Having gestational diabetes this time of year is going to be the pits-- no Thanksgiving pie, no Christmas cookies. The absolute pits.
At least, come January 10ish, we'll have a cute, healthy baby to snuggle.
Tuesday, November 20
Wednesday, August 8
feline summer
Since living in the country, we've adopted two country kittens. They are the girls' best friends.
Jason, unfortunately, is allergic to cats so this will be the only time they have some totorture love.
Addie, especially, adores the kittens. She named them Cinderella (the green-eyed "nice" cat) and Hairstyle (the brown-eyed "mean" cat). Addie will play with them for hours.
These pictures are pre-and-post haircut.
The "baby kittens" (as they are lovingly called) are also the main models of my two budding photographers. Here are some samples of their work:
Jason, unfortunately, is allergic to cats so this will be the only time they have some to
Addie, especially, adores the kittens. She named them Cinderella (the green-eyed "nice" cat) and Hairstyle (the brown-eyed "mean" cat). Addie will play with them for hours.
These pictures are pre-and-post haircut.
The "baby kittens" (as they are lovingly called) are also the main models of my two budding photographers. Here are some samples of their work:
My poor husband, however, hates cats. The other day I had to have a
serious talk with him because the girls told me he said it was ok to
kick the cats! He denies ever having said that, but he has certainly shown
them it's ok. Well, we've got it all straightened out now. I am
savoring this time with the cats, it has been so sweet to see the
special relationship my girls have with them.
Thursday, May 17
what we do way out here
We put an offer on a house (a short sale), so we moved to the country while we wait for the deal to come through. We've been here since February and love the S-P-A-C-E!
Although we're about 45 minutes from town, we LOVE it here! This is what we do:
RUN!
PLAY WITH THE GOATS!
PLAY IN THE MUD!
SPEND TIME WITH THE KITTENS
FIND FUN AND INTERESTING THINGS TO DO OUTSIDE
(yes, those are teddy bears hanging from the tree)
RIDE BIKES AND TRIKES AND WAGONS AND TRACTORS AND LAWN MOWERS
GO TO THE SWAMP DOWN THE HILL
CATCH BUGS
AND FROGS
AND SPEND HOURS AND HOURS ON THE TRAMPOLINE
Living in the country truly has been an incredible experience for our family. While we're looking forward to living closer to town, the fun we've had out here has brought us closer as a family, and given us the opportunity to get to know our children's individual personalities even better. Addie, the nature-lover. Macie, the little comedian. Carson, definitely all boy, who loves cars and wheels and mud and dirt and, of course, his momma! We've loved it.
Monday, February 20
meet Miss Ella Rose
This is Ella Rose, and she'll definitely only be here for one day, so I hope you take the time to admire her while you can. She taught the girls how to roll snow to make a snowman, and also showed them yet ANOTHER use for recycling bottle caps! She's quite friendly (see her jolly cheeks?) and Macie and Addie have given her hugs and kisses all afternoon. We are all quite sad she'll be melting us, er, leaving us so soon, but we've been lucky to have spent one fine day with her. Thanks for coming, Ella Rose.
moving
It's difficult to find positive things to say about moving. Sorting through everything, deciding what to keep and what to throw, kids throwing miscellaneous items into your carefully categorized boxes, piles of boxes stacked in every room...ugh. Fortunately for me, our family has done this enough in the last several years to find ONE important thing to look forward to:
And don't think for one second I didn't get in there with them and enjoy the cozy comforts of a dark, cardboard home. I sure did! Nearly fell asleep in there with those hooligans last night.
BOX FORTS!
We done love us some good ol' fashioned frolikin' in da box fort!
Wednesday, February 8
a concert
Right after Christmas I was given (yes, given!) a piano. It has been such a warm and welcome addition to our home. I have loved playing every day (not well, but stumbling through the primary songs) and so have our children.
Here they are two days ago, playing a concert for their stuffed animals, giggling all the while.
This is just a cute picture of Carson. He is looking so grown up lately. And although you can't tell from pictures, he actually is getting slightly heavy! Yay!
Monday, February 6
Valentine's Picture
Last night for our Sunday family activity, we made Valentine's for all of the kid's grandparents and great-grandparents. (Now that I've put it out there in blog-world, I'll have to follow through and actually send them!) Here is the picture we took to go inside of them. Aren't we cute?
Friday, February 3
our house
Well, we have news. Exciting and frustrating at the same time.
1. We put an offer on a house! A great house! A house on an acre!
2. After we submitted the offer, the seller's agent found out how upsidedown the seller was on his mortgage, and said it should have been listed as a short sale. Ugh.
3. Kept in our offer, even though it will be a looooong process. We weren't even looking at short sales, but the joke was on us!
4. Will temporarily rent out a basement apartment from a family at church. Hopefully not for too long, it is guaranteed to be squishy!
5. We love the house. I mean, really really love it. Being patient is not always my specialty, but hopefully these next 2, 3, 4, 5 6, hopefully not 7 months, will fly by!
We will keep looking at houses in the meantime, in case something spectacular comes up that isn't a short sale, but it will have be pretty stellar to sway us from this house.
The house has a giant, two-story stone fireplace, 3 bedrooms, skylights, 2 car garage, a hot tub (not that we really cared about that, but it's still pretty cool), great deck, an unfinished basement (will add two more rooms and family room eventually), hardwood floors, and green carpet...in the master bathroom. Haha. So, it's not all sunshine and roses, but easily fixed.
The lot is OVER an acre! Lots of trees, a garden, an awesome giant shed with a loft and electricity, a place for bunnies, etc. We've already discussed family camping trips...in our backyard! It was really the yard that sealed the deal. It is amazing.
So...we'll keep our options open, but I'm pretty certain this is our house. We trust in the Lord's timing. This little set-back is certainly for a good reason, so we'll just have to wait to see what that is!
1. We put an offer on a house! A great house! A house on an acre!
2. After we submitted the offer, the seller's agent found out how upsidedown the seller was on his mortgage, and said it should have been listed as a short sale. Ugh.
3. Kept in our offer, even though it will be a looooong process. We weren't even looking at short sales, but the joke was on us!
4. Will temporarily rent out a basement apartment from a family at church. Hopefully not for too long, it is guaranteed to be squishy!
5. We love the house. I mean, really really love it. Being patient is not always my specialty, but hopefully these next 2, 3, 4, 5 6, hopefully not 7 months, will fly by!
We will keep looking at houses in the meantime, in case something spectacular comes up that isn't a short sale, but it will have be pretty stellar to sway us from this house.
The house has a giant, two-story stone fireplace, 3 bedrooms, skylights, 2 car garage, a hot tub (not that we really cared about that, but it's still pretty cool), great deck, an unfinished basement (will add two more rooms and family room eventually), hardwood floors, and green carpet...in the master bathroom. Haha. So, it's not all sunshine and roses, but easily fixed.
The lot is OVER an acre! Lots of trees, a garden, an awesome giant shed with a loft and electricity, a place for bunnies, etc. We've already discussed family camping trips...in our backyard! It was really the yard that sealed the deal. It is amazing.
So...we'll keep our options open, but I'm pretty certain this is our house. We trust in the Lord's timing. This little set-back is certainly for a good reason, so we'll just have to wait to see what that is!
Thursday, January 26
a change of plans
We are looking to buy a house!
We have to be out of this house by March 1st, so Jason and I had been looking and looking and looking for another rental, but none of them were right for us for one reason or another. Jason kept saying that he'd rather buy a house, but I wanted more in savings and a signed contract for a partnership buy-in first. I kept resisting and he went along with it. Well, after a month of that, and many *seemingly* unanswered prayers, Jason came home on Monday determined that we should buy. After one night of shock, I came around to the idea and am now convinced it's the right move.
Problem.
There is almost no way we can be out of here and moved in "there" in a month. On Tuesday we got prequalified for a loan, and this Saturday we're going with our realtor (who seems to be fantastic) to see five different houses. So now we just HOPE that it all moves quickly. Hope that we'll find a great house, in a stellar neighborhood, with great schools, near Jason's office, with a pretty fantastic backyard, AND that we can make an offer quickly and get the loan finalized even more quickly than that. Whew!
We're trying to prioritize our "wants" but it's much harder to do in real-life than it is watching House Hunters!
There might be some opportunities to rent for a short time from a few different families in our ward (basement apartments, etc), but if not, we'll explore other options. We may end up getting a 6 month lease somewhere (and then breaking it?), or stay at an extended-stay hotel (veeeery expensive). So, we'll see. But we are excited! For what we're paying in rent, we can afford a nice home...so why not? Things are going GREAT at the office now, and Jason just got a temporary job in Richmond, VA to supplement our income on most of his days off. Yay! Things are looking good down South, I just pray we'll find our new home soon!
We have to be out of this house by March 1st, so Jason and I had been looking and looking and looking for another rental, but none of them were right for us for one reason or another. Jason kept saying that he'd rather buy a house, but I wanted more in savings and a signed contract for a partnership buy-in first. I kept resisting and he went along with it. Well, after a month of that, and many *seemingly* unanswered prayers, Jason came home on Monday determined that we should buy. After one night of shock, I came around to the idea and am now convinced it's the right move.
Problem.
There is almost no way we can be out of here and moved in "there" in a month. On Tuesday we got prequalified for a loan, and this Saturday we're going with our realtor (who seems to be fantastic) to see five different houses. So now we just HOPE that it all moves quickly. Hope that we'll find a great house, in a stellar neighborhood, with great schools, near Jason's office, with a pretty fantastic backyard, AND that we can make an offer quickly and get the loan finalized even more quickly than that. Whew!
We're trying to prioritize our "wants" but it's much harder to do in real-life than it is watching House Hunters!
There might be some opportunities to rent for a short time from a few different families in our ward (basement apartments, etc), but if not, we'll explore other options. We may end up getting a 6 month lease somewhere (and then breaking it?), or stay at an extended-stay hotel (veeeery expensive). So, we'll see. But we are excited! For what we're paying in rent, we can afford a nice home...so why not? Things are going GREAT at the office now, and Jason just got a temporary job in Richmond, VA to supplement our income on most of his days off. Yay! Things are looking good down South, I just pray we'll find our new home soon!
Saturday, January 21
a night with the gals
Jason has been gone several nights this week, so I've been trying to do fun things each night with the kids. The other day we pulled out the girls' new mini-rolling pins Grandpa gave them at Christmas, and made homemade pizza! While Carson played in his favorite cereal cupboard, the girls created and baked masterpieces.
Carefully, oh so carefully, rolling out their dough. The adorable aprons are courtesy of Grandma Hutchinson and my favorite (and dearly missed) Corrine-
Slathering on the sauce, as much or as little as they wanted-
Then the toppings were carefully chosen, pickles among them (surprisingly good). And, of course, Addie sang backup music the entire time.
The finished creations! Yum yum!
Carefully, oh so carefully, rolling out their dough. The adorable aprons are courtesy of Grandma Hutchinson and my favorite (and dearly missed) Corrine-
Slathering on the sauce, as much or as little as they wanted-
Then the toppings were carefully chosen, pickles among them (surprisingly good). And, of course, Addie sang backup music the entire time.
The finished creations! Yum yum!
Monday, January 9
season's highlights
1. REAL Christmas Caroling! Jason and I invited several members of our church over for Family Home Evening the Monday before Christmas. It was a HUGE success! Including our family, we had 38 people caroling, from 7 families! We walked up and down our street, singing to our neighbors, and came back to our house for hot chocolate and donuts. 
All the kids LOVED it, and we decided we'll continue to do this as a tradition every year. It really brought the Christmas spirit, to those of us singing and to those we sang to. It was a blast.
All the kids LOVED it, and we decided we'll continue to do this as a tradition every year. It really brought the Christmas spirit, to those of us singing and to those we sang to. It was a blast.
2. This picture was supposed to be on our Christmas card...that we never got around to making. I like it, though. Thanks, Mom!
3. Here was our cozy tree and living room on Christmas Eve, once all the kids were asleep. I was sipping hot chocolate and wanted to capture the moment.
4. New Christmas dresses! Provided by Grandpa and Grandma Hair. Addie is in her favorite--PINK!
Awesome Christams tie provided by Aunt Caitlyn, sorry you can't see it very well.
5. Grandpa came to visit! He got here Christmas Eve and stayed through New Years day. The kids LOVED having him visit. Addie actually asked if she could have two dads now, one being Grandpa!
6. Santa brought the kids a TRAMPOLINE! Jason and his dad stayed up Christmas Eve setting it up, in the cold & dark, but it was worth it!
Addie thought Santa put a bow on it to show her it was a present just for her and Macie, and she didn't question Santa's magic when we asked how he fit it in his sleigh. For someone who didn't grow up "doing Santa" it certainly is a lot of fun. I love the magic.
7. The week after Christmas we were blessed with 50 and 60 degree weather, so we could enjoy Santa's generosity! All the kids love it, including Carson.
8. The annual Christmas Eve puppet show. I love our family Christmas traditions.
3. Here was our cozy tree and living room on Christmas Eve, once all the kids were asleep. I was sipping hot chocolate and wanted to capture the moment.
4. New Christmas dresses! Provided by Grandpa and Grandma Hair. Addie is in her favorite--PINK!
Awesome Christams tie provided by Aunt Caitlyn, sorry you can't see it very well.
5. Grandpa came to visit! He got here Christmas Eve and stayed through New Years day. The kids LOVED having him visit. Addie actually asked if she could have two dads now, one being Grandpa!
6. Santa brought the kids a TRAMPOLINE! Jason and his dad stayed up Christmas Eve setting it up, in the cold & dark, but it was worth it!
Addie thought Santa put a bow on it to show her it was a present just for her and Macie, and she didn't question Santa's magic when we asked how he fit it in his sleigh. For someone who didn't grow up "doing Santa" it certainly is a lot of fun. I love the magic.
7. The week after Christmas we were blessed with 50 and 60 degree weather, so we could enjoy Santa's generosity! All the kids love it, including Carson.
8. The annual Christmas Eve puppet show. I love our family Christmas traditions.
We had a wonderful Christmas. We certainly spoiled everyone. With watching our belts so tightly for so long, we felt we deserved it for our first post-graduation Christmas. I'm so glad we did!
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