Christmas...better late than never!

Yes I know I'm a week late. I'm not always the best at keeping up with things like this, but I wanted to share some pictures and a video. We had a quiet, if you can believe it for us, Christmas. Just us and it was relatively peaceful. The kids were spoilt rotten and had a blast. Hope you like the pictures!

Chloe-Anne vs the cake

I finally made Chloe-Anne's 1st birthday cake. Our schedules and me being sick prevented me from doing it earlier. The title speaks for itself!

Perfectionism

Last night our family made a gingerbread house that Mike's parents sent us. The kids had lots of fun with it and it seemed that everyone had a different idea of how to decorate it. At first I resisted the freestyle that the kids wanted to do. I wanted to copy one of the pictures on the box so it would look awesome. Then I realized that my perfectionism was kicking me in the butt again. The kids were just looking to have fun, not make it look like the one on the box. Sometimes I get so caught up in something being perfect that it actually prevents me from getting on and doing something productive. I end up not even trying because I can't do it the way I want to , instead of just doing what I can. Simple but true! Funny thing is the end result was awesome. Jess made her part pretty, Josh made his part look like guitar hero notes and the other guys just liberally put candy on any spare frosting. It was cute and they had a blast. Sometimes I just need to get over myself!

Chloe-Anne

I know, I know! I'm a few days late, but that doesn't demean the importance of Chloe-Anne's first birthday. This year is the first one in 4 years that Mike hasn't deployed and its been special to have him home to share her birthday, even if he wasn't there for the birth. Chloe-Anne's birth, yes that was very special. I've been fortunate that in 6 kids, Chloe-Anne's arrival was the only one that Mike wasn't here for. In many ways this was deliberate on our part. We had the option of Mike deploying before her birth or after. We both felt that it was more important for him to be there for the first 4 months of her life. I still don't regret that, but it was sad to not have him there at her birth. I was lucky to have my dear friend Emily there with me. She was fun, entertaining and supportive and made it go by very quickly. Sharing my daughter's birth with her was definately a bonding moment. So here we are one year in and what a year! Chloe-Anne's siblings adore her. I can't begin to tell you how often they love on her, cuddle her, pick her up or play with her. You might think after 5 kids already that they might feel insecure about another baby, but nothing could be further from the truth. Chloe-Anne has bought us together more than ever before. I like to think that she is my gift from God. It is said that when God takes something away from us, he gives something back. In this case he took my Mum. Out of that pain he gave me Chloe-Anne. We didn't plan her. We didn't expect her and yet there she was. The moment I knew I was pregnant, I knew it would be a girl. I also knew I wanted to name her after my Mum, hence the Anne part. Obviously she doesn't compensate my loss, but when I look at her, I know how happy and proud my Mum would be. My daughter is a special gift to our family. She is your typical 1 year old. Into everything, cruising around and on the brink of walking. We are blessed to have her in our lives. Happy 1st birthday my Chloe-Anne!

Random thoughts

It occurred to me that I hadn't blogged since Abby's birthday and so I figured I could put a few things on here for anyone who is interested. Mike is back on nights and so we are back to seeing him for just a few hours a week. Always fun for all involved. Jessie has been running for vice president in her class this week. Elections are on Monday and she is very excited. She has also been busy preparing for her mega chorus and mega orchestra concert at Fitch High. All the 5th graders in Groton who do chorus and orchestra are participating and they will be performing along side students from the high school. Josh has been going on multiple field trips. Last week he got to go see the New London Symphony which he loved and then yesterday he went to the nature center, which was also very popular. Abby had to deal with being teased at school this week, which was very upsetting to her. Luckily things improved the next day and she had a good rest of the week. She had a birthday party to attend today and had fun. Ben along with Josh continue to be kings of the playstation. You would not believe how tired I am of hearing the same game being played constantly. The game? Star wars battlefront and its all they like to play. Ironically they're both very good at it. Sam continues to patiently wait for a place to open up at school and passes the time by annoying the daylights out of his Mother. He's a sweetheart! Me? I'm trying to get ready for the holidays early this year as its the first one in 2 years that Mike will be here the whole time. Even though Thanksgiving is not a holiday I celebrated before coming to the States, I think the idea of celebrating something that is so positive and that brings families together is such a good thing. Its not easy when you're a military family to be together, but this year we can be and I'm so looking forward to having us all together. Anyway, longwinded but there you have it. You are all up to date. Aren't you glad?!!!

Happy birthday Abby!

There have been alot of birthdays recently and today is no exception. Today it is my Abigail's turn and she is 7! I love all of my children equally, but Abby is perhaps the one who is most like me. Appearance wise and personality wise she reminds me so much of me as a little girl. She is quiet and shy, lacks some confidence but has the sweetest heart. She is extremely sensitive and loves to sing. I think she sometimes feels overshadowed by Jessica, but when she is praised she blossoms. Abby's birth was one of my favourites, if only because she was the only one where I was able to wake Mike up in the middle of the night and say "honey its time". I've never seen Mike move so fast before! We spent several hours watching the weather channel (Mike loves the weather channel) and I remember the nurses asking me if I would tell them when I hit transition, because they couldn't tell by my demeanour. I calmly told them that when it was time, I would tell them and indeed I did. I don't suppose they were used to women who refused pain medication and then quietly and calmly delivered a baby. But that was what I did. She looked like a china doll. Abby was the most beautiful baby and now as a 7 year old she is still beautiful, inside and out. My sweet little girl! Happy birthday Abigail!

Max

Earlier this afternoon Mike went upstairs to get ready for work. He called down for me and had me come upstairs. It turned out that Max, my cat had passed away on our bed. Max has been in our family for 9 years and at first we didn't really like him all that much. Our friend Tracy was transferring from England to Denver and had collected 3 cats in her time in London. She stayed with us for a week when she came back to the States, so we could see which one of her cats got along with our other cat Pumpkin the best. It turned out to be Max. At first he wasn't very friendly. He would push Pumpkin out of the way to get to the food bowl first and he wasn't much of a lap cat. It wasn't until Pumpkin died a few years later, that he really became a part of our family. We always laughed about how loud he would purr and as the years and the weight went on, how heavy he was when he would walk over you! Losing Max today was a big shock. He had been to the vet's recently and as far as we knew, he wasn't sick. Mostly I was sad I didn't get to say goodbye to my friend. I've always been a sucker for animals and have always become very attached to them. Watching Josh and Abby cry over our loss today, showed me the next generation of animal lovers in our family. Max will be missed by us all, but especially Josh, Abby and myself. Goodbye Max.