Goodbye to our Remy!

I had actually written most of this post last night and had to update it this evening with some sad news.  Our pug, Remy, has gone to doggy heaven.  Remy started to go down hill a few weeks ago and we knew at Thanksgiving that our time with him was limited, but he took a turn for the worse yesterday and then today he was so miserable we knew it was time.  I have had Remy for 14 1/2 years and can still remember bringing him home to our apartment our first weekend of living in Chicago.  I had just graduated from college in 2003 and moved to Chicago with Alan.  Remy was a graduation gift from Alan and my first baby.  We lived on the 6th floor of our apartment when we got Remy and potty training in an apartment building was interesting.  He barely made it outside, in fact he usually made it to the elevator and then thought this was his bathroom.  We eventually litterbox trained him (yes I promise he was a dog) and this worked great in our apartment until he decided he wanted to lift his leg to go potty like the other dogs at the dog park.  Then the floor lamp became his bathroom, and for some reason Alan insisted that he learn how to go to the bathroom outside.  He figured it out just in time for us to move back to Minnesota in the winter!  I of course got him booties for his little paws for his first MN winter.  We got Remy a few weeks before Alan's mom, Paula, passed away and he was a wonderful distraction during that difficult time.  He moved all over with us and loved all three of our kiddos.  He was an important part of our family and was with Alan and I through the best and hardest parts of our life together. Unfortunately, when we moved to Connecticut our lease didn't allow for pets so he stayed in Eagan with my parents and brother.  He probably loved that more and got a lot more attention the last few months with them, but I'm sad his last few months were apart from us.  We will miss his snoring, hairy snuggles, and his high maintenance lifestyle:).  We loved our sweet pug.

My mom took pictures of each kid with Remy at Thanksgiving

It's hard to transition into much else after that, but we have been having a great couple of weeks getting ready for and enjoying the holiday season.  We were in Minnesota for about 10 days over Thanksgiving.  It got off to a rocky start when I left my phone at the airport, right after reprimanding Charlie for leaving our iPad in the car. Sorry, buddy!  Luckily someone found it and turned it in and Alan was able to get it for me when he was back in CT for work that week.  It made for an interesting few days being phone-less when I was trying to make plans with everyone back home.  We made it work, but I don't have a ton of pictures because of this.  Our first day home the kids played with their neighbor friends from the moment they were up until the minute they went to bed.  We had really missed our neighbors and it was great to reconnect with everyone.  I had my parents around so I pretty much took a PTO week and enjoyed shopping by myself, meeting up with my friends in the evenings, and sleeping in most morning.  It was wonderful!  The kids were also really excited that we were able to celebrate their cousin's 3rd birthday while we were in town!  We got see a lot of friends and family that week and it was pretty difficult to think about coming back to Connecticut at the end of the week.  It had been 4 months since we had been home and you sort of forget what it feels like to have a village.  We definitely missed it.  But, unexpectedly, when we got back to West Hartford it felt good to be "home" and get settled back into our routine.  We also knew that we would be back to MN in a few weeks for Christmas.

Celebrating Michael's 3rd Birthday

Back in West Hartford the weekend after Thanksgiving Grandma and Grandpa Elder came out to visit and watch the kids.  The first night they were in town we went the center for the Holiday Stroll.  The kids got a chance to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Jack, who has never asked for a specific present for any birthday or holiday in his 4 1/2 years is now asking Santa for a drum set.  Seriously?  A drum set?  Wish us luck on that.  Who does Santa disappoint?  Jack or his parents?  Alan and I actually headed back to Minnesota for about 30 hours for Alan's holiday party for work.  This is always a highlight of the holiday season and we had a great time, too much fun based on how I was feeling Sunday morning.  Back in West Hartford, Grandma and Grandpa were running the kids all over for hockey, basketball, and birthday parties!  The kids loved having them here and they were sad when they left after the long weekend here.  We really appreciated having them come all the way out here so that we could make it to the holiday party!

Santa and Mrs. Claus

PNA Holiday Party @ The Varsity

This last weekend we got our first snowfall in Connecticut!  The kids loved every minute of it.  They spent most of the day Saturday and Sunday outside playing in the snow.  We also made our annual gingerbread house.  It was a total failure this year, but the kids didn't care and decorated our masterpiece just the same.  On Sunday we took the kids on the North Pole Express Train ride.  We went with a couple of friends from Charlie's class and their parents.  We went to the North Pole, picked up Santa and Mrs. Claus, had a dance party, and got to have hot chocolate and cookies, all while in our comfy pajamas.  The kids loved it and having the snow made it even more magical.  They have something similar back in MN, but we had never done it before.  It is fun when you can find an activity that is great for all the kids to enjoy.

#gingerbreadfail

Our first snowfall

Playing in the snow

Waiting to head to the North Pole

Mrs. Claus

Kaylee's face when she tried the hot chocolate that was too hot

Santa!

In between all of this we have been busy with hockey, basketball, boy scouts and getting ready for the holidays.  We went and got our Christmas tree a few weeks ago.  We got a small one this year since we won't actually be here for Christmas and most of our gifts have been sent to Minnesota.  We also don't have a ton of Christmas decorations put up this year, because I didn't bring any out to Connecticut with us.  We left them in Minnesota so that my parents could decorate our house for when we came home.  While this seemed like a good plan in theory, I am missing all the decorations around the house.  I went and bought a few, but not a lot. We are finding it to be an adjustment with living in one place, but celebrating in another place and how to manage all of that this year.  We have had to travel in other years, but never so far away and figuring out Santa's logistics has caused some silly issues as well.  The kids are really concerned with how Santa will be getting to them this year.  Will they bring everything to Minnesota?  How will we get it home?  Will Santa remember that we won't be in Connecticut?  What if our alarm is set, how does Santa get in?  Soooo many questions!  If we decide to stay in Connecticut we will likely try and spend part of the Christmas holiday here so we can wake up in our own beds on Christmas morning.  This year is unique, because we have our home in Eagan, so while we are traveling the kids will still get to wake up in their own beds on Christmas morning.  We can't wait to get home and be with our family for the holidays and our countdown is on!

Picking out our Christmas Tree

Thanks for reading the blog and for caring about our family.  We feel really lucky to have such a great support system even though many of you are so far away.  We are starting to make some really great connections and friendships out here in Connecticut too, which we are so grateful for.  I love this time of the year and we are trying to make some new memories here in Connecticut.  We definitely miss being home surrounded by family and friends during this time of year, but we are finding that we are able to make our own new traditions with our kiddos and that has been fun for everyone!  We hope everyone has a great holiday and we hope to see many of you while we are home in a few weeks!  A special thanks to my parents and brother who had to take Remy to the vet today and be there with him at the end.  It was a sad day and hard to be 1300 miles away from him, but we are thankful he was in such good hands.  He will be missed. 

XOXO

Heading Home for Thanksgiving!

We are getting ready to head home to Minnesota in one week!!  We haven't been home in 4 months and to say we are excited would be a giant understatement.  I am most excited to drive thru a Caribou Coffee first thing Saturday morning...followed closely by getting to see our family and friends!  We are flying in next Friday and staying until the following Sunday, so we will be able to get a fun filled week in!  We can't wait to get back to our house in Minnesota and Kaylee is most excited to see Remy!  She asks to see him every time we FaceTime with my parents.  The boys can't wait to meet up with their friends!  Charlie and Jack have a countdown going and when it hit single digits this week they were both ecstatic. 

A few days after I wrote the last blog we headed to Las Vegas to meet up with some of friends.  We were so excited to see them again and had a great time!  The girls even got to go to Britney Spears one of the nights which was pretty amazing.  We really miss our neighbors and community back in Eagan, but we are so glad that even if we are states away we could all get together like no time had passed.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas

We had a great Halloween weekend and night this year!  We even got to see uncle Joe!  He was in the Boston area for a Patriots game and so we met him for dinner in a town between his hotel and our home.  It was great to see him!  For Halloween the kids dressed up as a Lego Ninjago (Charlie), Jack Sparrow (Jack), and a League of Their Own Star by day and a puffy Unicorn by night (Kaylee).  The moms club that I am in puts on a Halloween Stroll in town and the people that volunteer to run are amazing.  It is quite the event and I think I read that over 5,000 people came this year.  The kids get to trick or treat through West Hartford Center and Blue Back Square and also they have other little activities set up for them.  On Halloween night we went trick or treating with one of Charlie's friends from school.  They had a lot of fun and were already asking the next day how long until Halloween again!   We have also been hitting up a lot of the fall activities in the area.  I get to take Jack and Kaylee during the week and have had some fun visiting different farms and orchards.  We were able to get in one on a weekend so Dad and Charlie could join!  

Halloween

Halloween Stroll

Halloween Stroll

Belltown Orchard Hayride

Belltown Orchard

One day a few weeks ago when we were walking Charlie to school we were walking by our neighbors house (across the street) and we saw a large black bear just lounging under a tree.  I pretty much lost my mind, thankfully the big guy never moved and we just quietly made our way by him and on our way.  One of the first weeks that I was here while out with some people I had been told about all the bear sighting around town and would also see posts on the local Facebook page about sighting near us, but to actually see one with your kids was pretty crazy!  The picture below was all I could get, but he is laying under the tree.  By the time we came by again he was gone so I couldn't get a better one. 

Bear!

Charlie continues to love school and is keeping busy with quite a few activities outside of class.  Hockey is definitely the biggest time commitment for us.  He is now at an age level where he actually gets to play real games with refs, which according to Charlie is a big deal!  In his first game Charlie scored 3 goals!  He was pretty excited and even more excited than Charlie was his dad!  Alan even started uploading all his videos of C on YouTube!  They have a lot of fun going to hockey all weekend together.  Last weekend Charlie had his second game and scored 4 of his teams 6 goals.  Other than hockey Charlie is also going to classes at church getting ready for his First Holy Eucharist next year when he is in second grade.  Charlie is having fun with Cub Scouts and has been enjoying the activities he gets to do with his pack including a hike to Heublein Tower.  He has an overnight at a museum coming up and it happens to be when Alan and I are out of town.  So Grandpa Elder is the lucky guy that gets to take him!  Last week we also started basketball!  He has a couple of friends from his class on his team.  It's just a Saturday morning practice and then a 30 minute game at the end.  He even scored a basket in the game.  Charlie is really adjusting well and making some great friends.  We have conferences next week and are excited to go visit his classroom and chat with his teacher.  Oh, we also got Charlie's 1st grade pictures back!  We love them, but seriously why does my baby look like a 10 year old?

First Grade!  

Hockey Man

Heublein Tower

First Basketball Game

Jack is also keeping busy and enjoying preschool.  He has made a good little group of friends in his class.  One of his friends has a brother that plays hockey with Charlie, so Jack and his friend get to play together while the big brothers play hockey.  Jack also started basketball last weekend and he is on a team of 3 and 4 year olds.  This might be the cutest thing ever.  Watching the little girls and boys dribbling and putting their hands up to play defense is so cute. And the parents that are willing to coach these little kids at this age...I mean they are amazing.  It was really fun to watch them.  Jack was pretty excited to have us all on the sidelines cheering him on.  Jack is also doing a class at the library once a week and really enjoys it. 

Flamig Farm

Baksetball

Kaylee is our little trooper and is just happy to tag along to all of her brothers' activities.  West Hartford has the cute little place called, My Gym, where kids can take age based classes.  Kaylee does a little class on Friday mornings and is absolutely loving it!  She tries to tell Alan about it when he gets home and asks to watch videos of her doing the gym activities when we get home.  Her favorites are the swings and the ball pit.  We also do a little class with her at the library.  I know I have mentioned it before, but West Hartford has so many great options for things to do with kids.  We are trying to take full advantage of what they offer.

Ball Pit @ My Gym

My Gym

Flamig Farm

Our where to call home dilemma is still very much that...a dilemma.  We have continued to house hunt and have even found a house that we really like here in West Hartford.  Charlie would also get to keep going to his same school.  We obviously aren't ready to take any steps at this point.  Our MN realtor is coming over while we are home over Thanksgiving to talk through our plan if we do decide to put the house on the market late winter/early spring.  We continue have regular check-ins with each other and the kids, and honestly depending on the day and sometimes even the hour our vote on where to live changes.  Although Jack doesn't sway his vote, EVER.  It is always Minnesota.  :)  While Alan still hasn't traveled over night more than 2 nights in the 4 months we have been here, he is slowly starting to end up in NYC more often than we initially thought.  So he is missing evenings with the kids now, but is usually home to put them to bed.  So the work life balance is much better, but some days/weeks can still be a struggle.  We are really looking forward to being home a couple of times in the next two months and hopefully helping us gain some more perspective on our next step.  We know that we can't make a bad choice, but making the best choice is is a little harder than we would have thought.

As we settle more and more into a routine I am feeling like this blog is starting to get a little repetitious!  I am going to work on that, but with hockey season upon us it is harder to do much exploring and traveling.  As always, thank you for reading the blog!

See some of you in one week!!!  YAY!!!

XOXO

Connecticut or Minnesota? That is the question.

Hey there, October!  It's been a while since my last update and we are really settling into our life in Connecticut.  Fall in New England is wonderful and reminds me so much of home.  Except no Caribou Coffee 😥!  Also, they have very few drive thru coffee places around here.  I really miss those!  But, I have cut down on the fancy coffee stops as it's just not quite as convenient or relaxing when you have to go in with two kids that won't sit still.  But, other than this  minor inconvenience we couldn't love the fall weather and leaves changing more.  There are more apple orchard, fall festivals, pumpkin patches than you could ever have time to visit.  We have stopped at a few and have a few more visits on our list for the rest of October.   We haven't done as much exploring and trip taking as previous blog posts, which is probably why it has taken me so long to write!

Getting ready for Fall

Last time I updated the blog we had just gotten back from a quick trip to New York City with the kids.  Since then Charlie has adjusted so well to school, new friends, and joining in!  He has made some really nice friends and we are so grateful for the frequent check ins from his teacher and principal to make sure he is doing well.  I will never be able to express how much we love his new school and the teachers that have made the transition so easy and welcoming.  Charlie also officially started hockey last weekend.  So there goes our weekends for the next 6 months!  Ha, Alan and Charlie love it so much so it's worth it, even the 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday practices.  Charlie also decided he wanted to join Cub Scouts this year.  So that started a few weeks ago and he is loving that as well.  One of his best friends in his class is doing it too, so that has made it even more fun.  Charlie also somehow talked me into signing him up for basketball one day a week at the YMCA.  Two buddies from school are doing it so he wanted to try it too.  That starts in a few weeks and should make for some interesting Saturday mornings. 

Cub Scout

Charlie had a birthday at the end of September!  SEVEN!!  We had a great weekend celebrating him and my mom even made a surprise visit to help him celebrate.  Alan and I took the boys for a train ride in Essex, CT for a birthday surprise.  They both loved it and it was fun to try something new.  The train takes you on about an hour long ride and you then get off and take an hour long boat ride along the Connecticut River.  We also found a great peanut free bakery out here that made Charlie some fun Lego cupcakes.  The kids really love having our family visit and we have been really lucky with how often both of our families have been able to make the trip.   

Getting ready for a train ride

All aboard!

After the train ride we took a boat ride with the boys along the Connecticut River

Stealing a cupcake before I could get a picture of them all!

Jack is also really adjusting well and is loving his preschool.  He has made some sweet preschool friends and has been invited to a few birthday parties too!  He had the choice to play hockey this year and decided he didn't want to yet, but he did want to try basketball.  So he is also going to be doing the YMCA Saturday morning basketball.  Jack still has a hard time when Grandma and Grandpa visit or call.  He gets upset and really wants to head back to Minnesota on those days.  So, we try to work through it with him, but mainly we just let him be sad, because we are all sad some days.  Most of the time Jack is the same sweet big brother!  Jack and Kaylee spend so much time together and have a cute little bond.  

Jack helping her with her art project

Snuggling in bed while mom gets ready

Our littlest love is growing by the minute!  She definitely keeps us on our toes and gets more fun every day.  It has been nice to get a few mornings a week with just her and we have tried to enjoy all this nice weather we have been having.  We have hit up a few apple orchards and pumpkin patches.  The biggest news for Kaylee is that she has been asked to be a flower girl in Alan's cousin's wedding next fall.  We are so excited for the wedding and for Kaylee to get to be a part of it!

Hard to read, but shirt says Flower Girl!

Foster Farm Fun

Chickens

Time with my favorite girl

Fun at the park

Grandma and Grandpa Elder surprised the kids and flew out for a long weekend last week.  Alan and I were able to sneak away to New York City for the night to see some friends that were there for the weekend.  We had so much fun and had the best food for dinner at Stanton Social.  We spent the entire night in the Lower East Side, which I had never really been, but loved!  We stayed in the tiniest hotel I had ever seen, with a great view and right in the middle of all the places were were going to visit.  We hit up quite a few bars that were all different and even waited in line for way too long to get up into a rooftop bar.  My friend told the bouncer we had 6 kids between the two of us and REALLY needed this night out.  He must have felt sorry for us, because he let us jump the line and get right in!  :)  Alan takes the train almost every week or even a couple of times a week into NYC, but this was my first time taking it.  It was so nice and relaxing to just hang out and possibly even sleep off a hangover.  It was our first night away since we moved here and it was just what we needed.  Grandma and Grandpa kept the kids super busy with fun projects and a trip to the Science Center and then the next day to a pumpkin patch.  The days after our families leave we all have a hard time realizing we won't see them for weeks/months especially when you know you won't see them until Thanksgiving!

View from our hotel room

Our entire room! Bed surrounded by windows.  

Rooftop Bar, Mr. Purple

Pumpkin Patch with Grandma and Grandpa

We are all finding our groove out here in CT and we are enjoying getting to know new people.  I have been spending time with my moms group and have had fun meeting them.  I have made it to a moms night out where we made signs (picture below) and even hosted book club at my house last week.  Whether or not I want to admit it, life is really starting to feel "normal".  Before we moved to West Hartford we had given ourselves an arbitrary date in January to come to a decision on if we would stay in Connecticut or head back to Minnesota.  That date is slowly closing in on us and I can say that we are already struggling with our decision for our families next step.  We talk about it often and pretty much just talk in circles.  We really LOVE West Hartford and the people and schools here and I think we are all surprised by how much and how quickly it happened.  One thing Connecticut will never have is our family and MN friends, but it has everything else and we have really found ourselves feeling like we belong here. We know nothing major will happen to sway the scale one way or the other in the next few months so we will continue to make lists and hope the decision becomes clearer as time goes on.  We have started going to open houses and looking at a few houses out here just so we know what we can get in our price range and preferably in the school district that we are currently in.  They do not do any type of open enrollment here, so wherever you pay taxes is where you go to school, so looking for houses can be very limiting when you focus on just one school.   Should be an exciting/stressful next few months and hoping for some clarity on what is best for all of us!  

Moms Night Out Project

That is a little bit about what we have been up to the last 5 or 6 weeks since I last wrote.  Alan still works long hours here and spends some evenings on the train back from New York City, but since we moved here in July he has only been gone one night!  No matter where we land we all know being out here right now has been a great decision.  I can see the difference in all of us from just a  year ago when Alan was only home on weekends.  We also really appreciate our family and friends that regularly reach out to us with texts, calls/FaceTime, emails, Facebook posts, etc. It makes the move and adjustment much easier!   Next week my parents are coming out to stay with the kids while Alan and I head to Vegas with some of our MN friends!  We can't wait to see them all!

Cheers!!  (The wine is mine)

As always, thanks for reading the blog and joining me on my emotional roller-coaster:)

XOXO