Starting Over

Wow! I can't believe I am able to sit down and find the time to blog. We have been unbelievably busy, stressed and anxious over our whole move. We have officially moved to North Carolina! Kevin is settled in his job, I found a new job as a Kindergarten teacher and we have found an awesome school for Cian. Cian and I have been very busy over the last few weeks looking for a place to live. We have not sold our house in Endicott yet, so we are focusing on renting for a year or so. We figure this will give us more time to get to know the area before we buy too. We have just signed a lease at an apartment and it felt so good driving back to the hotel. One less major thing to worry about. I really want to be doing more kid friendly things with Cian before I go back to work in July. Now we can do them! I hope to post our daily events to show everyone what it is like down here. We are loving the area and the weather. Everyone is super nice and it is nice and hot, just the way I like it!


I am not able to upload pics right now.....not sure why. Hopefully we can figure that problem out!!!

North Carolina Here We Come!

Well it is official. We are moving to Greensboro/Burlington (we have not decided where yet!), North Carolina. Kevin will go the beginning of May and get started. Cian and I will follow him when Cian finishes school. We are excited, scared, anxious, etc. We have been extremely busy getting the house ready to be sold. We have finally chosen a realtor and our house will be listed early next week. Let's hope it sells! AHHH!

Iv'e been bad!

I know, I have not been very good at blogging in this new year. We have been very busy. We have some big news happening. I will write again with the details when everything is official.

Cian has turned six!!!! Our big boy. He continues to amaze us everyday. He even surprised us with his new molars popping through this week. He hasn't teethed since he was 3. I guess a new phase is right around the corner for us, losing and growing more teeth! I had horribly crooked teeth as a child, so we are hoping that Cian will inherit his Dad's straight teeth.


Kevin and I are still on our diets. I have lost 27 lbs and Kevin has lost 33 lbs. It is so helpful to be doing this together. I am so glad that I have him to lean on. He is my rock.

Today is my birthday. I am 33. Kevin is six months younger than me, so every year he teases me about my age. I have to remind him to watch his tongue b/c whatever he says to me, I will say to him in just a little bit. He is so funny.

I also had to explain a little bit of the birds and bees(or should I say the Squirrels and the squirrels) to Cian yesterday. I was washing his face in the kitchen and he was facing towards the kitchen window. He exclaims, "Look mom those squirrels are on playing the pony express"! Kevin takes Cian upstairs every night on the Pony Express. Cian basically gets a piggy back ride with lots of bumps along the way. Well as you can imagine, two squirrels were doing the pony express right in front of the kitchen sink. In an instant I had to think of what to say. So I blurted out, "their making babies." Which led to more confusion, especially when a third squirrel broke up the display. Luckily I didn't have to go into detail. We were late for the bus and we ran out the door. It was funny though b/c Cian told Kevin all about it when they got home. With lots of detail. I wonder if he told anyone at school. Oh boy!

New Year is Flying! Slow Down!

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since I have written. Time has been flying by and we have been struggling to get back on track. It seems like there is so much to do and the days are seeming to go faster than we can grasp. Things we have been working on....reading with Cian (He is a do it later kid. When it is time to focus on work...his answer usually is "let's do it later"...now we are making sure that not only reading to Cian gets done each day(that part is easy), but Cian reading to us gets done!) and Kevin and I are still eating healthier...our goal is to lose weight and get healthier...slow and steady wins the race!

Cian's birthday is coming up. He really wants a Tom and Jerry birthday party..so a call out....if you have any ideas or see anything online related...let me know. I am having a hard time with this one!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

"Cian's Manger Scene"

We had a great Christmas this year! It is so fun to have Cian and see his excitement for all of the fun things we were excited for as kids too! We were able to spend a lot of time with family over the last week and managed to get all of our Christmas "chores" done early so it really did feel stress free. Cian made the above Nativity scene all by himself. Kevin made the wall parts with Cian a couple of weeks ago for a project. Cian found that and then made a manger with wood and made the people which he taped to paint bottles so they would stand up. We were so surprised to find this in the basement after Cian went to bed. We thought it looked like a manger scene and we asked Cian the next morning what it was and he confirmed it. How cute!

"Uncle Greggy~Soon to be deploying to Afghanistan"

We spent time at the Doyle's and at the Clarke's on Christmas Eve. For some reason I did not get pics at my mom's. We had a great time there though. I love spending time with my Mom! Next we went to Doyle's and they had a houseful. (The pic below shows almost all of the family that was there, believe it or not about 6 people that were there are not in the pic) Cian loved having most of his Cousins there. What a fun Christmas Eve!

Kamry and Anna...It was so fun to see Brian and Rebecca's girls together again. For so long they were the only cousins in the family. Now they live on seperate coasts and don't see each
other very often. We did not get a pic of Jordy and Mikayla for some reason!

Kevin's sister Gabrielle came home for a visit. It was so good to see her again!

Austin, Kyler and Mary! Lots of fun!!!!

We were able to be home for Christmas morning this year. Cian had a blast opening presents. He is so excited to give some of his old toys to Grandma Doyle for his little cousins to play with.
We are proud of him for being willing to share so well!

Cian got a punching bag for Christmas.....At first the punching bag was winning LOL.

Cian finally got the knack!

Even Fluffy got in on the action!

Cian's most Favorite Gift was this snow board. After coming down the stairs he found this first. He was sooooo excited!

We don't have snow yet to use it......Isn't that always the case on Christmas!

The Milne's come for a visit!

This past weekend Kevin's sister Rebecca and her family flew from Oregon to visit the fam in NY. We were so lucky that they could spend a couple of days with us at our home. We had a blast. It is amazing to see how fast her girls have grown up and to finally meet Kyler our 2 1/2 year old Nephew. We had a great time getting to know these "kids" again and seeing what great people they have turned out to be! Cian especially loved having his cousins around. I don't think we saw him much over the weekend. He was having to much fun with Emma. Emma is Cian's same age and they really hit it off. Cian said after they left that Emma is a "beauty girl". We asked him what what that meant and he explained that he liked they way she looked! Uh Oh! So funny!
No a ghost did not just walk into a room. The Milnes are so fun....they took several shots with different expressions on their faces. This one happens to be "shocked". I laughed out loud when I saw it, so I though I would put it up.
Most of the clan at Greek Peaks! The other half was still inside getting ready for the cold again.
Cian and Daddy at the tubing hill. Cian did not cooperate much with pictures while we were there. The little one in the background is Emma...Cian's "beauty"!
Emma and Cian. They are about 4 months apart in age. They were so independent at the tubing hill. They would ride up the "lifty thingy" all by themselves. Wait for the go sign and come down all by themselves. We were really impressed!

The sledding was so much fun after I got used to it. At first I was like "why am I doing this". I went down the hill so fast and screamed bloody terror! But after I felt comfortable it was fun. The best part was being out there with family. The Holidays are upon us. We are excited to start/continue celebrating . Up to Rochester tomorrow. We were supposed to go today, but great news from Kyle and Nicole. The babies will be born tomorrow. We will finally get to see their sweet faces and learn their names. I will keep you updated!

Snow Day!

Yeah! We had a snow day yesterday! Snow days are on the long list of why I love being a teacher...that unexpected day off that you are not penalized for. Plus, the fact that you don't have to drive clutching the wheel to work on those days. Cian was so happy that it snowed that he didn't really get too excited about no school. He was just excited to go and play outside. I convinced him to wait, seeing as though it was only 6:30 and still kind of dark outside. To help him wait, I put on a Tom and Jerry which was a big deal to him because we don't watch TV on school day mornings. He really caught on to the benefits of a snow day then! 8:00 hit and he was out the door and ringing our neighbors door bell. I felt a little bad, but I knew it was going to rain by late morning and if there was to be sledding that day....8:00 was the time! Luckily, Cade our next door 8 year old neighbor was up and they had a blast. Cian could have stayed outside all day. He loves the snow! After a warm up with Hot cocoa, Cian and I started in on our Christmas cookies. It was so fun. I am so enjoying this age...we have real conversations and I am seeing his development from last year when we made cookies. He was able to do all the tasks with minimal help. So cool! I love this little boy so much!