Winner! Winner! Winner!

We moved to NY in October and thought that home buying wouldn't be too bad. We were wrong. It has been a very long process and have really tested us in many ways. Before we moved out here Dave found a home online that he thought would be the home for us. When we got here the home had disappeared online after being there for 300 days. It had been sold.

Oh well, on to the next batch of homes we were interested in. The problem with online searching is you don't know which home are under contract, which homes smells like smoke, which homes have no back yards, which homes have been torn to pieces in 4 years, etc, etc, etc... Every Saturday we would load up all three kids and go to 5-10 homes. We decided on a home that was at the top of our budget but in the area we liked and had an amazing back yard. Just as Dave and I were ready to make an offer, we found someone put in an offer and the offer was accepted. This house had been on the market for 130 days. What the heck!!! Then we spread our search into new areas. After looking at many more homes and falling in love with a home that was in short sell, we did not have time for this, we found a home and we are under contract to move in on Jan. 15. YEAH! No more hauling 3 kids to look at homes, 45 minutes from where we live now.

Our new home is located in New Milford, CT. We decided to move to CT because of lower home taxes and it is beautiful. We decided against NJ because of the taxes and the commute Dave would have to work (it would be horrible having to come through NYC area and go over bridges). NY taxes were way to high and we could not find many homes in our price range that we liked.

Here it is! Everyone is welcome to come and stay anytime. We would love visitors!

Christmas Time!

After we were not successful in finding a house to move into before Christmas, I was pretty sad about being in this apartment. The more I look at it the more I realize that it is a fun experience and one we won't have often. I am sad we don't have any of our decorations, they are in storage. Mainly I miss our stockings and my nativity scene but we will survive. Dave's mom provided some decorations to make our apartment festive. We love our 2 ft tree and "sweet" ornaments.

Merry Christmas!

Meet Sticks!

An Elf has flown in from the North Pole to stay with us and watch over the children for the holiday season. He watches to see if they are naughty or nice. Then he flies back to the North Pole everynight and reports. Each morning Taylor has to find where he is hiding. It has been so fun to have Sticks in our home. Taylor loves talking to him and being nice so Sticks will report nice things to Santa.

P.S. We had to name our elf and Taylr wanted to name the elf Kassidy (our cute cousins name, whom Taylor loves and misses). I said "that is a good name we will see if that sticks." The next thing I know he is calling the elf Sticks and that is what stuck.

Giving Thanks!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Bramhall home in New Jersey this year. It was the first time we actually made our driving trip from White Plains, NY to Mt. Laurel, NJ in 2 hours. We left at 9pm and the drive was great, I wish it would go that smooth every time. Anyway, Dave's mom did a great job cooking and everything tasted great. We are so grateful for Dave's parents putting everything together.

Friday we did a little bit of shopping and then partied at a friend's open house. They had dinner and dancing and we danced all night. Taylor got to come with us and he loved the music. He danced and danced and danced. I can not believe the energy he had, he wore me down.

Here are some pictures of the fun crafts we had done over the past couple weeks to talk about Thanksgiving and the many, many things we are grateful for.

Sara, thanks for the oreo turkey idea we had so much fun making them :)

1st Family Trip to NYC

Last Sunday the weather was nice and we decided to take on NYC as a family. We thought it would be so much fun to go to Central Park and enjoys its beauty. Dave got to have the adventure and experience of driving downtown NYC and trying to find parking (all while the babies screamed in the back seat) :) After noticing that no parking spots were available on the street and that no one ever left those spots we pulled into underground parking to find out it was $37/hr to park - NO THANK YOU. Then we drove up and down a few streets and finally found a parking lot that was somewhat of a decent price.

Taylor brought his motorcycle along, which has been a saving grace since we moved, he loves that and rides it everywhere (Thanks to the Staheli Family). We found a couple of fun playgrounds and just enjoyed riding/walking around. It is so beautiful there and so relaxing. It was such a fun family night. The twins were great after we got out of the car and Taylor had so much fun, so much fun that he couldn't make it to the bathroom in time :) After we left Central Park we drove down to Times Square, amazing!

That was our first family experience in NYC. I am sure there will be more to come. Although we are most likely moving to Connecticut about an hour away. We will have to share our home hunting experience sometime. It has not been an easy.

Taylor and the Turkey

Taylor saw a picture of a turkey cooked and on a plate, looking yummy for Thanksgiving

Taylor: "What's that?"
Mom: "A turkey"
Taylor: "It's down"
Mom: "I guess that you could say he is down"
Taylor: "Who downed him?"
Mom: "The butcher"
Taylor: "He died him?"
Mom: "Yup he died him"
Taylor: "Ooooooo"

Yummy Rice Cereal

The twins got to finally start eating solid food. I have put it off because I just was not ready for the mess. Drew was very ready to eat and Lana was just starting to show signs of interest and it it is the same way with their first bites. Drew ate and Lana wasn't sure about the food.

They have been great but a little backed up with eating the solid food and that causes other problems. The twins just have not been sleeping well since we moved. I know the 2 hour time change caused a problem then with daylight savings and starting solid food and moving. I think it might be getting back to normal but it has been a rough to weeks. I feel like we are never getting sleep. Poor Dave has to deal with it also because the twins are sleeping in our room. Hopefully they will start sleeping through the night soon or I might just go crazy.

It is crazy how sometimes we forget that Heavenly Father is always with us and forget to confide in him and ask for his help. The first week we were here I was so frustrated with the lack of sleep and I would get so upset at night with the twins. My patience was very thin. Suddenly I realized I needed to pray for patience and the ability to cope with stress. Things quickly changed! I feel so much love for my children and that allows me to relax and just cuddle them and be ok. It was just a little reminder to pray and remember that we always have someone to help us if we are willing.

A Cow and 2 Monkeys

We headed South to Grandma & Grandpa Bramhalls for Halloween. We figured we did not know where to trick or treat here so we took Taylor to G&G plus he could go with his cousins. So, everyone had so much fun, well besides our drive to G&G (that is story for a later time).

Saturday afternoon we got out pumpkins and starting carving. Dave did a great job with Taylor's. Taylor wasn't really into getting dirty or helping. He did scrap out the nose!

Then after dinner we got dressed and headed out. The kids were so darn cute. It was so much fun to go with the cousins, everyone in the Bramhall Bunch dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland. They were darling but I didn't end up getting a picture of the whole family. Taylor was a cow. That has been what he wanted to be for months and he never changed his mind. We ordered the costume online and when it came it was a little small, but we were not about the send it back. The twins were monkeys. Loved it. As cute as they all were we didn't realize it would be 70 degrees and 86% humidity so costumes did not stay on long they were sweating profusely.

Taylor loved getting the candy. Everytime we walked away from the house he would ask if he could eat it. So cute!

When we got back, Grandma had sugar cookies for the kids to decorate.

We had a fun Halloween, our first Halloween in New York (well it was actually in NJ).