Sam turns 6!

In March Sam turned 6 years old!  Where has the time gone?  He is growing up so fast.  Most days he loves school although getting up for school is another story.  He would rather sleep in.  He is doing well in school.  He is reading at a 1st grade level and is above average in math as well.  Unfortunately he sometimes gets bored or has to let off steam and gets in to trouble for fooling around with his friends.  It can be frustrating as a parent, but people reassure us and tell us that it is a phase that he will get through.

1 think has not changed though and that is Sam's love of cars.

Spring Break 2012

So this year for Spring Break we decided to go to Pittsburgh.  I know, not warm, but we wanted to show Sam where he was born.  We had not been back in 6 years since we moved to Unadilla.  

It was so nice to be back.  We ate at a number of our old favorite restaurants and visited with some old friends.  We were also able to visit Trinity and see some more friends and also the tree that they planted in the memory of Josiah just before we left. 

Of course we also saw Sam's favorite part - Heinz Field where the Steelers play.  Scott, Sam, and Maria got to get their picture taken in Ben Roethlisberger's locker.  We also got to eat at Jerome Bettis' restaurant.  I think that they will be so excited to watch them play this fall and say they were there on that field.

We were also blessed to spend a few days with John and MaryBeth Cruikshank - Sam's Godparents and some of our best friends.  We loved being able to talk with them like old times and Sam and Maria made fast friends.  Maria especially loved playing tea with MaryBeth.

Flood Recovery

Reconstruction of the rectory and church has begun! YAY! It has been almost 2 months since we were hit by the second flood in Unadilla in 5 years. When the first one happened we were told that it was a 100 year flood. So we must be 95 years to the good right? We are truly hoping we never have to see anything like this again. For us it was not quite as bad as in 2006. We had 3 inches of water in the house and 4 1/2 feet in the church basement where the offices and nursery were. In 2006 it was almost 3 feet in the house and 6 feet in the church. It is still enough to disrupt life though. The church had to replace 2 furnaces, 2 water heaters, everything in the offices and in the nursery. Not to mention cutting the drywall off half of the wall. At the house we only had to cut 6 inches of dry wall, but still enough that we have had to have contractors come in and re dry wall, put new floors in, and we will re paint. Because of the working needed down stairs we have been living on the upper floor of our house with the contents our our lower floor living in our dining room for the moment.

I am so glad to have the reconstruction started. They crew working here is going quickly. They are almost finished with the walls. Hopefully they will be ready to paint soon.

Here are some pictures of the damage to the church and house:

Maria is 3 years old! Well, more like 3 going on 13, but... She had a great time at her party which was a Beauty and the Beast theme. She loves "princa's".
It is amazing how fast they grow. To think that when we moved to Unadilla she wasn't even born and Sam was only 3 months old.

They are so active now. Maria loves to play with her babies and stuffed animals. She is such a girly girl at times. She also likes to rough house with her brother.

Sam is adjusting to kindergarten and loves his teacher. He is in an active class and sometimes others behaviors are rubbing off on him. We have had to have a few discussions about how fooling around in the hall and pushing people is not ok. He likes to learn, but the full day is tiring for him though.


On another note at the end of October I began a new job.  I am working for Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego BOCES.  I split my time between two schools.  I am in Unadilla Valley Middle School and High School and also at Oxford Academy Primary School.  I am really enjoying being back at work and getting used to being at 2 different school libraries.

September 2011

We are only 9 days in to September 2011 and I feel like it has been forever.
Sam had his first day of kindergarten on Wednesday the 7th. (I will post pictures tomorrow) He was not very happy to be going without Mommy, Daddy, or Maria. Of course he didn't say Maria though. :-) He cried, but I have it good authority, from his teacher, that it only lasted about 2 minutes and then he was fine.
His first day ended early though because school was let out at 1:30 due to flooding.
We thought the flooding was going to remain localized, but the Susquehanna kept rising and before we knew it we got a phone call letting us know that we were going to be asked to evacuate. Deja Vou. I felt like I did 5 years ago when they knocked on our door 2 weeks after we moved to Unadilla to tell us that we needed to evacuate because the river was flooding. In 2006 we got about 6 feet of water in the basement of church which houses all the offices and Sunday school/nursery as well as the furnace. We also had about 2 1/2 - 3 feet in the bottom floor of our house. We live in a split level with no basement. Our first floor contains a family room, playroom/office, storage room, garage, and guest room. In 2006 we had hardly anything there.
Now, 5 years later we have a lot more. We spent over 2 hours on Wednesday trying to get the easily moved expensive items up to the next level and packing to evacuate to my parents. This time instead of on 3 month old, we have a 5 year old, 2 year old, and 2 dogs to move. I actually thing that the baby was easier. He certainly asked a lot less questions and worried less.

We have been staying in Clifton Park and keeping an eye on the flooding via facebook, you tube, and phone calls. We got news today that there are about 4 feet of water in the basement of the church and about 1 1/2 feet of water in our house. Not really looking forward to cleaning everything out again. I can still smell the smell when I think of last time - ugh. At least this time the church has flood insurance. Hopefully the damage is less and will be quickly cleaned up. We are pros at this now after all.

Scott always jokes about the fact that whenever he plans a picnic - it rains. Well the last picnic he planned two weeks ago we got Hurricane Irene. He didn't plan one this time, but I am beginning to think he attracts the rain.

Maria's new big girl bed. She is very excited to have her own big girl bed. She is doing great with it too. She only fell out once on the first night that she slept in it. I was a little afraid that she was going to want to get up and play when she was supposed to be sleeping, but so far that has not been a problem. Sam likes the fact that she has a big girl bed too. Now he can get her up in the morning and play with her without having to climb into her crib.

Steelers

Our little Steeler fans. They love cheering loudly and are very animated! Too bad they couldn't will the Steelers to win last Sunday. Sam is so upset that there is no more football for months.