Connecticut

My dream home!

When some people dream of their perfect place, they dream of the country, desert, florida, or California. I've always dreamt of this place, I just didn't know where it was exactly. But now I do.... Oh pretty pretty please let this job work out. The job seems perfect too, so much opportunity and growth. Everything seems so perfect, maybe too perfect! I'm trying to keep myself grounded, but I'm on cloud nine. We should know by the end of the month!

So much since the last post

Wow, just can't believe how much is going on.... So since the last post - Aaron and I both had our birthdays. Welcome to the 30s sweatheart. For Aaron's 30th, we had a semi-surprise dinner for him. Had a great time out with friends, and ended the night at the boat winning some dough on the craps table. Last night for mine, we went to dinner with some wonderful friends. We've been kid free this weekend with the kids at Grandpy's house, and have supposed to have been getting a lot of school stuff done...but we've been a little preoccupied. Now for those details..........

Most people know we have been looking for opportunities to move out of the St. Louis area and thinking we would like to get up to the North East. So last weekend I had found a job online (internal) and applied for it. Went to work on Monday not thinking too much about it. I know how long these things take right. Well, on a side note, I got a call on my way out of work that Turner had just gotten sick. By the time I picked him up and got home Mackenzie had joined in the fun. Then later that night Aaron and I both joined. It was one of the worst nights of our life in and out of the bathroom. So Tuesday we all stayed home. I think it was Wednesday when I called in to work to check my voice mails and had a call to set up a phone interview. ended up having that Thursday afternoon. It went GREAT. The hiring manager had said that she would be making a decision on Monday or Tuesday about who they would be bringing out for on-site interviews, but then Friday morning she replied that they had already decided to bring me out. Sooooo I have travel arrangements to be in New London Connecticut on February the 8th for an interview!!! It is all so crazy and happening so fast, but that is the way we do things, so it fits. We are trying not to get overexcited, I know I don't have the job yet, but everything is just fitting in to place. There is a possibility that me and the boys could be in Connecticut in April, with Aaron and Kenz coming as soon as school was done. (Of course I still don't know if I could leave my little girl behind, she may just have to cut Kindergarten a little short). So, keep your fingers crossed for us. We are so excited and feel that this would be such a wonderful experience for our family.

The cutest darn letter ever written

Jesus and god I love you jesus and god I bin a gdu grl I glad that you
Had a son namd jesus ho wuz aur savyr mary wit to bethuhm thir wur
No rom opin but this had a bon wir jesus in then mary bekam jesus muthr
Othr
Bi
Mackenzie
Non;fikscin


In case you needed any interpretation

Jesus and God, I love you. Jesus and God I’ve been a good girl. God I’m glad that you had a son named Jesus who was our savior. Mary went to Bethlehem there were no rooms open, but this man had a barn where Jesus was born in. Then, Mary became Jesus’s mother
Author By:
Mackenzie Lively – Non-Fiction

Happy 2nd Birthday Austin

Computer must have gone down yesterday when I tried to post this. We had a great party last night with his God-families over. And even Grandpy and Grandma Pat stopped by on their way through town.

Happy Birthday Austin!!!!



I love hearing you say "SpongeBob Squarepants"

You love cleaning with your vacuum cleaner and using the Attachment to get in all the corners and edges - I've taught you well!

Yesterday when it had snowed you couldn't wait to go out and play in the "snowing" and then while we were out there you would be across the yard and start yelling Mom, and when I'd ask what it was just so you could say "I love you" - something you have likely learned from your brother Turner

You give great kisses and hugs and love having you cheek right up against my face when You are giving me hugs so I can just smooch on those chubby little cheeks - I just love em.

I love the way your hair spikes out in back off to the side.

You love your "Charwee (charlie)" and are still always giving him hugs and kisses and it is often that I hear you laughing and running, only to see you a short second later go by pulling one of Charlie's toys with him close at your heels, then you usually fall, Charlie tackles you, Charlie nips at you, you start crying and come tell me, I tell you you are ok and to tell Charlie to be nice, and then the whole thing starts over again.

You are a parrot, repeating anything and everyone - but mostly your big brother.

You are talking up a storm - your latest new word "What EVER!" yes, you even do the hand motion (W E). Thank daddy for teaching you that one, refer back up to previous line! lol

You are out of your crib now and in a big boy bed. Sure we had to lock the door for two nights, but now you do pretty good. Of course you have starting figuring out that Mackenzie and Turner sleep together and they sneak in our room, so I think you are close to following in their footsteps, again, refer back to previous line about you wanting to do EVERYTHING they do!

Gosh Austin, I could go on and on and on with all the things I love about you. You are seriously one of the most adorable kids in the world. You make our house, our family, and our life better by just being a part of it. Thank you for giving me the honor to be your mother. I could never repay you for all you have given me in only 2 short years. I love you!!!

Pictures Finally

Finally - some pictures....

Me and my hubby on our 7 year anniversary

The kiddos across the table on our anniversary.

Out sledding in our front yard the only day so far we've really even had snow on the ground.

Mackenzie's first ice skating adventure in downtown St. Charles.
I think she liked it! (the tooth still cracks me up!)

Our only family picture during the holiday season.

The kiddos with their Grandpy and Grandma Pat

This was one night when we got just enough for a dusting, so Mackenzie and I HAD to go out and make some snow angels.

Christmas morning 2009

Rumor has it we are supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow tonight!!! Bring it on - we can't wait.

Monkeys and Bananas

Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling.
Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable. Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.
One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder.
All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why.
However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder.
A second original monkey is removed and replaced. The newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him.
This includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that he’s not on the receiving end this time, participates in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing it. However, he has no idea why he’s attacking the new monkey.
One by one, all the original monkeys are replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.

This was part of our message from church last night. It really hit home with Aaron and I. I feel like we are just trying to get the dang bananas, and everyone else is telling us it can't be done without any real reason why, just because they have learned it is unconventional or undoable. So from now on - leave us alone and let us get our damn bananas. If we get sprayed, that is fine, we'll pick ourselves back up and appreciate the unexpected shower. When we finally get them and are sitting there eating our bananas while you all look on, we'll share and tell YOU to go for the bananas next time!!!!

First - Christmas Eve and Christmas
We spent Christmas Eve with Aaron's cousin's family. Spent most of the day over there, ate a wonderful dinner of twice baked potatoes and beef tenderloin, and then headed out to church with them. We LOVED the church and plan to start going on a fairly regular basis this year. It is a non-denominational, new age church. Aaron loves it because you feel like you are sitting in a first rate theater, and the pastor was like a professional inspirational speaker. They had a full band, lots singers......and daycare!!! It felt great to be back in church and wanting to be there, and knowing that Aaron was wanting to be there as much as I was. This past year has been one that was guaranteed to strengthen or weaken our faith. I can say for certain for me it has strengthened mine and I think it has brought awareness and intrigue to Aaron. In fact one of his Christmas presents this year was a bible - big print in the new translation so it reads a little more like a normal book. For me it has been more of a even stronger belief of knowing that there is something out there. Now when it comes to down right "religion" I'm not sure either of us knows exactly where we stand, but as far as faith, and belief in God - we do have that. Anyways, I've digressed.....so before dinner and church the kids decorated cookies for Santa together. it is kind of becoming a tradition with the cousins. I absolutely adore Kayla and Ali, and they are great older kids to help out with ours, so it is just so neat to sit and watch the dynamic of them having "older siblings" around. I have a feeling that Mackenzie is going to grow up idolizing Kayla - she is gorgeous, successful at everything she does, athletic, smart, sweet, funny, great head on her shoulders and about 7 years or so older.....perfect person to look up to. So we got home about 8ish or so, set out the cookies and the kids went straight to sleep so Santa could come.
Christmas morning started about 7:00. Turner was the first to wake up and woke me up with "momma, do you think Santa came?" So he comes out to check and runs back in "Oh yes he did, there are LOTs of presents." So we all got up, I put the egg casserole and cinnamon rolls in the oven, and the unwrapping began. Everyone got exactly what they wanted. There for a minute Mackenzie got a little worried that Santa hadn't brought her a DS - but then we saw some present in the fireplace - and sure enough. I guess they must have fallen out of Santa's bag!! he he!! Was good to see her sweat it just a little! lol Mackenzie's favorite gift has been her DS and her new black boots. Turner got a skateboard and more army guys and Transformers. Austin is still oblivious to getting anything because everything that anyone else gets is new for him too. I got an electric blanket that has been wonderful, and a steering wheel cover - which may seem like a little thing, but has made it no longer painful for me every time I drive because of my Raynauds. Also got some jeans and shirts - always love clothes!! Aaron got the bible, clothes, shoes....This year was our best yet, I don't think we got a single thing that was just a waste of money (or elf time) - just got good stuff this year.
Grandpy and Grandma Pat drove out of their way on their way out of town to come see the kiddos and deliver more gifts and we had a nice visit with them before they continued on their way to meet up with Allen in Houston and do some sightseeing.
Other things this week is that I have been going through and cleaning and decluttering our house. Basically looking at everything as "is this worth the room and money on a moving truck to move cross country?" So I have a huge side of the basement quickly getting filled up with stuff I'll either need to donate, give away or sell. Hopefully 2010 has some good surprises and new adventures in store for us. I wonder how long it would be after we moved before anyone even knew we weren't still here...since basically we never actually SEE anyone, it is all email, texting and Facebook that would look the same even if we were sending it from Boston, or Australia.
Monday was our Anniversary - 7 years!!! We had gotten a gift card from Aaron's cousin for Christmas, so we decided to all go as a family and take the kids with us. The kids were on their best behavior. We went to the Cheesecake factory. All three kids sat together on one side of the bench and Aaron and I got to sit next to each other - big stepping stone. Really they all were great and it was awesome to be sitting next to Aaron and looking across the table at what we had created. Such beautiful, adorable kids that kept us laughing the whole night. Then we all split a slice of cheesecake, did a short shopping trip to exchange a pair of jeans for different size, and headed home. By that time we were all starting to feel like the crud was descending upon us, thick necks, coughing, body aches....but it never got super bad for any of us, not enough to slow our vacation down much.
Mackenzie and I have had a little project we've been working on...every day on vacation we are making cookies and taking them to a community helper - so far we've delivered cookies to the fire station, ambulance station, hospital emergency room, police station, trash men, and Grandpy (since he fixes the roads to keep people safe)...still left - the vet, the mailman, nursing home. I'm letting Mackenzie decide where we take them. It has been a great project. We did miss one day when I was feeling pretty sicky, so maybe today will double up. It is nice to have a new awareness of all of these people that are at work all times, doing jobs a lot of people wouldn't want too...that it takes all kinds of people and jobs to make the world go round. It was nice to drop by the fire station on Christmas Day and see people at work, when we get to be home with our families and show them our appreciation and that we are Thankful for their sacrifice to make sure we are safe no matter what day or hour it is.
Last night for New Years was a quiet night in with our neighbors and Mackenzie had a friend over. Mackenzie was the only kid that made it till midnight in our house and got to go out and bang pots and pans with us. It was a great night - Happy New Year!!!
I'm sure there is much more to update on (like that Austin is officially out of the crib), and I need to upload pictures, but they are on my other computer, so that will be later. Right now Turner is making it known that I've taken up my fair share of time on the computer and he would like to play a game now! lol Until next time...whenever that may be.