Happy Holidays to all !

Well we have lost the motivation to just get up and get out, it is 2:15 in the afternoon. The kids are still in their pj's. They have enjoyed playing the many Wii games they got for the holidays, Alyssa and Aryn have been reading, Andrew has been playing with his friends. Everyone is finally better... We are just enjoying staying home today.

Last week we went to Lake Myra Christmas lights. This is just a few neighbors who have put up a ton of lights, and synchronized them with a computer to some really great Christmas music. We saw 3 movies! We all saw Alvin and the Chipmunks and Old Dogs. The girls and i saw The Princess and the Frog ( the boys went golfing!) Tomorrow we are heading to the NC Museum of History in Raleigh. We have never been! I think it is time we ventured out!




pictures of Lake Myra


Christmas morning , in their new pj's :D



Alyssa got these cute jammies from Uncle Brian and family, Aryn liked them so much she spent her Target gift card on a pair for herself!


Our tree


We went to see Santa at Triangle Town Center. Boy times have changed! 2 years ago we were given a pager(like you get in a restaraunt)this year signs up in line that read" no personal cameras or cell phones permitted past this point" I have to say i was a bit taken back.So needless to say, i had to buy a package w/ a flash drive just to get the digital rights to the photo!




Hope everyone had a joyful holiday season, and we hope that 2010 is filled with magic for all!

We are back from a trip to Chicago ....

and boy are we tired ! This was the first long social visit of the year and we had a ton of catching up to do !
We were blessed enough to have a Thanksgiving celebration 3 times in 1 week! We are thankful that so many people were able to share their time with us. We also were able to squeeze in a trip to the Aurora Outlet mall and Downtown Chicago to the Christkindlmarket .... as well as a stop to White Castle!

We are now gearing up for Christmas, and so much more.... the girls are marching in a parade on Saturday, having a fund raising Pancake breakfast with Santa for their dance troop and we have tons of Holiday events and parties coming up. We are hoping to squeeze in a weekend at Winterfest..... can you believe Downtown Raleigh has an outdoor skating rink?? I will share photos when we get to go.

Happy Holidays to all our friends and family!







At the german christmas festival at Daly Plaza in chicago


In front of the famed Chicago theater- we are standing in front of the Macys' windows, the day before the parade.

Kevin enjoying his birthday with the cousins ..... and a homemade german chocalate cake , compliments of Martha Stewart's twin sister, Debbie :D

Happy Halloween , turkey day countdown has began!

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you collected tons of good candy (make sure you send in the leftovers to school for the treat/ treasure chest) We have 5 bags of candy that were not even opened! We had a total of 30 trick or treaters! I was hoping with it being on the weekend we would have some more.

This year we spent a great afternoon at the Farmers Market picking out our pumpkins. We also enjoyed some goodies from the German bakery :D


Andrew said he was not going to dress up this year. Made my heart heavy. Then at the last minute we picked up this mask, he tied a black blanket around his neck and put on his roller blades. he had fun terrorizing the pre-teens of the neighborhood! (and of course his sisters!)


Alyssa reused her witch costume from a few years ago, she looked lovely w/ some black lipstick and purple eye lashes!


Aryn was a candy corn witch, so cute!


The crew , ready to haunt!

September is always such a busy month

and after i flipped the calendar i realized october is just as crazy! We have visitors arriving next week, the girls perform at the state fair, halloween, and lots of school, dance and hockey things happening! Before we have the time to stop and take a breather , christmas will be here ! YIKES!

Speaking of christmas , yesterday i was at target and they had a little x-mas countdown- 82 more days! Now that is a scary thought!

We just returned from the mountains of North Carolina (Fontana to be exact) We attending the Fontana Clogging Jamboree for the Second year. The girls had a great time. We had some great cabin mates, and i had my first ever "surprise party" A special thanks to Joann and Melissa for arranging it for me!

On the way home we stopped in Hendersonville and picked apples. They have been yummy! I made apple pie squares, a carmel dip, and carmel apples. (and we still have a very large bag of apples!)

Enjoy the cooler weather, i will post again when i am able to take a breather !

It has been almost 7 years since the entire "Josupait Clan' had been together. This weekend the 7 year dry spell came to an end . The kids got to play w/ cousins they have never met, we got to celebrate birthdays, and see family we had not seen in along time.
Grandma and Grandpa with all of the the Grandkids






everybody together again...



silly kids :D


Birthday Princess and Aunt Linda



the boys...





sweet justine w/ her first webkinz from alyssa, aryn and andrew

little man Reed

have been such a bad blogger this summer. I have a list of excuses , always busy, nothing to blog about, i am on facebook , does anyone even read the blog. Well apparently so as i get messages from people about being so slack on it. For that i am sorry ! Now to do some catching up . The kids started back to school on 8/25. Can't believe that next year we will have a high schooler , middle schooler and 4ht grader! Crazy!

Aryn at her desk ... a big 3rd grader! last year i didnt get a first day of school photo of her ( long story but she was not happy about going back to school ) anyway, many times through out the year she would ask me to take a "first day photo of her...
Aryn and Mrs B.... Ms Butcher moved up to 3rd grade and we were lucky to be able to get her again! Many of the same classmates and a great teacher !

Alyssa and Mrs Reffit, the best 5th grade teacher in the world! Andrew had Mrs Reffit when he was in 5th grade, love her ! It is going to be a great year for ALyssa!

MY big 5th grader!


my handsome (and very tan ) 8th grader! Sporting his new t-shirt :D



I have been lucky enough to have gotten in 2 scrapbook days this summer! I bought a basic grey card kit and love the results.Just what i needed to get in the holiday christmas card mode...not!


My little sunshine. Not sure when this happened but all of a sudden i have the beautiful, radiant , ball of joy :D - love the k&co embellies!


This one documents how much the girls changed over one summer . the photo on the left was the last day of 1st and 3rd grade, photo on the right first day of 2nd and 4th . Amazing how much they changed in 2 months !

My little wise guy. Great die cut for my revolution die cut system .


apples for the teachers (hey it doesnt hurt to start the year off on the right foot )



thats it for now! thanks for being so patient w/my lack of updates :D

today my baby is 8 .....

sniff, sniff! Aryn had a small sleep over with 4 friends and then we headedf for a day at the pool. She said instead of a birthday cake she wanted fondue ( a girl after my own heart) For her actual birthday dinner we went to mellow mushroom. They gave her this giant pretzel, how cool is that ! She had a great birthday!

Such a kind soul

Today Aryn donated her hair to locks of love , for the 2nd time ! She has a beautful brunette 10 inch pony to donate and great new do !

School year has come to an end ....

The girls had their last dance recital at Step Ahead Dance. We had been dancing there under the current director for 4 years . It is time for a change and we are sad to leave our step ahead family behind but think it is for the best. Alyssa was in 7 routines and Aryn was in 3. So glad they love to dance !




Andrew made is confirmation on May 26th at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Garner. We were blessed to gav Grandma and Grandpa Josupait attend the service and be here to witness.



Always so bitter sweet when the school year ends.... the kids are getting older , another year under the belt. But i also get to have them all to myself for the next 60 days ( which i am usually excited about for about a week , then for some reason that excitment wears off)

We have no travel plans this summer. We are expecting a few visitors in July and August. We also just joined a pool and golf club so we will be spending some time in the sun and on the greens !

Summer didnt start quite as planned , Aryn missed the last 2 days of school with strep throught. She has a 103 degree fever for almost 4 days ! She is better now, and looking forward to starting summer!