I'm Back!

And so, my friends, is BOKEH!  Yeah baby! 

Tonight I let the kids go to town on a gingerbread house.  It is from a kit, so don't get all excited!  Yes, filled with high fructose corn syrup and red dye #40 (gasp!).  I drew the line at eating the red frosting right out of the bag.  I actually pulled the bag out of Olivia's hands as she was squeezing red frosting into her mouth and said, "No honey, anything but that."  The funny thing is, I am pretty sure she knew exactly why I did it without even having to say, "red dye #40".  My children are walking natural food propaganda, and I am proud of it!

So, I think I am back in the blogosphere.  The last few months have not been easy.  My husband and I have completed mediation and will be divorced within the next few weeks.  It is for the best.  We will remain friends and raise our children in two separate loving homes together.  I do not blame him, nor do I accept all the blame.  We both made mistakes.  The thing is that neither one of us fought for each other, no matter how much we think we did.  The children are happy and healthy and dealing with "grief" as best they can.  Damien and I are both helping them through it.  It has been as friendly as a divorce could possibly be, in my opinion, and in the end I know we will be friends.

So, I went off the grid for a bit, but I think I am back.  As for my 365 project, it was not an epic fail, but it was not a success.  I probably missed about 10 days in the last few months.  Maybe as I slowly get back into daily blogging I will share some of my last photos.  Because I do not deem it a success, I will be starting a new 365 project on January 1st, so stay tuned.

But for now, I leave you with this quote:

"Don't cry because it is over.  Smile because it happened." ~Dr. Seuss

A Very Merry Christmas, Part Deux

The day after Christmas we got together with Damien's family at his parents house.  Cameron and Olivia were very excited to spend time with their cousins.  Cousin friendship is so awesome!

 

Patiently waiting for the next gift.  Paw Paw had a system that could not be broken or interfered with.  All of the kids did a great job waiting.  And we all know that waiting is the hardest part!

The Jesse boots!  Olivia was so excited when she saw these (and she has not gone a day since without wearing them).

And then came the rest of the ensemble.  She was thrilled!  Beyond thrilled!  I just love this series of photos as she realizes what she has just uncovered.

Cameron was just as thrilled.  When he realized what was under the paper (How to Train Your Dragon's "Toothless and Hiccup") he started to hyperventilate.  It was so funny!  Every time he was super excited about his gift he would stand up and hold it over his head like he was holding the Superbowl trophy.

This picture of Cole just cracks me right up!  He takes off the wrapping paper and holds up the box and says, "Hey, Mom, it's a box!"  I thought it was so funny because we do that all the time in our house.  Too cute!

Olivia just could not wait to dress up in her Jesse costume.  Thank you Grammy and Paw Paw.  She just loves it!  She also got a princess crown and light up shoes that she spends a lot of time in.  Thank you Kelly, Brendan, Cole and Charlotte!

After gift opening, the kids got to spend a lot of time playing together.  Olivia and Charlotte really got a kick out of Grammy's vibrating pillow. 

It's always a fantastic time at the Sevin Family Christmas Party!

Still trying to catch up, so stay tuned for a Snow Much Fun post tomorrow.  Merry 5th Day of Christmas everyone!

A Weekend Away

We packed up the kids and took a little trip to Burlington, VT to spend some time with family for the extended holiday weekend.  We booked a hotel with a pool hoping it would be warm enough for the kids to practice their swimming skills and boy, are we glad we did!!  It was so hot!  We pulled into the hotel and got into the pool before we even checked into our room.

After our quick dip in the pool we went to downtown Burlington's Church Street Marketplace, one of the many, many reasons I would LOVE to move to Burlington!  If you haven't been to Burlington, Church Street is an open air mall with stores from "Old Navy" to a really awesome second-hand store called "Second Time Around" where I bought a really awesome summer outfit for $16 bucks.  There is a Ben & Jerry's (of course) where we stopped for an ice cream treat.

There are hundreds of things to do on Church Street.  You can eat, dance, shop or just find a quiet spot to rest and read a book.   My kids loved the cow statues.  We had to stop at each one while they posed for a photo.  

Much to my delight we arrived in Burlington just in time for the Farmer's Market and artist showcase.  They set it up right in the park.  There were local growers and artists selling all sorts of delicious and beautiful things!  I love our NH farmer's markets, but I have yet to find one around here that compares to Burlington's.  Just another selling point for moving there!

In the early afternoon we headed back to the hotel for, yup, you guessed it, another dip in the swimming pool.  My kids are fish.  They just love to swim.  

After finally dragging the kids out of the pool (for the second time that day) we headed back to Church Street to meet Damien's cousin Darcy, her husband Keith and their two adorable kids Samantha and Dominic.  On the way to our parking spot we spotted the other two Sevin clans and asked if they wanted to come along.

After some debate we headed down to a restaurant on the waterfront called Breakwater.  We had to bully ourselves into a table, but Keith did a fine job and scored us a really great one.  We later left that table which made Keith a little bitter ;)

After dinner we waited for the fireworks.  There was a bouncy pirate ship, complete with a pirate!  At one point a father came looking for his son Nicholas who he thought was in the ship.  The maidens searched the ship but could not find him.  The pirate had the line of children yelling for Nicholas and the scene started to get a little scary and frantic.  One parent asked what Nicholas looked like.  The father said, "Blonde and he's wearing a red shirt."  "You mean that kid in line right there?"  Nicholas was in line yelling his own name!  A scary situation turned completely hilarious, thankfully!

The sun setting over Lake Champlain is simply breathtaking!

And the fireworks were just awesome!

The next morning it was back in the pool for us.  We had to get our money's worth, ha ha!  Cameron is slowly getting over his fear of jumping into pools, although even with his life jacket on he would not go in the "deep" end.  (The whole pool was over his head).

Then it was off to the July 4th bash at Aunt Dawn and Uncle Brett's house!  This was our second time making the trip to the party, and this year did not disappoint.  There were softball games, volleyball games, water balloons, an egg toss and lots and lots of delicious food.  

The hammock was the hit of the party for the kids.  All the kids in attendance took a turn in the hammock at some point during the party, but I'm pretty sure Olivia was in it the most.  I think we need one for our yard.  

Damien is a super fun Dad, and of course a super fun Uncle too!  Charlotte ran over to him at the end of the game to give him a hug which ended with a toss into the air.

The party was so much fun!  It was great to see family we haven't seen in years.  The food was delicious and the kids were entertained the whole time.  Cameron and Dominic really hit it off and never stopped playing.  Could this be another reason we should move to Burlington?  We left the party just in time to go home for a sunset swim in the awesome pool.

Olivia's new thing when she gets out of the water is to shake herself dry like a dog.  It is so funny!  She does it every time and it never fails to crack me up.

My love affair with Burlington had to come to an end.  Let's review the reasons I would like to move there.  There is Church Street, the awesome Farmer's Market, and cousins.  Did I mention that Magic Hat is my favorite beer and their brewery was two minutes from our hotel?  Plus, all we could find on the radio were 80's stations and country music which made me happy!  I was sad to leave, but we will be back.  

Christmas at the Sevins

OK, back to my regularly scheduled postings :)  Where did I leave off?  Oh, yeah.  Christmas with the Sevins.  This year we went over to Grammy and Paw Paw's house on Christmas night.  As I mentioned, I did have to work on Christmas Day, so I arrived later than everyone else.  They did wait for me to open gifts, though, which I am sure was really hard for those kiddos!

Olivia got beautiful handmade hair clips from Katrina.

Cameron trying out his new Robosapien.

Yes, we let our handmade rules slide for Grammy and Paw Paw. 

 

Cole and Cameron playing with Cole's race track.

 

The grandstand.

 

  Uncle Brendan and Olivia playing dolls.  So cute!

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Day I had to wake the kids up at 7 a.m.  I really thought for sure that they would be sneaking down the stairs at 5, but no.  The morning began with Cameron opening his "Gold" gift.  I was so excited myself that I didn't take any photos of that moment, but believe me, it was awesome!  He was so happy that Santa remembered what he asked for and to finally receive the one thing he has wanted for a very long time.  I will tell you, though, it did not outshine the other handmade items he received as I thought it would.  He is indeed a very gracious gift receiver and giver. 

We usually open gifts and then have breakfast, but this Christmas, because I had to work, we decided to have breakfast first.  It was yummy as usual!  Cameron had a very difficult time waiting to open the rest of the gifts, but he managed to get himself through the meal (not without a lot of whining!)

No matter what I do to try to minimize it, the gift opening always turns into a big giant whirlwind.  It is never just the four of us on Christmas morning, our home is always filled with family.  I think I forget that they are getting presents too!  So, after breakfast the whirlwind ensued.  Olivia sat quietly on the couch opening each of her gifts and calmly putting them to the side saying, "I will save that for later."  Seriously, she did it with every gift.  It was too cute!

Cameron got Tinkertoys from Nana and Grampa.  I remember Tinkertoys and I remember having so much fun with them.  So far, these are one of Cameron's favorite gifts.  He loves to create rocket ships and space monsters and cars and whatever else his giant imagination can come up with.  Olivia enjoys them equally as much, and to be honest, so do I!!

  Cody and Meaghan model their handmade hats.  I think they really like them, but they haven't actually worn them outside yet.  I think they are too cool for winter hats!

  Cameron's new hat.  He is definitely not too cool for this one.  He loves it!  When he opened the package his eyes lit up, surprisingly, just as much as when he opened his Transformer.  Then he held the hat to his heart and hugged it and said, "Thanks Mommy, I love it!"  I love this kid.  He is just so awesome!!!

 One of Olivia's stocking gifts were these nesting dolls that are modeled from the book "The Littlest Matryoshka."  She loves nesting dolls.  This week we are taking a trip to the library to see if they have the book in stock.  I think it will impress her when she sees her dolls in the book.

  Cameron's wooden toy gift are these castle blocks.  They are pretty awesome, and one of my favorites.  I build the castle and Olivia knocks it down.  It is quite fun for a two year old and her Mama!  Cameron has developed an eye for symmetry and is building some pretty nice things himself.  I did have to take this photo so that I knew how to get all the pieces back in the box.  Then I realized that there is a map inside the book.  Those smart elves, they think of everything!

We had a most wonderful Christmas Day at our house.  I left for work around 11 a.m.  It really wasn't that bad, like I said.  I'm pretty sure I can get used to it and adapt our family's Christmas celebrations enough so we won't even notice next year!

Stay tuned for one more Christmas post.  Christmas at the Sevins!