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So Tess, was born October 10th. She's really been such a sweet little baby. The children are gaga for her. She will probably be our last baby so it was all very bittersweet. She was born with a "port wine stain" (those 2 lines on her forehead). They don't seem to be worried about it and say it should completely fade by the time she is 4 or 5. OY. The day after she was born, I checked myself out of the hospital and may or may not have had to tell a white lie in order for the nurses to let me drive myself home. I stopped and got gas and got some prescriptions for pain filled at the pharmacy and we were off (with one additional stop in CT to pick up a co-sleeper!) I prayed Tess would be ok on the 4+ hour drive home, and she was. She slept nearly the entire time. Another tender mercy. The children love her. It's great having children who are older and don't see her as a threat to their existence. Charlie didn't acknowledge her at all for weeks but now calls her "Baby Tess." Ok so maybe a small threat for that one 🙂Chris came home from Alaska a week after she was born and got to meet her for the first time. It was so nice to have him home. We hadn't really lived together as a family in over 4 months so it was all very welcome. Fall in NYC is just amazing. It's so beautiful with all the leaves turning. Central Park was just incredible.  The best part of the city in my opinion for sure. It's so peaceful and good for the soul. Plus Fall is my favorite anyway- so it doesn't take much. Moments before walking out the door, Henry decided he no longer wanted to be a Steve from Minecraf and Kate no longer wanted to be  a witch. So they quickly changed to Darth Vader & Batman. Charlie was Super Charlie and Tess… she went as a newborn baby. We trick-or-treated at the American Museum of Natural History and then in some super awesome decked out apartment lobbys. Banksy was on the UWS so we stopped by and had an obligitory Banksy/Halloween picture. We had our first family photo taken at the MET  in November (I love that place). In November, Chris' Mom came out and was such huge help. So grateful for all the times both our Mom's put in on our behalf.  Charlie turned 4 on November 25th and had a sweet little celebration at school. He's speaking more and I don't know- I feel like a light has gone on in that little head of his. He's more engaged, using more words, more eye contact, it's all such great progress.  We took the very last piece of cake and sang, "Happy Birthday" when Pops came home.

We were too wimpy to brave the frigid temperatures for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, so we went the night before to see all the balloons blown up around the Natural History Museum.  It was a very New York experience and totally cool. The lines were short and we zipped right through. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid balloon was hands down Henry's favorite. A few days later, we cashed in our early christmas presents and saw The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. We hadn't seen the show in years and everyone seemed to love it. Christmas snuck right in and gosh, NYC is so magical during the holidays.  We hit Macy's for SantaLand and The Plaza hotel on Christmas Eve to see what I thought was the sweetest Santa ever.  The christmas season was pure magic. I'm so grateful we have the opportunity to live here.  Well I'm going to stop for now. It literally took a week to eek out this post and I don't want it clogging up your feed! Will catch up on the rest soon. 

My Mom came out to help out with my broken ankle but unfortunatly spent a lot of time in the ER and the hospital for 4 days (our luck, people!?!). We are both feeling better. She'll be staying to help out until next Tuesday which is great. I'm off pain meds and slowly slowly getting around a little bit more each day. Slowy getting back into the groove. 

I can't believe Feb. is almost over. What a blur!

I'm anxious to start shooting with a real camera again. Sorry for all you instagram friends, these are all repeat iPhone photo's for you!

Be back soon!

xoxo

Hey there. I was meaning to blog at least two weeks ago but then a little something happened. A little something that didn't start my 2014 off as I had hoped. Long story short, friends had some extra tickets to this toboggan thing that was set up in Times Square as part of "Superbowl Boulevard". It was the last night it was open and we really wanted to go so Henry & I set off for it. We were walking up the ramp (you can see on the right) and about 3/4 way up I slipped, twisted my ankle and fell. I thought I was going to die. I almost blacked out from excruciating pain. I sat there for a moment, friends helped me up and I continued to the top. I didn't know what had happened but we were so close to the top and Henry was so excited to go down that I muscled my way through it. We got to the top, I made Joanna dig my phone out from her bag (because you don't make it to the top of a 60' toboggan and not take a picture) and snapped this. I then slid my way down to waiting medical personnel. I filled out an accident report while trying to calm Henry down (who was terrified and bawling). Because several blocks of Times Square were blocked off, an ambulance couldn't make it's way to me. So they hauled me off and put me in an ambulance. I texted Chris to meet me at the hospital. I'm exclusively nursing Tess and it was time for her to eat. He rushed over, I nursed her before they gave me a dose of morphine and took me in for X-rays. It was the worst case scenario: broken tibia & fibula, flecks of bone came off and the ligament was torn. They are pretty sure I'll need surgery, the bones were just not stable enough to heal on their own. I went in last Tuesday and they took off the cast off so they could do additional X-rays. Now they are saying there's a slight chance that I won't need surgery. I'm headed back to the doctor in the morning. These past 9 days have been a blur. I have crutches but have been mostly using a wheelchair and only getting up 1 or 2 times a day. I've never broken a bone before but holy cow, I have never experienced like this in my life. 100x worse than giving birth. I'm in a walking boot now that is on 24 hours a day. It's heavy and cumbersome but needed for now. Hope to be back with better news soon. What a doozy you've been so far 2014!

I suppose the only place to start is where we left off 6 months ago.  I'm hoping I can remember all the details (honestly, there is a lot I'd just like to forget). The drive went well, we made it in a few days. I dropped Kate off at my sisters in Rochester along with my Mom and went down to NYC to start the many, many evaluations for Charlie.  We hadn't seen Chris in about a month and Henry was itching to see him, so he came with. In a matter of a few days, we were able to see the Psychologist, Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Educational Therapist and there was one more…I can't remember who it was. I am so thankful for old high school friend, Trish, for letting us crash at her place all those times! Charlie got in to an amazing program and we went back to Rochester for a few weeks while I looked for an apartment and we waited for school to start. Apartment hunting was miserable. There were a lot of tears. After a month of staying with my sister (who we are forever indebted to), we finally found a temporary place. Chris was headed to sign the lease when he was laid off. Laid off from the job that we moved to NYC for (the world of tv can be so fickle). Things get fuzzy here but I took the children to an old friends summer cottage (thank you, Judy!!) on Cape Cod while we tried to piece everything together. It's no exageration to say it was one of the worst weeks of my life. We were homeless, jobless, I was about  to give birth to a new baby. I had been single parenting for the better part of the last 3 months and I was tired. School had started but we couldn't enroll the children anywhere because we didn't have an address. I was failing miserably as a parent. It was horrible. I came dangerously close to throwing in the towel. I felt like I was being given more than I could bear.
Chris frantically looked for another job, we came down to the city and stayed with friends while they went to Paris for a week. Charlie started school. Chris found a job. In Alaska. It meant he would be gone for 4 weeks and would miss the birth of baby #4. We agreed he needed to take it. We signed a temporary lease, loaded up a moving van in Boston and he flew out the next day. 2 days later I moved into the apartment with the children. I don't recommend moving alone when you are 38 weeks pregnant. I technically wasn't alone. 20 mormon missionaries from all over Manhattan showed up at my door on moving day and got everything into my apartment in a hour and 1/2. It took a solid 3 weeks to get furniture moved around, unpacked, etc.,. you know the drill.  Mostly, I was just feeling like this:Knowing I'd be delivering the baby alone, I was crossing my fingers she wouldn't come until my Mom could come out to stay with our other children.  My Mom came out on Sat. night and I drove up to Boston the following Wed morning for a routine apt. I was a few days overdue at this point and due to some complications (really high blood pressure, go figure) they sent me straight to the hospital to be induced. Well, I didn't go straight to the hospital. I had boxes in my car that needed to be unloaded in our storage unit so I did that, vaccumed out the car and then went to Target to get myself some labor drinks and snacks. Then I valet parked the car at the hospital and checked myself in.  So there  I was in a big empty room, staring at that baby blanket, unable to believe there'd be a baby in there in no time at all. While having to give birth to a baby alone sounds miserable to most, I couldn't allow myself to think too hard about it. I had no other choice. There were many tender mercies along the way, namely, a nurse named Val who was only a few years younger than me and who knew I was there alone. She never left my side during her entire shift. I will be forever grateful to her.  And then she came: 

Tess Ellen Moore

born 10/10/2013

4:23 a.m.  7lbs 15oz 

I texted Chris moments later in Alaska, "She's here!"  It was too crazy to call right then. 

And about 2 months later we blessed her at church:

We love her so much. She's hands down the best thing that came out of the last 6 months.

Part 2 coming soon.

Hi there! It's summertime, so you know how that goes. Chris moved to New York City about a month ago while I'm hanging out with the children in Utah. 30+ weeks pregnant. Is that execuse enough to have neglected this here blog?  It is, it totally is. I don't even know if anyone reads this thing anymore. Blame Instagram. Instagram is killing my  blog. We are hanging in there. The children have been loving the pool and loving spending so much time with their grandma's and grandpa's (there are 4 sets- so that's lots of lovin'). We took this picture one night at grandma and grandpas after we had tucked the chickens in for the night:
We've been out to some parks and for the record, I just have to say how amazing Liberty Park in SLC is. I don't know that I have ever been there before. It was scorching hot the day we went, so hot the kids wouldn't even run around and play. Instead they just laid on me because you know, the more body heat the merrier.
We hit a splash pad but I'm going say- the children weren't so hot on it. Maybe they are too old. They just wanted to go swimming. Full body emersion. None of this splash talk. I don't blame them. 
We've been enjoying super simple dinners (which I feel like I can get away with when I'm the only parent around eating said dinner.) Tonight Charlie had a candy necklace for dinner and a side of mac and cheese. Mother of the Year! 
We've tried just a few local hot spots to see what all the hype was about. Cubby's- you win. Buffalo Bleu Cheese Fries?!?

Kate took her very first ever organized 'class' which consisted of Ballet, Jazz and Tumbling. She insisted no photo's be taken. I'm so sneeky.
I've been trying to offset the massive amount of hours Henry wants to 'minecraft' by having him put in some hefty daily reading time. Some days I'm more successful than others. Oh well. It's summer. Not quite time to crack the whip. Kate got a good 10+ inches of her hair chopped off by my lovely sister, Annika (who works at O Salon in SLC by the way). Schedule her, she's pretty amazeballs. Aren't these two cute? Her hair is off to Locks of Love.Henry got baptized the weekend after the 4th of July in our friends swimming pool. It was not instagrammed and deserves a post all it's own which I'll share someday. 
So handsome this one. That picture makes me feel like I know what he's going to grow up to look like. He's sweet as can be.
Little Charlie started his summer program pretty soon after we got here. It was not nearly as intensive as his school in MA (5x a week for 6 hrs a day) but I'll take what I can get. He is making progress and I am so proud of him. He's really starting to engage in eye contact and saying more words. I feel like we are connecting more and more each day and that makes me feel very, very hopeful. He told me the other night "I love you, Mama" which he has never done on his own. I almost cried my little eyes out. 3 weeks into single parenting I passed the children off to my Dad and Pam for a few days and then my brother (who btw has let us crash at his place for the better part of 8 weeks!) I needed a break and feel so grateful I was in a position to get one. Single parents my hats go off to you. Single parenting is hard work even when you have a great support system like I have here. 
I went and visited my Aunt and Uncle for a few days. It was great. We hit some super awesome thrift/antique shops. 
I would have taken home 3 of those crates if I could (thinking how am I going to get that on a plane? I'm already carrying on a vintage turquoise pyrex bowl..oy!) And still majorly sad that I couldn't bring home a half dozen of these vintage childrens chairs. 
$6 dollars each people. Let's move on. I'm not over it yet. 
I stopped in this fantastic candy store, Powells, in Boise. I had gone last summer and by brother wanted me to pick him up some LeninAid. I luckily scored the last bottle they had. I picked up a few treats for the children and tried to convince the teenage employees that they most definitely should sell me that vintage Oh Henry sign. No luck. So disappointing. 
They weren't willing to let this beauty go either. Oh well. There's always the potential for more nagging next summer.(Charlie loved wearing my brothers rug as a cape. He eventually bought him his own red silk cape which Charlie LOVES. Thanks, Unkie Matt a.k.a King of the Kids) 

I've spent hours upon hours on the phone with the Dept. of Education in NYC, private schools, schools for children with Autism, etc.,. It was not looking hopeful at all that Charlie would be able to be placed into a program this Fall. "Hire an attorney" was the advice I kept getting. All pre-schools for children like Charlie are done through private schools and do not fall under your local school district like they do everywhere else in the world. Unfortunately none of his testing, evaluations, etc., .from MA are valid in NYC. We have to start completely over. I want to pull my hair out. He needs to be seen by a psychologist, get re-evaluated see a speech therapist, and OT. School in NYC starts Sept 9th. We weren't even planning on going to NY until the end of August.

I got a call yesterday from a school that they are holidng a place for Charlie. What the what?!? I could not believe it. Yes, he still needs all the testing but they are holding a place for him. There was one condition: they need to see him next Tuesday. In 6 days. In NYC. I spent the entire day packing up all our belongings. We are driving back east tomorrow. I didn't even say goodbye to my in-laws (good-bye!!).

Did I mention we haven't found a place to live in NYC? I feel like my entire world is spinning and I'm trying not to have a massive freak-out. Trying to take one day/hour/minute/second at a time. We've been living out of suitcases for 8 weeks- what's another 3 or 4 more? Now we know Charlie pretty much has a spot, we know the area of where we need to look for housing. Oh but housing, housing is a blasted nightmare in NYC as you can imagine. On second at a time. I just need to get through this meeting with the psychologist and the pre-school. I need to get our car in Boston. And like a million other things (how many more weeks till this baby comes?)

So excuse me for a few weeks while I try to reign in our crazy out of control lives. If you want to follow our cross-country adventures, I'm MorgsMoore on Instagram. Would love to see you there. 

It's 2 am. I should have been packing this whole time. I'm hitting the hay. XOXOXO

The day before we packed up and moved everything we owned into a storage unit, we filmed the first few episodes of our Kickstarter Project. I had packed up nearly everything in the house except for the kitchen (looks pretty bare, right?) It felt so great to finally get some of these episodes on film. I've shared these pic's on Instagram & also to my Kickstarter backers, but wanted to share them here, too. We made a whole slew of delicious recipes that are being edited now and will be hitting the online circut soon. I'll let you know where they can be viewed. 
This pregnancy has me craving fruit and so you'll get to make some of my favorite fruity summer foods! 
It should be noted that we (myself and the crew) gobbled down both of these delicious foods within minutes of the pictures being taken. That's the Salted Watermelon & Honey Dew Salad- so so good. You will LOVE! 
The next day I was boarding a plane at JFK airport with 3.5 children and flying solo to Utah. Charlie making a b-line out of check-in for a bag of cool ranch doritos he spotted a mile away was a pretty clear indication of how the trip ended up going (read: kinda crazy!) 2 hours in, I put him to sleep under a blanket on the floor and left him there until after we'd landed. I'm pretty sure it was best for all involved. 
The day after we landed, we hopped in the car and drove the 650 miles to So. Cal. We were just feeling like we hadn't done quite enough travelling yet. We thought we'd take full advantage of our Disneyland annual passes before they were blocked out for the summer. It should be noted that this picture is the first time in Kate's 5 years of life that she has ever wanted to stand next to someone at Disneyland and have her picture taken. Bravo, Kate! Bravo! How about that hair on Merida???

We made it to Utah and are here for the next little while before we jump on a plane back to New York. Chris will be leaving in a few weeks and I'm not sure when I'm heading back. Chris will be working in NYC and I'm trying to find the best place to live. We want to be close to the city- I keep thinking about Brooklyn and thinking I can't/don't want 4 kids in the city but it's pretty darn tempting! We are looking at Jersey and just north of NYC in NY. I'd love any help here- I just don't know the good areas. Monclair? White Plains (so nice but so pricey!) Anyway, would love some help if you've got some good suggestions or live in an area there that you like.

Thanks so much for all the craft night sign-ups! Wednesday night is nearly full, we've just got a few spaces left. Tues. night is about 50% full. We just need to know by Friday if you'd like to come so we can have all the supplies ready for you!

Details on sign-ups can be found here. 

XO

Well, we officially packed up our place in MA and threw everything into a storage unit. For now, we are staying with family while we look for a new place to live, but more on that later 🙂  I wanted to pop in to tell you about a class I am co-teaching with my Mom this month. She's come up with 3 amazing patriotic projects for you all to make, one of which is this altered book.
Super adorable, right? You'll also be making this free-standing tabletop rocket:
 Everyone needs a shooting rocket as a centerpiece this 4th of July!

And last but not least, the 3rd project is a "Freedom" banner: 
And here's a closer look: 
And if 3 projects isn't enough, I'm also going to be teaching you how to make some fun summery desserts and will send you home with the recipes. I clearly got the easy part of this!  But wait there is MORE! A light dinner will also be served! Interested? Of course you are! Here are the details: 

The class is being offered on 2 separate nights, hopefully one will work for you. You will be able to complete all the projects in one evening. 

I sat on the front steps yesterday watching Charlie hopping from rock to rock thinking about my/our lives. Chris was mowing the lawn and I was thinking about how much I really love the smell of fresh cut grass. It's a bummer to be moving now that the weather is getting so gorgeous. This past winter was a beast. Was it really a year ago we were packing up our apartment in LA and preparing to move to MA? We knew our stay in this blue house would more than likely only be a year. This year has been no picnic but we made it through and there were definate good memories. We weren't sure what would be happening at this point but now Chris has accepted a job that involves us moving in a few short days. Not sure what the next few months will bring, but I'm trying not to flip out that Henry will be starting his 3rd elementary school as a 3rd grader in the Fall. Hoping I'm not scarring him for life but knowing I probably am…

I took the children to the Boston temple last Saturday to take pictures of Henry for some baptismal announcements/invitations. This turning 8 is serious business and soon he'll be getting baptized! We were laying in bed tonight looking back at pictures of his 1st birthday.  I can't believe we now have an 8 year old! 
Someone had been playing with my alarm clock and it accidentally went off at 6:00 (oy)! Henry sprung up "It's my birthday!!!" which woke Kate up and then both went running downstairs. I said "Hey! Close Charlies door gently so he doesn't wake up either" "Too late Mom, that woke him up!" He was soon off to school and when I picked him up he asked if he could roll down the window (current favorite thing to do) and stick his head out. I said sure. He stuck his head out and yelled "HEY! It's my birthday!!!" 
He wanted a date night alone with me (since Pops is still away) so we dropped off Kate & Charlie and drove towards civilization. This 8 year old has just discovered Minecraft and picked up a few figurines for his birthday. He still loves Angry Birds, HexBugs, Little Big Planet and Diary of a Wimpy Kid Books. On the day I had Henry, we had gone to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. I was 10 days overdue and waiting for a room to open up at the hospital, so we thought why not?  Henry loves plain cheesecake and wanted to go there for dinner. I ordered the exact same meal I had 8 years ago. I remember it all so clearly. We stopped to pick up Kate and Charlie on the way home and our friends had a little surprise for Henry. So awesome- thank you so much Jenny, Abbey, Emily & Mason (and thank you for the cupcakes!) 

Henry does not have a mean bone in his body. He's kind and caring and a loyal friend. He's by far the most sensitive of the bunch and loves his brother and sister deeply. I often hear him asking Kate "Hey! Do you want to play with me?" They are the best of friends. He is smart and has a hysterical laugh. He loves to draw and art is his favorite subject in school. I love him so much and am so happy I get to be his Mother. 

XOXO

we drove by a little waterfall and I thought it'd be the perfect place for the children to dip their feet on what I think has been the warmest day of the year (hallelujah!) So we went and picked Henry up at the bus stop and drove straight there.
Henry, my little germaphobe, had no interest in putting his feet in the muddy water so he sat on the sidelines while Kate and Charlie had a ball.  He is not a fan of having to go anywhere but home once he steps foot off that school bus. I don't blame him- school is tiring. It's been a crazy week that's starting to wind down a little bit. Henry's birthday is in a few days and by the way, happy 15 years to my hubby- we celebrated (well as much as you can when one of you is on the other side of the world) on the 15th of May. I've got less than 2 weeks to get this entire house packed up. The thought of leaving MA really, no really, makes me sad. I was so bummed driving away from this little river this afternoon. I love living here so much but we just could not make it work. I have no idea where we'll be living in 3 months time. I try not to think or stress about it (don't even ask me about having a baby early this Fall!)  

Print from here.

Just one day at a time.

XO

Last night she said, "Lets hurry and go to bed so my birthday will come quickly!" She woke up bright and early and asked if she could go down and look at her presents. I told her she could and I heard her say "Oh my gosh! Wow!!" She ran back to me and asked if she could open some. Everyone was still fast asleep (I have no idea how early it was). She curled back in bed with me and thankfully, fell back to sleep. 
Henry was the next one to wake up some time later. His body sprang right up as he said, "Today's Kate's Birthday!!!" He was just as anxious as she had been to see the decorations and presents. He went and snuck a peek and them came back to bed and patiently sat waiting for her to wake up. 
I love how excited they get for one another. The boys were in school today so it was 'just the girls'. Kates dream birthday included getting a new teddy bear, lunch at the mall & getting her fingernails painted. After we picked up the boys from school, we came home to open presents & eat cake! The cake recipe was from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.  I made her the Traditional Vanilla Birthday Cake with pink buttercream frosting. 
My sister Megan and her husband Eddie are responsible for this over-the-top get up. Kate put it on the second she opened up the package. She is very much looking forward to some dance classes this summer in Utah (any suggestions?)
She told me today that she was kind of sad that she wasn't 4 years old anymore. She also told Henry that after her busy day she need a nap before she could muster the strength to open presents or eat cake and he could entertain her until she fell asleep.

 I love you, Kate! (if that's your real name, which it is not!)

XOXOXO