What...it's almost the end of 2011!!!!!

Yeah, so I have been really letting the Blog go for a long time. We've been busy! The kids started Kindegarten this year. The girls are in 1/2 day and Luc is in full day. LUCIEN IN TALKING NOW!!!!! He really likes to say "Pie". He is talking so much now and communicating with everyone now. It's been awesome, except that he wants what he wants and if he doesn't get it...watch out! He is very into Cars, the movie. The girls have branched out and are making new friends. We found a wonderful friend, Rebecca, who lives down the street. She has twin brothers who are becoming great friends too!!!! We are getting ready for Christmas now and very excited to have seen Santa multiple times now.

On the home front, we brought a new puppy into the house. She is a Coton de Tulear and her name is Coq au Vin, "Coco" for short. She has been a welcome addition to the household. We also adopted triplet sister kittens. Isis, Ankara and Cleopatra have been making the house very much their own. The love to look out the window at the birds and squirrels and growl. They have already caught a couple mice in the house, so I hope they keep up the good work. Well, the girls are home from school. Promise I will try posting again sooner than later!

It's been almost a year since my last post...

OK, yes, I am a slacker or should I say SLACKER!!!! Well, the kids actually made it to their 3rd birthday without myself or John killing them, so that was a big milestone. We went on vacation with Cioci Bonnie, Uncle Scott and Hadleigh to Cape Cod for a week and it was awesome! Luc started school in September and is loving it! He has really improved a lot. He is still not "talking", but like I am sure once he does we will be ready to put in earplugs!

We had a lovely surprise this Thanksgiving when the Grybko's came for the day! Of course, Cioci and the girls were here as well as Jill, Jeff and the girls. We even had Mots, an exchange student from Botswana, that made the day even more special.

John turned 40 on the December 23rd! He doesn't look a day over 35...love you baby!!!

Jill and Jeff got engaged on Christmas morning! So I will be gaining a new Brother-in-law and a new niece and 2 new nephews! I am so happy for all of them. As Oliva said, "Now I can really call you "Cioci", Cioci." The family got a new puppy named Lucy from Santa.

I fell down the last step on Jill's stairs carrying the ham and pan to bring home and either sprained my ankle really bad or broke my foot. I go to the doctor's today and hope I don't come home with a cast.

The kids have grown up so much. Sydney know all the "Princess" songs and her favorite radio song is "I make good girl's go bad" (is that a bad omen or what?) Kateri is my little Polish Hoarder. She had a shopping bag full of movies that had to go everywhere with her and now it's a box full of miniature horses. Luc likes to jump EVERYWHERE! I think we should have named him "Tigger".

Just enjoying seeing them develop and learn and trying not to lose my temper too much when they destroy the house.

We will miss you Grandpa

As many of you know, John's Dad passed away on February 12th. We will miss him very much but are grateful for the time we had with him. We know he is watching over us with his beloved wife Nancy and we are happy that he could be with her on Valentine's Day.

Bright Lights and Santa Claus!

We had a dinner party on Saturday with the Danielson crew and Jill and Jeff. Lucky for us, Santa was making the rounds that night and we heard the sirens in time to go out to meet him. The kids were all excited, until Sydney saw the flashing lights and started to freak out. Needless to say, all worked out well and they got candy canes.

Sunday we were off to church and then breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Many lollipops and a long, draw out, cold breakfast later, we returned home to chill out. Later, we met Diane and the Kieras crew as well as Simone and Sue at La Salette shrine to take in the lights! It was freezing cold out, but the Christmas spirit warmed our hearts and the kids loved the lights!

Nail Polish, nail polish everywhere...and not a drop to drink...

This morning, as the spawns were watching Dora, yes again, I decided to slip upstairs to take a shower. As I approached the bottom of the stairs I was assaulted by the strong smell of nail polish!

Upon reaching the bottom step, I was vaguely aware than something was not right. There were drops of bright pink leading from the living room into the dining. My first reaction was that one of the kids had cut themselves and was lying prone in a corner of the dining room slowly bleeding to death. Alas, this was not so (I could have handled that misfortune). Instead my 2 darling daughters had painted their hands and feet a bright fuchsia and were at that moment attempting to cover the wall with what was left in the bottle.

After a short cry of an expletive I shall not repeat, I ripped away the bottle and prepared myself to view the damage. There was a trail of pink leading into the living room, where a larger smear of pink was strew across the floor. CSI would have had a field day mapping the "blood" splatter. Thinking to myself, "That's not too bad", I turned to find footprints and droplets on my new rug in the living room!

Needless to say, after 3 bottles of polish remover, the nail polish has been eradicated from the affected areas. Where is my bottle of wine?????

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

Ok, so I am a slacker! I haven't posted anything in a long time now. Lucien is walking all over the place now. He can get up on the couch all by himself...what a BIG boy! Kateri and Sydney are in the Dora/Diego phase now. That's ALL they want to watch now. I have to give them credit...they know their animals now ("That's a Humpback Whale Mommy") and they "Reach, reach, reach" for things now. I have been very sick for about 6 weeks now. They thought I had pneumonia so I had to have a chest x-ray. I had this horrible cough that kept me (and John) awake all night. I ended up sleeping on the couch a few nights. It turns out I had a virus that was going around and it had to run it's course...it's very LONG course! So I am actually feeling better now.

We have been getting ready for Thanksgiving and we had a Halloween Party for the NE Region William's Syndrome group. I was able to get pumpkins donated from a local farm for the kids to take. We had about 50 people here on November 1st. It was GREAT! We actually ended up with quite a few older kids which was great for a bunch of us that have smaller children. Kerry and I were interviewed by the local paper and we even had a photographer out to take pictures! We had a beautiful day and made a lot of new friends.

Look out Revlon...Crayola as lipstick?

So we have discovered that crayons CAN be used as lipstick! Not only can we pull the barstools over to the counters to eat entire sticks of butter but we can also use the computer, make calls, get candy and virtually make a mess on any surface in the house!

Luc has started walking more on his own in between furniture and does well holding onto one hand. We "chase" our sisters around the garden outside and crawl all over the place now instead of crying to the nearest adult. Jill left for Australia last Sunday so we have 5 kids to contend with now...can you say Prozac and Merlot!

We do not like to wear clothes or diaper, for that matter. I can't wait for potty training!!!! We went apple picking Sunday and it was great. The kids loved picking the apples but spent more time eating them! We made apple pie and it went over well, even though I had no cinnamon and had to ground up 5 year old cinnamon sticks to make do! C'est la vie!

Well, Daddy's home. Time for "Mommy to check out", as John calls it, and relax outside for a few minutes until dinner is ready! Cheers!!