I just re-read a blog from exactly 7 years ago today and it made my head spin. It's been almost that long since I last blogged about our fun, silly and crazy days with 4 kids under the age of 4. Now, Kaitlyn, Ethan & Kylie are almost 11 and Emma is 8. These past years have flown by. I shudder at the thought that in another 7 years, our fabulous trio will be seniors in high school and our daily adventures with them will be nearing an end as they prepare for college and beyond.

Like any parents, we complain about the bickering and messes and crazy schedules that come with having kids, but it is an adventure that I would not trade in for anything.

With that in mind, here is what today looked like in our "normal" life:

After an early morning dentist appointment, I settled in for 5 hours of design work and a Hulafrog meeting in my office (aka- my closet) interrupted a few times from calls from my Dad with various requests. I drove JP to the train station so he could get in to Boston for a meeting and then I swung by my dad's to drop off some money.

At 2:15 an electrician stopped by to scope out some work we want to have done in the attic. Getting back to work was not successful as I checked in with him periodically and kept Bella as far away from him as I could as she is not a fan of having strangers lurking in the house.

Kylie and our buddy Will got home from school at 3:20 just before the electrician was leaving. After a brief chat about the school day, a snack and a last check in with work emails, we all jumped in the car and headed to school to pick up Ethan & Kaitlyn from chorus at 4. From there, we trekked over to the Boys and Girls Club to wait for Emma who needed to be picked up at 4:30. Will, Ethan & Kylie played tag on the lawn for a few minutes before Will's dad pulled in beside us and grabbed him. Tag just wasn't as much fun without Will and Ethan & Kylie sulked back to the car and jumped in to bicker with Kaitlyn and complain about the 10 minute wait. Finally 4:25 arrived after a very l-o-n-g 10 minutes of noise and Kylie bounced out to go pick up Emma.

 From the club we raced home so Emma could quickly get dressed for dance. My dad called again to say he couldn't find his money- I assured him it was in his wallet. Kylie didn't want to stay home alone so she accompanied Emma & I to the dance studio across town. We dropped Emma off and then slowly weaved our way back home through rush hour traffic downtown. Thankfully some silly voices and dialogue made the trip fun along the way. Once home, I raced to make dinner and get it on the table while Kaitlyn informed me that I needed to check my email to find out about basketball assignments. I did and I was glad she asked because after searching through a few days worth of messages I came across one from the Rec Dept that I had missed informing us that her practice was tomorrow night from 7:30 to 8:30. So much for having Wednesdays free and clear....

After a quick clearing of dinner dishes and yet another phone call from my Dad, Kylie and I jumped back in the car to go pick Emma up. Ethan & Kaitlyn chose to stay home and play on the computers some more. Once back home, I warmed up Em's dinner and got a call from Ethan's basketball coach that his practices are going to be Fridays from 8:00-9:00. We'll figure out how to work those around Kylie's Friday night cheerleading as we proceed on.... It always works out somehow!

I reminded everyone that it was a shower night and to get to it. Of course Kaitlyn was the only one who raced up to the bathroom. 10 minutes later it was time to go pick up JP from the train station. Heading towards the door, you would have thought I was condemning my kids to exile. They all started screaming and crying that they had to go with me because they couldn't be alone. Fine.... except Ethan was in the bathroom and needed a few more minutes. When he came out he was buck naked since he had planned to take a shower right after. He looked like a deer in headlights when I asked him to throw on some clothes. In a panic he raced upstairs and returned quickly in a t-shirt and jeans and said he'd be fine without shoes. Really? I could wait 30 seconds for him to grab shoes. Meanwhile, the girls are all waiting in the car and even Bella had decided that she too didn't want to stay home alone and was in the car as well. Miraculously, we made it to the train station just 2 minutes after the train had arrived and we got home safe and sound.

Once again, there is a big glass of wine sitting beside me as I type this out. Our days are definitely full and bustling and loud but that just means that they are full of life. Now we just need to find out when Emma's basketball practices are and prepare for the winter months sitting in gymnasiums for 3 different basketball games every Saturday. We made it through last year and we will make it through again.

Our days of dealing with diapers and new potty users are over and those days seem so much simpler to me now. Today we have a horseback rider, a dancer, a piano player, two trumpet players, two chorus kids, three basketball players, a lacrosse player, a cheerleader and two doing other miscellaneous activities that are thrown their way at the Boys & Girls Club. We also have kids who are happy- most of the time, anyway!

The word stress has been starting to get thrown around a lot lately as well, especially as far as Kaitlyn and Kylie are concerned. Anxiety is something we have been addressing lately. Hopefully, that will pass soon and not worsen. Childhood is supposed to be fun not stressful. I worry that my running around like a crazy lady to get everyone here, there, and everywhere between my busy work schedule rubs off on the kids. Not sure if its that or just their age that is bringing on new fears and concerns and anxieties. That blog entry is yet to be written. I don't ever recall considering myself to be stressed out until college! Elementary school days were simple and carefree. I wish the same were true today.

As I sign off here, I'm honestly not too sure if anyone else besides Kaitlyn ever made it into the shower tonight..... Time to go kiss some heads and find out!

Our Sick Spring

We all made it through the holidays and our birthdays without being too sick other than the occassional runny nose. Then February and March showed up and all the bugs arrived, too. A stomach bug that hit Ethan and Emma, an ear infection for Kylie & Emma, and a few diarrhea bugs that got us all sick. Just before St. Patrick's day, I came down with bronchitis that was treated with inhalers. After a couple weeks I still wasn't better so I had a chest exam that came out clear but the dr switched me to another inhaler to try in a few days if I wasn't feeling better.



By this time it was Easter weekend and we headed to the Cape on Good Friday. I used the new inhaler in the morning and that afternoon when we were settling in at Grammy's house, I went into a coughing fit and couldn't catch my breath to breathe. Christine called 911 and I took a trip in the ambulance to the ER. After some breathing treatments, another chest exam and being put on Cortizone, I felt a bit better and headed back to the condo with JP. Kaitlyn was still awake and asked me why the big ambulance took me away and whether or not the men in the truck were nice to me and did I wear my seat belt in the ambulance and was I safe? I assured that there was nothing to be afraid of, yes the EMT's were nice and helped me feel better, and that I wore my seatbelt and was safe the whole time I was gone. Her response, "Oh good- when can I go in an ambulance????"

The following weekend was my bi-yearly trip to the cape with some friends. I spent much of the time coughing my head off which I'm sure everyone greatly appreciated- and ended up with a sinus infection on top of the bronchitis..... I went on another round of antibiotics. A couple weeks later I just started to feel a little bit better and I came down with a vicious flu bug that left me feeling miserable and weak for over a week. Finally my doctor told me to just stay home, rest and avoid all germs possible so I could completely recuperate and get my strength back. By now it was Mother's Day weekend so I spent Mother's Day and the next few days in bed until it was Emma's turn to scare us all.



Then that Wednesday Emma had a febrile seizure and we called 911 for her and spent 6 hrs in the ER with her. Her fever was 105.9. They discharged us, told us all was fine but to return if it happened again. Well, Thursday night I was rocking her and she had another seizure so we headed back to the ER and they ran a battery of tests on her over 8 hours time including a spinal tap :( THey kept us overnight Thursday and Friday and her temp never got over 100.5 again thankfully. (Thursday at the ER it was 106.2!) They think it was Roseola- she was back to normal by Monday but it took me a while to get over the horror of it all. Finally, I started feeling better- less coughing but still lots of back pain from having pulled so many muscles from coughing so hard for so long..... It was a BAD spring to say the least.

And then just before our Memorial Day weekend away to the Lacoffs on Long Island, Ethan came down with diarrhea and vomiting and then Kylie came down with the same thing....By Saturday, everyone seemed well and we ventured to the ferry in CT to ride over to Long Island with Becca & Hester. It was a fun trip on the baot and the kids had a great time racing up and down and all around the decks. JP and I loved it because it's very rare for there to be a 1:1 ratio between adults and kids! Needless to say, that night after a great day of sun and catching up with friends, I came down with the stomach bug, too and Kaitlyn ended up throwing up in Rachels' room during the night which woke up the household. The next day JP was sick, too and by MOnday when we began the trip home both JP and I were drained while the kids all seemed to be back to 100%. It took another week for us to both feel back to normal. CRAZY!

Catching Up

I cannot believe that it's been 3 months since I last posted! During most days, something funny or cute (or troublesome) will occur and I plan to blog about it at night and then night comes, I sit on the couch and can't be bothered by starting up my laptop. Right now, I'm enjoying silence during the daytime hours while the big kids play outside in the play area and Emma is napping and I'm going to make use of the time to catch up (or more realistically, at least start to catch up).

A few more funnies:

Ethan & Kaitlyn were playing in the play room and Ethan comes into the kitchen crying while JP and I were making dinner and complains that Kaitlyn threw a toy at him. My sympathy level was running low after a long day so I told him that next she throws something just "duck". A few minutes later Ethan comes in crying again and says Kaitlyn was going to throw a ball at him again and he called her a duck bit she threw it anyway. ;)

The Easter candy was starting to run low (finally!) a couple weeks after Easter and Kaitlyn spied a stash of peanut butter eggs up in the snack closet. I told her they were for Daddy to which she replied that she had shared her peanut butter eggs with Dad so couldn't he share with her. Made sense to me- so I promised her that when she ran out of her own eggs I'd give her some of Daddy's. She then assumed a runner's starting position and pointed herself to towards the family room where her candy was up on the mantle and stated while pointing to her candy, " So if I run out to my candy, you'll give me more eggs?" ;)

Random Funnies........,

*Sometimes in a life with kids you just have those moments that make you laugh. Here are a few from our last few months:

- After the ice storm left us without power, I headed to my moms with the kids. Our second night there, Kaitlyn was still awake around 8:30 having napped earlier in the day but Ethan & Kylie had been fast asleep for a while. My mom and I are talking in the living room and we hear Kaitlyn who's playing in the hallway say "Whatcha doing Ethan? You have to go pee? But why are you peeing on Mimi's rug??????" Yep, he walked out of the bedroom, pulled down the front of his jammie bottoms and just peed on the rug. He pulled his pants back up and went right back to bed.

- While visiting Papa Perrault for a family St. Patrick's Day dinner, Emma (our resident neat freak) stood examining Papa's hallway which has light wood floors with occasional darker spots in the wood. She walked into the bathroom, grabbed a few sheets of toilet paper off the roll, returned to the hall and stooped over one of the spots and tried to scrub it off. She lifted the paper, saw there was nothing on it and tried again. Looked at the paper and still nothing. Then she moved onto a different spot and tried again.

- Emma's version of hugging someone is to go over to them and lean her head into them. She especially loves "hugging" the dogs who don't know what she's trying to do....

-Toilet training faux pas..... Oh so many- but a few that make us scratch our heads (all courtesy of Ethan) are when we found a puddle of urine sitting on the tp of the toilet seat. Thank goodness our seat cover is a bit concave. One day, my mom even found a big pile of poop on the cover after the kids had gone to bed, not smooshed or anything- not sure how he managed to get off without making a mess. Moral of these lessons: leave the toilet seat cover up at night.

Age 4 is lookin' good!

A few days ago I planned to write about how nice it has been around the house lately. The kids seem to have turned a corner in development and are back to being relatively nice, polite and fun little people.

Ethan has amazing patience with everything he touches and can sit down and work on a puzzle for an hour without batting an eyelash. He also puts together some amazing railroad setups. He especially loves taking his puzzles and trains apart so he can start all over again. His favorite pastime though is playing Wii MarioKart or "playing driving" as he calls it. He is so cuddly and lovable and deals with the girls (who tend to be the bosses around here) very well. My heart melts around him. Especially when he comes up to me and picks up my hand and kisses it. He's so sweet!

Kaitlyn is still the Alpha dog- so long as she is the first to do anything it's smooth sailing. Of course, she's not always the first as we are desperately trying to teach her that we all take turns being first. This usually results in a complete breakdown with a flashflood of tears but she recovers quick and moves on soon enough. Kaitlyn loves to play on the computer and play MarioKart as well. She's also been spending a lot of time lately with all her babies and settling them into their doll cribs for naps. It's rare for Kaitlyn to just plop down and watch a whole movie because she loves to move around. We are now recording Olivia episodes everyday and she loves to watch those after dinner at night.

Kylie is Kylie. Still a tough cookie but much easier to reason with lately. We've had some issues at school with her disobeying and acting out but at home she's been great. She loves to help out in the kitchen- getting dinner ready, setting the table, feeding the dogs. She's a snuggle bug and loves to curl up on the couch with us to watch movies. She has zero interest in Wii- she prefers to play with her princesses and play dress up. Definitely a girlie- girl!

It's amazing the things that they can do now that they couldn't do own their own a year ago:
- Getting dressed (Ethan loves to do his own buttons)
- Brushing their teeth
- Making their beds (as well as can be expected anyway....)
- Using scissors (Kaitlyn is especially amazing!)
- Getting coats and shoes on (we just need to zip the girls up)
- Going to time out when asked (usually without arguing)
- Playing nicely with eachother (for short amounts of time anyway)
- Playing card games- Memory & Go Fish are favorites
- Still eating great dinners- very little fussing at dinnertime- favorites are steak and salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and salmon.

Less arguing, fighting, and bickering is so nice. All in all, we've been having a lot more fun around here lately!

A Wonderful Field Trip

25 Random Things About Me

This was something I did through Facebook but thought I'd post it here, too since it sums up my life pretty well :) I was only supposed to list 25 but I just couldn't stop....

1. Everyday I hope that I can be as good a Mom to my kids as my Mom was to me.
2. I already feel guilty that there is no way we can pay for all of the kids' college tuitions. My Mom paid for all of mine and looking back on it, not having student loans was a lot nicer than I ever gave it credit for...... Thanks, Mom!
3. I don't play the lottery which rules out any option for #2.
4. I LOVE my kids so much- they are the loves of my life!!!! I do have "favorites" though.....
5. I miss my pre-children days when JP and I lived in Boston within walking distance of everything and had a life of leisure.....
6. My husband treats me like a princess and appreciates all that I do.
6. I regret very few things in life.
7. One regret- I wish I hadn't been so quiet in elementary school. It set me up as the "shy kid" which was a mold I was never able to break out of even through high school.
8. I wish I hadn't been such a goody good in high school- I would have had a lot more fun.
9. I let loose in college :) and had a LOT more fun!
10. I love my husband very much- marriage is a fine balance and we usually get it right.
11. I hate money and wish it wasn't needed in life.
12. I like my career but most days wish that I didn't have to work- I'd still lke to send the kids to daycare a few days a week though.....
13. I have very few complaints about my post-pregnancy body- but I would love to get breast implants someday. It just goes back to that darn money thing..... Maybe when I'm no longer paying so much for preschool ;)
14. I am terrified of the thought of dying young and not seeing my kids grow up and have their own families. I really look forward to being a grandma some day- although there is no rush.
15. Should I die young, I'm afraid of being forgotten by my children or replaced by someone else.
16. I fully expect to remain married to JP for the rest of my life- he may drive me nuts at times- but he is truly amazing.
17. I just heard about the doomsday prophecy for 2012 from another friend's notes and now I'm afraid of that...... Thanks a lot!
18. I am a perfectionist but frankly just don't have the time lately.
19. I love to read just to get lost in the story- especially murder mystery/ romance novels.
20. I miss my grandparents old farm house in Maine.
21. I wish I didn't get so offended that a few old friends no longer want to hang out with us.
22. My feelings get hurt easily.
23. Nobody better mess with my kids- ever!
24. I love my friends but wish I had more really close friends to talk to.
25. I wish I was closer to my Dad and brother.
26. I sometimes get jealous of the bond that all my kids will hopefully have together- but I'm so happy for them :)
27. I picked up and moved to SanDiego after college on somebody else's drunken whim.
28. I love being pregnant and I'm a little bit sad that it won't hapen again- but 5 kids would be a bit much. What would we drive?
29. I love driving a minivan- never thought I'd say that!
30. Oops- I can't seem to stop babbling-sorry! I'm also a wee bit of an overachiever.

Life is Good!

Today is my 36th birthday and I just have to say that life is good. I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband who treats me like a princess (every little girl's dream come true!), 4 amazing kids who may drive me nuts most of the day but who are truly the loves of my life whose smiles melt my heart, and a beautiful home in a great town filled with friends. My only birthday wish is for a long and healthy life so I can be here for my kids and watch them grow up and have families of their own and so that I can spend more quiet time with JP someday later on in life when the kids have grown up and moved on.

I feel like I have lived two lives- one was pre-children where JP and lived in Boston within walking distance of everything we needed. We could sleep in, wander down the street for a leisurely coffee and breakfast and then walk up to Boston Common to catch a movie. We were never in a rush- our time was own. Our birthdays were special days- we'd go out for a nice dinner and just enjoy spending time with one another.

After we were married, my thoughts were instantly on starting a family. Little did I know that it would be 3 1/2 very long years before that dream would come true- but it was definitely worth the wait. I remember my 32nd birthday like it was yesterday because it was by far my best birthday ever. Ethan, Kaitlyn & Kylie were 7 days old and still at Brigham & Women's Hospital. JP drove me into the city to visit them but first we went to MGH to see Dr Toth- our infertility dr- to say thank you to him for all his help and to show him pictures of our little miracles. I remember thinking how very lucky I was to finally have the family I had dreamt about for so long. At Brigham & Womens- JP placed a birthday card from each of the kids to me on their isolettes :) We spent half the day with the kids- holding them, feeding them, and changing them. It was on that day that I realized that even though it may be my birthday, from now on each and every day would really be all about them- and that was just fine with me.

On my 33rd birthday, JP offered to take the kids out somewhere so I could have some alone time..... I insisted that we all go out together because there wasn't anyone else I'd rather spend my day with. So we spent the afternoon at the mall play area and had a great time.

By my 34th birthday, I was ready to spend some time by myself ;) I don't remember what I did but I do remember that JP took care of the kids for the most part of the day.

Last year, I had a sweet new baby in my arms once again and couldn't have been happier to experience all the wonderful baby firsts once again.

Today, I'm home with Emma just relaxing. There's no place I'd rather be. I am thankful that JP let me stay in bed this morning while he oversaw the kids getting dressed, made their breakfasts and took them to preschool. I was also thrilled to have a chorus of "Happy Birthday" sung to me over and over and over again by our 3 adorable 4 year olds :)

JP, Emma and I are going to the Olive Garden for lunch today with my Dad which should be nice, too. It's not like the elegant dinner we surely would have had pre-kids while living in Boston- but it's what our life is today and I couldn't be happier.

Yes...... life is good!

Enjoying breakfast with Emma:

Birthdays!

The month of January is filled with family birthdays- Aunt Jenn, Mimi, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Steve. Then comes a week long baking fest for Ethan, Kaitkyn & Kylie's birthday. This year the 14th fell on a Wednesday so we sent the kids to school with 5dozen chocolate chip cookies to enjoy with their teachers and friends at snack time. WE then picked them up a bit early and headed to McDonalds to play on the big slide that the kids have been begging to play on for years- I don't know how we've managed to hold them off this long. Kaitlyn knew ahead of time that she wouldn't go on the slide but rather just look at it because it was too big and scary for her ;)
Kylie and Ethan on the other hand couldn't get up to the top fast enough and then we couldn't get them to slow down long enough to eat :)





Then we headed home to open gifts and have cake.....









Then on Saturday we had a big family party which as always was lots of fun. The kids' love getting together with their cousins Ashlyn & Lily and seeing all their aunts, uncles and grandparents.







Of course, Ethan's favorite part of the party was playing Mario Kart:



Emma even got into the act:

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year filled with anticipation of Christmas morning and a peaceful and relaxing time with family. Of course this year it didn't seem quite so peaceful or relaxing with me spending most of the morning and early afternoon cooking and baking but the time Mimi, Papa, and Uncle Steve arrived all was done and we had a wonderful afternoon and a delicious Christmas Eve dinner.

Mimi & Emma:



Papa & Ethan napping:



All Ready for Dinner:





Enjoying some quiet time after dinner:

A Very Merry & Crazy Christmas....

We were all so excited for Christmas this year. The kids especially couldn't wait for Santa to arrive. Christmas morning we fully expected the kids to wake us up at 5am but amazingly they slep until just past 6:30. We all headed down to the kitchen and the kids waited for us to make our coffees before heading out to the family room. Of course, their faces were all pressed against the French doors trying to make out what the presents were under the tree. Sitting on the kitchen counter was a half-eaten pixie stick...... apparently Santa was hungry while putting treats in the kids' stockings and decided to help himself. (Kaitlyn still asks why Santa ate their candy).

The kids punced down the stairs as soon as we opened the doors and they couldn't get to the tree fast enough. The girls' instantky zoned in on some make-up cases sitting on a new vanity and Ethan spotted Spike the Dinosaur under the tree. The race was on..... they happily ripped into one gift after another and their favirite gift was apparentky the next one to be opened (or in Kaitlyn's case, the one that someone else was playing with). Emma was of course more interested in the wrapping paper and the big kid gifts more so than her on but after a while she did sit down and open a few gifts herself.

It was a crazy morning with wrapping paper flying through the air and the assembling of toys...... Why every toy is secured to it's box with 20 twist ties is beyond me!

Pictures to follow soon.

Random Humorous Moments

Yesterday morning when I heard the kids stirring in their bedroom, I called to them to start getting dressed and that their clothes were all laid on their dresser. After a few minutes of shuffling around, it was apparent that Kaitlyn & Ethan had not yet even started taking their jammies off. Determined not to have to get out of bed yet, I called again to them to get dressed and asked if there was a problem. Kaitlyn called back "Well I had my clothes in my arms but then they just hopped away"..... Then Kylie replied "My clothes just went poof and disappeared". JP turned to me and suggested that we stay out of the kids' room because there was obviously something strange happening in there ;) Eventually, Kylie got dressed completely on her own and joined us in the bedroom. Kaitlyn & Ethan continued to complain about not being able to find their clothes. Still not wanting to get up, we bribed Kylie with a cookie before breakfast if she'd go help Kaitlyn find the clothes that hopped away. She did and she returned. Ethan was still having problems so we offered Kylie 2cookies if she'd go help Ethan. She looked at us and said "no that's ok, I only need 1 cookie, thank you". And so I got up to assist.

Last night before dinner, Kaitlyn and Ethan were getting under each other's skin in the play room while JP and I were preparing dinner. At one point Ethan burst into tears and came running into the kitchen saying that Kaitlyn had thrown a toy at him. At this point I was sick and tired of hearing bickering and complaining and fighting so I simply replied "Well, then DUCK" (as in if she throws another toy duck away to avoid it). He left the room and a minute later came in and said "I called Kaitlyn a duck but she still threw another toy at me....." JP and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Underwear Stashing?!?!?

Occasionally, I find a pair of underwear under Kaitlyn's pillow at night when I'm tucking her in and she says that she's "saving them for tomorrow". Well, this morning when I was making her bed, I found 3 pairs of underwear under her covers. When she got home from school tonight, I asked her why she had so many undies in her bed and she replied- "Well, they're all kitty undies((Hello Kitty, that is)) and I like kitties. I don't want no one else wearing the kitties". How can one argue with that? Someday Kaitlyn will be one of those little old ladies who stashes away so much food in her pantry in case of an emergency that it all expires before she can use it...... And don't ask her to share any of it with you.

Who Needs Toys to have Fun? Not Emma!

I always get a good laugh at the things that amuse kids. All of these pictures were taken in a matter of minutes as Emma cruised around the family room:

Boinging the door stops:




Violently shaking our light:



Trying to escape??? Already????




Pushing our side table around the room:



Opening and shutting the one non-childproofed cabinet:



Collecting any remote control or phone that she can get her hands on:



And when she's in her play area, her favorite thing to do is to throw all her toys out as evidenced here..... All her toys had been inside the play area earlier in the day:

The Ice Storm......

In the past whenever there has been mention of icestorms- I've thought- big deal. We'll lose our power for a few hours, the ice will melt and all will be fine so long as we stay off the roads.

Such was not the case on December 11, 2008. The ice began falling around 8:00pm. The lights flickered on and off for a couple hours until finally going off for good at 10:30. After reading by flashlight for a short while, I rolled over and went fast asleep.


At 1:30 Friday morning, I was awakened by a loud crash which shook our house. It was just the first of many crashes, crunches and booms that were going to occur for the next 6 hours. These were the longest and darkest 6 hours that I can ever remember. I pride myself on being able to sleep through anything but the sheer terror of what was falling outside our house was enough to keep me awake all night long. A half hour after I woke up, JP stirred and got up with me so we could assess any damage we might be able to see through the dark night. The crash that awakened JP was a huge part of our neighbors tree falling across our street. We saw headlights approaching down the street and then turning around as the street was impassable. A short while later a police officer arrived and assessed the situation. While he was there, he crunched through the 2" deep slush on the side street pulling tree branches and debris to the side of the road as that street was impassable as well. From what we could see from the windows thanks to the shining blue lights and the police spotlight, two sections of our picket fence had been crushed to the ground by a 10-12" caliper tree branch that broke off one of our Silver Maples (which was just one of the 5 trees we would have liked to have cut down this past year if we'd had a few extra thousand dollars lying around). Mother Nature had decided to do some pruning for us instead.

We looked at a clock at 2:30am and I couldn't believe it was still so early in the night and that daylight was still hours away. Kylie joined us in our room for a while and eventually she and I moved to Emma's room because her tossing and turning was keeping JP awake. I knew there was no chance I'd fall asleep with the continuous crashing outside. I just lay awake wondering which tree had fallen and what it had hit. Each time the ice covered branches struck the ground, all the ice shattered which made the damage sound much worse than it really was as I realized once daylight of morning finally arrived. After quickly surveying the damage from every window of the house, thankfully it appeared that most of the damage was superficial. We will definitely need to have all the Silver Maples taken down now as there isn't too much left of the 70' tall trees except bare trunks and a few branches. JP ended up having to cut down most of one of my favorite trees, an 80 year old Crabapple at the top of the driveway as it was split and was blocking the garage. Ironically, just the night before this one, I had awakened and sat bolt upright after a terrible nightmare that my stepfather had cut down this very tree and I was fuming that he would do such a thing to such a beautiful tree! We also lost a really large Burning Bush outside the play room which I'm hoping will somehow manage to grow back as they are now prohibited to plant in Massachusetts but I love them all the same. Other than that, despite the fact that every square foot of our yard was buried in trees, tree branches and debris, we manage to weather the storm ok.

Our once beautiful Crabapple which blocked our exit from the garage until JP chopped part of it down.....





Our newly "pruned" Silver Maples:



The view into our side garden:



Our family room was 52 degrees when we woke up and JP quickly made a fire to take the chill off. The kids couldn't understand why the TV and the lights wouldn't work. Fortunately, we have a gas stove so we were at least able to make a hot breakfast for everyone and some coffee for us. I called my parents to see what the news was saying about the extent of the damage so we could figure out when power might come back on. The news was not good. A State of Emergency had been declared and they were guessing that it could take at least 2 to 3 days for electricity to be restored. Sitting at home with 4 kids under 4 without any heat or electricity for that long a time was out of the question. I packed everyone up and we evacuated to Norwell..... JP stayed behind to begin (and finish!) the clean up and to protect the house.

Here it is now, 8:00 Sunday night and JP is still home alone without any power. He mentioned that the family room was 46 degrees this morning when he woke up. Brrrr...... I'm hoping tomorrow we can head home but not until we hear that the heat and electricity are back on!

Edited Tuesday, December 16:

I'm glad to say that we made it home yesterday. Power came back on around 7am. The house was still a bit cold at 3pm yesterday but it takes a long time to warm up a big old house that had cooled off to a chilly 42 degrees!

Driving around the streets in our town and the surrounding towns is eerie. There are downed trees and branches along every roadside and piles of branches everywhere..... Crazy!

Today I spent some time picking up off the ground shattered Christmas ball ornaments that had been hung on the garland along the fence. I tried to restring the garland the best I could but one set of lights had been snapped and although I thought the other set was ok, tonight when we tried to turn them on they didn't work so I'll try to figure that at tomorrow. Tonight they are forecasting snow which I will take any day over ice.

It's the Great Christmas Tree, Emma Lynne!

To say that I go all out when decorating our house for Christmas is an understatement. I LOVE to deck the halls with garlands, and lights, and ornaments and beads and anything else I have on hand (or that Michaels sells...). My mom always decorated our house so beautifully during the holidays with several Christmas trees and lots of little decorations and greenery everywhere which I just adored. I always knew that I would do the same for my family one day because it just made Christmas that much more magical.

I'm so excited that the kids have the same reaction to our house all decorated, that I had to my house when I was little. Kaitlyn loves our Dickens Village and declared that it was "Beautiful!" when I was setting it up on our family room shelves. Kylie everynight asks me to turn the people on- meaning turn on the Village lights so that she can watch the little people dance in Fezziwigg's Ballroom. Kylie also raced around the house after she got home from the Cape "oohing" and "ahhing" in every room. It melted my heart to see how excited she was!

Emma, too, is fascinated by all the Christmas accroutrements. At every meal, she points to the garland over the kitchen French doors and mumbles one of her many incomprehensible phrases until we plug the lights in and then she breaks out in a huge smile and points to the garland over the kitchen window until we plug those in as well. Yesterday, she toddled over to the Christmas tree and stood just a few inches away from it and slowly lifted her head gazing at the tree until her eyes reached the top of the tree and then her eyes lit up in excitement. I saw in her face, the true meaning of Christmas- peace, joy and wonderment!

Our Little Plumber checking out the structural integrity of the tree:



Appreciating all the details:



And taking it all in:

Success! Christmas Photos are done!

Every year I dread taking the kids' pictures for our annual Christmas photo card. This year was no exception..... I thought for sure it was going to be a complete nightmare trying to get 3 crazy kids and 1 very busy toddler to stop to smile at the same time..... Boy was I wrong! I got each one dressed right after they woke up from their naps, and took some solo pictures. Emma was first and she was a complete ham. She could not stop smiling as she sat proudly in her "big kid" chair. Then came Kylie who is usually my monkey of the group- but today she couldn't wait to get all dressed up and to have her hair done and she happily posed by the tree. Ethan and Kaitlyn then joined us and had their solo pictures taken too but Kylie kept trying to hop in for a group picture so their individual pictures were a bit rushed.

The group photo session went really well, too. These pictures speak for themselves: