And..... we are back

Life sometimes gets in the way of good intentions. And while I love updating this for friends and family, sometimes spending time with Frank and the kids is more important... And well, these last few months, they were just more important.


We had birthdays... Adam turned 12, I turned 27, JoJo turned the big 1, Tae turned 3 and Kirsten turned 14....

We got new jobs. I am working part time at the Animal Emergency Hospital. My job is to assist clients with questions regarding their pets, offer support, triage the animals etc. I love, love, love it. Never before in my life have I wished I made a different career move until now. I've always loved animals and for a long time wanted to be a vet. But as my Mom reminded me, I was terrified of hurting them and didn't know if I could handle the emotions of losing pets, not being able to help... I must have grown and matured because I see it every day and I know I could do it now. Who knows what the future holds career wise, but right now I am loving this opportunity. And we get pet benefits, which is huge for a family with 2 dogs and 7 cats. Wait, we are back up to 7 again?


We had babies. Well a kitten baby at least. Gomez is our new little snuggler. I call him my peanut butter man, don't ask me why. He is a mama's boy to the extreme, even more so then Lukin and Rio who constantly vie for my attention. He is so handsome with smoky grey coloring and an almost dark purple nose. His purr is unbelievable, when he was staying in our bedroom before he got wormed and everything, he would sleep next to my face, he had to be touching my face and he would purr so loud, he would keep me awake some nights! The family feel whole, complete again and everyone loves him. Willis who usually wants to pester the cats even is gentle with him. He is perfect, just like all of our munchkins.

We finalized plans for the wedding. This may be the most exciting thing for us. We will be getting married in the Outer Banks on May 17th, 2010!!!! Frank's family used to vacation in the outer banks and we really loved the idea of a vacation with the kids, spending a week celebrating instead of just one day! And Eric and Nikki will be staying with us to help get ready and be babysitters if we need them! We are all super excited and the house we are staying in is amazing. It has a pool, hot tub, tiki bar, sauna, air hockey, pool table, ping pong table, elevator etc. And it has a little attached guest house where the kids can stay and have their own little place! Unfortunately no pets allowed but it would be a long trip for the dogs anyways.

We upgraded our mode of transportation. After almost 9 years, 90,000 miles and more trips and drives then I can remember, we turned in "The Blue Car" (or as she was known to me, Bonny) and got a van!!! Before we even get into how pimp the van is, can I just say how amazingly wonderful it is to actually be able to fit us all into one car. Before if we went somewhere we needed 2 cars, and now the world is ours (or at least every where we can drive to). We got a Chrysler Town and Country and its awesome. Power sliding doors, cruise control, separate climate control for all seats, V6, the list goes on. And for a girl who never even had power locks on her car, I am beyond estatic. We have named him "The Rhino" because he is big, powerful and silver.

The kids are doing wonderfully. Pics from Halloween soon to come!

Hope you didn't miss us too much :)

Patience is a virtue…

One that I am grateful to possess 99% of the time. Especially since I have an almost 3 year old who wants to be Miss Independent. I love, love, love Tae’s independence. I love the person she is growing up to be. I thrive on nurturing that independence and inner strength. I adore the thought that she will grow up to be her own person, with her own ideas and values, and that she will be strong enough to stand up for them. And like I said, I am so grateful that I have patience because a 3 year old with the desire to be a “Big Girl” and do everything like Daddy and Ashley can be trying to some people, I am sure. Prime example. Yesterday Tae and I went to the grocery store for a few little things. Daddy and Jo stayed home because we had a service guy installing our new dish. Tae always wants to ride in the car grocery carts. Those are the ones that are a regular cart with a giant plastic car on the front with 2 seats in it. Works out well for her, we buckle her in and go and she is entertained for the whole trip. Doesn’t always work out so well for me since the cart is now double the size of a regular cart and usually very hard to steer. Well last night she wanted the car cart and I figured that we were getting enough stuff to need a cart, but not enough that it was going to be a pain to drive the stupid cart around the store so we got one. Grocery trip went well and we were soon loading up the car. Here is where the patience comes in. I stood there for at least 5 minutes while she tried to get out of the car cart without any help because she is a Big Girl. And, that thing looks ridiculously difficult to get out so I don’t blame her for taking 5 mins! When you try to help she says, “I want to do it”, and we WANT her to do it so we stand and wait, and wait, and wait, resisting the desire to help. It would have been easy to lean into the car and scoop her up, but I didn’t, I waited and she finally accomplished her task with the biggest smile on her face. Made my day… This face always makes my day!

I think about it all the time, how much she has changed from when I first came into her life. I remember her bouncing, teetering down the hill in our front yard because she couldn’t walk very well and her momentum made it hard to stop. I remember she couldn’t say “Ashley” for the longest time, it was “Asheeee”. I remember when she couldn’t sit on a real potty because she was too small. I remember taking this picture of Tae abusing, er I mean holding Momo when she was just a baby herself. These are the moments I want to slow down time… And ironically now with our new dish instead of cable, I can... Well I can pause live TV at least, doesn't that count for something?

Laying pool side...

So we caved. We work half days on Fridays (yay for Summer Hours!) and on our way home we stopped at the store with the intention of purchasing a volleyball net since Friday was GORGEOUS out and the family had been wanting one. Instead we came home with this...

No, we did not get a demented pool, it just took forever to fill and the kids couldn't wait. See our neighbors ugly dead trees in the background? Those drive me nuts. The kids have been begging for a pool. Last year we got a slip-and-slide and couldn't keep them out of it and we definitely aren't ready for a real pool, the girls are too little and its too dangerous. This is perfect!

Tae was the first to brave the frosty hose water on Friday, she didn't seem to mind. Isn't her swim suit so adorable?! She loved just floating along on her little tube.

Kirst and I eating chips and getting a tan while the boys and Tae played soccer.

"Hey Ash, where are the pictures of me? I am so cute! How could you post so many pictures and not have one of little ole me?!" Haha. Jo went down for a nap before the pool was ready so when she got up she put on her adorable new swimsuit and... didn't go for a swim. Not pleased, not pleased at all when we put her toes in the cold water. We went swimming again on Sunday (Saturday was rainy) and by then the pool had warmed up quite a bit and she let me dip her in the pool for a few minutes :)

"Check out my new swimsuit! And look at my legs!"

Jo has gotten to be a pro at standing, she can even stand up from a sitting position without anything to pull herself up with. About a week ago she took her first significant steps, she walked about 5 steps to me! Since then it has been hit and miss, a step here and a step there. I think it's kinda like talking, she can do it, we know she can, she just chooses not to. And why walk when you have your family to carry you around? And the tooth count is now up to 6 with the 7th about to pop through.

Don't ask cause I don't know... Tae took this one. Adam the elephant?

Check out Jo's lashes, she so got them from Daddy. 2 out of 3 of our beautiful girls!

Daddy's got mad juggling skillz.

We set up the canopy next to the pool and brought the grill out and had a picnic. Friday we did hot dogs and Sunday was hamburgers, yum!

I just love these pictures. Tae and her lemonade in a big girl cup!

I had put sunscreen on Jo's head since her hair is so light and fluffy and we just HAD to give her a mohawk...

We love abusing Adam. It's fun and well, easy. Last night he told us that we better have a boy when we have a kid. Actually, I think everyone is voting for a boy! And remember Adam's haircut. Yeah he forgot about his new found ears and didn't put sunscreen on them on Friday and fried them haha!

And finally I had to post these. Kirsten took them. Maybe I should get her autograph now before she becomes a famous photographer, just look at that picture of Rigby. Maybe she will get inspired by Ansel Adams, my second favorite photographer next to my K. Can you imagine the pictures if we set her loose with a nice camera and beautiful scenery?

And Rio, our little schmuckie. Tae has a little book about the 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. And it came with little monkeys. And Rio will sneak into the play room and steal the monkeys! He loves them!

Now we are packing, planning and getting ready for our trip this weekend!!!! For Christmas we bought Kirst and Adam tickets to go see our Red Sox play Toronto, in Toronto. We are leaving early Friday morning and coming back late Monday. The game is on Saturday and so far we also have a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Toronto Zoo planned. We also have tickets to go see the Medieval Times dinner show on Friday night! We can't wait!

And I would just like to say, boy do we love having all our munchies home…

Updates and lots of pictures

K and A have been staying with us for the past 2 weeks since they are off on summer vacation and it has been awesome! So much fun, so many memories. The first of which is that we discovered that Adam actually has ears! For some reason, maybe it’s the heat of the summer or maybe because long hair is so 2008 but, Adam let me cut all his hair off. Well he decided he wanted it gone and I honestly didn’t think he would do it! We were sitting and dinner and I handed him the scissors and said, chop a chunk off and he proved me wrong and cut that huge chunk out of his bangs. Then we had no choice but to finish!Here is a picture of the work in progress. He was nervous, watching me in the mirror to make sure he didn't go bald. And we had fun with him, chopping off everything but the wings on the sides and then threatening to leave it like that. He only looks slightly amused... But it turned out well, here is the final result. And we had about 3 pounds of hair on the floor, definitely enough to cover Fenway 2 times over! For days we kept wondering who the weird person in our house was, he just looks that different. And he had these awesome tan lines, his forehead and sides of his face were way whiter then the rest of his face!

Kirst and Adam have also been able to capture what the cats and dogs do all day while we are at work. I want to be my cats…

Rio sunbathing

Fenway and Momee watching the birds

See? Best buds...

Doesn't Willis look like she has Gizmo ears in this pic? BTW, I did not have monsters under my bed when I was little, I had Gremlins. My Dad let me watch the movie at my birthday party sleepover when I was like 5. I was TERRIFIED of them for years, the scary ones, not cute little Gizmo. Still wont watch the stupid movie.

Rio helping Kirst clean, or something... And Rigs butt in the pic.

Rio and Fenway wrestling

And of course, the munchies...

Rio thinks he is the baby of the family and therefore should get to sit in the highchair...

And this may be the cutest picture Kirst has ever taken. Rio (he is very photogenic) under the door trying to get into the kids room.

The Party!

Frank’s birthday turned out wonderfully! The big kids decorated the house while we were at work and then when we got home the party started!!!

Lila ready to paaaaarrrrtaaaay!

I had invited Eric and Nikki to dinner as a surprise and Adam, Fed and their daughter Lexi also stopped by later in the evening. It turned out to be a beautiful day and we were able to grill and play basketball outside. Dinner was delicious! Steak, baked potatoes and corn on the cob and dessert was even better. Tae L.O.V.E.S corn on the cob, like loves it so much we have to take away the cob or else she would probably sit there and gnaw on it for hours.

Daddy and his birthday steak

Happy 33rd baby!

We had to go outside to sing and have Frank blow out all 33 candles on his cupcakes. If we had done it inside I am sure the smoke detector would have gone off :)

OMG these Chocolate Raspberry cupcakes were delicious! I think they were by far the best I have ever made, even over the banana split ones we had on Father's Day. I'm not gunna lie, I may have had 2, or even 3 that night... Raspberry is my favorite flavor though.

Must have been a good party... passed out!

Overall I would say it was a great beginning to 33 :)