Catch up

In September my parents came for a visit. It was fantastic. We spent a day in the Kansas City area checking out church history sites and both my mom and dad helped us get a few projects done around the house! The kids loved having them here too!


Obligatory picture of everyone before church!


At the vistor's center in Independence. The kids loved all the pioneer displays.








Liberty Jail. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures here because Blaise was really scared.


Far West temple site.


Adam-ondi-Ahman

Rae had grandpa wrapped around her finger and got him to play a lot of ridiculous games with her.



Isaac warmed up to granny by the end of the trip

Terribly exciting

I went to the doctor on Wednesday. I really like my doctor a lot. He does routine ultrasounds for the first visit. I've been able to have early ultrasounds for all 4 pregnancies - I really like it. And THIS time, I was able to get a little video of the baby. It's only 3 seconds long, and the baby is kinda nubby at this point, but it's fun to see it moving around. And boy, it was moving a LOT!





I've been feeling pretty awful the last few weeks, so I haven't been feeling like blogging. But I'll try to get back into the habit. No promises though.

And the winner is.....

My sister-in-law Jamie with her guess of May 5th! My due date is May 4th. Only three people guessed days in May. Most people probably didn't think I'd be announcing it if I wasn't further along. When I was pregnant with Isaac I waited till I was 13 weeks before I announced it to most people but this time around I just felt like getting it out there!

I found out on August 31st. I really, really didn't think I was pregnant - I even bought a three-pack of pregnancies tests so that I'd have some for the next month. We were trying, but I had only been "fertile" for a couple of months, so I wasn't expecting it at all!! Isaac and the new baby will be just one week shy of 2 years apart - our closest kids so far. I'm a little nervous about that. But May is a fantastic time to have a baby because Roy will get done with school the second week of May and then have the whole summer off. So, he may not get 6 weeks of paternity leave like my brother-in-law, but it's the next best thing :)

Just this week I started feeling a little queasy and have started getting headaches. I probably need to start taking iron supplements to help with the headaches - I've had to do that every pregnancy. I haven't puked yet, so I'm happy about that. Oh, and I haven't been to the doctor yet, but I'm 95% sure about my due date - and I've been exactly right about the other three!

I'm excited that Jamie won - because I know she loves chocolate as much as I do, and she will be winning a bag of these:



Oh YUM! And Jamie, you don't have to share with Aaron, because he didn't bother to come and guess ;) Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I don't like to steal thunder

A month or so ago was the 4 year anniversary of my first blog post. Back then I had maybe one or two readers and zero comments. My posts were few and far between. But even so, I wanted to celebrate with a giveaway (because that is totally the thing to do these days) Things were a little crazy here at the time, so I kept putting it off. Then my cousin Olivia had her blog anniversary and a giveaway and I didn't want to be a copycat, so I just decided not to do it.

Then I decided I was going to write a really vague post about my news and see who could guess it and award them with a prize. But then my sister did this post. What the heck - I just bought the same rug and Ikea chair as her - so I can copy her on this too. Think you can guess my due date? I'll send you one of my favorite pregnancy treats if you are the closest. (You have till Saturday at 10am Central time) No guessing if you already know. Hint: it is just a little bit after Katie's. I think we are both hoping for girls :)

Rae's actual birthday

Poor Rae, this is the second time that we've moved right before her birthday. Last time (in 2008 when we moved to Kirksville) she was sick on her birthday and our moving truck hadn't arrived yet, so her birthday was pretty sad. This year was a lot better, but we didn't have our oven working yet, so I couldn't make her a homemade cheesecake like she wanted. But I think she was okay with it, because she got this instead:


Reese Peanut Butter Cheesecake - yummy!

My mom made her this great apron with her name on it. And gave her a little toy cupcake set and a treat cookbook - all so perfect for Rae!

The day before her birthday we went to Columbia and went to Chuck E. Cheese

Can you tell she had a blast?

Blaise, on the other hand, did not like it. Too many lights, loud music/games and crowds.

We had to get some fries for him just to get him to sit down and relax!

Finally his good friend Barney got him to smile!


This picture of Rae reminded me of the last time we went to Chuck E. Cheese and she got stuck in the play tunnels and couldn't figure out how to get out! I'm glad she had more fun this time!

Stuck in the mud

I didn't mean to go an entire week before blogging again. This week was a tough week for me - getting used to Roy being back at work. But I feel like I'm getting back in the rhythm and the kids are a bit more agreeable now that our routine is back. Isaac is still a mess - clingy, grumpy, tons of tantrums - but each day he gets a little more adjusted.

Anyway, here's the next thing I wanted to share:

Our move:

This move would not have been possible without Roy's mom. She was amazing. She had been visiting friends in Michigan and flew from there to Kirksville on Monday (July 26th). Even though she had been up since 4 in the morning she still worked her tail off helping us. We had picked up our uhaul earlier in the day, so that evening after the kids went to bed we started loading it up. My friend's husband and their son came by and helped us with the really heavy stuff. At around 10 we decided to call it quits on the truck, and started boxing up misc stuff from the house. The next morning we got back to work bright and early and finished loading up the truck at around 10. Then Roy took the kids out for a bit while Baerbel and I cleaned, cleaned and cleaned some more! It would have taken me so long by myself! Roy and the kids came back and then my friend Pattie came by and took them to her house (Isaac stayed home and actually napped - glad I remembered to leave the pack-n-play out! I picked up the kids while Roy and his mom finished up and by the time I got back they were done, so we loaded up the van and took off! We stopped in Moberly (an hour from Kirksville, 30 minutes from Fayette) for lunch.

I just loved this picture of Roy walking Rae back to the Uhaul after lunch. Rae and Blaise got to take turns riding with Roy. Blaise rode from Kirksville to Moberly but he slept the whole way!
So he was kinda upset about that. But he soon discovered that it was fun in the van too! :)



We got to Fayette and ran to the grocery store for some basics - milk, bread, etc and then waited for members from our branch to come and help us. The branch president and his wife (the Georges) showed up and then Sister George took off to get us some dinner. She came back with a ton of food - dinner, groceries, paper plates, ziplock bags - everything! She is so awesome! Then a couple of other guys showed up and we had the truck unloaded in about an hour. It was really really hot and really really humid, so I am SO glad we had help! Sister George even wiped down our bathtub for us so the kids could take a bath that night.

When we got to the house, Roy wanted to back the truck right up to the porch and then maybe lift the ramp directly onto the porch. Great idea right? We forgot to take into account the recent rains and condition of the grass. He immediately sunk into the mud and couldn't get out. Ugh. So we planned to just empty the truck and then try to get it out, but our landlord came by and hooked us up to his tractor and pulled the truck out. Great first impression huh? Now our lawn has HUGE tire track holes. Ergh. It would be a much nicer front yard if it weren't for those tracks. Our landlord said he'll come by sometime with some dirt to fill them up. Luckily he wasn't upset about it! After we got pulled out we were able to go on some grass that wasn't quiet as muddy and still back the truck up to the house - just not as close as we were trying :)


Okay, I didn't mean for this to be such a detailed post, I just wanted to write the story about getting stuck. But once I started writing I figured I might as well write down all of the details. This blog is really the only place I record stuff, so it's nice to be able to look back and know the dates and events. So, sorry it was a little boring :)

Totally slacking

I don't know why, but blogging is the last thing I want to do lately. I'm busy, this is true, but I find plenty of time to relax in the evening - checking facebook, watching tv, etc....but I just haven't felt like blogging. Part of it is because I don't really know where to begin, since I got so far behind. Part of it is because I just have SO many little stories that I want to share. And part of it is that I've been feeling like maybe I should make my blog private and I haven't decided, so I've been putting off posting anything new.

BUT, the other day I was looking through all of our pictures from the last month and realized that Roy's mom got a lot of great pictures that I wanted to share. In case anyone can't keep track of my status updates on facebook, Roy's mom flew into Kirksville to help us move and then a week later we all flew to her house in Vegas for a little visit. Before we left Vegas we got all the pictures that she had taken. She ALWAYS had her camera with her, and we NEVER had ours with us, so we had like 20 pictures and she had 200 :) I was so excited to see that she had gone through our new house and taken pictures of each room in various stages of unpacked-ness. So, that is what I will be sharing today. And hopefully by the end of the month all of our new furniture will be here and I'll be ready to take some pictures of the finished product. :)

Also, keep in mind that this house is no where near perfect. The man who bought it and fixed it up didn't do a super good job on a lot of stuff, and it's just an old house. But it's huge and we can afford the rent, so it's perfect to us :) It's definitely not the type of house I'd be interested in buying, but we'll be just fine here for a few years. Okay, here's a bum-load of pictures:

The tv room. Lots of work has gone into this room and it's my favorite because it's going to be the "nice room", so I can decorate it the way I want. Can't wait to show what I've done with it.

The living room/playroom. I believe in having a good play space/family space and I wanted it to be on the main level so I could keep a better eye on the wee ones.

Looking from that room into the dining room. This is a huge space, so we got a nice buffet and desk for my laptop. I wanted to keep it nice and open because the kids like to run laps around through the hallway and back into the living room!

Another view. Through the hallway you enter the kitchen:

This was before we got our oven, but after we got our lovely corner nook table. I love, love love this table!

Off the kitchen is the laundry room. I'm so excited about all this space! This leads out to the backyard/driveway, so it is a perfect room to take off shoes/raincoats/snow boots. Off of this room is a small bathroom. Unfortunately, this is the only shower in the house. Kinda inconvenient, but oh well.




And then we go upstairs - the hallway is really wide and long! It goes about 8ft past the bedroom doors. We are planning to put all of our food storage at the end and then hang a curtain to hide it all. A little make-shift storage closet :)


The first room coming up is the computer room/guest room. We just got a new bed for our bedroom (king, woo hoo!) so our old bed will go in here. It will be so nice to have a space for company! Someone better come visit soon!!!


The bathroom upstairs. Behind the door is a nice big closet.


Our bedroom. It is SOOOO much bigger than any room we've ever had, so it's become a bit of a storage room while we unpack.

Rae's room (with my MIL's bed on the floor while she was here) She now has a desk and dresser.

The boy's room.
A view from the top of the stairs in the attic. Ugh, so creepy up there!

A few from the top of the stairs looking down to the basement. Creepy and wet down there.

The back of the house. Roy and Rae looking for big ol' Missouri bugs.


The front of the house. Oh how I love our front porch!! Last night we all sat on it and watched a storm roll in and then watched the rain pour down. Lovely!



Stay tuned for:

-The "After" shots
-Fun things that happened during our move (Roy getting the truck stuck in the mud, Rae having her birthday)
-Creepy writing on the attic walls
-Our trip to Vegas

Rae's birthday party

Since we are moving before Rae's birthday, she got her party early. We had a pretty simple pool party at the park with pizza and cake. The hardest part of the party was tracking down phone numbers for friends from her kindergarten class. But I was able to get a few and I think Rae was really happy to see them again before we leave!



The cheesy birthday girl!

The boys had fun too

These little guys love the wading pool!


One of my favorite things about Kirksville are these little wading pools. They have them at 3 different parks in town and they are free to use. They even have a lifeguard on duty. This one is right down the street from our house and was open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. There is another one that was open everyday (except Sunday) but it was always really crowded. This one was perfect, never too crowded, but always enough kids to play with. We will really miss these pools!


Getting ready to pull the pinata
(Which I got for free at a health expo)

The loot!

Blaise and his buddy! I bought rings for each of the girls to take home.

Just hanging out on his own.

Keeping with the "pizza" theme - we sliced up some giant cookie!

I think it was a success!