2010 Chiodo Christmas Letter

Greetings from the Chiodo Family! We hope that all of our friends and family had a wonderful year and have more exciting things to come. This year has been a big adventure for us! Here are a few of the good highlights....I won't include the other parts of life... like the temper tantrums, sibling fights, pregnancy hormones, bad hair days, and moments of tears, frustration, and fears. That would be no fun to talk about. :)

Our Housing Situation: Here's the story behind the story... Jason loves real estate. And in loving a man who loves real estate, you have to be open to living the unconventional life sometimes when it comes to the roof over your head. In 2009, we bought a home after renting for a couple of years, and I thought that life would settle down for awhile. We loved the location, but we just felt so-so about the school system in the town we were living in. Since we moved to Connecticut, we have always wanted to live in the town of Trumbull. It is a wonderful town where we go to church, where there is a fabulous school system, and where the community is family-oriented. So in Jason's quest of looking for good deals in real estate, he found a house in Trumbull that was a deserted, dilapidated 800 sq. ft. home in a great neighborhood. One thought led to an idea which led to a conversation which led to a decision to basically flip the house we just bought and do a crazy thing....buy this little dilapidated home, knock it down, and build a house of our own. So here we are 6 months later and the zoning approval is done, the permits are done, the blueprints are done, and the house is being framed. Are we crazy? Sure. Unconventional? You betcha. Will I live in this new house forever? I hope so, but you never know. But, in the end, we are doing this thing called life together. And the ride is definitely an exciting one so far.

Our Baby Situation: Around the time that we made the crazy decision of #1, I threw out another crazy idea to have a 3rd baby. I sold it to Jason as a thing to just think about...you know-"It will take at least a good 6-8 months, honey....let's just see what happens!" What happened was me getting pregnant 3 weeks after that conversation! He is still making me eat my words on that one. :) After a few weeks of wrapping our brains around the shock of it all, we are ready and excited for this new addition to our family. Abby is thrilled to have a little sister. Ben just thinks everyone has a baby in their belly...including him with his little basketball under his shirt. Baby Girl Chiodo is healthy and growing and looking to arrive at the beginning of March.

Our Abigail: Abby turned the big 5 this summer, and started kindergarten this past fall. Her mommy did the ugly cry at the bus stop that first day to see her baby girl so grown up and heading off to school. Abby has a wonderful teacher, a fun class, and she is learning so much already. We hear all about the muscle words, rainbow words, music, gym, and art classes, and her favorite-library days. She is in a cute ballet class once a week, and she is also a Girl Scout Daisy this year too. She loves to read books, do fun crafts and coloring, wrestle with her daddy, and boss around her little brother. :)

Our Benjamin: Ben turned 2 this summer, and that boy knows how to keep us on our toes! He is a ball of fire with a personality that is sweet, snuggly, and stinker all in one. He has lots of Mommy time while Abby is in kindergarten, and I am soaking up the one-on-one time with him as much as possible. He is talking a lot (although I seem to be the only one to know just what he is saying), and he is on the verge of being ready to potty train. He loves playing with anything that has wheels, jumping on couches and beds, and copying anything that his big sister "Ab-Ab" does.

Our Better Half: Jason got the P90X workout DVD set this year, and he loves it! He is eating healthy, exercising regularly, and looking good! Since I work many Friday nights, Saturday mornings have become his special daddy time with the kids. He takes them to Home Depot kid workshops, and on many visits to the library, zoo, aquarium, playgrounds, parks, and hiking trails. I haven't scrapbooked one bit this year, but I would love to change that soon. But I love to read a good book, make a few hairbows for Abby, and have the occasional date night with Jason. I also asked for a nail gun and air compressor for Christmas because I have become a wee bit obsessed with woodworking and carpentry. If you look at my Top 10 list, you'll understand. :)

Our Travels: This spring I flew with both kids by myself (never want to do that again!) to Georgia to see my brother Jay graduate from Army Ranger School. That was a proud moment to see him become a Ranger after he returned from a year of combat in Afganistan. For Thanksgiving, we wanted to spend it in Oklahoma with my whole family. After finding plane tickets to be over $650/each, we decided to drive there and back. Again, we were called crazy, but it was a fun adventure. The kids were fabulous, and the two of us were road warriors. We set up the third row in our minivan like a bed, and took turns sleeping and driving. We drove straight through in a little over 24 hours. Swollen ankles, thousands of sunflower seeds, a few kid movies, and numerous ABC games later....it was well worth it to make the trip. Will we do that again anytime soon? No way. But we loved seeing my family, and we spent way less than we would have if we had flown.

Our Visitors: We had some fun visitors come see us up in Connecticut this year. My brother Jeff had business in Boston and came for a few extra days to visit with us. Cool Uncle Jeff was very popular with our kids, and Abby decided she needed to be a surfer like him. Our very dear friends, Jimmy and Bethany Jones, stopped by for a week on their adventurous roadtrip across America. Their daughter Kayla and Abby had a lot of fun playing at the sprinkler park, running around like horses, and seeing who could boss whom the most. :) We had a lot of fun memories from that week...too much good food, some good laughs, and a lot of talking and catching up. My mom and stepdad came out for a quick visit this fall. We put them to work since it was the weekend that we moved, but we definitely could not have done it all without them. We also had a fun trip to the apple orchard with them, and the kids always miss them too much when they leave.

Our Jobs: Jobs are the same, although I did switch to work the night shift at Yale in the PACU. Working 7 p.m.-7 a.m. two nights a week has been much better for our family. No more tears on the way home because I missed an entire day with my children. No more children being away from home for long hours. No more husband coming home from work and having to do everything...dinner, bath, bedtime. Now we have more daytime hours together, more dinners togethers, and more happy people in our family. I am so very thankful for a job that allows me to work flexible hours and still be a hands-on mom.

Okay, that's about it in a nutshell. Through all of our ups and downs, we thank God for taking care of us and leading us each step of the way. We are thankful for many things...good family, good friends, a good church, and a good marriage. I'm kinda hoping that next year's letter will be a little more boring than this one. I could use a good dose of boring. :)