Everything I never knew I wanted!

We have really sneaky children so we had them sleep in our room Christmas eve! I don't really know how much sleep any of us got with the excitement, P-goats snoring, Dominicks sleep talking, and my husband the bed hog!

Dominick exclaims "I didn't even ask santa for a skateboard! It's everything I never knew I wanted!"

Payton was really the heart of Christmas this year. She was super excited about everything! Every gift open she would exclaim "It's the best present ever, I know I will love it always!" I mean she would ooh and ahh over everything from socks and underwear to dolls and dress ups!

Santa was very good to us this year, so was everyone else! The kids made out like little bandits!

We also had the opportunity to help a family in need through our church. Nana gave each of the children $40 to spend on the child we had picked. P-goat got to buy for a new born baby, Dominick got to buy for a little boy his age, and my brother and sister each had a child their age too. It was a lot of fun and helped the kids realize what the true spirit of Christmas is. It was a wonderful Christmas and it was even better that we got to spend it with family and friends!

Missing in Action.....

Well I know it has been forever since I last posted. It isn't that we haven't had anything exciting happen, well it's just the opposite! We are in a crazy, busy, caotic, mode of life right now! Jay has been in San Diego since October. He is "temporarily" stationed there and really loving it (except that we aren't with him). He just passed his weekend clinical practical exam (whatever it's supposed to be called), so now he is only 2 short steps away from his RN! WE ARE SO PROUD!

Dominick is loving school, as always. He proves to me everyday what a smart kid he is! I know every parent says that about their child, but man, this kid makes me feel dumb sometimes! He isn't perfect and we struggle with some attitude problems, but hey he is 6!

Payton is well......... Payton. She is spoiled, mean, hard to deal with, a brat, vain, and well sweat and precious and kind all at the same time! Does that make sense? She has her moments that is for sure. Most days I just don't know what to do with her, one minute I want to kill her then the next she melts my heart. She is doing really well in pre-school and I am looking for loop-holes to get her into Kindergarten next year.

I am alive and that is about all I can say for me. I am not ready for another move, I am not ready for Christmas, and I have no ambition for any of it! I am just tired! Living in so much caos has really gotten to me. I don't know where to start or where to end.

So we are alive and well for the most part! We are preparing for, YES, another move. We will be moving to San Diego sometime between Christmas and New Years. We will STILL be living without ALL of OUR OWN BELONGINGS! The Navy wont move our stuff. So once we get settled (if that is possible) in San Diego, I plan on updating all of my posts! With pictures and everything! I feel so out of touch with eveyone! So please call, e-mail, or something!


P.s. I planned to add pictures to this post, but of course I can't find any of them on this computer! UGH!

Practice makes perfect........ well eventually!

Now that we are in a climate that is more suitable to outside activities, the kids have been learning a lot of new things. First on that list is bike riding! Domino has moved on to a "Big" bike and P-goat get the old one with training wheels. After spending 1 hour with my Dad, Domino was riding by himself. He still needs help starting and he has some work to do on stopping, but he is getting it. These pictures and videos are from his 2nd day out on the bike! I have to say I am impressed!

Domino and Dad

P-goat and her "new" bike (unfortunately she was too fast for me to catch any good pictures!)

All by him-self!

SEVEN YEARS!!!!!

Happy Anniversary BABE! (more to come)

Happy Birthday........

Well I don't really have any pictures to go along with this but I just wanted to post. My birthday was on Monday and I guess I am now 26, doesn't seem real different. The bigger news is what happened yesterday.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, yes her birthday is the day after mine. She is the most wonderful woman, mother, aunt, and nana. As an adult and a mother of two my appreciation for my mother has grown exponentially! The love a person can have for their child no matter what that child does or how they treat you sometimes, is amazing.

I know that I probably cut at least 10 years off of her life because of the stress and trouble I caused in my youth! I know she has every right to wish that my children give me back what she had at least 10 fold, but she doesn't. She is always there to listen, lend a hand, or give advice.

Happy Birthday MOM, you are the greatest!

!

This was us in NY, after a very LONG and COLD Yankee game. Not the most flattering picture, but she wasn't feeling well and she still managed to walk around NY all day and help keep the kids entertained, that's part of why she is the world's greatest NANA!

First Day's of school!

I still have trip photos and posts to be made, but school has started and I need to get on the ball!

Dominick started school on July 22nd. He is now in the First Grade! He attends Jack Barnes Elementary School in Queen Creek AZ. His teachers name is Ms. King. So far he has LOVED school and is enjoying being back to a learning environment, plus his best friend Mikey is in the same school!

Dominick on his first Day

Ready to go!

Dominick and Mikey before school

Payton started school August 10th. She goes to pre-school 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. She is also attending with her best friend, Sarah. This is the end of our first week of pre-school and she can't wait each day to go! She has already learned so much in just 3 days! I can't believe both of my kiddos are in school!

Payton is all smiles

We interupt this blog........

My Beautiful daughter has always been conscious of her looks. As soon as she could voice her opinion she would let us know how she wanted her hair done, her clothes to look, and so forth. She never wanted a hair cut, she LOVED having long beautiful hair (so did her Dad).

One horrible, fateful night, Payton decided she would comb her own hair. She found a round brush and got started. Little did she know that only a professional should use a round brush! So after getting this brush EXTREMELY stuck in her hair, she decided to solve the problem on her own.........

My brother found her in her room, brush still stuck, with hair all over the floor! I cried, she cried, we ALL cried! Poor Payton was so devastated that we would now have to cut her hair short!

After this whole ordeal she is pretty happy with the new do! Yes she misses the long hair, but she knows it will grow back. She also has learned that only Andraya is allowed to touch her hair with scissors! Thanks Andraya for the emergency appointment and for the WONDERFUL job on her hair, we LOVE you.

New Mexico, our last leg....

After Oklahoma we made the 11 hour trek to New Mexico. First let me say, that was the most boring part of the drive! I never want to drive that stretch again! We got to visit with Jays family and some of mine as well. My Grandmother made the drive with us from Texas to Arizona, I had the chance to learn things I had never bothered with before. It was a wonderful opportunity and a great memory to hold onto. We talked about her experiences as a military wife, how she met my grandfather, how they got married, and genealogy. As I get older I have found that I am more and more interested in these stories and knowing how we all came to be.

Once again, I didn't take many pictures, but I do have some from the park with Jays Dad. So here they are:

Domino showin off his monkey skills!

Papa Mike indulging P-goat on the swing (once she is on, good luck getting her off)

3 generations of Cherrey's

Oklahoma

On our cross country travels we were lucky enough to stop by and see some really wonderful friends. Jason "Dell" Delonais is one of Jay's buddies from the Navy. At first these two couldn't stand one another, now he is our sons Godfather and a great friend to have. Tara (his wife and best thing to ever happen to him) and Dell now live in Oklahoma. They made sure we had a wonderful visit with them, it was too short but better than nothing!

Look at those fools, whats with all the facial hair!

This was on the family "houseboat", the kids LOVED it!

Dell, Tara, and the kids. They treated us to a fun game filled evening at

a place called LOL (I think). Dell helped the kids win a TON of tickets

and buy ridiculous prizes! What a Godfather..... and he shaved!

At the top of the only mountain for 100's of miles!

Is that Dell before he shaved? NO its a real live buffalo!

We drove through this park and had some close ups with these beasts!

An old church and "village". They do an Easter pageant here. They have the whole town, crosses, and tomb. It was very interesting and humbling, yet strange at the same time.

The trip was amazing and we can't wait to do it again!

Our First Day in Oklahoma 7/6/2009

One of Jays best friends from the navy has moved to Oklahoma. This man has been with us from the beginning and is Dominick's Godfather. So our cross country trip was the perfect time to pay Dell and Tara a visit. On a stroke of luck our visit coincided with the end of another old navy buddy's visit. It was really nice seeing Tim again after all these years, it really brought back some old memories!

Like the rest of this trip, I left my camera behind! I can't believe how many good moments I have missed out on because of my forgetfulness. Dell took us all to a local water park for the first day. It was small, Really CHEAP, and a LOT of FUN! There was a kids play area in a shallow pool, a lazy river, some kid water slides, a wave pool, Several big water slides, and the toilet bowl. Dominick was able to get everything in, except the toilet bowl (he wasn't big enough).

Our visit with Dell and Tara was a lot of fun and I have a TON of pictures. So there will be a few more posts! I know I am behind, but I will try really hard to get caught up by this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled!

This is a really poor picture of the water park. It was taken from the Highway

Uncle Dell, A shock to see his "Post" Navy persona!

The kids ready for a fun day at the water park

Domino, Dell, Jay, P-Goat, and Tim

Dell, Tim and Jay all served in Iraq together. Not to mention all the fun trips to AZ together while Jay and I were dating. It was great to catch Tim while he was in town!

Our own Fireworks

Dell, Tara, Domino, and Jay, looking for the perfect fireworks!

The "sprint" don't let the fireworks getcha!

Domino helped light that one and ran!

You never can catch great fireworks on camera!

This is P-Goats "hiding" spot from the noise and flames!

We were actually in Texas over the 4th of July weekend. Because of a fire-ban we were unable to watch a public display or do our own. The kids did get a chance to play with some sparklers and had a lot of fun doing it. When we got to Oklahoma, Dell was upset to hear that the kids didn't get to do fireworks. So what does he come up with........ A huge box of left-overs from their 4th weekend. Domino had a blast picking out the cool ones and watching them go off! P-Goat on the other hand would run and hide! What a little snot, but secretly from her spot in the truck she smiled and watched. Once again THANKS Dell and Tara!

Family Reunion, not for the faint of stomach

I have been really horrible this trip, I just can't seem to remember my camera! I know there are some really great pictures out there from our family reunion, I'll just have to beg and plead with my grandma and cousins!

We arrived in Texas on a not so great note! Poor P-goat got car-sick in the middle of nowhere! Now for those of you that know me and know me well, vomit is the one thing I CANT HANDLE! So I brace myself, trying extremely hard not to mimic P's actions, and find a place to pull off of the highway. Jay proceeds to clean up EVERYTHING, I love that man! We move on to the next truck stop and buy as many wipes and febreeze air-freshener we can find! We hit the road again and the little devil decides she wants an encore performance! Note to self, chocolate milk, high temperatures, large blankets, and P-goat don't get along when all put together! We made it to the hotel and while Jay was cleaning another mess, I was checking us in and unloading.

Now we were in Texas and would be here for the weekend, a nice time to relax and hit the laundry mat! I hate laundry mats!

Soon we were meeting up with family and getting into the swing of the reunion. It was so wonderful to see everyone, it had been far to long! We ate great food (of course), caught up on the years, reminisced on the old, swam, had water fights, watched old home movies, went to the river and over-baked ourselves, and planned for our next reunion (vowing to never let it go this long again)! There were several things we had planned and didn't get to, but it didn't matter. The fact that we were all together was the important part.

Jay had never met this side of the family and I knew he would fit right in. He enjoyed himself greatly and looks forward to the next reunion. He enjoyed chattin with Pat, bonding over motorcycles, suped up golf carts (made for off-roading), and military life.

I promise when I get my hands on some pictures, I will post them! It was a reunion to remember, especially since we had ALMOST everyone in attendance, we hope we can get the rest there for the next one.

3 Days and 11 States! The first leg of our Trip.

This has been a long time coming, I know. We started our trip on Sunday June 28th. We left our home in Weymouth MA and headed north-west to Holyoke MA where we spent the night with our friends Rob and Emily in their new home. Leaving MA has been a bitter-sweet experience and all of our goodbyes were hard. On Monday we headed out and drove through 5 of our wonderful states, ending in Harrisburg PA. The next day we hit the road driving through 4 more states, ending in Knoxville TN. We drove around Knoxville looking for some good BBQ and ended up with Taco Bell! Every BBQ place we found was closed or out of business so we settled and hit the beds early. Next morning we hit the road and drove across Tennessee to stay in West Memphis AR.

NEVER STAY IN WEST MEMPHIS ARKANSAS!!!!!!

It was only about 10 miles away from Memphis and all of the main attractions, but once you cross the Mississippi River and hit West Memphis you are in the GHETTO! By this time the kids were begging to get out and do something, they picked bowling. We found one close by and luckily it wasn't too scary! That night we set our alarms and hit the pillows hard.

What our life was like for 2 solid weeks!

Bowling in West Memphis, we were the only people there!

Stylin shoes Babe!

Domino's super cool bowling form!

P-Goat has the Grannie down pat!

This video was cute, Domino spent his spare time between frames narrating the rest of our turns. It was really funny and super cute!

Sorry for the lack of "better" pictures. I saw tones of cool stuff while driving and when we would stop, but I always forgot my camera! Stay tuned for the next leg of our trip, Texas and our Family reunion!

Our last days....

So some of the girls and I went out to a last minute "Good-Bye" dinner. Thanks Gretchen for setting it all up. I'm really thankful to these ladies (and some who weren't able to make it), they really helped make Boston the best "Home away from Home"!

Saying Good-Bye to Julia at Chuck-E-Cheeses!

Our last Boston Beach trip! We spent a few hours playing at the playground and searching the beach for snails, crabs, and other little sea creatures.

P-Goat isn't too Happy, she is having a hard time realizing she wont see anyone for a long time!

Rob and Emily, we really will miss you guys! See you in NM soon......

Good Bye

So we are headed out on our 2 week cross-country trip tomorrow. I am really excited to get on the road and away from the empty apartment we have been living in for almost a week. I will try to keep everyone updated as we go but no promises! We are planning on stopping in Holyoak tomorrow and getting one last visit in with Rob and Emily. Monday we travel to Pennsylvania, Tuesday and Wednesday we stop in Tennessee, and Thursday we get into Austin Texas. Friday and Saturday we will spend in the Austin area for our Family reunion. Sunday we head out and make a stop in Oklahoma to visit Dominick's Godfather Dell and his wife Tara. We hope to spend a day or 2 there. Next stop is Farmington, NM to visit Jay's family and then on to our new home Mesa AZ! We have to be in Mesa by the 10th for Jay to report in to work.

For all of those we are leaving behind, Goodbye and Thank you for making the past 2 years AWESOME! We truly will miss everyone and hope to be welcomed back for periodic visits! For those that we are coming home to, well..... READY OR NOT HERE WE COME!!!!!

Paytons Dance Recital

So this was Payton's first year in Ballet and Tap classes. The year started off wonderfully, then slowly things got a little difficult. She always talked about dance and showed us all of her new moves, but when it came down to going in to class she would be hot and cold. Yes, my daughter is that one kid that you can't help but watch because 1. It's funny 2. It's a little sad and 3. Everyone else is glad it isn't their kid! She came on stage and greeted everyone with no problem, then they came out for the actual dance and started off really well. Then she heard laughter and it all went to pieces! Poor thing, she apologized to us and said she got shy and a little hurt because people were laughing. We told her it was OK and went out to celebrate. All in all it was still cute and totally Hilarious!

Coming on stage to greet the audience and find families.

She found us!

After the recital with her flower and medal

Ms. Dana her wonderful teacher!

So I was able to record her dances, I had to be sneaky about it but I got them. I wasn't about to pay $40 for a video, especially after how she did! I hope you enjoy as much as we did!