Thursday, July 10, 2008
Happy Independence Day!!!
We spent our 4th at an amusement park with my dad, step-mom, and sis Hannah. I LOVE rides and wanted to sure and do some before I am preggers again! We had a great time and Evelyn was a trooper!
E hanging out with Grandpa Bart while we all went on a ride.
Jason and Hannah.
Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Bart.
E's first ride on the merry-go-round! Don't worry - we were on a stationary horse!
Fireworks at the park. E really could care less about them - she was more interested in the potato chunks I was feeding her while we watched!
E hanging out with Grandpa Bart while we all went on a ride.
Jason and Hannah.
Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Bart.
E's first ride on the merry-go-round! Don't worry - we were on a stationary horse!
Fireworks at the park. E really could care less about them - she was more interested in the potato chunks I was feeding her while we watched!27 and Holding
I turned 27 on June 29th. I used to start saying I was or almost was a year older in about November of each year. I always wanted to seem older and more mature. But, I have decided that 27 is good enough and has become a milestone of when I will stay the age that I am until the next June 29th!
Last year I made a fuss that I did not blow out any candles. So, this year, I blew them out 3 separate times! Including in my special birthday chocolate chip pancakes that Jason made me. I did not make him spell out my name in batter like my mom always did. But, it was sweet that he still made me feel like the birthday princess!
My mom and sibs came by last week to celebrate - chinese food and my favorite - Dairy Queen cake!
Congrats to the Graduate!
My sister Brittany (top left above) graduated from high school and had a wonderful party to celebrate. I caught a nasty cold the day before the party which was a bummer since I was in charge of making 20 pounds of pasta salad. Brittany os worth it though - she is a wonderful young woman and we are very proud of her! A small sampling of party shots:
Evelyn crawling on Auntie Moriah's bed.
Auntie Moriah (Auntie Ya-Ya I call her!)
Grandma Dawn (who was so busy with the food prep and entertaining that I had to force her to hold E and take their pic before we left!)
The sisters! Brit is the tallest (only by a bit over me - it looks like more since I was crouching...or at least that's what I tell myself!) I didn't get a pic of Brit alone...whoops!
E checking out her 3rd cousin Josh!
Evelyn crawling on Auntie Moriah's bed.
Auntie Moriah (Auntie Ya-Ya I call her!)
Grandma Dawn (who was so busy with the food prep and entertaining that I had to force her to hold E and take their pic before we left!)
The sisters! Brit is the tallest (only by a bit over me - it looks like more since I was crouching...or at least that's what I tell myself!) I didn't get a pic of Brit alone...whoops!
E checking out her 3rd cousin Josh!
Movin' On Up
I wish I had pictures of our moving truck! My sister-in-law does - so I need to get some copies. As I mentioned before, the truck was quite the sight! Our camera was buried somewhere for most of the moving chaos, but here are a few shots!
Yeah, I look a little haggard here...I think this was day 2 of unpacking. We were all tired as you can see.
Jason's creativity while marking boxes. You see, I like every box labeled with contents. I guess he was tired of describing the many pots we own.
Evelyn was such a great helper!
Her reason to learn how to crawl on moving day - explore the contraband that was sprawled all over!!!!
Yeah, I look a little haggard here...I think this was day 2 of unpacking. We were all tired as you can see.
Jason's creativity while marking boxes. You see, I like every box labeled with contents. I guess he was tired of describing the many pots we own.
Evelyn was such a great helper!
Her reason to learn how to crawl on moving day - explore the contraband that was sprawled all over!!!!
Win Free Cloth Diapers!
Enter to win a free set of cloth diapers on this blog at Nature's Child! If you don't want them, enter and you can give them to me!!!!
Tree Limbs Crashing Down
Quick pre-moving story. Five days before closing, a wind storm came through our old 'hood and caused this tree limb to fall on our garage roof. Not good. Long story short, we took care of it and were REALLY glad to just get out of there before the whole house fell down!!!! :-
)
)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Story Time
I do have many stories to tell! The computer was in the basement for the first couple of weeks we were here and I never wanted to go down there to be on it because the floors are hard tile and Evelyn was quite accident-prone with her new crawling abilities. But, Jason moved it up the spare room, and alas, here I am to blog!
The first story was of the drive here. It was B.A.D. I have blocked most of it out of my memory because it was really that bad. I planned to leave for the four-hour drive by 2:00. I think it was after 5:00 by the time we left. We ended up having the truck early, so Jason also came with on Thursday night unlike the original plan for just Evelyn and I to go. So, I followed Jason who was driving the 26-foot cab U-Haul pulling our Taurus behind it. We still don't know how he made some of the turns as it was seriously longer than a semi! To backtrack a bit, we were really blessed to have Mike and Tessa help and stay until we shut the door of the old house one last time and get every last thing cleared out (we BARELY got everything with us - the guys had to unpack and repack the truck, van, and car again and again to make it all fit. Crazy!!!). We ate the last Popsicles out the freezer and hurried off. It was a surreal feeling leaving that empty house behind, not even knowing for sure if we would ever be back in that town even.
Poor little Evelyn was kind of freaked out I think about all of the commotion of the previous days and she was in the back seat of the van surrounded by stuff packed all the way almost to the ceiling! She was such a trooper for the drive, but despite no naps really that day, SHE NEVER SLEPT A WINK during the drive! I pulled over more times than I kept track of. My saving grace was the plate of peanut butter cookies that Tessa made for us as they kept my blood sugar high and appeased Evelyn as I Gumby-twisted my arm back to give her crumbs. I also had to give her water bottles, pop cans, pens, and other forbidden objects for 30-second intervals of her happiness!
But, we did make it eventually, and around 10:30 had left the U-Haul on the new street for the night. We fought off the June bugs (yuck, they are plentiful here) and made our way to Burger King for an 11:00 nutritious dinner! :-) We slept at Jason and Christy's that night - it was so nice of them to have us. Evelyn was so glad to be out of a car seat and chaos that she had an adrenalin rush that had her bouncing off the walls until 1 a.m. (this is when her schedule was officially ruined and is still being repaired!)
We were thrown another curve ball the next day at closing. They were holding the key until the money was wired. We were told there should not be any problems, but, we did not get the key until 4 hours after closing and we were so blessed that the previous owners were still in town as the glitch involved a paper that they had to sign. Me and Jason's stomachs were both in knots as we sat and waited homeless in our van. There was a time when it was looking pretty dim that we would leave with the key and that having to wait until the following week for the banks to re-open and straighten things out. But, God totally worked everything out and with about 5 minutes to spare before the end of the banking day, we had our key!
As Jason mentioned, family and friends have been so generous and welcoming to us! We had so much help and tons of delicious goodies from friends! We really do love it here and are getting quite settled in.
We have already enjoyed the closeness to family as well - we have done the trip to my home state the past two weekends for a dance recital and my sister Brittany's graduation party. For both events we loved being able to attend, but loved even more the fact that we did not have to pack suitcases and were able to come home and sleep in our own bed!
More stories to come and more "normal" posts about our little crawler (who is attacking the printer under my feet as I type!)
The first story was of the drive here. It was B.A.D. I have blocked most of it out of my memory because it was really that bad. I planned to leave for the four-hour drive by 2:00. I think it was after 5:00 by the time we left. We ended up having the truck early, so Jason also came with on Thursday night unlike the original plan for just Evelyn and I to go. So, I followed Jason who was driving the 26-foot cab U-Haul pulling our Taurus behind it. We still don't know how he made some of the turns as it was seriously longer than a semi! To backtrack a bit, we were really blessed to have Mike and Tessa help and stay until we shut the door of the old house one last time and get every last thing cleared out (we BARELY got everything with us - the guys had to unpack and repack the truck, van, and car again and again to make it all fit. Crazy!!!). We ate the last Popsicles out the freezer and hurried off. It was a surreal feeling leaving that empty house behind, not even knowing for sure if we would ever be back in that town even.
Poor little Evelyn was kind of freaked out I think about all of the commotion of the previous days and she was in the back seat of the van surrounded by stuff packed all the way almost to the ceiling! She was such a trooper for the drive, but despite no naps really that day, SHE NEVER SLEPT A WINK during the drive! I pulled over more times than I kept track of. My saving grace was the plate of peanut butter cookies that Tessa made for us as they kept my blood sugar high and appeased Evelyn as I Gumby-twisted my arm back to give her crumbs. I also had to give her water bottles, pop cans, pens, and other forbidden objects for 30-second intervals of her happiness!
But, we did make it eventually, and around 10:30 had left the U-Haul on the new street for the night. We fought off the June bugs (yuck, they are plentiful here) and made our way to Burger King for an 11:00 nutritious dinner! :-) We slept at Jason and Christy's that night - it was so nice of them to have us. Evelyn was so glad to be out of a car seat and chaos that she had an adrenalin rush that had her bouncing off the walls until 1 a.m. (this is when her schedule was officially ruined and is still being repaired!)
We were thrown another curve ball the next day at closing. They were holding the key until the money was wired. We were told there should not be any problems, but, we did not get the key until 4 hours after closing and we were so blessed that the previous owners were still in town as the glitch involved a paper that they had to sign. Me and Jason's stomachs were both in knots as we sat and waited homeless in our van. There was a time when it was looking pretty dim that we would leave with the key and that having to wait until the following week for the banks to re-open and straighten things out. But, God totally worked everything out and with about 5 minutes to spare before the end of the banking day, we had our key!
As Jason mentioned, family and friends have been so generous and welcoming to us! We had so much help and tons of delicious goodies from friends! We really do love it here and are getting quite settled in.
We have already enjoyed the closeness to family as well - we have done the trip to my home state the past two weekends for a dance recital and my sister Brittany's graduation party. For both events we loved being able to attend, but loved even more the fact that we did not have to pack suitcases and were able to come home and sleep in our own bed!
More stories to come and more "normal" posts about our little crawler (who is attacking the printer under my feet as I type!)
Friday, June 20, 2008
Update
Ok, sorry to everyone who reads our blog, but needless to say we have been very busy trying to get settled in to our new home, neighborhood, and every other change coming our way.
We are loving our new home and the neighborhood! Lots of kids in the neighborhood which is nice for Evelyn.
We have a lot of stories, so hopefully Amber can fill you in on some of them.
A few shout outs though to some people who made all of this happen for us:
From our old neighborhood:
Steve and Mary Jo-HUGE help...couldn't have done it without your help. Jim M.-the same to you. Mike & Tessa- HUGE blessing as well. Great to have Godly friends who will help when in need!
From the new neighborhood:
Mark & Hannah-Very big help, Mike & Shannon-we really didn't even know you guys, but you were willing to help us move in? HUGE blessing from God...very nice people! Jason & Christy-provided lodging the night before the big move-in. Again, huge help.
Family:
Dad & Mom B.-You rock!! because you guys are like rocks! I can count on you no matter what! Sarah B.-Huge help, Andrea S.-huge help. Dawn A.-oh my gosh, you shampooed all or our carpets!! Hardest mom worker I know! The rest of the A. family....you're like busy bees...except all with rag and cleaner in hand!
And to who ever else I may have missed. We thank you SO MUCH, and we pray God will bless you richly for your self sacrifice and willingness to help us out.
Other than that, life is kind of back to normal. Evelyn learned to crawl the day we moved in the new house. She's loving the carpeted, open floors! She basically crawls to the nearest vertical structure she can find to pull herself up to stand, so we have to watch her! She has also developed a very convenient bedtime of midnight to 1am which is awesome! (joke)
Hopefully we can post some pictures of our new home shortly, but I wanted to at least let you all know we are alive.
We are loving our new home and the neighborhood! Lots of kids in the neighborhood which is nice for Evelyn.
We have a lot of stories, so hopefully Amber can fill you in on some of them.
A few shout outs though to some people who made all of this happen for us:
From our old neighborhood:
Steve and Mary Jo-HUGE help...couldn't have done it without your help. Jim M.-the same to you. Mike & Tessa- HUGE blessing as well. Great to have Godly friends who will help when in need!
From the new neighborhood:
Mark & Hannah-Very big help, Mike & Shannon-we really didn't even know you guys, but you were willing to help us move in? HUGE blessing from God...very nice people! Jason & Christy-provided lodging the night before the big move-in. Again, huge help.
Family:
Dad & Mom B.-You rock!! because you guys are like rocks! I can count on you no matter what! Sarah B.-Huge help, Andrea S.-huge help. Dawn A.-oh my gosh, you shampooed all or our carpets!! Hardest mom worker I know! The rest of the A. family....you're like busy bees...except all with rag and cleaner in hand!
And to who ever else I may have missed. We thank you SO MUCH, and we pray God will bless you richly for your self sacrifice and willingness to help us out.
Other than that, life is kind of back to normal. Evelyn learned to crawl the day we moved in the new house. She's loving the carpeted, open floors! She basically crawls to the nearest vertical structure she can find to pull herself up to stand, so we have to watch her! She has also developed a very convenient bedtime of midnight to 1am which is awesome! (joke)
Hopefully we can post some pictures of our new home shortly, but I wanted to at least let you all know we are alive.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
No time for captions!
Pics from dance recital extravaganza weekend, Mother's Day (I had a great first one - thanks, Honey!) and from around the house lately. The order is quite messed up! Sorry!
Note: my Dad was in a father/daughter hip-hop dance...he does not normally dress like that! :-)
Monday, May 19, 2008
Quick Run-down
It has been a CRAZY last couple of weeks! Hence, no posts and very little reading of anyone else's blogs.
Here is a quick run-down of what has been going on at the Our Love Story house:
Here is a quick run-down of what has been going on at the Our Love Story house:
- We sold our house in late April. There were a few bumps in the road regarding the inspection. We had to take money off of the price to compensate for the aging roof. We also had to pay $950 to mitigate the radon level in the basement. Never knew what radon was before... It is pretty nasty stuff. The buyers paid for the radon test, but we legally had to pay for it. All in all, we are trying not to think about all of the money that we lost and just be thankful that we have sold the house as many are still for sale in the neighborhood. Being together (all week :-) again as a family is priceless.
- We found a house in the new city about a week after we had the offer on our house. Just like we were suspecting, God knew that our new house wasn't ready yet so that is why it took so long to sell this house. It is a nice 3-bedroom ranch built in 1976. I am most looking forward to the larger kitchen and windows and patio doors that face the backyard and playset. I can already imagine our kids playing on that playset and me watching them out the kitchen window! Praise the Lord we got the house - we acted fast and beat out several other buyers. Unlike the housing market here, the market in the new city is hopping!
- Dance Recital Extravaganza Weekend was last weekend. My mom had her recital on Friday night and my step-mom's studio had their's all weekend - we attended the Saturday night show. I always love to see my siblings (yes, even my brothers dance adorably) dance! It does make me miss dancing SO much. I don't dance, sing or act anymore - I miss that chance at creative outlet. I hope I can take a dance class, join a choir, or sing on a worship team after we move and are settled in. I am very proud of my mom and step-mom for their great choreography. The shows were both great, and as always, get better every year.
- Due to our situation, I caught a ride with Jason and stayed with my Anderson family for the week before the recitals. This way, I avoided a 5 1/2 hour car trip alone with Evelyn. The week went by fast and was filled with costume and hairpiece making and other recital preparations. My mom makes most of her costumes! We also got to stay with the Johnson fam after my stepmom's recital for a night. Great Grandma Jane was also in town from Phoenix. We saw lots of other relatives at both recitals, too. It is great to see (aka show Evelyn off to) them! :-)
- After the weekend, Evelyn and I took the Amtrak train home. This was a nice way to travel. Evelyn thoroughly enjoyed being out of a carseat for travel! We were blessed with double seats the whole time and I was able to watch most of my mother's day gift from the Johnson's, "27 Dresses," on our portable DVD player. The train was delayed by almost 2 hours due to track work. And, my porr friend Tessa got lost coming to get us at the train station. So, it was a much longer journey than expected, but still better than a van ride alone with an infant (yeah, I get to do the 4 hour ride alone on moving day. Start praying now as Evelyn usually gets the "mommy entertainment show" during long rides while daddy drives...)
- I am crowned! The crown on my back molar is on. I managed to totally grind my temporary crown to a sharp peak. My cheek is glad to have that thing gone! This confirms my suspicion that I do indeed grind my teeth. I have a constantly sore and clicking jaw. So, I pretty much already knew that I grind my teeth and need a mouth guard. I tried an over-the-counter version once that failed miserably as I could not close my lips over it... A story for another post.
- Evelyn is a little Cheerio lover!!! She also likes fruit puffs and these rice wafers that I found. I gave up on baby food a long time ago as she never liked it. But, my little babe loves to gum these new treats that I have been feeding her. I even managed to pass one back to her at a stop light today - great new distraction!
- Evelyn is also in love with trying to kneel or stand, but can only do so with assistance. She knows all of the ways her body moves and she is screaming for freedom (sometimes even literally!) Diaper changes and putting her into the carseat have sometimes been challenging lately as she tries to roll away from me. She might be one of those kids who skips crawling...we'll see! I really want her to learn everything in her own time and not be forced to move to a milestone. And, I really don't mind any days she give me of being immobile - I know life will get even crazier when she is mobile!
- We had a rockstar weekend of garage sale-ing. I hope to post about all of my great deals!
- Packing is coming along slowly but surely. Jason is much better at staying on top of it and that motivates me - I am the procrastinator. The big move day is June 6th. We plan to have the 26 foot U-Haul packed up Thursday night and then Jason will drive it over on Friday morning. Both home closings are on Friday. I am planning to be at a friend's house on Thursday night so that I don't have to sleep on a floor and then try to drive alone with a baby under a very important time crunch.
- I can't remember everything else that I wanted to say. It is getting late. Oh, one thing - don't expect too many posts from me as we are in the midst of craziness. And, I am not sure if we will have internet at our new house. Still crunching the budget numbers. We shouldn't get it, but I/we really desire it... The only reason we have it now is because I had gotten it for work and then kept it to stay in better touch with Jason and not be so lonely while we are apart. We would like a home phone too and possibly basic cable (not sure what will happen when the whole digital TV thing changes as we don't have digital TV's and have not done a lot of research about the converter boxes). Ooh - that reminds me - So You Think You Can Dance - my all-time FAVORITE show starts this week! I am SO excited!
Take care everyone! We'll keep you posted!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
