I was so thrilled with the rain this weekend!  It chipped away at the snow bank in front of my mailbox,  helped clear the air, and the kids loved splashing in the puddles Saturday.  Everything about the rain seemed great until way too early Sunday morning.  Brigham woke me up at about 3 am to come tuck him back in bed so I sleepily followed him down stairs.  As I started to cover him up I noticed the edge of the blankets were wet.  Then it occured to me the clothes on the floor where I was standing were wet. I started picking up wet shirts and pants and lecturing Brig about not putting wet clothes on the floor when I realized the floor was really really wet (OK I’m kinda slow at 3 am)  Water had seeped in from somewhere ( Ben is currently trying to figure out where) and soaked the carpet in both the boys room and the family room.  Of Course the boys had emptied their dresser on Saturday so EVERYTHING they own was on the floor and wet and they went to church in too small highwater church pants from the hand-me-down to Sam box.  So our latest closet project will be put on hold until we stop the flood!

Here we go again.  I don’t think we can be truly happy unless we have a hole in some wall or drywall and the shop vac laying around.  And so the latest project begins.  The closet in our master bed room is not sufficient so after many different plans and proposals not to mention a few week of looking at new houses we decided to go for the most simple solution:  Steal Sam’s closet!  Sam’s closet shares a wall with ours as well as the linen closet at the end of the hall, that is until Ben, his drill, saw and sledgehammer got to them.  Now it is one big hole that promises to be a mini closet for Sam and a nice walk in closet for me!!!  At the same time as this fun project Ben also pulled the fluorescent light out of the kitchen and put in beautiful can lights.  I’m so thankful for Bens ability to be my personal handyman not to mention his willingness!  Thanks Love!

Monday, one of those days where I woke up looking forward to a day full of hope and promise.  By noon the promise seemed to disappear and I was hoping thing would get better.  And by 3:00 I was wondering why I was so excited to hop out of bed.  As I looked forward to the kids going back to school on Tuesday I noticed my birthday present from my bff Jen sitting on my desk.  A gift certificate for a one hour massage.  I called the spa planning to schedule the massage for later in the week but before I knew what was happening I had an appointment for 4:00 that day.  So I left the sounds of kids fighting, Sam crying and a messy house behind and… from why did I get out of bed to Marvelous Monday in one hour!  THANK YOU JEN!!!! I am so happy to have you as a friend!  Thanks for letting me call and whine.   Thanks (to your fam) for letting stop by and steal you for treat runs.  And thanks for knowing that I would need a hour away!  I hope you have a great birthday this week!

What a bitter sweet day!  I’m so excited for Sam’s birthday but at the same time so sad that my sweet sweet baby is growing up.  Sam is such a cutie!  He walks around the house so proud and happy!  he loves his big brothers and sister and especially his Daddy.  When her hears Ben come home he follows him around making his Sammy funny noises waiting for Ben to notice him and pick him up.  I love to tickle him and play peek a boo and just be around my happy happy Sam!  If I could I would freeze him right now a sweet one year old and never let him grow up!

First off Christmas this year was GREAT!!  Ben worked Christmas Eve day so the kids and I made crafts, cleaned (very little!) and most importantly cooked Christmas eve Dinner!  Yummy duck yams and apples, spinach and creme brulee for dessert!  when Ben got home we ate dinner and enjoyed all our traditions before bed!   I learned something about my kids, it doesn’t take a lot of presents to make them happy!  Most Christmas mornings the living room is sooo full of gifts we barely have space to unwrap.  This year however I knew Santa had a BIG surprise for the whole family so Ben and I decided not to get much else.  Each kid received socks a book or two and one toy or game.  Christmas morning they came in to the front room and instead of being upset that they didn’t see the normal haul from Santa (he left his present in the garage)  they were thrilled with the slippers in their stockings!  We started opening presents and after a few Emma noticed a set of keys hanging on the tree.  I asked the kids “Who hung these on the tree?” “Brigham was it you?”  They all denied it so I sent Brigham to set them on the shelf in the garage.  Ben and I waited for Brigs reaction when he saw what Santa left,  but nothing…….nothing…….nothing.  Soon he came calmly back into the front room sat down and said “the keys go to our tent trailer in the garage”  It took another second for the other kids to catch on but soon they all ran to check out the new trailer.  And of course freezing or not Ben and the older kids (not Sam or I) had a camp out in the trailer in the garage the next night.