Let the Summer Begin!!!!!

The girls had finished preschool in the middle of May, but we were waiting to really celebrate the beginning of summer for when everyone was finished with school.  So, Sam finished the First Grade (can't even believe it, the first grade is over and done with!) on June 6th and we took the traditional last day of school pictures, just as I had with the girls a couple weeks before and headed off to school for the last time as a first grader.  And next year Anna will join him at the "Big School" too!  Sam was disappointed that I could not pick him up from school on the last day.  It was a half day and I had just taken off two days before to help with Sam's first grade picnic.  I was disappointed that I couldn't be there too, and boy does that boy know how to make hsi mommy feel guilty.  I had arranged for his good friend, Cole's mom to pick him up and take him home where the nanny and his siblings were because I thought it would be fun for him.  I also made a huge sign that said, "Welcome to Summer" for the nanny to hang on the front porch to welcome Sam home to officially start summer.  All morning I felt so bad that I couldn't be there.  I couldn't concentrate.  I was really going to regret not being there.  So I left work early and headed over to the dollar store to buy fun little "welcome to summer" trinkets for all the kids.  Of course I took a little longer picking out some special gifts and was running late to pick Sam up.  I rushed over to Ella Street, parked the car, took off my shoes and started sprinting in the rain to the school.  Luckily, I made it before Sam came out of the building and was able to surprise him.  He looked so happy that I was there, and I was so happy that I had went.  Afterall, these precious moments you don't get back and way more important than anything I would have done at work that afternoon.  The kids were thrilled with their summer gifts and were excited to learn of what special treat Greg and I had prepared for them to celebrate.  We attempted to go out to dinner, to Max and Erma's.  They had a difficult time staying in their seats.  Sam did awesome but the girsl and Andrew were just not there just yet.  When we went home we unveiled the "candy cake."  The kids deem this cake the best cake ever.  It was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, kit kat bars the whole way around it with M&Ms and crushed up peanut butter cups on top.  They LOVED it!  Most importantly, we celebrated them and all that they had accomplished thsi school year and how much they have all grown.  We are just so proud of their accomplishments and can't wait to see what the next school year brings!  Welcome to Summer!!!!

Andrew's very first Birthday

Like I said, I was not very happy about having a baby around Christmas time when I found out that Andrew was due January 2nd, but having Andrew right after Christmas made the Christmas season even more special and magical to all of us.  Just like all the other kids, Andrew took his first steps a couple days before his birthday, maybe even Christmas Eve to be exact, but this child refuses to walk all the time by himself!  He will take 5-6 steps and then sit down and crawl.  Now he is an excellent crawler, he has been crawling since he was 5 months old, he should be!  But baby boy, it is time to start taking those steps.  He surely has not wasted anytime figuring out how to climb.  The boy is definitely a climber if I ever did see one!  His newest trick is to stand on the handle to the bottom oven and do pull ups with the other handle to the top oven!  Very dangerous.  I'm pretty sure I have also seen him trying to put his leg over his crib also.  Anyway, Andrew's first birthday.  Greg was also off so we took everyone to Lilliput Town to play.  Not really for Andrew but we were to toys 2 try the month before for Thanksgiving break and Sam had been asking to go to Lilliput for awhile now.  Andrew enjoyed it too.  That evening we sang happy birthday and let him have a little smash cake.  The kid grabbed on to the cake with both hands on the sides and put his face in it and tried to eat it like a dog!  It was so cute and very typical of his personality.  The next day we had an Arctic polar bear themed first birthday party for Andrew.  I was really disappointed that a lot of people could not come with traveling for Christmas, but the family was mostly there and that made it very intimate and special.  The kids loved the hot chocolate bar, I'm pretty sure the adults did too!  Andrew loved his cake, again, poor thing is going to get a belly ache with all this cake!  He opened all his presents like a pro.  I guess there are advantages to being a Christmas baby!  And now we have a one year old, again! 

The BEST Christmas EVER!

So, I know it has been nearly a year since I have written, but really being a mommy to four young children and working full time, not to mention I need to be a wife at sometime also, throw in there trying to get back to being myself by going to the gym and it really does not leave much time left!  But, I really would love for my children to have a wonderful story to look back on their childhood memories all collected in one place for them, so I am going to try do my very best to write more often.  Christmas 2012, truly was the BEST Christmas EVER!!!!  The whole month of December seemed to have a magic about it.  Getting ready for Christmas, doing all the fun things that we do as a family and with friends to prepare for and celebrate Christmas and also preparing for Andrew's first birthday made it such a magically time.  Having a baby at Christmas time was something that I never would have planned, but I must say there is something about it that just adds to the season and now it is such an even more special time of year for us, for all of us as a family!

Our Christmas season started with Light up night in uptown Mt. Lebanon.  We took a horse and carriage ride and watched the dancers as they lite the tree.  Then it was time to sit on Santa's lap.  This year all three of the older kids, Sam, Anna, and Sydney all sat on Santa's lap and gladly told him their requests for Christmas.  We tried to have Mrs. Claus hold Andrew, but he was not excited about that and cried, so I quickly took him and yet again I was holding a child in the Santa picture.  That is okay, one day I know it will just be the kids :) 

We have created some really wonderful Christmas family traditions that truly make Christmas special to us.  The first Saturday of December we always take a ride to Hozak Farms to ride the tractor out to the Christmas tree farm to pick the perfect Christmas tree to cut down.  We actually were in line in front of Dr. Peske, the doctor that delivered Andrew almost one year prior to that!  It was such a fun memory to add to Andrew's first Christmas tree cutting experience at Hozak's!  We always go back to the barn and get hot chocolate and cookies and also maybe a hot dog or two.  Of course I have to take each kids picture with the growing up at Hozak's growth chart too!  Once we get home, it is decorating day!  All day long we are putting up lights, moving furniture, hanging stockings, putting up and decorating the kids tree, etc.  That evening we have pizza night and bake chocolate chip cookies to eat as we decorate the big family tree in the living room.  It truly is a LONG but very fun and exciting day for all of us!  Sadly, Greg's train makes it out but always needs to be put up since the kids are not quit old enough to refrain from wanting to play with it.  Again, some day we will be able to keep it out and running, but that would mean that they are older, so I am just fine with the train being put up for now!

Another very fun family tradition is going on the Polar Express train to the north pole to visit Santa!  We have tried various train stations to get to the north pole over the years starting when Sam turned 2.  This year we traveled to Medina NY, and of course there was no snow!  When does Buffalo never have any snow in December?!?!  But we had such a wonderful time even if there was no snow on the ground.  Seeing the amazement in the kids eyes makes it all worthwhile.  I have some wonderful pictures of Andrew standing on the train seat looking at Santa who is squatting down beside him looking at him.  Of course Andrew stared for a couple seconds and got down on the seat and tried to quickly crawl away.  It was a very sweet memorable moment from Andrew's first Polar Express ride!  Our family is now so big that we cannot all sit together, but can sit across from each other, ha ha!  The kids loved having hot chocolate and cookies and signing carols while waiting to reach the north pole.  It is always so great to see their little faces pressed against the train windows peering out at the north pole as Santa waves to them.  Such a magical feel.  Sam really listened to the story as it was read and the kids were all very excited to see and talk to Santa again, although the sugar from the hot chocolate and cookies were starting to set in!

We all went to Cookies with Santa at the girls preschool.  The kids of course love eating cookies and milk, doing crafts, and seeing Santa (again!)  Hey you have to get those last minute requests in!  Sam was excited to see some of his old Southminster friends that have younger siblings.

I think what made this Christmas so special was the amount of time I was able to spend with my family without having to think about work.  My company is closed from the Friday before Christmas until Jan. 2nd every year!  So for the first time I was not working form home during the holidays and was able to really focus and provide the kids with my undivided attention and love without work interfering.  I was able to help with Anna's holiday party at school this year.  And I also helped with Sam's holiday party at school.  Both kids were so excited to have mom help with their parties and just be there.  The weekend before Christmas we baked and baked and backed with the kids!  Sometimes it is a little stressful trying to back with 3 kids up on the counter, because they love to not sit on chairs, but I have to remind myself that these are the memorable moments that won't last forever. 

Christmas eve we went to Southminster's children's service at 5pm.  We just happened to sit in front of Pastor Dan's family.  Heather is one of Anna's church school teachers and also pastor Dan's daughter.  Heather took both girls, of course all dressed in their puffy, sparkly Christmas dresses to sit with her.  Sam sat like an angel next to me the entire time while Andrew had a little difficulty being held the whole time since he is such a mover and shaker these days.  The girls went to sit upfront while the pageant was going on, and of course they moved back and forth from Ms. Heather to mommy and daddy quit a bit.  But overall church was SUCH an enjoyable experience and we so blessed to have found such an amazing community and family to be a part of within Southminster.  It takes a village, is all I kept thinking that whole night!
After church we had out traditional dinner of rigatoni, sausage, and peppers and onions.  Everyone drank out of fancy glasses and we even allowed the kids to have Sprite for the first time.  Everyone was just SO happy, a genuine feel of happiness was felt from everyone that evening.  It made me so proud and thankful for my family and so happy that Greg and I have made and built such a wonderful life not for ourselves but also for our children.  Everyone was "cheers, cheers" each other with our special glasses!  Very fun night!
After dinner we allowed the kids to open gifts from mommy and daddy and each other and it was quickly time to pick out cookies for Santa and put the reindeer food outside!  Sam was so excited this year that he had difficulty going to and staying asleep.  He was up at 12, 3 and up for good by 6am!  How do you tell the kid you have to wait until your siblings wake up?!?! so we did the right thing and allowed him to wake them all up to see if Santa came!!!  The kids riped through their presents with excitement in record time!  There was wrapping paper covering the entire floor as Andrew crawled over all the paper.  Andrew was trying to open every one's gifts!  And so was Brady!  I had to take several gifts away from Brady because he was trying to open them and they weren't his!  After the kids opened their gifts, we made out cinnamon buns and had them with orange juice for breakfast.  The kids just played and played and played allllllllll day, such a great Christmas!  That evening we all piled into the car and drove around to look at Christmas lights as we listened to Christmas music, and probably Anna talking.  It is such a great way to get them out after being inside all day but also a great way to calm everyone down before bedtime.  And to think I still had another week of being home with the kids!!!!!

Catch up if you can

It has been awhile and so much has happened over the last several months. Starting with our very first trip to Disney World!!! The trip started out with our first airplane ride as a family of 5. It was Anna and Sydney's first airpalne ride and the first that Sam remembered. Everyone did fairly well, as we had a direct flight to Orlando, so about 2 hours in the air. Sydney was a bit squirmy and wanted to go back and forth between mommy and daddy, which were sitting front and back of each other. Once we touched down it was like a monsoon!!! Rain and wind was ridiculous, but guess what, the Mickey outdoor dinner show was still on. So we stopped at the townhouse (which was amazing!) and off we went to find the Wilderness Lodge. Little did we know that we would have to take a boat to where we needed to go. So we stood in the down pouring raining waiting for an open air boat to take us to the campground. Again walking in the rain to the pavillion. At this point, nobody really cared to see Mickey or Minnie, but it was already paid for and we were there. The kids were freezing, Anna hid under the table when a character came near, Syd danced to the music, and Sam complained of being cold and wet (even though he was the one jumping in large puddles and splashing the whole way there!) The next day it continued to rain so we went to downtown Disney and went shopping at the Disney Store. Everyone started to get a cold and congestion from being out in the rain and getting cold. The third day, we went to Magic Kingdom and had our Disney Princess breakfast in Cinderlla's castle!!! The girls dressed as Ariel (Anna) and Cinderella (Sydney) were very excited as we ate and each princess walked around to see them!!!! It truely was the best experience! Anna's eyes lit up when Ariel came into the room and Sydney loved Belle and Snow White! After breakfast, to the rides we went!!!! The kids had a very fun time! We tried to break the days up by going back to the townhouse in the afternoons for Sam and Anna to swim in the private pool while Sydney and (very pregnant mommy) rested and napped. We went to Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM as we broke the days up. Sam loved the Star wars ride at MGM and he also really liked the pirates of carribbean ride at Magic Kingdom. Everyone loved the electric parade at magic kingdom and of course the fireworks at the castle!

Once, home we celebrated Sam's 6th birthday by having a sports birthday party at the rec. center with a bunch of 5 and 6 year old boys. Talk about crazy!!! We put them into teams and let them play relay sports games as well as free play games, football, hockey, basketball, and soccer. Halloween was very fun, Sam was a transformer, Anna was Ariel, of course, and Sydney was a monkey. Way too much candy between the 3 of them! They stayed out the entire 2 hours for trick or treat running from house to house. Of course we brought the stroller, which carried someone at all times before they got their second wind.

We traveled to North Pole to visit santa claus on the Polar Express. Everyone was excited to go on the train and to of course see santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas! Mommy spilled hot chocolate all over her pants as we arrived at the North Pole, trying to put the lid on her Hot chocolate. The kids did not even noticed that mommy and daddy were trying to find paper towels or anything to clean off mommy since they were busy looking out the window at the elves at the north pole! Santa came aboard and Sydney went right to him! (a first for her!) Anna wanted nothing to do with Santa, and Sam of course had a list for him that he shyly told him. Sam wanted Star Wars Millieon falcon and Nintendo DS. Anna wanted Makeup, and sydney asked for cheese! She is a mini Greg if I ever saw one!!!!

Many fun events in december as we waited in anticipation of the birth of baby boy! We went to the Carlstrom santa party in which Santa came to visit with presents!!!! Breakfast with Santa at the Marriott Breakfast with Santa for employees, cutting down the christmas tree at Hozak's tree farm, baking cookies and decorating the hosue and tree, and cookies with santa at southminster!

Christmas came and went and three days later baby Andrew Joseph was born!!! Drew was born on 12/28/11 at 3:16am in the morning, our first baby that was born in the middle of the night. The kids came to meet him the very next morning and they were all very excited to see him!!! Sam held him constantly and wouldn't leave his side, Sydney wanted to play, and Anna would have rathered of looked out the window. That evening we had a birthday party for Drew complete with presents for the kids from the baby, Sam got a star wars ship, Anna and Sydney got princess purses with play jewlery in it. We also had cake and sang happy birthday to welcome our new member of the family!!!! Daddy had bought a balloon, but it flew away when he opened the van door. Everyone adjusted to Drew's homecoming very well, and even Annan wanted to hold him and talk to him. Sydney over time got more gentler and was no longer being rough iwth him or scrathcing or hitting his head.

We have been slowly over the past 2 weeks putting Sydney to sleep in Anna's room. If they are too loud and keeep getting out of bed after a long period of time, we usually put Sydney back in her crib. But Sydney really likes her bed and has been taking a nap in her big girl bed the last 2 weeks with no problem!!! Our hope is by summer, the girls will be all moved into their new room!!!

Anna's nightly visits....

Every single night over the summer it was such a battle to get Sam and Anna to bed. Some how I always got to put Anna and Sydney to bed while Greg put Sam to bed, which entailed him laying in bed and watching television (usually some kind of sports) with Sam. I would read to Anna and then lay with her for several minutes. After a couple minutes I would leave and say goodnight. Greg and I would be sitting downstairs watching television when we would hear Anna on the stairs, or she would just pop out of nowhere (she is very quiet sneaking down the steps). She always showed up dressed up in some kind of costume. The latest time I was home by myself and Anna comes down dressed in her Ariel dress with a crown on her head upside down and says, "mom, I'm a pretty girl." She was a very pretty girl, but she needed to go to bed! Another time she came down dressed up in her ladybug costume, wings and all. It was becoming a nightly occurance, what would Anna show up wearing an hour after her bedtime? Needless to say when school started and everyone started to go to bed earlier because they had to wake up earlier, the nightly visits stopped. But I must admit, it was very cute!

Sam starts Kindergarten!

Our little baby boy started Kindergarten on Thursday September 1st. Of course I was an emotional wreck. That morning it was raining and I was so disappointed that we could not walk Sam to school but would have to drive him instead. Sam was so excited, he could not wait to go to Kindergarten! The weeks and days leading up to his first day of school, I read Kindergarten books to him and talked with him about what school might be like, looking to see if he had any anxiety or scared feelings about doing something new. Nope, not one ounce of fright in this kid. He didn't understand why in some of the books that some of the kids felt nervous or scared. Sam was just excited to go. It made me feel good that we had prepared him so well over the years that he really was genuinely excited to go to Kindergarten at the big school. Every night on the days leading up to school starting we read, "off to Kindergarten" which was Sam's favorite. We also read "the night before Kindergarten" which he seemed to like too, but not as much as "Off to Kindergarten" which was a book that I had bought a Marshall's two or three years ago! Sam walked right into the school and remembered exactly how to get to his classroom, he led the way! He ran into Jackson and Ella in the hallway and stopped for a dew pictures. Since it was raining, all the kids were sitting in the hallway down by his classroom. Seeing all the older kids seemed to make Sam a little nervous, but seeing his two friends seemed to make it all okay. After a few pictures, Sam was anxiously waiting by the classroom door to enter the classroom. Anna stood excitedly next to Sam, peaking into the class too. When it was time to go into the classroom, Sam was one of the first kids in. He had his picture taken with his teacher, Mrs. Rowe and found his name tag at a table. I was one of the first parents to leave the classroom because I found myself feeling like it was time to let him get started on this new adventure and I was starting to think about what I was really doing and didn't want to start to cry. I did tear up slightly as I left my little baby boy in that Kindergarten classroom, but it was happy tears that he was moving on and growing up so fast into such a wonderful kid!

I anxiously waited outside of the school waiting for Sam to finish his first day of Kindergarten. I couldn't wait to hear how everything went and what he thought! Of course he didn't say much, but he really liked it and couldn't wait to go back! We had lunch with Jackson at our house and decorated cookies for a special after school snack. Then we painted wooden picture frames that we could put a picture from his first day of Kindergarten in. It truly was a very special and memorable first day of Kindergarten that I know that I have been anticipating since the day Sam was born.

The many sides of Sam.......

Sam has decided that he is really into sports. Not just one or two different sports, but every sport, baseball, basketball, football, tennis, golf, and soccer. One of his favorite past times this summer is to put on a uniform that he put together depending on what sport he was going to "have a game for" at that time. He would start off in his pirates t-shirt (jersey), pirate hat, and his fish bike helmet (a boy needs a batting helmet, right?) and head out to the yard with his miniature baseball bat (that is suppose to be decorative) and several baseballs. He pretends to bat and run the bases, and pitch a few balls to the other team until his game is over. Sam then precedes to come inside and change into his Pitt football uniform, and plays a Pitt football game. He then will come inside and change his clothes into his Steeler uniform and play a Steeler football game. Sam will also change into a basketball uniform, consisting of a white tank with a number on it and white matching shorts. He goes outside and plays a basketball game, shooting some hoops in his basketball hoop. When the basketball game is over, he will then change into his soccer uniform, which was usually his soccer t-shirt (again, jersey as he calls it) and soccer shorts and plays a soccer game. Just watching him made me tired! Then we needed to play golf. He would take his plastic gold clubs that Greg bought him and set chairs up outside and had his sisters sit in them to be the spectators at his game. When he got the ball in the hole, he would put his hands up and that was the signal for the girls to clap! It was actually hilarious to watch from the kitchen! Sam also became an avid Pirate fan this summer. He watches the Pirates play every single night before he goes to bed. Maybe that is the good luck that the pirates needed to go to the world series this year!