Snowmageddon 2016

Holy guacamole that was a snow storm!  We got 33 inches dumped on us here!

It started snowing Friday evening.  We woke up to over a foot of snow on the ground Saturday morning, and it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing.

Jarrod and I tried taking turns outside during the storm with the shovel so that it wouldn’t be as hard to clear after the storm, but it was a losing battle.

Thankfully our neighbors came over Saturday night once it stopped snowing to clear our drive with their snow blower.

Other than shoveling, we pretty much stayed inside on Saturday.  We did grab some snow to make snow ice cream though!

 

Today was the first day that the kids were back at school and Jarrod was back at work, so for three days, everyone got plenty of outside play time.  Even the little ones!

The snow was neat to see, but I’m hoping that 33 inches is a once in a lifetime event for us!

 

 

*Thank you all for your kind words, advice, and prayers regarding Jarrod’s upcoming deployment.  I really do have some amazing people in my life, and I cherish each of you!

Thrown For a Loop

There is only one thing that is for sure with the life of a military family.  That one thing is that nothing is for sure.

We were sent to Pennsylvania for Jarrod to complete three-year shore tour orders.

We are about halfway through those orders, and we love it here (well, other than the blizzard that we’re about to get slammed with).

But just as we are starting to adjust to being a family of six, Jarrod is being sent overseas for 6 months.

This news came up very suddenly, and although we haven’t been given much time to prepare, we are making the most of the time we have before Jarrod leaves.

It has been quite a while since Jarrod has been gone for an extended period of time, so any ideas or advice you have in helping school age children cope with a deployment would be appreciated. 

We are going to miss Jarrod while he’s gone, and I know that it’s not going to be easy, but I am a firm believer in staying positive.  We will always choose to bloom.

The Christmas Post

Yikes!  It’s almost a month past Christmas, and this is JUST now getting posted.  But between internet issues, computer issues, and just being a busy mom of 4, I’m just glad it’s getting done!

I realize that I didn’t document ANY of the Christmas fun we had here on the ol’ blog, so I’ll just post a few pictures of things we did leading up to Christmas so that I have it to look back on when I’m old and forgetful.  -Oh wait, that’s me right now!-

Visiting Santa:

Caroling at the nursing home:

School Christmas program:

Saint Nicholas Day:

Trenton and Charlotte used the money that they made selling toys and books they didn’t want anymore to buy new toys for needy children:

Decorating gingerbread houses:

Rudolph the Musical at Hershey:

Christmas itself was really nice this year.

Our family was asked to carry up Baby Jesus at Christmas Eve Mass.  How special!

After Mass we came home to see that Snickers (our elf) had brought us some early treats from Santa.  Pajamas and Pie Face!  Who else played Pie Face over the Christmas holiday?  My FB and IG feeds were filled with Pie Face pictures and videos!

Before long, it was time for the kids to put goodies out for Santa and head up to bed.  Trenton and Charlotte also put out a bag of toys for Santa to take with him.  They couldn’t fit everything in the bag, so they left a box too.  I love their giving hearts!

Jarrod and my dad had already put one of the big presents together, so thankfully we didn’t have a whole lot of work to do after the kids went to bed.

I knew that we were probably in for an early morning with excited kids, but I was not expecting to be woke up at 1:45.  Trenton came in our room wondering if it was time to go downstairs.  And then he came in our room every 15 minutes after for the next few hours!  Santa should have brought that kid a clock!!!

A reasonable time finally rolled around and all of the kids were up.  They were super excited to see what Santa had brought them!

After playing with Santa gifts for a while, it was time to open gifts from family.

Once the tornado of gift wrap and trash was cleaned up and the kids were all busy with their new toys, my mom and I got busy cooking.  The rest of the day was spent eating, playing, and relaxing.

We missed the rest of our family, but we were extremely blessed to have my parents here with us.  What a great Christmas it was!

Watch Brennan Grow - 1 Month

How can a month go by so fast?

It feels like it was just yesterday that we were welcoming this little guy into our family.

Brennan is such a sweet baby.  He’s generally happy, and a fairly easy baby.  So far, that is.

All three other kids had reflux and issues with cow’s milk.  Up until this point, Brennan isn’t showing any signs of those problems.  He spits up sometimes, but nothing like what the rest of the kids did.  And he has his cranky days when it feels like he wants to nurse all the time, but he’s nowhere near as cranky as I remember with the others.

Brennan is a champion eater.  I nurse on-demand during the day, and he’s normally only up once during the night to feed.  And he goes right back down after he’s finished eating, so that makes things really nice.  Especially since Evelyn is still up during the night at least a couple times a week.

Trenton, Charlotte, and Evelyn all love Brennan.  It took Evelyn a little while to be interested enough in Brennan to want to hold him, but now she wants to hold him all the time.  But only for about 15 seconds at a time…

Brennan brings so much joy and happiness to us.  He’s the perfect addition to our family.

Weight: Between 8 1/2 and 9 pounds (he doesn’t go to the doctor again until he’s two months)
Height: 21ish inches
Clothing Size: Still fitting into NB clothes, and starting to wear some 0-3 month pieces too.
Diaper Size: We’re on the last pack of NB diapers and then we’ll move to size 1s.

 

First Thanksgiving:


First time on Santa’s lap:


First Christmas Party: