Disney World

One week from tomorrow we will be on our way to see the mouse!!! I'm sure he is waiting with open paws :)
We are soooo excited!

Our Playmobil Toy Surprise

Bear bought this toy for Jenna...we thought the box was heavy! LOL Look what was inside!
A Simon prize!!!!

I like how devious he looks here!

First Day!

My cingular bars LOL!

My first grader!

My fourth grader!
A great day for both girls...the bus did get lost but they finally got them here.

Back in the swing

Abby's room before paint

Jenna and Kate's room with drying paint! Our new disc swing

Daddy's helper!



The new house!

Well we are finally back to normal around here. Of course it's just in time to start a new routine. School starts on the 25th and the open house is next thursday. The girls are excited to go back but not looking forward to getting up early again! We have first day outfits, new sneakers, and full backpacks. I'm still hunting for one thing off of each of their lists. A white folder for Abby and an index card box that she can actually open herself for Jenna. White folders seem to be like unicorns around here. I'm not super sure who makes up the class lists but evidently they know where to buy the white folders LOL!
We are continually doing things around the house. I am allowing myself to let some of it lie so that we can do some fun stuff before the school year starts. We did get Jenna and Kate's room painted and most of their decorations hung. We have painted Abby's room but need a second coat because the old owners thought orange was a great bedroom color and the white that Abby wanted isn't covering it too well.
Mark is waging a war against the weeds, trees and bees. We are losing the tree and weed war but the bee war is going alright. There are more dead ones that alive.
I went to a baby shower for Kelly (Andy's wife) recently. It was fun! They got all sorts of cool presents. Talking to the other moms was neat and the video shower was certainly a first for me. I'm starting to be the one that has the oldest kids now. I know when Katie does her activities I am usually the one with the oldest kids.
Abby is taking ballet, jazz and modern this year. Tuition is roughly a mortgage payment and that does not include recital stuff. I guess it could be worse. She could want a horse.
Jenna decided on violin lessons and they start in September. I really hope she likes it because she is so excited!
Katie goes back and forth between gymnastics and ballet. It depends on the day. I'm most likely going to sign her up for gymnastics first and do ballet later in the year.

All Moved In?

Well, I guess. The boxes are here...the beds are set up. The fridge has been delivered. I am in a rut and cannot get any further! We had the septic tank snaked and the flood is cleaned up. We purchased the bug killers and the root killers. We have put most of the clothes away and gotten the washer and dryer up and running. We have groceries and I am learning how to use the new stove...until I can save up enough to replace it. We have started opening the boxes i the basement and started bringing things home from storage.
Everything takes longer here. It takes longer to get to the phone, to get to the car, to open/close the windows. I guess I knew that once we moved in the real stress would begin. It was easier to keep the old house clean LOL!

Under contract and under pressure

Well the selling of our house has been pretty painless since the contract was put in. Our buyer is considerate and is not requesting any repairs besides the air handler. We sort of knew all along that it was going to have to be done. We just put it off. I'm glad we did it though and I hope that the energy bill goes down a little for it. I wish I could say the stress for buying was less. The people have taken the full amount of time allotted for each thing. We move in 19 days and they are still thinking about what repairs they are going to do. I mean seriously!
The girls have gone to work with Mark today. They are very excited. At last call they were coloring and having snacks provided by Mark's boss. Perfect...sugar them up and send them home. Ack!
I have tons of pictures downloading right now. I'll post some later!
Off to pick of a comic book box and the girls

SOLD!

Finally, we have sold our house. Almost a year after starting the process. It is a relief to not have to be ready to show it in a minute's notice. It is worse in some ways because the packing and the actual moving day are probably going to be more stressful than last mintue cleaning. It's hard to decide what goes in the box and when.
I can't wait for the sold sign to go up!

What are you looking for?

I am still at a complete loss when it comes to the house process. What are people looking for? We have settled on a few houses that we would have been happy in throughout this entire time. Why is that a townhouse is harder to sell? They are the same layout and the same size.Just pick one people! Odd.
The girls have been busy. Abby had MSA tests and came down with a cold that left her making them up. Jenna is getting ready for the kindergarten circus. I am looking forward to volunteering for the day. Katie is growing a little more every day. She is speaking so clearly and getting so capable. She is doing very well with the potty training. It is much less stressful the third time around. I honestly just take her every hour or two and she has been staying pretty dry. I am happy to say that she actually does well staying dry at night too.

Showing and showing

Showing and ...well you get the point. The house is suddenly a hot item. We have had 4 showings in 5 days. I can't even count how many times we have shown the house over the past year.I really think there should be a rule about going to look at a house. Don't waste our time if you are just starting and have no idea where you want to live. I mean if you want to live in Hampstead don't look at houses in Westminster. If you want a single family house , don't look at a townhouse. Don't tell me the rooms are too small. I live here, I know that. Also might I mention that the room sizes are posted on the listing! It's not a matter of national security. Don't mention kid clutter. There are more of them than there are of us! Maybe I should put in the listing that we are taking our crap with us. Don't gripe about the mall, traffic, the color of the sky, the length of the grass...I can't change it, move on. Don't watch HGTV and come to my house. I don't have a team of stagers hiding in the closets. If you are looking for a fire sale, go set someone elses listing on fire. We don't have to move therefore I do not have to to "give" my house to you. Forget what the media says. Houses are expensive, save your bargain hunting for the grocery store and Walmart. Hmm, I think I might be getting jaded in this process.

We still have no house to buy though. I'm going to have to start saving all the cardboard from the recycling bin so we can live in that ! Ack! I'm just hoping that the kids don't think I am serious.....
In happier news, I am one step closer to be diaper free forever around here! I just have to keep up with it!

The sounds of silence

Well not really...Have you ever noticed how certain songs take you back to the very moment that you heard it? Or at least there is something associated with it...that takes you back. There are a few that for me are almost instantaneous. The Sound of Silence will always take me back to the all county chorus version. Jenn, do you still have the tape? Hilary Duff's Why Not, will always remind me of the Disney Store and Tammy. TLCs' waterfall...senior week. Annie's song...my wedding. Mark's elevator song...Tee's, Lee's Christmas Album...Tee's
I always wonder what song the kids will associate with later....

100 days of school

Jenna's class is getting ready to celebrate 100 days of school. She is feverishly counting out 100 crayons in case her first choice of 100 jellybeans does not make it home from the store with Mark tonight. As I am cleaning out her folder , i come across her 100 days book. She wishes for 100 kittens, would not wish for 100 bees. She can lift 100 pencils, cannot lift 100 elephants. On that last page it asks what she would buy with 100 dollars....guess what she wrote....A BABY SISTER! Ummm well...I'm not sure how that would work. Somehow I think baby sisters cost more than $100! It was too cute!

Chicken sandwich

A new menu... in our house we generally eat the same things ...we buy the same things at the grocery store and we crave the same things over and over. Katie has been a different addition to our menu. Shes doesn't really like the normal toddler foods...chicken,fish sticks, pizza, hamburgers. She likes pizza hut pizza though! She prefers rice, corn, anything sweet, cereal and tuna sandwiches if they are circle shaped. It was funny the other day because I got her a Chicken sandwich from Mcdonalds (which Mark had fed her the previous week and she like it because Daddy was eating it). I didn't think she was going to eat it but really didn't want to feed her just fries as she requested. The pics show the progress...

Getting bigger...

It struck me today when I got an email from a newly pregnant friend. My babies are getting bigger. You can have a conversation with all three of them now. Most of the time when they are not killing each other over something trivial I take a breath to appreciate how much easier it is now. Now we carry a little backpack ( even when Katie was a baby) but with Abby I actually had this diaper bag that was like a little suitcase. I kept tylenol, wipes , tons of outfits, you name it. I carted that thing everywhere! With Jenna I had a little bag....now with Katie I'm lucky to remember to take diapers with me. When Abby was a baby I fretted over her falling and crying. I always ran right to her. Now I ask if anyone is bleeding. When Jenna was a baby I worried about her climbing on the play equipment and we bought a scaled down swingset so she wouldn't kill herself following Abby. Now I trust Katie to go down the big slide alone. Some of this sounds funny typing it. Like maybe all the sudden I'm a slacker and don't take care of my kids. It's not that. I still worry. I guess I just realized that it all goes by so fast and one day they won't need me to carry their diapers and watch out for them on the swingset and I want to enjoy it more and worry about the little things less.

Kate's 2cnd Birthday...

We celebrated Kate's 2cnd Birthday on December 27. She opened her presents from us in the morning and then we had her party at lunchtime. She was thrilled to keep getting presents. We had lasagna and cake for her party. She loved her elephant cake and picked out all the yellow table decorations herself. We made the big cupcake cake for her again and then made cupcakes for the guests. We also made elephant shaped sugar cookies for favors. She got lots of neat presents and it was cute to see her able to do it herself this year. Happy Birthday (belatedly on this blog) to our big 2 year old!

Songs that are inappropriate for a 2 year old

but that sound so funny coming out of their mouths! Womanizer is Katie's current favorite. Mind you I am quite sure that the 8 year old and the 5 year old don't know what it means either. Thanks Britney!

Christmas (a few weeks later)

The End! She just couldn't stay up any longer. Look at her little hands!

Katie's "practical "gift from Bear

Jenna's Ruthie

Katie's Bitty

Katie "getting"what to do with presents!

Waiting patiently

We had a great Christmas here. We were actually able to see all our family in one day. The girls got the most wonderful gifts. We are very lucky to have such a generous family.

Here is my favorite pic from before the chaos began. They were verrrrry patiently waiting at the top of the stairs so that I could video them coming down and seeing all their presents.