Saturday, December 27, 2008

christmas scrapbook

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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.

Monday, December 22, 2008

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!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

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!















Friday, December 05, 2008

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!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

HO HO HO!











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