I forgot...

I forgot how much I missed blogging. I forgot how important it is to write our story. I forgot how much I enjoyed posting our pictures. I want need to make sure I have it all documented because there are so many things that only a Mother will or can remember.

I actually have been thinking that I had better print up this blog. It never crossed my mind that I may want to write again. In the past couple of years I have had a thousand excuses as to why I am not blogging. I think the break has given me some time to think about why I started and what I wanted out of this blog.

The only reason why I signed into it tonight is to prove I broke my elbow and had a big, fat, long arm cast. Prove it to who you ask? Gerard and Papa! How could they have forgotten it. I will never forget it. I think for a minute Gerard may have actually forgot but then realized his error.

It was such an emotional time for me. Reading over each post I could feel the fear of losing Anna because of my injury. I could feel the ache in my heart knowing she was waiting for me. I swear I can even feel the physical pain I felt on my first trip back when the pressure in the cabin changed. I remember the judge asking if I were physically fit to care for her because of my broken elbow. I remember refusing physical therapy and insisting on going straight back to work as soon as the cast was off.

It is my job to remember and leave an ease trail for Anna to know all the stories of her childhood.

Christmas 2015

Well Sparkle toes has brought  one of Santa's  reindeer  for Anna to care for until Christmas  eve. She needs to love up on him so that he has enough  magic to fly. I am happy to report that she is doing a wonderful  job.

As I make some special Russian  style  pancakes for Christmas I am listening to Christmas  music and her play with the nativity  that a dear friend gave her. I am just trying to soak up these moments.  I k ow one day I will long to hear her imaginative stories and seeing her play with the "guys."

I am never want the magic of Christmas to end.

The change

Today marks the change for my blog from public to private. I have shied away from blogging for one major reason. Privacy. I want Anna's life to be her life and not everyone's business but I totally miss that I have not been recording her funny little memories. Now that school for me is almost over I am hoping to be more available to my family and her.
I do want this blog to be there for Anna. So that she will be able to look back and know that I was listening and I was totally enjoying our time together. I am writing this post with her sitting next to me eating M & M that we purchased from our trip to NYC last night and reading as I type. I can not believe that I have a child who can read! We traveled there to see the musical ELF with our friends Michelle, Skylar and Kylie.
I seem so out of practice with writing. I sure hope that I the ease of writing about our experiences will come back to me. Questions Anna has asked recently are "Why can't I glow in the dark?"

It has been a looooong time since I posted!

Well it has been too long since my last update. Life has been crazy busy for us. I am in the final stretch of finishing my degree as a family nurse practitioner, Anna is just about to complete 1st grade (How is that possible), and Gerard is well Gerard. He is busy cleaning up from what felt like the longest winter ever. He purchased a new boat and has been busy getting it ready for the season.

So may know some may not know but Gerard and I were scheduled to marry 18 years ago. That wedding did not take place for many reasons. After years of considering different options we felt the best option was to have a private ceremony.  This past Friday on the beautiful island of St Thomas Gerard and I wed. The ceremony was held on Lindquist Beach, St Thomas, USVI.  In attendance were Anna, and just our parents. We gave our parents less than 24 hours notice which was crazy and fun. I honestly would not have had it any other way. I hope to have the professional pictures back soon. The two pictures that I have from the professional photographer are amazing. My mother also snapped a cute one.

Gerard has already told me he is done with pictures until Christmas. Which makes me laugh. I took a few pictures of just him and I and she told him "Dad just pretend like I am in the picture too." Anna coached him on how he should kiss me which is also so funny. She wanted him to do a big dramatic dip so he did.

None of us have been to St Thomas so none of us knew what to expect. Holy mountain is all I have to say. The road were so steep. The first thing Anna said was where is my seat belt? We took lots of taxis and I am so happy we did not rent a car for this trip. Another interesting fact is St Thomas was purchased from Denmark in the early 1900s being Danish I thought this was a fun fact. The other interesting fact is this island is primarily Christian. The radios in the taxis were all set to Christian music or to ministers preaching the gospel.

Anna is growing up so fast. She is the kindest child I know. It is a constant flood of love notes from her. Our lives feel so complete.  I am going to break a few rules here but I don't think you will all mind.

Photo taken by Elisha Orin Photography

Papa and Anna (Yup that is us in the background)

Photo taken by Elisha Orin Photography

http://thatstalk.elishaorin.com/

Halloween fun

It has been unseasonable beautiful here this fall. Yesterday I convinced my sister to bring the triples to the park so I could take pictures of them for Halloween. I had been wanting to get a few with Anna's new hair cut. She decided on a short style that two minutes after we left she was sad that she decided on. After a few days of tears she has figured it out that she does like it.

On to the pictures.

She look so grown up with the short hair

Jillianna

 

Reading her favorite story

 

Jennalynn

 

Jillianna and Jennalynn

 

Jillianna

 

Jaqueline

 

Jennalynn

 

Love Jennalynn's belly

 

Jillianna is so unsure of this stuff

 

Jennalynn taking it in stride

 

Jacqueline

 

Jacqueline

 

Jillianna, Jennalynn & Jacqueline

 

 

Last year the girls could barely sit up by themselves. This year we could barely keep the three together for one picture. When Jillianna started to cry Anna scolded us because we were making her cry. She is so sensitive to them crying and if she thinks you made one cry she tells you about it. 

Rocking Horse Ranch

Well earlier in the year I had asked Anna if she wanted to go to Rocking Horse Ranch instead of having a party. When she saw the horses that was what she wanted but I did cave and still manage a friends birthday party as well. For those of you who do not know about Rocking Horse Ranch is a resort in upstate New York that includes unlimited horse back riding. We got a discounted rate do to it being Girl Scout weekend which made it more reasonable for us. One added bonus was that the resort also becomes alcohol free.

Not to say that Anna has never seen anyone drink but I just don't like having her in an environment that includes lots of crazy drinking. Just an FYI, on the Disney cruise I did see people drink but one was drunk or out of control in my opinion unlike another cruise I was on. So basically it was a good kid friendly environment.

The resort included everything. The only thing we did end up buying were a few pictures of Anna on a horse and the cutest pair of pjs. Anna was so excited to be able to ride independently. She was really good at directing her horse. I just love how into horses she has been and still is.

My day today will be filled with pricing lessons for her now that she is 7 we feel that she can handle it along with going to school. Here are the pictures from our trip.

Success!

Bike riding SUCCESS!

 



Apple picking

We were lucky enough last week to be able to go apple picking with a few friends and Hans. We went to Russo's Orchard in Cream Ridge. When I had to travel back and forth to Trenton to have the apostilles done for paperwork I found this little farm. In the summer months we go there to pick raspberries, and blackberries. This time it was for apples. It was neat to see her play in the sand area that she played in as a baby.

Birthday Pictures!

My beautiful baby is growing up.

7th Birthday

Today is Anna's birthday. How did that happen again so soon? I put a 6 year old to bed and now she is 7! Our day yesterday was spent having a party with friends. It was not my first choice and believe it or not I actually didn't want to have a party. As crazy as it sounds I have be battling some social anxiety in the past couple of months. Parties make me nervous, the thought of a party makes me a little nervous. I am hoping this will soon pass. Gerard thought it was funny until he realized I was serious. I have dealt with this in the past so I am sure I will deal with this again.

But on to the fun stuff. In the beginning of the year I asked Anna what she wanted for her birthday...a party with friends or to go to Rocking Horse Ranch for a weekend with us. She picked Rocking Horse Ranch. I was excited and honestly it is way more money then a party but I also thought she would have a ton of fun going. So I looked for a deal and found one. We leave for the ranch in 2 weeks for a long weekend of swimming and horse back riding.

While we were at JM's (Our niece who just turned 3) birthday party Anna quietly called me over looking a little sad. She said "Can I talk to you?" My response was of course. She told me that she was sad that she was not having a birthday party. My heart broke a little. So after talking it over with Gerard we decided on a party at the local gym. I sent out invitations and was thankful that we had a few people respond. Actually 11 of her friends were able to come. She was happy which makes me happy.

It was a horse theme of course. We had cowgirl hats and blow up stick horses. Her cake was decorated like Brave. The funny story behind that is when she asked the baker to decorate it like Brave his response was "The baseball team?" The whole party went off without a hitch. Gerard has warned me that he will be working late so Anna and I are on our own tonight. I am hoping to get a good picture of her today. Her two top teeth are almost completely grown in.

I love the person she is becoming. She has such a kind heart, big imagination and a real sparkle for life. Not a day goes by that I don't question why I was so fortunate to have been giving the gift of motherhood and her as my daughter.

Trying to ride a bike

Somehow we have only had the bike out a handful of times this summer.  Gerard pointed out to me that her school is less then a mile from our home and we could probably ride to and from if she wanted to.

Although I agree it is close I just think she is getting a little old for the baby seat on the back of mine. Now that the weather is cooling down (today was in the mid 70's) I am ready to tackle this learning to ride a bike again.  So we met up with some friends at the park because it is a nice paved spot to try. Anna was in tears because Gerard lifted her training wheels slightly.  After a few trips around she was better. I think it is going to take more effort then I first thought.  I really am in no rush to have her ride. I am enjoying this stage.

My baby on her 4 wheeler.

Our Disney Vacation

Earlier this year it was Gerard's parent's 50th wedding anniversary. The plan had been for us to all go to Mexico over Easter. The cost of the airfare was so outrageous that I just could not justify spending that kind of money. It would have been close to 4500.00 for us just in airfare. We then talked about going to Disney. We were surprised that it was so much more reasonable. Last Tuesday we headed to the airport with our bags packed to fly to the most magical place on earth. I remember secretly whispering to Gerard that on this date 5 years earlier he was picking us up from the airport.

Five years! I just can not believe that she has been home with us for 5 years!

 

 

Five years later

 

 

Our first day was spend at the pool at the Wilderness Lodge which by the way is becoming my new favorite place to stay. It was hot! I mean really sticky hot about 105 degrees. Also know as hot!

 

 

This is the first vacation that we have taken with AM and Eddie in about 10 years. We had all decided to go to Maine for the Lobster Festival and it was unseasonably hot (also 105 degrees). This was JM's first trip to Disney so we were happy that they let us tagalong. We covered so much in the 3 days that we were there. Anna got to meet Anna and Elsa (two of her favorite characters). We ate at the Royal Palace with a bunch of the princesses. Also at Ohana. Wow was the food good at Ohana. I highly recommend this spot for dinning. When the fun at Disney came to an end Gerard, Anna and I headed for the west coast of Florida.

 

We stayed at the Tortuga on Anna Maria Island. What a beautiful resort. It was not big but the beach, room, and pool were just the perfect way for us to decompress from our time at Disney. Next year I have booked the Disney cruise again for us but I may decided to for go that and revisit the Tortuga instead. It was so peaceful.

 

This vacation was money well spent. This summer has been busy. Every spare minute Anna and I have gotten we have been busy either camping or going to the beach. I realized that we had left Gerard out of some of the fun. This trip made up for that. In all the trip was short 3 nights at Disney and 2 at the Tortuga but still it was just what we needed to celebrate being a family for 5 short years.

 

Papa, Anna & JM at the airport

 

Grammy and Papa on the plane in their matching tee shirts

 

 

 

On our way to the Magic Kingdom

 

 

Roller coaster with Daddy

 

 

Meeting Cinderella at the Royal Castle with JM

 

 

 

Meeting Elsa

 

 

And Anna of course

 

The tea cups with AM, JM and Daddy

 

Telling Daddy secrets at the beach

 

 

 

Today has been filled with laundry, paying bills and all stuff that is boring but must still be done.