We Are In!

We finally closed on our new house.  Chris has worked very very hard this week with his two helpers to get a lot of the house unpacked and has done a fantastic job.  He unpacked while also cleaning up the temporary housing we were in for a while.  We've made some new friends (across the street) and are having a blast so far. 

Last weekend we managed to make it to OK for my niece's graduation and had a lot of fun. The kids did well in the car, though we may wait a bit since there was a lot of, "Are we there yet?" on the way home.

Little Miss A turned 5 this week! She got a new car seat for the occasion and is working on using the booster seat well.  She's still having trouble buckling, but will need to learn how to do that for Kindergarten in the fall. 

Birthday Parties Oh My!

Chris and the kids have had a blast at b'day parties the past couple of weeks days. The past week has been rather stressful for all of us, so it was nice for them to have some party fun before packing up and coming to join me.

I'm adjusting well to my new job.  It is a learning process that I'm really enjoying.  I'm enjoying learning a new process entirely for making products.  I've liked being here in St. Louis alone, but am looking forward to my family joining me in the next couple of days.  I hope the apartment is big enough for all of us.

He Is Risen! (And Carolyn has left the state)

Well, after our beautiful sunrise service at church I left NC for the new job in STL.  So far it is going well, but that's only one day of reading endless SOPs. :) It does get better and I expected the job to start out like this.

Chris is staying in NC with the kids for the next few weeks, so pray for him and if you think he needs help -- offer, he won't do as good of a job asking as we might like. :) Chris has done an amazing job potty training G the past few weeks, and we may have crossed a line.  Hopefully it doesn't go bad with me not there.

The drive up was fairly uneventful, just some wind and rain in Illinois.

Here are some fun "I'm not ready to get up for Easter pictures of the kiddos."

Yes G's feet are almost as long as he is wide and yes, they sleep together in the same bed. 

The blue blanket has been our constant companion the past few weeks.  G has an amazing sense of things going on around him, even if he doesn't seem like it.  

Waving Palms

This morning was the last day for me to attend the church here in NC.  We are moving to St. Louis in the next few weeks and I'll be going up next week after the sunrise service.  We will decide during the week if we all will go to the sunrise service or just me.  I found a job with a company making vet products.  The new company is working on beefing up their existing quality department and helping me get there.  Chris and the kids will be staying in NC to finish up his term and then come up in a few weeks.  Prayers for all of us as we go through this exciting yet stressful time. 

The past few weeks have been eventful as we've watched some amazing things come together.  We have a contract for a house in the St Louis area and the contract was accepted outright.  No haggling or counter offers -- simply accepted. 

Anyway the children's choir sang "Holy Holy Holy" for church this morning after processing while waving palm fronds.  G got to wave a frond but was upset he didn't get to sing with the choir.  Here are pictures of the kids with their fronds and the choir. A is in the middle of the choir if you are looking for her in her cherub robe.

I hear the OU game going on so I'm going to watch some basketball since it is on the TV.  Boomer Sooner!

The Madness that Becomes March

For the last week in February A and I went to DisneyWorld with NJ and my mom.  A and I went down Friday night and went to see friends of mine from high school in Gainesville.  We went through Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios while there.  NJ was ill the day we had Magic Kingdom scheduled so A and I did that by ourselves.  Our favorite "ride" this trip was Enchanted Tales with Belle.  For this ride the kids act out the story of Beauty and the Beast.  A was: ottoman, an enchanted plate, Maurice, Chip, and the Beast! I got to be an enchanted piece of armor for one of the trips through the library.  Here are some fun pictures from the trip with a bit of everything thrown in. :)

Fireworks set to John Williams at Hollywood

We found army green men walking around the Pixar area in Hollywood

Waiting for the ToyStory Midway Mania ride

Ready to get in and play the ToyStory Midway Mania

Sitting outside at Epcot

Ready for a day in spaceship earth (A's favorite ride)

Fireworks at Magic Kingdom

Beast

Chip

Ottoman

The backside of the Fairytale castle

leave the "Be Our Guest" restaurant

In our "Mermaid" room

Look who we found outside our room

I'm a butterfly!

The best way to see butterflies

How to Train a Nerd

We had a random snow day today as we had freezing rain most of the morning.  I went to work, but they sent us home at lunch.  After having some fun finger painting with the kids, Chris decided to put together a few light saber grips he got for Christmas.  After he got one put together A asked if she could go outside and play with it.  As she put on her coat Chris said she looked like Luke on Hoth (the ice planet). So we pulled out a couple of our already existent light sabers and went out to play in the ice. We had fun until G caught A in the nose and I caught Chris in the hand. 

Valentine's Day Post

Well, we are getting white precipitation out of the sky again.  Let's see how much mayhem it causes this time.  It wasn't bad when we went out earlier, but that doesn't mean it won't stay "not bad." That, and "Not bad" around here is drastically different than anywhere else I've been.  I'm sure there will be delayed schools at the very least.  Hopefully though Chris will also be delayed so that he can take the kids to school and I can get to work on time. 

Last Sunday was quite the event for us at church.  We had a combined service that required some technical savvy from Chris and I got to play some pretty fantastic bells.  The bells were quite good, in fact, everyone has said we need to play the piece yearly.  Also, several from the early less hymnlike service have asked if we'll play bells with a guitar and do a Mannheim Steamroller type thing.  We shall see.  I got to play all eight of my bells for the song which is quite a few.  I only had a couple of difficult key changes to make it through.

Miss A is working hard on getting ready for kindergarten next fall.  She is driving everyone at school nuts as she is bored with the work.  She'll tell you she's bored, so she's creating a bit of drama apparently.  Who knew.

Mister G is working hard at potty training!  (Yay! We might be out of diapers soon!!!) He's also working hard at talking and "doing it myself" until you walk away, then he wants help.  I think he talked from the time he woke up from nap this afternoon until about 25 minutes ago when Chris started putting him to bed.  He's also trying hard to help -- so he's learning to stir stuff on the stove in the kitchen.  He loves to tell you that it is hot and to be careful.  (guess what he hears a lot?) He will definitely have to learn by trial though, so we are kind of giving up telling him that it is cold outside and will simply let him walk outside sans coat.  He normally makes it about three steps before deciding he wants a coat after all.  It is never boring to say the least.  Here's the latest picture of him holding up his drumsticks.  He will beat on anything and turn it into a drum! He sees the drummers at church use multiple things besides sticks to play the drums, so he isn't being entirely unreasonable we don't think.