2009 Memorable Moments

Sometimes it is so easy to launch into a new year and think about what's next without taking a few minutes to reflect on the past year and remember all the things that occurred to get us where we are this year. I felt particularly reflective this year. It seems that we changed a lot and experienced a lot of things so I thought that I would just write down the most memorable of our 2009.

In January, we travelled to Kentucky to visit our family. The first couple of days we had a good time and did a lot of visiting. Midway through our trip we all came down with a 72 hour stomach flu, all but one of us. We were all miserable for about 3 days and Norm was stuck taking care of all of us. It was so bad that we still don't talk about it. One of the bright spots of the trip was going to the Lexington Children's Museum. It was so much fun to watch the kids enjoy it and spend time with us and their Grandaddy.

Winter brings the promise of snow. Last year, it occurred to me that if I were at home by myself with the kids during a snowstorm, that I would have no idea how to use the snowblower to dig us out. Of course, my goal is to not go anywhere when it is snowing, but if I had to, I should know. Norm taught me how to run the snowblower and I blew my first few rows of snow. Meanwhile, Brayden demonstrated a "no fear" attitude towards sledding. We found a really good sledding park in town and Norm and Brayden went down together the first few times and then Brayden went down on his own, again and again. Then went down on his tummy and all the while he is yelling, "aaahhhhhhhh!!!!" So funny. I think I am going to get him a helmet for this year!

One of Sophia's big accomplishments this year was that she became fully potty trained at a swift pace. She LOVES Disney Princesses so I bought her Princess undies. That was it, she wanted to wear them and when she went, she got a jelly bean. Done.


One of the most unexpected things that happened to me this year was the formation of a group of girls in town called the Puma Club. It started because our husbands were getting together for breakfast. We girls decided we should start getting together to do fun stuff. I enjoy these women because we come from all different places in life and we have lots of different things to talk about. One of the highlights of our times together was a trip to Boston to have tea and shopping on Newbury Street.

Brayden turned 5 this year. We had a huge superhero party. All of his friends from preschool came as well as some friends from church. It was a beautiful day and they all got to go outside to run and play. Fun was had by all!

Norm's business took off this year. He had a great opportunity to partner with a local greenhouse and received opportunity to work on several big projects in the area. One such opportunity was to be able to give the New Hampshire Children's Museum a landscape make over. On Dover Clean Up Day, we got together a group of friends and we cleaned up the museum front yard. Norm was then able to adopt the museum and can now care for the landscape on one of our high profile points of interest in the city.

Brayden graduated from preschool this year and really enjoyed his summer. He played baseball and really started to enjoy swimming. He is realizing that he has more ability to do the things that he wants to do. He also finally decided that he loved the beach and the waves. I wish we had more opportunities to go but we had a lot of rain and Sophia is not convinced that the beach is fun, maybe next summer.

In June, Sophia and I took a trip to Kentucky to spend time with my Mom and Dad. We had a great time and Sophia was a great flying companion. Norm and Brayden had a guys weekend here. They went hiking and fishing and did "guy stuff". I hope this will turn into a tradition that our kids will look forward to each year.

This summer we did a few fun family outings. We took the subway in to Boston and visited the aquarium. It was very cool. The kids loved the aquarium and being in the city for the first time. We also went up north to Storyland theme park. It was great fun to get away and ride the rides and watch the kids enjoy the park. They are still talking about both trips.

Norm turned 40 this year. We had a big barbeque in the backyard with lots of friends. Norm's brother flew his family up to visit to celebrate with him. It was nice to have them here and the cousins enjoyed playing together.

Fall came and brought about a big change for us. Brayden got on the bus and started kindergarten while Sophia headed to Bunnies and Blocks for preschool. It was a big change for all of us. It is amazing to watch Brayden learning to read. Sophia has shown great interest in art and color.

We wanted to celebrate all of these new things as well as my Dad's retirement. We planned a little beach vacation in Maine for September. Mom and Dad flew up here to go with us. Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold and everything was closed down. We came home early and went bowling. It wasn't the way we planned but we had good quality time together.

Sophia turned 3 this year and all she really cared about were the cupcakes that I made for her birthday. She loves the Disney princesses and jewelry and that is most of what she got.

We signed Brayden up for soccer and he loved it! It was so much fun to watch all those little kids running around trying to kick the ball.

Since I had a little more free time, I trained and ran my first 5K. It was pouring down rain and I almost backed out but Norm encouraged me to do it and I am glad that I did.

In November, H1N1 influenza came to our house. The kids were both sick the better part of November and I had a cough that lasted for a little more than 5 weeks.

Finally, we spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at home. It was a time to establish traditions and be together as a family.

This is the longest post to date and it was fun to look back. Now I am looking forward to making more memories in 2010. Happy New Year.
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Brayden's Christmas Eve Quotes

"Dad, looking at lights is a waste of time. I want to go put together my Legos."

During a very moving rendition of "O Holy Night" "Mom, when you die, do your eyeballs pop out or fall into your head?"

"Hey, does your shirt light up?" Asked of a lady at church with a very brightly colored sweater.

"Dad, I am a little crestfallen." After he received his Christmas PJs as a gift instead of a toy on Christmas eve.

Merry Christmas
December 2009