Thanksgiving

I am writing this post with a semi-grateful semi-ungrateful attitude today.  I have put off posting anything of this nature, because I hate to appear like I don't appreciate my life.  I know that I am blessed to have three beautiful kids. I know that having a perfect house is not the priority in life.  I know that we are "living the dream" as we go on an adventure of a lifetime living in New Hampshire while my husbands attends an ivy league graduate program.  I know I should take time to "stop and smell the roses".  I know that soo many other people have it way worse than I do.  I know that I should appreciate my job more, because truly we could not live without it.  I know that I will look back on these days someday and say....wow, those were the good ol' days.  I know that life will always have challenges, those are what make us grow and learn to become more like God.  I know that I need to venture out more and seek out friends, instead of waiting for them to come to me.  I know that I will wish back on my childrens childhood someday.  I know that I do have some really great friends here in NH.  I know I have been incredibly lucky to have multiple Toronto family members come out and visit us/babysit for us while I work.

But.........................

*I wish my Mommy could come visit me, or I could go visit her.  This is by far the longest I have ever gone not seeing her.  Exactly 122 days that is, and unfortunately I probably won't see her until next May/June.

*I wish that I could have another baby.  Seriously, I see others around me announcing that they are expecting another little one and sometimes I wonder when my next child can come.  Then I remember that we are in school right now and my life is crazy enough as it is. 

*I wish that I could magically blink and have my house in perfect order with all the furnishings I keep imagining perfectly in place. And then stay that way.  Oh, and all the foot marks on the walls and finger marks on the windows could magically disappear :)

*I wish that I wouldn't continue to be embarassed when someone shows up on our front porch and I look at the house and realize it is trashed YET AGAIN.

*I wish my kids could be content playing in our yard, instead of constantly harassing our neighbors down the street.  And then I wish that this particular family didn't act so "not friendly" when I come to pick up my child/children from their house.  I promise they just really really like your dog Mandy (name changed). Oh and your fun sand toys and dirt spot on the side of your house.

*I wish that I didn't have to work Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Labor Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day. Also, every single 1/2 day and day off school Miss M has had so far this year. 

*I wish I could be the kind of Mom that is home every day as their children get home from school, with cookies in the oven and ready to just relax outside with everyone else while the kids all play together.

*I wish I could figure out how to get my two boys to fall asleep in the same room at the same time, and then they would not wake each other up in the morning.

*I wish my four year old had friends that were "his very own" and could accept not getting his way without a grand master temper tantrum each. and. every. time.  He has told me over and over that he thought I was finding him friends in New Hampshire before we moved.  It seriously breaks my heart when he tells me things like this.  Then he goes on to tell me he is a bad boy because he can't control his anger.  And my heart breaks yet again.

*I wish that I felt more connected with the people in my community and with the "Tuck Partner" group, and didn't feel like so much of an outsider.  Oh yeah, and add my church group to that list as well.

*I wish I had my Cortina 3rd ward church group here.  I miss them so much it almost hurts.  I became a Mom in Cortina and literally grew from being a semi-newlywed to an experienced Mom of three.  I had so many friends there that I could call up on a bad day or just to chat.  I felt involved in friend groups there like: co-op, queencreek friends, school carpool,  summer movie fun pals, girls night dinners, craft nights, etc.

*I wish that there were more children here that were my kids age as well.  I loved how I could arrange a playdate for any of my kids with just one phone call and then we could walk to that persons house in AZ.  I also miss my "Babysitting Co-Op" group from back home.  It made life so much easier to arrange guilt-free babysitting for the children when I needed a Mom only shopping trip, or for doctor's appointments.

*I wish that there were teenage babysitters in my area.  Or that the Clifford family could magically move into Sachem Village with me.  Their two girls were probably the best babysitters I have ever had.  They played with my kids and they loved my kids.  They would always ask when they could babysit again.  We had fairly consistent date nights with those two girlies around.

Now that I am officially done with my pity-party, let me re-iterate that we are okay.  We are enjoying the rural feel of New Hampshire.  We/I enoyed practicing cooking a Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday after the Holiday.  We have loved the weather thus far and are excited to be celebrating a {hopefully} white Christmas. We are excited to celebrate a more intimate Christmas with our little family.  I am learning how to be a more patient mother.  I am learning to lean more upon my Savior for help.  I am learning how to better teach my children more about God.  I feel myself being molded and stretched through a refining fire to someday become a masterpiece.  I feel myself drawing closer to God and trying harder to be more like Him. 

And with that I leave my Thankful/Unthankful Thanksgiving Post.

We love SNOW!!

One of the biggest thrills that my children looked forward as we pulled them from the wonderful state of Arizona, was SNOW!  We drilled into their heads over and over that it would be okay to be away from all of our friends and family because we were going on an adventure that would allow us to experience lots and lots of snow. And man has New Hampshire delivered for us.  We are in the middle of our THIRD snowstorm and it's not even Thanksgiving.  The most recent snow has been the largest volume and I think we were the most prepared for this one.  Snow boots, mittens, hats, coats and scarves have been purchased and have NOW already been put to good use.  This has by far been the most enjoyable of the storms because the volume of snow increased exponentially and has stuck around for longer.  Some of the fun things we have done in the snow the past few days include:

*take pictures of the beautiful white snow, perfectly clean before the kids went tromping through and made footprints 

*shovel the sidewalks, clean off the cars and continue shovel/sweeping the grass or any other area chosen by a certain little boy that may or may not be four!

*build snow "chairs" outside in our backyard.  The kids have loved sitting down and taking a break in them when they are outside playing.  We still have yet to build a snowman, but should cross that off our list by the end of the week

{Maddie announced to me that she was "building" a snow man with this pile of snow in her ice cold fingers}

*snowball fights; mainly with Daddy. I have politely excused myself from this one

{Eli decided he was DONE after about 10 minutes outside the first day.  He came right inside and refused to put his snow pants on and come outside for HOURS.  Luckily Jesse finally persuaded him to come out and ride the sleds down the hill and he relented}

*sledding down the hill by our house on flying saucers!  Probably one of my faves so far.  Jesse worked with the kids and made this awesome pathway that goes to the edge of the trees.  Even Eli got a kick out of going down the hill...after about 10 minutes of bribery and then several trips down with mom.  Towards the end of our sledding adventure, we were surprised by the Layton Family out on a walk.  We were so glad that Leah and Ryan were able to take a few turns down the hill. I think the funniest was when I looked over and Robby was literally tumbling down the sledding run head over hills.  When he hit the bottom he yelled "Whoa!! That was so awesome!"  I can already picture Robby as a master snowboarder that flies down the hill with a big smile lighting up his face :)

*making snow angels on the ground with Maddie. without snow pants on of course. who needs them when you have a Mom that is PERFECTLY willing to wash like five pairs of wet jeans a day right? wrong.

*and lastly hours of entertainment for Robby with his monster trucks.

Thank you New Hampshire for all the entertainment you have brought this little family of ours with your snow.  But please be kind to us this year, okay?  We are newbies at this and not quite ready for the sub-zero temperatures...............

Just a couple thoughts....

Just a few notes to jot down after a WONDERFUL day with my kiddos (they all were in bed by 7:15pm which may or may not have influenced just wonderful the day was):

When you have a child like my sweet Robby, you get used to very little listening/learning moments.  It is so difficult for him to focus enough that many times I feel like lasting life lessons are difficult to come by.  Today I did have one of those "AHA" moments that made me feel a little better as a parent.  I decided that although it is pretty special to me, I wanted to share it simply so that I will also never forget this tender moment.  We were at BJ's shopping and had just got to the car after completing our checkout.  Robby was looking at our receipt and freaked out demanding "I don't think we paid for our stuff Mom".  He kept repeating that all we had was a list of the things we bought and that they had not taken our money.  After several reassuring words he finally calmed down and we talked a tiny bit about being honest and not stealing.  I told him that "not stealing" was a very important thing to me and that I always make sure I pay for things before I leave a store.  Then in a semi-joking manner I asked him if he thought I was always honest and paid for everything.  He nodded immediately and reminded me of a situation from back in August.  He said "Mom, I always know you are -nest (honest) and not steal because you went back into Kohl's and paid more money, remember? We had to pay for the socks that were silly and got stuck in the shoe bag."  {we had just shopped at Famous Footwear that day, before walking next door to Kohl's.  There was a pack of underwear--not socks-- that I was buying for Robby.  He was holding them in his hand and unintentionally placed them in the shoe bag he was also holding.  By the time we got to the front of the store, I had enough items that I never realized the underwear weren't in the pile to purchase and he had long forgotten about them.  Right after we got back in the car, we discovered the unpurchased underwear package and I ran right back in the store and paid for them.}  In many ways, I am so grateful that this situation occurred.  I had the opportunity to show my children how important honesty is to me--in actions rather than words.  More than that I am glad that Robby still remembers that moment.   

Robby soooo wants to be in school right now and has decided that the daycare place at the CCBA (YMCA-type gym we recently joined) is his "school."  He insists on packing himself a lunch in his tin lunchbox and is so proud to walk in there with his backpack in place.  How I wish I could find a preschool that suited our needs in Hanover. Until then, he is doing FANTASTIC on this new website I found called "Reading Eggs" and I just introduced five sight words to him today.  My goal is to have him reading easy beginner books by the time school starts and to have at least 50 sight words under his belt.  I just know that once he learns how to read, he will be a bookworm like Miss M!

I have really been trying to increase our spiritual focus in the home as of late.  I have been doing my best to be diligent in our family scripture study, family prayers, prayers at ALL meals, my own personal prayers as well as saying personal prayers with each of my children individually at night, and keeping more spiritually minded topics going in our home.  It may be starting to wear off a little bit on Robby.  Now with everything we encounter Robby asks me if Jesus has the same thing up in Heaven.  Just today he asked me if Jesus has thunder and food up in Heaven.  We had a long conversation (well 3 minutes is enormous for Mr R) about why we can't see Jesus and then why we pray when we need help.  We talked about how we can't see air or wind, but we can feel it against our skin.

BOO and I mean YOU!!

This month, that has been a re-occurring theme around our house.  My children will run around and inadvertently yell "BOO, and I mean YOU!" in their loudest voices possible.  Who started it? Why Maddie of course.  And whenever your eldest child comes up with a catchy phrase like that you know it will stick around for awhile.  Although it got pretty annoying, I have to admit it was pretty darn cute to hear Eli repeat it back.  He always misses a word or two in that sentence and most of the time will yell: Boo....Mean YOU.  Anyways......

We had a BUSY, fun, BUSY, beautiful, BUSY, sugar-high, BUSY October (notice a reoccurring theme around here?).  There were definitely several high stress moments in the past few weeks with Jesse super busy recruiting for IB, me working full time and then some, attempting to keep the house together between the two of us, and lots of activities to do.  Some of the things we did included:

*Pumpking picking at our favorite Riverview Farm complete with running through the beginning of the corn maze they had set up.  I will add pictures about this later.

*Decorating our house with a cute spiderweb after my cute neighbor Natalia prodded me on my way.  We also added some black windows with DO NOT ENTER tape and had pumpkins galore, and a spooky "Cocoon Mummy"

*Our annual Spooky Halloween Dinner, this time we invited some friends over to our house and we all chipped into to put this together.  I'm already planning on doing another of these next year and have found some more time consuming dishes on Pinterest I am dying to try out.

 Michelle and Catherine, my two AWESOME, PATIENT, KIND friends and babysitters

Michelle, Andrea and I; seriously love these girls

*Barbeque Dinner at one of the professors BEAUTIFUL Vermont estate on a cool Sunday evening compliments of the Christian Club (of some sort at Tuck).  I will also have to post these pictures another time.

*Pizza Dinner on Halloween at Sachem's clubhouse and then trick or treating with Daddy a few hours later

{it was quite the adjustment for my kids to bundle up with coats, mittens over the top and long sleeve shirts and pants underneath their costumes--I cannot wait for them to all look like the kids from The Christmas Story come December}

*Trunk or Treat party with our church in the middle of our first official snowstorm

FYI: Robby refused to hold still long enough for me take pictures of him, imagine that?!

J and I dressed up as Pharaoh and Egyptian Princess (Cleopatra sort of). No pictures recorded of the two of us, so don't be surprised if this costume gets pulled out next year as well

*The constant disaster scene at church as Mr R continues to struggle with Primary (he just cannot sit still and really struggles with this in Singing Time.  He also tends to upset and angry when he is reprimanded.  We are still struggling to come up with a solution for all of this, but really really want to find something so he can enjoy {I will even take tolerate} church)

*Cookie decorating with two of my favorite families in Sachem Village! (we sure missed you Maren and are already penciling you in for next year)  The kids were really good and played around us and/or watched a movie while we talked and frosted.  Robby did come and frost one cookie, which he immediately proceeded to eat.  I have a feeling if Miss M would have been there, she would have been right in the thick of things decorating away!

*And of course LOTS of time spent outside playing in the snow.  Maddie was so excited to come home on Monday and tell me that she built a snowman at recess with several of her friends.  Robby has been spending hours outside with his monster trucks making "tracks" for them to race on.  And Eli will basically run outside fully clothed in winter gear or almost naked without a thought in mind about the weather.  He will then proceed to stay outside until we make him come inside to gear up.

 Still proudly announcing ourselves as "Arizonans" despite the snow

All in all, we had a really good time this year and feel very blessed to be in New England experiencing everything on our own for the first time (although I have begun to really miss my family). 

Now without further ado, here is my cute breed all done up for Trick or Treating:

 Mr E as Leonardo the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

*I think this has been my hands down favorite year to experience Halloween with E.  He was so excited and "in to it" for the first time and actively participated in everything.  He also 100% picked out his costume on his own.  As I began to plan costumes for the children, I turned to him and asked him what he wanted to be figuring he would have no idea.  Instead, he looked right back at me and immediately replied "Teenage Ninja Turtle".  When we got the costume in the mail, he was thrilled to find out it was Leonardo and immediately recognized this without me telling him.  What can I say?  That boy is obsessed with the Turtles right now!

 Robby as "Red" Iron Man

Mr R cracked me up this year.  He had been telling me he wanted to be Iron Man since he found out Halloween was coming (in September).  I figured this was because he remembered dressing up as him last year.  I tried to sort of steer him into being a Pro Bike Racer because he LOVES doing "tricks" on his bike and is always pretending to be in a race.  We bought the biker costume which he also liked, but then proceeded to announce he still wanted to be Iron Man.  Last year I bought him the black Iron Man but he was pretty determined to be Red Iron Man this year.  Finally I caved and bought him yet another Iron Man costume.  The end result = TOTALLY worth it.  He has loved his new costume and probably worn it almost every day for the past three weeks.  We have more than gotten our moneys worth for it and I am pleased to add it our new collection of Super Hero costumes.  The boys have had many play sessions in their costumes already, and I know we have many more to come :)

 Missy as a Kitty Cat--sassy one I might add

Maddie has been a princess of some sort on Halloween for as long as I can remember, so when she announced that she wanted to be a kitty I literally jumped with joy.  It's such a relief to move onto something else.  Since I don't really know how to sew and was far to busy to shop locally or come up with a creative version on my own, M and I hopped on the computer one evening after her brothers were in bed.  Together we searched Amazon for the perfect costume.  Let's just say I was shocked to find the vast majority of "children's cat costumes" to be totally inappropriate for anyone, let alone a child.  We finally found this number and she has loved it!  It is the perfect kitty costume that completely fits her personality.  The only bummer on Miss Maddie's end is that she has been under the weather for a good two weeks of October and so she didn't quite get the same experience as the boys this Fall.

My boys :)

Robby

*Thank you for being the "big brother" around the house while little Miss is off to school each day.  You take particular pride in being the oldest one at home and can somehow do "more" to help Mommy with your older sister gone.  

*Thank you for your big hugs you give me when I get off work.  I tend to be emotionally drained as I conclude my long work day and all I really want to do is sit on the couch and watch a television show and unwind. These hopes are dashed the moment I walk in the door and am bombarded with messy floors, sticky faces, and a constant string of needs divided between the children.  Your hugs make all of this somehow okay and must contain some of that magic "unwinding" power.  I instantly feel myself take a few deep breaths and visibly relax when you give full arm hugs to me.

Thank you for helping clean up your room.  You were so excited to get out the wooden train set on Saturday that you did so well at cleaning up your room.  There wasn't any whining, or pouting or even begging of help from your mother.  Instead you went straight up the stairs and worked hard at straightening up the room.  The next thing I knew you were back downstairs with a big grin on your face as you announced I needed "to coooooome see nooooow!"  I love how proud you were of yourself.  I love knowing you felt that gratifying feeling of completing a difficult task.  Those are precious lessons learned that I hope you don't ever take for granted.

*Thank you for all the effort you put into controlling your anger.  It makes me so sad sometimes to see how hard this is for you.  Just today it made me cry when you told me "sometimes I get so angry and I don't know why."  We then had a conversation about how emotions are normal and not "bad" or "naughty" things to feel.  Emotions are a part of life and part of who we are as humans.  Our job isn't to make ourselves not feel a certain way, but instead to learn how to control these emotions we feel.  We talked about how we are learning different ways to express our emotions in a non-hurtful way.  I am so proud of everything Robby has learned the last month or so. He has gotten so good at breathing deep and "breathing the anger out", is able to tell me, or other people when he needs to be alone, and we can sometimes even talk our way through these challenging emotions.

A few weeks back, Robby told me that "when I get really angry, I feel like I cannot control my body. I feel all hot in my tummy and it makes me want to hit or kick and then I say not nice things."  We have discussed many a time the purpose of this life.  Heavenly Father has entrusted us with these beautiful, sacred bodies.  Our "job" on earth is to learn how to gain control over our body.  Our conversations together bring me back to a particular scripture in Mosiah 3:19 that says "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and become a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord...."

Thank you for being YOU my little Rubba Dubba!  I thank God daily that you are mine.  You have helped me more fully realize my potential as a mother.  You have molded me and refined me into a more patient, loving Mother---and you continue to do this.  For that I am eternally grateful.  You have allowed me to learn more about unconditional love and helped me to be more cognicent about showing my love to my children.  You have taught me more about a pure heart and have helped me turn towards my Father in Heaven for assistance.  There have been days that all I can do is cry as I pray to God for help during my weaknesses.  I have seen how God is slowly making "weak things become strong" in my own life.  Thank you for being YOU  

Fall Formal

Jesse and I had the chance to go to the "Fall Formal" dance together for Tuck's business school on Friday evening.  It has been YEARS since we have dressed up and gone all fancy to a dance.  In fact, I think the last time we did something like this we were still dating. We had a lot of fun and I loved getting to know some of the TP's and students that are in Jesse's class.  The funniest part was that most of them didn't realize that I actually live in West Lebanon.  I got asked over and over if I was in town visiting.  I smiled back and let them know that I do indeed live in town, I just don't get out to most of the Tuck events due to work and kids.  The next conversation piece that was addressed was kids.  People were incredulous that we are so young and have THREE kids.  They automatically assume we have WAY more kids than anyone could handle and are doubly amazed when we told them we actually wanted several more children at some point. It's so interesting to spend time around people with a much different outlook on life.

Nevertheless, there was dancing, snacking, drinking {water and soda for us of course}, laughing, singing along to the AMAZING band, and lots of people watching.  Thanks babe for letting me come with you to your Tuck party :)

Maddie

Dear Maddie,

*Thank you for being such a great sister to your two younger brothers.  I love what pride you take in helping Eli take baths and get dressed.  I love how you will sit and read stories to Robby at bedtime while I put Eli to bed.  He snuggles right up to you with a look of contentment as you bring the stories alive with your animated voice.
*Thank you for being so confident in yourself, I love how you can proudly proclaim "I pretty much look like the cutest thing ever today".  I actually envy the way you think you are such a good artist, gymnast, bug-catcher, princess, or whatever else you come up with. I sincerely hope you continue to carry yourself with such high esteem as you grow older.

*Thank you for helping me make dinner tonight.  You kept asking me "is there anything else I can do?", which filled me with love to see how much you enjoyed helping out.  You take such pride in cooking and always quick to point out "wow, we made this food ALL by ourselves!"

*Thank you for snuggling up with me tonight during our "kid movie night".  I so enjoy your cuddle sessions you have with me.  I especially love when you ask me to snuggle with you at bedtime.  Sometimes I fall asleep and wake up several hours later with you tucked right against my body= LOVE IT.  You also give the greatest morning hugs right when you wake up and are quick to point out how well you slept.

*Thank you for always wanting to learn and grow.  I love how inquisitive you are and your love for learning.  You are always excited to tell me what you learned at school and are very good at getting your homework done.  I love being able to teach you about your body, emotions, and spiritual topics.  You are very good about listening and asking thoughtful questions.

*Thank you for still having an innocence about you!  I was so worried that now you are in 1st grade certain aspects of childhood would be taken from you.  I am happy so say that this has not happened yet.  We haven't had to deal with the Santa Claus/tooth fairy/etc issues or any "naughty" language problems.  Please continue to have that aura of innocence, Mom is not up to the challenge to delve into these subjects.

*Thank you for your kindness with other children around you.  There are many kids in our neighborhood right now that are much younger than you.  You are always willing to play with them and treat them kindly.  I never hear you tell one of them they are too young to play with you. I love how you will play princess with Natalia (our 2 yr old neighbor girl) and then go hunting for bugs with Damon (6yr old boy) in the same day and never think twice.

*Thank you for being a great helper with the laundry.  I love how carefully you sort your pajamas with their matching piece and then fold and put them away.  You will always ask me if you cannot remember which goes with which.  Even if you grumble about doing this chore, by the time you have finished your clothes you always ask if you can fold and put away your brothers as well.  Someday you will understand what a huge help this is for your Mommy.

*Thank you for being such a great reader.  I love how you proudly announce you finished another chapter book.  I think that this fall you have read a new chapter book nearly every other day.  It just blows my mind how quickly you picked up reading.  Last year at this time you had barely learning 50 sight words and now you are reading book after book.  Many days you will lay on your bed and spend at least an hour of the day reading about Fancy Nancy, Junie B. Jones, Spiderwick Chronicles or any other book you can get your hands on.  I also love how attentive you are to the fact that Junie B. Jones "sometimes forgets to use nice words". You will bring me the book and point out the No-No words and we quickly scribble it out and substitute a more appropriate word.  {relax, nothing too naughty,  mainly just 'dumb' and 'stupid'}

*Thank you for all the drawings and notes you give to me.  I love how you will spend an entire afternoon making your own "My Friend Frog" book.  You write the best notes about how you love our forever family, about shopping with Daddy, and even being scared for Halloween.  The other part that is so amazing, is how particular you are about spelling the words correctly.  Once you learn how to spell something, you rarely forget and consequently you have a pretty amazing list of words that you know how to spell correctly.  Some of your best notes to date include:

"Me and Dad are going shopping with my brothers.  I am going to Walmart.  I'm going to buy some ice cream and buy some Apple siter (cider). The end"  {complete with a picture of the four of them)

"Get tape off before you open it. From Maddie. For Mom and Dad" {outside of a taped note}
"Dear Mom and Dad. I think I'm scared of Halloween and you know before I wasn't but now I'm scared of it.  From Maddie. For Parents Tiffany and Jesse. Love Maddie" {inside of taped note}

---Maddie had the funniest paper that for the life of me, I cannot find.  It was about her friend Damon.  It went something like this "Me and Damon are best friends and I love him.  I know that he loves me too.  Someday Damon and I will be married.  I will be his wife.  He will be my husband.  We will be married and have a family together. The end."  Maddie makes so many stories, that most of the time I throw them away with hardly a glance.  I was going through a spiral notebook and ripping out all of the used pages.  For some reason I glanced down and started reading this note.  I got a good laugh when I read it.  I ripped it out and took it over to my friend Michelle's house the next day so she could read it as well (Damon is her son).  I meant to take a picture of it and now cannot figure out where it might be sitting.

*Thank you for your childlike Faith.  I love how reverent you are in Sacrament meeting at church.  You love to look through the hymn book and have even gotten good at following along and singing during the hymns. One of your favorite songs we sing in church is "Praise to the Man", you also like "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet".  I also like the notes you write during church.  A few Sundays ago, during someones talk you wrote this: "Going to church is when we Learn about Jesus and when I go to church I feel good inside and someday I want to return with him and I no {know} the church is true in the name of Jesus Christ Amen."  I love to see how easy it is for you to believe in the goodness of God and that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins.  Although I know that someday you will have to stand alone and gain your own personal testimony, I love the childlike hope that you possess.

*Thank you for your good heart.  Today while watching the movie "A Little Princess" you touched me in several ways.  First off, you really truly cried when Sarah finds out her Father has died at war.  You couldn't believe how sad it was that Sarah no longer had a Mommy or Daddy.  You then cried again when Miss Minchin (sp) accused Sarah of stealing and called the police.  You were so upset that someone would be so mean to a little girl.  I could hardly console you until she finally found out that her Dad was alive and she was safe from Miss Minchin at last.  I was particularly shocked by how upset this movie made you, because you have never reacted to a movie so intensely.  I was glad there was a happy ending to nail onto it.  Although I don't particularly suggest upsetting your child like this, we had a pretty in depth discussion afterwards about the movie.  We discussed how blessed we are to have a Mommy and Daddy at our house, food always in our cupboards and on the table at meals, warm clothes as it's getting colder, and love in our home.  We also discussed how important it is to share with other less fortunate than us.  One thing Maddie asked me was "if I keep feeling crabby and sassy, will I act like mean Miss Minchin when I get older?"  I had to smile a little and then quickly reassured her that my job is to help her learn how to grow and be a kind person.  I also told her that she is a very nice girl and would never turn out like that.

*More than anything else, thank you for loving me unconditionally Miss Maddie, even when I probably don't always deserve it.  I feel so blessed to have you continually willing to forgive me of my wrongdoings and accept my weaknesses.  I am so glad that you were chosen to come to our home and I feel blessed to be able to be your Mother.  You know just when to boost up my confidence by telling me how pretty my shoes are, or how nice I did my makeup or thanking me for cleaning up your room, etc.  You also allow me to stumble and fall as I parent you and still look at me like I'm the smartest person in the world.

xoxo,
Mom

What have we been doing?

Well friends (mostly self), before I get any more behind I am going to write a small note about some of the fun things we have done since arriving to NH with accompanying pictures.  They may be a repeat from another blog post, but this time I have pics added in.

#1: Hanging out on the porch A LOT with all the rain.  The kids love to sit out on our front porch on the camping chairs and watch the pouring rain.  Every now and again they throw their rain boots on and run out into the rain :)

#2: Apple picking.  Within a week of being in New Hampshire, we met some fun new friends that took us apple picking at another lady in our Ward's house.  She had two huge trees that were filled with apples to be picked.  We had a great time getting to know people in our area and ended up scoring with two bags filled to the brim.  The best part was the yummy applesauce that we made at Maren's house!

 Our cute friend, Miss Leah Bean. She was my little buddy and hung out next to me for part of the time.  I sure love her sweet smile and the icing on the cake is her cute little laugh that she does!  We sure love her.

#3: Meeting some of the most FANTASTIC women around and having a girls night out within weeks of moving.  We all went and saw "The Help" at the Nugget Theater in downtown Hanover.  The movie theater was tiny and the food was unimpressive, but the company was perfect. Now if only we could plan another one......

{Michelle, Maren, Tiffany-me, and Andrea}

#4: Getting to hang out with these two cute little fireman feet, instead of unpacking boxes.  I cherished all the time I got to spend with my children during my "in-between jobs" period of time.  I know I should have accomplished even more during that time, but man was it nice to sit and play with my babies!

#5: Spending time with the coolest ever Daddy, that took the children down to an old train station while Momma was at work.  The kids all came home talking about the fun they had!

Robby

 Eli

Maddie with Robby {not really sure what she is trying to do?}

#6: Boy Haircuts.  I sure dread the time when Jesse pulls out the clippers and announces it is time for the boys to have haircuts.  This time it was a complete surprise; when I left for work the boys had hair and when I was finished, their hair was nearly all gone.  I am so glad that both of their hair grows incredibly quickly

#7: Our beautiful, mystical sunsets such as this.  We are incredibly lucky to live in such a beautiful place.  Now as the colors on the trees change, it has only gotten prettier!

#8: Bringing the painter out of Robby {or rather artist as Miss M would say}.  Robby has gradually picked up the patience and joy of drawing/coloring/etc!  His newest fave is water-painting during the day; him and Eli will spending hours painting the day away :)

#9: The infamous blackberries that Maddie spent HOURS collecting when we first arrived here in August. We froze some of them, added some to our salads, and ate the rest....yummy!  The blackberries are gone of course from our forest backyard, but we can't wait until next summer to send the children out to pick them once again!

#10: As you can tell we get LOTS and LOTS of rain around these parts and our rain boots have become a staple accessory around our house. The best part is the kids already had these in AZ, it was just a dress up item before.  Now I just need to pick myself up some stylish boots of my own and I can run outside and play with them!

{R and M on one of the many cold, rainy days}

#11: "Morano Gelato" trips with the boys.  There is this really amazing Gelato shop in downtown Hanover.  We love parking near the main street and window shopping along the street.  When we are finished, we typically will stop by our gelato shop and enjoy a bite.  The boys love the chocolate flavor and my fave is Caramel and Chocolate Chip.  

{I could just EAT up this little face of his}

12: Park time: we have enjoyed this unique little playground right next to Home Depot and the boys love how it actually has a sandbox built into it.  It has been an adjustment for the kids to go to parks that have bark chips on the ground, instead of the typical sand we are accustomed to in Arizona.  The boys LOVE the fact that this park has a spot for them to dig, build and enjoy themselves.  Miss M also loves their swings and is pretty proud that she can "pump" all by herself! 

#13: Getting used to my cell phone constantly slipping out of my hands and into my four-year-olds paws.  Robby has successfully learned how to use my cell phone almost as well as I do, and is always asking me to borrow it.  He loves to play the games, map quest our location, and shop at the market for apps. As J's school prepared to start in August, it seemed as though there was some kind of event to attend on a daily basis.  To cope with this, we began to let Robby play on our phones to entertain him at these big events.  Now he thinks it is a right of his to have some kind of phone time each and every day :)

{Our cute little neighbor girl, Natalia, with Robby at one of the Tuck barbeques.  She was so cute and kept picking up my kids soda and saying "mine?"  Natalia and Eli are only a few weeks apart in age and they crack me up when they are together.  Natalia speaks Spanish primarily at home and so when they argue/fight she will yell at him in Spanish and he yells back in English}

#14:  Lake Pinneo the end of August.  We met up with a bunch of families (minus hubbies) at the Lake before the weather turned cooler.  The kids all jumped in the water and we ended up staying all morning into early afternoon.  We had a blast and were glad we could participate in one final "warm weather" activity before the fall/winter came.  Robby still talks about going back to the Lake with his swimsuit; I am afraid he would be in for a real surprise this time around.  The hurricane that came a few months back, completely wiped out this cute little beach we went to :(

 {Eli's famous dead-man hang he did on the tire swing for probably 45 minutes that day- he is white-trashing it in a diaper}

#15: Friday Sing at Mt Lebanon Elementary School.  Maddie's school is kind of "small town" and on Friday's all the children meet in the gym and sing songs together for about 30 minutes.  It is really cute; one of the school staff members pulls out their guitar and they sing there way through song after song.  Parents and family are all invited and you can have your student come sit with you during the sing time.  We finally went to this a week ago Friday.  Miss M was sooo excited to see that we came and proudly sat right next to me the entire time.  She had the biggest grin on her face as she showed me all the songs she could sing.  Her favorite song is "Yellow Submarine".  The boys were pretty good at the school as well, so we may just have to come back next time I am off work on a Friday!