We sold our house!! Well, we haven't closed, but we are under contract. We are amazed and incredibly lucky that our house sold so quickly. We will be moving out by the end of April and, at this point, we have no idea where we are going. YIKES!!! A lot has been happening over the past month that may mean some unexpected changes for our family, though we are not sure how it is all going to work out at this point. We should have more answers over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, the packing has commenced. We are excited, a little freaked out, and a lot stressed right now!
to a big boy bed. Well, sort of. We decided it was finally time to take down the crib railing. Sniff. Sniff. Pea has been climbing in and out of his crib for quite some time now, but we just weren't ready for that next step! We have been very lucky in that he always stays in bed when it's time to sleep so why mess with a good thing, right? Well, I kept having images of a broken leg or arm so we figured it was probably time. Plus, we are going to need the crib for the new baby so we might as well get him transitioned out of it soon.
He was so excited to see his "new" bed. He kept sneaking in and out of his room on his tiptoes to look at it. It was very cute! Here he is right before he jumped off. Sigh...there still may be a broken leg or arm in our future with the way he jumps on his bed. Getting ready to snuggle in for the night. And, yes, I am happy to report he has stayed in bed!
Now we need to start thinking about getting a real big boy bed!
In our family, the beginning of spring is marked by my birthday! Woohoo! Spring is definitely my FAVORITE season. Having been born on the first day of spring, I like to think of myself as a breath of fresh air! Hehehe! Actually, my parents claim it snowed on the day I was born. Definitely more fitting. :) We celebrated a day early at my parent's house tonight and it was a great party. My mom cooked my favorite meal and we topped it off with homemade tiramisu. Yum!!
Me and my pea (with his first sidewalk scrape of the season. check out his nose!)
Licking the candle ends. The best part! Pea definitely thought I needed lots of help opening my cards.
Little pea is definitely a rough and tumble boy. He loves all forms of trucks (especially firetrucks!), likes to get dirty, climbs like a monkey, thinks body slamming is funny, and already throws like a little leaguer.
But, my rough and tumble little boy also loooooooves princesses! He frequently asks to watch the Dora princess episodes and begged me to buy him a princess toothbrush last week. "PaLEEEEEESE, mommy! With a cherry on top?!" (whoever taught him that is EVIL!)
So, whenever pea pulls out the blocks, it usually involves building a princess tower. Today's princess tower had a super "cool" garage for the princess's car.
Mr. Cheesy. He is definitely into making a cheese face and immediately saying, "Let me see the picture!"
And, as much as pea enjoys constructing his princess towers, he enjoys destroying them even more. Thank goodness the firetruck was close by to "put out the fire" and clean up after the destruction.
We have had a lot of snow this winter! At least it has been sticking around for awhile. And, we have all been suffering from some serious cabin fever. I am ready for spring, how about you?
So, until spring arrives, we enjoyed a little time playing in the snow last weekend. It was finally warm enough to be outside without getting frostbite or windburn and the snow was perfect for snowballs and snowpeople! Pea LOVES being outside regardless of the weather so he had a blast.
He especially enjoyed body slamming the snow. No joke. He literally threw himself on the ground attacking the snow. He is extremely physical and he has definitely taken it to a new level lately! He especially enjoyed sticking his face in the snow. Is there a WWF for toddlers?
Snow angels. Grrrrrrr....the Abominable snowman!
On top of the world! (or at least on top of frosty's body!)
It was a fun afternoon, but I am not sad to see the snow melting! Come on spring!
Finally, after much searching and reflection, we have decided on a new domestic adoption agency and are moving forward! Initially, we had decided to stick with our first agency, but we kept putting off the application. I kept telling myself it was just because we were busy focusing on other things, but I did not have that pull, that motivation to get it submitted. Now I know that my heart was sending me a message and holding me back for a reason. Our child is meant to come to us in a different way. We had a notion of what our next adoption would look like, but that is starting to change. As I have said before, adoption is truly a journey of the heart. And, this adoption is already proving that as we are opening our hearts once again. Even though we have moved in a direction we didn't expect, it feels RIGHT. My heart feels at ease and that pull and motivation returned instantly after connecting with our new agency. I just know this is where we are meant to be. It is exciting and scary and full of unknowns, but our hearts are opening wide and we are ready!
The next step in our process is to attend our agency's training in April. At that time we will be matched with our social worker and our homestudy process can begin. I anticipate we probably will not be "active" until mid to late summer. We are excited and we can't wait to see what kind adventure and miracle is waiting for us this time around.
WOOHOO!!!! Thanks to some awesome advice, I was able to recover all 500 lost pictures!!! I used a card recovery program online and it worked wonderfully. I had no idea that was even available! So, let's redo this FFF thing...pea thought it would be a great idea to suddenly start coloring on everything but paper right before we listed our house. We were all in the basement cleaning when pea found a permanent red marker and started coloring all over a rug (thank goodness we were getting rid of it) and he colored on the panels of a cabinet. Jason took some Goop cleaner and the red faded a little so it is not as noticeable, but STILL. He just HAD to color on something right before our house was listed!
In this picture, you can see he managed to color all over his hands and face. He also colored on the carpet in our basement. Good grief. At least this time he was using a washable marker.
So, you think coloring on the wall is bad...
Pea enjoys "cleaning" in the basement with an old long feather duster. The other night I decided to exercise (what????) in the basement while Pea was playing. I was in the middle of this very important obstacle course when I heard some interesting noises behind me. I turned around and there was water all over the carpet. I walked over to discover that pea was dipping the feather duster down the sewage drain and sprinkling the lovely smelling water all over the carpet and the cement floor in another area of the basement. DISGUSTING. And, of course, this was JUST after we had finished cleaning everything up in order to be prepared for any short notice house showings. Needless to say, sewage is not really the smell we want to greet potential buyers when they walk in our house. Oh, I was mad! And, to be honest, I was more mad because I finally decided to dedicate some time to exercise and it was interrupted! Luckily we were able to get it cleaned up quickly and the house is back to smelling "normal."
So, I inserted my memory card to find the perfect picture for this week's FFF theme. And, I found it! Pea had managed to color all over his face and hands with a green marker. It was priceless. And now...it is gone. Forever. Sniff. Sniff. Sniff. I have no idea what happened, but somehow I managed to delete my entire memory card. Gone in an instant. All 500 pictures. Luckily, I recently uploaded a vast majority of them, but I lost all of November, December, and the few I had in January. Yes, that means Christmas. I have maybe 3 or 4 pictures saved from Christmas Day at our house. How depressing!! Sigh....
So, here are two pictures from LAST January since I don't have any from THIS January to share. Sniff. Sniff.
It's amazing how much he has grown! These pictures were also taken with my old camera and they look awful compared to the quality of my current camera! Who knew?!?!
It's official! Our house is on the market and we already have a showing scheduled for Friday! Of course, we realize this could take awhile so we are not getting too excited, yet. We spent the entire weekend cleaning, organizing, and decluttering. My parents were a TREMENDOUS help! Our house looks amazing thanks to them! Now we just need to figure out how to maintain our clean and organized house with a wild two year old who enjoys destroying the house in under 2 minutes. So, we busted our hineys over the weekend and now we wait......
Adoption news...or really, lack of news. We are currently reevaluating our choice of agency. We have not been getting the warm fuzzies from them and we also received some negative feedback from someone on an adoption forum. Granted, that is one person's experience, but we have already been starting to feel a little uneasy about our choice. So, we're thinking our gut feeling may be pointing us in another direction. This feels all too familiar because this is exactly how pea's adoption journey started. And, it worked out perfectly. So, we are going to be calling a couple of the other agencies that were on our initial list and then make a decision. And so it begins!
It's Friday! Woohoo! This week's theme is close-ups, but I am going to do my own thing. A couple months ago, my siblings and I arranged a family photo shoot as a Christmas gift to my parents. We all went to the park for the afternoon and the photos turned out great, though pea was not very cooperative so we only have a couple good shots of him. There was just too much space to roam in the park and he was not at all interested in sitting still, or even walking for that matter! Even so, it was a lot of fun and my parents ended up with a beautiful photo book of our photo shoot. Check out some of the other FFF posts on Hannah's blog HERE.
I know. I know. It's been pretty quiet and boring in our little corner of the blog world. But, a lot has been happening and we recently made some big decisions. Jason and I have been planning on moving for several years. Not just moving across town, but moving from our current town. Away from family. Away from the place where I was raised. In fact, I never, EVER, imagined that I would even move back to the town where I grew up. I couldn't wait to go off to college and get the heck out of dodge! And, I did for about 10 years. Then, on a whim about 9 years ago, Jason and I decided we were tired of only seeing our families 2 or 3 times per year, at the most. So, we moved back to my hometown, to the place I had vowed to never live in again. But, after a couple of years, we were feeling the itch. The itch to live somewhere else and that became our plan.
Then, suddenly, things started getting in the way of our master plan: jobs, graduate school, building a family, the timing just didn't feel right, etc, etc. Through it all, however, we always talked about moving and our conversations would often be, "well, maybe we shouldn't do x, y, or z because we may be moving next year." Consequently, we have never really felt fully settled where we are because we have always planned on leaving. What we have slowly started to realize (yes...I said slowly!) is that our master plan (the plan that never seemed to materialize) has been holding us back. We stopped pursuing other goals and plans because we were so focused on this other plan and uncertain of our future. It was keeping us from building roots, making connections, and feeling grounded where we are. And, we realized we were growing weary of waiting for something to happen that may not happen for a long time, or may never happen. In many ways this realization was a great relief, in other ways it was a bit stressful because this is something we have been thinking about and planning on for a long time. Suddenly, our "master plan" seemed to be evolving...significantly.
We have finally admitted that our "master plan" no longer feels right and it's time to let it go...for now. So, what does that mean? We have a new plan! Ha! We have decided to stay we where we are and settle in for awhile (notice the noncommittal time frame!). In fact, we are getting ready to list our house so that we can look for another house to build some roots, a house with room to grow. Truly, this has been a huge decision for us and one we have been deliberating over for a few months. As you may remember, we were going to list our house last spring with the "plan" of moving away. Well, the market just wasn't in our favor so we decided to wait. And, during that wait, we did a lot of soul searching and it led to this recent decision. With that in mind, we are ready for a different kind of change. Sort of like a new beginning.
So, we have been busy getting our house ready and hope to have it listed by next week! We are excited, though we realize there are no guarantees in this market. My parents are helping us this weekend with a power clean so that everything will be ship shape! Wish us luck!
So, I am trying to clean off the video camera so here is another video of pea! He has been taking swimming lessons for the last few months and has come a very long way since our first day in the pool! You may remember he screamed and had a death grip on me for the entire lesson! No more! He absolutely LOVES the water. For the most part, he doesn't really care what the rest of the swimming class is doing. He just swims around doing his own thing most of the time, testing out his new skills (including beating daddy with the noodle). Enjoy!
Pea and I were enjoying some hot chocolate together yesterday as it snowed outside and we were talking about some of his favorite things. I grabbed the video camera to capture a little bit of our impromptu interview. I just love hearing what he has to say! And, don't worry, we do not give him tires for breakfast. :)
Happy Holidays, everyone!! We had a very busy and FUN holiday season. So much so that the blog had to take a backseat for a little while. We did A LOT of baking at home and with family and friends, we gained some weight, we visited a train museum and rode a small steam engine train, we spent time with family, we went to the zoo to see the lights, watched Christmas shows, opened lots of presents, and just enjoyed being together. Here is a glimpse into our funfilled month. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
Wow! We have been busy already this holiday season! This past weekend was full of holiday activities. We started off with a visit to Santa. Pea was not so sure about Santa this year! He would not sit on Santa's lap and wanted me right beside him. He did manage inform Santa that he wants a fire truck, ambulance, and police car for Christmas!
A quick pic of pea with Santa.
After visiting with Santa, we headed out to the Christmas tree farm. This was a tradition in Jason's family when he was growing up so we are continuing that tradition with our family. We had a lot of fun trying to find the perfect tree.
Pea decided it was more fun to race in and out of the trees...
to play hide and seek with daddy.
BOO!!! Pea LOVES hide and seek and wants to play it ALL the time! He just laughs and laughs.
"Wait for me, daddy!" Or, as pea often says..."Daddy is getting away!"
We had our little family tree decorating party on Sunday and it was more like a "who is the grumpiest" party! We were all feeling under the weather and nothing seemed to be going "right." But, the evening ended perfectly and I only need to replace one strand of lights on the tree...;)
It's FRIDAY!!! Woohoo! And...that means FFF. This week's theme is Holiday Traditions! Check out more FFF on Hannah's blog HERE. So, to get in the spirit of the theme, I simply copied one of my holiday tradition posts from last year! Is that cheating?!?! Nahhhh!! It's TRADITION! :) Here it goes:
As some of you may remember from a post last year, I am CRAZY about Chex Mix! I have been since I was a kid. Growing up, we made Chex Mix every year around Christmas time and it is just one of those crazy, seemingly meaningless traditions that is so important to me! It is really less about the actual food, than it is the memories and feelings it evokes. (Though it is pretty darn deeeeee-lish!) Every year, we would dedicate an entire day to making Christmas goodies. My mom, sister, and I (sometimes my brother, too) would spend the entire day cooking, baking, and decorating cookies. The kitchen would be a disaster with flour, frosting, wax paper, and tiny cookie decorations everywhere! We had so much fun and those times together helped define the meaning of the holidays for our family. And, let me tell ya, my sister decorates a mean cookie!
At some point over the years, I became the official Chex Mix chef and thus began a lifelong, glutinous love affair that only comes around once a year! It is pretty much the staple of my diet from Thanksgiving through New Years. No joke! In fact, I am eating it right now. ;) I especially love it for breakfast! Now, I am talking about the homemade stuff, not that bagged crap that claims to be the original Chex Mix. And, I am a hardcore ORIGINAL Chex Mix recipe follower. None of this bagel chip, mixed nuts, and garlic & onion powder nonsense. I suppose you could call me a Chex Mix puritan or, well, maybe a Chex Mix snob. Call me what you will, but I stand strong and proud by the Original recipe. ;)
What is the original recipe you ask? Well, let me indulge you. Okay, I admit, the recipe may not be exactly like the original, but it is pretty darn close. And, I always double the recipe.
6 cups Rice Chex Mix 6 cups Corn Chex Mix 6 cups Wheat Chex Mix (NOT the multigrain. I made this mistake ONCE!) 1 or 2 cups pretzels 1/2 to 1 cup peanuts (I like dry roasted) 5 tbsp butter (the REAL stuff) 4 tbsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire (the best brand) 3 tsp Seasoned Salt
Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl. Melt butter and combine with worcestershire and seasoned salt. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to coat evenly. You can bake it in the oven or the microwave. I use the microwave because that is what I have always done. :) Cook for 6 minutes in the microwave, stopping to stir mixture every 2 minutes. Lay out on paper towels to dry and then ENJOY!!!
So, since it is my turn to be mom at Christmas time now, I have the huge responsibility of passing on this sacred tradition to my family! And, well, I am so proud to say little pea may be just as crazy about Chex Mix as his mama. Sigh...so, so proud. ;)
I have been stocking up on my supplies! Seriously, I was not kidding when I said this was an addiction!!! And, I just may need to replenish this supply of cereal to get through the season!
Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with Jason's family in Pennsylvania. We had not seen them in a very long time so it was so great to relax and spend some time together with them. It is about a 6 hour drive (with breaks) and pea did amazing! No crying, no whining, no complaints at all! Any shred of guilt I had from plopping a portable DVD player in front of him for 6 hours is looooooooong gone! Bless you, DVD player! hehe!
And, it is not Thanksgiving in our family unless someone ends up getting sick. For several years, Jason and I took turns getting sick. Last year was pea's first Thanksgiving so he was initiated with this family tradition. This year, pea and I both ended up with colds. Compared to years past, this year was nuthin'!
In spite of our sore throats and sniffles, our weekend was jam packed with fun. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died so I don't have very many good pictures. And, can you believe I did not have any extra batteries???? Sheez!! Of course, I have a gazillion batteries at home, but did I think to take some extra ones with us? Noooooooo. Oh well. Jason's sister and dad took some great pictures at the firehouse that they both promised to send me (HINT! HINT!) and our friend, Sally, took Eli's picture with Santa that she also promised to send me (HINT!!!).
So, here are a few token pictures from some of our adventures in PA.
Playing football with daddy.
Playing on poppop's tractor thingy.
Riding the tractor at our friend, Mindy's house. Look at that view!
Waiting for Santa to arrive on the fire truck!
Visiting the fire house. Jason's dad is a volunteer firemen so he took pea and his cousins on a special tour of the firehouse. It was great!
