Life by iPhone.

Despite having not posted much this year, our family has been up to a lot!  Blogging is still fun for me, but with blogging friends and family having "moved-on" from commenting here and life "moving quickly" - perhaps I'm not as fanatical about posting as I used to be.  What about you?!  I do sincerely appreciate friends who do stop-in and check-up on us - it really makes my day!  For Christmas, Craig surprised me with an iPhone.  I prominently lost it in an American Girl Store bathroom. I realized it was gone just 10 minutes later, but it was too late.  Some little girl, or mom, decided to take it and I haven't seen it since.  Smart as Craig is, fortunately he did purchase an insurance plan with it!

Thankfully I have not lost it, nor left it anywhere since!  I have, however, taken many photos, and I will share with you the best!  These range from January to present day of 2012 - enjoy!

Cici and Nini @ a local college girl's basketball game.  We felt it was
good for them to see a "big girl" game.  Nini is keeping track
of the points on an old blackberry phone!

Cold Hands, were a big deal this winter.  The best solution - socks.
Mr. T is sporting a pair in this photo.

This is how I shop, and this is also how mom uses the restroom
without two little boys climbing under the stalls!

Cici and Nini getting their "orange belts" in Karate!  They've loved it
until recently, and now they want to quit.  We are giving it another month,
and we'll see what happens.

Mr. T and Hawk off another hike with mom.

Sunday "fort" play!

Wendy, our early invention specialist for Mr. T and Hawk.
They are both late talkers, especially Mr. T.  While Hawk has
picked up words, Mr. T is still only saying parts of words.
He communicates well in other ways, thankfully.  He sees
a speech specialist this Monday - we'll see what she says!

Fun with the girls while at the Largest Arcade in the World
in Northern NH!

Cici and Hawk snuggling :)

Sugaring-off this year yielded just over a gallon of syrup.
Since we are a very small operation - it took four over the fire
boilings for our sap to get only a gallon! 

Hawk and Mr. T asleep after a big day out at Costco.

Church, then play, then fall in the mud in our church clothes!
Little Hawk :)

Cici and Hawk playing!

A photo of our small New England town at sunrise, while
jogging.  

Are you still an avid blogger?

How has blogging changed since you first started?

Do you take lots and lots and lots of photos with your phone?!

No set instructions.

I have to pinch myself daily to believe that we are living in New England in March with no snow on the ground and 60 degree temperatures.  We've done our sugaring-off early, we've been playing outside with short sleeve shirts, and enjoying a little more light in our days.  It's quite Heavenly!

Our family is good.  We've just celebrated our two-year anniversary after moving from Montreal.  Our move here not only marked the birth of our 2nd set of twins, but a whole new journey in raising not two, but four children.  I wake-up on some days ready to go, everyone seems to fall in line, we get to school on time, and there are minimal fights, tantrums, and issues.  On other days, there is drama, tantrums, and problems falling on top of each other throughout the day.  The hardest part has been learning how to create order in a very chaotic environment.  Twins do not come with one set of instructions, neither does the added emotions of being adopted, which two of my four deal with daily.  

I am naturally not an organized person, but raising four children has encouraged me to find more ways to create order.  I've been finding that labeling everything from laundry baskets to closet organizers, helps me quickly put away items in the right order and place.  I promise I won't label my children though (unlike this post from 2008), I know where they go, honestly!

Laundry basket labels using laminated luggage tags from Target.

Are you a naturally organized person?

Do you believe children come with their own blueprints, or if you've

raised one you can raise another?

Do you have twins?!

Week-Ends and Book-Ends.

 


Mommy Daughter hair salon date - self portrait (this makes me smile)



Week-Ends



dark underneath!



1.  This week's Endings are combined with last weeks, since I didn't have time to post last week.  Today, my girls and I, had a much needed hair appointment.  We all got our hair done-including some highlights.  Cici and Nini chose red.  I chose my common blonde - but added a darker tone underneath.  My girls and I do not get to go out very often with just the three of us, but we took full advantage and did our hair and lunch.  It is still very hard for me to leave the boys with other people - besides me.  But it is good for them, especially when it is daddy they are hanging with.  I know I must be overprotective, but, not much I'm willing to do right now to change that! 

  

2.  I love the way Nini is entranced with the whole event.



3.  My girls were grounded last week.  There fighting and back-talking to each other was so out of hand.  I couldn't believe it at times. They've been off DS and computer and stayed home unless it was a family event.  It seems like a short-term solution to a problem that, I know, will continue.  I hope that we are helping them learn to love each other - 

sometimes, I'm not so sure.  





 4.  Daddy-Time isn't a very long at our home.  Unfortunately, Mr. C is a busy man and gets home sometimes right as I can't keep the boys up any longer.  He always gets the tail end of their day, which is sad.  We try to make the most of it by letting him spend those last minutes with just the three of them.  It's really sweet.  I am grateful for those weekends that let all of us spend more time together.

 



5.  My little man tie business is just for fun.  I tried a little photo shoot with my little men two weeks ago which ended up in little men crying.  An apple was the only thing that saved the shoot.  Next time, it might help if someone else were taking the photos and not me.  My kids always do better when there is someone else snapping the shots.  I do love this photo, despite the stuffed apple mouth! 

  

5.  Finally we can go outside - here is Mr. T
 checking out cool Nini on her skateboard



  

6.  Math Night at school!



 

Today's consignment finds!

7.  I have been laboring this winter to find good deals on my kid's clothing. I am finding that buying clothes for four growing children is expensive - duh right?  I have been consigning our last years clothes each season and buy at consignment stores.  I've tried ebay, but I find that with shipping, the deals can not be deals in the end.  We stopped at our favorite consignment store on the way home today and found these 7 name brand pieces (some new) for $53.00 and four of them are gymboree.  This averages $7.50 a piece!

Book-Ends



 Distant Hours  by Kate Morton proved to be a wonderful beginning to reading again.  I just haven't read much of any books since my bed rest days where I devoured books daily - just to stay sane.  I picked this book having no former knowledge of  The forgotten Garden -which I hear is also wonderful. To quickly review it, I found most of her character's personalities and thoughts to be written extremely well.  I found her lack of describing each character's physical features a bit annoying, though.  I loved the back and forth between era's and character's fun and it kept me engaged in the book.  I enjoyed it and out of 5 stars would give it a 3.5 and say I am interested in reading her other books.  Next up is...yet to be determined - will keep you in the loop :)

Do you find it difficult to get out on individual dates with your children?

How do you handle fighting between siblings?

When do you start shopping for the next season?
Clothing or shopping advise?!

 







Vintage Thursday



Me in Spain 2004



Thursdays around here will be a whole lot of vintage photos.  This week's photo was of a much skinnier me.  I was a couple months out of being sick and having my gallbladder removed.  I was stressed about being a new mom and crazed over a husband who traveled two weeks out of the month.  It's no wonder I was a stick!  Craig was over in Southern France.  My family gave me a 5-day break and I flew over to meet him.  We hit S. France, Northern Spain and enjoyed a whole lot of sunshine!  I can't remember the town in Spain, but am reminded that I need to scrapbook this.  I love this photo the texture in the background, the open door.  I was either rolling my eyes or looking up at the architecture. 

How often do you look at your old photos?
Do you cringe or reminisce?

My goal of the year: Balance

Photo is of our farm in New England

Saying good-bye to A HappyHeart Blog.

Michelle

When I went off to college I was certain that I wanted to major in the violin. I thought I loved to play it and I felt that I was good enough to be a great teacher someday. I played in the symphony, practiced hours and hours a day, and failed most of my other classes. It only took the 1st semester to realize that I didn’t like the violin as much as I thought and that I was wasting the hours away when really all I wanted to do was play the piano.

And so it is with my blog. I thought that I could keep up my blog, that it would have the same passion and joy in it that I had when I first started it in 2007. But like the violin, I don’t like my blog as much as I like my family and I definately don't want to fail - like I did my classes! I have loved posting on here and will not shut my blog down. I will be updating my blog through my blog header with recent photos or places we've been. I hope to come back to it someday when my boys have grown-up a bit and they don't need my every minute.

I still need to share with you the girl's baptism day photo which in true fashion, isn't the best photo - but certainly true to a long day and cranky babies.

I am certain that this is the right thing to do right now. I will be updating my blog header with photos I take of our family. I may also update my craft blog Crochetingagarden- just in case I get some crazy craft idea! You can also find me on facebook and through my email address at shecalledme@gmail.com. Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments and the beautiful friendships that I've made through this blog.

Goodbye, for now!

Michelle

This is what I want.

Sturbridge Village August 2010 (nini and cici)

Time is tick-tock-ticking away and before I knew it -my little babies are now in third grade, and my boys are now 9 months old! Life right now is wonderful. It's busy and full of of diapers, slobber, messy rooms, late nights, tired mornings, heavy lifting, and lots of cooking. My dad asked me on his most recent visit, "this is what you wanted?" Now the background behind this comment: It was the end of a long day, it was 7:00 and neither he nor anyone eaten yet, The Hawk had just thrown-up after choking on a rice puff, the boys had to be changed, diapers and clothes, for bed; neither were happy about being changed and I looked like I had just been slobbered, spit-up on, and run a marathon ( only I didn't)!

Boston Commons August 2010 (time to go!)

Now, back to the comment. the "this" has to be emphasized and you now get how it was asked. My answer was instant and with an enthusiastic YEs! Now the background behind my answer: I've thought a long time about the way my children have graced our lives. I thought about the first year we were married and remembered that there wasn't anything I wanted to do, but be a mother. Night after night, I prayed and cried until we made the decision to wait. Then when the waiting was over, we realized that the real waiting began. Still, my dream was to be a mother. Infertility sucks! There is no other better way to describe it. The days are long and the sorrow is constant. I am blessed to have had my children grace my life through adoption and by having the burden of infertility lifted and the miracle of birth bless my life. I can't think of any better dream than this and with an absolute Yes - this is what I want.

Has infertility affected your life?
Is or was motherhood your dream?

Celebrating 17 Years

SPT: Two Daily Beauty Mantras

I have two daily beauty mantras:

1. Always wear a smile. AND

2. Always get dressed in real clothes - no sweats, and definitely no PJs!

Mantra #1 is easy these days. With four cuties filling my house, how can I look around and frown. #2 Mantra is a little more difficult. It would be easy to stay in comfy sweats and PJ's all day. After all, I'm constantly wiping baby spit-up off my clothes, sitting on the floor, and who's going to see me doing laundry?! My answer is Me! I find if I take time to put a cute shirt and jeans on this bigger than pre-pregnancy body - I feel better and more likely to have a better attitude... which makes smiling even easier!

If I have extra time I go to my hair. Instead of combing it out and pulling it back - I'll do this braid which stays all day and I don't have to be reminded that I may not have washed it that day! The last thing I do, which used to be my first - is make-up. It goes on much later in the day or not at all.

SPT stand for Self Portrait Tuesday. A very creative Ms. Lelly at Amuse Bouche (click here) has put together a fun way for us mom's to chronicle our daily lives through these self-portrait challenges. Join in the fun!

An Interview with Mommy.

It started when I began an interview with Nini, just so that I could get her cute little toothless voice on camera. How many times will I be able to hear her and see her at this age? Then I interviewed Cici and then Cici had this great inspired idea to interview her mommy. She can be relentless, so while basking in the 50 degree Montreal Sun and with Nini and Craig in the background riding bikes- here is an interview with mommy (me)! PS, next time I'll sit up straight! The girl's interviews will be posted on my private blog soon. If you are a friend who hasn't been invited for some crazy reason, give me your email in this comment section and I'll add you!

Have you interviewed your kids lately?
Have they interviewed you?

A little moon and some vacuuming.

Does this happen to you? You are minding your own business doing chores around the house, when you have to lean over and pick something up, or in my case vacuum. Is it inevitable that giggles will ensue from your children and chuckles will begin from your spouse, regarding your - well - little moon? I am grateful, as I'm sure you are too, that the light shining through the window hit me just right!

When will pants be made for a woman?

Are you glad it's Friday? Big plans?

One horse expert, to go please!

I picked my first #7 off my 34 things list so I'll continue in that tradition until next week and use my 34 list again for this week's SPT - it's much more interesting:

#14: I love horses and have always dreamed about galloping on one, but am afraid of them - just ask my husband!

I love horses but am ultimately afraid of them unless they are led by a human horse expert, like the one above - taken when I was about five. I have always dreamed of gallopping through a beautiful field of wheat, hair flying, and preferably with a handsome pursuer like Colin Firth or Russell Crowe, but just so we clear - my husband will do too!

Hopefully in the near future I plan to attend a week long overnight school that teaches how to ride - or at least that's what they say - it sounds like a blast, but will see if I can overcome that little fear of mine!

Do you like to ride horses?
Can you teach me?

One Mommy Moment Per Day (OMMPD): Fixed bike chain for Nini - took 30 minutes because the chain was stuck and we all know what bike chains do to out hands! We rode our bikes to the park and the girls were surprised to see a very old friend (cici's first BFF) in the park!

Time Check...

Time: 5:15. Meet-up with their gymnastics class.

Time: 6:10, performance on the balance beam by Nini.

Time: 6:12, Cici's performance on balance beam

Time: 6:15, Award ceremony for a very reluctant Cici

Time: 6:16, Award ceremony for an "in her element" Nini.

Time: 6:25, Grab the girls out of the award ceremony, quick change and onto the Spring Concert

Time: 6:40, Just in time for their performance.

Time: 8:20, Finally over, Nini just wants to go home and bounce her basketball

Time: 8:30, Cici in her element with a friend.

Bedtime: Girls - 9:00
Parents: 1:00 a.m. after working on packing for our vacation.

Happy Birthday, Rest, and Chocolate Cake!

We headed to the cabin on Saturday morning through the South Shore of Montreal. It's a different route than we normally take, but we wanted to see some different scenery than what we normally see on our way down. Lake Placid was our first stop, where I ran into the Gap Outlet and picked up a few things and we headed to an Adirondacks furniture store to pick up a lamp shade. Craig has started building a few things out of the wood that we have on our property at Acorn Cottage. Check this out...He built this using the tree that fell on our property this winter.

Craig's first side table.

We also went to the Lake to let the girls play in the water. It's not quite swimsuit time here, but we let the girls wade in the water.

On the way to the cabin we stopped at this old A&W that finally opened for the summer 20 minutes away from Lake Placid. It's so good and not anything like the city chains we are used too.

We spent two nights here and did a lot of this...

We are trying to clean off some of the land and this requires some burning of old branches. Our fire pit was definitely hot and the fire was very large. So large that Craig pretended to summon the fire Gods! I guess you had to of been their! It was quite funny - especially if your know Craig!

Monday we headed back home where we did a few errands and the girls surprised me with lunch at Chili's in Burlington. Taking the ferry over from Plattsburgh takes an hour off the drive to Vermont. When we arrived home, the girls and Craig sent me to the office where they prepared a little birthday surprise...


A very, very chocolate cake they found! Nini was excited to have me blow out the candles that after the birthday son, she proceeded to blow them out before I could! We relit them and then blew them out together while Craig snapped some photos!

A birthday, of course, wouldn't be a birthday without my girls making a complete mess of their cute little faces! All day the girls out of the blue would say to me, "Mommy, Happy Birthday!" "I love you"! It was so cute! My gifts I received last week fro mother's day, my Nikon camera and a IPod Shuffler for running - both gifts I will use everyday!

On other news! I am having a great time with my exercise routine. It's been so fun talking to my sister daily on our individual progress. She's been training for a triathlon and I've been looking for races - but haven't had any luck. I was speaking with a friend of mine who told me about a Montreal triathlon, something I never really considered, well, because I'm an elephant in the water. She's done several and has offered to help me with my swimming! It's in September, it's not official yet, but hopefully soon. I had a bug last week that left me with only three days of exercise, but I'm back on track now and just got done with riding for 30 minutes and running for 30 minutes. I tried doing some jump roping - but I was too tired. The best thing about my routine is that I feel really good and rested. I'm wondering how I can continue my regime in the winter? Any races in your future?