Valentines Day

We don't usually do much for Valentines day around here. I have never really been that into it and my husband feels its a girls holiday! But I found these cute Valentine card ideas on a friends blog, just couldn't resist. 

For some reason P's picture wouldn't upload right, it kept turning it like this.

Anyway HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

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!

Spring Break!

So our Spring Break has finally arrived! The weather is AMAZING and we have a whole week of good weather coming (I hope it stays that way). I just found out my Mom is coming into town on Tuesday and will be here for a week, I am so excited. We have tickets to see a NY Yankees game and we might go to Six Flags New England one day too! Nothing too major but we are super excited! Who said Spring Break was just for school? Not me........

Easter Afternoon........

After a morning full of fun and surprises the Cherrey family headed off to church, yes the WHOLE family. We took this picture after sacrament meeting (not a good angle for me, but I am working on it at the Y).

When we returned home we found that the Easter Bunny had hidden our colored eggs all over the house. I think it was kind of the bunny to think of us since we live in an apartment and have no yard of our own, plus the weather is still a bit on the chilly side.

P-Goat and Domino hunted those eggs like pros! They were able to find all 3 dozen in no time at all, they even helped count them to make sure none were missing! As you can see, we cut Domino's hair. He finally decided that growing it out was more of a pain than he wanted to deal with. So this morning, after all of the action, he told Yankee Dad he was ready to cut his hair! After it was all done he said "Look Dad I am almost as bald as you!"

Here is our yummy Easter dinner. Lamb with Sweet Potato Chutney. I think I still need some work on the presentation but it tasted wonderful. We thought of you, Gretchen, while we ate. Wish you could have been here with us! 

A great salad and creamy cheesy potatoes finished off the meal, next up........

KEY LIME PIE!

Easter Morning.........

So I was really excited for the Easter Bunny to come to our home! It is really hard for me to keep secrets and I was about to burst (don't even ask how I do at Christmas)! The kids got spoiled by the big bunny this year, complete rain gear, movies, candy, balls, harmonicas, animals, and much more (thanks Nana). The kids were so excited this morning they couldn't contain themselves! I have a ton of pictures so I will be making another post.

P-Goats Easter Basket and Rain Gear

Domino's Easter Basket and Rain Gear

P-Goats bunny purse, she is thrilled with this thing!

Domino and his harmonica, now he is like the kid from witch mountain (the original)

Marching around the house in their new rain boots! Payton has issues with pants if you couldn't already tell from this and previous posts!

Now here is the video from this morning, they were almost as excited as they were Christmas morning. I'm not sure if they were feeding off of my anxious vibes, I think this is my second favorite Holiday. I guess any chance to spoil my kids without feeling guilty is good for me!

Good Friday with Good Friends

With no school on Friday i thought it would be fun to hit 2 birds with 1 stone, Easter egg decorating and quality time with some friends. The day started off wonderfully and the kids played very well together, the boys played "army guys" and "cops", the girls played with barbies and ponies. Then while I prepared the "activity" the kids colored and shared jokes and stories. Being the great Mom that I am, I prepared egg coloring for the kiddos! I have learned that easter egg dying is not a one adult activity, with that in mind we managed to color  dozen eggs and had minimal mess (I think the only fatality is my kitchen table, which gives me an excuse to get the new one that I want)!

Dominick, Sam, Abi, and Payton Coloring

Abi and her colored eggs

Domino and his "camo" eggs

Sam and his orange eggs

After cleaning up from the "activity" we ventured outside to have a picnic. The weather was wonderful, 65 degrees and very sunny. A picnic with corn dogs, chicken nuggets, chips and doughnuts for desert was ideal for these kiddos. They chowed down until there was nothing left and then proceeded to play with bubbles, baseball, and rolling down the big hill.

 
The picnic set up

The end results

P-goat enjoying desert!

It was a wonderful day and the kids had a blast. I learned that next year I will wait for a day that Jay has off to color easter eggs and to cover the table with thick plastic! I also was reminded how much fun rolling down hills can be, luckily there was no one there to get pictures of that!

The New Year

While Dominick was on vacation from school we took the kids to the Museum of Science in Boston. Jay was home from work that day and we all had a blast, until I almost passed out from being sick. Unfortunately we had to call it a day but we managed to get in some of the cool stuff. We saw a show at the planetarium, saw all the fossils and dinosaurs, looked at cool cars and trains, and looked at some local wildlife. The mythical creature exhibit was really cool and so was the fear exhibit. The kids were more brave than I thought and they learned where myths and legends come from. We can't wait to go back!

Here are the kids measuring their hands to a dinosaurs print

Matching animals with their fossils

Dominick and a huge cricket Statue

Doing some Science experiments

So it is 2009! This new year will bring about some BIG changes for the Cherrey family. 2009 is the beginning of our new life without the military. We still have 6 months before we leave, but we will be preparing for the new lifestyle! No more free insurance, steady income, exact working hours, free schooling and testing, and no more moving every 2 years (I hope). It hasn't been such a bad 6 years and I think I will kind of miss this life.

Well my New Year resolutions are:

1. More patience with my kids

2. Scrapbook a page a week

3. Be less of a hermit and more social (will be much easier when we are back in AZ)

4. Get back into shape

Nothing too major, but we have a lot coming up this year. So far I am doing okay on 2 of the 4 on my list.

Christmas Day!

Due to some sneaky little kids who were super excited for Santa, we had a slumber party in our bedroom Christmas eve. The kids were thrilled at the idea, but when 5:30 a.m. rolled around Jay and I were not very thrilled. We managed to keep them corralled until 7 and then the excitement was too much!

On to see what goodies Santa left for us!

 

Payton didn't get a rocking horse, but the flying horse was "much better for her dolls". Santa also brought her some Barbies for the horse and some princess perfume! Dominick was thrilled to see his race car, the indiana jones legos, and his tech deck. To his amazement and wonder his stocking was also hiding an eagle webkin! Dominick says santa was testing him to see if he was good enough to get the webkin.

Time to open presents! The kids were so spoiled this year! Nana and papa sent them package after package of goodies for under the tree. It was a wonderful morning. I also managed to get Jays Yankee throw blanket finished and he was thrilled!

 

I caught Jay playing with the kids and all of their fun new toys! I think he enjoyed them just as much, if not more than the kids.

Tis the Season.......

I know it has been weeks since I have last posted. Things have been very busy and exciting around here for the holidays. We finally got some real snow, being snowed in for days! The kids had a blast getting all bundled up and venturing outside to play in the never ending snow. Poor Payton had a really hard time wading through the waist high snow drifts, but she managed. Unfortunately, I have many cute videos and pictures that I can't get to upload from our video camera. I do, however, have some fun pictures from our other camera.

First up is decorating the Christmas tree! Dominick reminded me as soon as we got home from our Thanksgiving dinner that it was now time to put up the Christmas tree. For DAYS he begged to decorate the tree. Now our poor tree has been with us since we were first married, and before that it was with my parents for years. As we put the decorations on and admired our tree, we realized it was looking "Charlie Brown", so we discused it and decided that our tree will not be seeing another Christmas with us.

Next Came the Breakfast with Santa at Dominicks school. The kids were super excited to get to tell Santa exactly what they wanted for Christmas. Dominick asked for a webkin eagle and Payton asked for a rocking horse for her dolls. After giving santa their very short list it was on to all the fun crafts and food! The kids made gingerbread men, candy cane reindeer, ornaments for the tree, colored pictures, and ate tons of yummy goodies! Dominick later got a phone call from Santa telling him that he was all out of webkin eagles. Poor guy was so upset! He did have a few other things to ask for as back ups, Indiana Jones legos, a race car, and a tech deck skate board. 
 
Our next event was Dominick's Christmas concert for school. He looked so handsome in his Christmas best. We were so proud of him, he remembered to sing this year and he did all of the actions to go with the song. 

Now we are up to Christmas eve. The kids helped me make and decorate cookies for Santa, then we ventured outside to leave a special treat for the reindeer. Dominick made some special "reindeer food" at school and we bought carrots too. It was a warm and wet evening but the kids were so excited!
 

CHRISTMAS 2008

I know it has been a while since I have posted. We have been busy little cherrey's this holiday season. My kids have loved all of the snow and I have some great pictures and videos that I took on our video camera, but I haven't been able to download them! I have tried several times and failed miserably each time (I need to find the instruction book). I do have some holiday pictures from our other camera to share with you

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Decorating the Christmas tree. We have had this fake tree since we have been married, and my parents had it for years before us. So as we put it up this year, looking a little "Charlie Brown" we decided this would be it's last year as our christmas tree.

Next we had the breakfast with Santa at Dominicks school. The kids knew exactly what they wanted from Santa, they were both very specific too. Dominick asked for a webkin eagle, Payton asked for a rocking horse for her dolls. Thats it, one item per kid! Dominick later got a phone call from santa saying that he was all out of webkin eagles, what would he like instead. He was pretty upset but he asked for a race car, some indiana jones legos, and a tech deck skateboard to take the place of the eagle. 

    

Next was Dominicks Christmas concert! He did so well this year. He looked so handsome in his Christmas best.

     

Now we are up to Christmas eve. The kids helped me make cookies for santa and then we went outside to leave stuff for santa's special helpers.....