A Few Easter Pictures!

I Want to Be a Chicken!

So today, while Caroline was watching Dora, one question Dora asked was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Caroline replied, "I want to be a Chicken!". Dora's friends were answering things like, Baseball player, Doctor, Teacher etc. but our 3 3/4 year old wants to be a Chicken! Maybe it's that Halloween costume she wore in October!

Our Florida Vacation!

We got back last week from our 8 days in Florida! We had a great time! The weather was beautiful- 70,s-80's the whole time with just one afternoon/evening of rain. Disney World is so much fun and well worth every cent! We had lots of fun doing a Luau, "The Hoop Dee Doo" dinner show, A Princess Breakfast, and meeting all the Mickey characters at "Chef Mickey's". We also went to Planet Hollowood and sat right nect to the clay pots Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze made in "Ghost". The Parks were fabulous along with all the shows/firework displays. We also went to SeaWorld which was amazing! The last day we were there we picked oranges and then drove to Cocoa Beach and spent the afternoon basking in the sun and swimming in 70 degree water with 10-15 foot waves!! Then we boarded the plane, landed in NH and were greeted with 20-30 degree COLD weather! We are currently applying for jobs in Florida (just kidding)! We actually are already planning/saving for out next trip! We made lots of memories that we'll treasure!

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Our Chocolate Fountain!

We bought a Chocolate Fountain this week so today while we were getting our 50th snow storm of the season, we broke it out! As you can see, the girls had a lot of fun dipping various things from Strawberries to Marshmallows. Caroline was having a bad hair day, but didn't really care how she looked! The fountain worked great at a dance we had at church last night too. It's pretty messy, but well worth it! It's also the perfect medication for PMS, so next time you may be having those monthly symptoms, just call me up, come over and I'll break out the Chocolate Fountain!

A Few things we did during February Break!

Happy Birthday John!

John turned 36 Today. When he came home from work Caroline asked, "Dad, guess what we got you for your Birthday?". She then began to name off almost all the gifts we had wrapped together this afternoon! We have found that with 3 girls, there are NO secrets in our household. Christine and Madeline decided to wear their Sunday Best for the occasion. We celebrated with one of John's favorite Dinners, Corned Beef and Cabbage - I know many people find that revolting but it was pretty delicous.
I thought instead of placing 36 candles on the cake we'd take the easy way out, so he had the number 36 instead, After all 36 candles would take an an awful lot of effort to blow out (ha,ha,ha). I've always liked being 9 months younger then my hubby!!!!

Our Sunbeam!

Today when we came home from church, Caroline was eating her Mac and Cheese and asked "Mom, have you ever heard of the Holy Ghost?" It was very cute! She had learned about it in her Sunbeam class and was quite thrilled to share what she had learned with us. When John came home, she asked him the same question. This picture was taken on her first day of Sunbeams in the beginning of January.

Happy Valentines Day!

It's also Pajama Day at School, so Chris and Maddie wore their PJ's to school!

My Cross Country Skiing Excursion!

Last weekend I decided it was time to get my Cross Country Skis out that I literally have not had on for 8-9 years. I needed to get out of the house and commune with Nature, actually I really just needed an hour of "Me" time. So I had fun skiing up and down the roads in our little neighborhood. Hopefully I'll be putting those skis on again soon!

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A Rare Winter Visitor

I was very suprised last Friday to find a bird I had never seen before feeding at my suet feeder. I was able to watch the bird for about 1/2 hour and get one photo of it. I thumbed through my bird books and couldnt quite identify it. With the help of several bird enthusiasts and an expert naturalist from the Maine Audubon Headquarters we identified it as a Hermit Thrush! What makes this even more interesting is they do not winter in Maine. Hermit Thrushes spend their winters in the South with their furthest range north being about CT. The Audubon society was very excited about the find and said they would feature it in their weekly bird alert! Birding has been a passion of mine since I was a Cubscout! I had a den mother Mrs. Appanel who instilled a love of bird feeding and watching in me. I have been hooked ever since. My wife can witness for the thousands of dollars I have spent on black sunflower seed, millet, suet cakes etc. Think of all those new clothes she could of purchased. I put that money to much better use!

John

Celebrating Christine's 10th Birthday!

We've entered the world of double digits! Chritine turned 10 yesterday. We had a small family party with just us. She's planning to have a sleepover with a couple friends over Feb break to help celebrate too. She was excited to get some HS Musical stuff including a new quilt for her bed. We had fun!

Hannah Montana Fever!

Tonight I took Madeline and Christine to see the Hannah Montana 3D concert that is showing in Theaters. We had tried hard in October to buy tickets to the real concert. I was on the computer at the right time etc, but apparently all the tickets were taken up by scalpers so we were unable to get the tickets. At any rate the girls thought the movie we saw tonight was "totally awesome" and "so amazing"! The 3D glasses were a big hit!

The Veterinarian of our Family!

The Dryer Saga!

So my dryer of eleven years died! We had a Repair man come out and paid him $75. He found a pen and under wire stuck in the Blower and said the problem "should be fixed". Well, low and behold, the problem wasn't fixed and so I called him back. He said "I was afraid of that, it must be your motor". So I went to good ole Sears and had dreams of buying the Fancy dancy Front loader Washer and Dryer, but realized that our budget wouldn't allow that. I settled for basically the same exact dryer I had, it's just a little bigger. The Dryer was suppose to be delivered a week ago this past Tuesday, however the truck broke down so they had to reschedule till this past TUESDAY! At any rate, the delivery men hardly spoke/read English and called at least 4 times to get our address because it wasn't showing up on their GPS. They went to my neighbors house initially and were just about ready to unload MY dryer when I went out to the end of my driveway screaming , "this is the right place"!
So then they came and asked if I have the "part", that is the electrical cord. I said we could just take off the one from my old dryer. They told me they couldn't install the dryer or switch the cord because of Liability reasons and said I'd need to get my "son or husband to do it". As you can imagine I was astounded as I have a family of 5 and NEED a working Dryer. I begged and pleaded and was able to convince the Deliveryman to show ME how to switch the cords! I am soooo thankful for my Deliveryman! We now have a fully functioning Dryer and I am caught up on Laundry (for once in my Life). And so goes the Dryer SAGA.

Our Sledding Hill!

I figured out how to download a video! I'm getting pretty savy at this Blog thing if I do say so myself (ha,ha,ha). At any rate, I took this video of John yesterday. He started making this hill in December and we've all had fun with it. It's pretty icy now as John has been reinforcing the hill with water from the hose. In fact yesterday, I didn't stay on the tract, I flipped over the edge (we didn't get that on video, thankfully). We are praying for no injuries.

Sledding down our manmade Hill

Bouncehousemania!

I've been looking for a Bounce House for the girls for awhile and found a small one Friday on Craigslist. It's barely used and I got a great deal on it and the girls are loving it. Their cousin Skyler from Mass. has one and they always have fun bouncing in hers, as you can see by the picture of Skyler, Chris and Maddie that was taken last January. Thank Heavens for basements, even if they are not finished, they're great for Bounce Houses.

A Shopping Experience to Remember!

Yesterday after we went Ice Skating, I took all 3 girls Grocery Shopping. This is something I try to avoid at all costs, but we really needed groceries. We started in the Produce section and the girls somehow pushed the big kids car cart into a stand of crushed garlic jars! Yes indeed a couple jars broke- you can just imagine the utter embarassment I felt, not to mention the stench. After I apologized immensely to the Produce lady, she was extremely nice, saying, "Tonight was a slow night anyway, I needed something to do". Nearer the end of our shopping experience Caroline grabbed a Pickle Jar off the shelf and asked, "Mom can we get these pickes". I looked at them and saw that they were just plain old Kosher Dills and said "Sure". At the top of her lungs Caroline repiled, "Thanks Mom, your the Best". This somewhat made up for the Crushed Garlic incident. There are definitely Hills and Vallies in Motherhood!

Skating Fun!

Yesterday I took the girls Ice Skating at Goddard Pond. I tried out the new skates that John got me for Chritmas- My feet were in lots of pain initially but then were fine once they warmed up. We had lots of fun and ran into a few friends. By the end, Caroline even wanted to skate!

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I Love Babies!

These are two of the newest members of our Family. Our Great Niece Addison Dowdle and Great Nephew Jack Taylor. They are absolutely adoreable!! We were able to meet Addison for the first time two weeks ago at a special Baby Blessing luncheon held for both she and Jack. Addie lives in Utah so we can't see her as often as we'd like, although we are trying hard to convince her parents to move back East soon! I have been one of the "Official Baby Holders" for Jack during church on Sundays and I Love it. He's smiling and cooing now which always lots of fun. At the present time, John is looking over my shoulder saying, "Kadi, we are NOT having any more Babies!". I understand and have come to agree upon that fact, so I am happy to be known as an "Official Baby Holder".

Caroline is going to be our Makeup and Fashion Designer!

You never know what Caroline is going to be wearing when she comes down the stairs. This morning she said, "Mom, look I got dressed!". Yes, she was wearing the outfit on the left. Checkered pants, a Yellowstone T-shirt, a Bathing Suit coverup and a Beach Hat perfect for the wonderful Rainy day we are having today. As you can see by the other pictures, this is a common occurrence and yes, those are yellow CLEAN panties that she's wearing as a hat. She's going to love these pictures when she gets older!

Election 2008!

John, Rich and Robb went down to NH Monday to help Campaign for Mitt. As you can see by the pictures, John had a ball campaigning. The three of them snuck into the Ralley before the Public was let in! They apparently looked and acted like the real Campaign workers. At any rate they got seats in the second row and were able to meet and shake hands with quite a few of the Romneys, Fox News workers etc..
Whoever you vote for, JUST VOTE. I saw a statistic that only 121 million people voted in the 2004 Election. There are approximately 301 million people living in the US, 74 million are under the voting age, so over 100 million adults did not exercise their right to vote in the 2004 election. Good friends of ours also went to a Rally for Obama on the same day and said it was great too.
As you can see by the pictures, Tuesday was a lot of fun!
By the way Robb and Rich are our Brother in Law and Nephew in Law.

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