Week 4

Monday, Jan. 22nd

We all love that Maddy babysits Cole on Mondays.

Tuesday, Jan. 23rd
Photos not from this day- Maddy helped for a friend's shoot and Lisa took some at youth group.

Wednesday, Jan. 24th

Their morning routine.

In renovating our bathroom, I've looked through bunches of pictures (Thankfully not TONS.  I probably could've spent months pouring over Pinterest and Houzz.  A skinny budget and not changing anything major really limited my options and choices, which I count as a blessing since I'm incredibly indecisive.) and found these two standouts.  The first, would be my dream bathroom in my next life; when I'm a doctor in some major city living in a high rise.  The second, is just gorgeous for my here and now tastes.

Thursday, Jan. 25th

You kind of had to be there, but Colombo and I just got the biggest laugh out of this.  Email #1 from the school, timestamp 12:30.

Simple and straightforward, right?  Now read email #2, timestamp 12:50, just 20 minutes later.

What is wrong with people?!?!  Did they interpret the first as a prompt to 'please call the school even though you never otherwise do'?

I had the machine out to nip and tuck all the competition costumes, so the 3 littles all took a turn and did very well!

Fake food delivery #1 for the Easter show kids' scene.

I'm not sure I've mentioned this before on the blog.  This was day 10 of 13 without hot water.  Showering across the street was the least inconvenient part.  Mildly inconvenient was not doing any loads of white laundry and trying to prepare meals making the fewest amount of dishes possible.  The most inconvenient was heating hot water up on the stove to do dishes by hand, only to feel like they were 1/2 clean.

Friday, Jan. 26th
Shopping Day with the designer / contractor for the master bath reno.  Such a fun, new experience!  Colombo and I grabbed lunch together at Five Guys and then met Jared for the afternoon.  I regret not getting a picture of this step of the process.

Lisa was at youth group again, taking pictures.  I love these that she sent me.  Especially love seeing C4 in action with his junior high-ers.

Saturday, Jan. 27th

Got to see Aiden in action on the court.

It was warm, but not quite this warm.  But hey, this is always a welcomed sight in January!

Cousins slept over.

Sunday, Jan. 28th
The Passion and the Cross kickoff.  My 11th year and a new Easter show!  Over 80 adults and over 80 kids!!!  Not much of a break (5 weeks) between Christmas and Easter shows!

Week 3

Monday, Jan. 15th

Tuesday, Jan. 16th

Wednesday, Jan. 17th

Us girls had way too much fun at the eye doctor's!  Perfect vision for these two, thank God.

Incredible Night of Worship

Thursday, Jan. 18th
Renna had a great day!  Laura took Renna and did all the fun things like visiting the nursing home.

She dropped her off to me at the church because I was there for a meeting.  Renna quickly found her other buddy, Caron, and helped fold bulletins.

 Miss Kandie joined these two clowns on the floor to 'chat' about their upcoming competition.

Friday, Jan. 19th

This spicy little girl also has a sweet side.  She pulled her special monkey and asked if we could send it to 'Califorma' or 'Pohtah Rico'.  Then she kissed it and said, "Goodbye, my angel."

A few minutes later, as I stood and folded laundry, she asked, "Why you givin' me da judgey face?"  So I asked her what the judgey face looks like.

 This is how they movie.

 While Daddy and I...

Saturday, Jan. 20th

This was a crazy day- can't remember exactly what it was filled with, but I wasn't able to participate in a big event at the gym.  I stopped in to show my support and ended up watching my friend's little girl so that she could participate in the workout.

My husband about 4-6 months old.

Sunday, Jan. 21st

Renna asked Nathanael to put her hair up so she could flip around.  He did his best.

Maddy and I hung out with Jules to watch the Patriots win the AFC championships.  The men were gone to meetings and hockey and we banished the littles to the basement, allowing for some fun girl time.

Colombo turns 19

C4 is 19.  This may be his last birthday post since now he's an adult and he's gonna hate that I did this.  In fact, I didn't make him a birthday book.  I figured I'd do that til their 18th birthday, especially since he let's me take (sneak) about two pictures a month, so it would be more like a birthday pamphlet.  I had told him this prior to his birthday, but when his birthday arrived, and there was no book, we were both sad.  He asked for a Baby through Graduation book, so I'm gonna start working on that.  His first 8 years of pictures will all have to be scanned, but I think it's a great idea!

His birthday was mellow with no big fanfare- just like him.  The night before, he had his buds over for a nice dinner.  I communicated with zero moms, the boys all drove themselves here, and I went to bed before anyone had left.  They are all adults.

I could cry if I think about it too hard, but C is so good and fun and healthy and productive that I have to just appreciate that this is how it's supposed to be.  He's such a gift to us.  Now halfway through his freshman year at UConn, he continues to be responsible, diligent, wise, quiet, soft, caring, considerate, trustworthy, and so fun to be with.  He loves fast food, Devil's hockey, Kelly, Netflix, Blizzards, video games, sleeping in, and his little Suzie (Renna).  He dislikes Bauer, early mornings, and unnecessarily loud children.

Also, it just seems impossible that I'm old enough and capable enough to have a 19 year old.

On his birthday, he slept 'til after noon, then he, Kelly, and Maddy all got DQ for lunch. We gave him a card and some cash and then he played men's league hockey with C3 late night.

He loved his gift from Maddy and Kelly!

Happy birthday, C4!

Week 2

Monday, Jan. 8th

What kind of mother let's her kids sled in the street at 8:30 at night??!?!

Tuesday, Jan. 9th
We met Jon and Annie and the girls at Moe's.  We were smart and sat in a separate booth.

Wednesday, Jan. 10th
Renna asks me a couple times a month if I can please take her to the dentist.  She loves it!  Good checkups for 3/6 this day.

Thursday, Jan. 11th
My man's birthday!  So happy to celebrate him.  His parents took us to dinner and we enjoyed a lovely evening together.

Friday, Jan. 12th
Nice warm January day!

We ran up to check out Gianna's soccer game.

Saturday, Jan. 13th

It was hard to see my friend lose her dad unexpectedly, but she honored him well.

Renna went to her friend's pajama birthday party.

After church, we went to LeBlanc's to watch the Patriot's game (which was awesome!) and celebrate C3, C4, and Bob all together.

Sunday, Jan. 14th

I showed all the new comp team moms all my hair and makeup tricks.

I guess 19 is when you really don't need a birthday sleepover, but a steak dinner is the perfect answer.

The blurry overflow:

Justin, Kevin, Isaac, C, Noah, Luke- 6 of the most kind, Godly, generous, handsome young men.  They've been celebrating birthdays together for about 16 years!