Buddies

One of the fringe benefits of moving is that we get to live down the street from our good friends.  They have 2 boys, one that is about a year younger than Ethan, and one that is about a year older. Getting them all together usually results in quite a rumpus.  Ethan now says things like "I power ranger" and "I a bad boy" while wielding his imaginary sword and roaring like a dinosaur.  All valuable skills that he may have never learned from his sisters or I!  Thank goodness for little boys! 

 

 

 

State Fair

On the ferris wheel

View from the ferris wheel

First day of school

First off, you'll notice only 2 of my 3 children are represented in this post.  Meagan did also have a first day of school but refused to be photographed.  Apparently 6th grade is too old for many things, first day of school pictures being one of them.  The kids have done a great job transitioning to a new school.  NiNi is in 1st grade and Ethan attends the developmental preschool at NiNi's elementary.  They pick him up on the school bus and everything!  I think he was fed up with always talking about his sisters going to school because now he says, "MY class"  "MY school" 

 

 

 

 

Fired up about her completely pink and purple outfit

Cool 5-point harnesses on the bus

walking down the steps all by himself!

Air Balloon

 

There is a tethered hot air balloon ride near our house and as long as NiNi can remember, she has wanted to ride it.  Calls it the "air balloon" every time she sees it up and running.  Goes up about 350 feet, hovers a few minutes, and then comes back down.  Not terribly thrilling, but for her, the mere thought of riding it was tantalizing.  In fact, each summer she would ask more than a dozen times, "When are we gonna ride the air balloon?"  Then we moved!  But we recently made a point to go over there... 

 

 

Stopped by the barn to terrorize Ethan with the farm animals

Ethan pretending to bite his nails in anticipation of going up

Meg and Sydney

This is the  moment when she turned to me and said, "Mommy, my dream come true!"  Felt a pang of parental guilt for not taking her sooner

Family Reunion

After moving the previous day, we made a bleary-eyed trip up north for a sort of impromptu family reunion for my dad's side of the family.  So rare, there was no way I was going to miss it.  Had not seen certain family members in 20 years!

 

Jeanne, David, Fran, Larry, Pat



The cousins' kids...are they second cousins?  Pretty sure "cousins' kids" is not the proper terminology here



The cousins
 

 

 Stopped by to see dad.  Was pleasantly surprised that the lilies I planted a couple of years ago have been coming up!

 

 Wanted to get a picture of Ethan with dad's gravestone, since they share the same middle name... but had to wake Ethan from napping in the car and he was not happy about as you can see

Home sweet home

 

 

 

Ever so slowly catching up on 3 months worth of blogging!  We are finally settled in the new place, thanks to a veritable army of friends who helped us pack, load, unload, clean, unpack, you name it.  Wish I would have taken more pictures but there were so many people it was like locust of Biblical proportions descending on our stuff and carrying it away.  We are pretty lean and mean when it comes to stuff, and had even gotten rid of more stuff prior to putting the house on the market, so we were baffled that we could not fit it all into a 26 foot U-Haul. Thankful for some kind neighbors who loaded the excess into 2 pick up trucks. 

 

 

 

We love the new house and are grateful for all the extra space, but let's just say the honeymoon is over.  The other morning, I had overslept my alarm and the girls woke me up by banging on the door. According to Meagan, there was "water pouring from the ceiling."  I ran downstairs and we did indeed have a huge leak....not the drip...drip...drip kind but, well, water pouring from the ceiling.  It took me a minute to realize that A.) it was not raining, and B.) even if it were raining, we were on lower level of the house.  As it turns out the air conditioner drain was clogged, and continuously overflowing into the ceiling.  Home buyer's warranty covered the cost of the plumber coming out to unclog the drain ($60) but not the drying and repair of the drywall and carpet ($500) since that is considered "secondary" damage. (tricky little insurance company).  The pictures below were taken just before the entire ceiling caved in leaving a 3x4 foot hole and a pile of soggy drywall mess on the floor.  Too discouraged to take more pictures after that.

The rest just comes with the territory I guess...broken toilet, mysterious swarm of bees in the backyard, leaky sink, door that won't latch, etc.  Our good friend and handyman loves us very much since our pathetic lack of any "DIY skills" keeps him in business!