Fairmount Fire - A whole year has passed......

A whole year has passed since John became a volunteer member of the Fairmount Fire Protection District. 

Over the past year, he has accomplished so much and I couldn't be more proud of him. The best part is how much he sincerely seems to enjoy this new and very important part of our life.

He completed his fire academy last May with top academic honors, received his EMT certification at the end of November. He was voted "Rookie of the Year", and also received an award for most training hours.

And....... as of last night, he is no longer a "Probationary member" as he was voted on as a regular member of the FFPD.

Yay John - - - 

We are all so proud of you and all that you have accomplished!!! 

We love you lots!

A Trip for Two!!!!!

We are going away for our first trip together in 7 and a half years.  John says he won't believe it until we are soaking up the sun and sipping drinks on the beach.  We have confirmed flights and a reserved stay in Cozumel over my birthday weekend in February.  My parents, affectionately known as "Nani & Poppi", are graciously coming to stay with the kids.  I don't even know what I am going to do with myself.....  I have not been on an airplane in 7.5 years without a child or a baby! 

 YAY!!!!!!!  

Mexico - Here we come!!!!!!

An Aspen Holiday!

We traveled to Aspen the day after Christmas to celebrate with John's family. We enjoyed visiting with family and friends, lots of wonderful ski days, an adventure with Jack getting locked in the motor-home, and spent New Years Eve at John's dads house because of the crazy bomb threats that evacuated much of Aspen.

Let me just recap Jack's little adventure for you..... We usually stay out in the motor-home because it gives us a little space and allows much needed quiet for the kids. We let Jack nap out there and check on him frequently. After checking on him at one point, John came into the house laughing and asked his dad for the spare key because Jack had locked himself in. Lee looked at John kind of odd and told him both sets of keys were out there.... (I still haven't quite figured this one out.....??) John and I stood by the door pleading with Jack to unlock it while Lee called the locksmith. The locksmith said he was down valley and wouldn't be able to get up to the house for at least an hour. Meanwhile, Jack had figured out that being locked in the motor-home all by himself wasn't so bad. In fact, he was flat out saying "No" when we were asking him to try to get the door unlocked with a big smile on his face. He then started grabbing juice boxes to drink (nobody was there to say No...) and was sitting in the driver's seat pressing every button he could possibly get those little fingers on. John remembered that the bathroom has a little vent fan on the roof. Lee and John got up on the roof to start shoveling the snow off. The hole the vent had to offer was fairly small - - Lee & John thought we were going to have to tie Gracie on to a rope and lower her in. I, not being the biggest fan of that idea, went to take a look at the size of the hole and decided I could try to squeeze through. I successfully made it down into the motor-home and was able to unlock the door. Jack was not super happy about my not so grand entrance. He really looked at me like I was sincerely ruining his little freedom party ;0) It was a very humorous little adventure. It definitely could have been pretty scary, but he was safe and wasn't getting into anything dangerous.

We had planned on going out for New Year's Eve in Aspen (at least for a little while...) but our plans were put on hold when we learned that basically the whole little town was being evacuated because of potential bombs and rumored bank robberies.  Because it made national news, I am sure everyone has read about the man who later killed himself after wreaking havoc on the little ski town on the busiest night of the year.  As upset and concerned as I was at the time, my heart goes out to his family and whoever it is that has to deal with the legacy this man left behind.  He was a very sick and unstable person who clearly didn't know how to deal.  What a sad story.........  

Overall though, our little Aspen get-a-way was quite wonderful.  It is always nice to reflect on one year and look forward to the next......  Happy 2009 Everyone!!!!!!!

Our Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration and I finally have been able to catch my breath from all of the holiday craziness! I thought this would be a good time to give our little recap.

Christmas Eve was great. Grace was a little angel in the Pageant at Church. We stayed for the children's mass after the pageant and then headed home. We had appetizers and opened all of the family gifts. My favorites, of course, were the kids homemade gifts from school. Gracie made a book about her life (I can't even begin to describe how cute this is), Norah made little bookmarks for us, and Jack made the most adorable little reindeer out of his footprint and handprints. The girls really seem to love giving their little gifts out as much as they love getting a gift. When the gift-exchanging was over, the kids got ready for bed with many hopes that Santa would come. They LOVE putting the cookies and milk out for Santa and sprinkling the lawn for the reindeer.

We woke up to lots of presents and big smiles on Christmas morning.  It really is such a magical time with children.  Gracie's big gift was 2 little hermit crabs whom she affectionately named "Hermie" & "Shelly".  Norah received a huge doll house, and Jack was given a train table for his love of trains and lots of Scooby-Doo stuff for his obsession with Scooby.  We had a nice relaxed day with gift opening and a yummy breakfast!  I got a really nice Kitchen-Aid mixer from John and the Wii Fit which has proven to be HUGE fun!!!!!