Christmas Week

Our Christmas week was a busy one!  On Monday my in-laws, who drove up from Virginia came over for the day with Kevin's grandmother and his sister Renee, who flew in from Texas.  We had dinner here with them, and then Renee spent the night here.  The next day we went to New Bedford to spend the rest of the week with Kevin's family.  

Here are the kids as we are getting ready for Christmas Eve mass and the great Gagnier Christmas Eve party.  I think you have to be there to totally understand the scope of the party. It is most of the Gagnier extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, grandkids, great-grandkids, grandparents, great-grandparents, and although some of those folks overlap in their family duties, it is a household full of family, good food, caroling, gifts, and an every popular Yankee swap.  

So Christmas morning we opened presents all together as a family.  The kids got a lot of good toys and we got a GPS system, so hopefully we won't get lost in Boston ever again.  There were a lot of musical instruments in the mix, so the house will be filled with a joyful noise in the months to come.  

Above are the siblings, Ryan, Renee, and Kevin enjoying a hot ball moment. And below we have Kristin and me, we are both due within four weeks of each other, and it was nice having another pregnant lady around.  We also went shopping the day after Christmas, and the deals in the malls were amazing.  I think that will become one of my holiday traditions in the next few years to come.

It was a good holiday, and today we are recovering from all busy times.  This week Kevin only has a three day work week, and we are keeping things low key for the New Year.  I can hardly believe the year is almost over, and thank you to all the friends and family for the gifts, cards, well wishes, and good times!

Wild Weather

After the ice storm last week, we got hit by two snow storms this weekend. Welcome Winter. I don't mind it too much, but my car is the one that is better in snow, that Kevin needs to take to work, so I will quickly learn how to enjoy being close to home for a little while. I bought a ball pit for some indoor entertainment, and I think it will work for the next few months to keep them occupied. Daniel looks like he has a good shoveling technique.



Early this past week I was one of those folks frantically searching for a generator for the home in NH, the power was out up there for a few days, and I was blessed to pick one up at home depot, along with many other concerned home owners. Some people in this area haven't had power for the whole week. Another great thing that happened this week was Daniel moved into a twin size bed, and we have all been getting great sleep! We also visited Kevin at work and found ourselves at the grocery store on Friday where it took us twice as long to check out as it did to shop for the food. The stores were packed with people preparing for the weekend storms, which was wise looking out the window today.

Here we are visiting Kevin at work, I think I see Daniel trying to do some cost estimating in the background. Rachel just wants to find Daddy's stash of candy.
This morning we decided to celebrate Christmas a little early with the kids, and we went with my family's tradition of giving three gifts, like the wise men offering three gifts to Jesus. Daniel was very excited to open his presents, and he had to wake his father and sister up before we could open anything. We are heading down to New Bedford on Tuesday night and celebrating with Kevin's family for the rest of the week, it will be good to have everyone together.

The last thing I wanted to add was Kevin and Daniel braved the weather to go to church, and Daniel was in a kid Christmas play. I stayed home with Rachel, she is fighting a cold and needed the rest, but Kevin got a little video of him. He came home and told me he went to church and danced. I remember when our church had the children's plays when we were kids, and it is fun to think back to those times, and now watch Daniel experience them.




We hope you all have a happy and safe holiday season, enjoy the moments with friends and family!

A little bit of everything this week

I feel like this past week just flew by. Kevin worked a little bit longer every day as it is the beginning of his new job, and it makes my week feel longer. I had my first Dr's appointment for the pregnancy, and it was uneventful. I think the scale at the Dr's office is higher than mine at home, I have to check the calibration at home. I did actually order a nicely used but quality french horn off of e-bay...I need to stay away from e-bay, and that came in this week, and at the end of the week was a ice storm that mildly affected us. I think Rachel grew some this week, she seems longer and Daniel is fighting a cold. We also are working on getting a twin bed for Daniel, and it has been a harder project than I thought it would be. Do we get bunk beds, a loft, a cheaper twin bed and just wait and see what we are having next, are we going to try to fit all three kids in the room at the same time? So we settled on a cheaper twin off of Craigslist but with a nicer mattress, because that will last for a while.

So this tree was blocking the only entrance and exit to our townhouse on Friday, making Kevin was a little later leaving for work. I went to three grocery stores this weekend because the first two didn't have power. The house in Barrington NH is out of power, and they say it may be a week or so until they get power back, so it was quite the storm.


I could take pictures of the kids like this all day. They look the happiest together and are the most peaceful when they are on their couch watching a show off the computer. Don't they look so content and focused?
This last video shows that although I try to be a cool mom, I am a glutton for punishment. The package I received this week came with a whole box of white packaging popcorn. I am still debating on keeping the horn, I have 7 days to decide so I left the box out for a little, and wouldn't it be fun for the kids to pay in the popcorn? Maybe they will help me clean it up. Right. The cleaning took me a whole lot longer then their attention span, but I guess it was a good memory for me.

A little about me

So a few weeks ago I got called out on a friends' blog to share seven things about me.  I haven't forgotten, just been busy, reluctant, and thinking about seven things you may or may not know.  So here it goes:

1.  I love to braid.  I taught myself how to french braid at a young age, and will braid anything in sight.  I used to get in trouble in school for braiding my hair because it looked like I wasn't paying attention, but when I am braiding, sometimes it is even absent minded, and I am paying attention.  

2.  I love sparkling things.  I will buy something just because it sparkles, and the sparkly the better.   Although it is more of an accessory sparkly love, like shoes, purses, and jewelry.  I feel like a kid even saying that.

3.  And talking about child-like obsessions, I really enjoy rainbow sprinkles.  I don't know if this falls under the sparkly thing, but on cookies and vanilla ice cream, I just think it adds flavor and fun.  I have to be honest, when I was in college I bought a "Mr. Sprinkles" rainbow sprinkles dispenser and would keep it in my bag in case I ever needed it.  When I am back in NY the only way to buy ice cream is a "small soft vanilla with rainbow sprinkles", and Byrne Dairy stores are the best place for it.  And they are not jimmies...I think it is just confusing to call them that.  They look more like sprinkles that what a jimmy would look like.  

4. Don't tell me I can't do something, it makes me even more resolve to do it.  Maybe it is something I have to mature out of, but I learned how to play the bass guitar just because someone said I couldn't pick it up.  

5.  I love music.  I actually recently bought a new (well used) french horn to get back into playing again, I played for 8 years until I went to college (sorry I didn't want to be a part of the Highty Tighty's).  I love the music in soundtracks, and could listen to classical music almost all day. That and children's music, I think it is catchy.  

6.  I like feet, and touching feet.  And for that matter I do enjoy giving people back rubs.  I don't think we have enough positive touches in one day.  

7.  I am a morning person.  I love the freshness of the day, the smell in the air, the expectation of something special for that day.  By noon the best of the day is done.  Jogging in the morning is the best, I do enjoy exercise.  Lately I haven't been able to wake up half as early as I would like, I am just really tired, but the hope that in the future I will have that time back again.   

Now that I get on seven, I feel that there is a lot more to share, but I think I hit the big parts.  I am not very good at doing these types of surveys, so this is the only time I will probably do this.  But it is fun to think about what you do and enjoy that make you unique.  So if you haven't thought of seven things, try it.  Maybe I will get Kevin to post some things....

It's No-ing!

Daniel was the most excited about the snow when we woke up this morning.  He can actually tell you what color it is and that it is coming down from the sky.  He does have a tendency to drop letters when he talks, but it is fun to have a conversation with him and to understand things like the food is in his tummy, and his new cars are in the basement, and that Rachel is sleeping.  

Here is a picture out our back window this morning, and Rachel is looking at our friend the squirrel.  I am beginning to feed the wildlife in our back yard and it is fun to watch the kids get excited to see the birds and squirrels.  Rachel seems to have a special love for animals, we saw a dog going on a walk this morning, and I think she was personally offended the dog didn't want her to pet it.  

We put our Christmas decorations up yesterday, during the Virginia Tech/BC football game, and it was fun to see the decorations, and fun that VT won.  There isn't a Christmas tree in our home, space is limited and the kids seem to try to tear apart all the Christmas trees we see out and about, so we have this display, and it has become our own tradition.  It is child-proof, displays all the ornaments, pretty, and I don't have to be in the room at all times when the kids are there.  I think it is interesting that some traditions grow from necessity, as in this case for us.  
We are on the look out for a bunk bed for the kids.  Daniel is getting big for his toddler bed, and so we are rethinking the sleeping arrangements.  I also have my first Dr's appointment this week, and Kevin begins his new job as a government employee.  He even has his own office, for the time being.  

Here is a video with the kids playing with a stroller Rachel got for her birthday.  Rachel even at this age loves her baby dolls, and Daniel likes to help take care of it too.  Hopefully a great sign for the future addition to the family.  

A Virginia Thanksgiving

We drove back from Virginia yesterday and with all the driving behind us, it was a great Thanksgiving time.  We were able to celebrate our anniversary, see family and old college friends, go to the zoo with the kids, go to story time with Diane (my mother in law) leading it, see a great football game, walk around the campus, it was just a good time all around.

Here we are at the VT/UVA game, and got to sit down where the Corps of Cadets usually sit.  We were able to call folks who were in the area and meet up with them there.  Some we have kept up with regularly thanks to facebook and blogs, and some we haven't seen in years.  We kept warm with the clothes we borrowed from Kevin's parents, and bought some more Hokie gear while we were there.  We met up with some other people after the game at Kevin's favorite place, El Rodeo. The campus has changed, but all the memories are still there.  I have a lot more pictures, I will just try to get Kevin to post them on his facebook page soon.  

Here is Rachel pointing out some animals at the zoo.  The finger was working over time at the zoo she love the animals.  She especially enjoyed the dogs that her uncle Ryan brought.  
Here is our attempt at a family picture on Thanksgiving.  I guess it turned out alright!
There was a lot of lounging on Pepere's lap.  They have cable and we were able to watch some shows that we don't usually get to see.  Kevin's parents also showed us the advantage of a DVR and recording shows, I think the record for watching a show was 15 min for a normally hour long show.  What a time saver.  
Here are the guys working on a project.  Kevin's dad is great at woodworking, and we got to watch them put together a wooden box.  Daniel wanted to be a part of the action.  
So as I mentioned briefly before we are pregnant again, but wanted to wait to share it with Kevin's family in person.  I am only a few weeks behind my sister in law, and it will be fun to have the cousins so close in age.  We always wanted to have three, and although they will be close in age, we are excited about the new one.  There are a lot of changes that need to be made, like a bigger car, but a wise friend once told me you have nine months to get prepared, and so we will take it one step at a time.  Right now I am just a little more tired, and the other two keep me so busy.  

So it is good to be home, but we are think into the holiday season, and will be seeing family again in a few weeks.  But for this week, I think we all are going to be resting and getting back to the routine.