Flying Santa

A few weeks ago we took the boys to Ben's station to see Santa. Every year Santa comes to the station via helicopter and brings every child a toy. This has turned into our favorite Holiday tradition out here, we just love it! Here are a few pictures from that day, ENJOY!!!

Basement blues.....

A year ago I thought it was going to be so cool to have a basement to store all our holiday stuff, give the boys a place to play in the winter, allow Ben to set up a workout area, and just have a better organized system for all our stuff. Well that dream is gone and its now turned into a nightmare! The whole thing is stupid if you ask me, all it seemes to be good for is flooding and collecting all the crap I don't want in the house anymore. Ben still loves it because its keeping everything out of his garage....yet I still can't park my Tahoe in there. Anywho, since our last flooding a few weeks ago I have this fear of stepping foot down there. That was a mess and took a few days of cleaning and bleaching for me to be okay with it all again. Yes I said bleaching the basement floor, grrrr. Christmas is weeks away and I need to get my stuff out but down on 2 8 foot tables is a grim reminder of my laziness. All my Halloween stuff is still laying out not but away. How can I drag out Christmas without even putting Halloween away, I just can't. The loft upstairs is filled with stuff from the babys room to go down as well. Family will be here in 2 weeks and this all needs to get done before. Ben has duty again this weekend so Im not sure how much help he is going to be and we have soccer Saturday as well. Plus my children think they are going to die if we don't get a Christmas Tree soon and Noah seems to be the only child in school that doesn't have his tree up yet, if you ask him. Apparently thats the talk of the Kindergarten right now and I was told yesterday that "We have to get our tree up fast!" Between all my coughs, sneezes, and sniffles all I want to do is nap but Bryce tells me we don't have time to nap anymore.

So maybe if I get that basement under some control today things might just all fall into place. Wish full thinking but its a start. I'm also determined to get the babys dresser in her room today, the boys book shelf back in their room and maybe take some pictures of the baby's room to post. Anyone want to place bets to see what gets done?

Tree Lighting in Newburyport

Santa arrived in style Sunday to help light the Christmas Tree in downtown Newburyport. What better way to arrive then on a Coast Guard 47' Motor Lifeboat, I can't think of one. The boys were so excited to see Santa on Dad's boat and the big tree. Mom and Dad got lucky that day as well. We arrived to the Station to park and much to our surprise Santa wasn't really ready yet, this could have gone really bad for a little 5 year old we all know but Dad's fast moves got us out of that one. The boys and I hung out locked in Ben's office for a little bit then were off to the pier to wait with about 500 other people. After Santa passed we rushed out to get a good spot to watch the parade, that was until the boys saw Spongebob standing around. Bryce went nuts and had to rush over to give high fives and hugs. With about every other kid in Newburyport wanting the same thing it was crazy. I got out of there alive but Bryce was crushed with huge tears cause he didn't get a hug. Good thing Dad's 6 foot tall and was able to save the day. After Bryce got his hugs we were off again, that was until we happened to pass right by Santa walking the back way to meet the parade. We finally got to the parade and found a good spot but it did take us longer to get there then it did for the parade to pass. The tree lighting took longer then we thought and we were all pretty much done with being crushed into a herd so we took off to Starbucks (right across the street) got some coffees and watched from there. The boys loved it and Ben and I are so looking forward to all the Holiday events we have lined up for them. We walked back to the Station and headed out for dinner before making it home for the Steelers game :)

December 1st

Can anyone tell me where November went? Its now time to trim the tree, hang the stockings, place the lights and get ready for Santa to come. I guess I should get on putting the Halloween stuff away that has been piled up on 2 tables in the basement. This whole being pregnant with #3 is a lot more difficult then I thought it would be. Just trying to keep up with the "daily" cleaning and the boys has been enough to put me to bed by 9pm. But I'm happy to report that everything is going good with the baby. Had a few extra tests run the last couple of weeks due to some small problems but all checked out okay and I'm hoping for smooth sailing from here. We are down to 10 weeks till the little peanut arrives and still haven't picked a name. HMMMM

Other news, we had a great Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving vacation from school, work and cleaning. It was awesome to spend time at home with all 3 boys without having to do or go anywhere. We still had soccer on Saturday but that was about it. We played, laughed, cooked, did some "light" chores and just enjoyed us all being together. It was AWESOME!! It was hard to get back into things on Monday, Noah was late to school and we were late picking him up. Opps! But I think we might have it all figured out today.

December holds lots of fun Holiday things which I'm sure will mean less blogging updates. But I will try my best to post pictures as we go.

Where's the baby?

Noah~ "Mom where is our baby?"

Me~ "Right here" (lifting up my shirt to show belly)

Noah~ "Whew I thought she was gone your belly looks small today"

Me~ "Well thanks, I think"

Noah~ "Mom its pretty huge, you know that right"

Me~ "Yes Noah, Thanks"

Noah~ "Anytime Mom"

Have paint brush, will work

Remember last winter I got really really bored and painted almost the whole freaking house? And I swore to never pick up a paint brush again? Yeah well I lied. But I'm happy to report that when you only have 1 room to paint and only 1 paint color to pick out its much much easier. And I enjoyed it alot more this time as well. All in all a great painting experience and my SIL will be happy that no death trap was made for Noah to walk out on :). Ben wasn't much help with painting the baby's room but that's okay, he has been busy with work and getting ready for the snow to come. They boys did get to help Mom out a very, very little. I thought painting the room almost 8 months pregnant would be much harder of a challenge then it was, I'm glad it wasn't. Of course I have no before pictures and I'm just too lazy to take some after pictures so bottom line folks...no pictures as of now. Ben promised to get the crib and dresser set up this weekend so I might remember to post some then. I do have 1 really cute picture on Ben's phone I might load. Somehow I ended up with a little naked butt painter as my helper tonight.....HMMM

Halloween

Can you believe its not taking me a month to post Halloween pictures? We had a great Halloween with wonderful friends. We headed out to Newburyport to have dinner with the Marlands and Murray's and do a little bit of Trick or Treating. So maybe I had semi invited ourselves (Thanks Melyssa!!) Melyssa made the best homemade pizza ever!! Once we were done eating we got the kiddos ready to head out. Ash and Melyssa stayed back to hand out candy and I set off with the Dad's in search of lots of candy. Noah was in heaven and really got the hang on things fast, Bryce just couldn't get over how everyone was putting candy in his bag just for him. Huge smiles before and after every door then a race between brothers to the next. Its a miracle Bryce didn't fall down once. Noah is already asking if he gets to do more next year and go alone....that kid is nutz! We started to loose Bryce about 7pm, he couldn't hold his bag anymore because it was too heavy and was asking if we were done "Mom I'm tired can we go now" Poor kid turns into a log about 630pm. After we were done we headed back for candy apples and a little movie time for the kiddos. It was a great Halloween!!

Soccer soccer everywhere!

Two Mondays ago Bryce started Soccer. He was so excited to be going to Soccer for him and not Noah. We got there and got all set up, he was running around kicking the ball, making friends and taking his water breaks. It was so freaking cute! Then Coach Matt comes out and starts some fun games for the kids and parents. With the kids only being 3 parent participation is required. I know Coach Matt from all of Noah's classes at Seacoast United so I wasn't too worried about having to run around with Bryce. That was until they played a form of freeze tag and Coach Matt went to tag Bryce......the poor kid took off screaming crying with a look of terror in his eyes. By the time he got to me he was shaking he was so scared. So the rest of the practice I ended up having to hold his hand and tell him it was okay. Not really how I thought it would end up but he still said he had fun. I got some cute pictures too, my camera doesn't work that well indoors....not sure why probably operator error. We missed last week due to Bryce having a cold which made his Asthma flare up and since I don't have a rescue inhaler for him yet we stayed home. Plus with all the sick kids from the week before I will admit that I was scared about what could be flying around there.

This coming Saturday is Noah's last game with HYA and is also the start of his Seacoast United league. One game starts at 8am and one at 8:30am, still working on that. We are really excited for Seacoast United to start again. Noah has always played there but this will be the 1st time he is old enough to actually join a team. His old team United from HYA picked up kids from 3 different teams to form another "United" team. We just found out last week that Noah would be playing cause the coach forgot to tell us that he signed Noah up. He said he just loves Noah and needed him to play. Noah is super excited cause his buddy Zack will be on the team with him and I think his other buddy Shawn is coming to play as well. This league runs 6 on 6 with a goalie and is all indoors. Indoors is better for Noah with his Asthma but his coach as gotten used to Noah needed his inhaler half way threw the game. Ben's a little shocked that his 5 year old is already starting "club" sports but is super excited for him to learn more.

Here are a few pictures of Bryce and Noah from last weeks Soccer events.

Halloween Party

Saturday was our Annual Kids Halloween Party. It was a perfect day for a Halloween Party, lots of wind and rain to set the scene. Everyone started showing up around 2ish and of course we were not really ready yet...opps. I still have no clue what time it ended but we all had a great time. With a bigger turn out then last year everyone had fun. The kids all seemed to have a great time with dancing, crafts, playing, showing off their costumes and of course breaking the pinata. We had more little ones then I thought so next year I need to plan a better craft for them to keep busy :). Here are some pictures of the days events. The only picture I got of Noah swinging at the pinata was a second too late but look at the faces of everyone in the back...1 hit and he bust the head off, it went flying into the wall and busted. Noah loved it!! I some how managed NOT to get a group picture of all the kids......maybe next year.

Trying to keep up....

Ever feel like you never have enough time to get everything done? Or your going, going, going and no matter what you get done that day your "list" never seems to shorten? Welcome to my world!!

October has been insane over here to say the least. Ben's work schedule has been very busy with little time at home. He spent a week in Washington and has seemed to be spending the rest at the station. He finally had the past 2 days completely off and to us (only 2 this month) YIPEE, it was great to have him home. I felt bad for taking Noah to school since Dad was home but he still went. Noah's Soccer is going great and the team is really coming together. So much that they are forming an indoor team this season at Seacoast United. I love that place but another 8 weeks of Saturday Soccer......we all know it will happen. He has been doing really well in school and his teachers have nothing but great things to say about him. His Halloween party is coming up in a few weeks and of course I will be there to help out and bake some goodies. Dad is going to try and get off for the parade at school as well. Bryce is doing great too. He started Soccer this past Monday and he loved it, for the most part. He cried once when the coach was chasing him (for a game) but other then that he was fine. It's parent participation at this age level so there I am 6 months along running and playing as well. Coach Matt is awesome and knows us already so its nice to have him there to help be Bryce's partner too. He has been sick a few times this month already, poor guy. I spend most the days cleaning, playing, entertaining, running around and trying to keep everything organized for the next day. By 6pm the kitchen is closed, boys are in jammies and close to being in bed. I should get stuff done while they are sleeping but I'm so tired I end up laying on the couch watching TV and falling asleep. Which is kinda nice :)

Our Kids Halloween party is this Saturday. Where did that sneak up on me from? The boys are super excited and so is everyone else. We have lots of spooky food, games and treats lined up for the kiddos. This year will be our best turn out ever and I feel totally unprepared for everyone. We have 15 kids that have RSVP with parents, 5 maybes, and a few I think will show without a call. So it will be busy here!

Baby girl is doing great and will be here before we know it. We had a doctor appt yesterday, heartbeat is 140 and she is growing just fine. I have 1 more 4 week appt left then its onto 2 weeks from there. Next appt will be "hopefully" the last of my tests I need and we will be scheduling the Cesarean date, WOW! We got her bedding in yesterday and I can't wait to set up the room for her. We figure if its set up by Christmas we are in good shape!

Lighthouse with Mom

While my Mom was here we took her to the Portland Maine Lighthouse. We packed a lunch and make a picnic out of it. I just love that place, its so pretty and quite up there. We all had a great time and it was a wonderful family afternoon. I only wish the trees had a little more color on the drive but all in time :)

Soccer

We are week 3 of Noah's 1st outdoor Soccer. While outdoor is much different then indoor we are having a good time with it. Its so cute to see Noah with all his buddy's from school and pretty strange to walk around hearing kids yell Noah's name, especially the girls.....

Noah is having a great time but still pretty shy with it all. He was much more outgoing with indoor Soccer but like I said outdoor is a lot different. I think a few kids are confused and think it's Football or some sort of new tackle Soccer, and some just like to cry, A LOT. We used to feel pretty bad for these kids but now Ben and I think it's kinda funny. They stand on the field crying their eyes out not moving while their parents are yelling to keep going. I think they are done.... Noah loves defending the goal more then anything. His coaches are great and have nothing but great things to say about Noah, which is super nice. Poor Bryce has to sit bored out of his mind for an hour but does pretty good with it. I need to remember to pack things for him the night before since all of our games are at 8:30 and I just forget in the mornings.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday's Soccer events. Yesterday was also pictures and I'm a little upset that we spent a small fortune on pictures when I'm super happy with ones we took. The team picture was the highlight of the day, it took a little while and you should be able to tell why :)

Fast Foward

WOW its been almost a month again since my last post. I guess this is what happens when you have kids in school and sports, a husbands work schedule that is all over the place, running events to keep in line, a social schedule of your own to keep on top of and being pregnant. But I promise to try and get better at this.

My Dad came and went, we had a blast and like I said before we did a ton of stuff. Our BBQ on Saturday turned out great and everyone had a great time. Lots of new faces showed up which was alot of fun as well. I will start to post some pictures from our time together.

My Mom has also come and gone. Her visit went way too fast and was much needed. It was awesome having her here to help out with the boys and give me a much needed break. The boys loved having Grandma do everything for them as much as she loved doing it. We tried to do as much as possible but with Noah starting school and Soccer it got kinda hard. Ben was in Boston for most the week so he wasn't around too much. We were able to get a few things in and can't wait for her next visit with us. Grandma also got educated in Asthma since Noah was having breathing troubles for most the week. She even got to take a trip to the Doctor which ended in both boys getting flu shots. Good times :)

Noah is loving School, which is a huge relief. We have our 1st Parent/Teacher Conference coming up in the next week so we will soon find out how he is doing. He is making lots of new friends but seems to only really talk about the girls. He seems to be learning a lot already which has been fun for us. It does seem like he has grown so much this last month, he is so funny.

Poor Bryce still isn't in School yet. I know, I know. He is ready and talks about it all the time but I'm having a hard time with it. He just seems so little to me still and I'm not sure I'm ready to let him go. So its a totally "me" issue that I need to get over and just send him. The Preschool is ready for him and can't wait for him to show up. He is also going to start indoor Soccer soon and that should be lots of fun.

Ben schedule shows no relief in site. He took a few days off to spend with us which was AWESOME! But he is getting ready to head West soon. I'm super excited for him but also very jealous that he gets to go to Oregon for a whole week. Our friend Mike just happens to be going to the same Conference so they will be together causing trouble with some other friends as well. They should have a great time.

As for Mom, I'm doing pretty good. I'm almost 20 weeks along now and she is really starting to move around in there. And yes I said SHE, I still can't believe it. We found out Monday that we are having a little girl. I'm nervous but super excited at the same time. Ben is just thrilled and can't wait for her to get here. The boys are excited as well, it took Noah a little bit to come around but he is jazzed now. Bryce talks about his sister all the time to everyone. Its pretty darn cute.

Missing

Where has the month gone? Lots of things going on here to play catch up with. My Dad has been in town for the last 3 weeks and doesn't leave till Monday. We have had such a blast with Grandpa here. The boys were a little concerned with his cast at 1st but that went away real quick. We have done so much these last few weeks my head is still spinning. We have toured NH, MASS, ME, taken a weekend road trip to Vermont, BBQ, found some pretty fun little restaurants around, drove some more, and have shopped lots!! Its been crazy. On top of that Noah started school yesterday and we had lots of meetings leading up to that. Bryce will not start till October some time (due to Mom not wanting to let him go) Ben has spent a week in Boston for training, longs nights at work, a few over nights due to tropical storms and hurricanes, and will be back in Boston in a few weeks for another week. This time he will be staying there due to the long days. Good thing my Mom will be here to help me with adjusting to Noah's 1st full week of school. YEAH FOR MOMS! Noah also has Soccer starting up next week. His 1st practice is on Thursday and we are oh so lucky that we pulled every 8:30am game every Saturday till November. On top of that we are gearing up for Ben's running schedule as well, he has a hand full of races that he is going to do this Fall. I'm going to sit at the finish line with a bag of chips or something :).

As for me and the baby we are doing great! I'm almost 17 weeks along now. I can't believe it! It seems like yesterday that I was scared to tell everyone. But now it's almost time to find out if we are having a boy or girl!!! That's right 3 weeks till my US appt. We are still on the fence if we will find out the sex of the baby but I have a feeling we will give in. The boys have started going to the appts with us and they love it. Bryce can't wait to hold the baby and Noah can't wait to "teach" him all about babies. My belly is starting to grow and the boys love to point out how big its getting. I love it! I'm starting to feel little flutters here and there but no big movements yet. My belly seems to be bigger at night and Bens face lights up to see it grow. I love that too.

So we have been pretty busy but we are all doing great!! Ben has a "project" to attack Saturday, I will post pictures for that later. And Sunday we are planning a pretty big BBQ here at the house. As of last night my tally was up to 20 people. Still not sure how that happened? It should be a great time!!

York Zoo

About a month ago (I know, I know) my friend and I took the kids to the York Zoo in Maine. I was all excited, I love the Zoo!! Shortly after walking threw the entrance I realized we would never be going back. It was a very very sad place. The animals all looked so sad, their cages were the dirtiest things I have ever seen and half of them didn't even have water. And it was pretty hot out that day. It was also pretty dirty. Although Stacey and I were having issues with the kids touching things and wanting to run away the kids all had a great time. The boys had gone to the Portland Zoo a few times but really don't remember it. On top of the Zoo they had a little Amusement Park as well. The kids again were in heaven! The boys favorite thing was the slide. Both of them couldn't wait to get on it. I was nervous about what I was going to do with Bryce. I didn't know how safe it was for me to go, but I couldn't send him alone for the 1st time and couldn't tell him no either. So the 1st time I went down with him and he loved it!! The 2nd time I let Noah take him up there while I sat at the bottom waiting for him to come down. I think every parent there had some comment about him going alone and I got some dirty looks. But once they saw how much fun he had and how cute he was laughing they were all about sending their kids alone as well. In the end we were glad we went cause the kids had a blast!

Updates!!!!!

Ben and I are happy to announce that we are expecting baby #3 in February! We are both thrilled and so are the boys. Although Noah has already stated that he doesn't want a girl cause he can't stand to watch Barbies and Fairy's. I'm 12 weeks along and ready to start feeling better. We have been to the doctor a few times, got to see the little peanut once and heard a heartbeat last week. We took the boys with us and it was great to see their little faces.

I wish I could say things have slowed down but they haven't. The boys seem to be all over the place and I'm struggling to keep up some days. I wake up Monday praying for Friday to be here so Ben can be home. I'm not really sick anymore, I'm just super tired. I know they say every pregnancy is different but this is getting outta control. The everyday things seem to be taking its toll. Ben's AWESOME and takes care of what I can't (which seems to be alot) when he gets home and with a smile! I'm praying that this will pass soon and we can be back to normal around here soon.

In other news, I can't believe Summer is almost over. Noah starts school September 3rd and we have decided to start Bryce in Preschool this year too. We both think it will give him something just for him. Soccer starts here in a few weeks and that's always fun. We have done Birthdays, Parks, Zoo's, Pool time, Beach, and lots of playing in between. And yes I have pictures for all of these but I can't seem to find the energy to post anything. Hopefully soon. My Dad had hand surgery and is going to do the 2nd half of his recovery here. So he should be cleared to come up by next week sometime. Al and Debbie will also be here soon to visit and then my Mom will be here in Sept. Lots of stuff coming up. 4 grandparents in a month, the boys will love it!!

Bryce's 3rd Birthday

I promise to post pictures later with the days events. But I wanted you to see his cake that we made. Shell's pretty pumped. I put it up so those that can't join us still feel apart. it's 11:38 and the party starts at noon. Not showered and shell's get frustrated with me.... :) Heres goes. I gotta run or I will really be in trouble.

Bday

So there was a silver lining to the trip up north my brother's family had to take. For extremely unfortunate circumstances I was able to see my brother and his family this week. Amanda our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Here is some pictures of my Bday that we were fortunate enough to share together.