As I Watch You Grow

  Do you know how much you mean to me?

As you grow into what you will be.

You came from within, from just beneath my heart

it's there you'll always be though your own life will now start.

                                      You're growing so fast it sends me awhirl.
                                       With misty eyes I ask, Where's my little girl?
                                   I know sometimes to you I seem harsh and unfair,
                            But one day you will see, I taught you well because I care.
                                               

                                    The next few years will so quickly fly,
                          With laughter and joy, mixed with a few tears to cry.
                     As you begin your growth to womanhood, this fact you must know,
                      You'll always be my source of pride, no matter where you go.

                           You must stand up tall and proud, within you feel no fear.
                            For all your dreams and goals, sit before you very near.
                             With God's love in your heart and the world by its tail,
                             You'll always be my winner, and victory will prevail.
                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                          Kay Theese


       

      Hannah, I am BLESSED beyond words to have you as my daughter.  I am honored that God choose me to be your MOM.  Happy 9th Birthday my little Hannabelle!  Love you! xoxoxoxoxo

The Family

                   Hard to believe we are embarking on November.  The wonderful month we like to give thanks to all the blessings in our lives.  A blog I enjoy reading and looking at her beautiful pictures, 5perfectimperfections.blogspot.com, suggested a wonderful idea for the month of November.  Heidi suggested posting something we are grateful for each day in November (or almost every day in my case!)  As the holidays are approaching I think this will be a wonderful way to slow down and focus on what really matters.  The holidays seem to sometimes bring out the crazy and stress in people, or is that just me!,  Anyhow, I love this idea and will do my best to give thanks each day.
                 Today I will start with my family.  My little munchkins are my most precious things ever!  I feel so blessed to have them and treasure being their mom.  There was a time about ten years ago when doctors thought I may not be able to have children.  Well,  that was ten years ago and here we are four children later. . . go figure.  Love you guys!

BOO HOO!

Halloween is cancelled in our town!  Never in my lifetime have I had Halloween cancelled.  Of course it will be rescheduled to next Sunday, but don't tell that to a bunch of little monsters who have been counting down the days since October 1st. . . . .Oh the disappointment.  Such is life.  We are actually counting our blessings because this storm has reeked havoc in many towns.  Some will be without electricity until Thursday.  Trees cover many roads and homes.  We may have school cancelled all week (gasp)!  But, we are one of the lucky ones.  We only lost power for about 12 hours.  Many of our friends and family are not so lucky.  Some don't even have water due to the wells.  For now I will end with some Halloween  photos form the last two years and remind myself how lucky we are.
                                                              HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween 2009

                                                         

2010

TRICK OR TREAT????

TODAY WE DID THIS . . . .

CARVED PUMPKINS!

LIT THE JACK 'O' LANTERNS

ADMIRED OUR WORK.  WHILE OUTSIDE IT LOOKED LIKE THIS. . . . .

LAST TIME I CHECKED WE WERE GETTING READY FOR HALLOWEEN, NOT CHRISTMAS.  THIS HAS TO BE SOME TRICK, YET MY LITTLE ONES CERTAINLY FEEL IT IS A TREAT!

WE RARLEY GET SNOW THIS EARLY.  MAYBE AROUND THANKSGIVING, BUT NEVER BEFORE HALLOWEEN!  I GUESS NEVER SAY NEVER.  LET'S JUST HOPE IT MELTS AS FAST AS IT CAME.  AS I AM TYPING THIS AT LEAST SIX MORE INCHES HAVE FALLEN AND IT IS EXPECTED TO GO ALL NIGHT.  I GUESS WE WILL BE SLEDDING FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE TO GET OUR TREATS THIS YEAR!

A Little Monkeying Around!

       Two things my little Ryland is obsessed with these days are football and monkeys.  When it came to deciding a theme for his birthday party, I knew it would be one of the two.  With some careful thought he came up with the plan to have a monkey party this year and have a football party next year.  Got to love a boy who plans ahead.  Love it!

        Hannah and Ryland's birthdays are less than three weeks apart so this year I decided to do a combined friends and family party.  Since we already had our monkey theme I thought how cute would it be to do a mod boy and mod girl monkey party.  Thanks to the wonderful ladies at Etsy I had a lot of fun planning.

Our wonderful local bakery made this beautiful cake as well as the cupcakes I had made for the girls!

The kids and I had fun making these monkey pumpkins!

We had fun decorating pumpkins and creating sand art!

I found these monkey tins on line which could be personalized and thought it would be cute to fill them with monkey cake pops.  I thought they turned out so cute!

Ryland's greeting when he went to preschool on his birthday.  How special!

We surprised Ryland with a new bike on his actual birthday!

Hannah will be turning nine in two weeks.  We will be visiting the American Girl Doll Store and celebrating with some friends.  I know she is super excited and cannot wait!

Happy Birthday my little monkey's.  I love you both so much!  XOXOXOXO,

Wonder Fall!

We have certainly benn having a wonderful and busy fall.  I thought the summer was busy. . . the school year is simply a new kind of busy.  We have dance classes, football practice and games, field hockey, play practice, ccd, and of course homework and projects.  Not to mention my volunteering at each school.  I, however, would not have it any other way.  I like to be busy.  I just wish I could slow things down a bit.  It is easy to get caught up and not fully enjoy all of these moments.  I know I will never have these days back so I am trying to live them fully!  I am grateful to have a place I can document all of these moments and at least can remember them through pictures and words.

Fall is most definitely one of my favorite times of the year.  The crisp air, fall leaves, beautiful colors, apple picking, football games and pumpkin patches.  Speaking of pumpkins, I might be slightly obsessed with anything pumpkin and this time of the year there is no shortage.  From pumpkin coffee, bagels, munchkins, soup, almonds, bread, I have had them all.  If its pumpkin flavored I have to have it!

Happy Birthday Ryland!

                                                                     I Cannot Believe . . .

                                                                           My Little Baby. . .

                     

                                                                        Is Turning Four. . .

                                                                               Today!

I cannot fathom the fact the my youngest is no longer a baby nor a toddler.  He is a big boy.  Four years old.  I don't know where the time has gone.  The years are moving too quickly.  I want things to slow down. . even though I know they won't.  There is just something so bittersweet about your last baby growing up.
You are such a fun, loving, smart and football loving boy.  In fact, I think these pictures are the last ones without your football shirt on.  Since the Patriots started playing you have worn your Tom Brady shirt every day.  No joke!  I love that you love football and can't wait to play like your big brother.
I love your enthusiasm for life.  I love that you like to try all types of food I make, unlike your siblings.  I love your hugs and the fact that you tell me every time your off to preschool that you are going to miss me.  I love everything about you Ryland.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Thanks you for being my little boy!