Visit with santa at the clubhouse!

Every year our neighborhood does an annual santa visit at the clubhouse.  My kids look so forward to this every year.  Not just because they get to see santa (which, by the way, is always an awesome santa!) but because they also get a new toy from santa AND cookies and milk.  And all this is always free (or at least my yearly fee at work).  Oh and we also get a free picture printed out for us before we leave for the night.  What a fun night for the kids!

The newest member of our family!

Adriana's birthday gift this year was a puppy.  I thought it would be something great to help heal her broken heart after loosing her daddy.  Well she has always wanted a "weiner dog" so I got her a chiweinie which is a mix of a Chihuahua and the Dachshund.  Adriana really liked the dog, but little dogs and my kids do not get along.  The dog was becoming mean and biting the kids so my parents agreed to take the puppy.  Well this really upset the kids, but luckily a breeder of golden doodles was generous and wanted to donate a puppy to my kids!  This made for the three most excited kids and I think this puppy will be a much better fit with the family. 

We were able to pick the puppy up yesterday and she really is the sweetest puppy I have ever met!  She loves the kids and loves playing with them but defintely knows how to be gentle with them.

So here is the newest member of our house....."Snickers".  Although this picture was taken right after her bath, I still thought it was a cute picture!  We love her so much!!!

Adriana's 1st Reconciliation!

Tonight was Adriana's 1st Reconciliation.  It was very difficult to come in and see all the parents with their kids and Adriana only having me with her.  It was also hard because I didn't go through my first reconciliation until I was pregnant with Andrew and converted to Catholism.  I wish Chris was there to tell Adriana all about the first time he went through when he was the same age as Adriana.  But Adriana didn't seem to mind as much as I did.  I told her daddy would be there with her, sitting next to her rubbing her back and saying "you'll do a great job, sugar".  She smiled at that. 

She did a great job, although she said she almost cried before she went in because she was so nervous!  I'm very proud of what an amazing young woman she is becoming.  She keeps growing up before my eyes and makes me so proud of her everyday.  I know Chris is looking down on her beaming with pride!

Here is her picture when she was finally done.  What a beautiful little girl she is!  I know I'm a little biased :)

Adriana's First Reconciliation!

Tonight was Adriana's First Reconciliation at St. Charles Borromeo!  She was very nervous and wasn't sure what she was going to say to the priests.
I told her not to be nervous because she was luckier than anyone else.  She asked why? and I told her because she was the only one that would have her daddy in there with her holding her hand!
She did very well and I was so proud of what a beautiful young lady she is turning into!

Although I'm always proud of watching my babies growing up, it is still very hard knowing that Chris will never be here to experience these things with us :(

Thanksgiving soccer tournament!

 This year Adriana's soccer team competed in a soccer tournament over the weekend.  And the best part is the took 1st place!  Way to go Borromeo Bobcats!  The team got a trophy and all the girls each got a medal!

Adriana holding onto the trophy!

Coach Finnagan giving Adriana her medal!

 The winning team!

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!