sheesh where does the time go?!

So it has been a month and a half since I was last on here and I really don't know where all that time went. December was a very busy month for us. Getting ready for the holidays, then celebrating the holidays, a little bit of traveling and the start of moving/selling the house. 


As of January 9, 2011, our house is officially on the market to be sold!!! I HOPE AND PRAY EVERYDAY that it happens for us! So everyone keep your fingers crossed and pray for us, please! :) 


Sean should be getting his orders by the end of the week and we will be out of North Carolina April 8th or 9th!! which is ONLY 79 DAYS AWAY!!!!!! The plan is to move to Long Island, NY and live with my mother-in-law until we can find jobs and our own place. Fingers crossed that doesn't take too long. We would like to buy but we will see how things go once we get up there and if we have sold our home in Fayetteville. Sean is getting things all set so he can finish he Bachelor's degree at a college up there, sending transcripts and doing all the transfer student stuff. He also plans to take the police test once we get there but I'm hoping he sticks with school and applies to the PA(Physician Assistant) Program like he's been planning. We have sooo many plans that if one fails we have another to lean back on but I hope that's not the case. 
I have been keeping my eye out for any and all jobs around that area. I am really hoping that I can find a teaching position somewhere. Whether in a school, preschool or daycare, I would really like to stick to my field. I know that I will need to take the NY state tests when I get up there and I've found the schedule and study guides but that all has to wait until we are there. I think I've done just about everything I can ahead of time at this point. I just redid my resume, I figured its a new year, time to look for a new job so lets start off with a blank page and thats what I did. I am very pleased with it and am hoping to get copies of my letters of reference and a few other things to add with it :)




Cleaning, laundry and organizing has consumed my life these past 3 weeks...especially with the crazy rare southern blizzard we had last week which left us stuck at ho me for 3 days!! I am a pretty organized person but now that we are moving and going through things I have become overloaded with it all. So much old stuff has been burned and shredded and now things are so much easier to find. I have gone through all of our closets and took a trunk full of stuff to donate at Goodwill over the weekend and still have more to drop off this weekend. Sean has been pulling out bins from the garage and we slowly go through it all. I can't believe how much Army crap we have! It takes over atleast a third of the garage. Now that he has to turn in a bunch of stuff to get out, we can rid of some but there is still so much left! 

Chloe in front of the house after the snow hit last week :) 

Tomorrow is Thursday which makes me happy because we are closer to the weekend!!! I need to sleep in later than 6 on Saturday because these early morning are killing me. I wake up at 6am everything M-F because Sam gets dropped off around 6:30ish...going back to sleep for a little happens at times but sometimes it is so hard to fall back to sleep. I have alot planned to get done around the house tomorrow because we have a guy coming to take photos of the house soon, so that they can be up with the online listing. I HAVE to get Liam's baptism invitations out in the mail by the weekend so I should work on those tomorrow too!


Well I got a nice hour to relax and finally catch up on my blog now I hear mister Liam waking up from his nap. He's been asleep since 1:30 which is awesome for me but I had to clean up the mess from Hurricane Chloe that consumed her entire room before momma's relaxing time could begin. LOL 


until next time...

Absolutely adore him <3

<3 Liz 

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

I can't believe that tomorrow is December 1st! I mean I really can't believe its this time of the year already! I remember as a kid my dad would always say that once you are out of school the years just fly by and I never thought much of it then. Now I can't believe we are at the end of 2010. Where does the time go?!Really where does it go?!

I can't believe that my daughter is 4years old already, my son is 8 months old and my husband and I have been together and happy for nearly 6 years now! <3 

I'm sooooo excited for the holidays!!! Especially this year! I can't wait to spend them with my family and welcome in the new year! 

We decorated for Christmas today! The plan was to do it yesterday since we were in NY for Thanksgiving and didn't get back until Sunday night, we didn't get to do it on our usual time which is the weekend after Thanksgiving. Last night things ended up getting too late because before we decorate our tree we need our 2010 ornament. Sean and I, on our first Christmas together decided that a tradition we would start is each year, each person chooses a new ornament for the tree and that's the last thing that goes on before the star. Last year was the only year we didn't do it because Sean was in Afghanistan and it didn't feel right to do it without him. This year we went out, Chloe got her ballerina ornament, Liam got a baby's first Christmas ornament, Sean got a Perry the Platypus ornament and I got a Miss Piggy and Kermit the frog ornament :) 

I need to find a new Fennessey family one too, now that we have mister Liam :) After the tree we put up lights in the kitchen windows and earlier today Chloe helped me put the light up candy canes along the front walkway. There's a little more to do but it will get finished up this week. 

We decided that we are going to be in North Carolina for Christmas. It will be our last December living here and only time that we will spend Christmas without any extended family. It will be just us 4 :) 

I'd really like to be with our families but this makes more sense and will be special to spend our first Christmas as a family of 4 in our home. 

New Years may be celebrated in PA...I'm keeping my fingers crossed we do it because I miss my family a ton!! 2011 looks like its going be a great year, well atleast I hope that it's going to be a great year for us. There will be alot of change but alot of good change. I'm sooo looking forward to moving back to the north. We will be living on Long Island in New York and I'm anxious to see how this goes. Looking for jobs and place to live should be interesting and fun but I just hope its not too long of a process. I'm nervous about not being able to find a job right away but I keep looking and plan to apply at places closer to moving time. I'm also nervous about our house here in NC. We are putting it on the market in January and I'm praying that it sells or rents out fairly soon!

We'll thats all for now...I need to try to catch up on some sleep, Liam is teething and had momma up for awhile last night and just as he was going back to sleep, my 6am alarm was going off! Booo! Looking at the clock now and 6am is just getting closer... g'night! 

Not a fan of the germy germs :/

Being sick sucks big time! I am not one to get sick often, and last winter I made it without getting sick and I was pregnant so that was great but already we are sharing our germs back and forth in the Fennessey household. We got back from PA and Chloe had a cold, then Sean and I were feeling like something was coming on so we got the Zicam right away and we were good to go. Then Chloe shared what she likes to call her germy germs with poor Liam so he now has his first cold and he does not like it one bit! He is such a momma's boy he wants me all the time. Even if he is sitting happy on the couch with daddy and sissy he sees me walk in the room and its all of a sudden momma is what he needs to make him feel better. Sooo Liam and Chloe shared their germs with me and now momma is really feeling yucky! I'm surprised I'm even on the computer now because I was ready to go to bed at 6pm. lol but the kids are in bed and I'm watching the Eagles a little while my wonderful husband makes me some hot tea with honey :) I love him! <3

On top of being sick I am frustrated and worried about Liam. On Friday night I was making dinner, Liam was crawling around on the floor playing and Chloe came in to play with him. They were playing together and it was soooo cute :) but then the nice playing goes to hell because Liam starts screaming.. I didn't know what happen but Chloe was moving the stools around so I though maybe she got his hand with one or with the wheel of the highchair. Then she tells us that she is sorry because she put something in his ear. I don't know what she was thinking or why she would try to put things in his ear but she found a twist tie from the loaf of bread on the counter and put it in his ear. We panicked a little at first and were very upset with her but then he seemed to be fine. Saturday afternoon I noticed a little dried up blood in his ear, wanted to rush him to the hospital but he still didnt seem like it bothered him so I didn't make a big deal of it. Well since I was going to take him to the doctor for his cold and diaper rash today I talked with the dr about the ear. She checked it out and our worst fears are real... because of what happen Liam has a hole in his eardrum :( There is a large build up of blood in his ear that the dr wants to let go and see if it will push its way out then we are going to go back in 3 weeks to take a look. She said that it can heal up on its own but it would take months to heal and it all depends on how big the hole is. If it doesn't heal up on its own he will need surgery to reconstruct his eardrum ugh! and no matter which way it goes he will need to continually see a speech therapist and have hearing tests to make sure that this doesn't affect his speech or hearing and if it does in order to help the problem. I just pray that its not the worst case scenario and that his eardrum heals quickly and we don't have any problems with his hearing and speech. I especially worry about that because he is at the age where Chloe started to make more noises and was trying to say things and he is doing the same thing. Yesterday he said "Dada" for the first time!!! Which was more exciting for Sean of course LOL but it secretly haha makes me sooo happy too because of course its his first word and I know that how much we talk with him helps him learn and I love teaching my kids and watching them learn new things  :) now we are working on Momma!! :) He is always crawling around the house saying ummmmaaa ummmmaaa lol so hes needs to get things changed a little and say maaaamaaa :) 

well I guess if I wanted to say more I shouldn't have taken my medicine so soon because I am ready to fall asleep now...here's to getting a good night sleep so maybe I will feel better tomorrow :) 

New Car!

Well since car buying took longer than expected yesterday I didn't get to say Happy Veteran's Day to all the vets out there, most especially to my Veteran! :) 
These are some of my favorite pictures that make my husband the best Vet I know! I love him so much and am so proud of all that he had done for our country and for our family. We have endured alot together during his time in the Army and soon the time in the Army will come to an end but I will always be proud to call him my husband and will always be the proud wife of a Veteran!

Home from 1st deployment(Afghanistan) Nov. 2005 

Home from 2nd deployment( Iraq) Dec 2006

Daddy and Chloe meeting for the first time <3 (Chloe 3 months old)

Home from 3rd deployment(Iraq) Nov 2007

This is LOVE <3

Home from 4th deployment(Afghanistan) Jan 2010

So other than being so proud of my husband on veterans day, Chloe and I made him a yummy breakfast while he stayed in bed and played black ops :) Then we went car shopping! YAY! we ended up trading in our '02 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a brand new 2011 Ford Focus :) we got an amazing deal! Thank you USAA! and are so happy about the choice we made! We have doubled the mileage since getting it yesterday but thats because it only had 16 miles on it when we pulled out of the lot! AMAZING! lol 

Afterwards we went to Outback and got our free blooming onion...delicious! We thought of going to Applebees since veterans eat free but we went there a couple years ago and they were so packed and we both decided Outback was good for us! It turned out to be a really good day for the whole family

Byebye Jeep!!

HELLO NEW FOCUS! :) 

Today we started on our checklist for moving... in 5 months Sean will go on terminal leave and then ETS from the Army so we have been going back and forth on selling or renting our home. We still plan to talk with our realtor before making the decision but it looks like we will end up renting it out. We have a looooonnng list of things to do but the biggest project was cleaning and organizing the garage. It still needs some more to be done but for the most part is finished and looks amazing compared to what it looked like when we walked in there this morning. I hope to get some painting done this weekend...our master bath still needs paint so hopefully we can check that off our list and cleaning cleaning cleaning will be happening all tomorrow morning before we go to Robert's birthday party :) 

Chloe CANT WAIT for Robert's birthday party! She is soooo excited! She's been talking about it all week and I'm surprised I've been able to keep her from opening his present haha 

well thats all for now! Liam is in bed and Chloe is watching some tv before bed...then its time to spend with the hubb... catching up on our shows and playing black ops 

:) 

until next time..

Liz 

You and me baby we're stuck like glue...

I am sitting here watching the CMA's with Sean, so far awards have gone to some great artists and there has been some good performances :) I love Lady A and the Zac Brown Band, I could listen to them all the time...right now Taylor Swift is performing. I like her alot too (especially being from Berks County PA!lol) but am surprised at what she is preforming, I need to download her new album so I know these new songs. Chloe has been begging to get it because she got her CD last year and knows all the songs, then saw the new album at Target and the Taylor Swift Barbie doll so she wants it all for Christmas. I am also LOVING all of Carrie Underwood's outfits! I wanna have a reason to get all dressed up and pretty and go somewhere...still waiting for a ball to come up that we could go to but with Sean getting out in 5 months with our luck his battalion will have one right after he gets out. We ALWAYS miss them because he is always deployed during them. Anyway I really want to see all of these people in concert! I need to start searching stub hub and buying tickets haha..


Soo tomorrow is car shopping day! :) We are finally going to try to get rid of our jeep that is falling apart, well not really falling apart, we've just had to put so much money into it lately that we need something better that isn't going to keep having problems and has much better gas mileage. We are looking at the 2011 Chevy Cobalt, Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta. I think we are starting at the Ford Dealer first... I will update on this afterwards and hopefully have some new pics of a new car!! 


so some of my goals and new projects are coming along...I have come so far with my Yeakley Family calendar, I am hoping that it will be all done by the end of November. I am so glad that poppop and mommom were so excited about the idea when I told them back in early October! Now I am working on getting pictures of every family member now and then once its all together I can get them all printed. I got an email from mommom today and she is going to come visit with us after the holidays and I can't wait! I need to remind myself to call her tomorrow for more photos and everyone's addresses to include in the calendar with the family tree. 


With everything that has gone on the past 2 weeks I am trying really hard to keep myself busy, if I dont I'm going to go crazy... so I've been trying my hardest to get my Thirty One business going! I want to succeed and go far with it! I'm hoping to book more parties, do some events and possibly get new recruits! So far I am doing good and was happy to receive my first paycheck this week :) anyone that wants to check it out and have a holiday party should let me know! I love the stuff and its a lot of fun! :) www.mythirtyone.com/mrsfen


Well I think I will get back to the CMA's and spending time with the man I love <3 especially with our kiddos in bed, sound asleep for the past hour now and I got him away from his new call of duty game LOL 




Until later... :) 




Liz 

It's been awhile

Well its been a week since I wrote anything here... my poppop passed away soon after I wrote my previous post... my dad called and I started getting upset before he even said the words...Then I called my sister and brother and had to tell them the bad news.. Sean called and I told him... :( no words can even describe how upset, sad and angry I felt! We went to PA on Wednesday... I just wanted to get there soooo bad! It felt so good to see my dad and my sisters and my mommom, all I wanted to do was cry when I walked into mommom and poppop's house but I couldn't yet, I had to be strong. After seeing everyone we went to my dad's house and stayed up most of the night just talking, when Sean and I finally went to bed I just broke down.. I can't believe that he is actually gone now... I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful husband that has been so helpful and understanding and comforting during all of this. I love you sooo much Sean! <3


Thursday we went shopping for a few things that we needed, made 2 photo boards full of pictures of the family and poppop and then spent the evening at the funeral home for the viewing. There were sooooo many people that came! Poppop was loved by so many people!
It was really hard seeing him, he didn't look like him...but I will always have the memory of him in my mind... I picture him the way he looked when I was a kid and spent so much time with him.. 


Its hard to write about all that I feel right now because this is all too new that I don't know if I'm ready to talk about everything...
My sister and I wrote something to read at the service on Friday and it was the hardest speech I've ever had to give....
this is what we wrote and read at the church

A man in Ireland once said, “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” But ‎"Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, and no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.”

My Poppop had a full life filled with love, family, friends, and happiness.  He touched the lives of so many people he met. He touched my life in a very special way and I know that he will always be with me.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a strong bond or relationship with their parents and having only one present parent in my life caused me to lean on the loved ones closest to me…my Mommom and Poppop. Having this kind of love and bond was like having 2 fathers in my life. At a very young age I began spending a lot of time with Poppop. He would drive us all over Berks County just to find a new playground to explore and on the way there my brother and sisters and I would have so much fun in the back of his van. Even on rainy days we had fun inside, watching the Sci-Fi Channel and playing Memory. As we got older and were actively involved in school, he was always there behind us, routing us on. Whether it was at a Track meet, Basketball game, Musical, Chorus concert or just encouraging us to get A’s on our report cards with the offer of an extra dollar.

Poppop loved having kids around the house and spending his time with his grandchildren although he couldn’t always get our names straight. One of the boys would be doing something and he’d be yelling Ray, Darryl, Gary, Joel, Jon, Kyle, Jason, Matthew, until he finally got to the right name. Same thing with the girls but the list was even longer!

I’ll always remember Poppop around the holidays, he loved having the family surrounded around the tables for dinner, at Christmas he’d get the snowman and nativity set out along with Mr. and Mrs. Claus to set out on the porch and the train set he had to set up around the Christmas tree. Family was everything to him, he was a warm-hearted spirited man, who was the back bone to the family.

Poppop has always been a man of faith. He always encouraged us to keep our faith and to keep the Lord on our side. Poppop knew when it was his time to come. Before I left for college I sat next to him one day and he said to me he wasn’t scared anymore, he knew God would protect him. He told me that while he was in the hospital one night he was scared to go and to leave his loved ones behind but one night angels came to him in his sleep and told him his time was soon and that he wasn’t supposed to be scared anymore, he was going to be at peace soon where he could rejoice with the Lord.

If he were here with me today he would tell me not to be upset but to be thankful for having the opportunity to share wonderful memories that will last a lifetime with him. I will always be able to look back and know that up until now each time something significant occurred in my life, my Poppop was there to be a part of it. I was able to grow as a better person with him in my life. I grew with him there by my side. I know he will always watch over me and continue to help me grow to be stronger and wiser person.

I love you Poppop! <3

My sisters wanted to get tattoes on Saturday for Poppop and I wanted to, too, but I couldn't go through with it... I was nervous I felt like I was going to be sick. 

Being without Poppop is all too new that I was too emotional and couldn't do it, but I stayed there and watched my sisters. 

I'm so lucky to have my sisters and my brother! We all have always leaned on each other and this is one time when we really needed to lean on each other and it was great to have the 4 of us together. 

I love you guys sooo much! 

I can't wait to move closer to home! Sean gets out in 5 months and I can't wait til the day we are closer to all the people we love




RIP Poppop....9/20/1935-11/1/2010