Christmas Decorating

We love to decorate for Christmas at our house so we got started this weekend.

We went to a tree farm to pick out a tree to bring home. The kids fun running around the field as we looked at all of the trees.

It was cold out, so we picked quickly so we could get home and get started on the decorating.

Putting the lights on the tree is my job so the kids help by holding onto the end so I can put them on the tee.

Once the light were on the kids have their turn to put all the ornaments on the tree and we let them put them up as they see fit (which is hard for me sometimes) in the end it all turned out great and I love the look of our tree!

It was a great evening spent together as a family getting ready for this wonderful time of year.

Thanksgiving Recap

We had a wonderful day on Thanksgiving and thought we would share some pictures of our day.

We played soccer and football at the same time so it was a challenge to watch for which ball was coming our way, but we had a blast playing together.

We had a small group for dinner with John's parents, grandparents, brother Sean with his girlfriend Amanda, and their baby Sean.

Baby Sean is almost a month old now and was the center of the room.

Katie and Amanda had a beauty day and she loved it, First they did nails.

Then move on to the hair, Katie loves getting a make over so it was a special day for her.

After dinner and Football was over we went to John's Meme and Pepe's to visit and had a nice time there.

It was a very nice Thanksgiving and we had a lot of fun being with family all day long. I am very Thankful for my family who are close by and far away across the country. Hope everyone had a wonderful day full of many small moments to be thankful for.

Big News

Last week John was offered a great opportunity and received a promotion at work! They are making some changes in the way the management works now and John was given the opportunity to be a part of that. The best part of this is he is going to be back in Westboro, MA so we do not have to move after all!!

We knew that John did the right thing by taking the job in CT but we couldn't figure out why our house didn't sell and now we know why. It has been tough the past 7 months having him drive so much but now we see why he had to go through all of this and it was to get to this new job back here in MA.. He is still finding out exactly what type of manager he will be, but we are so thankful for this job. John has now received 2 promotions in one year, that is pretty good if you ask me. The kids are very excited that they don't have to move after all and that feel great that they are happy here and want to stay. John's new job doesn't start until Jan. 1st so he will have to keep driving until then but at least there is an end in sight. Great Job John!!!! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who is a very hard worker and does all he can for what is best for our family.

Silly Boy!

The other day I asked Aaron to get dressed while I finished getting ready.

He proudly came and showed me that he was dressed and ready to head out the door.
As I was helping him with his shoes I saw something red coming out from under his socks.

He thought he was so funny and almost got away with putting his clothes on over his pj's. What a silly boy he can be.

Staying ahead of the Holidays

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and now that soccer is over we have our days free to do things around the house. John, Aaron, and I decided to put up our Christmas lights on the house.

Last year we missed out because we waited to long and the snow was piled up on our house when it came time to decorate for Christmas and I didn't want that to happen this year.

It didn't take us long to get up some simple lights around the house and it looks great, our biggest problem now is waiting until Thanksgiving to turn them on at night.

I love decorating for Christmas it is my favorite time of the year and getting the lights up early makes me really want to get started inside, waiting is so hard sometimes!

Hair Cuts

Today was hair cut day in our house and I think everyone looks great!
This is Katie's Before Hair

Here is the new look she wanted. Shorter than I was thinking but it turned out cute.

I got my hair done as well, I went shorter than I have ever done before, but it gives my hair some bounce now so I really like.

The boys needed a cut as well so Barber John got out the clippers and did their hair as well.

The boys don't like to sit still so we have to bribe them with suckers.

In the end everyone looks great with a nice new hair cut!

Beauty of Fall

Fall is so beautiful in New England with all the many colors in the leaves.

I love that all around our house are huge trees filled with yellow, orange, red, and green.

The worst part of fall is that it is way to short and once the leaves are gone it is not so pretty to look at anymore.

Fall leads to winter which is long and cold here. We are just starting our winter and there is nothing beautiful about it.

6 Months

It has now been more than 6 months since John started his new job in CT and 6 months since we listed our house on the market.

We were very aware of the market and we knew it would be a challenge to sell our home, but we have only had 4 showings and that is hard to think about sometimes. We know that we were suppose to take this job so we know that John is where he needs to be for our family right now, but it is so hard when he gets up in the dark before everyone is awake and comes home in the dark after the kids have gone to bed.

John is a wonderful Father and Husband and I know we wouldn't be doing so well if it wasn't for him. We have faith that we are doing what we need to be doing for our family, but it a challenge to remember that sometimes. We just have to keep praying that this is what is best for our family and something will happen for us. We don't know whats ahead for our family, but we ask that you keep us in your prayers. We are praying for an end to our crazy hours of driving for John any way that might be.

Fall Soccer

Zach just finished up fall soccer and had a great time playing again this year.

He was put on a team with more first time players than any of the others so his team didn't win any of their games, put they did improve as the weeks went on, and their last game was a tie.

Zach went to soccer camp this summer and you could really see the difference it made for him in learning the game.

He had a great time playing and we are now looking forward to basketball, which is played inside were it's nice and warm!

Our Halloween Adventures

What a busy weekend it has been!

Friday Katie had a swim team party at the same time Zach had soccer practice and pictures for his team and John hours away at work. Once I figured it all out and had each of the kids to where they needed to be I got a call that my brother in laws girlfriend went into labor. Both Zach and Katie had a great time and had lots of fun with there teams we got everyone home changed and fed waiting to here if I was needed at the Hospital and waiting for John to get home from work(Friday's are the worst for him, long drive made longer with traffic.) Lucky for us I wasn't needed at the hospital until early Sat. morning so we had a nice evening together as a family.

I got the call to go to the Hospital around 6:30 a.m. so that left John to get all the kids ready to go to Zach's soccer game that morning. It was a cold day John is the 2nd coach so Aaron stayed on the side with John while Katie found a friend to play with. Aaron was cold but he did a good job helping dad and staying close by the whole game.

Baby was born about 10:15 Sat. morning Sean Jr. 6lb 14oz named after his father. The kids came to visit and Aaron has been waiting for this baby boy to come for many months so he wanted to see his baby and was the only one who wanted to hold him. Mother and Baby are doing good. I will post more pictures another day.

After leaving the Hospital I took Katie and Aaron to see John's Mem and Pep for a visit that was planed earlier in the day but had to be pushed back because of the baby. We had a nice visit with them and love to spend time listening to there stories.
While we were their John took Zach to a friends Birthday party, he had a blast and came home full of cake and candy!
After that we went to the Gardner Ward chili cook off. We use to be in that Ward and John's Grandparents still attend so we love to go as often as we can to visit with old friends. They had games for the kids and Grandma won 1st place for her chili, and Katie got the closest noise for pin the tail on the pumpkin and won a prize as well. We had a fun night but couldn't wait to get home after a long day.

Sunday we went to Church back in Gardner to help on time.

We went to the Mall to trick or treat first and had a great time with the kids and it was nice and warm inside no coats needed.

Halloween is Grandma Shattuck's Birthday so we had a party with her and got to see lots of family. We all went out and walked around her complex and got lots of good treats.

We had a fun time this weekend but did not really have any time to relax so it was nice to sit for a minute and watch the kids go through there candy. I have never had so many things going on in one weekend so I am very glad it is Monday!!