Holiday Season

Wow! It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 months since I posted last! Not too much has happened. The family has enjoyed the holidays and the visit from Santa. Boy, did they make out! Our trip to CT was wonderful! We took our time driving both ways, so the girls were great little travelers. I got to catch up with close friends and the girls (and us) enjoyed quality time with Grandma and Nanny, Uncle Steve, Aunt Patty, Sarah and Tyler.

Mother Nature had her own plans too. We had to move up our visit to Long Island by a day since a blizzard was on it's way! We woke up to a beautiful 2 ft of snow! And people in North Carolina thought they had it bad with less than 6 inches! The girls and I tried to go out and play in it, but it was too deep for them! LOL. We decided to leave LI a day early and head home. We had planned to stay at Vera's for the night, but the road to their house was barely plowed and their drive and walkway wasn't touched. Being 10:30 at night, I didn't want to venture through the snow to try to get to their door! So, Days Inn it was....

We got to meet up with Lynn, Abby, Bradley, Mom Mac and Dad Mac on our way out of DC. It was so nice to see them and we had a great time catching up. Though it wasn't a long enough visit!

Katie is talking up a storm, talking in complete sentences. Although we don't always understand her! She has also hit the "terrible two's" She is soooo lucky she has a beautiful smile!!!

Annabelle has hit the "terrible fours" and don't let anyone tell you they don't exist! She is a sassy thing. She's four going on 14! Again, she's so lucky she's cute!!!!

Bob went back to work for the first time in two weeks. I think he was ready:-) It was a vacation, but boy was it exhausting. He probably got to relax!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and all of you are in my thoughts and prayers (some of you get a few extra prayers...;-) Love you all!

Sick of being "sick and tired"

Ok...We've really got to stop looking at houses!!! Just when we find one we like, we come across one we like better! I think people at Bob's office are going to throw him a party when we finally decide on one!!! In our travels after church this morning, we came across a townhouse that flows nicer and is a bit larger than any single family home we've liked. They are brand new. The new phase wouldn't be finished until around May, which is when our lease is up anyway. We like that the one we want would be an end unit, there wouldn't be much yard, but just enough, we think, for a grill and a swingset, which is more than we can say for any other townhouse we have come across. We aren't yard people anyway. We like to be outside, but we don't like the upkeep. It is set up with two masters...one on the lower level and one on the upper level. There is another bedroom and a loft upstairs, so basically the girls would have reign over the upper level. There are so many ways we could set it up! Here's a link..... http://www.flemingwoods.com/floorplan. We are interested in the Bedford II.

We are going to a dinner party at the home of our new Sunday school teachers. I ejoy company, but I really hate making new friends! Whatever happened to the outgoing high school/college social butterfly I used to be??? Oh well. I'm looking forward to it anyway. They are a great group of people and I guess I just have to "jump in".

Not much else going on this week. Will be cleaning next Tues getting ready for Wawa's visit. Can't wait!!!! Hopefully we are all well. We've all been sick with some sort of bug that just keeps making the rounds! I think Annabelle is finally feeling better, I'm icky, but I think if I can get through a night without coughing I will be fine shortly. Now to keep Bob from getting it. Katie had it a while ago, so hopefully she can avoid getting it again.

Hope all is well. Love you all!

The "bug"

Maybe we will all be well before the winter is over. Can't seem to get rid of whatever bug keeps making the rounds in our house. I think Lysol needs to make a "bug" bomb to disinfect sick houses! Annabelle has pinkeye. It's moved to both eyes now. Poor thing! She looks so miserable. She snuggled a lot today and Katie wasn't too happy about sissy getting most of the attention! The doc said she should be fine in 3-5 days and it's been 2.

Beginning to count the days till Wawa gets here...hope she's ready!

We had Fall Festival at church on Saturday. It was a fun alternative to trick or treating. There were games and a pony ride and hay ride and, of course, CANDY!!! The girls had a great time. I've posted some picks of their festivities. The one of Annabelle in her bathing suite (don't ask) is our little cook making mac and cheese. I can't wait for a bigger kitchen so it'll be easier to let the girls help cook...they both LOVE to help. If I won't lift Katie up while I'm cooking so she can help, she will go get the stool herself and climb up so she can reach the counter! It's so cute!

Anyway, I think that's about all for now. Just been taking it easy this week trying to get better. Love you all!

Happy Halloween!

Wow! What a long week! I think I have been on the go since I woke up on Monday! Had the jitters for half the day today and I couldn't figure out why until I saw Rena's blog....daddy died 10 years ago today:-( I can't believe it's been that long.

We had a mom's night out at Panera on Monday night. It was nice to get to know some of the moms from MOPS on a one on one basis. Tues was a costume parade at church. The girls had a blast! Wed I had my friend Sarah over for a chat. She brought her son Luke (pictured above in the frog costume)...What a doll! Thurs we went to the park and today we ran errands, had dance class and then a mommy daughter date at Chik Fil A. AND tomorrow the girls get their flu shots and we have a Fall Festival at church with lots of games and what else....CANDY!!!!! Phew!!!!! I'm beat! Bob had employee appreciation week at work. He's been busy working on a project that is due tomorrow so he's been working at home a lot too. But the good daddy he is, he always finds the time to play "treehouse" with Annabelle before she goes to bed. It's so fun just to listen to them giggle together!

Well, that's enough for now. Love you all!!!! Happy Halloween!!!!!

Wawa and Xmas

Is Wawa here yet? Is Christmas at grandma's today? These are two of the most frequent questions I've been hearing lately. How do you explain to a 4 year old how long it will be till these things happen?! Santa's list is getting quite long too....every toy commercial is followed by a "Momma! I want that one!!!"...."ok honey we will add it to Santa's list." My plan is to have her make a list then pick out a few things to relay to Santa...'cause he's VERY busy ya know!

Things have been pretty nuts lately. I had Kaylee every weekday for the past two weeks instead of just 3 or 4 and of course my back decided to give out too. Ugh! I'm on muscle relaxers and I added Ibuprofen. Getting a little better. Our topic at MOPS was depression, and I tell you, it was very appropriate at this moment. Back pain, 3 very needy kids, missing home....a lot to handle! But all is good. We're making friends and settling in. We've decided to join Life Community Church. It's a great church with a great bunch of people and the girls love the sunday school! It really says something when we can all get ready and out of the house by 8:45am! There are a lot of activities coming up such as a Harvest Festival which is a Halloween alternative. They will have candy, games, prizes, a "jumpining" thing, etc. This will be great because we really don't know anyone in the neighborhood and the girls don't have friends here to trick or treat with, so I think they will have fun. Annabelle is going to be a fairy princess...surprise, surprise and Katiebug will be a ladybug...awwww.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I hope all is well with you all and can't wait to see everyone!!!!

The pic of Mike with Katie is just because I love that picture. The one of Katie is her enjoying the beautiful scenery on the way to the mountains and the one one of Annabelle is at Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

New house

Rena asked for a link to the house and neighborhood we found, so here it is!
http://www.windsorhomes.us/glenhollow/stoddard.htm

New Blog...

Hi all. I decided to follow Rena's lead and start our own blog. Since most of my family and friends are in CT, I thought this was a good way to stay more connected than Facebook. Don't know how often I will post, but I will try to be consistent.

The weather has been really weird. Cold one day and warm the next....don't know what to do with our clothes! If I put the summer ones away, it will get warm! Oh well. My next task is to go through the girls' clothes anyway. Need to get rid of most of Katie's 12-18 month clothes (finally!).

They are both growing so FAST! Katie is getting tall and Annabelle is getting a tad thinner and taller. I asked the preschool coordinator today about kindergarten and Annabelle will just make the cuttoff for Guilford county schools. She will be 5 on Aug 29 and the cuttoff is the 31st. She feels that Annabelle will have no problem making this transition. I can't believe I am already thinking of KINDERGARTEN!!!!! Where did the time go????

Katie is quickly arriving at the terrible twos...she is definitely pushing her limits! Dad was right when he said that a child being so cute is self-preservation....I'd kill her if she wasn't so darn cute!!!LOL She's learning so fast though. Finally talking a little. Occasionally she can put two words together and she is learning more words everyday.

Kayle (the little girl I watch during the week) is a doll. She is crawling all over the place now. I have to childproof AGAIN! She is into everything! It's fun watching her learn at that age though.

We are working on getting things started to build a house closer to Bob's work. We finally found a neighborhood that we like, a house that we like and that we can afford! One of Bob's coworkers lives there, so he already has a friend!LOL Bob is working with a mortgage broker right now and once we get financing all settled, then we will sit down with the sales agent and get the ball rolling. At this rate we are looking at April or May to move in, which is fine with us because our lease isn't up till May.

Bob is looking at going back to school for the winter term. Work has agreed to pay, so he wants to take advantage of that. He's getting antsy and really wants to get his degree, so other than being very busy, life for all is good!