by Alison on June 25, 2010
News Flash!
A few days ago our family stopped by a friend’s house to check out their kittens and decided to take two home with us.
Why?
Well, A) They were really cute, and B. They were already house trained. What other reasons are there?
The kids absolutely adore them (Probably a little too much for the kittens’ liking…). Zach is surprisingly gently (unless he’s picking it up by the tail), Andrea really doesn’t pay much attention to them, but Josh can’t get enough! He chases them with unbounded joy and an almost maniacal laugh!
Pictures are soon to follow…
by Alison on May 10, 2010
The happy homeowners! Oh wait, you didn’t want to see us; you want to see the new house!
Ta-da!
Let’s see, what information would you like to know? It was built in 1983 and has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and 2000 sq ft. Oh yes, and a two car garage. I think I’m in heaven!
Here’s the front entry way. Obviously these pictures were taken before we moved our stuff in, so you don’t get to see the current chaos. Don’t feel too bad about not seeing my decorating skills. Currently it is rather simple, couch on that wall and piano against the other wall. We’ll get tricky and fancy later. Maybe.
And here’s the view looking down on our living room. You can also see a bit of our sun room through the window. We currently have all the toys in there and it is so nice to have a space for the kids to make as much mess as they’d like.
Here’s the dining room and you can see a bit of the breakfast nook.
Here’s a better new of the breakfast nook and kitchen.
And the kitchen (I seem to spend a lot of time here…).
And now for the backyard. Drum roll……
I believe this is a large Koi pond. It’s about 12 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet deep, complete with two large waterfalls. And by the end of the month we will have ripped that sucker out!
And this is our patio. I think it has a lot of potential. There’s a raised bed in back that goes the length of the yard.
And here’s another shot of the backyard. I’m not sure what all those shade structures were for down there. It has a nice sprinkling system…
Anyway, as you can see the yard needs some fixin’ up! Okay, a lot of fixing up. But we have a rather simple plan for getting it under control. Step one: get rid of all the junk. Step two: plant lots of green stuff. What do you think?
So, you know those times that you see a friend, and you ask “Hey! How’ve you been? What have you been up to lately?” And they respond “oh, the same. Not much…” Well, let me tell you, we have been pretty busy lately.
First of all, Chris officially switched from a contract employee to a full time employee. Hooray for paid vacations and health benefits! He is a physical research scientist technician for the EPA and gets to run all the big machines and play with a lot of dirt. When he gets tired of that he goes out in the field and collects samples. I think he enjoys his job…
About the same time we started doing a little house hunting, and within two weeks we’d found a house (the first one we walked through ironically). The process of buying a house is absolutely frustrating and nerve wracking. I can’t believe what a pain it the whole process is. But we’re done! We closed on our house and moved in almost two weeks ago (and so we have a new address and phone number). Since then we have been to Home Depo several times. What a wonderful and terrible store it is. Infinite ideas for the finite wallet. Oh it’s fun to be a homeowner! (and slightly overwhelming at times too, to be honest…) Oh. i guess now woul
In the middle of unpacking and cleaning and moving we run back up to Utah. My little brother got married! Congratulations Derek and Jessica! I seriously can’t imagine anyone more perfect for my brother. We haven’t heard anything else from them so I guess they’re still on their honeymoon… It was a beautiful wedding on a beautiful day!
Also, WE’RE EXPECTING!! Baby number for is on his or her way! Hooray, hooray! We’re due in November, and Zach desperately wants another brother so that we can name him Zach; although last night I was talking to him and he decided it was okay if we have a girl (we don’t know yet). We can name her Zach Too even if she is a girl. So I guess I don’t have to worry about names anymore…
Well, I had a few other random bits of news but I think I need to go fix dinner because my kids are hungry. Funny how some things never change. Any dinner ideas for me tonight? (Or for other nights-seriously any tips on easy dinners or new homeowner ideas would be wonderful about now).
Hope you have a great Mother’s Day!
by admin on April 22, 2010
It is interesting being a parent. Especially if you have more than one kid. I honestly believe that, like Bill Cosby jokes, if you only have one kid then your not really a parent. Well okay you are, but you miss out on the excitement of being a parent.
You miss out on things like “who did that?” “What happened here?” There are other things as well…
One of my favorite things about having more than one kid is the dynamic relationships you can watch among your kids. Everyone once in a while these relationships change drastically.
The other day Andrea was getting in a bit of trouble, she was using a nice large solid wood block for smacking Zach rather than building. We can say that she was being aggravated just a “teeny bit.” Okay a lot but still you don’t get to knock your sibling out for that!
Anyway when she got put in timeout Zach started just grabbing all the blocks for himself. So she got extra frustrated.
This is a moment were a lot of things changed for the kids. It was so hard not to laugh out loud.
When Zach started appropriating blocks she ran out of time out and tackled him, and laid on top of him to prevent him from getting any more blocks. Well on previous occasions these two wrestling has led to the fact that right now Andrea is the clear winner in the wrestling category. So Zach was effectively stuck.
We have now seen this strategy used several times against both of her brothers. Bless her little heart. That is definitely our little princess.
Even more hilarious is that at church people just think she is a perfect little angel that never does anything out of place. If only they new she was a wrestling queen as well as a princess!
by Alison on April 15, 2010
So today Andi and I were brushing our teeth and she picks up my face wash.
“What’s this?” she asks.
“That’s for washing my face?” I reply.
“What’s this?” she asks holding up my face lotion.
“That’s lotion for my face.”
“Oh,” she says and then holds up the foundation, “And this is for when you have a frown-y face?”
Yep, guess so!
Happy birthday Lyn!