Last Post of the Year!

What a crazy year it has been! Here I sit with only 1 hour left in the year 2010.  My 3 three year olds are sleeping, my 14 year old is playing video games and Dave is upstairs playing on his computer to pass time until midnight. 

This was a year with huge changes -
 Dave retired after serving in the Navy for 20 years in June, we had several stressful months while he was trying to find work through the fall, he started working for QuEST Global in early Dec and we moved out of housing into a rental house in Gales Ferry right before xmas.

Lucas started high school in Ledyard in the fall and enjoyed playing on the freshman soccer team.  His grades are continuing to improve and we hope to see many more A's on his report cards this spring!  Lucas has really turned into a teen this year.  He is now taller than me and showing a little attitude.  He loves to play video games, listen to his ipod and text his friends.  and his appetite is in full swing  - All signs that we have a teenager in the house! 

The triplets have had an amazing year.  They went from 2 year old toddlers into little 3 year old preschoolers!  Their vocabulary is going thru the roof and their personalities are really shining now.  Logan is my little athlete, Will is the scholar and puzzle master, and Jess is the Diva.   Watching them learn something new everyday has been just awesome and some days exhausting for me!

What about me?  The last 6  months have been very stressful, I have been having trouble sleeping, but I think things are settling down and I am really excited to be in our new house and making it a home!  I have enjoyed doing the 365 blog and I think that I am going to do it again in 2011!! I am also making a resolution to be MUCH better at updating this blog!  We are using the blogs as electronic scrapbooks and 2010 is a little "thin" here, but this next year will be better!

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Dudley Crew !

Our Holiday Card!

Monday Update - It's Been a Busy Week!

I knew it was going to be cray busy and it has been! Dave started work last Monday and loves it!!  He is working at the Pratt & Whitney plant on prototype jet engines! He works a full day and doesn't get home until almost 5:30.  The kids were having a rough transition to him not being home with us all day, but by Friday were doing better.  
Saturday night was our holiday party with friends who are more like family!  We took the kids over earlier in the week and put up the xmas tree.  They loved being able to help decorate this year.  The tree definitely has more ornaments on the lower branches! The Roachs, Boyers, and Cournoyers all came over to party at the new house since there is way more room.  Dave and Travis spent the morning moving our dining room over so that we could have somewhere to sit and eat. When we all get together we are almost 20 people!  There was tons of great food and even better conversation.  The kids were excited to see the presents under the tree and kept asking when it was going to be time to unwrap!  LOL 
The movers were here for a pre inspection on Wed and came Friday and worked all day packing up boxes.  The house is a maze of boxes right now. I finished laundry early yesterday so Dave could get the washer and dryer ready for the move.  The movers should be here shortly to start day 2 of our move and tonight will be the 1st night sleeping at the new house!!! 
The camera got packed by mistake so no pics this post, but I promise to find it and get a few shots up here as soon as possible.

Monday Morning Update - Last week at this house!

We had a very busy week!  Dave was supposed start work, but they called and asked him to start today instead. He was nervous when he left today, but I know he will do great!  Having him home for the week worked out since he was able to go sign the lease for the new place and organize the move! I was really hoping to be in the new place by xmas and I got great news - The movers will be here on Friday! I have been very busy both online and on the phone getting everything updated with school, post office, insurance, etc.  It is taking a long time!  We get the keys on Wed and I am planning to go over and clean before all our stuff gets there.  The movers are planning to pack Fri and Mon and then deliver everything to the new place on Tuesday! We are still planning to go to PA on Thursday for xmas and then tackle cleaning the old place after we get back since final inspection is Jan 3rd.  I have called in my awesome babysitter Jesssica to help me with the kids on Fri and Mon.  She will be keeping them entertained and out of the way while I handle the packers. 

To take a break from all the moving craziness we drove up to Bright Nights in Springfield MA.  The kids loved it!  It is about an hour away so we left after nap and stopped for dinner on the way.   The light displays were amazing!  The kids were so excited. Jess kept talking and pointing out things she saw - it was soo cute!

I also got our holiday cards ordered this week.  I will post after I know most of the family receives theirs, since I don't want to spoil it for them!

 That is it for now. I will take lots of pics of the new place and post them when I can!  Please pray for a smooth move for us!

It's Monday and I have More News!

I have exciting news to get to in a minute, but I just realized while updating the 365 blog, that I never posted about Thanksgiving.  We traveled down to PA and stayed at Grandpa's house.  My sister and neice traveled up and my 98 year old grandma was with us on turkey day!  It even snowed on Thanksgiving! Dave fried the turkey - it was yummy.  My dad did an amazing job with the rest of the meal.  I definitely over ate - it was all so yummy!  It was great to see my little ones playing with their great grandma.  My sister and I were out the door at 2:30 am for some Black Friday shopping and scored lots of good deals!  We were back home by 6:30 and Dave let me sleep in. The kids slept well over night in their peapods, but did not nap well at all so were super crabby every evening.  We went down on Wed and came back home on Sat.  The kids traveled well and were back to their normal nap/sleep schedule in a day or so. 

The exciting news - we found a  4 bedroom house to rent in Ledyard!!!  We should be signing the lease later today and starting to move in Dec15th!!!!  The Navy owes us a move, so Dave is meeting with personal property on Thursday to get dates for the move.  We are super excited and even though it will mean a crazy few weeks and very busy xmas, we are really ready to get on with our new civilian life!

Even more exciting news - No one cried when we went to see Santa!