Happy New Year!

Last night we spent a wonderful night-in with our boys to celebrate New Years Eve!  I found a small 4-pack of champagne (technically sparkling wine), so that I could have a small glass to toast the new year with Matt without wasting a whole bottle of champagne.  We told Jack he didn't have a bedtime last night (he was thrilled!) figuring he would fall asleep on the couch with us.  He chose to watch Cars 2 and then around 11 p.m. he asked to go to bed.  Luckily, I took a few naps with the boys before the clock struck midnight and was able to make it to welcome 2012!

Today is my late cousin's birthday... I will always think of her as we welcome the new year because we used to call her at midnight every year to wish her a happy birthday.  I got so many hand-me-down clothes from Katie when I was younger and always thought they were the coolest clothes.  I was blessed to have her as my Confirmation sponsor and a great role model as I was growing up.  She left this world way too young... Miss you so very much Katie!

This year I am going to try to participate in 52 Weeks to An Organized Home.  I will get an email once a week on the area of focus and then try to implement it at our house.  I know there will be weeks where I simply can't get to it, but I really hope to be able to participate in most of these.  Hopefully I will be able to keep up on a blog post each week I participate.  Having two kids in our house just after Christmas makes me realize how very important organization is, not that I didn't before, I just did not really worry about it!

I have some other little goals of things that I'd like to get better at, but I hope to keep my focus on my wonderful family this year!

I am now less than 2 weeks away from going back to work and it of course makes me very sad to be leaving my boys.  Lots going on in the next few weeks including Christopher's baptism, so blog updates might be sparse.

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year full of health, wealth and many more blessings!

Photo Challenge: Day 23

Today's challenge: Color

I've been trying to find the right theme or color scheme for Jack's big boy bedroom.  I hadn't found any bedding that really "spoke" to me.  Today we went to the Catholic bookstore to get a gift for my RCIA candidate and Jack made the decision on his room for us when he picked up this wall hanging and refused to put it down:

I love the bright colors, and the fact that its a truck is perfect for my little boy!  I absolutely love the prayer on it, perfect for those of all ages :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter tomorrow!

April Photo Challenge Day 4

I know, I skipped yesterday... whoops!  Today's topic: water.  It certainly wasn't a challenge to find water today as it rained hard all day!

Our driveway is asphalt and, while it gets a few puddles from being slightly uneven, when it rains it looks flooded.  This is a view off our back deck of the driveway from this evening.

I should have taken a picture of my pants after I walked across the parking lot today.  The entire front of my khakis were SOAKED; looked as though I had just put them on straight out of the washer, without going through the spin cycle.  Alas, I didn't have my camera with me at work.

Problem Solver

Our pediatrician has been constantly reminding us on how many preventable injuries occur in children Jack's age.  While, we have kid-proofed a lot in our house, Jack's height is allowing him to grab things from the kitchen table and counter that were previously pushed back far enough to be out of his reach.  I know we keep a pretty good eye on him, but at the same time there's no way for a parent to stare at their children 24/7.

My father-in-law always tells Matt & I "No fortress is impenetrable to the mind of a child"... referring to all of the things kids will find a way around.  One weekday when Matt was off work, I got a picture message with Jack standing on his ride-on giraffe after he had pushed it up against our couch in order to climb up on the couch.  Here is a picture of him showing Mommy his new trick later that day:

Shortly after I took this picture, he stood up and let go of the handles... depending on your perspective the appropriate response is: ta-da or duh-duh-duuuuhhh!

Needless to say, the giraffe toy only comes out when Mommy & Daddy are not cooking or doing dishes.

Weekend Recap

Wow... Monday already?! Goo, weekends go by WAY too fast for me!

Let's see, last weekend we went to Indianapolis to walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with my mom's side of the family's team. The team was started about 7 years ago by my Aunt Mary Ellen, a year before she lost her 2 year battle with cancer at 37 years young. Here are a few pictures from this weekend!

Me pushing Jack in the stroller... around the first half mile!

Wearing my pink ribbon visor... and playing peek-a-book!

Sunday, Matt let me sleep in and after I woke up I mowed the grass and put out some Weed-B-Gon to kill all those dandelions we have/had in yard! Can't wait to post pictures once it is in better condition! It isn't necessarily in bad shape as far as pictures go but has a lot of weeds and we haven't put any annuals in the landscaping... still a lot on the to-do list!

New Furniture for the New House!

Here are some pictures of our new furniture!

Our bedroom suite (bed, chest and dresser + mirror)!

The bed and nightstand (we will have 2, but they noticed one had a crack so they didn't even bother bringing it in, the replacement one should be here later this week).

Our new super comfy couch (with Jack in his carseat in the bottom right carseat)!

Our recliner, I love it because it doesn't look like a La-Z-Boy (no thing on the side), but I can still put my feet up without taking up as much room as a chair with ottoman (a must with our small house).

Ash Wednesday!

Happy Lent to all those who observe. This year Matt & I are giving up eating out/ordering take-out for Lent. We did it 2 years ago and it was tough but worth it! Since we've moved and the holidays, we've been bad about picking up dinner and lunch whenever we got too tired. I hope this will also help me get better at planning our meals, which has been extremely difficult for me since Jack was born.

In other happenings, things have been CRAZY busy for me! I am pretty much swamped at work, which is kind of nice to make the days go quickly, but also stressful. Nonetheless, I'm happy to be given the responsibility and anxious to prove to my boss and coworkers that I can deliver. I felt like a slacker because I essentially couldn't fulfill the duties in my job description due to not being allowed in the lab (per company policy as a safety concern). Now I definitely don't feel guilty for getting pregnant, but I do feel that if I want to advance I must really prove myself during fiscal years that I am not.

Well, things are so busy I must work a little bit from home this evening and tomorrow evening. Next week is our R&D conference so posting probably will not happen, even though I will still be in town. Hopefully I'll get to post this weekend after Matt & I get our new furniture (did I mention we bought new furniture and I'm SO excited!?).

Winter Wonderland

This weekend started off by getting an early release at work because of the snow coming down. I was really excited, but I do get very anxious driving in snow. I attribute it to the fact that the first time I ever drove in snow/winter conditions was when I got a car in college (I think it would've been winter 2006?); so less than 5 years. Not to mention driving in college shouldn't really count because I'm sure I avoided driving at all costs. I am getting more comfortable as time goes on, but its more the anticipation of having to drive in it that gets me! Long story short on the winter storm, we got a FOOT of snow! Now, I know that may not be a lot for many areas of the country, but in under 24 hours that happened fast in my opinion!

We're so lucky to have gotten the house we did... our neighbor used his snow blower over our driveway, sidewalk & front porch 2 or 3 times Friday when it was coming down so fast, and again Saturday! I am so grateful and want to bake something to take over because we're so thankful. Now don't get me wrong, Matt was out there shoveling too, but of course using the snow blower it went MUCH faster. As Matt said "He's gotten more done in 10 minutes then I did for 30 minutes of shoveling!". Here's a picture of Matt shoveling (I think he secretly enjoys it because we're new homeowners):

It looks kind of blurry because I was taking it through the screened window on our storm door. Our driveway is really wide back by the garage, wide enough for the 2 1/2 car garage at least! Matt did most of that, while our neighbor got the skinnier part of our driveway (we have a shared driveway), I'd say they did the same amount... just took way less time for our neighbor!

Here are a few pictures of Jack in the snow:

That's him Friday afternoon when I was home early from work... he was very perturbed because he couldn't move in his snowsuit!

This is a picture on Saturday after the snow had pretty much stopped... his legs are straight down in the snow! I know he's not that "tall", but I also doubt his legs were all the way to the grass.

So, in other exciting news... we got our stimulus check for our first time homebuyer incentive! (We had amended our 2008 taxes for the 2009 purchase as allowed by the credit)... Can't wait to use it to pay off what is left on our washer, dryer, stove & new carpet (we got those great deals of 12 months, same as cash). Then put the rest in savings! :-)

Happy Homeowners and Lots of Other Happenings!

Well, we're all moved in (and with internet access no less!) and loving our little home! We officially moved last Saturday, but it was such a busy day. We had carpet being put in that morning throughout the living room, bedrooms & hallway... then the guys (our amazing friends) showed up with a full truck at 11:30 a.m., had it all unloaded by 1:30 p.m. (after they had to wait for the carpet guys to finish up).

That afternoon we had the dryer hooked-up to remedy a fiasco from Friday. Friday was a busy day as well, we had multiple contractors at the house to do work.. including delivery & set-up of appliances. My mom was coming by to help me finish painting and just to help out with Jack, but wasn't there yet when the guys came to deliver the washer/dryer & range. Needless to say, my first experience with these delivery guys was miserable! I had my fussy 5 month old in one arm as I let them in. The older gentleman immediately started into how things were wrong, not going to work, etc. First "problem" was that the washer & dryer hook-ups were on the opposite side, which I suggested we simply put them on the side of the hook-ups. It appeared as though he did not like my ability to problem solve so quickly, but heck, we'd paid for them already & knew they'd fit (measuring tapes are very handy)! Well, the dryer vent that was left from the previous owners was a stiff material (not like the flexible kind I am most familiar with). It was simple enough to untape from the point where it was attached to the vent going outside. All this one-handed because Jack was in my other arm. Then he talks about how he can't bring the range in through the back door.... well, fancy that we've got a front door! That was a very small issue and again, easily solved. The washer was brought in and set-up to be working just fine. Then, the first part where we made a mistake came in... we didn't measure the baseboard molding when we measured for the washer & dryer. Okay, well its a tiny bit of molding only needed to be popped off to solve this problem. Well, that's something I couldn't do one-handed... I tried to hand a guy a crowbar and a flat-head screwdriver from Matt's toolbox. Nope, wasn't gonna help us out. I was trying to figure out what he was going to do... he decided all he could do for us was to put the dryer in the garage. So he did... and then he left. It took me a while, but after much "firing-up" by Matt & my parents, I called our sales guy and told him what had happened and explained that (after my mom was there to hold Jack) I went ahead and took the baseboard off. Long story short, he was able to get someone to come out the next day (moving day) to bring it in and set it up for us. I requested that it not be the same guy who came Friday, I simply didn't want to deal with such a debbie-downer. Needless to say, it was EXTREMELY frustrating, but it worked out okay.

I'll be posting some pictures of the house soon, I promise! It is just getting so dark by time I get home from work, that the pictures aren't that great... not to mention interior pictures would show more of boxes then of the actual house!

Other things happening on our busy front include: getting ready for Jack's first road-trip (18 hours to Texas!) next week for Thanksgiving and Tiffany & Steven's wedding, as well as Christmas being right around the corner! We're so excited for Jack's first Christmas (in fact we've already bought his first gift) and decided to spend his first Christmas at home, just us! I am so excited to start our own family traditions for our children... things like getting to open gifts from Santa in our pjs sound so relaxing and wonderful!

Jack's First Halloween!

Our little man was the most adorable monkey I've ever seen! (If I do say so myself!) I love that he doesn't mind hoods or hats because he looks so good in them. His costume was a little big (I bought it a while ago figuring he'd probably grow into it), but I think it looked super cute anyway.


In other news, we get possession of the house this week! My mom helped me finalize paint colors this evening because I was down to a few different paint chips and couldn't decide which were going to look the best. My mom, Holly & I are going to start painting on Saturday because Matt has to work. My MIL is going to watch Jack so we can get a lot of stuff done without him being exposed to yucky paint fumes.

We've also decided on the washer & dryer we're going to purchase. We were down to three different sets and we made the decision based on size. They were comparable in every other aspect. I'll be sure to post my review of them after a few weeks/months of usage! To me, buying appliances has been harder than buying a house. I guess because houses make more sense to me (as far as benefits, features, etc.) than appliances.

I am very excited to finally decorate Jack's nursery. We've decided on a theme: classic children's books. We're painting the wall a solid khaki/yellow color then I am going to paint 9 canvases to look like 9 different classic children's books. Some of the ones I'm going to use are "Goodnight Moon" and "Pat the Bunny". Then in a long canvas I am going to paint the phrase "May Your Dreams Become Your Story" to tie together the book theme with sleep and dreamtime! It has been a while since I've painted, but I usually can do pretty well when looking at a subject. I can't wait to get started... and I especially can't wait to have pictures to share of the finished product.

Official Homeowners!

Well, its official folks! We're homeowners... and now officially poor! Haha! We closed on our house yesterday and it was quite the experience. I had been to one house closing before with my mom when my parents bought their house for this last move. It is of course completely different when it was our house and our money! Quite a shock to see the actual amortization schedule and how much we'd pay if we were to stay there for 30 years and pay off the house. Oh well, we are so excited!

I got off early today, which is always a good deal, and got to come home to my boys! My mom came by a little bit today, even though Matt was off, just to help watch Jack so Matt could crank out some packing/cleaning. This evening we went to Lowe's to check out paint, carpet, and a few other odds and ends that we may be needing soon! I can't wait to get started on a bit of home improvement with first painting and then getting the carpet replaced. We have a few other things we'll eventually want to do (i.e. replacing some not-so-attractive light fixtures) but other than that not too much longer til we are in our house!!!

We're planning on painting our bedroom a lighter blue/grey shade to coordinate with our bedding that we got when we were newly married! Jack's room will be a yellow/khaki color that coordinates with our crib bedding but will hopefully stay pretty neutral when he gets to a big boy bed. The only other room we're planning on painting right away is the kitchen. I am thinking one of 2 colors... one is kind of a toffee brown and the other is a toned down brick red. There is not a ton of wall space that will need to be painted because of the tile backsplash. That's why I'm thinking the bolder/darker color will be ok in a smaller space.

I'm so excited to get started! I will be posting the pictures over the next few weeks as we make our new house a place that is our home!