Move Update

Friends -

Many of you know that Ken and I are in the midst of a coast to coast move. And boy are things getting hectic. Just a little over a week ago, we learned we'd be coming to our new state to find a home and that our final move date would be mid-June. I feel like it should be the first week of April and yet tomorrow is the first day of May!

We are here in our new state, and looking for a home. We'd seen several before visiting that we wanted to see. But since speaking with a mortgage lender, our list has been narrowed down. On our first day in town, we visited 6 homes in 4 hours, and were convinced we hadn't seen all that we needed to see. Later that night, Ken and I along with Penelope, drove all over creation and visited about 12 other homes, driving by them at night, taking a look at the neighborhoods and then later reporting back to our agent about more homes that we were interested in. Late last night, we emailed her our top three from the day as well as 6 others that we were interested in. Of the new six, only 3 were truely available, and only one was worth looking at. So, today we viewed our top two from the first day, and then the third.

Essentially, we have three homes: A 2007 3 floor town-home, a 2004 2 story home, and a 1994 2 story foreclosed home. Both independent homes need some form of work. The 2004 home needs more major projects for a contractor/skilled tradesman to finish, and the foreclosed home has more work for us/general help to do. So, we've decided that perhaps we will begin making offers on these homes starting with the 2007 home (which has been on the market longer than Penny has been alive) and then move down the line to the others.

It's been a long trip so far, and we have a day or so left. We attempted to get on base today, but I wasn't permitted to be on base without a special pass. But you can see some pretty cool planes from the road... and we saw several fighter jets flying over while we were looking at homes.

We'll keep you posted on how things go. I've been bathing these homes in prayer for the past 2 days and know that God will work out the details.

Love you friends... I'll post when we've landed on the other coast!! :)

PS -- our toddler is not with us while we're here. We thought we'd be able to get a bit more work done without him here and it's proven to be true, although Penelope is a handful herself :) But she's proving to be more flexible that I thought she would be. We miss Finn ALOT and find ourselves talking about him alot. Can't wait to get my arms around my little buddy!!

My Fashion-ista and Our Day at the Fair

Last week, I woke up to a new fashion trend presented by my sweet daughter. In an effort to pull her arm out from her swaddleme wrap, she managed to pull her whole arm out of her jammies. She was sportin' this wonderful fashion, and enjoying the one shoulder look!!

After bath time... my beauty sparkles!
Last Friday, we had some beautiful weather, and took the morning and spent it at the Spring Fair with our friends, the Guilfoyles. Sara and her mom, along with all four kids, entered for some fun on some rides, and run with friends!!

Here are the kids.. All ready for a fun day!! This was Penelope's first ride in the stroller, not in the car seat.

After seeing the cows, Finnegan got to try milking a mechanical cow... kind of cool. It was a bit hard for him to do, but he liked trying.

Sara and Patrick rode a few rides. My sweet boy was a bit too short (or so we thought). But we'll try next time. We all had a wonderful time, nonetheless.

Weekend in Photos

Here are some photos from our weekend. We've had some nice weather and Finnegan's been begging to go outside. He just LOVES being outside with Daddy!!

He gave the slide a go this weekend... something he's never done. He climbed up the ladder and rode down himself. What a big boy! Then, Ken set up an "obstacle course" for him... He rode down the big slide then ran over to the little slide and rode down that one too. I have a video that I'll try to upload... I'm finding my videos are a bit too large to upload these days. So if not, I'll try to post a link to FB and post it there...

Here's my buttercup in the sunshine. She loves her bouncy toy that we've borrowed for some friends. Only a few more weeks and we'll have to give it back :)
Here's my little helper. He likes to mow with Daddy!

And here's some special time with Daddy. We haven't done a jam pile yet... but we're getting there! :)

From "Not Even Close" to "We're Done!"

Our efforts to de-clutter our lives and live leaner is a project that continues to be the first topic on our minds. Ken and I work by spending our weekends going through our belongings deciding what we can keep and what we can live without. We've been through each room in our home at least twice, and each box in the garage at least twice. The discussions are getting harder and the decisions are painstaking, now. And since these things are getting harder, it is beginning to weigh on our relationship as well. Ken wants to get rid of some things, and I want to keep them. And I'm not a debater. So when I want to keep it, I can't explain why, in terms that make sense... especially not right on the spot. So it just makes it so hard...

About 2 weeks ago, Ken said, that he didn't think we were close to being done. In fact, he thought we were about half done. Are you kidding me?? I felt that we'd been through everything and had made some good and hard decisions and I was ready for it to be over. We'd been through our keepsakes, and gotten rid of things we've been holding onto for years. I'd scanned over 2500 photos and uploaded them to the internet for safe keeping. And he was telling me that we had just this much to go before we were done. UGH!

Then this past Saturday, after I returned from the GoodWill (making our 5th trip in 2 months), Ken told me that he seemed to think we were about done. REALLY?? I was a bit gun shy at first and didn't want to believe it. There are still a few things that I'd still like to go through just one more time, as I've thought of things I'm ready to get rid of. But I can hardly believe it... We're done (for the most part). It's a wonderful feeling... and I don't mind walking through the garage and not knocking over needless things with the baby carrier or my multitude of bags :)

Easter Brunch Plans

While we've lived here in WA, we've found some great people to call our family!! They have us over for Thanksgiving and Christmas (if we're here in town) and then invite us over all the time during the year. Although our home isn't as large to hold the total of 12 (that there are when we're all together), we do like to have them over a couple times of year. We got together at Christmas this year, and have done a New Years day thing before and Mother's day occasionally, and Finnegan's birthday is always a given! But another holiday that we traditionally have them over to our home is on Easter. It started a couple of years ago and I think this will be the third year in a row we've had the group over from brunch.

Because I'm better at making brunch and relying on meat to turn out properly, I base my meal around a late breakfast idea. I usually make a breakfast casserole and other items. This year, I'm taking some WONDERFUL help from some cooks who blog... Here's what's on the menu...

• Blueberry Scones
• Quiche Lorraine (just as pictured and then a second with bacon and spinach)
• Fruit Plate with Strawberries and pineapple and grapes
• Caprese Spears (toothpicks with cherry tomatoes, motz cheese, basil and olives)
• Turkey Sausage Links
• Lemon Cake with a Homemade Strawberry Sauce ** Haven't decided if I'll make a homemade lemon cake or a box yet...

Should be pretty yummy! I love to cook for people and have people over. Can't wait until we have a bit bigger home so we can do it more often!!

6 month stats

For those of you out there who might care... P went to her 6 month check up on Thursday last week. She got 2 vaccines and had a CBC done. All went well... She didn't cry for either of the shots, but did give out a loud wale when the nurse got too close to her face. She is so in need of her personal space, and when she doesn't know you and you get too close, she freaks! I find it fascinating as F was never like this!!

She is 14lbs and 15oz. She is 26 inches long. Her height is about 50% for her age and her weight is between 10 and 25%. So she's on the small/petite side. Which is fine. She even still fits in her 3-6 months clothes, and we have a ways before she'll jump up to the next size.

She's a happy baby, and loves to hear music and loves to watch her brother. She sleeps well, most of the time. She's been up early every so often since my previous post about her sleep, but nothing excessive as she was at that time. She's quiet for most of the day... unless she's hungry or wants a change of scenery. She does squeal more than F ever did. And loves to use her vocal chords that way. She seems to be less excited to use her voice as F was. But I am sure that will change as she grows up.

Her hair has mostly fallen out, and is now being replaced with new budding locks. I was looking at it today, and she'll probably have lighter hair like F does. She has the same side cowlick that he does, and two on the top of her head that each go a different direction. I'm hoping long hair will correct it. :) She has striking blue eyes, very similar to her daddy's, but much more bluer.

She is starting to enjoy the paci but just to get herself to sleep and then she spits it out. She'll onl take one kind and we only allow her to have it in her bed or carseat (or now). She tends to be a tummy sleeper, as she's learned to roll over and is too tired to flip back over herself onto her back.

She's a spirited girl. Her nickname is sassafras. She's like any girl, she expects things to go her way. And we're all learning together that it doesn't always work out that way :)

My baby is 6 months old!!

Six months ago, my sweet baby was born... And oh how time has flown by! Here are a few photos from a last 6 months together!!

(photos above by Amanda Kay Photography)

October 2009

(Photo above by Amber Sheree)

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

Feb 2010

March 2010

And here's one of our first born, with his first experience with Starbucks... yes, we start them early around here (no, no, no!! it's just a steamer - no coffee - although he does ask for it!) :)