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And Our everyday Christmas:

the bus

eating breakfast

cooking dinner

cleaning up

swimming lessons

brushing teeth

playing in the snow dustings that we keep getting

listening to stories and music

errands

meltdowns

playdates

baking and making

parties

making beds

playing games

folding laundry

Let Dog in

making lunches

appointments

school meetings

homework

Taking out trash

eating pistacios

hugs

tucking in to bed at night

reading books

I love yous

work

life.

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Shhhhh! I'm making my secret Santa gift for school!

Happy Birthday Dad.

Thanks Dad......

For Letting me have the bedroom with the bathroom

For working so hard so we could have everything

For giving me a love for music and jazz

For letting me play in a pile of dirt, make forts in the woods and taking me camping

For taking me to visit my grandparents often

For teaching me how to change a tire

For making me "bring in wood" when I was fighting with my brothers

For walking me down the isle

For not letting me watch TV on school nights

For freezing your butt off to watch me in all those Marching Band Shows

For fixing my cars when I broke them

For taking me out to a special dinner for getting good grades

For giving us an extra spin on our sleds in the back of the tractor

For teaching me how to ride a bike

For getting the best parking spot when you moved me and all my "stuff" into college

For making the holidays special

For giving me chores

For letting me sit on your shoulders while you did pushups

For telling me that no dream was too big

For our Christmas Shopping trips

for waiting outside the hospital room into the middle of the night until Trevor was born

For helping us move into three houses and all the projects that came with them

For helping me with my physics homework

For loving Mom

For making the best breakfasts

For teaching me how to give and get "good customer service"

For teaching me the value of hard work

For getting me (and Josh) summer "jobs"

For loving me even when I wasn't so loveable

For being there.

For believing in me.

Happy Birthday!

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and in this busy season of going here and there, making and doing, I'm glad we can still pull off a lazy afternoon (because it gets dark so darn early!)

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Us, Right now.

Loving taking turns unwrapping a book each night and reading it as a family. It just forces us all to come together for this small moment of time from the million different directions that we are constantly running in. I love it.

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Our annual date night Christmas shopping trip. This year we had a babysitter for 7 hours, we got ALL our shopping totally done and had lots of spare time to go to Seadog Brew Pub and watch the Pats game! Fun!

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Letters to Santa:

Bre: did well copying the I want and then lost interest. Liked erasing.

Lucas: Wrote a couple marks and then lost interest. Getting good at writing the letters of his name, though.

Trevor: Had to be well planned out, AND written in cursive. He wanted to add some points on how he had been a good boy this year but then lost interest and didn't feel like adding that part.

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At the annual CASA Christmas party. A room full of adorable kids with special needs, their special helpers, Santa presents and cookies......what could be better?

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• The wind is biting cold now ripping across my cheeks, frozen nostrils, aching lungs
• loving some new music on my iPod (Bon Jovi- It's my life... It's now or never... Cause I ain't gonna live forever... I just wanna live while I'm alive)
• layering, fleece, and then mittens and then peeling them away along the way
• Winter running, I'm determined to keep up with it two days a week because it feels darn good (when it's over!)

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Just another ordinary grocery shopping day!

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Our Annual Christmas dinner with the Days....

HE cooked up a feast (and a gourmet mac and cheese for the kids)and kept our glasses full with yummy whiskey sours

The kids played Twister, did puzzles, played the Wii, and Watched Charlie Brown Christmas

The kids all received their "perfect" gift including a little lock box that will not leave one little three year olds hand-EVER.

We laughed, we talked, we laughed some more. and then we decided to do it on New Years too:)

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Our Happy little gingerbread house....the story:

Every year since Breanna was 2 we have attended the Gingerbread House workshop at the children's Museum. They put together a great house ahead of time and all we have to do is decorate (and we don't have to clean up the mess!) and usually read a story and have refreshments for the kids. This year, no story, no hot chocolate, and one VERY small bag of candy to decorate the houses with (I guess a sign of the times and economy), so we got creative with the sprinkles. The kids really wanted to get fancy (and we were wishing we had at least one Necoo wafer). So, we decided to retire that tradition (as sad as it is), and next year, try making our house at home.

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Breakfast with Santa:

Trevor: couldn't wait to see Santa (no fears or shyness at all). Even helped out Lucas with his fears a little by saying that he would let him sit next to him. Told Santa that he wanted A Wii and Laser tag.

Breanna: excited about seeing Santa: no fears, climbed right up on his lap. Lucas told Santa that Bre would like a Thomas Train

Lucas: Was scared at first, but comforted when he got to sit up there with Bre and Trevor. Told Santa in his "big" voice that he would like a big digger truck for Christmas.

They were thrilled by the fact that Santa gave them each a book to bring home (and that Mrs. Claus was there, which afterward we decided that was the reason that Santa was less grumpy this year.

And we bribed them afterward to smile for a picture by the big stone fireplace in their Christmas outfits (love those boots Bre!) Good Times.

AND Later in the day: Gingerbread house workshop and Christmas dinner party with the Days....stay tuned for pictures.

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Today.......

making our very own candy canes

doing the Hokey Pokey at the library story hour

Dad and Daughter night out

and...the boys went to a a roller skating birthday party!

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Love this.

the story:

Liana plays games with the kids every night she is here with Breanna, so now Breanna LOVES playing games (and is getting really independent with even some of the harder ones). Tonight, she said, "Liana game" and went downstairs and fetched one of her favorites from the game closet. Then the kids all gathered around and played together (with only a little bit of fighting). SO cute!

loved this.

read here.

Dec 2

December 2 Writing.
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
(Author: Leo Babauta)

somedays, when I think of what I want to write, and then don't write it down right away b/c I'm caught up in daily chores, I forget and lose important stuff. I need to keep paper nearby so I can capture that stuff. I also don't write b/c I have a hard time finding the right words to perfectly express how I feel.

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Our lights!

Dec 1

For more info on this project: go here.

December 1 One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
(Author: Gwen Bell)

One word for 2010: Inspired...Inspired by books, blogs, my family, friends, neighbors, my kids. Inspired by those who are facing struggles and those who have left this earth. Inspired to think of new ideas every day to make my house a better home, be a better mom, friend, wife, and daughter.

2011: I'm thinking........

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This Moment.

we get a new Christmas book under the tree every Christmas eve and every year we get them out with our tree. We have built up quite a collection and this year we may even try wrapping 25 of the books and opening and reading one a night until Christmas. Hello December.