This one is a character.

I will let the pictures do the talking.

This definitely describes her and all toddlers quite well. 

Sometimes she even goes quiet. 

Super Bowl Monday

Super Bowl Monday was a snow day for us. As was Super Bowl Monday last year. What a crazy coincidence. Katherine, Cora and I enjoyed some outside time - sledding in our backyard, attempting to build a snow person, made some snow castles, snow angels, and Cora was able to enjoy what she loves most of all - eating the snow. She knows to only eat white snow.

Katherine is a great big sister - playing with Cora in the snow. 

C doesn't look comfortable but she is. 

Art Work

Katherine's class had a recent art project on display at school. 

Monkey turned 7!

Back in February - our Monkey turned 7. Not sure how that happened but it did.

We started the day with cinnamon rolls, traveled to Noodles for lunch as well as Ben and Jerry's ice cream, stopped in at Barnes and Noble (a favorite of ours but not close by), found a place to jump around near Hartford, and then came home for pancakes, applesauce cake and presents. She enjoyed her day a lot! Plus, she had no school on her birthday and Daddy came home at lunch time to enjoy the afternoon fun with us and he makes the best pancakes. :-) Happy Birthday Katherine! We love you lots.

Leap Day. An extra day of fun!

Cora and I decided to take advantage of the 51 degrees already by 9/10am on this past Leap Day and head to the Mystic Aquarium. Cora loves to see the beluga whales, the sea lions, the penguins, the jellyfish, and the seals just to name to most popular. We had a great morning for this adventure. Juno, one of the beluga whales was very entertaining. Two of the sea lions were playing around and even the penguins were swimming! We saw the sea lion show which Cora actually listened and sat through. Luckily they kept it short.

After our aquarium fun we went to Mystic Pizza for lunch. Cora will tell you I had pizza and she drank milk. Since Drawbridge ice cream was just a short walk away - we decided to end the day with ice cream. Cora proceeded to finish the entire small bowl of chocolate soft serve (it sure doesn't taste like WI soft serve but she enjoyed it). Luckily for me there are lots of hard ice cream flavors at Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream - one of our favorite ice cream spots.

The end of 2015

We are less than 2 hours away from 2016 here on the East Coast. Been thinking about resolutions a bit tonight...not sure I have any definite yet. I have ideas. Ideas are always good. Not sure how well I will stay on track. All you have to do is look at my blogging record to see I am not so good at sticking with things lately. Three kids. That is my excuse this year. Three growing girls - all in a different stage have led me to feel many different ways. But mostly this year I felt very unorganized even though I was trying to gain a little bit of organization back - I don't think I made it very far.

I think my overall feeling for this year was better than last. The girls are happy, most of the time. I feel good about the friends I have made and slowly we continue to meet some more people. It's different meeting people as adults...you think you might mesh but than you aren't really sure...it takes time. There's still more organizing and decorating of our house to do. Ethan still works a lot. Lately I am realizing more and more this parenting gig is hard work, especially as they grow older. It's exhausting too.

Life is moving forward fairly fast these days, weeks, months...perhaps that is another reason I can't stay on top of the blog. Plus, I am exhausted by the end of the day. Cora keeps me on my toes, and boy is she a character. Each of the girls has their own personality. I thought Katherine's was unique but Cora is a whole new ballgame. Stubborn, Persistent, Independent, Funny, Smart...here's an example of Cora...she's playing with her lunch. I tell her it's not funny what she is doing. Her response without missing a beat - "it's a little bit funny." We are so in trouble with this little girl. :-)

We had highlights this year of 2 weeks in Wisconsin this summer, a trip to a water park in April, I surprised a friend in September, visits from my Aunts this summer, a trip home to Wisconsin for a wedding reception in October - with the chance to see lots of family. Thanksgiving and Christmas found us staying in Connecticut and trying to start our own traditions. I am not sure anything in particular was started yet but in time. We did go to the beach on Christmas day because it was so warm and the girls put their feet in the water. I can't stay that will become tradition considering this was a warmer December, than most, I would imagine.

Not sure what 2016 has in store for us - although we will start it with a bang and accomplish a new running feat of 39.3 miles in one weekend when we complete The Goofy Challenge in a little over a week. We've been secretly training for this since the summer. The girls just found out on Christmas about this surprise trip to WDW. Cora can't wait to go on the plane! She has no idea what she's about to see but just get her on the plane. :-)

We can't wait to go and start 2016 with some family fun in the most magical place on Earth!

 Happy New Year! Wishing you a joyous and blessed 2016.

Christmas Morning. I can hardly believe they are all smiling and looking! 

This picture is Christmas Eve after Mass. I love this picture! 

Running, soccer, cross country,

Emma participated in cross country this year for middle school. I think she enjoyed it. I know Mom really enjoyed watching Emma and her teammates and reliving her CC days even though I didn't run middle school cross country - was there such a thing then?
Emma also had soccer this fall. Katherine was a running machine this fall and for a school jog a thon ran 6.2 miles around a track. She just kept going. Amazing!
Both girls participated in their first 5k as well. Another very proud Mom and Dad moment. I ran with Katherine, and Emma ended up running with a friend of mine. Dad and Cora were spectators for this one. They both did great!

 After shots of their first 5K. We live in a beautiful area. 

 Emma at a CC meet. 

 At the jog a thon! So many people were impressed. 

 Emma playing soccer. 

 Emma and some of her CC friends plus some siblings. 

 Emma seemed a little less timid this season with soccer and going against another player. She seems to also enjoy playing goalie.