December/ Good BYE 2011

 December finally arrived and it couldn't have come soon enough for me. It began with one of the things we enjoy the most, Lego Kidsfest.

Working on parts of the Mystery Mosaic.

this year was famous paintings

I would LOVE to hang this in our house!

They must have made the Hartford skyline earlier in the weekend.

Building pieces for the Build Across America display

Victors piece of America

Dad's piece of America

Rowan's piece of America

Saw Santa

Rowan had to meet the snakes

Thought she was going to try and take this one home

Victor had to have his pic with all the ninjas

Easily Rowan's favorite part was the huge pile of legos to play in

Mom's favorite part was the life size Lightning McQueen!!

Rowan got ate by a shark

Victor got held up by a bounty hunter

We hung out with some friends

Kelton thought he ran into someone he knew

Gave directions to a pirate

Our challenge was to build a bridge

No surprise the sensory kid had to visit the pile again

Victor is a little disappointed that his Hogwarts set isn't this big

 Because we can never have to many legos in our life we also did the Star Wars Lego Advent calendar. With two kids we had to do a second advent calendar so they could take turns, which was numbered slippers hanging on the railing filled with candy.

Don't really see the Christmas in this but the boys were excited

Victor so excited to open Day 1

Rowan did a real good job on her days

Candy!!!

Chocolate!!

The kids were very excited to set up the tree and for Christmas to happen. We visited with family and had a nice holiday!

dad and Victor working hard

Rowan goofing around

Zoey just chilling in her chair taking it all in

Kids did a heck of a job of course then we had to move up the ornaments up because of the puppy

After Church on Christmas day

     I almost got Christmas cards sent to everyone. It took weeks but I had the best of intentions when I took the picture for the card in October, we had snow on the ground after all.

      One of the best things that happened in December was Kelton working extra hard to go through things and find me my dishes.

I have never been so happy to see a sink full of dishes!!

 I also felt very vindicated when we saw the cut outs for the new Lego series. I insisted on adding a golden lasso to Rowan's Halloween costume and Kel snickered at me, but see even Lego thinks it is important!!

       Well I would love to say that 2011 went by quick but I have been waiting for today since last January. Nothing went as planned this year and it was a heck of a ride! We lost my pepere, my uncle and my grandma. We took a wonderful vacation to Maine. We adopted a puppy. We lived with my parents for a very long 14wks. Lost one house and were blessed with another. We left our old ward after 24 yrs for Kel and 15 yrs for me, moved to one we really liked then end up at a different ward completely. We survived a blizzard, earthquake(We didn't feel), a hurricane and an early(OCTOBER) snow storm. We lived for 17 days without power. We paid respect to friends we lost and watched other friends get married. We also reconnected with Kelton's old friends at his 20th High School Reunion. We celebrated with family and we mourned with them. I am not sorry to see 2011 come to end.
            We wish you all a Very Happy New Year. May it be filled with Blessings and Peace!!

90 Years Ago Today

Today would have been my grandma's 90th birthday. The last month and 20 days have been rough, but the more I share and pray and read the scriptures the better it becomes. So I wanted to make sure that I found a way today to honor her so I decided one of the things I would do is make a blog entry to remember her.

Grandma as a toddler with her father on the farm.

  Muriel Alice Vuille grew up on a farm in Goshen CT. I can't imagine that being a very easy life and the stories she shared didn't do anything to make it seem like it was. She was the second of four and the oldest girl. She was very close to her youngest sibling, her brother Paul, because she was the one his care fell to when her mother was ill. My grandma learned at a very young age to work hard and take care of the house. She loved the years she got to attend school but she didn't get to finish because she had to care for the house and Paul when her mother got sick and was hospitalized. When Great Grandma Goshen got well and came home grandma didn't go back to school she went to work in the factories. She married her teenage sweetheart and had her first child, my Uncle Johnny. Unfortunately that marriage ended in divorce but in 1951 she married my Grandpa, Arleigh Christensen.

Grandma on her honeymoon

Grandma and Grandpa on their honeymoon

My grandparents had 5 more kids, Cora, Paula (my mom who was named after grandma's brother Paul who died in a car crash while grandma was pregnant with my mom), Ethel, Lori and Thomas.

My Grandparents.

This is how I remember my grandparents. Because of circumstances I had a very unique and close relationship with them. When I was very young I believed that they were actually my parents but because they were so old they had given me to their oldest daughter to raise, followed by and angry letter to the stork and reason why we never used the fire place.
Things that remind me of my grandma, shamrocks, squirrels, Arizona, Uconn basketball, NASCAR, tennis and golf. Things I miss her baking, our arguments about calling Star and the National Enquirer the paper, her ability to keep everything and not having her home look like it belongs on hoarders,  her fear of all things electronic including but not limited to microwaves, VCRs and remotes, and her smile. Things I wish I could forget, the unanswered phone, the officer kicking down the door and paramedics offering their condolences.
Things I am grateful for, having known her, all the important times we shared, her always being there for me, being one of her favorites, and that when I saw her the day before my parting words were I Love You.

Till we meet again I will think of you often.

A picture I took on our trip to Arizona

On my wedding day

Holding Victor on his first Halloween

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November

While it is only been a few short weeks since November it feels like a life time.
We started with no power but we were pretty much feeling like pros at life on a generator this time around. The kids missed some school. Rowan had the whole week off for so we told her to consider it an early birthday present. Victor had to go back for the last two days of the week.
Unfortunately in the mists of all this we suffered another loss. My grandma passed away suddenly on November the 4th. This has been a really hard thing for me to deal with. We were very close and losing her has been very hard on me.
It was bittersweet to celebrate Rowan's birthday as we prepared for a funeral. My baby turned 7 years old!! Time seems to fly by with the kids. Again we were faced with a birthday and no power! Thankfully we got power back that day. Rowan is bright and cheerful, her school and all they offer has been a blessing for us. Rowan has begun spelling tests, so she has a 20 word list every week that includes 2 difficult like responsible or character. She has never gotten more than 1 wrong and always gets the bonus words. She is a spelling phoneme!! She makes me smile and laugh all the time, I love how she lights up everyday at pick up when she sees me. She is my cuddle-bug!!
It is hard to imagine that just a week and half after the funeral we closed on our new home. We moved in the same day and Kel worked hard all Saturday right up till 5 minutes before he had to leave for work. We had one week before Thanksgiving and after all we had been through this year I was determined to have a very quite, peaceful and happy day. I spent 2 days cooking and prepping. We watched the parade in our PJs and then we went to see the Muppet Movie. We came home, ate and had a really good night just hanging out but we sure did miss dad who was at work. It would have been my grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary and after 28yrs apart I found great comfort in knowing they were spending this special day together.

My Grandma a couple of years ago.

She spotted her gifts first thing and we ended up having to let her open one.

She thought it was so cool that there was a school with her name that we just had to get her this.

Our Princess!!

Yes a Lalaloopsy!!

DOUBLE YES a crazy hair one too!!

Belle!

and her bed!

Rowan and one of her favorite friends Jenna. Yup they love that they share a name!!

Well if preparing a dinner in a house without all my kitchen stuff wasn't hard enough Bella and Misty decided it was tea party time in the pantry while I was cooking!

Hanging our watching the parade!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and this is the first turkey for our first holiday in our new house.

Well here it is! The place we call home. We may not be completely settled in yet but we are so happy to finally be trying to get back to normal!!