the perreault family

grandpa

Published on January 12, 2013 by kristenperreault3 Comments

On Friday we spent the day surrounded by family and friends remembering Jamie’s Grandpa; I never knew that my heart could feel so heavy yet full all at the same time. Throughout the weeks after losing Grandpa, story after story was shared, memories were recounted and the same sentiment was reiterated over and over again about what a wonderful, wonderful man he was. I ache with our human sorrow, finding it still so difficult to believe that he is actually gone and I struggle each time Jay asks if Grandpa is coming over or where Grandpa is. Moving on without him will be so difficult but I can’t help but feel SO richly blessed for the time that we got with him.

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (New Revised Standard Version, 2 Tim. 4.6-8)

Family Circles

Published on January 10, 2013 by oboesax10 Comments

Kristen and I have wanted to make a printable family tree for a while and what better motivation than Christmas gifts? We looked at a few ideas and the inspiration for the design we ultimately landed on is now nowhere to be found so we can’t link to them. Anyway, below are the three family “trees” that we created. And by “we” I mean that Kristen did all the design concept work and I clicked the mouse a few times in a graphics program with her supervision. We gave these to the grandparents and any other family members whose names we happened to draw and we’re happy to print more for other family members.

I will also point out that my very compulsive wife insisted that all photos be chronological by birth. Whether the aesthetics worked best clockwise or counter-clockwise, the second generation is in age order and then the third generation is in age order while staying within the bounds of their parents, etc.

Unfortunately, we didn’t do a circle for Kristen’s Dad’s family, the Westlakes. We don’t get to see that extended family often and obtaining all the required pictures would have been exceedingly difficult.

2013

Published on January 4, 2013 by kristenperreault2 Comments

The ball has dropped and the New Year has been rung in and as we begin 2013 I have a hard time with some people’s approach to the past year. I think that it is easy for most people to look at the past year and only remember the difficult times and the things that they so quickly want to get away from. I think it is difficult, yet so much more rewarding, to point out the things, regardless of how small, that were so wonderful and I can only wish to relive a million times over…

Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so as we begin 2013 I want to take a moment to remember, remember those cherished moments and times I don’t ever want to forget because I can only hope that is what my children will do when they get to an age where they are able to reflect.

This year…

-My baby boys turned one and two years old. They are happy, healthy and so FULL of life.

-Jamie and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. We didn’t have a big celebration or go out for a fancy meal but we did take a moment to acknowledge just how lucky we are to have found each other.

-My baby boy, Charlie, learned to sit on his own, crawl and then walk. He is exploring his world with each new mile stone and taking it all in.

-Charlie started giving kisses, hugs and started saying Mama and meaning it. Melt me…

-Jay Bird learned SO much… news songs, new words, colors, shapes, the beginnings of reading. I could go on but this post just isn’t long enough. He is a sponge and I LOVE that he is continuously soaking it all in.

-Jamie’s job got better and he got to finally work from home once a week consistently which means that we got to have lunch with Grandpa almost every week for the last year; something so simple yet so cherished.

-We watched as dear friends expanded their families and welcomed precious babies into this world.

-We visited with family and friends that we don’t get to see often.

-We welcomed family back home.

-We played. We played inside with toys, we played outside at the park. We played uninterrupted with our children for as long as we wanted to.

-We celebrated holidays both big and small with joy and the enthusiasm of our children.

2012 has been a year full of blessings; here’s to 2013 and another year of the same.

the little things

Published on December 21, 2012 by kristenperreaultLeave a comment

Sometimes you can’t help but smile at the little things that surround you and make your life just that much better ;)

good girl

Published on December 19, 2012 by kristenperreault1 Comment

She’s a really, really good girl- we are very lucky that we got picked to be her humans…

little reader in the making

Published on December 18, 2012 by kristenperreault1 Comment

Frequently our house gets quiet and I go to find out what kind of shenanigans that boys are getting into. This is usually what I find…

Love that he LOVES books :)

meeting santa

Published on December 17, 2012 by kristenperreault1 Comment

Santa makes the rounds in Winter Park every holiday season; driving down the streets, waving at people, passing out candy and making a few stops along the way to visit with kiddos. Since one of his stops was just down the road from us we decided to pack up the boys and meet Santa. Both boys were pretty leery of actually sitting with him and honestly, Jay only did it after getting distracted by Charlie screaming but he did sit with him and told him that he would like some new books for Christmas- LOVE that kiddo!

Here are the photos in all of their glory- the lighting was horrible since we were standing in a dark parking lot but you can get the general idea and it has been documented for posterity’s sake ;)

Santa’s set up- a john deer tractor with a Rudolph head pulling a trailer with a sleigh attached

we decorated our tree

Published on December 15, 2012 by kristenperreault2 Comments

Last year we didn’t decorate our tree… it toppled over once (because a certain little boy pulled on the lights) before the decorations were on it so we decided to just stick with lights to be safe. This year, after a bunch of deliberation Jamie and I decided that we would decorate our tree. I like having the decorations on it and all of the memories that are coupled with them; however to be on the safe side we only hung non-breakable ornaments. It was the first time that Jay helped decorate the tree and I love that we let him help. He had such a great time looking at and hanging the ornaments and I love how there are places with clumps of ornaments because he hung them so close to each other :)

Here’s photos from the decorating and by the way he does not have to be convinced to wear the holiday headbands at all; he loves them! He did last year too…

Jay offering Daddy a chair because he told him that he couldn’t reach to put the star on

Ruby

Published on December 14, 2012 by kristenperreault1 Comment

On December 1 this little guy crashed at our place. If you aren’t familiar with the Elf on the Shelf (it’s fairly new) check this out for more specific details but here is the gist. Elves are assigned by Santa to children’s houses to watch and see if they are being naughty or nice. Each elf (named by the children/family) is magical and cannot be touched by the children without loosing their magic. Each elf flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa and then shows up in a new spot in the house every morning until Christmas- call it a modern “Santa’s Watching You” with a mascot. Surprisingly, the day before Ruby showed up at our place Jay was playing and asked me if I had met is elf friends- Ruby, Pinks and Sammy. So the name Ruby, which he came up with on his own, kind of just stuck…

Honestly, all of this is a little above Jay’s head. He can’t grasp that Christmas isn’t today and he is a little confused about Santa but that aside, it’s still fun and I can only assume that it will be more fun next year and each year after that. Kids add so much magic to the holidays :)

So here’s a sneak peek at Ruby and the super awesome breakfast that he (yes, Ruby is a dude) brought from the North Pole on his first morning visit…

Charlie REALLY liked his snowmen donuts!

love this next photo because of Charlie’s feet- he’s rubbing them together absent-mindedly

tree elves

Published on December 13, 2012 by kristenperreault2 Comments

Honestly, I am not exactly sure how it started or why but each year Jamie and I pick up Christmas Trees for most of his family. I think it may have started one year when someone asked us to grab them one after hearing how reasonably priced ours was going to be and then the last few years we have taken more “orders”. Let me preface this story by saying that I love the holidays, I love getting a tree and I love picking out trees for others too. Honestly, I usually have trouble sleeping the day before we pick out trees… I think it’s the excitement over the holiday season starting, I know it’s silly but so true…

It’s been a fun tradition. We pick out the trees, trim them up with Pepere’s chainsaw and then deliver them to our “patrons”. This is the second year that Maggie and Josh have tree elved with us and it was just as fun as it usually is :)