On the Market Baby!

Well, last Saturday was carpet day. Wow... now the house looks almost new. Amazing what 1400 square feet of carpeting will do. Despite my earlier complaints on the selling practices of Empire, I am very pleased with the outcome. It looks nice! Now, to see how long it lasts... being clean, that is. I'm scared to allow the kids or dog anywhere near it!

The house was officially listed yesterday morning! Within a few hours, we had a call! So, today, we have two appointments set up for showings. Mike is working all day, so I have to find some things to do with the kids. I figure that this morning would be a great time to drive out to the new lot and see if anything has happened. Probably not, since we haven't gotten word of anything new.

We do know that the contracted design of the house (options and all) were approved and were plotted ... or whatever they do to decide how the house will be positioned and planned on that lot. This week, we finished off the design center options as well. Geesh! Somehow we walked out of there owing another $28K on our next mortgage (ok, we knew that... but it's still shocking to see that final number... ouch!) The biggest hurdle was which granite to pick. I had no idea that granite just came in certain colors... universal names, too. Absolute Black, Tan Brown, Baltic Brown, Ubatuba (love the name, not the color), Gialla something-or-other. I figured that granite was different slab by slab... you picked an approximate color and that was that. Nope.... pretty standard colors. So, do we want light and mottled, or dark and mottled, or dark and relatively uniform... oh, the choices. We took up to the last minute to pick it out.... tan brown. It's a brown with little chips of red/tan in it. It's nice. We also picked "clove" birch cabinets and gunstock flooring. What does that mean... dark colors. Hope they aren't too dark!

Of course, we visited friends last night and saw their Baltic Brown granite and loved it... darn! I don't believe in astrology, but man, that LIBRA title fits me to a tee. I'm so wishy-washy.

So, we passed on the central vacuum and heated master bath floors and jacuzzi bathtub. I guess my feet will never get the treat of warm floors in the morning. Oh well. And, our current home has only one tub (kids' bath), so I haven't had a soaking bath in over 7 years. A Jacuzzi would just put my body into shock.

Well, better take one good look around before hauling the kids into the car for a little while.

Wish us luck... we'll see how long this puppy stays on the market now....

Dinosaurs, Luaus, and Puppets, oh my!

What do I do to myself? I can't sit here and claim that my life is horrible. It's nowhere near that. I'd definitely say that I am a very fortunate person, but lately I've taken on a little too much. Ugh. I'm trying to personally "stage" my current home while awaiting the carpeting installation. So, while trying to pack up things, patch walls and clean baseboards, I'm also replacing personal photos and such with neutral floral arrangements and Kirklands-style paintings and vases. This has been so fun, I must admit. I have a good excuse to go bargain shopping for just "stuff". I've hit Home Goods, Ross, Marshalls, Tuesday Morning, Target and the local Thrift store so far. May need to find more thrift stores... that was cool finding cheap goodies! I truly need to take a few classes in interior design so that I can do this for a living! LOL

However, along with what could be a full-time "sprucing up" job, I am still working at the preschool, raising four kids, helping with Brownies (planning one future meeting... but enough to add stress), and volunteering a few other projects. Next week, I plan my Wednesday classes (on Wednesdays, we plan for all 3 classes based around a theme... mine is Dinosaurs!) In April, I'm teaching/making puppets with Reagan's Brownie troop. In May, we'll have two weeks of preschool camp, and I'm also planning those... Luau and Around-the-World. In addition, I'm trying to organize a few end-of-year gifts that are becoming more extensive than I originally thought. Yikes! So, if you see me around, chances are I'll be carrying the Oriental Trading catalog, a pair of scissors, a few paper bags and lots of paper to cut. :-) Didn't quite expect this while studying in grad school (expected a grade-book and red-pen and quizzes in my go-everywhere bag)... but thus is the life of a preschool-teacher-mom. Oh, while I have your attention, I'll be in need of paper towel rolls and fleece or cotton knit gloves (adult) soon. Save 'em up!!

Tommy's 6th birthday falls on Mother's Day weekend this year (he was originally born on Mother's Day). However, I cannot depend on hosting a party here. We may not be here by then... or at the very least, I HOPE we'll be packing up! So, we are searching for other sites now. So... will it be bowling or movies or park or firehouse? Man, I wish the Lego store offered parties, that would rock Tommy's world!

Well, off to do more packing up! We laughed when we saw the size of our storage unit we rented... thought it was ridiculously huge. Yeah... I bet we'll fill it! How does one accumulate such stuff!!?

Wiring

Today we met with the low-voltage wiring company that will be installing audio/visual/security types of things in our new home. That was fun, although half the time I had no idea what was going on. LOL (What does that jack do? Huh? What do we need for satellite TV? So... what do YOU recommend?) Anyway, got the wiring options worked out. We've opted to put a box for a TV over the fireplace. It's a stone fireplace. What do you all think? I love the idea of making the fireplace/TV ONE single focal point and not needing a second focal point/cabinets/etc. Not sure I'm crazy about replacing lots of beautiful stone with a big ol' box and ruining the look of the stone with a TV. The wiring guy had the exact same thing, and he loved it. But, like he also pointed out... he's a guy! Mike wants the TV there. It's a done deal now... just curious to see what you all think. We can always cover the box with a painting or mirror until we get a TV, of course. Hopefully the TV thing works out and doesn't destroy the look of the stone.

I have one other question to pose to people. Since that TV is over the fireplace, we're having a multi-media port that is rigged to that jack behind walls installed for the DVD player, satellite box, etc. We just located it in the corner of the room... however, now we're waffling over the idea of putting it in a closet so that we can hide it all and take up less space by not needing a cabinet for all of that. Another plus... eight little hands couldn't reach all those neat boxes and DVDs! Has anyone else ever done that? Is it weird to hide it all in a closet?

We've always purchased a resale house before (or a spec home that had nearly no choices left for us to pick). And just as my co-teacher and I like to say to our students, "You get what you get and you don't have a fit" when you buy resale. I've never had to decide where to put an outlet or TV jacks or telephone jacks or whatever. At least maybe I'll have a better understanding of how houses are really put together and what's behind all that drywall now!

If anyone has built before, any advice for the real electrical stuff is welcome! Same with choosing kitchen stuff. We have an idea of what to do... but any advice is welcome!!! I don't want to find out later that we screwed up because we weren't thinking of "that". All the design center options get decided in two weeks.... then I believe our decision-making is pretty much done till it's time to move in ...and paint. LOL

Crazy Carpeting

Well, we need to replace carpeting in this house in order to sell. I wish we didn't, but 7 years of four kids and a dog on 9-year-old builder-grade carpeting wouldn't exactly "show well". Trust me!

So, we took lots of local advice and went to our local in-town small carpeting business. Loved the guys. Trusted them. Know they'd do a great job. When the quote came in, I was a little shocked... but honestly didn't know what to expect.

We decided to get a second quote to compare. So, to be easy on us, I called Mr. 1-800-588-blah blah blah that we hear so much on TV.

I HATE their practice. Absolutely hate it. The gentleman came in and measured, took our selection and gave us an estimate. Literally $1200 more than the first quote from the local company. So, Mike and I exchanged glances and said, "Well, thank you for coming in... we'll be back in touch once we've made up our mind"... fully expecting to go back to company #1.

The guy said, "What can I do to make this happen tonight?" Ugh... crap... he wasn't going to be easy to show the door. And I am not a bold "get out" sort-of-person. So Mike explained that we were looking to compare quotes and we already had a much lower price quoted. The man laughed. Yes. Laughed... as if we were suddenly playing games with HIM. (Don't most people get multiple quotes before plunking down thousands of dollars??) That ticked me off.

But... he then said if we could wait a few weeks, he could probably get us in on a builder's deal and that would be a few dozen bucks cheaper than the quote from the local company. We hesitated.

So, he "called his boss" to question him about the "manager's special". He hangs up and gives a brand new number. $2000 less than his first quote! No kidding. TWO GRAND less... not far from 50% off the original quote. Mike and I dropped our jaws. What a freaking game this was! We just wanted a number... not to play games. Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE the whole idea of haggling for deals. China gift-buying did not suit me well... it totally stresses me out.

However, we are honestly in a situation where money rules. Regardless of reputation or quality of product (both were builder grade and seemed quite similar), our decision had to be ruled by $$$ only. So, since this new company did come in at $800 less than the local company, we went with them. It kills me to have done so. I hate it. Hopefully the service and installation go smoothly. Oh... and they could do it next day. (Proving the whole, get-you-in-with-the-next-builders-purchase thing was a scam.) We opted for March 20 to give us more decluttering time.

The local company didn't blame us for taking the other offer... and we did tell them that if we ever need new carpeting and plan to live in that house, we will absolutely be back.

Ugh. Just dealing with a company like this gives me the chills. I hate the whole haggling crap. They came in hoping to make an extra cool two thousand dollars off of a bunch of naive shoppers. That just ticks me off.

I'll keep you informed on how the installation goes.

Some Snowy Pics

Here I am after beginning to shovel through Blizzard #1 this February. We already had about 24" at this point, with another few inches more... and Blizzard #2 coming later.

Here are Mike and I at "ICE" at the Gaylord at National Harbor on New Year's Day. The wreath behind us (as in every single display) was carved from ice. It was 7 degrees inside. Man, wish I could've used these parkas in the blizzards!

Our new homesite. Lot 79. Reagan and Mike are walking up what will be our driveway one day. The driveway basically sits at the right edge of our lot. It almost completely ends just to the right of Mike. The hill to the right is the property of what will be a model home one day. Leave it the Hollars to choose and buy a house/lot in several feet of snow. We basically had to trust the plots at the office to really describe the lots. But we couldn't really wait... the builder actually sold SEVERAL lots during the blizzard. And our second choice was sold almost immediately after we gave it up... we met the people who picked it while at the Design Studio. Hmmm....I wonder what these lots will look like once the thaw hits?! Hope we chose the best one. Ha! That single skinny tree in the middle is funny. It's part of a group of trees/brush in our "front yard". We need to name that tree. It's so obvious. Any ideas? Skinny? Toothpick? Harry? I know these blizzards were a fluke, but if we ever get snow again, we're gonna need a serious snowblower and/or plow for a tractor! The piles in front are just the 4' snowpiles made by plowing the road. Last week when we drove out here to finalize our decision on lots, Mike walked through snow that went up PAST his knees to see the lot. I just said, "I'll trust your opinion." LOL I have yet to go up there to see the actual lot in whole.

This is our lot. The white poles in the back line the left side of the lot. The steps you see are where the house will one day be built. The trees in the back are ours. Five acres total. We came out here after signing the contract to slap the "SOLD" sticker on the lot number. How fun. I trudged through other's footsteps while wearing black loafers to stick that sticker on. One loafer fell off (that was fun). Ugh. You can see me in the photo of the previous entry (It's 2010!) with my back turned. I had to just turn around at the waist since I was standing in previous footsteps and was basically trapped. Note to self: buy some winter boots already!

It's 2010!

Since Facebook exists and has all of my friends on it, I've pretty much allowed this blog to fall by the wayside. However, lately I've found myself wanting to vent and write. We have a lot going on these days, and I just can't type it all in my status updates. :-)

We are all doing well... all six of us. Gracelynn is making great strides in becoming a typical American child. She is still quite the spunky, active lit

tle girl who makes you want to pull your hair out at times, but it's amazing to see how far she has come. I figure God knew what he was doing when he connected her little red thread to us. He must have thought, "Hmmm.... Christy and Mike just don't have enough excitement in their lives. It's too easy."

She and Tommy are fairly good playmates, at times. But like all siblings, that only lasts so long. Ha! Fortunately they are beginning to show their own individual interests that sometimes keeps them busy on their own. Tommy is a Lego-maniac these days. He shows me websites of his favorite Lego sets that he NEEDS NOW constantly. Even those ones that aren't sold in the USA, he's determined to get from Santa at Christmas since Santa can make anything. Who decided that wonderful "fact"? If he isn't building new

Lego vehicles, he's playing Lego Star Wars or Lego Indiana Jones on the PS3 or DS... or scanning the Lego website for games and videos.

Gracelynn loves to draw and make artwork. Unfortunately due to her insistence in using drawing materials in ways that are destructive, she's usually only has access to Color Wonder products. Oh, how I LOVE Color Wonder! She also received a Melissa and Doug wooden castle for her birthday, so she's been playing with that a lot... even making Lego people and food to go along with the wooden characters.

Ben and Reagan are really growing up and making me feel old. Ben is almost a middle schooler, for crying out loud. He's into Spore and creating new worlds of dinosaurs and other creatures. Reagan is my writer. Even her teacher says that thoughts and ideas just pour from her little mind constantly. If she's bored, she'll write stories (books!) She's still in Brownies and soccer, too.

As for Mike and I, we have big news. No, no... not another child. LOL We're out of room! Which lead us to begin looking into the possibility of moving sometime. We honestly thought with the economy and the housing market these days that moving wouldn't happen for awhile. However, we happened to stumble into an amazing situation.

I've always loved this one neighborhood about 15 minutes from our house, still in the same county. It's tucked back in the middle of the woods, down a long dirt road. I first went out there for a Freecycle pickup. A few weeks later, I dragged Mike down that road to show him this neighborhood that I fell in love with. A few months later, I began going to a hairdresser that lived in that neighborhood. And so, I kept going back and back and back. When we bought our Sequoia last year (yes, we did get it), I immediately drove down that ol' dirt road back to that neighborhood to try out the 4WD... even taking my fam

ily back there to show them this beautiful neighborhood tucked in the woods.

Well, we went out there, just for a drive... just to see if any homes were on the market. Nothing was at the time, but what a shock.... we saw this amazing sign at the entrance! NEW HOMES were being built there!!! So, it didn't take long for me to start researching this.... checking out the models, checking out the prices, contacting the sales agent, etc. We went out to talk to the sales agent, totally expecting the house we needed (enou

gh bedrooms, etc.) to be way out of our price range. In order for this move to be worth our while, we needed at least 5 bedrooms, a bigger kitchen, and more space. After talking to the agent for awhile, I began getting completely giddy inside. Mike and I drove separately that day, so I couldn't even talk with him until we arrived home. I about exploded when I found out that Mike was as excited as I was.

And so... the adventure begins. After days and weeks of total stress and tears, trying to talk to real estate agents and loan officers and building sales agents and parents and children, we finally agreed it was worthwhile to take the plunge.

We have now officially signed the contract on a new home.

It will sit on the lot of our choice, on 5.1 acres. (The lot-choosing alone was stressful enough... and we still aren't positive we made the right choice. Ha... too late now, gotta be satisfied now!) Our kids will finally each have their own, decent-sized bedroom, and our kitchen will never run out of storage space. Our pantry will finally hold all of the food necessary to keep on hand for a family of four growing kids. We even added a third garage to store all of our bikes, lawn mowers, moonbounce, sports equipment and more.

The house is a little unique in that the stairs are tucked back in the side of the house (not in the middle of the house), there is an attached third garage at a d

ifferent angle than the other two, an attic/loft rec room and extra bath and extra den/bedroom on the third level, plus a Jack-and-Jill suite in the back of the house. The boys will share a bath, but the girls will essentially each have their own bathrooms. Ahhh.... preparing for those teen years. Yet, the square footage isn't insane and the house looks like a modest-size home (not those "McMansions" people gawk over). Basically it's as if the builder knew our needs and made a house to give us just enough extra space to fit our needs, yet not going bonkers on price or size!

We are obviously not finishing the basement just yet, and the

kids are actually excited about having space once again to rollerskate without getting cold in the garage and without getting yelled at on the hardwood!

Now comes the fun in picking out all the goodies. Unfortunately most of those goodies means $$$. Bummer. So, we did pick the exterior colors... Pebblestone Clay (tan) w/ Spanish Moss (dark green) door/shutters and Almond trim/garage door and a stone watertable and speckled black shingles. I wanted very natural colors to go well with the woodsy neighborhood and this scheme fit the bill.

I don't know the exact amount, but I'm guessing about 1 acre i

s sodded/seeded and the rest is wooded. It's a really WEIRD shaped lot, but oh well... it's woods! Chances are if you run in a straight line into the woods, you'll probably stay in our property for a little while... but that's not necessarily a sure thing. There are definitely some weird little angles in there, too. Ha! I guess my dad is more like me than I thought. The fact that the lot isn't a straight line shape (aka... triangle or rectangle) is bugging him. He keeps saying "why?" I'm the sort of weirdo that would walk into a room and totally obsess over the fact that they didn't put the desks/tables/altar/windows/furniture in a perfectly symmetrical arrangement in the room... even if that meant that I didn't watc

h the performance, or listen to the professor or pastor while I tried to internally reason why they wouldn't make the room symmetrical. Things like that just BUG me. I even squint from my hallway to eyeball my living room furniture daily to make sure the middle of the sofa lines up perfectly with the middle of the coffee table, the middle of the rug and the middle of the TV armoire. I guess Dad is like that too. Is that OCD... or just the sign of a mathematical mind? I like to think the latter. Ha! Oh well... it's woods... who cares where the lines are?

Well... off to clean a little. Gotta house to sell soon... anyone need a four bedroom cute little house in Northern VA?

2009!

Well, it's about time I get back to blogging! Whoops... the last few months sort of passed me by. It's embarrassing to say, but Facebook has wiped out almost all of my Internet time lately. Ugh... frying my brain cells, as the newest study has indicated. LOL. And we've sort of been under the weather this year....

2009 hasn't gotten off to a great start just yet. Christmas was good, and we were able to celebrate with family at our home. It was nice and relaxing... but shortly after the New Year, we were hit with illnesses. It started the first week of January with recurrent corneal erosion in Christy's right eye... on a SUNDAY morning, when no eye doctor is in the office. Tissue began to tear away from the cornea. After 5 eye-doctor appointments in two weeks, I thought I was back to normal. Till 7 weeks later, when it reoccurred! Ugh. It's a very painful process, but fortunately within days the eye mostly heals. The biggest problem with corneal abrasions is that your eye never fully heals, and the new tissue doesn't attach properly. So, it's always susceptible to this problem in the future, especially with the extreme dry-eye problem that I have. What a future I have ahead of me... corneal erosions for life? ACK! My problem began in 2003 with a corneal abrasion from a piece of wood. NEVER try basketweaving on your own without goggles!!! Don't laugh... I kid you not. And thus, I've never touched basketweaving since.

After the first eye incident, I went in for tendonitis in my shoulder. My shoulder had for nearly a year been aching at night and in the morning. The pain started becoming worse around the holidays, to the point of throbbing all day too. So, a good course of prednisone stopped that. Whew... by this point, I was really feeling old.

Then we had a few good, healthy weeks. (except for a hobbling knee injury from hula-hooping on the Wii Fit... again, I kid you not!) And then WHAM! Ben got sick (stomach bug), quickly followed by Gracelynn (who... by the way... threw up all night without telling us... she's a pro at getting to the toilet, flushing and forgetting... never fussed!!), then Reagan got it (and needed ER assistance to stop the dry-heaving), then Mommy (me!), quickly followed by Tommy... and then, our poor caretaker, Mike. Yes, in 6 days, it hit every one of us!!! What a miserably horrible horrible week that was!

So... to say the least, by this point, I had already missed a few weeks of work. After the stomach bug, we all began to recuperate by Friday/Saturday of that week. Until... Sunday morning. Mommy woke up at 4:30 to feel "RIP". Yep, the second occurrence of corneal erosion this year. Ugh. Fortunately this time I didn't have to scream in agony for 24 hours again while awaiting an eye doctor appointment. We did call the doctor on call (who by the way, must not be used to eye emergencies at 5am on Sunday mornings!) After basically hearing that I was to endure the pain till Monday, take some painkillers and keep my eye closed all day... Mike asked if I could use my contacts to cover the wound. She said yes. Talk about immense relief. I went from screaming to calm in about 5 minutes. Daily contacts make terrific bandaids! (This is the way the doctor's office treats the problem, too.) By the time I got to the doctor on Monday, the wound had "healed". Whew!

Reagan had another brief reoccurence of some stomach thing, and I've had a few migraines throughout... but I really think that maybe we are on the mend (KNOCK WOOD). Mike and I had our physicals this week. He's in the clear... my blood results still aren't back, but I'm not expecting any major problems. Could it be that we may be good-to-go for awhile? Shouldn't say that... Influenza A and Influenza B are hitting the schools with a vengeance lately. Can my kids stay well??? Now I see why people homeschool! (Only teasing.) Fortunately my preschool class has been fairly well... almost no absences! Woo hoo!

Ugh. Our doctors are buying new convertibles with the bills we're racking up!

Mommy hosted a Pampered Chef in there somewhere too... and is now super-stocked on PC products... woo hoo! Daddy celebrated his 29th birthday again... and has yet to buy his birthday gift (Mommy was out of ideas this year!) Reagan had her 8th birthday and a small party. We learned of our good friends being chosen for an adoption! (YAY Karen and Neil). Their arrival should make his appearance any day now. Oh... I'm sure I've missed out on a lot more, but those are the things I can remember right now. LOL We're also in the midst of planning a Disney vacation in November, too. If anyone has any advice on what NOT to miss, please email me!

Here are some photos of the last few months, in reverse order since the Mac isn't allowing me to click and drag photos to new spots and I don't have the time to fuss with this. LOL

Perhaps our new car? A Toyota Sequoia... our next adventure in another month or so. This is Reagan at the DC Auto Show, testing out the Sequoia. Can I just say that I love the term "Adoption Credit" these days?

Ben, without BRACES! He has a retainer, which he wears most of the time, but his cheeks aren't as puffy anymore. When he's out playing basketball at Upwards, he takes it out. I can seem the gleaming straight white teeth from the bleachers! YAY! All that work with braces and headgear and expanders worked!!! :-) Reagan is supposed to start her orthodontic work this summer...

Happy 8th Birthday Reagan. We are down to "small parties" nowadays with the older kids. We just had a kick-back easy craft and movie day. I'm guessing the "small parties" will be phased out in another year or two.

We took the kids with my parents to Baltimore's Port Discovery one day at the end of December. The kids had a ball! The adults were exhausted!

All eight of us (minus me taking the photo) at our Christmas Dinner. Mike's parents were in town that weekend. We were able to use our new placemats and had a lovely fried-turkey meal by Ukrops. Yummy!

Our traditional "top o' the stairs" photo as the kids anxiously await our okay to go dive into the Christmas gifts. We have to stop having kids... can't fit anymore across that top stair! They are sporting their new Christmas PJs. :)

This was Christmas Eve, after our church's service and the last reading of a Christmas book in our 24-day reading countdown. (I think it was Franklin's Christmas by the looks of the book on the table.) The kids get to open just one present on Christmas Eve... their new PJs for Christmas photos! :)

It's Christmastime!

Woo hoo! It's finally December, so now I can be outwardly Christmas-y and not hide the fact that I've been listening to Christmas music for 2 weeks now! (much to the chagrin of my loving husband who is a staunch believer in no Christmas till after Thanksgiving!)

We are ALMOST done decorating. Somehow this year, it didn't happen all in one day. It took about a week. That's what happens when you work part-time, have 4 kids in the house, and go away for Thanksgiving. But we're getting there. The only thing left is to hang the ornaments on the back-room tree. I'm so frustrated too, because I cannot find the tree skirt that I hand-made before we were married. It's not quite my style anymore, but I'm so proud of my cross-stitching, sewing and quilting skills in it. It's truly amazing that the thing is still in one piece after 13 years... crafty as I am, sewing is NOT my forte. It may be that a red throw blanket becomes the tree skirt this year. Ugh.

I had heard that my too-much-like-me, decorative and crafty friend Christy (yes, same name) had 9 Christmas trees last year... so guess who went out and bought 6 more this year! :-) I figure if she can do it, than I'm perfectly allowed to do it too. Hee hee. I now have 11 trees in this house... ooops... I mean 13. Now, before you think I'm totally nuts, 5 of those trees are the 4' tall skinny kind that are tucked out of the way and are lighted only, and 6 of those are 18" tall and sit on tables/dressers. Those ones are decked out in plastic bulbs or other simple decorations (unbreakable). So, really, we only have two big trees. All fake, yes. Sorry. Enough allergies in this family to warrant avoiding real trees. Besides the fake ones shed enough... I couldn't imagine the mess I'd make with a real one!

As for the outdoors, however... we aren't as lavish. I refuse to climb a 20 foot ladder to install lights at the roof. Kudos to those that do. After Mike's broken arm last year and my adversity to cold weather, we're just not going to do it. Mike and I are also not crazy about the blow-up decorations (although we love to see them in others' yards so please keep blowing them up!). So, we have two spotlights, a couple of lighted trees, a garland over the door, and wreaths on the windows. That's enough for me. Easy enough to take down quickly with snow on the ground. LOL

Here is Gracelynn hanging her very first Christmas tree ornament! I'd love to be able to read her mind. She just seems to go with the flow. No questions, no puzzled expressions. She must be wondering what just happened to our house, which is now jam-packed with funny trees and lights. She must look at these pictures and books of Santa Claus, and think "Who is that funny-looking man and why should we be good for him?" She must wonder what all these packaged goodies are. We now have 5 secret pal/santas among the 4 kids and are secretly dropping off packages of toys at people's houses. She's probably wondering, "What is that for? Why can't I keep that toy?" Not to mention that the poor girl's birthday is this Sunday. She's already celebrated her birthday twice with gifts and cake... once with Gran/Granddad and once with Nana/PapPap/Aunt Tracy/Uncle Tim. Oh just wait till the Chuck E Cheese party on Saturday and her birthday dinner on Sunday. That little girl is going to think that these birthdays are supposed to last a month! She's going to go into gift-withdrawal come January. Yikes!

Fortunately she seems to be catching on about Jesus. She knows her special grace prayers and knows that Jesus is always with us. She loves carrying her new Bible (from Child dedication day) to church each Sunday, even if she never has to open it. She loves going to church and seems to recall the stories better than I'd expect. So, at least the Nativity and the real reason for the season isn't lost on her. Granted, she's just almost-four, so I'm sure she doesn't truly understand Jesus. But at least she'll understand why Christmas is so important to us.

We started the Advent Calendar and the Surprise-Christmas-Book opening last night. We have a string of mittens on our wall with the gifts for the advent calendar. I'm hoping the kids realize that now we won't be receiving quite as nice gifts in each mitten. 25 days x 4 kids... can't do the $1.00 toy per kid per day anymore! But I did throw in a few nice surprises... things I would've just bought anyway. Yesterday, on Day One, they got a note about getting Charlie Brown's Christmas DVD. So, after opening the mitten, they all settled in for a bowl of popcorn and a movie before bed. You would've thought that a DVD would be exciting. Tommy was in tears. He kept asking to open ANOTHER mitten. He wanted the candy. LOL Well, considering how cheap 4 candy canes are... he won't be disappointed often. What book did we read? The Legend of the Poinsettia. Oh, how I love Tomie dePaola. My kids probably weren't as excited, but I just ADORE his sweet little illustrations. (Witch or not... Strega Nona must be in the top 5 books I love.) I keep buying more and more Christmas books... I think if I were to wrap them all, we'd have a book-a-day for about two months. LOL At least there are surprises each year when it's time to open them!

So, do we like Christmas? I do believe so. And what a month this is going to be... our babysitter is going to LOVE us. LOL

Sore Throats and Rashes

This last week, we've had a few sickies here. Grace began on Monday complaining of a sore throat and of a mild tummyache. On Wednesday morning she began having a red rash over her bottom. I thought she was having an allergic reaction to something she ate or drank.

She had strep. The rash was a reaction to the strep. Since Tommy was in the office too, I went ahead and had them check him. Ever seen a child break a strep-culture-swab in half? I did! The doctor also checked him out. The first thing she did was listen to his heart. He looked at her like she was nuts and said, "My heart's not broken." LOL

Sure enough. That test was positive, too. He had NO symptoms at all. I'm glad mother's instinct kicked in to do a test "just in case". Besides, I was about to head over to drop Tommy off at preschool. So glad I did the test. He may have infected more kids.

So, Grace and Tommy and I were home from school on Thursday. I'm not sure if anyone out there has ever had a child with a terrible rash reaction to strep before. I looked it up on the web (a very reliable source, you know?) The articles I found referred to the rash as scarlatina (scarlet fever). The rash itself had me freaking out for a day or two. If you can imagine a bad sunburn with small blisters, this looked just like that... but in the area that your underwear would normally cover! After a day or two of the bright red, blistery rash, it began to peel and look all shriveled. Now, 5 days later, I can report that *most* of the peeling is done and *most* of the skin looks healthy and normal. Poor little girl. Fortunately the only time she really complained was when she was undressing or using the bathroom.

The things we learn each day, huh? I'd heard of fever, sore throat, headache, and even nausea with strep before... but never the blistery rash. So one day when your child is diagnosed with strep THROAT and breaks out in a blistery, peeling rash. They are (believe it or not) related.

Fortunately all looks well with both kids now. Also, (knock on wood) no other family member has caught it from Grace or Tommy yet. Maybe it's over. Here's hoping. I've missed too many days of work with Election Day and illnesses... it's time to get back and make some money. LOL

Oooooohhhhhhmmmmmmm.....

Reagan's soccer team would do this before a game. One night I found these kiddos practicing...

Here are some wintry shots... taken inside, of course.

Economic Woes?

Ok, we are feeling the pinch. As is most everyone I know. Grocery bills, high energy costs, etc. But we live in a "wealthy" county... or so the Census tells us. I personally don't know a lot of wealthy people here, but I know they exist. I've seen their homes and cars and airplanes and car stickers of their children's elite academies. To add to that, I just saw today a new sign. Posted to a telephone pole was a sign that read, "We hang Christmas lights" with a phone number. Now, really. In these times when everyone is trying to watch what they spend and stick-to-a-budget, are there people out there able to afford to hire someone to hang their Christmas lights? Mike and I refuse to step foot onto a 20' ladder in cold weather continuously along our house in order to hang lights. Why? Because you then have to do it all over again in January. LOL I applaud everyone else who does... I just know I'd end up with frostbite and a broken arm. However, we are definitely Christmas-decoration-loving people. So, I hang the wreaths on the windows, prop up a few lighted trees in our foyer, decorate the bannister, put out a spotlight, and hope they look festive. :0)

I'm not knocking the concept of doing this business, though. I think it's quite innovative, and I applaud those who found a niche that wasn't being addressed. In this county, I'm sure they'll find many a person to pay for someone else to hang Christmas lights. I know in our neighborhood alone, I think about 90% of the homes decorate with lights at Christmas (if not more). Someone will be willing to pay others to win that first-prize ribbon! LOL I think we'll just continue our tradition of "low lights" ... and set a timer to save on electricity to boot. :-)

Some Mommy Thoughts & Advice

1. Mammoth Crocs are awesome. (Bought myself a pair after admiring the kids'... can even fit my long orthotics UNDER the lining! Woo hoo!) However, they should NEVER be allowed on a mulched playground. That should be stated in bold print on the tag! The fleece lining attracts mulch like mad... it cannot be cleaned!!! Tommy now owns off-white-and-cedar-colored-fleece-lined Crocs that are a little scratchy.

2. A peanut-free preschool makes complete sense... I totally understand, especially as a teacher that wants to be ultra-safe. But man, it's tough on those of us whose kids' only source of protein is peanut butter. LOL

3. Shopping in the summer for Christmas is great... great deals, good things for cheap... but you may just end up with TOO much (and now darling little son is giving me lists and lists of items from catalogs he finally has the excitement to look through... none of which Santa bought.) Fortunately I was fairly smart and bought almost nothing for my picky older ones... they want the big expensive gifts that I just need to buy later... hopefully a great Black Friday deal?

4. Gottadeal.com is still my favorite source of deals. I haven't bought from Victoria's Secret in years... too expensive, didn't think they had my size. I just ordered FOUR bras and two free panties for $33 shipped! And, they had my size! Now, if only my body could possibly look good in those...

5. Another note on gottadeal... when you think you find a great deal, check what you own already. I bought a 2-DVD deal on Amazon for $16+. Turns out we own the one. Duh!

6. When you have a daughter that could eat 24/7, lock the pantry. We've found food and candy wrappers under cushions, behind shelving in hall closets, in pants pockets, under beds, in the rec room (a food-free zone), in toy baskets, under sofas, and more. Oh, and store Halloween candy baskets up HIGH! On November 1, we found so many empty wrappers around the house before 8am!!

7. Don't try to do the Lotus Focus on the Wii Fit with kids in the room (or dogs). I have successfully mastered that thing 3 times now (sitting absolutely still for 3 minutes while staring at a flame on the screen). However, just as I sit down, if I'm not alone, THAT is the moment the dog scratches my leg, Ben asks me questions, and Tommy and Grace drive their cars on me. Ugh. Can't they see I'm working. LOL

8. Another Wii Fit bit... if you don't normally box (... who does?) , don't do 12 consecutive minutes of rhythm boxing right off the bat while trying to punch really hard. Your back and arms will pay for it in the morning ... and the next morning.

9. Another Wii Fit piece of advice... don't get the body-test done while your kids are watching. They just laugh into hysterics when my Mii character explodes wide and looks at her big belly after the "measuring". Plus, they may learn a new O word. In my case, it was an awful 5 letter word that I refuse to utter. Meanwhile, the kids are struggling to be healthy, instead of underweight!

10. Don't post funny old photos on Facebook of college/high school years without expecting retaliation. There are now some old hairstyles of mine on the Internet for the world to see. And to think, in the 80's, we laughed at our choices of the 70's. In the 90's, we laughed at our choice of clothing in the 80's. What will people say about our butterfly-clipped hairdos, flare-leg jeans and hoodies in a few years? (... or at least mine) I know in a decade, my daughter will be telling me, "How could you make me wear that stuff?" when looking at her trendy Limited Too sweaters and Crocs. I know... I did it to my mom.

Broken Teeth and Halloween

I apologize for the big pause in blogging. It seems like my "everyday" is now "busy day". After the Farm experience, we had a minor dental issue with Tommy. Those who knew him 1.5 years ago know that he fell at 2.5 years old and banged up his teeth. They were displaced at the time. Lots of blood... scared the daylights out of Mommy! After a three-adults-to-hold-him-down struggle, a cast-like bandage was applied to his front teeth. It took several months to chip away, but eventually the bandage fell off and his teeth were back to being cemented in place. Yeah! He managed to keep them... but about 6 months ago, they turned brown. :-( At his checkup, we were told to watch for abcesses, but in general it was good to keep the teeth in place despite the color.

Here is a picture of my baby boy (almost 3 at the time) with his fat lip and dental-bandage (hard to see, but it puffed out his lips for months):

On the Saturday that we went to the farm a few weeks ago, I noticed that his left front tooth had a chip. The chip was brown (due to the discolored tooth). I figured I'd call the dentist on Monday, since it didn't bother him. On Sunday, I noticed him playing with his mouth. I looked inside... half of his tooth was gone! So after calling the dentist and going in on Monday morning, we learned that there wasn't much to do. I had filed it down a tad with a nail file. He has no feeling in it since the nerve is dead. The X-ray showed that the root is all but gone. Basically we're just awaiting it to fall out on its own. The dentist did say she could wiggle it out if it became painful to him or if it bothered him, but she wanted to keep it as long as possible to hold the place for the permanent tooth. Here is Tommy now... imagine that the left half of his tooth was gone. That's what it looks like up close. The root (or what's left of it) is still in the socket, but the visible tooth is down to just the right half. Kind of funky looking. In the photo, you may think he's missing a tooth... no that long skinny thing in the middle is the remainder of the tooth. (Yes, the boy needs a haircut! LOL) Oh, the bang-up on his face... a fall on the sidewalk... a few days after losing the tooth that started with a fall on the sidewalk 18 months ago. Oh, I love my sweet little Tommy, but he's all boy!

Halloween was nuts this year, but fun. Ben dressed as a mad scientist (looks a bit like Einstein, eh?) He went to a birthday party that night and trick-or-treated with them.
Reagan also went as a mad scientist, though she looked more like Frankenstein's bride. :-) Gracelynn was my little cowgirl, and Tommy was a pirate. Here they are, moments before the chaos of walking around the block. Three kids don't walk at the same pace, and Mommy was left going mad trying to keep eyes on all three in the dark! We survived though.

Gracelynn had a ball, once she got the hang of it. Tommy pooped out early (as always). We came home so that Mike could be relieved of handing out food so he could go get Ben. After 8:30, we just left the candy bowl outside (hoping the candy would be gone quickly... I totally expected the first kids along to take a bunch if not all... c'mon... what kid DOESN'T take a ton when there is no one looking?) About 10 minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was two teenagers asking for treats. (...in terrorist garb talking in middle-eastern accents... how sickening!) We looked around... the bowl was gone! OK, I can see dumping the candy in your bag... but taking the bowl, too? It was our Halloween Mickey Mouse bowl! C'mon! I gave the two kids some candy I still had, and we shut out the light. It took me awhile to get used to teenagers dressing up (we never trick-or-treated after middle school when we were young), but I got used to it... seems to be the norm around here. Then to see them dressing like terrorists or in other vile costumes is bad too. (The ones that don't even bother to dress up bug me too... at least put some effort into it.) But, then to STEAL my candy bowl on top of the dozens of candybars left in there... give me a break. Granted, I'm assuming it was an older teen, but most younger kids were with adults... I can't imagine an adult allowing that. OK... my fault... shouldn't have just left it out... but I'm irked.

Ok, time to move on. Here are our pumpkins this year. The face was designed by Reagan (carved by Mike). The other one took about 1 minute. Ar ar ar (ala Tim Taylor). I got out my drill and put holes all over. How cool!

Picking Pumpkins at the Farm

This Saturday we all went out to a local farm for the afternoon with our friends. The kids had a blast. This was Grace's first trip to the farm. It was obvious to us that this farm is doing well... they had a nice, new "admission" building and line (as opposed to walking into the general store to pay), and a few new playground additions. Not to mention, in four hours, I think we plopped down about $78 total. Yikes!

The kids got to pet some animals, bounce on the flat "moonbounce" pillow, climb on some old tractor tires, wander through a few mazes, slide down some shoots, swing on the rope swings, eat kettlecorn, and of course, ride on the tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins! We only chose two this time (it's more expensive than the local grocery store!) but the experience was great.


For those of you that know Tommy, this is monumental... he's terrified of moonbounces!!

Ben and Grace on the slide.

Reagan, Ben, Richard, Tommy and Caroline

Gracelynn, Caroline, Maggie

Reagan bouncing on the blow-up pillow thingee.

Grace and Tommy descending the mountain of tractor tires.

The crew, with our gathered pumpkins, waiting for the tractor ride to return to take us back.

Happy Birthday Christy!

In case you don't know, Christy is another year young today.  (And what a year it has been!)

If you have a moment, wish her a happy birthday.

Fraternity Families

Last weekend, we all trekked up to PA to visit with Nana and PapPap and Tracy and Tim. The event that brought us up to PA though was to attend the "Sippy Cup Picnic" with the Nu Lambs. Mike (and all of us) met up with his old fraternity brothers and their families for a cook-out. It was so fun to watch everyone! Here is a group shot of *MOST* of the kids... there were always kids running around, so we never caught all of them. Looking at this photo, I know we're missing Thad's daughter, Steve's son, Todd's daughter, Craig's daughter, and a few of the older boys. Here are our four, Doug's two, Thad's one, Steve's three, and Mark's three... and someone lurking in the background.


Gracelynn, looking cute.

Gracelynn in the background; Todd's daughter in the front. The legs belong to one of Steve's triplets!

Reagan and Doug's daughter.

Tommy being swung by Mark.

We all had a great time. Thank you Craig and Todd for organizing it. It was wonderful to meet the spouses and kids. Amazing how we all became "grown-ups". Instead of talking about college and parties, we talked about kids' sports, preschools and family vacations. :-) We hope to see you all soon.

Dinner Group

Tonight was adult night out. We gather every other month with three other couples to have our "dinner group". Each couple brings a dish/course to the meal. The host usually makes the main entree. These are our crazy and fun friends: Rich/Becky, Pete/Kathleen, Mike/Christy, and Neil/Karen. I told them I was going to post them on the blog. Let's see if they believed me. :-)

Neil and Karen, our lovely hosts tonight (beef brisket... yummy!)

Rich/Becky, our friends for over 7 years now

Kathleen and Pete (who figured out how to use the timer on my camera!) Kathleen was the one to get this little group started... thank you!

And of course, Mike and I (ok, with all the photos taken tonight, I decided that I totally need bangs... do you? I'm never happy with my hair... ugh)

Tonight was our third anniversary! Three years of wining, dining, and just plain fun. What a great group of friends! Oh... and check this out... we didn't realize that our camera did a three-shot succession of photos when using the timer. Can you tell we weren't prepared for photo #2 or #3?"What... did it just flash again?"

This last one cracks me up... we all were waiting to see if it would happen again... it did! Nice close-up, Pete! Karen, where'd you go?

Another First Day of School!

Well, last week was the start of school for Ben and Reagan. This was the first week of school for Tommy, Grace and Mommy!! On Tuesday, Mommy had a good day. The kids in her class are so sweet. However...Gracelynn had a record three meltdowns (ugh)... and Tommy bit his teacher (on the behind, mind you! double ugh). So, although Mommy was a happy girl at 1:30pm, the other two didn't have the brightest of days.

Fortunately I waited two days to write this entry. As it turns out, day two at preschool proved to be great for Gracelynn! She used the potty (and asked to go), played with the other kids, and had NO TEARS for four whole hours!!! She did wonderfully, even finishing off the preschool day with a full-fledged, zonked-out nap. :-) Poor thing. She's so used to napping around noon-time, that by the time nap-time at school rolls around at 1:00, she's out like a light.

Tommy also had a good day at school yesterday (he goes 3 days/week) and today. YAY! I think the little bugger wears out his teachers, but at least there were no incidents and he "stayed on green" the entire week. Today his teacher made a silly comment regarding a Mountain Dew can (that we saw in the fire extinguisher box)... laughing at it, asking if I wanted to give it to Tommy. That sealed the deal... I know now that he is exactly what I expected. Full of energy in class.

Ben and Reagan were absolutely not ADD. Although at Tommy's age, Ben was full of energy and loved to talk (and still does), he can focus on any activity and do his best when he knows it's necessary. Reagan is a little social butterfly and loves her friends, but when it comes to schoolwork, she always aims to please and does her best. She's our little scholar. Tommy however... whew, Tommy... who knows. He's a wild child. He's not usually outwardly violent (although since Grace came home, he's shown a little more anger than before), but he cannot always focus on a task. He's much more interested in playing with toys, or talking about what he did at home, or seeing what others are doing than to concentrate on his work. This week, Mommy became a drill sergeant at home. We are doing "homework time" with all four kids for an hour each day. The older two do their homework and read while the younger two work on their handwriting and coloring skills. I expected disaster when I first did it with T&G. They shocked me. Gracelynn loves to please, so she was great. Tommy even wanted to work, when he realized I was serious and loved seeing his nice handwriting. So... we'll see. Maybe he'll just be that pain-in-the-butt active child in class and not truly ADD? I guess I'll wait to see what the teachers have to say.... perhaps being in the school all the time will open my eyes to what Tommy is really like in school. :-)

Tonight is the drop-off for the consignment sale I do. So, time to go clean the car and remove the seats. I have quite a load to haul over there!

First Day of School 2008!

Oh my... where does the time go? This morning, we took Ben and Reagan to school! Last Friday morning we went in to meet the new teachers. Both teachers seem wonderful! For the first time ever, they each only have one teacher. (Preschool had 2 in each class; Kindergarten had a teacher and helper; Ben has been in a multi-age switching-classrooms program for 3 years with 3 teachers; and Reagan's first grade class had an assistant in the room). So, instead of the 9 teachers I had to buy for last year, I just have 8. Tommy and Grace still have 2 apiece in preschool (and Tommy has 2 more on a separate preschool day).

Today, I heard Mike in the shower so got up and dressed at 6:15. At 6:30, I headed out the door to awaken the kids. What was I thinking? Reagan was already fully dressed, sitting at the bottom of the steps with her backpack! Ben was pulling on his shoes as I passed his room. The commotion with them eventually awakened the two little ones. We were all dressed and downstairs at 6:50! Woo hoo! Daddy got the kids set up with breakfast and we were all done at 7:15! YAY!

Here are some first day photos:

Ben and Daddy

Mommy and Reagan

All four kids

We all walked to school and I saw that they got in their rooms. My babies are now in second and fourth grade. Geez! Mike's comment was, "Well, now you only have two kids at home during the day." I looked at him. I said, "But the ones in school are the two easy ones!" LOL

One more week till preschool starts... tomorrow is Meet the Teacher night, or in my case, Meet your Students.

Labor Day Weekend Continued

I think we did a fairly decent job of having a fun last weekend of summer with the kids. Gran and Granddad visited; we had a big fondue dinner on Friday night at home (not something Mommy enjoys preparing for, but they are always fun!); we went to the Air and Space Museum; we went to Red Robin (a kid favorite); we had donuts at Fractured Prune; we had a lazy day Sunday after church and Subway lunch including a nice drive in the evening; we went to Silver Diner for a special lunch and milkshakes on Monday; and the kids all got to pick out movies at Blockbuster which we watched later in the day. Not to mention our daily family walks/bike rides, playing the Wii and Scrabble, and just hanging out.

As you can see in the photos above, Gracelynn had her first real milkshake. In the past, when we ordered milkshakes at other restaurants, she was still eating or too tired to want more. She loved it! In fact, both she and Tommy were drinking Mommy's chocolate malt! Aha! I have two companions in loving malts! (Mike greatly dislikes them.) Another new this weekend... Mommy found someone else to love shrimp! I only pulled out about 1/2 pound of shrimp for the fondue on Friday night, figuring I was the only one who would eat it. Wrong! Grace ate almost all of it!!! So, she has good (albeit expensive) tastes! I think I may hold off introducing her to lobster. She's three... she's supposed to enjoy hotdogs and chicken nuggets... y'know, the cheap stuff. I guess I forgot to mention in the previous post about our fondue meal. The kids just love fondue, but I'll admit that I don't make it much since the preparation and clean-up is usually long. It was Grace's first experience with fondue. It took her awhile to figure out that food doesn't come immediately onto the plate (and thus, dinner takes awhile), but once she learned that she loved the shrimp, she was a happy girl. We only had two minor burns when Reagan forgot that the skewer will be hot after removing it from the pot... but they were extremely minor. And of course, Mommy and Daddy did all of Tommy's and Grace's cooking (and eventually Reagan's!)

On Sunday, we had more of a laid back day. We attended church and saw a great trio of singers from Mercy's Well. We didn't stick around to buy the CD, but plan to look online soon. After church, we went to Subway. Ha. Our days of $12 bills at Subway are long gone. $35!!! When two kids eat full-size meals and the other two can pile away a mini-sub and chips, the cost adds up quick! Geesh. That afternoon, Ben and Reagan were quickly entertained by Gran, who loves to play boardgames and card games with the kids. (This is not one of Mommy's fortes!) Gran and Granddad went back to Fredericksburg to be with Mamaw, and later in the day we all took an hour long drive to see the pretty countryside. I love our town... close enough to a major city to go to events, airports, etc.... yet, a stone's throw away from beautiful farm land, horse country, and rolling hills. The kids were less than excited and asked a million questions. "Where are we going?" (nowhere) "Are we almost there?" (no) "How long are we going to be?" (just sit back and watch) "Why are you looking at that house... are we moving?" (no, not now) "Why not?" (just 'cuz) Mike and I have always enjoyed just driving around and seeing what's out there. We went down a few one-lane roads (having twice to squeeze to the side to let an ATV, or worse an SUV, through) and saw some gorgeous "dream homes". Yeah, won't be moving in this real estate market... and not on one main salary, that's for sure!

On Monday, we took a long walk in the morning and later went to lunch at Silver Diner. Mike and I agreed it was easily the most enjoyable and least stressful meal-out that we've enjoyed with four kids yet. No complaints, no whining... and only maybe 6 times did we have to ask Tommy and Grace to sit down (and not stand on the booth seat!) Oh... and we each only had to take Grace/Tommy to the potty once. That's a record. Both seem to be addicted to public restrooms (yuck) and want to go potty all the time when we are out...and it always seems as though one mentions it and BOTH have to then go. At Cheeburger Cheeburger last weekend, we had a total of FOUR visits to the bathroom with these two in the course of one hour... the manager actually felt bad for us. At Silver Diner, I had a crabcake melt on focaccia bread. Yummy!!! The scale did not like me this morning, but my tummy was happy.

All four kids at Silver Diner.