January Birthdays Unite

 We had a dual birthday celebration on Sunday night for Seth and Nana Sue. My dad made the most amazing carrot cake and we feasted on chicken parm. It was delish and I'm happy to wrap up the January birthdays.

Seth's reaction to Sue's birthday candle numbers was priceless. He read his 9 and then her 63 and turned to her and said in all sincerity, "You are 63?" It was too cute. You don't look a day over 35 Sue.

Criss Cross Will Make You Jump Jump

 Saturday after a basketball and soccer game we loaded up the truck with five wild and crazy boys and headed to Skyzone SYR for Seth's birthday event.

 The boys were very excited to burn off some energy and jump for 90 minutes.

I learned that Seth is a very tough kid. He got nailed in the eye with a dodge ball and never flinched. He shook it off and kept on playing. He rocks. Love you SPC.

The birthday is over, thank god. This mom is tired.

Magic Seth #9

I'd say that Seth had a fabulous birthday last Friday. It started out with a bang and ended at 9:34pm the exact time that he came into our lives 9 years ago. 

 Seth's gift from us this year is an overnight in VT and skiing at Bolton Valley. Our family motto is "One New Ski Mountain Each Season" and this season we decided that Seth's birthday was a great excuse to try somewhere new.

 No cake for this kiddo, he would rather have chocolate covered strawberries instead.

9:34pm...that's a wrap for year 8

Happy 9th Birthday SPC

 I know that I say that times flies ALL THE TIME, but seriously, where did 9 years go? I look at these above pictures and at those chunky cheeks and have a mixture of emotions. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed this ride as a parent. Once I got passed the dreaded PPD of being a first time mom and started rolling with it, it has been such a blast watching this little devil grow up. Seth can be so loving and frustrating and determined and caring and sporty and kind hearted and stubborn and on and on and on. He is a very unique little guy with many many talents. I am so proud of his intelligence and hard work in school, his musical talents and his natural athleticism. He is one cool kid.

This morning was a wonderful whirlwind. Cody, our elf made his birthday appearance and brought Seth a few of his favorite candies. Daddy, went out bright and early and bought Seth DD donuts hole, also his favorite. Last, but not least, Seth wanted to open his gift from Germany first and was super excited to get some fun candy and of course some German Pokémon cards. The phone also rung off the hook and this was all before 7:30am. Birthdays totally rock.

MLK Weekend Wrapup

Friday night we celebrated my Gram's 87th birthday and if she turned 87 that means I am soon to turn 37 (boo). We had presents and cocktails at her house then headed to Gram's favorite restaurant in town, Jebb's.

Saturday after basketball and soccer we decided to go sledding. We haven't done it in ages and it was the perfect afternoon to spend outdoors. It was great exercise too.

On Sunday Leah had a friend over to play. Addie is a friend from works daughter and the girls had seen each other at the library many times so we decided to have her over. The girls got along so well.

Seth went to his friend Brady's birthday party while Leah had her friend over so both kids were very happy with their afternoon activities.

This morning Seth was allowed to open one early birthday gift. Roland had been in Rochester Tuesday for work so he was able to meet up with Sheryl for a bit. She sent him back with Seth's gift and as you can see Seth is OVER THE MOON excited about his new jersey and sports figure. She is such a great auntie.

Onward to more birthday festivities this week...

Snowtown USA

 It's been a crazy few days and I can officially say I've had enough and it's only January. Sorry to be a "Negative Nelly", but here is my reasoning...since Roland is gone so often now I am left on my own to manage snow removal, child care placement on snow days and all the daily shuffling around with the kids. It's exhausting on a clear, blue skied day, but add many feet of snow and you have one stressed out mom. It is true when they say it takes a village to raise a family. I couldn't do it without the help of many many wonderful people in my life. When Roland returned after storm #1 last week I was so very relieved.

 The down pour of snow didn't stop us one bit from hitting the slopes on Friday night and Saturday. The kids loved it and what a workout. Saturday night we were so exhausted we all passed out.

 We have been snuggling with Rocky an extra extra lot lately. His back legs don't work much at all so when he tries to move around he uses his front legs to compensate. He still tries to follow me around from room to room, but I end of picking him up and moving him with me. The time will be coming soon and we are preparing for it the best that we can. Right now he is still eating and grooming himself so he is holding on.

Sunday the kids had play dates and it was great. Leah went to Caitlin's for the afternoon and Devin came to out house. Then Leah crashed her brothers fun when she returned.

This week I am a single mom for most of the week and staying busy as always. I am longing for summer evenings, flip flops and our boat. The countdown is on.

Low Key Stay-cation

 For the first time EVER we pretty much did nothing during vacation and it was truly the best vacation EVER. We had a couple of activities and went out to eat a couple of times, but basically stayed home, hung out in our jammies and enjoyed each other. It was the best.

We spent plenty of time with Uncle J

 We were invited to Round 2 of Parents versus Kids at the Y

 We went out to Seth's favorite restaurant

 We snuggled a lot with our very frail and sick Rocky

We hung out with friends on NYE and drove home in a crazy snowstorm

Other than that we truly stayed in our jammies all day and it was the best vacation ever.

SU Kids Club

 The Sunday after Christmas we headed to our favorite family outing of the year...the SU game. This year we joined the SU Kids Club and the kids received free tickets to the game. Yippee. We had a fantastic time with fantastic seats and then met up with some friends after the game at Varsity Pizza.

Family

The end of Christmas week was full of quality family time. Mom and Tom treated us all to dinner out at Good Fellos and it was completely delicious. We had so many laughs at dinner and told silly and inappropriate stories.

Saturday marked the END of Christmas '14. We had Christmas at The Charlton's and as you can see from the smiley pictures, the kids enjoyed every moment with their cousins.

Old Fashioned Polish Christmas

Christmas in Lowville was the best yet and we are truly savoring our time with my grandparents because every single year is a gift. This year we had many additions to the family. My cousin Emily brought her partner Eve, my Uncle brought his girlfriend and Justin brought Joan. It was great to have so many of our family members together.

December 25th

 The long awaited magical day finally arrived and with it brought tons of energy and excitement. Seth was up most of the night. Literally up from 2am on.

I was exhausted by the end of breakfast and we still had an entire day ahead of us. The themes this year for gifts seemed to be sports related items for Seth and everything Frozen for Leah.

Christmas Eve

 

 This holiday season was truly amazing and we loved every minute of it. (Happy it is over, but LOVED it just the same) The kids were so excited for gifts and on Christmas Eve Justin and Joan stopped over to give the kids gifts from Spain.

 We loved having Justin and Joan home, it was so fun having them around.

 Christmas Eve we headed to 4pm mass and Seth sang in the children's choir.

We were very proud of our little singer.