Other Merry Christmas!

What fun... three kids ages 7, 4 and 1 and Santa... that is just the best. We had a great Christmas morning. A bit different than years past, as we are still creating and "trial" running our family traditions. Christmas Eve was very low key. At first I wasn't going to do anything special for it, other than just have some Giumarra family time. But the idea of having grill cheese (or something as equally fancy) on Christmas eve, just didn't seem right. So, a last minute dinner came together and we invited Poppy and Nannie to join us. My mom gave us each one present on Christmas Eve... the CUTEST little knitted snowmen to match our family. See the above picture. I love them and will cherish them each year at Christmas time!

We ended Christmas Eve with a Frosty movie that was on TV and actually all sat down together (minus Colin who was fast asleep) to watch. After reindeer food was sprinkled out front and cookies left for Santa we were off to bed by 8:15 or so... plenty of time for Santa to arrive. Just as the girls were heading off to bed, Natalie asks "Is Santa real or do parents just buy extra presents and put them under the tree at midnight?" Easy question for me to answer... "Natalie, I am NEVER up at midnight!" Although I was shocked by this question (she is only 7!), she seemed satisfied with my truthful response! Here is our tree on Christmas Eve night! LOVE, LOVE this moment.

Colin got a digger from Santa - big hit! and the girls got lots of new American Girl doll stuff which suited them all well. None of our kids seem to have a great talent for playing with their imaginations (not sure where I went wrong with this one... and it drives me crazy), so I am hoping that the new toys bring hours of independent play!!

Christmas morning was dreamy. The kids took their time opening their presents and showed such gratitude in all that they got. We shared a very laid back, but nice breakfast together in the midst of the opening. Then we spend the rest of the morning relaxing at home and loving each others company. Natalie did experience some Christmas Day "let down," just feeling sad that "IT" was over. I so remember the feeling and don't want to get down on her about it, but on the other hand, I do want to try and teach her to live in the moment the best she can. Be happy that you had a nice Christmas, even if you are sad that it is over. Focus on the positive in the situation... although harder to do, it makes you a happier person!

A Giumarra Milestone...

No picture to go with this post, but it is worth posting anyway....

We are not a family that goes out to dinner very often - Probably only 2x/month. That doesn't mean we don't like to, in fact, we love it (well at least me and the girls love it!) but sometimes it just seems like a waste of $ when we don't know how it will go. Will Colin fuss and yell, will the service be slow, will the girls be patient. Most times, we do go out, the girls are great, but Colin has been very unpredictable and made the last couple times out to dinner (along with poor service) not worth the $ at all.

Last night... we took a chance and went to the Olive Garden (along with free kid meal tickets) and it was such a success!! The girls were great, Colin was good, service was decent and the food was yummy. I actually felt like we were able to talk to one another and enjoy each other and the food and not just be sitting on the edge of our seats hoping it will go ok. When we eat at home, the meal seems to go by in a blur... I kind of liked that we had to sit at the same table for a while waiting for our food. I don't know if it was because Santa might have been watching, but all Giumarra children did so well!

Let's hope it was the first of many nice family meals out on the town!

Santa's Elf

Did you know that Santa has many different types of Elf's. Some of his elfs have a very special magic... One arrived at our house sometime in the wee hours of December 1st. It looks like it is probably the same elf that was at our house last Christmas season, but we can't tell for sure. His job is simple - to keep an eye on us all day and each night he reports back to Santa on how we have been that day. We assume he gets back to the North Pole daily (by some magic I truly can not explain) because each morning he is in a new spot in our house. We have been cautioned to never, ever touch him - for if we do, the magic is ruined.
Natalie says she has not seen an elf at school, but you never know what kind of powers they might have. So, be on your best behavior wherever you might go!

Natalie has been very excited to look for Mr. Elf every morning... Sadie is not so sure about him. She likes the idea, but I think she is a little creeped out about a little man staring at her in her house. Can't say that I blame her... but, it sure is fun!

Let us know if you see one around!

Recent Favorite Pictures...

My new favorite picture of the kids. Taken just this past Sunday after we decorated the tree. I think this is year 3 of an artificial tree and the one bonus is that we can put it up early. So up it is and we'll see how it goes. It is up in our new room and looks great! I was pretty sure that Colin was going to break every ornament or the entire tree while we were putting it up, but it made it through the decorating process and he seems less interested now.
This picture was taken the 2nd night we were up in Maine for Thanksgiving. We ended up in a hotel due to my bad allergies (what a pain) and all three kids are in one bed enjoying being in a hotel. It might have been Colin's 1st adventure in a hotel and the girls have not been in one much, they were all very excited and it went as best as it can...

In Maine with cousins Liam and Aela at the most breathtaking spot along to coast. If only the skies were blue or there was even some sun. The cliffs and waves were awesome!

Sadie and her friends at school getting ready to preform their "Thanksgiving song." Super cute!

Life of being the youngest child with older sisters... he is such a sport!

Trick or Treating, in the rain :(, down in Clifton Park with our friends. Caroline joins the Giumarra clan for a picture. Natalie is Annie and Sadie is Annie's dear friend, Molly. Colin is the standard Bee that we have used for all three kids! The heavy rains made the trick or treating part of this night quite a bust, but thankfully, we were with friends and ended up having a fun night anyway!

Giumarra kids on my favorite holiday! I wonder what I will do when the kids no longer want to wear holiday themed shirts?

The runners of the Goblin Gallup. I ran the 5K and both kids ran the fun run. It was super fun and the girls did great! Natalie even made the local paper for finishing in the top 20 kids.

Colin carving pumpkins... more like feeling all the guts that come out of the pumpkin. I love the look on his face in this picture. It was the first picture that made me realize he isn't a baby anymore - a toddler, we have!

Have you missed us?

I knew that I hadn't blog in a long time and I even got a couple of complaints about my lack of blogging, but I didn't realize how out of touch I was until I just logged in and I see that the last blog was about our 1st days of school. Now, with Christmas around the corner, I have got to get myself back into action.
However, the fact that I haven't blogged since the start of school, really speaks to what has been going on with us and my constant inability to keep up with life! Lately, I feel like I am constantly 5 minutes late to everything and have usually forgotten something along the way!

Relatively speaking, the back to school transition has gone very smoothly. Colin loves his Nannie days and Jeannie days. He is so funny... such a man of routine. As soon as I show up to his sitters, he promptly says good bye to each one of his friends and grabs his shoes. He doesn't even let me visit with Jeannie to see how his day went. He knows that I show up, and then we leave! At his sitters house this year, there are 4 kids... all within about 6 months of each other, with Colin being the oldest. It will be fun to watch these 4 grow up together, start Kindergarten together, always having these days at Jeanne's as a special bond.
Sadie is doing remarkably well in her new preschool. She loves going and thinks that she is just hot stuff that she is now in school. Looking back at when Natalie was Sadie's age, I always thought that Natalie was just more into schoolwork than Sadie ever was... well the truth has come out.... Sadie is just as into it as Natalie, but with Sadie being our 2nd child, we didn't take the same time with her that we did with Natalie. Now that she is in school and learning all sorts of school stuff, she is like a sponge. She is literally sounding out words, starting to read easy words and wanting to now how to spell everything!! On top of that, her teacher taught Sadie (and her 5 classmates) how to tie their shoes within the first 3 weeks of school!
Natalie is loving 2nd grade. It was hard to move on from such an awesome 1st grade and perfect teacher, but Natalie has adjusted well. Her recent report card was gleaming and made us so proud. I loved the part of the report card where the teacher writes in their own comments... truly makes the whole report!! So for all you teachers out there, please keep writing individual comments on all your kids, us mom's, we love it! On top of school, Natalie is still doing gymnastics and brownies and has started Jazz class!

I am surviving and finding my routine. It has been crazy... like one week just melts away and blends into the next week. I can't even believe it! I truly am so thankful that I have a husband who will cook dinner, does clean and a true partner in this chaos we call home! I have found my sanity in early morning workouts at the Y and really liking it. For all those that know me, know that I like to exercise and it is really the only alone time that I give myself. But, with the busy schedule of work, kids and household stuff (plus the occasionally need to be lazy) if I don't do my workouts in the early mornings, they don't happen. Last school year, I spent most mornings wishing I had gotten up and getting mad at myself for not getting up. This year, I have just done it... and three full months into it... I think I now say, that it is just my routine. I am up and at the Y every school day by 5am. I have even found an early morning running partner, so I am still able to run outside 1xweek. It is so good for me. Now, if I could stop eating ice cream every night, I might actually lose weight!

Nick has been super dad and super husband. Without a big household project going, he seems to be around a lot more. I know that he is missing his hobby, but there is really nothing left to do on this house (at least not for a while...), but I am loving having him around more. I didn't realize how much time those darn projects sucked up his time. The new room is 100% done and is killer amazing. My most favorite part is the expanded mudroom... so awesome... a mother of 3's dream. Cubbies for us all and lots of places to store all those papers that come home from school!!

So.. there is the update. I can't possibly post all the pictures I want to share since I last posted pictures, but I will do a couple of my favorites. I promise to be a better blogger - although looking at my track record since I have been back to work and school... you might not want to check back for another couple months!!

Happy December!

1st Days!

After 10 weeks of a family summer vacation, we were all excited to get back into a routine! I was ready to not hear the word, "mommy," 25 million times in a day and to stop cleaning the kitchen 4 billion times a day. (at least that is what it felt like!).

So... with the end of summer, came the beginning of our year!

This Tuesday, we were all back to work and Sadie started a new preschool/ daycare. She is going to a homebased daycare that has a structured preschool program in the morning. There are 6 other kids in the "class" and one of them being her best friend, Caleigh, who she has been at daycare with since they were both babies. She was so excited to go that one day one was she was dressed (backpack on) by 6:45am! This week has gone really well and she seems to be having a great time!

Sadie outside AppleHouse PreSchool.

Natalie getting on the bus on her 1st day. Thanks to my mom who went to our sitters house on the first morning of Natalie's school so that I could get this picture. Even as a 2nd grader, I felt like I still needed the "getting on the school bus picture." Natalie definitely had some anxious feelings about starting back, but I think they were all good feelings, and had a great day.

Our 2nd grader!

Isn't this picture SO sweet! This is Sadie giving Natalie a great big hug after Natalie's first day of school. Sadie missed her! Natalie is not hugging back, probably because she is still at the bus stop in front of her friends and needs to act like she didn't miss her sister too. However, this summer these girls played a lot together and I am sure they are both missing each other lots!

Here's to another year. I am sure in about another week, I'll probably be ready for summer vacation. I'll be overwhelmed with the kids all going in different directions, the amount of bags that I have to unpack and repack everyday and trying to figure out how to squeeze "me" time into a day that has no time - but that is what motherhood is all about.

Family Anniversary Celebration - 9 years on 9.9.09!

Nine years - 2 homes, 3 kids later and we still love (and like) each other! That is something to be celebrated! We were able to share some time together last week with an overnight at the Copperfield Inn up in North Creek. We were so relaxed, that we almost felt bored!

This Wednesday, on our actual anniversary, we celebrated family style. Each year since we have been married, I have put on my wedding dress on and danced with Nick to our wedding song. At first, I did it to be silly, then it became tradition and now the kids just love it and it is so fun! I am not sure if Nick likes that I do this, or if he just puts up with my silliness.

This year, the girls decided to be my flower girls and got on their matching back to school outfits. It was so stinkin' cute!

To Nick... I love you. I love where our relationship has been and how it continues to grow and change. I love that you can be silly with me in a way that no one else sees. I love that you are a fun and caring father. I love that you are a hard worker and are very frugal (ok, sometimes that part is annoying) and that because of these qualities, we have been able to do more and have more than might otherwise be possible. I love that you are bald and proud. I love that you take tubs. I love that you email me everyday that I am at work. I love that you make dinners. I love Colin loves you more than me, even though it hurts. I love that we have only been married for nine years and we have so much more to share!

Our mini vacation to Vactionland

We are not much of a road trip family, but we loaded our kids into the car (drugged Sadie to prevent car sickness) and headed to Maine to visit my cousin, Jen, and her family! Although Jen was an older cousin when I was a kid and we didn't hang out much, as adults we have much in common and it has been so great sharing mom moments with her and getting to know one another better.

The trip was a success and I think we did a good job of squeezing as much MAINE into one weekend. Saturday we went to a small, but beautiful, beach on the ocean and Natalie tried out swimming in the ocean. It was kind of in a cove, so there was not much of an undertow or waves to navigate through. Sadie was not so sure about the ocean and I don't think she even got her toes wet... but she did a great job of collecting as much sand as possible on her body! Colin, was very overtired and was either cranky or sleeping!

Saturday afternoon we went to my Aunt's house that is in a cove of an ocean. The ocean was at high tide so we were able to swim right off her land. It was wild... in that it looked just like an Adirondack lake - peaceful and clear, surrounded by evergreens, but yet it was salty water!

That night, the kids went and picked up live lobsters for dinner! Liam and Natalie each held a lobster before it became our dinner (that doesn't sound good, huh!). Sadie was not so sure what to think of it and when we sat down to dinner, she told us she wasn't hungry and didn't eat a thing!! That night, while she was in the tub, she told me... "Mom, I was sad for that crab. I didn't want to eat it!" I might think we have a vegetarian on our hands, but after she got out of the tub, she ate leftover ham!

I thought the lobster was absolutely YUMMY!

Jen and my kids are all about the same age. Liam and Natalie are both 7. Aela is 5 and Sadie is 4, and then Shae is 2 and Colin is 1. Aela and Sadie had a wonderful time together and during the weekend told me many times that they were best friends. Here they are in the tub, pretending to be twins!

What a great trip.

Thanks to Jen and family for hosting us and sharing your weekend!

Giumarra Family Reunion

Since Nick's grandmother passed away, the Giumarra's have made a point to have a annual family reunion. Nick's father is one of seven children, so these reunions can get pretty big! This year, the reunion was held by Nick's sister, Lisa and her family. They did a remarkable job pulling off such an event. The day was perfect - beautiful and relaxed. The kids absolutely LOVE playing with their big cousins!

Nick and his brother, Tony and sister, Lisa.

Ryan and Tony. They are both 9.

Jenise (13) and our girls.

I am impressed and awed by the work that went into making this day possible. I think it is really incredible to show our children the special bond to our families.

Family Day!

You would think that with the entire Summer off that we wouldn't feel so crazy, but I guess we fill up whatever free time we have. In the midst of it all, we see each other a lot, but family time is often focused on what the kids need, getting their dinners together, doing laundry, packing up a bag to bring it here or there and we don't get enough time just hanging out with one another.

Last week we had a true family outing - just us - enjoying one another.

We took the kids on the Minni-ha-ha tour boat on Lake George and then for a picnic lunch in a close by park. Being out with 3 small kids is never easy, but it was relaxing and truly enjoyable. The kids loved having Nick be part of their fun. Sadie and Natalie have been playing together really well these days and it was super cute to watch them do "pretend play" in the middle of the park with just each other to play with.

I am really hoping that we can make family days a regular part of our lives.

O'Brien Family Reunion

5 Siblings

9 Cousins

10 significant others

7 (almost 8) Grandchildren

5 dogs

LOTS and LOTS of fun.

Since I was 5 years old and living in Maryland, we have spent our summer vacations in the Adirondacks with my mom's brothers and sister and families. There are many, many fond memories of those weeks together.

Seeing how crazy our own life is now, I am in awe that my parents and aunts and uncles were able to commit to that annual vacation week for so many years. Truly what a gift that they gave all of us with that special bond and relationship with our cousins and family. I fondly remember pontoon boat trips, the island, late nights at at the Lake George arcade, babysitting the younger cousins, the rope swing, the path between Jessie's home and Erin and Katy's place, the many thunderstorms and so many more...

Since our families have grown and expanded in so many ways over the past 10 years or so... the annual vacation week has held strong in a Family Reunion Weekend. It is so special that we all make it a point to be together. I bet my grandma is smiling :).

This weekend was full of fun and visiting.

Saturday morning my cousin Jen and I ran the Race the Train run up in North Creek and the kids (all 6 of them) got to ride the train and be our cheerleaders! Jen almost beat the train!! Nice job. Saturday afternoon was spent swimming and swimming at Lake Vanare. Lots of yummy food and great company.

I KNOW that my children look forward to and love this weekend just like I always have.

Camping along the Battenkill

For the past 2 years, we have joined family friends for a camping weekend. In the past years, we have camped just minutes down the road at the Moreau State Park, but this year we went to Nick's old stomping ground... the Battenkill River Campground in Cambridge, NY.

Camping with a newly walking toddler sounded as much fun as putting needles in my eyes, so as much as I was going to miss Colin on our family camping trip, he took a trip to Nannie's for the weekend!

During the weekend, the girls were being super cute together and I was loving the fact that we have 2 daugthers. I was talking to them about how they were going to be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER... well, Sadie, who has a very best friend named Caleigh, just wouldn't buy into this idea that I was talking to them about. Sadie was sure that Natalie could not be her best friend. So, I decided that they would be FOREVER FRIENDS and they were ok with that!

How cute is this?

Fishing was a big activity for a couple of the boys. Natalie would get in on it every now and again... but it wasn't her mission to catch fish. This picture really captures how great our camping sites were. We were literally right on the river with just a little path to access the river from our sites. Truly, truly perfect!

Natalie is loving her gymnastics these days and has been practicing her cartwheels and hand stands alot. Our grassy campsites were a perfect spot for her practice and I happened to capture a great handstand on film! Nice job Natalie.

A summer full of rain, along with a campsite in the woods... is a perfect place for lots and lots of bugs! Thank goodness we had a couple of these tents and were able to eat bug free. This is a picture of our 1st night at the campsite where the kids put the girls on one side of the table and the boys on the other.

This annual camping trip has become a tradition with such a great group of families. This group initially all became friends when our first children were born and since then all our families have grown up together. This group of friends have been such fun to share he wows of parenting together.

The highlights of the camping trip was Tubing down the Battenkill on Saturday. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed a 3 hour trip down the Battenkill in a tube. The river was very calm - you didn't realize how strong the current was until you tried to stand up! Between the 4 of us, we had 3 tubes and took turns sharing a tube with another and then had I loved it and really enjoyed the entire time.

What a success!

Next year will Colin be part of this annual adventure??

The progress that Summer always brings...

Since Nick's new career in teaching, summer time means new projects and progress on old ones. Below is the new deck that comes off the addition of last summer. Since this picture was taken, Nick has added the step down and also built a stone patio walkway from the driveway to the stairs of the deck. He was able to use the patio stone that we had pre-addition. Needless to day, it looks awesome! I will have to get a green thumb (and then find the uninterrupted time) to garden as there are all sorts of great new flower spots in this area.
The swingset was long awaited by the kids. It was taken down last May when the addition first began and having 2 kids spend over a year looking at it in pieces in the backyard was hard. . The asked almost daily if it was time for the swingset to go back up! So... when the yard was ready... Nick didn't think we could then make the girls wait for grass to grow. Thus, the arrival of the grass carpet (sod!!) and then the swingset was up. The girls and Colin have been loving it! It is in a great spot that gets good shade in the hot afternoons and lots of fun has been had.

The next month of summer vacation will include more inside work. The addition of last summer has been about 99% done for months... Nick has promised me that it will be 100% done by back to school.

Thanks Nick for all your work!

1st Haircut!

Just shy of 15 months and Colin got his first haircut!

With the girls, they didn't need a haircut for a long time... but I had gotten enough hints from others (Thank you Uncle C) that I realized Colin was starting to look a little shaggy.

I didn't realize how much he needed one. I just told our hair dresser to trim up the bangs and around the ears. She asked if I just wanted a little boy haircut and I said Yes. She cut and cut and layered and layered. She was pretty talented as he kept turning his head so quick, I would have thought she might cut his ear off!
In the end, he looked super adorable and we all love the new style.
How often do boys need their hair cut?

Boilermaker 2009

This was the year that I did the Boilermaker!

The Boilermaker (located in Utica, NY) is one of the largest races in the country and is very well known for fun and festivities that are part of this run. I have been wanting to do this run for years and have been trying to make it a goal for myself. It seemed year after year something came up so that I couldn't do it... new baby, pregnant, nursing, or something of the sort. This year with nothing holding me back, except my nerves of being part of such a crowded race, July 12, 2009 was the day!

It was such an awesome experience.!! With upwards of 15,000 runners and all the spectators, never in my memory, do I remember being in one place that had so many people. At the end of the race, standing in the midst of the crowd was like a sea of people. Every way you looked, you could see nothing but people and more people. Along the course there were endless bands, dancers, supporters, and groups of people cheering everyone on. There was not any part of the 15K course without spectators. The fun of the crowd really brought the energy of the race up.

Then there were the wheelchair "runners." The wheelchair part of the race started before the running part, but at some point, the runners caught up to some of the wheelchair participants. This was a pretty hilly course and as I was feeling out of breath or had tired legs, passing a person in a wheelchair who was going strong TOTALLY encouraged me. Being able to do this course with just their arms is truly incredible!

One of big attractions for this race is that Saranac Beer is the largest sponsor of this race and the race ends at their brewery. Endless free beer is given out to all the runners at the end of the race. I am not a big beer drinker, but it certainly added to the fun. Nick, my supporter, was able to tip back a few in honor of the event!

Sadly, in the midst of the chaos, the camera was left in the car. I have no pictures to post or share, but I got this link to pictures from the Utica paper... they have some really great shots and show how HUGE an event this was.

http://uticadailynewsphotos.com/galleries/090712_boilermaker/

Going into this race, I thought that I would do it once and be able to say, "Yeah, I've run the boilermaker," and feel good about that... but I might be newly addicted to this race. I am already looking forward to Boilermaker 2010 and hope to have more friends part of the next one!

Thrill Seekers!

Got to love roller coasters!

Since I have been traveling with children for the past 7 years, I haven't done many roller coasters... those days are behind me now!

Meet Natalie... my trill seeker!

Her and her friend, Noah, were all about the rollercoasters at the Great Escape. It was super fun and very exciting!

They even did the Comet (which if you ask me, is the BEST rollercoaster). It has some HUGE drops, big speed and it is a long ride. Natalie even did no hands for some of the ride and is anxious to go again!
I was so proud of both of them as they found their courage, trusted and were so brave!
Lots and lots of fun.
Looking forward to sharing many more rides with her!

Best Friends

The Willis family, up for a vacation from Georgia, came to visit! Kristin and I have been best friends since 8th grade and although she lives far away, we are still very close. She knows me better than any other friend and because of that, our relationship is so easy and so special. Although I feel like I know her kids well because of how often I talk with her and how much hear about them, I only see them (at best) once a year for a couple hours. Having them all there was so awesome! It was as if the kids knew and understood the special connection between them all.

We had a great visit!

We each have 3 children and each of my kids is about the same age as one of hers. We have been pregnant together each time... overlapping at some point for a couple months. It is very fun to "compare" each of our kids personalities and see how the rate with the "typical" birth order characteristics.

Owen will be 5 in August and Sadie is 4 1/2.

They are both our goof balls! Super cute and silly.
Noah is 6 and Natalie just turned 7. These kids are exactly 10 months apart.
They are our rule followers and enjoy bossing others around!
Then there is our 3rd children... Connor is 18mo and Colin is 14 mo. Couldn't get a picture of them right next to each other... they are both too on the move!

I never thought that this picture would actually turn out. I figured at least one would be crying and another might be trying to walk away.... but they must know how camera happy both Kristina and I are. What a great picture!

Hope to be back together again soon!