Well, it has been a month since my last post. Not too bad. I am really, really trying to post more often. The pictures are a recap of our life in the last month. We got alot of snow one day in February and the kids had fun playing in it. This winter hasn't been that bad really. A little snow here and there. The kids really haven't had many days of enough snow to play in. I think they only went sledding a couple times. We are into March now and the 1st day of Spring is just around the corner. Hooray!

We also celebrated Christina's 3rd birthday on February 17. She had a Minnie Mouse party and had lots of fun. Some of her gifts were a Doctor Mommy doll and Peppa Pig toys. She loves to play doctor every day and she loves watching Peppa Pig on tv. Right now Christina and Michael are the best of friends and the worst of friends. It drives me absolutely nuts! They do play well together half of the time and the other half they argue, fight and cry constantly. Michael tries to tell her what to do and Christina will have no part of it. She has her own mind and ideas and fights with Michael about everything. Most of the time I just leave them alone to work it out between themselves, but it is maddening to listen to them both screaming all the time.

Andrew just finished with CYO basketball. He really loved it and says he wants to be a basketball star someday. He is doing well in school and has lots of friends. His closest friends right now are Sam, Johnny, Willy, Doc and Ben.

Isabella is my challenge child. She tests my patience in every way possible. She seems to never do anything that I ask her to do and I am fighting with her constantly. I hate that so much. She does not like me to tell her to do anything. Everytime I ask her to do something she says no, or just a minute, and I have to ask her over and over and over again to do it and then threaten some punishment before she reluctantly does what I have asked. It is so frustrating. Andrew is totally different and usually always listens to me and does what I ask pretty quickly. So it is so hard to not compare the two and constantly ask myself why Isabella can't be more like Andrew. But I know she has her own personality. I really dread the teenage years if she is acting like this already at the age of 7. Right now her usual punishment is to take her iPod away. I took it away yesterday because she wouldn't do as I asked once again. Her closest friends right now are Alayna and Moira. We have been trying to get her interested in signing up for some sports or other activities. No luck so far. She is very shy and refuses any of the suggestions we make. All she wants to do is horse back riding, but I would prefer she join something where she will get more exercise. I really worry about her weight being an issue as she gets older. Vince says that she has his body image and he was the same way. His mom had so much trouble finding pants to fit him, just like I do with Bella. I have to order plus sizes from Lands End or JCPenney for her. But Vince says that when he hit 7th grade he trimmed down and got taller. Hopefully that will happen for her. I worry about her self image in our society today where  "thin is in".

The other pictures I posted are of our trip to Bounce it Out. The kids loved it, and Christina keeps asking to go back.

I'M BACK!!! (It's only been two years...gimme a break...life can be crazy with 4 kids!)

 

Well, I am back. Hopefully to stay. I am really, really, really going to try hard to post more often. Alot has happened in the past two years, so I will just try to summarize. We moved into our new house December 1st, 2010. Amid all the boxes and unpacking and chaos of 4 kids, I received a terrible phone call that my mom was in the hospital. She lives an hour away, so not easy to just jump into the car and go. She was admitted with terrible pain in her left knee. She was diagnosed with sepsis. An infection in her knee had led to a blood infection that spread throughout her whole body. I traveled back and forth by bus to spend time with her, along with all my brothers and sisters. We were all shocked when she passed away on December 13th. Needless to say this was a very stressful time for me. Knowing that both my parents were now gone, I felt very alone, even though my house was filled with lots of little ones and lots of noise. Very strange. Nevertheless, with 4 kids and Christmas coming, I had to try to get into the Christmas spirit in a big hurry. We put the tree up right before Christmas and it did help keep me distracted having my kids so excited about Santa's arrival.

 

The picture I have posted is from November 2012, and the one I used on our Christmas card this year. Andrew is now 9, Isabella is 7, Michael is 4 and Christina is 2. They certainly keep me hopping. I am still loving being home with them everyday. I am so thankful to my wonderful husband for working hard every day outside our home, so that I can work hard every day inside our home taking care of our beautiful four children!

Goodbye Selborne Chase! We will miss you!!!

Wow! The summer went by in a big blur. I can't believe it has been 4 months since my last posting, but the pictures say it all. WE ARE MOVING!!! That would account for why I haven't posted in so long. We had talked about moving for a long time, but this really came up all of a sudden. There were certain things that we didn't like about our house: not enough living space, too close to busy road, sloped backyard and no backyard access from main floor. Of course there are many things that we really love about this house and will miss dearly: the great neighborhood and wonderful neighbors, the pool and playground 2 doors down, our finished basement playroom, our huge master bedroom and wonderful master bath with double sinks and glass enclosed shower and my WONDERFUL 2nd floor laundry room that I utilize most every day. But we will have to sacrifice some things to gain other things that we feel are more important. Our new house is on a quiet cul-de-sac which will be great for the kids, totally flat yard( walk right out to backyard), great screened porch, over 3000 square feet, huge bonus room upstairs, huge eat in kitchen, 3 living rooms, 2 fireplaces, 3 showers upstairs which will come in handy especially when the kids get older, and I could go on and on. We are very excited to get into the new house.
It all started in July when Vince went running and saw an interesting house for sale. He told me about it, but I didn't really think much of it. Then he told me they had an open house on Sunday July 18th, so we thought we would just go take a look. Well, once we saw the house, we fell in love. We realized it had so much that we wanted in a house. We decided to meet with our old realtor, Wendy Callan to see if we could really afford it, and what she thought about us selling our house. Well, we put an offer in on 26 Ambleside Drive and put our home on the market. The offer was contingent on us selling our house. Long story short, we sold our house about 2 1/2 months later. What a pain to keep the house clean and have open houses every week, but we finally did it. We got the offer on October 11th. Now we are in the process of getting a closing date around Thanksgiving and hiring movers and packing. What a pain! But it will all be worth it once we are settled in. Andrew and Bella will still go the Jefferson Avenue school which is great. The new house is very close to our old one.

The kids are doing great in school. Andrew is in 2nd grade with Miss Masco and Bella is in half day kindergarten with Mrs. Gueli. Her adjustmnet to kindergarten has been great. Michael is doing great and his tantrums have cooled down. He surprises us every day with how well he is talking and putting so many words together to make great sentences. Christina is growing fast at 8 months old. She is rolling all over the house, not quite crawling yet. She is such a little sweetie pie! She is sleeping great at night now too.

Goodbye to Preschool!

Isabella graduated from Bright Start preschool on June 4th. She is now officially a Kindergartener!

Here she is walking across the stage and getting her diploma from Miss Kathy. She also got the Class Scholar award because her teacher said that whatever they were learning in school, Isabella already knew it. That's my girl!

Here is a great picture of Michael and Vince at Fellows Road park.

And here is a great picture of all the kids. They all look so sweet and innocent, but they all have a naughty side and we have nicknames for them all except Christina. I am sure we will come up with one for her as she gets older. Andrew is Mr. Negative because he never has confidence in himself and always says things like, "I'll never score a goal", or "I'm going to get all my spelling words wrong on my test, I don't know how to spell any of them", then he goes and gets them all right. Bella's nickname is Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde because she can turn from sweet and innocent to a screaming devil in two seconds. Her teachers would rave about how wonderful she was at school and I would laugh, thinking if only they saw her at home they would be shocked. And little Michael has acquired the nickname Tazmanian Devil because when he wants something that he can't have, he runs away really fast and spins around and throws himself on the floor and screams and grabs his toys and throws things like a tornado. Oh my, they do test my patience.

I took this picture of myself and Christina. Look at those sweet cheeks! She is so scrumptious, I just want to eat her up!

Andrew's last soccer game is tomorrow. I am so proud of him. He has done really well, even though his team only won one game. But he has had lots of fun and has become a lot better of a soccer player. Bella starts YMCA soccer next week, so it will be interesting to see how she does. And Andrew only has 2 more days of school and he will officially be a 2nd grader!

Another crazy weekend!

As this weekend comes to a close, I still am catching up and posting about last weekend. Last weekend was action packed and fun filled! Here we are at the Memorial Day Parade! We all enjoyed it, but it was too hot and we were all exhausted from the heat after it was over. Christina slept through the whole thing, which was great because I got to sit and enjoy the parade. Michael loved watching all the cars and trucks go by and seeing the marching bands.

This is a great picture of Poppy with all the grandkids. I told him that it was because of him that they are all here. None of them would be possible without his marriage to Jean and all of his kids being born. That is quite an accomplishment!!!

And we can't forget Bella's 5th birthday party. Fun was had by all. She got lots of great gifts. Her favorites were the Zhu Zhu pets and Barbie mermaid movie. She got alot of money for her birthday too. I took her out today and she bought a Nintendo DS with her money and two games for it too. She is very excited that she has a DS like big brother Andrew.

Vince and I also got to attend Greg and Kim's wedding, thanks to the kindness of Michele for babysitting. We took Christina to the wedding with us, and she was an angel. It was great to get out and get all dressed up. It was nice to have the whole family together to celebrate on this happy occasion.

This weekend went by way too quickly too. It seems like there is never enough time to stop and enjoy my beautiful family. I really have to try and slow down and enjoy the kids while they are little. I know I will turn around and they will be all grown up too quickly.

Happy 5th Birthday Isabella!

Today is Bella's 5th Birthday! We made purple cupcakes with purple frosting for her party at school. Andrew had soccer practice tonight. I am so proud of him. He is doing so well and is so much more focused than he was playing last year. Another mom was sitting next to me and she said, "your son is so athletic, I can tell by the way he runs and kicks the ball." It made me feel really good, especially for Andrew because he often struggles with things and takes more time to get things. I really hope sports is where he can really shine.

I took the kids orienteering on Sunday at Center Park. We had fun. It was such a hot day though and I did more walking than I have done in a long time. I was exhausted walking over every square inch of that park. It felt good though to get out without Michael and Christina. It is so hard to give all the kids their own individual attention. It seems that I spend most of my time with the two little ones because they require so much attention, and I feel that sometimes the older two don't get their fair share of my time. I guess that is just how it goes with four kids. I am always going to feel guilty and think that I am not doing enough.

The Girls!!! Andrew took this picture of us and it came out great.

Andrew is quite the photographer. He took this one too!

Here is Michael after Bella got done dressing him up. He actually liked it and had fun too. He really doesn't look like he is enjoying it from this picture. At least she isn't putting dresses on him yet.

Let the Super Soaker battle begin...

Yesterday was the first really warm day that we have had, and the kids were ready to bring out the super soakers. Vince was more than happy to participate and let them soak him.

Even Michael got in on the action and was so excited when he pulled the trigger and water came out!

Vince bought a little squirt gun for himself and let the kids have the big guns.

Christina turned 3 months old, and she is cuter than ever! Of all the kids, I see myself in her the most. I have to try and find some baby pictures of myself, but when I look at her I feel like I am looking in the mirror at my mini me. Poor thing is sick right now with a cold. And it is all my fault. I went to a continuing ed class last week at MCC and I am sure that is where I got sick, and then brought it home and it spread like wildfire to everyone else. She has been miserable with ooey gooey stuff running out of her nose. I hate to see her sick. Hopefully everyone will be healthy by next weekend for Greg's wedding. Vince and I are taking Christina to the wedding and Michele is watching the other kids. As long as we don't have any sick kids, it should go as planned.