Park Time

Last Monday was a beautiful day.  Hannah didn't take a great nap so when she woke up early I decided to take advantage and go to the neighborhood park.  I haven't been very good about taking pictures lately so I grabbed the camera along with snack so we could play for a long while.  The kids had so much fun.  Luke was finally able to make it all the way across the monkey bars on his own.  He was very proud of himself.  

10 Things About...

Since life is a bit crazy around here and I've been wanting to do a blog post about a few things, I'm just going to list what's going on with each of us right now and that will cover it all in one post.

So, 10 Things About...

Hannah

*She was 22 months old on Tuesday.  I'll say it yet again--time goes by so fast!!!

*School has become much easier and the info note that she brought home Tuesday said she is loving school.  Hooray!

*Buttons, buttons, buttons!!!  She is totally into buttons.

*About 2 weeks ago she started saying, "Uke, Uke, Uke."  Hannah is finally saying Luke's name (he loves it!).

*Hannah loves playing with Duplo Legos.  She has even been caught sorting them (a trait her brother did all the time).

*She loves to wrestle and play with Luke and Dad.  It scares me a bit still but she laughs and squeals with delight.

*Hannah loves to go bye-bye.  She is constantly asking, "Shoes on? Bye-bye?"  

*Hannah has discovered Frosted Mini Wheats.  She insists on "ereal" every morning for breakfast.  She does a great job of having a bowl with cereal and milk. 

*Reading has become a favorite activity.  She is particularly fond of books with noise, flaps or something that moves.

*Hannah loves to sing.  She's been learning lots of new songs from school and it seems she is singing all the time--Ring around the Rosie, Frere Jacques, Twinkle Twinkle, The Clean Up Song.

*An extra--Hannah loves to help!  She starts the dishwasher, helps me change the laundry, helps LJ set the table and will do most tasks you ask her to that involve helping.

Luke

*Finding LJ's halloween costume this year was a bit of an ordeal.  He wanted to be a dinosaur specially a brachiosaurus.  Well, there isn't a brachiosaurus costume available anywhere.  Thankfully it wasn't too hard to convince him to be a pteranodon.  We ordered the costume online and it came last week.  I wish it was just a tad bit bigger but we're going to make it work.

*Luke has had lots of questions about moving, the new house, what we'll be taking, why are Troy and I doing so much work, why does the house have to be perfect all the time, etc.  I'm glad he's asking so much.  I take it as a sign that he knows what's going on and is processing it all.  I just pray that when it comes time to move the transition goes smoothly.

*Beads, beads, beads!  Luke is completely into making creations out of perler beads (the kind you melt with an iron).  About 2 weeks ago he started making Christmas ornaments and hasn't stopped.  I love his creative, crafty side :)

*Luke has become a bit more social since school started.  He is always asking to have a play date or when can he see so and so.  I'm glad he's branching out a bit more.

*He loves going to school.  

*Luke doesn't like to get up in the morning.  His alarm goes off at 7:45 and I go into his room about 8 to drag him out of bed to start getting ready for the day.  This doesn't look too good for the future.

*The boys in his class at school like to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the playground.  Luke joins in and has fun but when I ask him if he'd like to get some turtle toys for Christmas he says no.  He just wants Legos and beads.

*Luke seems to be getting more picky about food lately especially fruits and vegetables.  It's a rare night that we don't have to tell him repeatedly to eat this or that off his plate at dinner time.

*Luke has also been writing a bunch.  For a while he was writing stories and sounding out words on his own and now he's been asking us to spell the words first so he can write them correctly.

*Luke is most excited about having his own art room at the new house.  There is a window-less room off the laundry room with a built-in desk, shelves and a huge closet that we've told him will be his art room.  

*An extra--About 3 weeks ago LJ said he'd decided what he wanted to be when he grew up.  So I asked him what it was and he said an artist.  I asked what kind of artist and he said a drawing artist.  :)

Troy

*There were over 700 lay-offs at Troy's company about 2 weeks ago.  During the re-org Troy was moved to a new group--the Eastern Division.  It's a completely new area for him so he's been learning a lot.

*To go along with his new position, Troy has been reading a bunch of papers about Eastern Appalachian geology.

*Fantasy Football has not gone well this season.

*Troy is super excited that the Chiefs are 7-0 this season and that the games are available to watch here.

*Troy is most excited to have more space, a hot tub and an office away from everyone at the new house.

*Troy is dreading packing the garage.  I would be too.

*He has been playing with the kids every night after dinner.  I love to watch them interact.

*Troy leaves the house in the morning no later than 6:15.  He is a morning person for sure.

*He has been getting home around 5:30 or a bit earlier for a few months.  I really love that!

*Troy goes to sleep in about 5 minutes.  He does so much each day it doesn't take him long to be out and snoring.

Amy

*Packing, packing, packing.  I am into packing.  Maybe "into" implies some sort of like of which there is none.

*I was able to go on a scrapbook retreat last weekend.  It was great to get away from the stress of moving, etc for a while.  I completed 36 pages!

*I'm glad that fall has arrived and it's not so hot outside.

*Every night before I go to sleep I get on Pinterest for a while and also play Sudoku.  It really seems to help me relax and go to sleep faster.

*I got my driver's license renewed this morning.  The picture is awful!!!

*I haven't been reading much lately.  The last book I finished was an Inspector Gamache novel by Louise Penny.  It's a series and they are fantastic.  I'm looking forward to another one coming out hopefully soon.

*Maintaining a well cleaned, picked up, show at any time house is hard work!  I appreciate how nice the house looks but I'll be glad when it's over.

*Moving still doesn't seem completely real to me.  The huge for sale sign in the front yard, boxes in our garage, maintaining the house for showings, etc just hasn't sunk in yet.  I'm not sure if it will be completely real to me until we are actually in the new house.  Even picturing life in a few months seems surreal at the new house. 

*We've really been watching our budget and I have to say I've enjoyed figuring out some new recipes and cooking more.  We were probably eating dinner out 1 or 2 times a week before and now that's down to maybe 1.

*And now I'm off to pack, pack, pack :)

Big Changes....

Three weeks ago the possibility of writing this post was non-existent.  In fact, I would have laughed and told you that you were crazy if you told me what we're doing around here.  

So, what is this big change and what are we doing around here????  

Well, we're moving!!!!  

That means we're packing and cleaning and organizing and cleaning and packing and going a bit crazy!

It all started when we decided that putting in a pool was a bit more expensive than we wanted it to be and that one option was to move to a house with a pool.  I objected strongly!  I'm not much on big change.  This was about 2 months ago.  

Troy eventually convinced me to just look at houses online with pools.  I wasn't impressed in the slightest.  I told him that for me to even consider moving the house would have to meet a lot of requirements because I wasn't just moving to get a pool.  So we made a list.  It was long because I'm picky and I know what I want in a house.

I still wasn't really considering moving but a few other factors came into play and so we looked online again.  And there was a house that I liked.  Troy liked it too.  The web page sat open on my computer for about two weeks.  I would randomly look through the pictures and think about it.

Finally, Troy said that we needed to decide if we were going to go for putting a pool in here or move.  I said that I wanted to go see the house and see how I felt about even looking at houses.  I felt like I would be able to judge whether or not I really wanted to commit to moving by looking at a house.

We decided on a Sunday night that we would go look at the house.  I called a neighbor friend that is a realtor on Monday.  I told her I wasn't really even sure why I was calling her and that we weren't sure what we were doing but we wanted to go see this house.  She laughed at me and said we'd take it one step at a time.

So on Tuesday morning, October 1, we went to see the house.  And we LOVED it!!!  As we were walking through it I kept telling Troy that I didn't want to like it so much.  I truly didn't want to like it so much but at the same time if we were going to move I did want to like it as much as I did.  It literally had everything on my long list of requirements plus some extra things that made it that much better.

My List

*Obviously, the pool

*More backyard for the kids to play in (even with the pool)

*Trees

*At least 4 bedrooms (it has 5)

*Gameroom

*Office (that's not next to the front door)

*Storm shelter

*Hardwood floors

*Gas cooktop

*Good storage

*Dining room that isn't "open"--I don't care for the posts or only different flooring seperation of rooms

Extras it Has

*Double oven

*Raised vegetable garden with a sprinkler

*Hot tub

*Backs to a golf course

*Central vac system

*Sunroom that's perfect for a playroom for the kids off the family room

*A window-less room off the laundry room with a built-in desk that's perfect for LJ's art stuff

*AND MY FAVORITE: A craft room just for me

We left the house sort of in a daze.  I couldn't believe that the first one we looked at was it.  It really freaked me out.  We decided to go back and look at it again later that day with Dad and Frankie to get a second opinion and make sure we weren't crazy for liking it so much.  They liked it just as much as we did.

Troy and I talked about so many options Tuesday night.  Neither of us slept well.  I woke up and decided it would be a good idea to see a couple more options just to make sure.  Troy obviously missed a bunch of work Tuesday so I went to see two houses Wednesday morning by myself.  Neither one even came close to comparing.  Wednesday night we talked through all our options again and didn't sleep well.  Thursday I went back to see the house again by myself--I really wanted to be sure.  

Thursday night we went through all the paperwork to make an offer and also paperwork to get our house on the market.  After going back and forth several times on Friday, we got the word about 6:30 that they accepted our last offer!  We were shocked and stunned and in disbelief.  

That was 10 days ago.  Life has been crazy busy since then.  We've worked super hard to get our house ready to go on the market; the plan is for it to be listed on Thursday.  We're praying that it sells quickly. We close on the new house on November 14.  That's just a month away!  I am still having a hard time believing it!

21 Months Old

Hannah is 21 months old today.  It's hard to believe in 3 short months she will be 2!  We've had several changes the last three months.  The main one being Hannah has started going to MDO two days a week.

*Schedule: Monday through Thursday I get Hannah up by 8:10 if she's not already awake.  The other days of the week she's usually awake by 8:30 at the latest.  Hannah still doesn't nap the best.  If she's at MDO, she's napping about an hour.  If she's at home it's usually about 2 hours but sometimes it's significantly shorter.  About one day a week she will take a 3 hour-ish long nap (I like those days).  Since school has started, Hannah goes to bed about 7:30 although on the weekends it is a bit later.

*Stats: Hannah was 27 lbs 1 oz (91%) and 33 5/8 inches (86%) long at her 18 month check-up.  Hannah is wearing 24 month or 2T clothes and pajamas are 2T size.  Hannah's hair is long enough to hold a barrette but she won't leave them in.  It is almost white in color because of the time outside this summer.  When Hannah gets hot or it's humid she gets lots of little curly-ques.  It's so cute!

*Food: Hannah is starting to get more particular about what she's eating.  She seems to be going through spurts of liking/disliking some of her core favorites.  Don't fret, Hannah definitely still likes to eat but her personality is coming through in her choices and how she eats: independent and her way. She still out eats Luke and she always amazes me at how much she can fit in her little tummy.  One new food that continues to amaze me is lettuce.  Hannah loves it.  Her continuing favorites include: cheese, rice, fruit (strawberries and raspberries), macaroni and cheese, peanut butter, yogurt and corn.

*Activities: Hannah is still a constant ball of motion.  She seldom walks anywhere and always asks if she gets to walk when getting out of the car.   Chase and tag are still favorites as is playing with Dad and Luke on the floor.  Hannah really enjoys stacking toys and pushing cars, trains, strollers or just about anything with wheels.  Being outside is still Hannah's most favorite place.  She is very good at helping Luke set the table for dinner.  I'm happy to say that Hannah finally is really enjoying books and being read to.  A new huge favorite activity for Hannah is pushing buttons--on the remote, phone, toys, garage door opener, microwave--she loves all buttons!

Hannah's newest and biggest activity is going to MDO on Tuesday and Thursday.  I knew that this was going to be a big change for Hannah.  I also guessed that it would be either super easy or very tough for her.  Unfortunately it's been a hard transition.  This week starts our fourth week and I'm hoping that maybe she won't cry when I drop her off.  Her very first day she cried off and on all day.  Since then it's been part happy and part sad each time she's gone.  Her teachers told me last Thursday she had her best day and didn't cry too much.  She painted a beautiful picture and absolutely loved it.

*Noises/Talking:  Hannah's new words are too numerous to list.  She's been saying a few sentences: how are you; push buttons please; eat ice cream.  Hannah is still babbling constantly.  She loves to sing; her favorites are Frere Jacques, Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald.  Hannah has also started counting to three.  It usually goes along with one, two, three, go.  We have been working on naming parts of her face and she knows nose, eyes, mouth and ears.  She is also learning what noises animals make.  Her favorite is a moo cow.

It's hard to imagine what life was like before Hannah was here.  She is such a beautiful, smart, independent, loving girl and we love that she is ours!

WITL--Sunday

I have to say I'm very glad this is my last WITL post for this year.  I definitely lost interest and momentum over the weekend.  We took a total of 87 pictures for Sunday.

I didn't have a great start to my day as I woke up with a big headache.  Not a good thing as our plan was to go to the OK State Fair with Grandma and Grandpa H.  Thankfully after some Tylenol, snoozing a bit longer, a hot shower and a coke I was feeling a little better.  We got to the fair before it was too crowded or hot.  Luke and I rode some rides and played at the Lego tent while everyone else did some shopping.  We then had some fair food: hot dogs, bratwurst, curly potato fries, fried peaches and lemonade.  It was starting to get fairly hot and crowded by then and H was ready for a nap so we headed home after the bounce jungle and go karts for LJ and I.  Hannah went down for a nap when we got home and I also took a nap after unsuccessfully trying to get LJ to nap.  After I got up, Troy took a nap--it was just that kind of day.  We just chilled in the family room playing with the kids before dinner.  The kids took an early bath and then H went to bed a bit early and Troy and Luke watched more bike riding before Troy put Luke to bed.  Troy and I cleaned up the kitchen and then hung about before a bit of an early bedtime for us too.

Breakfast

Walking around

Grateful he still holds my hand

Getting ready to go on the caterpillar roller coaster

During the ride

Legos

Getting some fried peaches

LJ & I going through the bounce jungle

Go Karts

Gettin' a ride back to the car

Snooze

Snooze

Happy girl waking up from a snooze

Helping me blog

Man time in the office

She LOVES to help set the table

Dinner

Ready for bed

WITL--Saturday

A pretty normal weekend day for us at home.  We took 138 pictures.  Troy took a ton during Luke's first soccer game.

Our day started out with one of our favorites--french toast!  Troy has become an expert over the last several months.  The kids played with Troy on the floor before we headed out to the backyard to enjoy the beautiful weather.  Our time outside ended a bit abruptly when we found a black widow hiding in the toys.  Hannah and I took a bath and a shower before lunch and Troy one after lunch.  Troy put Hannah down for her nap and then we battle with LJ to get ready for his soccer game.  While the guys go to that (Grandma and Grandpa made an appearance there too), I got ready for dinner and blogged.  Hannah took a decent nap thankfully during all of this.  LJ was disappointed that his team didn't win but he did block a goal!  Luke took a bath and then the kids had snacks and watched Word World.  Troy and I were getting ready for dinner: making salad, appetizers, cleaning the grill, etc.  The Rechlin family came over and the kids immediately disappeared upstairs while H hung out with the adults in the kitchen.  We enjoyed some awesome ribs for dinner and then spent some time outside before coming back in for dessert.  The kids really had a great time playing!  Luke was so excited all week for Lilli to come over.  Luke went to bed a bit late after they left; Troy and I cleaned up the kitchen; I downloaded pictures and we had some down time on the couch before going to bed.

Making breakfast

Yummy!

Berries are her fav!

Let's go this way

My favorite spot in the backyard

Taking a break

Twistin'

Slidin'

Flippin'

Her spot

Her spot (this is how she always lays--looks so uncomfortable)

LJ reversed the pattern on one of these all by himself

Warming up

Going through the rules

Break time

Go Luke!

Chillin'

Snack time

Loves helping in the kitchen

AWESOME!!!

That's as far as she got

Kyla & I watching the fun

Stomp rocket

Notice the hand holding ;)