Sun, Dec 3, 2006 1:02 PM
Update! Yeah, bout time.. Where were we? Ah,yes. Disney. It was wonderful. Really, you would think that with as many people that we travel with that there would be issues (divorce/killing a family member), but for some reason, we all just kinda go with the flow. There is so much to do and each of us got to have big kid fun (roller coasters) and little kid fun (watching Emily meet her hero the Grinch). Being there when Emily saw the castle, (she freaked out!) and watching everyone watch her is a good time. Everyone got to take Aiden on a ride, which is a good feeling because he clings to you so you can protect him from the evil puppets (Small World). It's easier too now that the kids are older, Kurt and Cole were able to ride each roller coaster 4 times if they wanted, we would meet up with them later. The house we rented fit us perfectly. One floor, so no fighting with Aiden bout stairs, there was a pool, so we hardly saw Christopher Kurt or Cole, a computer for last minute changes to Fantasy Football and a game room for any left over energy.. It went by so fast though. When your there you feel like you have so much time before you leave, and then all of a sudden it's the last night. We went out to dinner the night before our last night and had such a great time, some more than others (I had 3 Cosmo's, Casey and her 3-5 Magarita's and even Danielle had 2 GLASSES of WINE). The weather in Florida cooled down right before we left, the local news station had a weather advisory to in effect, it was going to be in the 50's. THE TOP NEWS STORY: "make sure you layer clothing, don't be outside with exposed skin.. ? It was a culture shock for the locals, but for us it was just another fall day.

Sun, Nov 26, 2006 9:29 PM
Note to self.. Do not ever load all of your vacation pictures to online hosting site. Takes 5 billion hours to download the 335 pictures off the site onto your personal computer.

Sat, Nov 4, 2006 2:42 PM
Happy Belated Halloween! I must tell you all something.. My kids are kinda strange.. And since I am the mother, it's legal for me to inform you, I don't even have to sign the HIPA form. EVERY YEAR Nicole has a Halloween Meltdown. EVERY YEAR. Her costume doesn't match her expectations, her shoes are too small, her hair is not coming out the EXACT color green that she envisioned,or she comes down with an illness that prevents her from walking back to the car.. There was always something. It is a well known fact that there is some sort of Halloween curse on Nicole and she will turn into a grumpy,unreasonable and often openly hostile force of nature. This year she changed her costume 5 minutes before we left. According to her she had thought out her last minute costume change and felt secure in her decision to become the PRINCESS of DARKNESS. I gently reminded her about the Halloween curse, but she smiled and said Nope.. It's going to be fine this year.. AND IT WAS! I'm hoping against hope that the curse has been broken! Ill keep you posted. For the last month Emily has told everyone (including the Cat) that she's going to be a Princess for Halloween. She would let Aiden be a Prince, and we could all be her subjects. Fun for everyone. Then last week she announced that for Halloween she was going to be a DOG. Huh? k.. whatever you want Dear. So Casey (whose lobbying for the title of Emily's Favorite Person in the World) runs to the store and purchases Emily the last Dalmatian Costume. Yeah! Halloween is saved! Right.. Emily didn't quite understand the TRICK OR TREAT portion of the evening. Her and Casey went up to the first house, Emily (in her beautiful sing/song voice) told the nice lady HAPPY HALLOWEEN! She received her piece of Candy and just about died of happiness. But when it was time to move to the next house, she looked at us like we were crazy and said,"Again?".. She, uh, kinda thought the night was over. Silly girl.. This was the year of the Tigger... Aiden's first trick or treat excursion. He did not approve of Christopher's monster mask or that Kurtis was dressed as Superman. Just didn't understand. Wasn't loving his own costume either, he felt there was no need for the hood or ears. He seemed to like the Trick or Treat part, but just didn't get it. At every house he tried to get past the person with the candy so he go on inside and look around. He wasn't there just for the candy, no no, he wanted to hang around for a visit. Maybe check out the snacks or catch a nap.. Got very upset that we kept going to these houses and then LEAVING.. Also, every time he got a treat, we would remind him to say Thank You, he would say,Blah Blah and sign thank you.. But he's doing the sign backwards.. Looks like he's thanking himself. Cracks me up!

Sat, Oct 14, 2006 7:11 PM
Where to begin.. How bout tallest to smallest.. Dan.. My sweetie. For the last 4 years Dan has supervised a contract for the State of MA to supply employees to detention units in Dorchester, MA. His 90 minute commute thru Boston twice a day has made him quite the expert on talk radio and traffic patterns, but kinda grouchy by the time he got home.. This week he was able to transfer to Methuen.MA as the director of a juvenile recovery program. His commute is now 35 minutes.. The job has it's pro's and con's, but for now it's the lesser of the two evils.. Nicole.. Progress reports were issued recently and she received very good grades. She joined the cross country team and has been practicing every day after school with meets twice a week. Thats 2 miles a day, 5 days in a row.. She's crazy! Also she was able to work the NASCAR races, Hopkington Fair and Deerfield Fair with us. (if you need to borrow money, she's got quite the bankroll saved up).. Emily.. we had her assessment done late Sept. Assessment was done by Child Psychologist, Speech Therapist and Developmental Pediatrician. We had an informal meeting after the assessment and each one gave their opinion. Speech Therapist feels that she does not have great muscle tone in her jaw, but didn't have an exact diagnosis for her speech issues. Child Psychologist agreed with Emily, that she is in fact surrounded by idiots. She scored very high on her IQ test which will hopefully help her when it comes to overcoming communication issues. Pediatrician diagnosed her with Acute Adorable Syndrome (inherited from her mother) and gave her a clean bill of health.. Not sure what impact the assessment will have on her therapy, hopefully when the written reports are reviewed by her therapist we will know more. Aiden.. 18 months old. When did that happen? He's such a funny old man. He has been signing more frequently these days. He does Please,Cracker, Apple,Cheese and his all time favorite MORE.. When he get's really excited (Casey feeding him M&M's) he's like a dog that does all the tricks he knows at once, sit, roll paw. Aiden does a funny dance signing cracker, please, more and cheese in one motion. Aiden loves to talk (in his own language) all the time.. He has recently begun singing, and the new favorite is to sing/yell "KITTY, WHERE ARE YOU?? Not bad, however what you hear is PITTTTTYYYYY, WHEAAAAA AAWWWWWWWW OUOUOU.. It can get a little harsh on the ears after a while. If you made it this far in this never-ending- journal-entry you must be as tired as I am! Have a great weekend..

Fri, Oct 6, 2006 8:04 AM
Where the hell have I been? It's been over a month since I wrote an update and there is a damn good reason.. I'm FREAKING exhausted.. September went by in such a blur of BBQ events and Fair's that on the off chance I am home, I'm catching some ZZZZ's.. This weekend is the last spot of the season for the Chesley/Weldon BBQ Team. We are set up at the Sandwich Fair. Where is that?? Oh.. It's 25 minutes east from the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.. A good time to be had by all.. As of Tuesday I go back to being a stay at home Mom of three children, where I'm sure to get tons of rest and relaxation, cuz all Stay at Home Mom's get to take naps and eat Bon' Bon's all day,right? I hope Aiden get's the memo. Good news: All the children are alive and appear healthy... Each one has a ton of stuff going on and will require a long entry , even Dan's got stuff. I miss that husband of mine, he's kinda cute.