Lights Out

The start of the snow-the boys were excited

Landon, Hayden and Wyatt-Let it Snow!

The Boys making a "lemonade stand"

The next morning with snow

Vivs waiting at Mc & D's-hot breakfast!!!

The boys climbing to the top at the Children's Museum

At Nashua Mall sending time together

On Saturday, October 29, 2011, the snow started to fall about early afternoon. Yes, snow in October and not even in Minnesota! We had our friends Chris and Shawna (and kids) over for dinner and socializing! We has a great time with pasta and wine-Shawna found a red she finally loves (Thanks Opollo). After dinner, the kids continued to make their "lemonade stand" and we were about to set the kids up with a movie. Then at about 7:30pm, the power went out. Ronnie and I were very unprepared to say the least. Thank goodness, for our friends. We continued the night with dessert by candlelight and called it a night a couple hours later. A great mystery of the night was 20 minutes after the kids went to bed, a police officer came to the door saying that someone called 9-1-1. We are still trying to figure that out since the kids were in bed at the time of the call. We put on an extra blanket and toughed it out for that night in our cold house, but we would have NEVER predicted when our power actually came back on.
The next morning, there was NO WAY we were going to stay in a cold house all day, so we headed to Boston. There were so many trees down and it was much too early in the season to enjoy how beautiful the snow was. We stopped for breakfast at Mc Donald's in Lowell, MA and the drive thru and the inside was packed!!! We must have waited for 20 plus minutes. Many people had the same idea we did. We had a great day at the Children's Museum in Boston and then the FANTASTIC mall in Burlington, MA. When we decided that the power wasn't going to be on, we decided to find a hotel. There was NOTHING available within a 45 minute radius on Nashua, NH. So we jetted home to pack for the night-in the dark- and headed back to Boston to stay for the night. We heard rumors that it could take another week and that was going to get expensive quick. Thankfully, Ronnie's co-worker offered his home for all of us for however long we needed in Manchester, NH. What a great family and so generous to accommodate 5 other people.  Hayden didn't have school most of the week and Wyatt's school opened up on Tuesday. The YMCA was open, but after an hour of the kids being there, they begged to leave(which NEVER happens). It was so busy and people were lined up to take showers, since many, many people were without power also. Some neighbors toughed it out and had their fireplace going to warm the house and many had other friends or family to stay with. There was even a shelter at the high school for people that weren't as lucky. It was crazy! Halloween was postponed until the following Sunday. The kids were bummed, but it is a good thing there are wonderful family to send goodies! Thursday, I decided to cook dinner and just got done grocery shopping, when I got the call....OUR POWER WAS BACK ON!!!! Ronnie decided to go straight home from work to clean and have the house ready for us (LOVE IT!) I decided to ffed the kids before we went home, since it took about 25 minutes from Manchester to Nashua. We all were so excited! The boys couldn't wait to sleep in their beds and play with their friends! 5 days we were without power and unable to live in our home, our home. It made me realize how we could be a thousand miles from Minnesota and we have made a place we call home and that we miss when we can't be here. It feels good and we are so lucky to be together. It is just always a new adventure here.

Adjusting to New England

Wyatt, Hayden, Landon and Ronny having apple cider

At Parlee Apple Farm- The brothers just love their sister!

At Parlee Apple Farm-Picking out a pumpkin

Jonas and Hayden on a field trip to Parlee Farm

Hanging out in Boston

Wyatt and Ronny in their famous Spiderman costumes

If we can't be in Minnesota, this is seriously the next best place for us. New Hampshire is just BEAUTIFUL right now with all the foliage! Everything is so close also to explore! The people here are so very wonderful and we already have great friends! We have a couple neighbors that are just great and that we trust 100%! The boys' schools are going well and they both have great friends! 

Ronnie loves his recruiting station in Lowell, MA. The guys are really cool and their hours are better than Minnesota. There has been a working Saturday and a couple 6-7 pm nights, but not too bad. I am excited to meet them in the next couple weeks for a wine night at our home!

I am well. I am trying to adjust being a stay at home mom. It is emotionally hard to adjust to not having another income. I am not talking about the material side, I am talking about working so hard during the day and NOT getting paid. Also, not being able to contribute financially is really hard to get used to. We are adjusting just like everything else. The kids are growing into great kids and I feel like I am a better mom, since I can give them more attention. I still have my moments, but I am so thankful for my parenting class I decided to take to meet other moms. "When Your Kids Push Your Buttons" is the name of the class. I love it because it teaches me to connect with my kids instead of just giving me coping mechanisms to deal with my kids. I feel like I am heading in the right direction to the kind of parent I always hoped to be, but I know it always will be a work in progress though. 

I also work out at the YMCA 5 days a week. I am hoping more for a lifestyle change rather than just a goal in mind. I am pretty happy to have lost 11 pounds so far! I have been really hard on myself the last couple weeks because I have been sick off and on and also keep pulling a muscle in my back.  are great days, but there are bad days also, where we really miss our Minnesota! I wanted to write a quick (BROAD) update to start somewhere, so I can get back in the habit of writing in our blog.  Take care-hope you are all well ;-)

Our home in Minnesota....

I just found this entry from last year. It makes me sad to know that the person that bought our MN house is now renting it out as an investment property:-( I know someday we will find our perfect house...

September 2011: So it has been 25 days since we have left Minnesota and our lives definitely are different. First of all, we traveled half way across the nation and saw fantastic places! August 26, 2011 we left Minnesota and headed to Chicago, Illinois. We walked around our Minnesota house one last time and it was sad. It is surreal that our first home that Ronnie and I bought together and all three of our children were born in, is just a memory now. The home we enjoyed to entertain and have our dear friends and family over while the delicious scents of Ronnie's cooking coming from the kitchen. Someone else is going to buy it and hopefully have the same love for that house.

Heading East!

I thought that I have written something about our NEWS, but I haven't! Where does the time go? We got for sure news in June that the Army was moving Ronnie (and us) to Lowell, MA in September. This has been an ongoing, up in the air possibility since about March. The Army is moving and shuffling around everyone! I believe after we leave there will be 1-2 people left from the crew in Ronnie's office/area. We have no clue when we would come back to MN. We will be away for at least 3 years and Ronnie can retire in 13 years from the Army. Quite a range, but very exciting!
"I am now a women of leisure" I like to say that because I wish it were true! I closed down my daycare in July and it was first hard thing I had to do through all of this experience! I will be home chauffeuring the boys to and from their schools and enjoying the time off to figure out what I want to be "when I grow up." I barely remember the month of July...what month is it? The first week of July, we took Ronnie's sister, Rebecca, to Harry Potter World. Very fun! No matter what age you are, Disney World is the best place on earth! There are musicals in the streets and everyone is on a sugar high! What a great vacation! NO, we did NOT bring the kids! We are going to hear about that in the years to come!
The last week in July, my Aunt Kathy and I went to Massachusetts to scope out a new place to move my family. Lowell is an old Mill City and is a little run down, but has personality! However, its not a place to live and their schools aren't great! So, I had my heart set on living just outside or Lowell and the places we looked at were SCARY in our price point! There were 3 bedroom single family homes for rent there for $1800-$2000 per month that would be probably $1000 or less per month here! They were scary and I was so overwhelmed and felt like our life was not going to be the positive and wonderful experience I hoped for. I was scared and pessimistic to say the least, my first night there. My realtor in MA (yes you HAVE to have a realtor on the east coast to find a rental) told me if I raised my price point to $2400-$2600 per month that we could find a decent place-YIKES!  The next day, we went with my New Hampshire realtor and found MORE hopeful properties- I actually had choices! We found a condo where I didn't feel like I was compromising as much and it was in the school I wanted to send the boys to! I feel that everything is falling into place now. I can go into more detail about this trip, but that is for another blog ;-)
We have been back and forth on what to do with our home. We started fixing up the house to get it ready to rent and then Ronnie and I had a logical conversation about how we imagined this experience and our lives to be like. Travel was a really BIG agreement, whether we come home often or travel that region of the country. If we rented our home, we would still be paying a difference of $500+ per month and that would limit what we value these days. We decided to sell. It has been an emotional decision, but our lives are going to be great and closer to what we dreamed of our lives being like. A house is just a house, you can't bring it with you when you leave this world. I could write a whole blog on just his topic alone too.
It is a couple weeks out until we leave good 'ol MN and the countdown is on. Emotional roller coater is about to start......stay tuned!

17 Again....

These are from my 10 year high school reunion in June 2009! It is great to know that no matter how old we get, a day hasn't went by. Being a mother with a world of responsibility, I forget what it was like before children and jobs. We were careless and free to learn and make mistakes.When I was 17 years old, I looked at people my age now and really thought they had it together. Even my parents, I looked up to them and they seemed to have it all together. In all reality, we are always learning at any age. I don't think we will ever have ourselves together like we think we should. I remember why I had this draft saved and originally started....I watched "17 Again with Zac Efron and it's about a guy whose life didn't quite turn out how he wanted it to and wishes he could go back to high school and change it. He wakes up one day and is seventeen again and gets the chance to rewrite his life. Turns out that he realizes that his wife was the best decision he ever made, even if he didn't get the sports scholarship he wanted and blamed her for years for it. It is amazing because people shouldn't don't things for granted and everything happens for a reason. I truly believe that one can't live in a life of regret because life isn't the movies and you can't change the past. Live in the present and try to learn for the future. As much as I ponder,(like the movies) what life would have been like if I took the other forks in my road, I wouldn't want to change anything. I just wouldn't. I have 3 beautiful children, a beautiful roof over our head, a husband who works hard to provide and love...blessing with no regret! ~Sorry, I am in one of those moods~ ha-ha

The Waiting Game

I also found this entry also never published....interesting.

Spring 2011: So Ronnie and I have been waiting for some news....we found out a week or so ago that we are moving out of state! We will find out in the next week or so, where we are going. It is highly stressful! We researched areas the best we could and requested places to go based on quality of area and education. I am a public school girl, so private school is last resort. We requested to go to the New England/New York area of the United States. Even though it is far from our family and friends, it has the best opportunities for Ronnie to get promoted and even if Ronnie gets stuck in station where the area stinks, we still can live in a decent neighborhood with great schools within a 20 minute drive since everything is so close together. It makes me sad that we are going to effect so many people by leaving, let alone, that we will not know a single soul! It hasn't hit me yet because I think I keep praying it may not happen. On the other hand and on a positive side, how exciting! A whole new adventure with just us. I am sure there will trial and error, but it may be great to connect even deeper as an immediate family. That area of the USA is historical and beautiful! At this point, I really want to keep the house because we would loose too much money on it and I love our home. We are going to try renting it out and hopefully we will have a home to come back to. I am looking at it as an investment. Where we are going, we will be renting, so storage will be even more minimal. Bye~bye hoarding Clare! ha ha Keep an eye out for a mega yard sale this summer! What else?....too much to think about...