Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!! Rather than going door to door looking for treats, the church sponsored a " trunk or treating" event. The local market let them use their parking lot and everybody that was participating decorated the trunk of their car and then stood beside their trunk as the kids went from car to car! The parking lot was closed off so it was really safe for the kids. The people giving out candy were all people we know and the kids had an AWESOME time. It was actually really fun for the parents too! The people giving out the candy were so into the spirit of things and a great time was had by all

What is this picture of this winter wonderland? Well......it is what was happening yesterday! Although I am usually an avid weather follower, this storm caught me off guard and unprepared!

How beautiful did it look though? I love snow storms. I love being snowed in with John and the kids, I love baking when it's snowing, I love making the kids hot chocolate and I love staying in our P.J's all day. None of this was possible yesterday. The kids had a snow day, but we had no power, no phone, no heat and no water! Luckily when John came home he was ablke to hook us up to a generator so we had light, HEAT and a refrigerator. The wind was howling ,trees were falling and it was a nasty storm! But we do live in upstate NY and snow is a part of life here.

Pre Christmas

We are doing a fantasy picture for our Christmas card. So I needed to take somew pictures of the kids for the photographer. I know it's early.....please don't stone me. But the pictures are cute and I wanted to share them! Lori..I know Ive been tagged as soon as I can figure out how to "link" I will do it. I have an insert link icon but it doesn't work. Oh Yeah...thanks!!

I'm Back.......

What's new with the Franco's? We have been very very busy. There has been no time for blogging or pictures but hopefully things are calming down! John's mom has been very ill. We found out last week she was in the cardiac intensive care unit. She is 93. Our families live on Long Island which is about 3-4 hours from us. So John made a trip down there mid week and the kids and I went down the end of the week. She is improving and we are thankful for that. This is my children's only grandparent. Tori turned 6 on October 8th. It seems lately that the kid's birthdays go from one day to a week long celebration by the time we finish seeing everybody. Tori had cake at her birthday party, a treat on her actual birthday in her class, a special dessert that night at home, followed by 3 cakes with relatives. My first baby turned 6...seems like I was just bringing her home! Bella has been busy with gymnastics. She really enjoys it and is quite good at it. It is hard for her because she is in a class with children 2 years older than her. She is small compared to them and she doesnt always follow directions.....Bella.....not follow directions?........OH YES! Little John is thankful to have mommy to himself for 3 hours a day now. he is busy with speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and soon vision therapy. He is still working very hard to overcome these delays! Big John is working very hard. He has had few days off and he is the hardest working man I know. He loves his family and would do anything for any of us. Ok now me....Well the biggest thing continues to be my journey of getting healthy and losing weight. It is a daily struggle. Eating and emotions are so intertwined. I am happy with the decision I made but it is still difficult! I am down 42 pounds and am very proud of my accomplishment! my goal is 50 pound by Christmas. Of course, I will take more but That was the first goal I set for myself. You made it to the end!! Thats it in a nutshell. I am hoping to get around to pictures soon!

Bella Does Gymnastics

A couple of months ago Isabella started doing cartwheels on the lawn. REALLY good cartwheels. I questioned her several times about how she learned this. Apparently there is an episode of Dragon Tales where Emme has to cartwheel over the ogre's bridge. I think The dragons teach her how. This was all Bella needed! So she started gymnastics yesterday. It's always nice when your children find their talent on their own. John took her to class yesterday. She was put in a class with 3 and 4 year olds. After one class the instructor moved her to a class with 5 and 6 year olds! How cool is that? especially since she just turned 4 in May. John took these pictures with his cell phone so they are kind of small. Bella we are so proud of you! Of course John reports that Bella sometimes is more interested in socializing. Im glad she is having fun and Im glad that she has found something that is all hers.

Chipping away at...............

Working hard staying focused on being healthy. Today I went back to regular food.....soft/mushy. It tasted really good. Ready for the good news......I am down 32 pounds and it feels really good to say that! Lets see how it goes for the next 2 weeks.......

Just Pictures