Missing you......

I miss you so much today Dad!

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day!

It's been raining most of the day, how fun! We have been super busy, or maybe just I have been. I took my Girl Scout troop to camporee in October, that was a lot of fun. Last week, I ran a table at the polls for Girl Scout recruitment, and then I had to keep Kaitlin up all night Wednesday night so she would sleep for a test on Thursday. Now let me tell you, that was FUN!

The kids got report cards, and had conferences. Chris did ok, he's been about average. Kaitlin did awesome, she missed honors by one grade, and that was mainly because she failed a test. She studied hard, but just didn't get it! Oh well!

Nicky is growing like a weed! He is just so BIG, and so full of energy!

I guess that's about it here, until next time!

Tracy


One of my favorite pictures and memories of my Dad!








Nicky turning 4 years old



Camporee! Sophia, Emma, Delaney, and Victoria

Camporee! Kaitlin, Rachel, Jennie, and Sarah

My Dad's tree!

Happy Birthday Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I miss you so much, I can't believe this is your second birthday away from us, how time flies. I think of you everyday, and miss you so much. You will always be in my heart.

I love you,

Tracy

Happy Birthday Mungus

Dear Nicky,

I just wanted to tell you how happy you have made me these last four years. I love you so much. I love the funny things you do, and how you make me smile everyday, I love your miss and hug every morning, and rubbing you back at bedtime. I love it when you cuddle with me for no reason, and I especially love how you miss and talk about your Papa. I know he misses you too, and I'm sure he will be with us tomorrow when you have your "Uncle Tom" party(Thomas the Tank Engine) I love when you are supposed to be sleeping but I find you in bed with your books cause you are reading, I love how you can do everything your self, but when you can't you say oh, just kiddin. I love your dimples, and your cute little bum, and I really love your curlies! I love everything about you!

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Love,

Mama

Bumps and Bruises!!!

Well, it has been a crazy few weeks here in the Rayner house. We have suffered all sorts of injuries, but the best two happened to Dada and Mama. Dada broke his ankle playing softball. He got a line drive right on the old ankle bone and broke it. The first two are the day he did it, and the next ones are about 5 days after!! Pretty huh??

I spent the past weekend at overnight camp training for girl scouts, and we got to try archery. Well archery is NOT my friend. Check out this bruise on my arm from trying it!

We make a good pair! The sucky part about it all is that Dave can't work his second job, which of course make things pretty tight around here!!!!

Aside from bruises, here is a cute picture Kaitlin took of Mama, Dada, and Nicky snuggling!

Nothing like snuggling on the couch! Until next time!

Girl Scout Camp!!

Kaitlin had a blast at camp. She went to Wizards in the Woods, Harry Potter of course! She got a little homesick after getting 2 ticks, but made it through the week! It was good to see her on Friday, however, the fighting has started up again!! It's almost as if she never went away for a week. Can't wait until Chris leaves in a couple of weeks!!

Not much else going on around here, except that I turned another year older! Kaitlin's birthday is tomorrow, she's turning 11! That's another post all on it's own! Until next time........

Reindeer, Wall climbing, Log flumes, and Vermont!

Nicky and Dad checking out the reindeer at Santa's Village!
Kaitlin checking out the reindeer at Santa's Village!

Nicky Wall Climbing at Clark's Trading Post
Log Flume ride at Santa's Village!
We went to Vermont, none of us except Dad have ever been!!

We had a blast camping, we went to Santa's Village and Clark's. The bear show was pretty cool. The kids had a lot of fun, Kaitlin met a boy at the campground swimming pool.....

We drove into Vermont, and had some maple sugar. Took a picture to prove it since we(the kids and I) have never been there!

As you can see they all loved the log flume ride, of course I didn't get on it! But they had fun and Dad got the most wet!

More to come.......

Why???

Does anyone know why? Why on earth is it that every time you start feeling good, and normal, everything crashes down again, and you feel like your heart has been ripped out of your chest again?????

Grief drives me NUTS!!

This and That

Don't have much to say, so this is going to be a bunch of ramblings......



First, I made it through the 19th, Thank you to my friends who thought of me that day. It was a bit sad, but all in all OK. I miss him so much! I think Father's Day was harder than the 19th.....



The kids are out of school. They have attended Vacation Bible School this week, so it hasn't really seemed like they are out yet. They have enjoyed their time at VBS, but I think they will be glad when it is over so they can enjoy being out of school.



We are leaving for a camping trip on Sunday. I think we all need it, and I can't wait! We are headed to the white mountains, please pray for good weather! 3 kids in a tent during rain, NOT FUN!!



We were blessed by a friend, and received a soft-set pool, we just got that up yesterday, not quite running yet, but soon! It's 12 ft. x 3 ft. so should keep us cool for the summer!! Thanks to the Major's!!



Not much else going on here. Here are a few pictures, I'll post camping pictures when we get back!

The family being silly!

Best Buddies digging in the sand!

In Loving Memory

My Dad, Bob Bridges

10/15/1947 - 06/19/2007

Missing you so much, and loving you always!

Love,

Tracy, Dave, Katie Bear, Dude, and Lip Stick Boy

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Dad,
I love you and miss you more than ever. It was a day with mixed emotion, I had a hard time picking out cards for everyone but you. I wanted to, but I guess I can't keep buying cards to just go unopened and sitting by your urn now can I? This whole weekend has been hard, and I am sure Thursday will be the hardest. My heart is still in so many pieces, I miss you and think of you everyday. You were the BEST Dad a girl could ask for, I wish we had a few more years together. You will always be in my heart, and you will be forever missed. I hope Father's Day in heaven is really a wonderful thing.
Love,
Tracy

To my big brother, HAPPY BIRTHDAY(Belated)

This post is for my big brother, yesterday was his 41st birthday. Aside from my father, my brother has always been another of my hero's! He seemed so cool growing up, and I wanted to be like him, THANK GOD I am not!! :) Just kidding!
I remember how he was such a dare devil growing up. It seemed that he was always hurt. I remember the time he ran into the front porch playing football(or was it baseball?) I remember the stories of when he split his head open with the axe in one of the foundations of a new house being built, I remember when we(my mom, dad, brother and I) were shopping in Portland and he rolled over the Brat, I remember when I was on the couch with strep throat and he was beating up my other brother and they broke the leg off the couch,I remember the time dad was chopping wood and hit all three of us in the head, I remember the time he was helping dad fix the motorcycle and dad accidentally cut his finger off, and of course I remember the valentines day when he sent both me and my mom flowers. Bet you don't remember that do you??
Anyway, I just wanted him to know that I have always looked up to him, and I love him very much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BROTHER! Hope your day turned out to be a good one!

Love,
Tracy

No sleep

I was up a million times last night. First had to use potty(yes I have a little one!), then I thought that I heard the little one screaming/crying(but he wasn't), then my loving husband knocked over a bottle and woke me out of a nice sound sleep at 4:00 am. That was the end of my sleep for the night!

The only good thing about it is that I have done 2 loads of laundry, ran the dishwasher and unloaded it, cleaned most of the kitchen, and got on here to blog! How about that. I can accomplish something if I put my mind to it (and get up at 4:30 !)

We went to the Sea Dogs game last night and we really had a great time in spite of getting rained on. Yes we were fools sitting there while it rained, but the game was good. We did eventually leave, I was getting cold. When we left the Sea Dogs were wining. I don't know the final score!

Today is early release day, so there will be no rest(a.k.a. NAP) for me today :( Oh well, maybe I'll actually get the house clean! YEAH!

A productive day!

Nicky enjoying the parade!

Chris marching in the parade.
Tammy and I marching in the parade!
Kaitlin holding the Girl Scouts banner in the parade!

Well, I had a rather productive day today. I guess you can say that anyway. I did a lot of cleaning, made two pinatas, filled out lot's of paperwork, did two loads of laundry, watched the season finale of LOST, cooked and ate dinner, and managed to get on here and blog! I am sure I did other things as well, but just those few make for a productive day!

My kids were productive as well, at least the older two! They both cleaned their rooms, and I must say, that was a feat in itself! Nicky however just kind of "helped" everyone, and managed a nice long nap(which made easy watching of the LOST finale). He refused to eat the fish for dinner though and ended up having just veggies and noodles. Kaitlin ate some fish, but gave up when she realized there was no dessert tonight! Chris ate every bite, and had seconds as well!

Dave, I think, was productive as well. He didn't fix my vacuum like I wanted, but oh well there is always tomorrow!!

A clean house....

Is that even possible? It seems that no matter how much I clean in one day, five minutes later my house is a HUGE mess!
I once followed a site called fly lady, but somehow got away from it. I just wish there was a magic powder that I could sprinkle around, and POOF, everything would be clean!
Anyone out there have any suggestions? Any tips? Any advice at all? I swear my house is the messiest house of all!!!!!
It is somewhat clean today, wonder how long that will last??

The weekend

Our weekend was fun filled and oh so busy! Saturday was the usual errands, and cleaning, but the rest of the weekend was great fun!

Sunday, we went down to our friends home in Revere, MA. We haven't seen them in many months, and although they bought their home a year ago, we haven't been down to see it yet. They have a beautiful back yard(fenced in) and a lovely home. I didn't have to worry at all about Nicky! The kids ran and played all day. Somehow our discussion turned to wine, and champagne. No of us are big drinkers, but we got on the subject, and before I knew it, the men went off and came home with 3 bottle of wine. One was a champagne, and the other 2 wine. Between the 4 of us we polished off 1 and 1/2 bottles! YUM, and I hate wine! We had a great visit, and really enjoyed our time. I did forget sunblock thought and everyone got sunburned! OOPS!!

Monday was busy and fun too, Kaitlin, Christopher, and I were all in the local parade. Nicky and Dave joined my mom, brother, Grandpa(Dave's dad), and some friends to watch. After the parade my brother helped us trim some branches on one of our trees, and then I went to a friends house to do some girls scout stuff. Dave and the kids hung out, rode the dirt bike, and did some yard work. Then we went and got burgers for the grill, and rented national Treasure 2!

It turned out to be a pretty great weekend! Hope you all enjoyed your too!

You learn something new every day

So, you all know the old saying right? Well today it has rang true for me. Not only did I learn something new but, I learned 2 new things. Both were about my new van, first: If you take the middle row of seats out of the van, you can move the back row up, and you have much more room in the very back for trips like camping(which we are going to be doing in a few weeks), and second: the little "hooks" on the back of the very back seat (the ones that look like cup holders sort of, but aren't) they are to hook your grocery bags on, so they don't fly around when you drive home! Imagine that, two things I didn't know, and feel like such a dork for not knowing!
So, I'll offer up many thanks to my mom and my brother for graciously pointing those two things out to me! Thanks guys!
Hope everyone out there in blog land have a wonderful holiday weekend! If you are in Scarborough, Maine, look for us in the parade on Monday!!

I am sad......

Today started like most days, get up, get kids up, get kids ready for school, get self and Nicky ready, take kids to school, and run errands(if I have any), then come home. All was well until I pulled into the driveway and started crying.
It doesn't take much for me to cry, in fact the past year it seems all I have done is cry. June 19th is just around the corner, and I am dreading it! Dave will be at work, the kids will be at school, it will be just Nicky and I. For those of you who are reading, and don't know me, my dad passed away last year on June 19th. As the day grows nearer, the sadder I become, it has been almost as bad as that night a year ago when I watched him say goodbye, and take his last breath. My heart still aches. I miss him so much, and although I know I will see him again someday, I want him here now! My kids miss him too, Nicky especially talks about him almost daily. He asks all the time if papa can come home now......How precious is that? How do you answer that? The innocence of a three year old.
Anyway, that's about it here. I am sad. Nothing more, nothing less, just sad. And so life goes on, with out my dad, I will survive. I will come to a better place and not be so sad. For now, I will just miss him, and cry in the driveway when I need to!

Being Kaitlin's mom!

Ok, so I love my daughter, but being her mom has to be about the hardest thing I have done in my life. She pushes every button I have, and never let's up! Some days I feel completely incompetent at being a mother.
She can be the most loving, polite child around one minute and be calling me all sorts of names the next. I wish I could figure out what drives her.
She has been this way since birth almost. I clearly remember when she learned to crawl, that was it! She wanted nothing more to do with me, miss independent! I long for the perfect mother/daughter relationship!!!

Here we go!

Well, here we are. I decided to start this blog because I really enjoy reading many blogs on a daily basis! I figured it might be time to start my own. Besides it will give me something to read when I get old and gray.....
:)