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.

Mother's Day

Here I am with my Mother's Day breakfast of fruit crepes and my beautiful roses!

Beautiful Christina almost 3 months old!

I love this picture because it shows the difference in the kid's sizes. I wish Andrew was in the picture too. Bella looks huge and Christina looks so tiny!

My Birthday!

I had a nice quiet birthday. I got a yummy cookie cake from Vince and the kids and a beautiful card with heartfelt sentiment from Vince. I know he loves me, but there is just something special about him putting it into words and telling me that he will love me forever. I am so blessed to have him to share my life with!

I also got some beautiful sunflowers from my sister Sharon. She is so sweet and always knows just how to make me feel special! I was kind of sad that I never got a birthday card from my mom. Not even a phone call. I certainly didn't expect a phone call. Even before Mom started having memory issues, she wasn't one to pick up the phone and call. Although I did tape record a message that she left on my answering machine of her singing happy birthday to me many years ago. At the time I knew having that recording would someday mean so much to me. Vince always told me that the one thing that he really misses about his Mom is hearing her voice again. He didn't want to forget what she sounded like. So even though I didn't get birthday wishes from my mom, I know how much she loves me.

We also took the kids to Lollypop Farm. They had fun looking at all the animals. Andrew and Bella are always bugging us to get a cat or dog. I always tell them, maybe when you are older, but I don't think that day will ever come. I have no desire to have pets. I've got my hands full right now taking care of the four kids that I've got.

Back to School...Yeah!!!

Today was Andrew and Bella's first day back to school after spring break. It is nice to get back into the routine again. Having all four home with me every day last week was rough. I feel bad that I couldn't do anything fun with Andrew and Bella on their vacation from school. It is pretty difficult for me to get out with all four kids, so I usually just stay home. It is much easier. I will be glad when the weather gets better so we can at least take walks and the kids can play in the backyard. We have talked about getting a trampoline for the backyard. I think the kids would love it. The weekend was pretty crazy, as always, but we did manage to get some nice pictures outside.

Welcome

This is my first posting of my first blog. Yeah! Every day I have those little moments with my kids that make me stop and pause and say to myself, "I don't want to forget this precious moment in time". But I do forget, and that makes me sad. I have already forgotten so many precious moments of my life with my older three kids, not that they are old by any means. But now that Christina is 2 months old, I want to try and remember as much as possible. So hopefully this blog will help me do that. I would love to write something everyday, but I am sure that won't happen. So my goal is to post something at least once a week. And even though life is crazy and passes by in a blur, I want to stop and appreciate all the little things that make life worth living. Especially my kids, who are all little miracles in their own special way. So I dedicate this blog to Andrew, Isabella, Michael and Christina. May you always know how much your mommy loves you!