christmas scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas 2008

Christmas for us started on Christmas eve at Brian's parent's house to celebrate vigilia. We had a nice dinner, opened gifts and then it was time to get the boys home so we could leave out cookies for santa and they could go to bed. In the wee hours of the morning we lost power so before the boys woke up Brian got the generator running so we could have our tree lit while we opened presents! The boys came downstairs to find that Santa had left us all gifts. Brady loved all of his toys especially his guitar and of course his new red car. Cameron loved his huge Pooh and his mickey ride on toy, but the best gift he got was the one Brady picked out for him, a Wiggle microphone that plays wiggle songs! The power still wasn't on when we finished opening gifts and we had a pan of squash that we were supposed to heat up before taking it to th church shelter for Christmas dinner, Brian took it over early so they could heat it up, while I stayed home with Cameron who we were afraid was getting dehydrated as he hadn't been eating or drinking much due to the fact that the stomach bug had gone through our house a few days before christmas. Luckily power came back on around 12:00 and we were able to take showers and go to my parents for 2:00. We opened gifts there and had a nice dinner. Cameron finally started drinking something so we didn't have to take him to the ER thank goodness. I did take him to the Dr. the next day to find out that he had a double ear infection.

All in all we had a nice day despite the power outage and Cameron not feeling his best.

Fun in the snow

With all of the recent snow storms Brady couldn't wait to get out and play in the snow!

An early Vigilia

Vigilia is the Polish Christmas eve. We celebrated it early this year because Brian's grandmother is going to be away for Christmas this year. Brady did a great job with learning some of the traditions already! Before we have dinner we each get a wafer that has been blessed and we go around to each other taking pieces off of each others and wishing each other a merry Christmas. Brady did an awsome job participating in this part of the evening! Cameron is still young for it. We also pulled out some old home videos and I got to see what Christmas was like when Brian was a kid. Brian's Grandfather was in the video and it made me think of him. He so would have loved our boys. He would have gotten a kick out of Brady and Cameron. although he didn't speak much english he always made me feel comfortable and loved when I was with him.

Since we got our lights back.....

We got our electricity back last tuesday! We were overjoyed and at the same time overwhelmed with everything we still had left to do. This past friday we had a whopper of a storm that dropped a good 12 inches of snow on us. Saturday night I got the stomach flu, and sunday morning Cameron woke up with it. By monday at 1:00 am Brady had it! so It has been a rough ride around here. we have done countless numbers of laundry and have sanitized just about everything in our house! Brian has been the best husband and Father we could ask for, catering to our every need plus shoveling the driveway, yes shoveling, because our snow blower died. Luckily being the handy man that he is, he was able to fix it today! of course that didn't help seeing as we got another storm on sunday night. and to top it all off I pulled my back once again and had to go to the doctors so I am currently on vicodin and some muscle relaxers. Through everything I have to say Brian and I have done fairly well keeping our cool. We really do make a good team!

Ice Storm 2008

It is now Tuesday night. Last Thursday, we got an ice storm that knocked out power to half the State of New Hampshire. What an adventure we have been on, because if you are "cityfolk", you don't realize what happens when you lose power in the winter....let me explain: Your loss of electricity means a loss of heat and water, since you can't pump water from your well. This means no showers, no dishes, no flushing the toilet, no nothing!!!

Luckily for us, we were able to maintain heat in the house by running non-stop our propane fireplace and all 4 burners on our gas stove. We also burned wood in the fireplace at night to take the chill out of the air. Erica and I stayed up two ngihts in a row to keep the heat going (since you don't want to let it run unattended). We washed our dishes with windex, and we dressed the boys up in 4 layers for bed so they would stay warm. By Sunday we had to throw out all of our food in the fridge as it had spoiled. Lots of neighbors had generators, we did not. Generators were actually hard to come by.....here is how we found one:

I put my name on a list at Home Depot and I got a call Monday night telling me I had a generator with my name on it in Plaistow, if I still wanted it. $800 later, I was the proud owner of one. Although I knew the end was near for this storm, there will be another to take its place, so I consider the generator to be a good investment. Next month I plan to hire an electrician to wire my house so that in the event of another storm, I can simply plug the generator into a box in my garage and it will automatically generate power for my well, furnace, sump pump, frig, and a few outlets around the house. At least then I can rest assured that THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!!!! You can't put a price on that guarentee!

Christmas Spirit!

To me this is what Christmas is all about! The smile on children's faces. I am so fortunate to have 2 wonderful boys and a wonderful husband. Seeing the christmas lights and decorations through my kids eyes this year has made me feel like a kid again. Brady was in absolute Aww when he saw santa, it melted my heart.

So when the hustle and Bustle of the season starts to take over, remember the smiles on the faces of children that you see!

Merry Christmas!

HO HO HO!

My friend Jacki was over with her camera today and got some great pictures of Brady! Thanks Jacki!

New Christmas Portraits

Updates

Haven't posted about the boys in a while so I decided to do an update. Brady is doing awsome in Preschool, drop off has gotten much much easier. he's learning new songs and making lots of friends. Now that he is three, he understands the concept of Santa and asks every day if Santa is going to bring him a car. He's even asked to sit on Santa's lap, we'll see how that goes when the time comes. Cameron is doing really well, he crawls on all fours, pulls himself up on everything and is standing for a few seconds at a t ime by himself. As you can see from the pictures he has discovered the kitchen set and loves to use it.

We are so looking forward to the holidays. I'm trying to convince Brian to put up the tree this weekend. we'll see if he caves! We're getting new couches on Thursday so I figure we may as well finish the look for the holidays!

From beyond the grave

I'm the type of person who believes that when someone passes away they become an angel and then look over you. I also feel that there are signs everywhere. Signs that we would see if we just opened ourselves up to see them. I had a very strong bond with my grandmother. She passed away in my senior year in college and since then I feel as though she is with me. there are things that have happened that have made me wonder. One night Brian and I were asleep and around 3 am in the morning one of my cinderella music boxes started playing. When I told my mom the next day about the experience she had told me that it was right around the time when my grandmother had passed away. Tonight, on the eve of my birth I've been sitting in the living room and toys in the boy's toy room have been going off, almost as if my grandmother is trying to tell me Happy Birthday! This doesn't freak me out, which is very weird because if you know me, you know I am the biggest scardy cat. SO Meme just know that I hear you loud and clear and thank you for watching over me and my family!

The holidays are among us!

As I sit here sipping my hot cocoa with peppermint mocha creamer (limited holiday edition). I'm fighting the urge to put up all my Christmas decorations. I will admit that I have started listening to the Christmas music and have even downloaded a Christmas exercise mix to my ipod! I think back to this time last year and remember taking naps with Cameron on the couch while listening to Christmas music and now he doesn't even want to rock he just wants to be put in his crib to go to sleep. I'm not complaining I'm glad he's a good sleeper, it's just funny how time really flies! We really haven't begun our Christmas shopping. We have talked about what to get for people but haven't bought anything yet. Brian and I feel the same way about Christmas presents. We really feel like this is the time of year to really think about a person and give them something that they wouldn't expect or would really like. Don't get me wrong I like gift cards just as much as the next person but we like to try to get people a little something unexpected. Last year my favorite gift to give was to my sister. I found the book that my mother used to read to us every night and got it off ebay because it is no longer in print. I couldn't wait to give it to her and she was so surprised , It was something she never would have thought to get herself. I like giving gifts as much as I like getting them.
Although the holidays tend to be very busy and can get stressful I think it's important to remember what is important this time of year, It's not the number of gifts under the tree or how many Christmas cookies we made but it's about how many people we made smile, It's about waking up Christmas morning and counting the blessings we have. I am so thankful for my husband and two wonderful boys! I'm thankful for my parents, I'm thankfulfor the doctor who found my dad's blockages so he didn't have a heart attack. I'm thankful that I have a sister who is also my best friend and I am thankful for the numerous friends and family I have. So as we approach the holidays remind yourself what really matters and ask yourself..... What am I thankful for?

Just like my big brother!

Hi guys it's me Cameron, I've been working hard on walking and pulling myself up on things, I can even point to my head and nose and know the signs for more and all done. I even know how to wave and say Bye bye! One of my favorite things to do is to get on the bike by myself and sit and play with it! Mama tells me that that was Brady's favorite thing to do when he was my age!

Trick or treat

Friday night was trick or treat in our town. The wicks' came to join in the fun. It was a very mild night and the kids had a blast. Brady and David even said Trick or treat and thank you, or Happy Halloween! There was a bunch of people who had put together a trailer all decked out for Halloween, blaring Thriller, all the parents were dressed up and were passing out Candy to the little kids! It was really cool! For those who can't figure it out, Brady was super sleuth pooh, Cameron was a monkey, david was super why and Shawn was Alpha pig!

Carving our pumpkin

We found out that Plaistow does a Pumpkin carving contest, so we decided to take the boys to a farm, pick out a pumpkin and carve it with them. Brian of course decided we had to do a patriots themed pumpkin, no jack-o lnaterns for us! Brady really enjoyed helping take all the guts out of the pumpkin and watching Brian carve it. In the end our work paid off Brian won the contest!

Fall is here

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Update on Preschool

I went and picked Brady up at 11:30. He had just started crying because the teachers were telling the kids that it was time to go home and they hadn't let the parents in yet. I guess at 11:00 they went outsdie for recess and he told the teachers he wanted his mom, and wanted to go home because he was tired. He was very excited when he got in the car and told me he met a boy named nicholas, that he played in the sand table and that that he used the potty and made a ghost. All in all he did a good job! He even said he wanted to go back. I'm so proud of him! The teachers did say that he was very smart for his age and kept up with the kids no problem. He is the youngest kid in the class.

First Day of Preschool

Today at 9:00am I took Brady to his first day of preschool! This morning he told me he needed to wear a polo shirt for his first day of preschool. He had his back pack and was ready to go. he got a little teary when I told him that I was going to leave, but the teacher brought him to the window so he could wave to me and he looked to be doing well. I haven't stopped thinking about him since he left. in the short time I was there he went to a boy who was having a hard time doing a puzzle and helped him and said see you put the square in here, just like that! I think he'll do well. I have never been so anxious to go pick him up. I should be enjoying this time but I just want to be a fly on the wall. I'll update when he gets home!

The Heavy weight champions of the world!!!

Weighing in at 20.75 lbs putting him in the 16th percentile and 31 inches tall, putting him in the 78th percentile is Cameron James Stack!

In the other corner weighing in at 31.8 lbs putting him in the 52nd percentile and 39 inches tall, putting him in the 84th percentile is Brady Michael Stack!

Ok so maybe our boys won't be the heavy weight champions of the world but they are healthy! However I will NEVER bring them at the same time for a physical again. Brady freaked out because they wanted him to put on glasses for an eye test Cameron needed a nap and then they both had to get shots. They actually both did pretty well considering, but I feel like I didn't get to ask the doctor all my questions. But now that I have all his stats Brady can officialy start Preschool on monday!

Making progress

Cameron has been working hard on getting up on his knees to crawl and is also pulling himself up on everything now. (this is no thanks to the EI physical therapist who really does nothing with him) I caught him in action today!

Fall Crafts

Today I decided to do something different with the kids. we made our own salt dough, used pumpkin cookie cutters to cut out the dough, baked them in the microwave, let them cool and then painted their craetions. they had a great time, especially since I had them help make and stir the dough!

Learning to give back

On Sunday we will be walking in the making strides for Breast Cancer walk in Exeter. Our team name is Steps for Shanna. (My sister Shanna is a two time Breast Cancer survivor) . Our team will be us, of course. Shanna, Dave and Mackenzie and Alyssa. Shanna, Dave, Mackenzie and I went tagging at Walmart a few weeks back, we managed to raise about $400.00. In total with other peoples donations on line we raised about $700.00 Since we knew that Brady and Cameron would not be too ammused with tagging we thought that Brady could help in a different way, He and Brian rolled all the coins that we got and worked on his counting and sorting skills. We told him this money was for people who are sick and really need it. When we went to the bank drop off night last night he told the lady that this was for sick people! I thought that was really sweet. If there is one thing I want my children to learn is to be giving individuals of themeselves, whether it be of their time or money, I want them to learn from an early age that we are truly fortunate to have what we have!