dream

Last night, rather, early this morning I had a dream.  It was right before I was getting up for the day.  I don't remember a lot about it but a couple of the parts I do remember strike me as pretty profound thoughts.
The gist of the dream was that there was either a war going on and the enemies were close or there was a major storm coming. I can't remember what it was but I remember that it was going to be bad and it was expected that a lot of people were going to die.  I was so scared but I also had a calm feeling overcome me. 
I was thinking that in a way it was ok.  I had had a wonderful life and the only thing I "wanted for" was time.  I texted my friends and family that I wanted them to all know that I loved my life.  That I had all I ever wanted.  Love, health, family and friends.
So, here are the three really big things that I feel about this dream....
One....  I want to live another 65 years, at least!
Two....  I am thankful for the ability to keep up with friends and family with texting but by no means do I want it to ever come to the point that I am only keeping up with them by texting.  I must make sure that I pick up the phone and that visiting happens as much as possible!
Third...  And probably the most important part of the dream.  I LOVE my life.  I "want" for nothing but lots more time.  In my eyes, and in my heart, I already have "everything"!  At least, everything that really matters and that's all that really counts any way...

Just checking in?

Just some random tidbits for all who want to know....

I can't find my cord to connect my good camera to the computer which is why I haven't posted since Christmas!  I am sure it must have made the move and is somewhere in this house but I can't find where...  Any ideas?

Maggie turns 6 tomorrow!!!!  Where have the years gone?  We had a little party for her tonight with a couple friends and a couple cousins (who are friends too) along with Nana, Pa, and Aunt Heather.  It was fun and the kids seemed to have a nice time.  Maggie really wanted everyone to decorate their own cupcakes and I thought that was a great idea.  Until the little itty-bitty ball sprinkles, oh those were a mess!

Note to self- Never ever buy little itty-bitty ball sprinkles again!  Possibly they should be outlawed, or at least a warning should be on them about how hard they are to clean up...

Our Christmas decorations are still up although the tree has been down for a bit.  We just had our family party with my side of the family last Saturday so I have a good excuse.  Well, at least last week I did.  I think I will have to do that tomorrow...

My parents were here for a bit and it was really nice to have them stay with us.  The trip was longer then they had planned because my uncle passed away so my parents came out early.  Such a sad reason but we enjoyed the extra time.  My dad flew home early because he was sick but seems to be feeling much better now.

Chris is going to see the Patriots' playoff game tomorrow night and it's supposed to be COLD!  He is really looking forward to the game but not the cold.   My bestie and her kids are gonna come spend the night with us here and the kids and I are super excited!  It will be interesting to see where they actually all sleep because they have been coming up with different plans for the last few days since I told them about the sleep over.

Maggie thinks the sleep over is for her birthday and I just totally went with that.  And, since there really isn't another reason, other then just for fun, I think it's perfect.

I have overdue library books and am ashamed about it.  I mean, really, they can be renewed online and I am online almost everyday!  Got to get there tomorrow!

Katelyn had a terrible skin infection on her face that we hope and pray is gone now.  She finished her second round of antibiotics on Wednesday.  It started coming back a couple days after finishing the first round.  It was quite awful and she was seen at the doctor almost daily for a couple of weeks.  We were so good about making sure she got every dose and right on time with both rounds because the next step was the hospital and we really didn't want to take that step.

Our satellite wasn't working this morning and I was slightly panicked that it wouldn't be working for the game tomorrow night but it seems to be fine now, phew!

I am very thankful for toilet plungers but really wish someone would invent disposable ones.  Toilet plungers are NASTY things!

Bet you're happy you checked in, good night!