2012 in full swing

January and February are flying by. I can't believe the year is already in full swing. I feel like Chris and I have been on super drive since this year begun. Chris had jumped into his new role at work with both feet and it is keeping him VERY busy and away most of the weeks, and home just for a few days. And during those few days he is home, it is mommy's time to go to work. So needless to say we are just passing in the wind. But we are both getting done what we have to and always putting our family first. It is official that Chris and I will be moving once again. (5th move for Henkel in our almost 13 years of marriage). I could become a professional mover at this point. Each time has been for career advancement for Chris, and I have been there to help him get to this point in his life. I feel like this has been a family effort, we have all made some sacrifices but it's all for the better of our family. This move isn't south were we were hoping to settle down, but it's 2nd best. We are moving to Connecticut. We are finally going to be close to one of our families. Neither one of us have lived in the same state as our family since we left for college, and this is long overdue. I am so excited to have my parents just down the street from us. My kids are going to get to see their grandparents on a regular basis and chris and I will soak in some help. We've been flying completely solo for the last 13 years, but it will be so nice not to ave to be alone all the time. So, we are very eager to get this move on the way. The house is up on the market, and we are all set to go. We are hoping the house will sell quickly because I have 3 little ones to clean up after all the time, which makes being house beautiful all the time quite difficult, but we will do our best.

This is how my day ends after a long day of work for me. I love crawling in bed with all my babies.

These are the babies new GA jerseys from Philip, Stacy, and Kins for their birthday. They love their "team" shirts as they call them.

Our big event for February was Julian's 8th birthday. Of course we the Stanford family has big plans, that means sickness is going to come. So this time was no different. The week of Julian's birthday, Julian came home from school Monday, and that night the dreaded stomach bug hit our house. I was waiting for it and dreading it. Julian stayed home for 2 days from school and then went back on Thursday. Thought we were in the home clear and that night the babies started getting sick. I think we have the worst timing in the world. Family was arriving on Friday. I just prayed and hoped for the best.

Mary, Tom, Kelly, David and Jess all flew in Friday and we had a great dinner together spending time with family that we don't get to see often. I love having a house full of people. The more the merrier to us.

Friday night the stomach bug hit me, and I spent all of Saturday in the bed. I forced myself to get up and get ready so I wouldn't miss Julian's 8th birthday party.

I can't believe that he's been in our lives for 8 years. I still remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. Every detail is still vivid, and I can still see his tiny face. I love the little boy that Julian has become. He is such a loving little boy that he makes me smile all the time. I love the way he tries at everything he does, his intelligence, his sense of humor, his drive, his love for others, and his spirit. Julian- you were one of the 3 best things that have ever happened to mommy and daddy. We want to see you continue to grow and strive to do your best in all that you do. We love you more than words can say.

Here are a few pictures from his party at Bounce U with some of his friends.

Going down the huge slides

Julian coming off the slide

David, Kelly, and Aunt Anne

Julian and his friends. We were so surprised that he had 23 friends come to play and celebrate. That shows how many people love Julian the way we do.

Julian blowing out his candles on his dinosaur cookie cake.

Found Julian and lilly sitting together watching TV. It was one of the sweetest things I've eve seen.

Alex didn't want to be left out.

Post christmas in Seabrook

We decided to go to Seabrook with my family the day after Christmas for a few days. Jess and Patrick were flying down and my parents were also driving down after spending Christmas with us. We usually don't like to miss an opportunity to go back to our beloved South Carolina. We had a few days before I had to work on New Year's Day, so we went. The kids did great on the way down. We left a little earlier than we did last time so that we didn't have to drive all night and it worked much better for Chris and I. We were able to actually get there and get some sleep that night so we didn't have to stay up all night.

it was great to be able to get outside some and play with the kids. The weather wasn't great, but much better than PA. We will take 60's any day in the winter.

Jess and Lilly hanging out on the boat. Jess is newly engaged and we started planning her summer wedding at seabrook. So excited for her and can't wait for this summer back at the beach.

Alex and Lilly looking out at the other boats in the marina.

Trying to get a picture of me and my boys. Hard with the sun in their eyes.

Definitely raising boat babies. They all love being on the water and on the boat.

Daddy and the babies

Dee Dee, PaPa and the babies

This is one of our favorite places to go and I'm so happy that my family will always have South Carolina to go to as a place where we can always be together. With my family so spread out, its great to have a meeting ground where we all enjoy going.

Christmas 2011

It has been another wonderful Christmas at our house. We had family her to help experience the joy of Christmas in the eyes of my children. Julian was so excited about christmas and couldn't wait for morning to come. And the twins were actually understanding that something special was about to happen. They understood that they were about to get a present from a man called Santa. They knew exactly what they wanted and would tell anyone that would ask.

We ended up doing Christmas morning in shifts due to wake up times. Julian is our early riser, like his father, so he was up around 6 am. We all got up with him and went down to see what santa brought. He was very excited. We all had a late night so were very tired, but woke up fast to see him experience Christmas. The twins got up around 8, so then we did it all over again with them. It actually worked out really well, because we could spend time seeing what Julian got and opened presents from each other and then could help the twins navigate through their toys and presents. I think it was a little overwhelming for the babies, but eventually made it through all the toys.

Here are a few pictures from our morning. It was hard to get too many because we were opening presents with the babies most of the morning.

This was the babies last day of preschool before Christmas break. They dressed up for the holidays in their Christmas Red and had a great day at school for their party. Love how far they've come since school started. Alex is a different child now when I drop him off. He says bye and gives me a kiss, but is very happy when I pick him up a couple hours later.

Julian was first down the stairs bright and early to see what Santa had brought. His big gift this year was a new bike that is bigger than his old one since he's growing so fast. I think it looks a little scary to him right now, but when it's nice enough to get outside, he'll do just fine.

Of course we had animal presents that were some of his favorites.

Checking out Alex's train table before he comes down.

What would presents be for Julian without some dinosaurs.

And our new interest this year is the wrestling men.

Lilly's and Alex's side of presents.

my beautiful Christmas tree. I love christmas decorations. Wish it could stay up all year round.

My sweet boy, getting so big

Papa looking at his shirts we made him with his boat on the back. And we all got one to match.

Santa didn't leave many cookies left and drank all his milk.

Mommy bringing 2 sleepy babies downstairs to see what was for them. Lilly poked her head up when Alex got up and told us, "me not up". Gotta love a child that likes to sleep in. takes after her mamma.

lilly and Alex, Christmas morning

Lilly asked for a baby with a bottle and that's what she got.

Alex playing with his "dig dig"

Checking out the new train table.

The baby has a bed now, and Charley was giving some kisses to Lilly

opening their ugh shoes from dee dee and papa

Blake playing with Lilly

We are going to continue our family time and head to Seabrook SC tomorrow. It's going to be a little warmer outside to enjoy the beach and park and get some time to play together. Jess is joining us and we had some exciting news that she got engaged to be married to Patrick. We are so happy for her and can't wait to help Jess plan her wedding. She deserves so much to be happy and we love seeing a smile on her face.

We have had a wonderful December and look forward to what 2012 has in store for us. We have many new things going on in the horizon and again we look forward to the changes and what life has in store for our family.