Happy Thanksgiving (a day late)

 We are thankful for cousins and time spent with family....

 And quiet time spent together to remember the love we have for each other 

without all the chaos of our busy lives...

 And warm summer nights listening to music with those we love....

 And rainbows in Maine on our 9th wedding anniversary that reminds us that only God can create something as beautiful as that...

 And first days of kindergarten at a great school that also offers mommy 

a fabulous job to go to each day...

 And happy times together as siblings....

 And a dog who loves us endlessly with her forever wagging tail....

And summer rides in the Galaxie with the top down - yahoo! 

Our family has so much to be thankful for this year. We are blessed with plenty. Just thought I would update with some pictures to show just a small portion of what we are thankful for. We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with many blessings and that as this holiday season begins, everyone stops a moment to remember the true reason for this season. We pray that your holidays will be filled with lots of love, happiness, and time with family and friends.

The Way Life Should Be.....

Our annual trip to Maine proved to be better than the last. We arrived in Boothbay Harbor on August 11th for our week in Maine. This year was special, because we brought Grannie Frannie's ashes on our journey. Her last wish was to be buried with her dad in Bradley, Maine. Jay's Aunt Rhoda and Uncle Ray joined us from Michigan this year, too. The family brought Frannie's ashes up to Bradley and we ate a ton of lobster in her memory throughout the week :-)

Our week was filled with searches for sea glass, eating lobster, swimming in the icy cold ocean, eating more lobster, venturing out on a boat trip that pulled up a lobster trap filled with goodies, eating even more lobster, and many happy memories with our family. Jay and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on the 16th. It rained all day, but we ventured out for a quiet dinner alone and on the way out of the restaurant, the rain stopped and a double rainbow shone over the harbor. The day we returned back to CT, Caden had a hard time falling asleep and began crying because he wanted to go back to Maine. It is easy to understand why. There is a reason that Maine's state saying is "The Way Life Should Be." When we are there, no worries seem to matter. There is happiness, peace, joy, and relaxation that just isn't felt anywhere else. Some day we might just have to buy a summer home in Maine (when Grampy Mark finally wins the lotto!).

 On the beach at our rental house, "Island View"

 Gotta capture these moments when they happen :-)

 Gorgeous sunset over Boothbay Harbor

 Addie definitely tested my patience on vacation, but with a smile like that, how could I stay angry for too long?

 One morning a family of ducks joined us on the beach (throwing them bread gave them a little encouragement to get real close). Grampy loves birds, ducks, etc...so he was in his glory!

 So handsome...we are going to have to chase the girls away!

 Contemplating life at the back of the boat :-)

 Only in Maine can you buy 8 large lobsters and 2 dozen clams for $50 and enjoy every single bite.

 Aunties and Addie enjoying the ride. I finally got Becky in a photo! She is always the one taking the pics, but not this time :-)

 Aunt Rhoda, Uncle Ray, Grammie Pammie and Addie admiring the views

 Are there any pirates or mermaids out there?

 Having fun with the rocks...we left our mark on the beach :-)

We are blessed to have such loving family and are grateful that this annual trip can happen each year.  I know the wait each year for our trip seems never-ending, but each time we arrive in Maine, I know we are creating a lifetime of memories for our family that will live on forever. I hope that when Caden and Addie are grown with their own children some day....that they, too, will continue these trips. Then Jay and I will be the grandparents tagging along (that's a scary thought!). But time does go by so fast. Speaking of time flying, we are looking forward to sharing pics of Caden's first day of kindergarten this upcoming week. We can't believe it is that time already! Where does time go?

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer filled with many of your own happy memories with family and friends. Looking forward to cool nights and falling leaves soon.

FINALLY.....

So it only took me 6 months, but I finally uploaded the pictures from our camera to our computer. There are way too many that I love to share so I have picked some of our favorites to catch you all up on our lives. The past few months have been a bit hectic. My father, AKA Grandpa Hubert, was in the hospital for a long time at the beginning of May. He is home now and has been living with us for the past month. It has been a long journey, but we are so grateful to have found a place for him to live not far from us. He is taking good care of himself, and we are glad that God has helped him in his recovery and that we have all had patience with each other during this time, too!

Otherwise, we celebrated Caden's 5th birthday in March with a pirate bowling party and Addie's 3rd birthday in May with a Disney Princess theme. Both parties were a hit and we can't believe how fast both the kids are growing. Caden is starting kindergarten soon, and Addie just moved up a class at her preschool. We are all healthy and happy. We will be traveling to Boothbay Harbor, Maine in a few weeks for our annual vacation. We are all very excited to eat some lobster, collect sea glass, and also unite with some family members this year. We will be honoring Grannie Frannie's last wish of being buried with her father. We will join Aunt Rhoda and Uncle Ray to bring Frannie's ashes up to Bradley, Maine, where her dad is buried. We cannot believe it has already been over a year since Frannie died. We miss her dearly and think of her each time we hear an old country song or see someone wearing purple :-) Looking forward to sharing pics from our trip when we return.

 Caden celebrating his 5th with his preschool buddies, Will and Ryan.

 We can finally swing without needing a push!

 Just love those baby-blue eyes. We are in trouble when he gets older.

 We are in EVEN more trouble when this one grows up!

 So handsome!

 At least one of us is smiling :-)

 Mommy and Daddy going to the FCDS 75th Anniversary Gala in April - Date Night!!

 CHEESE!!

 Happy Birthday to Princess Addie! Note the cake was made by Daddy and Mommy :-)

 Big man on campus - graduating from preschool

 Just the first of many graduations to come :-)

We hope everyone is having a fantastic summer and enjoying time with family and friends. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Sharing some favorite pics....

 Loving the missing tooth, but we will also be happy when a new one finally comes in. If you haven't heard the story yet, Caden had his first tooth knocked out by a girl in his preschool class. It was quite traumatic for him to say the least....I think he is happy to be going to an all-boys school soon! 

 Playground fun with mommy. We were happy to be out on one of our first warm spring days.

 One of our favorite family traditions...watching Daddy march in the Memorial Day parade. We were especially proud of Daddy this year as he marched for the first time as Lieutenant Mitchell :-)

 I recently took the kids to the park where I took pictures on my wedding day. It is hard to believe that was almost 9 years ago already. Where does the time go? Same place 9 years later....with our two little kiddos.  It is so great to see them smiling and getting along with each other in this picture!

Addie in her Easter dress. She wanted to wear it every day for a week :-) She is our pretty princess!

It's been way too long!!!

I have not forgotten about my blog. Life has just gotten the best of me in the past 6 months! I cannot believe that I have not posted a thing since January. School is out now, so I hope to update our page in the coming days with new pics of the kids and news about our adventures. Sorry it has taken me so long to update!

In a nutshell, the past 6 months have been great. We all celebrated our birthdays - Jay has his this week. Addie is 3 now and Caden is 5. Caden will start kindergarten at my school in September. Jay and I just attended a new parent reception there tonight. Even though I have been teaching there for 10 years now (crazy how time flies), it is exciting for us to be "new parents." We are so excited that Caden will have the opportunity to go there, and we only wish Addie were a boy some days, so she could join her brother there in 2 years!

Caden is growing into our little man. I am thrilled to be able to ride to school with him next year and finally have someone to talk with on my ride to work. Caden will start summer camp at FCDS next week. He is so thrilled and can't wait to make new friends. Of course, he is also happy to have mom around, and Grammie Pammie, too (she's our school receptionist).

Addie wore a t-shirt today to sum her up. It read "Little Sister, Big Attitude." She is our little drama queen. Maybe her drama will pay off when we sign her up for acting classes some day. She loves to sing and dance. One of my favorite things to do is listen to her sing...she makes up her own songs as she lays in bed at night. It is the cutest thing ever. Her favorite song to sing is "You're a Grand Old Flag." She belts it out anytime she sees an American flag - my little patriotic princess.

I am on my new school laptop and there are no photos uploaded to it yet. As soon as I put some on here, I will post pictures - I promise that will be soon!! You have to see how big Caden and Addie have gotten!

Hope all is well with family and friends and that God has blessed you each with some sunshine.

Merry Christmas!!

Jay's exciting gift this year was a new white fire helmet to use in his Lieutenant position. I finally surprised him with a gift he didn't know about!

Caden and Daddy have been having fun building their newest Lego creations from Santa - a fire brigade and pirate ship.

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to have the grandkids build gingerbread houses with their Grandma Nancy. I think they eat more sugar that night than all year long :-) Can you tell from the smile on Caden's face?

Addie takes a while to wake up, so Christmas morning was somewhat uneventful for her. She spent most of her time cuddling and sucking her thumb, but eventually opened her gifts.

Christmas Eve - ready for the party!

Our favorite Christmas photo :-)

Making cornflake cookies with Daddy - a favorite recipe from Jay's childhood when his Grandma Margaret used to make them.

Christmas was great this year. Both Caden and Addie are at the age where everything about Christmas is exciting from decorating to baking cookies to opening gifts, of course. We hosted Christmas Eve with our families as we usually do. On Christmas Day we relaxed in the morning and went to Jay's Uncle Joe's house to celebrate with Poppi and his family. Surprisingly the kids slept until about 7:30 Christmas morning so we didn't have to get up too early. Santa brought the kids lots of fun stuff, but we didn't forget to stop and remember the real reason for the holiday. We also missed those that are no longer with us, especially Grannie Frannie. She was here in spirit. Our little Addie does all the singing in our household now :-) And we must sign her up for dance class soon, too!

We hope that you enjoyed your holidays, also! Winter in CT has been rather mild. It was 62 degrees today! We are hoping that the snow isn't waiting until later in the season and that we just won't get much. We certainly had plenty to go around last year.

We wish you a 2012 filled with happiness and good health! Happy New Year!

Firehouse Xmas Party

The kids visited with Santa at the annual Huntington Fire Co. Christmas Party in early December. Caden and Addie anxiously awaited Santa's arrival on the fire truck. Each year that I wait with them I am brought back to my childhood when I would anxiously wait on my Grandma Laurenda and Grandpa Hubert's couch for Santa's arrival. It was the highlight of my holidays and a tradition that I will always hold dear to my heart even now, years after the last visit from Santa on Christmas Eve. So when I wait with Caden and Addie to hear the sirens of the truck arriving, tears usually fill my eyes as I remember to embrace those moments with my children because they really do go by so fast.