New York Vacation! (A year late...)

If at first you don't succeed (or make time for blogging)... try, try again.  :)  I know very few people read this, and that's okay with me.  The people that do read it are totally worth the effort, and I love looking back at old posts.  Since I don't get to actually scrapbook any more (besides the 'First Year' ones I've done for the kids) this is my way to save my memories.  Speaking of scrapbooks... I should totally admit that I have only done about 3 pages in Eliana's scrapbook... and she is 14 months old!  Aaaah!  Yes, I totally need to get right on that.

So, even though I haven't been very good at the actual blogging part of blogging, I HAVE been taking pictures with the intention of blogging about what we've done.  So I'm thinking I'll try to do a months worth of photos in every post till I'm caught up.  So the posts will probably be including lots of photos... but hey... most of you are grandparents so I'm pretty sure you're okay with that!  :)  haha.

I'm going to go back to last July... like almost a year ago... July 2013.  Yes, I am THAT bad.  :/  So anyway, take a deep breath and think late summer... transport yourself back in time... let's go!

We were in New York visiting Matthew's family.  I'm not even completely sure his mother (hello, Christine!) has seen these yet.  :/  I'm a horrible person!

Headed to New York!  We drove from Billings to Minneapolis and had Grandpa Atwood drop us off at the airport.  So he got to rock the minivan while we were gone.  HA!  It totally upped his 'cool' factor a few notches!

Ready to fly!

 Ok, so we had to fly from Minneapolis to Philadelphia, then to NY.  BUT, our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed for some reason or another.  We ended up getting to Philadelphia around dinner time.  Then we got to stand around in lines as we tried to figure out what to do next since we had missed our connecting flight.  Turns out there was an Aerosmith concert in town the same night, so flights were all booked.  The airline gave us the option to wait around for the 10pm flight, which we may or may not be able to get on; or to fly out the next morning.  Oh, but we'd have to sleep in the airport because (due to said concert) all the motels were totally booked.  No way was I sleeping in the airport with 3 kids!  So Matthew decided it would be best to get a rental car and drive the rest of the way, since it was very unlikely we'd all make it on standby that night.

We took a shuttle to the rental car office, and were there for what seemed like an eternity.  They brought out the van with the carseats already installed.  Now, not to be a major pain, but they hadn't even fit the seats to the children!  Brielle was over the weight limit for the harnesses on the seats (so she needed a booster instead), Joshua's straps were way too high on his seat to fit him properly, and Eliana's seat (which needed to be rear facing) was facing forward!  I had to go let them know that this wasn't acceptable and get them to send someone out to uninstall all the seats, let me adjust them, and then reinstall them.  Yeah, pretty sure they didn't like me much.  I ended up pretty much installing the seats myself because the 17 year old kid that worked there had no clue how to install seats.  Grrr...  By now it was about 8pm.  The kids haven't had dinner, I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and it's dark.  So we get loaded and Matthew starts driving.  (Did I mention that we'd been up and traveling since about 6am?)

So the kids cry for a solid 30 minutes and finally all fall asleep.  (Matthew wasn't sure where to stop for food, so he just kept driving hoping to see something.)  As he drove, the stress from the day finally broke through and I burst into tears.  I finally ended up telling him that I needed to stop for the night.  I was pretty much a mess.  We found a motel and got a decent nights sleep.  Whew.  We took off the next morning, determined to make it to East Aurora.  Kids fell asleep and we boogied!

We finally made it around dinner time that evening, it was an 8 hour drive.  When we got there, the kids ran around with their cousin, Trinity.  Brielle loved it!

Silly girls

Daddy got to see his brother, Adam too!

Papa set up the little swimming pool, and the kids spent pretty much all their time in the water.

Fish?

When they weren't in the pool, they were on the swings.

When Adam, Marie, and Trinity left, Megan, Jillian, and Daniella came to visit.  Papa gave rides on the trailer... 

This was Joshua's favorite part.  He wasn't too sure about Papa at first, but once he realized Papa drove the tractor they were best buds!

Going 'round and 'round the yard

Joshua helped Papa with the chickens

and the rabbits

and checked on the ducklings!

:)

Megan and I decided one day to take the kids to the Childrens Museum in East Aurora.  We had so much fun!  The kids loved all the props and toys.  Following them was something like being a pinball inside a machine, bouncing from one station to the next and back again!

Heading in!  Best buds!

Mr. Cool

Brielle and Jillian's fish market, and customer Megan!

$3 for a huge fish!  Pay up!

Construction worker Brielle

Megan started building a house, and soon all the kids were helping.

They even painted!

We had so much fun!  I loved having Megan around too.  We stayed up WAY too late every night, watching movies and talking.  It was a blast, but the mornings were tough!  :)

We talked Megan and Jillian into staying an extra day so we could take all the kids to the zoo in Buffalo.  It was a beautiful day, but HOT and HUMID!  Whoa.  I am a complete and total wuss when it comes to humidity.  This Montana gal can take a little heat, but it better be dry!  The kids had a good time though, so it was worth me just about dying.  :P

Joshua on a big rock outside the petting zoo

Riding the old tractor!  (Jillian, Joshua, Brielle)

In the petting zoo, they had a little work station.  The kids pretended to do farm chores.  Then we took them back to Papa's and put them to work doing real chores!  lol

Daddy and Joshua looking at the sheep.

The hyena was pacing back and forth right in front of the window.  

Feeling the heat and taking a little break.  Megan took the girls to a giant sandbox to dig for dinosaur bones.  We rested in the shade, had a snack, and nursed Eliana.  

We had a lot of fun at the zoo, but I was we were sure glad to get back to the car and crank the AC!

Tuckered out after a long day!

The girls saying 'goodbye' to each other.

Of course, we had to get a silly face!

Daddy and kids relaxing in the air conditioned upstairs.

They're going to miss Papa Dave

Getting one of many snuggles from Grandma Chris.  :)

Uncle Billy, Eliana, Matthew, Brielle, Great-Grandma Betty, Joshua, Celena, Aunt Laura

For some reason, the picture taking always seems to happen in a mad hurry at the end of every visit... you know... when everyone is hot and sweaty and tired.  NOT the best time for a photo, but by then you have no choice.  It's either take the pictures or don't get any at all.  One of these days maybe I'll learn... maybe.

Yeah, don't look at my hair... it's hideous.  Next time I'm tempted to cut my hair short... SOMEONE stop me!!
All of us with Grandma Chris and Papa Dave.

My handsome husband with our children, Uncle Billy, and Great-Grandma Penfold.

Headed back to Minneapolis - and not missing any flights!

Checking out the view

I LOVE these chubby little baby arms!

 Are you still with me?   Whew!  :)  We sure love going out there to visit, but it is a LONG trip!

No More Memory!?

Well, Matthew has started his new job and is liking it very well.  The kids are doing pretty well having him leave in the morning, but around noon they start asking "When is daddy coming home?" about every five minutes.  :)  Brielle usually hears the car door shut outside and races to open the door for daddy, and as soon as he steps inside Joshua goes running and Eliana crawls as fast as she can and reaches up to him until he picks her up.  It's so cute.  It lets him know he's been missed all day too.  These pics weren't taken this week, but they aren't that old...

They are too funny.  The love wrestling with daddy, and having pillow fights (which is what the above wrestling match turned into after the camera went away).  I love watching my husband play with out children.  He is so good with them and they just adore him and love the attention.

I gave Eliana her first popsicle the other day... she wasn't too sure what to think of it at first.  She didn't want me to take it too far away though.  She'd suck on it for a minute, then spit it out... but as soon as I'd pull it away she'd fuss and reach for it.  Guess she'd rather have it than not!

I love looking at pictures.  I'm having a rough time at the moment because our desktop computer is out. of. memory!  (And pretty much all we use it for is our financial software and pictures... uh oh.)  I have 155 GIGAbytes just in pictures/videos.  :P  My husband says that there should be MORE than enough space on one computer hard drive for all the pictures we'll ever need.  (Silly husband!)  So I've been using all of my free time (haha!) to go through and delete some pictures and videos to make room for new ones.  I took SO many videos and photos of Brielle as a baby.  Do I really NEED 8 video clips (a total of about 25 minutes) watching her wave her arms and drool in her playgym... before she was even really doing anything?  So I'm ruthlessly cutting it back to one... or two... of the best ones and getting rid of the rest.  It is so incredibly hard though.  What if i delete something and then regret it years down the road when I have no hope whatsoever of getting it back?  Maybe y'all just need to get a petition going on my behalf to convince my dear husband that one hard drive simply isn't enough.  One PER CHILD would be more like it.  ;)

Going back through the photos though, I find so many that just transport me back in time and I get lost in a memory.  Like this one...

I can still see Brielle carrying those poor little kitties all around the house, pushing them in her stroller, and trying (constantly) to put them to bed.  They'd jump in the tub with her and she'd run (screaming) when the kitties were chasing her trying to get her feet.  They were the best kitties ever.  :)  So yeah, I am trying to delete a bit of the excess, but I have a sneaking suspicion that once I've done that... and then consequently refilled all the space I cleared... that Matthew will give in and get me some more space.  He likes going back and looking at photos/videos too, and he's actually told me on more than one occasion how thankful he is that we have them.  Goodness.  I wish I could reach right into the screen and pull her out of that picture and love on her.  I miss that little girl.  She's so big now... and opinionated!  haha.  

She recently watched Cinderella so I've been relegated to the title of "Stepmother" while she runs around with a cloth on her head and a blanket tied around her like an apron, feeding the 'chickens' and doing chores.  She's so funny.  Well I suppose I better get some work done before nap time is over.  Thanks for reading!

Vacuuming!

Whew.  Matthew has been in Seattle since Monday afternoon this past week and isn't due home until Wednesday at midnight.  That's a long time for me to be on my own!  The first couple days were dotted with tears (especially from Brielle) because she missed daddy, but we've been counting down and that really seems to help her.  The end is in sight! 

So anyway, on Wednesday night, Joshua came out around 11:30pm while I was folding about 6 loads of laundry.  (no, really!)  He said his throat hurt.  I took him into the kitchen for a spoonful of honey and - thankfully - realized he was about to lose it.  I had time to... position him... over the sink.  He proceeded to throw up every 5-10 minutes for the next 3 hours.  Poor sweet boy.  Soon I started feeling queasy.  I brushed it aside, because who can watch someone go through that and NOT feel a little iffy?  I finally settled him in my bed, bucket close-by.  I ended up throwing up once, and just felt queasy the rest of the time.  My awesome Brielle played with Eliana in her room between her naps so I could keep my weak exhausted body in bed.  Not sure what I would have done without her!  Anyway, after a shaky couple days and several meals consisting of chicken and rice soup, we are back to normal.  Well, as normal as we get anyway.  ;)

Wearing her dance tutu from G&G Shear

 

The kids played, and Brielle built 3 cool towers.  Why three?  Because her sweet loving thoughtful little brother kept thinking surely she was taking all this time to build so that he could come push it over.  Yeah, she was NOT amused.  So this is the one I got a picture of.  It was the last one and I'm thinking the first two were probably a bit more elaborate, but she was proud of it none the less and wanted to make sure her grandma's saw it.  

We also vacuumed.  Most people know about my vacuum ocd, and I guess it must have rubbed off on my offspring.  As soon as I pull the vacuum out, they go nuts.  They BEG to be able to do it - and sometimes cry if they can't!  lol.  So I told Joshua that if he went and picked up the toys in Eliana's bedroom,  he could run the vacuum in there.  What do you know, he ran off and picked up the room!  He did the hall and Eliana's room... then he said his arms were tired.  Brielle vacuumed their room.  I walked by and noticed she had even pulled the toy boxes and laundry basket out of the closet so she could get in there!

Joshua taking care of business

 

Then Joshua was rolling a little ball with Eliana and it ended up under the couch.

She was trying to get it

 

So we ended up pulling out the couch (and vacuuming under it)... and then we pulled out the other couch and did that one too.  Just for kicks.  :)

While the kids were resting, I went out to the garage and brought in clothes totes to go through for Eliana.  I love doing that.  I see the outfits and remember Brielle in them, and then get so excited to see Eliana in them.  Hard to believe how much Brielle has grown.  :(  She used to promise me when she was about 18 months-2ish that she would stay my baby forever.  Guess she couldn't keep that one.  I'm glad too though, because she's a neat kid and I love learning more about her... but I miss my little Brielle too.  But... back to clothes.  By the time I was done there were clothes everywhere.  I really don't remember Brielle seeming like she had a ton of clothes, but I guess she did.  Then the kids got up from nap and decided to bury themselves in the clothes and wreak general havoc until my entire living room looked like this...

To top off our day, I messed with my camera trying to get the pictures to stop being so darn blurry and snapped these pics of Brielle.  haha.  I told her to keep moving her face (which would normally be super blurry) so I could see if it was working any better.  So NO, she is not trying to make the duck face. 

Eliana saw the fun and decided to come get in on the action.  Which means trying to steal my phone.  Once she has posession, it's a race to see how quickly she can get the speakers to fill up with drool.  True story.  FYI, drool filled speakers have a bit of an annoying crackle sound.  So I had to be the mean mommy and take the phone away.  

Soooo sad!

10 seconds later... she went back and forth for a minute or two
 

Then daddy called on skype.  They get so silly, kissing the computer screen and jumping all over the place.  But I love that they get so excited for him.  :)  My kids sure do have a great daddy, and one that loves them enough to spend 30 minutes (at least) watching them dance and jump around, make silly faces for them, and catch lots and lots of kisses blown his way.  Yup, that's my handsome man!

Back to blogging?

Well, it's been about 9 months since my last post.  How is that even possible?  My sweet baby girl is almost 10 months old now, and Brielle is about to turn 5.  Oye.  We've also moved twice(!) since then.  In June we moved from the little apartment to a house about a mile away.  Having a fenced yard for the summer was wonderful.  Matthew's job at Apex was going well, but he was having to travel more than we thought he would.  It was stressful for both of us, as well as the kids, to have him gone for a week or two at a time.  So it was interesting when he happened upon a job posting for a Business Analyst position at Flathead Electric Co-op.  It would almost perfectly utilize all of the skills he's gained at his previous positions, pay the same, enable him to work for a community and local people, and it was in KALISPELL!  He was sure that they'd want someone with more experience, but I convinced him to go ahead an apply.  He was surprised when they called for a phone interview, but still didn't think he'd be offered the position.  Then when they wanted to see him in person, he still thought that surely they'd be interviewing people with much more experience.  So imagine his surprise (and my I-told-you-so) when they called to offer him the position!  It is a great opportunity for our family, as he will be working a pretty straight 8-5 every day, instead of going back to work in the evenings to restart processes or staying up till 2am to get something working that needs to be up and running by 8am the next day, or having him travel to meet with clients.  We really desire a more stable environment for out kids as far as a schedule, especially with Brielle getting into more schooling activities.  He really wants to be a part of that, which is difficult when his schedule is so unpredictable.  So anyway, FEC gave him a very generous moving allowance which enabled me to HIRE people to PACK for me!  It was amazing.  Even if I only have 2 cereal-sized bowls in my kitchen and I'm missing all but one of my small glasses.  (See, there is a reason I label boxes the way I do!)  They came in on Wednesday morning and by that evening only the beds were left!  Ah-mazing.  So we got to Kalispell on Friday evening and started unloading/unpacking on Saturday the 11th of January.  Matthew found us a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with an office and a fenced yard to hang out in for a bit.  Our house in Worden is scheduled to close sometime in March at this point, so hopefully we will be purchasing something and actually settling this summer.  Despite what many jest, we really are tired of all this - excitement.  We're reading to be boring.  :)

Anyway, here are a few pics of the kids from the past 9 months. haha.

 

Miss Eliana

Joshua trying on his get-up for my little brother's wedding in Sept.

A snuggle moment between brother and sister

 Merry Christmas!

 

Joshua's favorite way to 'drive'... hopefully that changes before drivers ed...

 

Brielle cooking eggs for breakfast

Happy girl

 

Just chillin'

Well, there ya go.  That's all I have on my phone anyway.  I'm too tired tonight to bother getting photos from the computer and the camera and all that...  But since my readers really only include my mom and mother-in-law I suppose that's okay.  :)  G'night!