Happy 6th Birthday Reese

Reese,

Six years ago I became a mother to the most beautiful baby I had ever seen.  I can’t believe you are starting first grade, learning to read and teaching your brothers and sister everything you know.  Here are a few things I’d like to remember about you as you turn 6:

-You had a great first year of school and loved your Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Mihelish.  So much so that this year when I asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up you said, “a  teacher.  And also a Mom.”  J

·        - You have been begging us to let you go to McDonald’s.  We’ve explained that the food there isn’t very good nor healthy for you but you really, really want to go.  Not sure if it’s the forbidden nature of the place (from our standpoint) or good advertising.

·         -You’ve starting reading books to Emily (now that she wants to sit still long enough to listen) and it’s pretty adorable to watch.

·         -You love arts and crafts and anything that involves using tape, glue, glitter, paper, etc.

·         -You’re pretty adventurous and like to try new things.  You even did the ALS ice bucket challenge with Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy and me (google that)

·         -You love to swim and be in the water.  You and Asher took swimming lessons this year and you did very well, jumping in, going under water and swimming around (with a life jacket on).  You scare us because you think you can swim now and don’t realize that you really can’t. J  When we went to the lake and the ocean (at Nana’s in Rhode Island) this summer you stayed in the water the entire time until we had to drag you out.

·         -You still love to dress up and usually have at least 3-4 outfits on a day.  When you come home from school or day care you immediately put on a princess dress.  You usually ask to borrow my shoes and I let you wear “the flat ones”

·         -You’ve become really helpful in the last few months, helping with the babies and starting to sweep the floor and clear the table. 

·         -You love to sing and talk to Soren.  You try to help with him a lot and you often try to pick him up even when we tell you not to.  You’re really just trying to make him feel better by picking him up when he falls down. 

·         -Your favorite movies are currently Frozen and Aladdin.  The former came out this year and you now have it memorized and regularly sing the songs and say the dialogue without the movie on.  The latter Nana introduced you to while we were in Rhode Island this summer.  When Robin Williams passed away, they played it over and over again and now you’re hooked.

      -You still like rainbows and would probably say that rainbow is your favorite color :)                                              

             It is so much fun to watch you grow up, just don't do it too fast, please!  We love you very much.

               Love,  Mommy and Daddy

First Day of School 2014

Reese started first grade on Wednesday.  Her teacher is Mrs. Bubb who took over last minute for another teacher who is getting treatment for a serious illness.  Reese had a great first week and was able to celebrate her birthday with her class yesterday.  This is her last first day of school "alone" as next year she'll have to share the picture with Asher :)

Rhode Island vacation

We flew to the East Coast last week to celebrate Mom's 65th birthday (and her retirement).  We had a really great week and the kids got to meet all of their new cousins.  Below are some pictures from the trip.

3 of the 4 2014 babies...Elijah (blue chair), Hunter (brown chair) and Soren rocking it in the pink chair

 Hunter

 Soren all smiles

 another view

 Asher as a lobster at the clambake club

 Emily wanted in the picture, too

 Soren, Charlotte and Elijah in their "I love Nana" shirts

 Soren and Elijah bonding on the floor

 Grace decided to join in the fun

 Reese with the sandwich hug

 Nana and Soren

 The Jenga champions Michelle, Sarah and Fred

 Soren sleeping in the cradle that my grandfather made for me 36 years ago

 Reese and Asher tuckered out after a long day playing with their cousins

 The 2014 babies- Michelle with Elijah (4 months), Nana with Hunter (10 weeks), CK with Soren (7 months) and Fred with Charlotte (8 weeks)

 Jeff and his mini-me

 Fun with Sarah and Fred

 The kids loved the beach, although I think CK liked playing in the sand as much as they did!

 Jeff taking his turn at baby-watching duty

 Doesn't everybody wear goggles in the ocean?

 Emily searching for...?

 Emily buried in the sand

 and after

 Reese riding the carousel

 Asher too

 Grace and Jeff

 Cousins

 Emily and Grace are about a year apart in age

 Soren was tuckered out after a tough day

 Soren and Elijah spent a lot of time "talking" about life in their chairs

 Reese and Grace had so much fun playing together

We had an amazing time and it was so good to see everyone.  Our trip home was a bit rough, however.  Here's the breakdown:
Wed. 715a- leave Nana's in Newport and drive 4 hours to Newark
drop off the rental car at the offsite rental car place and board the shuttle for a ride to the airport with 4 kids, 3 suitcases and 4 carseats
check luggage and go through security; get to our gate at Newark
mechanical delay of 1 hour- still think we can make our connection in MSP
mechanical delay extended to 3 hours- realize we'll definitely miss our connection
get rebooked out of MSP Thursday morning (to SLC and then home to Helena); Delta offers hotel room in MSP due to mechanical delay- not great but not terrible
2 hours later Delta tells us there are no hotel rooms in MSP anywhere (all sold out) so they need to send us to SLC instead (so they can put us up in a hotel room).  Catch is that the Newark-SLC flight in sold out so they need to book us on the JFK-SLC flight at 8p EST
go to baggage claim and get 3 suitcases and 4 carseats
load 4 kids, 2 adults, 3 suitcases and 4 car seats into a minivan taxicab and ride in rushhour traffic through NYC to JFK
arrive JFK and re-check 3 suitcases and 4 carseats
grab quick dinner at JFK before departing
4 hour flight to SLC; arrive 1130p MST
check with Delta desk in SLC to get our hotel voucher (that they promised us in Newark) for the night since our flight to Helena was not until Thursday at 11a
SLC Delta agent laughs and says there are no rooms available anywhere in SLC because there is a convention in town.  I ask him what he expects me to do with 4 kids who are now way overtired and starting to melt down
He gets a Delta red coat (customer service agent) who is very nice but not very helpful.  Says they told us incorrect info in Newark (really?  thanks, I already figured that one out).  In the meantime I called 3 hotel chains I use in SLC often and they were all booked so at least Delta was truthful.  He finally offerred us the unaccompanied minor room in the C terminal where they house kids traveling alone who have long layovers.  It had 2 small cots (child size) so we made the best of it.  The kids actually got some sleep.  CK and I, not so much.  It was also freezing in the room.  Anyway, we made the best of it and eventually got home 35 hours after we left Nana's.  The kids had an adventure and CK and I made it through.

It certainly didn't ruin our vacation but it's good to be home!