A Lazy Saturday to catch up!

Hi Everyone,

It has been crazy week so blogging has been the farthest thing from my mind. Well, that isn't really true - I would have rather been blogging than doing much of what I was doing but you get my point. We have an appointment on Tuesday to meet with the surgeons and make a decision about Peter's surgery - it sounds like they have two options and both are pretty good - better than we expected. Annie, Lzzie and Ellie are finally feeling better and there are fewer boogers in our house these days! The kids have 39 days of school left - according to my son - so we are hard at work figuring out some plans for the summer. Uncle Scott gave his notice as our manny so Tiffany is coming back for a few months before she starts her summer job in July - that will give us time to find someone just perfect to take care of the kids while Bob and I work. In the meantime Bob and I will also adjust our schedules as much as possible so that the kids are not tossed around between different babysitters. We have a crazy few months coming up between my traveling for work and the kids end of the year activities and, most importantly, Molly is making her 1st reconcilliation and Peter is making his 1st reconcilliation and his 1st Communion in May - we are so excited! Annie is officially enrolled in preschool at Noah Webster for the fall and hopefully will be enrolled in irish Step Dancing, too - we are going to be driving all over the place next year but I can't wait to see how Annie does at all of her different "big kid" activities, as she calls them!

Everyone always tells us how much Annie, Lizzie and even Molly look like my Mom and Auntie Kate when they were little. I found this picture and didn't see too much of a resemblance.
Thn I found this one and was amazed! I think Lizzie looks just like her Bammy! I also love seeing the food on the table and the milk jug - so cool!

Molly and Lizzie having some fun together - Molly was tickling Lizzie so she could hear he laugh. She does have a sweet laugh and we are really anticipating what her little voice is going to sound like!

My beautiful daughters bonding!

Auntie Meg took this one of Annie on the potty - too cute!

Lizzie is very interested in what Annie is doig on the potty!

Uncle Scott took the girls outside and even took lots of pictues for me! We are going to miss him so much!

My big girl!

Lizzie close up!

You can tell we have a male babysitter - he is great about lovign on the kids all day but when it comes to clean faces and hair out of their faces - he is a total man!

Close up on Annie!

Most of the pictures of Ellie I couldn't bear to put up because she had such a gross (booger filled) face! Good thing she is adorable!

Lizzie is ready for service!

Our little Buggy climbing on the slide!

Annie loves the slide!

The babies don't look too happy but I still love these pictures - how cute is our little baby train?

Kind of funny how they all collapsed on each other!

Lizzie was getting too much attention for falling asleep on the couch so Annie joined herand tried to pretend she fell asleep too!

Our litle ladybug was so exausted and realxed after her tubby that she feel asleep on the couch in the middle of dinner time chaos!

I love those perfect piggies!

My peaceful little angel!

Not much more to report - Auntie Beth comes home in less than a week so Molly is hard at work cleaning her room and making plans. The time she is not with Auntie Beth we will be celebrating Abby's 6th Birthday - how is that possible? We have lots of fun stuff planned for Auntie Beth - the waffle maker is fired up (Molly thought waffles for breakfast with fresh fuit and whipped cream was a good idea) It happens to be Molly's favorite so we hope Auntie Beth likes it! Then we have makeovers planned and a dance party and all sorts of other fun stuff - we can't wait!

GNM - ILY!

Peter Westley

Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to let everyone know that although we have had little to report of late it seems as though the doctors and surgeons are hard at work looking for ways to make the surgery easiest on Peter. Originally it seemed as though he would need several teeth out and require implants but, as usual, the hospitals in CT are coming through big for our family. UCONN is working hard to be sure that whatever happens it is the easiest, most successful and least intrusive thing possible for Peter. I am thrilled at all of the talk about reducing recovery time, pain management and quality of life - they are making sure that Peter is the 1st priority and I feel so blessed and at ease! Keep the prayers coming - they are certainly working!

GNM - ILY!

All sorts of little tidbits!

Thanks to Annie's independent nature we are fully entrenched in potty training. I had decided after a few discussions with karla that we would wait for any real potty training until this summer when Katie would need to be potty trained and we would be at the beach alot. Annie had other plans - she has suddenly decided that she is tired of diapers and wants to potty train full time. We spent Friday without diapers or pants most of the day and Ann did a great job. A few weeks ago Auntie Karla brought over some potty treats and big girl underpants - Dora - and so Annie is putting them to good use. Yesterday we had company all day so it was difficult to let Annie run around naked but she did a good job of letting us know when she had to go. On Wednesday Kk was babysitting for a while and found Annie at one point in the babies room going potty all by herself! Yeah, Annie!

So far we are letting Annie do the potty thing at her pace - she tells us when she has to go but we don't make her do it all the time. I figure when we are all home for the summer we can make the real push unless she makes it herself before then. No pressure!I've only done the potty training thing twice and once it was torture and once it was a snap of my fingers - I'll let you guess which of the older kids was a snap! Either way - I forgot all of the techniques!

Yesterday Auntie Randi and Uncle Chris came over with the twins. We had so much fun and it was so relaxing just enjoying each other's company and catching up. Randi and I sent the Dad's outside with the seven kids after lunch so that we could catch up on all the baby/pregnancy news that I have missed thus far. I didn't get a belly picture but Randi looks amazing - so healthy and, yes, glowing! She has a teeny little belly at 22 weeks but I think I felt the little guy move! We can't wait to meet our new little nephew,

Timothy David Booth! He will be blessed to have such loving and kind parents and I hope he comes out ready to play because Nate and Tony never stop playing! We had so much fun!

Tony giving Ellie a high five!

Uncle Bob and Molly loving on Natey before they left. I didn't get the camera out until the kids were leaving and Nate did NOT want to leave so he was not interested in having his picture taken!

Our little urchin!

Uncle Bob and Natey! tony was less excited to get in pictures!

The day before Easter KK came and got Annie and Molly and took them a farm. Annie has been dying to see horses and Kk found a great place in West Hartford to take the girls. Before Kk got to our house Annie refused to do anything - when we asked her to eat breakfast she said "I can't, I'm waiting ofr Kk to go to the farm!" That was her response to everything. This is actually a picture of her getting cleaned off after the farm! Daddy thought that her hair was adorable so he took this pictures! I love when Bob takes pictures!

My girls with the chickens!

Annie looks so cute with her hands in her pocket!

My little beauty!

When Annie looked at this one she said "My friend!"

Annie came home so excited to finally see the horses up close!

I don't know which animal this one is but I do know that Annie came home imitating lots of animal sounds - my favoite was the rooster because she says it differently every time. Molly was, according to KK, a big help and so good with Annie!

The girls having fun with KK.

I love this picture - Molly loves her hat and wanted to look stylin for the farm! Too cute!

The girls had a blast at the farm with Kk and it gave Mommy and Daddy a chance to get some things done before Easter. We are hoping to know what is going to happen with Peter on Monday - the surgeons are consulting on how to remove the mass from his mouth and when to do it. It is a relief to know that it is most likely not malignant but it is still hard not to know what the surgery will entail and when it will happen. I will be really happy when this is behind us and we can all relax. Peter has been amazing - he knows that he has been to many doctor's appointments and that I have been a bit on edge but other than that he just plays and reads and goes to school like nothing is wrong! He is such a good kid and the BEST patient. I know plenty of kids who would not have withstood all the tests and the biopsy without major meltdowns - Pete let them do whatever they wanted, listened and did what they told him to do and never cried or even whimpered when it got painful! He is an absolutely amazing kid! Thanks for all of the prayers - keep them coming!

GNM - ILY!