Update

Before moving, Bran and I decided that I would wait until the family was settled in our new life before I got back in to the work force. HOWEVER, when the days started to blend together, our savings disappearing, and this social butterfly desperatly itching for some adult interaction, I decided it was TIME. I figured that at this point we were as settled as we were ever going to be!

Of course after the resumes went out, my biggest fear was going through all the trouble of putting my self out there, and (in a sense) be rejected. Thankfully, the interviews went well,l and I ended up with a good part time job as a property manager for an section 8 appartment building. Its perfect for me! I have always been attracted to social work, and this is as close as I can be to helping people, without actually having a degree in social work. The building is filled with mostly elderly people from the Dominican Republic, and other caribbean countries, so as you can imagine I am speaking more spanish than I have in years. It's a lot of fun. For example, twice this week I was given pieces of hard candy, AND also told I was pretty. How fun is that? I must look like a lost kid to them! The only thing that will make my job even better is getting introduced to some caribbean food (and getting my first paycheck! ;)

Grandparents: The kids are doing great! Even little Jax, who has been attached to our hip for the last few months was happy when I drop/pick them up from daycare. I was a wreck the first day, but after a couple of good mornings, I started to feel better about my decision to go back to work.

Alright.....even though its not caribbean food, I am in the middle of eating some yummy bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and they are to die for!!! I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. It is probably one of the best cookbooks I have ever read. The cookbook has also inspired me to make the pico de gallo, the guacamole and the cinnamon rolls. All of which were a HUGE hit. I love this cookbook!

Okay, I have to figure out how to hide these puppies, so that I don't eat them all in one sitting.

Hasta la vista Baby!!!

July 25

Today we celebrate my handsome husbands birthday! say that 3x fast! I fell in love with him the very day we met, and almost 9 years later the thought of seeing his face still makes me smile. For one thing, he is a wonderful Father, an (extreemely) patient husband, and a lover of history and music.

Happy 28th Birthday blue eyes!

There are hot, homemade Cinamon Rolls waiting to be devoured when you wake up. Oh and there is also two anxious little bodies waiting to sing you a special birthday song!

Enjoy your day! We love you!!!!

Nana's Visit

It feels like ages since my last entry. Weird. We have been busy enjoying the time with our first (and probably last) out of town visitor for a while. My Mother-in-law, Nancy flew out here and we could not be happier. It was so nice to see a familiar face. I dont know who was happier to see her but even the kids warmed up to her pretty quickly, and by kids I mean Jax ,who by default forgets things a little faster than the rest of us. He would not stop giving his Nana hugs. Anyway, having her here gave us a good excuse to explore the city and all of its historical treasures. We spent our first day in Boston touring the Freedom Trail, and taking a ferry ride to the USS Constitution Museum. Talk about impressive!

A few days later we also visited The Orchard House in Concord, MA where Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women", drove through The Sleepy Hollow Cemetary (and no we did not see a headless man on a horse), and ended the tour visiting the North Bridge. Walking through the Minute Man National Park was really amazing. It's hard to believe that we were walking by the very places that imfluenced the forming of our country. They talk a lot about the men that fought, but I couldnt help trying to imagine what it would have been like to be a woman back then. How supportive and brave one had to be. Wow! Anyway one of the coolest parts is that all of these places are literally within a couple of miles from Brandon's work.

Our last stop was through the beautiful town of Portland, Maine. I could go on all day about what a beautiful place Portland is. Now after our weekend trip I can truly understand why people vacation there. I took a ton of pictures. I have debated on putting them all on the blog, but ultimately decided to spare you. We did a little beach, a little shopping and a LOT of food.

The food. Oh my! There is a reason why Maine is famous for their lobster, becuase it is divine! During this trip I was introduced to the famous Lobster Rolls. WOW! There is nothing else like it. That is all I have to say. Later I also had a bread bowl of chowder. Oh my! Oh! It was sooo good!

I just loved it there. Since its is only about two and a half hours north of us, we will defiantly be going back soon.

Thank you Nancy for coming to visit, not to mention spoiling us rotten. We loved having you.

Drive in Theatre - Check!

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a list of goals that I wanted our family to accomplish this summer. We are always doing things together, but I thought that it would be neat to have a list (sunny goals) to work off of, and a ton of memories to look back on. Since posting the list we have already accomplished 3 items, which is really great! However after thinking it through, I decided that since this a blog afterall there had to be one rule: Documenting the activity with pictures. No pictures=No checking off! So..... even though we have already done 3 things, only one of them can offically be checked off. I am hopeing that the rule helps us stay accountable to the list. Anyway, I am excited to do everything our list once, but I will do it twice only if we must (wink, wink).

Our first completed item was going to the Drive-In Movies. Woohoo! A great way to kick off the summer (in my opinion). We love drive-in movies, and usually try to go at least once or twice each summer. During the drive we kept talking about how we wish there were move drive ins around and wondering why they were not more popular…Seriously! They are so much fun, right?
As I said earlier…we were so excited to get there! We packed up our snacks, our drinks, and piles of blankets. The kids thought we were having a big slumber party! Lol.

We played until it got a little darker and when the movie started (Despicable Me) we snacked on our treats and tried not to laugh too hard and bother all of the people around us.

By midnight when the second movie started (Eclipse)...which Issy, Bran and I were super excited to watch, it started raining. Argh! We gathered and moved (more like shoved) our things inside the truck. As luck would have it, the front of our truck was now facing in the wrong direction (opposite of the screen...lol). The theatre was packed with cars like sardines so there was no moving. By 1 pm (half way through the movie I may add) our necks were killing us, our faces were wet from sticking out the window, the truck was muggy becuase the rain does not help cool the temperature. We couldnt take it anymore and decided leave.

Why are drive in movies not more popular? You tell me. hahaha.

I missed Eclipse, and I almost cried, but this is one of those things I can see us talking about for years to come.

Got Mail!

Issy and Jackson got a package from their Grandparents Nanna and Pappy Chopko yesterday! Issy was super excited just because her name was on a piece of mail, so you can imagine how thrilled she was when she got to open the package, and found all sorts of goodies inside. You guys made her day!!! We can't wait to listen to the Shel Silverstein CD ( Issy loves his books!).

Oh,yes!... and here is our handsome Jax in his new T-shirt from OK Corral in Tombstone!

Jax says: "Stick 'em Up!!!!"

"Thank you Nanna and Pappy for thinking about us, specially during your trip to the wild wild west in AZ. We so wish we could have been there! "

Love,

Issy and Jax :)

Sunny Goals...

Heat

July has been miserably hot! By 9 am this morning the temperature was already 94 degrees with (what feels like) 100% humidity. Yuck! What do you do with kids all day when it is so hot out? What every sensible person would do...pack them up and head towards the local watering hole!

Jackson who until our trip to the pool last week hated getting wet, was too hot to sit on the sidelines. Today he was a completely different kid! As soon was we got near the water, he started jumping, screaming, and playing with Issy.

Fireworks!

Issy teaching Jackson to dance while we waited for the fireworks!

So…Woonsocket didn’t end up working out like I thought it was going to. We ended up driving to Rhode Island only to find that the festivities had been cancelled. I was already having a really crappy day… I felt homesick, wishing we had SOMEONE around to celebrate with us. We didn’t have any fireworks, we didn’t have anywhere to really be and honestly the day did not feel like a holiday AT ALL. The carnival was my crutch. What a disappointment!

We came home to make a little lunch and waited for the firework show here in Attleboro!

Turns out that the show was exactly what the doctor had ordered. We sat next to some nice families, Issy (who is officially Little Miss Social) made friends with some cute girls, and the show ended up being really one of the best firework shows we had ever seen! Jackson ended up wow-ing the entire time. The day did not turn out the way I had planned, but the night ended even better than I had anticipated.

Happy 4th!!!

We kicked off the weekened by watching the a couple episodes of the HBO mini series John Adams. If you haven't seen it, definatly check it out. The episodes are about an hour a piece, so you wont be watching it all in one night (you will want to, but I hope you dont). The series is really interesting and educational. At the very least, the set reminded me to be thankful for the freedom we have, thanks to many people who sacrificed so much during the 1700's to make us a Country. There is definatly a reason to celebrate!

Today, we are heading out to Rhode Island, (where fireworks are not illegal) to check out the celebrations going on in the city of Woonsocket. I hear there is going to be Lawn Mower obstacle races, Gunnysack races, turtle races and a parade in the evening (woohoo!). It should be a lot of fun!

Happy Independance!

It's the little things...

I burned the CRAP-OLA out of my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are Issy's favorite cookies, and I have almost gotten to the point where I am confident enough to say EVERONE LOVES THEM. Today was the first time since our big move that I was going to spoil my kids with the cookies. The batter looked so good. The cookies were in the over and baking beatifully. The house was filled all of the batter brown sugar and butter yummy-ness. I went to play with the kids. The 11 minutes come and went..Then that sweet smell turned ugly and quick. The stupid range has no kitchen timer...ugh! I bolted in to the kitchen, but it is too late!

Darn. The cookies were history.

What a disappointment.

Community Pool

We made our way to the community pool. To say that the kids had a great time is an understatement! After a couple of hours at the pool, the kids came home and crashed. We are definatly going back.

First Month

Well, we made it through our first full month here in Massachusetts. I have to admit, it feels like we have been here waaay longer than a month, but this place is slooowly feeling more like home.
There have been a few days where we all feel super homesick, to the point we have questioned the whole move. That is normal right? Another thing is the green, everywhere green. It is so beautiful, but at the same time, there is something strange that comes with always being surrounded by trees, trees and more trees. Somedays I feel so trapped. I don't know what we would do if we ever came across an open field. Faint on the spot.

Dont get me wrong...I really love it here. The kids and I just play all day. There is a lot to do around here, now that it is summer, there is lots to do and for free. It doesnt get better than that! Earlier this week we took advantage of the Free Family Film Festival by the Regal Group. It is basically a free movie for the kids at the theatre during the week. The kids really love it. The love the pop corn, the big seats, theatre drinks. Its so fun for them!. I use the opportunity to let the kids practice their good "theatre manners" for the more expensive movies. The local library also host free activies for kids all summer long. Last week they brough a guy put a really fun soap bubble show for the kids. My kids were in awe! Next week they are brining in a magician. Super cool.

Brandon is wrapping up his 4th work week. So far he has gotten several compliments on his performance thus far. I am so proud of him but specially because up until now, he has been working with very little training. His supervisor has been very ill, and out of the office pretty much the entire time that Brandon has been employed. This has left him with very little time for traning and he has had to do and learn everything on the fly. I am more than confident he will be great no matter what.

The ONE thing he does absolutely hate is the commute. Sometimes it can take him an hour to get home, sometimes up to two hours is traffic is really backed up. It’s awful. Once our lease is up at this apartment, we are defiantly going to look further north for something closer to his work.

I think it is still too soon to stake out ground here, but we are getting there.

Wooohooo!

Did anyone notice my new blog banner? It is so awesome is it?! The best part is that I did that. Yep. Me. I did have a little (okay, a lot of) help from one my new favorite blogs: i am momma hear me Roar . I have been following her blog for about 6 months because I already loved her creative ideas, but the last few days have been better than ever! Cheri put together 4 day photography tutorial for people out there (see below), like ME, that have no clue how to take cute pictures, or how to take those cute pictures, and make them even better. Honestly, this was one of the best and easiest tutorials to follow. Obviously look at my awesome banner!
Please visit her site, then come back becuase thanks to her, I am going to be taking LOTS and LOTS of pictures of the cutest kids I know (yes, I know I am completely biased).

I am Momma hear me Roar- Photography Tips 1, 2, 3 and 4. Enjoy!