Andrew's 6th birthday party!

 This year for his birthday, Andrew wanted to have his birthday party at Great Skate.  Andrew's birthday is Dec. 1st and with Thanksgiving weekend right before his birthday, we decided to have it that weekend.  I figured it would give us something fun to look forward to after a very difficult weekend.

 Andrew was very excited about showing off his skating skills to all his friends.  After playing ice hockey for two years, he is getting pretty good on skates!

Andrew had a great time and it is so nice to see smiles on my kids faces after everything they have been threw this year.  I still can't believe he is already 6 years old!  Happy birthday to my most favorite 6 year old!!!!!  Love you so much little buddy!!!!

Thanksgiving!

At Church this morning, the mass was all about Thanksgiving (obviously).  As I sat there in tears trying my best to make it through mass, Father John's words started hitting me.  So I sat there and really thought about everything I have to be thankful for this year.  Surprisingly I was able to think of so many, even with this being the worst year of our lives.  I'm thankful that I have the three most beautiful precious children I could have ever asked for.  Their daily hugs and kisses and smiles is what keeps me going most days.  I'm thankful for such an amazing family....on both sides.  They show the kids and I that no matter what happens they will always be there to love and support us!  I'm so thankful for so many amazing friends!  You never realize how many incredible friends you have until something horrible happens.  Then they come and surround you with love and hugs and have been there for me in so many ways!  And I've very thankful for the many years I was able to spend with the love of my life!  I know Chris was my soulmate and I'm so blessed to have really known what love was.  Many people will never find true love, yet I was able to spend 20 wonderful years with my true love!  I also know that one day Chris and I will be together again with our three children here and our two baby angels in heaven.  And that life will never be taken from us.  So looking  back today, I really do have so many wonderful things to be thankful for! 

Thanksgiving!

 This year was a tough year for us.  It was really hard to even look forward to Thanksgiving without Chris here with us.  But I know with my kids, I can't just sleep through the day as it wouldn't be fair to them.  So I wanted to find something to make it as fun as I could for them.  So I came up with the idea of writing notes and drawing pictures for daddy and sending them up to heaven in balloons.  The kids all seemed so excited to do this and spent lots of time working hard on their drawings and letters.  We made enough so we could let some go at MeMaw's house and Aunt Kimmie's house.

Our first house we went to that day was MeMaw's and we had enough balloons to let each of the cousins also release a balloon.  It was a big hit for everyone and I think it really helped my kids during the day.

 Then we headed over to Aunt Kimmie's house and once again we had enough balloons to let each of the cousin's also release one. 

At both houses the kids excitedly watched as the balloons went up into the air and even ran into the backyard of both houses so we could watch them go up.  The kids did not take their eyes off the balloons until they could not be seen anymore.  Then they spent the rest of the night talking about how excited daddy would be when he received each of their letters and which letters would make him laugh the most and which drawings he would like the most.  I think this was a great idea and really helped us all make it through the holiday together.

Love them!

Love these three so much!!! This is what keeps me going everyday and I don't know what I would do without each of them!!!! 

A day at the zoo with cousins!

 One of the great things about going to a catholic school is the kids always have the day after halloween off from school.  So we decided to take advantage of the day off and the nice weather to head to the zoo.  We met up with the kids cousins who also go to a catholic school.  So we had 7 kids all 8 and under.  These kids always have so much fun together and I love that they all get along so well.

This isn't the greatest picture, but the hippos were very active today.  This is two of them playing together.

 Joey and Andrew needing a little rest time.

 Momma elephant and two babies.

We had a great time and it was really nice to spend time with all of our Weber cousins!

Fall fun!

 One of the things I dread every year, is raking up all the leaves we get.  Luckily our tree looses its leaves early so we can do all the raking when it is still warm out. 

So to make it easier on me and more fun for the kids, I put them all to work.  They don't mind raking the leaves and even enjoy it....

But of course after they rake them they do have to play for a bit.

 Even peanut seemed to enjoy it!

So we were finally able to get all the leaves raked up, so until next year.....the rakes are put away!!!!

Parish picnic!

 This year the parish picnic was a little harder to go to.  Chris always talked about how much he loved the parish picnic when he was growing up and it was a favorite thing for him to do with the kids ever year.  I really didn't want to go, but I knew I couldn't do that to the kids.  So I sucked it up, put on my big girl pants and headed out to the picnic.  It was actually a really good thing for us because we were surrounded by people who love and care about us so much!

And of course the kids had a blast playing games and riding rides.

 Adriana was able to meet up with some of her friends.  Yes, these girls are all the same age.  My little girl is just very tall and beautiful :) hehehe!

 I really am glad we went and the kids had such a wonderful time and we stayed late into the night!

Adriana and Andrew's first race!

 Back in Oct. was our parish picnic and the kids decided to do their first race which was a 1 mile fun run.  The kids were very excited to do the race and both did great!  They were both able to finish in the mile...Adriana ran it in 9:30 and Andrew was 10:30.  Not too bad for a 5 and 8 year old!  Here is a few pictures of my runners.....