Big Girl Nap

Evelyn decided she didn't want to sleep in her crib (I've been wanting to convert it to the toddler bed anyway) she wanted to sleep on her mattress like a big girl. She's absolutely precious but I'm not sure I'm actually ready for her to grow up like this yet....

Shoe Hand

I am in my own personal happy place. Shopping at Target on Madison and they have tons of thins on clearance. I got rugs, place mats, furniture, all the school supplies, odds and ends for the house, and several other things from our list. Evelyn had to come with me and considering it was a 2 hour trip she did amazing! She did teach me that as well as the socks that have always belonged on her hands, shoes belong on her hands as well.

Parkway Walk

Kim got the boys early today so I took the babies for a walk to the park. They had fun climbing and sliding, but the playground was covered in sand and Evelyn did not like sand in her shoes. Before we headed home we stopped to play in the grass under the shade of a tree for some water and an opportunity for me to steal a few photos of the babies together. A couple of young girls (5&6) spotted us and came over to show the babies how to roll down a hill and whisper secrets in my ear. Very nice girls, but I was unable to get the pictures I hoped for before we ran out of time and had to go home.

Fair Food

Quite a day and I had much to say so I posted it on the family blog.

Perfectly planned day to the State fair with my free tickets.

The kids and I saw so many things and had a really great time.

I would of put us all in our tie dye shirts because it makes spotting each other very easy in large crowds but today was the day they went back to Kims house so I put them in her clothes instead.

When Cliff and I got home we took a shower with Evelyn and she ended up pooping in the shower and then singing about it, "I pooped in the shower!" over and over. I saw the humor and I was very grateful it was in our new large shower and not our old teeny tiny shower or in a bath. Evelyn however, was not happy to learn that pooping in the shower did not earn her a num nums.

All the pictures

Sneaking Out to the Fair

I got the opportunity to sneak out to the state fair with the kids today with my free tickets from the local country station. Normally I buy a poppy pack (4 tickets, 4 monorail tickets, and a parking pass for $40) and I usually go several times but since we're in the middle of moving it didn't seem very bright to spend money on tickets that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to use. I was happy however, that Cliff and I found a way to make my free tickets work for me and that I was able to enjoy the fair as much as I normally do. 

Our plan, was for me to take all the kids in the morning (okay, afternoon, it doesn't open until 12 anyway), have Kim pick up the boys from the fair (probably around 4:30), then for Cliff to pick up Evelyn after work (around 5:30), and for me to be able to see whatever else I may not have been able to with the kids in tow. 

Our plan, was pretty much perfect. All the kids slept in, Isaac until just before 10am, so we had a light breakfast (or in Isaac's case-not eat at all), I packed lunch, and we headed to the fair. Parking was crazy, but I got really lucky and found a nice spot, not too far away pretty easily. And, I didn't have to try to parallel park, I was able to just pull in!

It was the perfect day to be at the fair. Not too busy, not too hot, and a nice breeze rolling through. This years attraction was 'big bugs'. Ick! The boys like it. I thought it was gross and Evelyn was a little scared. Really lifelike, very large, very ugly bugs. And also, some real creepy crawlies like scorpions and tarantulas. 

The kids and I went to camp Smokey first and each of the kids earned a Smokey the Bear Bandanna after we finished all the school houses. It was nice getting to do it this year when it wasn't so super crowded like last year. 

We headed over to the baby animals but the attraction was closed for the day. Boo. They had a farm life kids activity area set up where you could 'clean' a pen of animals, saddle a horse, play music, dress up like a cowboy, ride in tractor races, and milk a cow. All toys of course, but it kept all the kids entertained for a decent amount of time. We also went through the farm and looked at the big cows and silly goats, but it just wasn't as interesting or fun as the babies so we moved onto the garden to get all of our stamps there. They made it much smaller this year, but they put in some new plants like rice. It's always fun to show kids what their food looks like as a plant when they wouldn't have recognized it at all.  

My sunflowers weren't nearly as impressive this year, but I still love them so I took a quick photo as the kids ran though.

Oh my goodness, Evelyn wanted to touch every waterfall she saw, and of course, non of them are touchable. That girl is obsessed. Even the little water flow at the top of the touchable fish area she was obsessed over. When she saw her brothers touch the sturgeon she wanted to touch one too... that is, until it swam right at her. Then she was all done with the fish tanks. 

In the counties exhibits they had a mini f-16 that the kids were able to sit in. Evelyn just had to sit with Alex. 

When the boys went home Evelyn and I headed to one of my favorite areas to look in the buildings. The attraction this year was Golden Fairs and Rock-U. I was not a fan. As for the photography it fell flat this year, very little actually intrigued me. The cheese sample was good like always, but the bee people were very busy so I just skipped it. I took Evelyn into Fur and Feathers so she could see the bunnies and we found out we got to pet chinchillas! She did great and they were so soft, I couldn't believe it!

Since I had one ticket left I conned Cliff to join me at the fair so he could get fresh funnel cake. He chose instead an ice cream cone and then we got two ears of BBQ corn and a large lemonade. We did pass the deep fried butter and I think just seeing that sign grossed me out enough that I wanted nothing to do with anything else deep fried. Plus, Alex and I had earlier split a nutella banana crepe and I was pretty sweet-ed out. 

I wanted to get proof that Cliff went to the fair, even if only for an hour, but there just wasn't anywhere worth while to take a picture (and not be in the sun) so no hard proof. When we walked back to the car though Evelyn, who hadn't napped all day, was being so cute. Leaning all proper like in the front of her stroller and she was so happy when Daddy picked her a flower. 

I got my moneys worth out of my coupon book, but I don't think I'll get it next year. Finding the exact booth that takes that exact coupon was a really big pain in the butt. For example, even though there were about 5 fresh squeezed lemonade stands only one of them took a coupon, and there's dozens of BBQ corn stands but again, only 1 took a coupon. The stands had names and numbers that were supposed to help you, but it was so obscure it didn't help me at all. Most the coupons I was able to use were just pure luck that I found the right place. 

All in all, I normally spend 40 (or more) dollars just to get into the fair every year when I buy my Poppy Pack. Then I always get a fried food and sweet treat (another $6-$8 each). This year my tickets were free and I chose to walk in place of paying for parking. I got more food than I normally do but I still kept it under $40. It's like I went to the fair and had all that fun, entirely for free.

Where'd My Kitchen Go?

Last night Evelyn decided she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed even though we haven't put it together yet, so she went to sleep all alone in her room on just her mattress. I slept like crap because I kept worrying about her, but she did great. She did fall off the mattress (not meant to be alone like that) and that upset her a little, but she got back in and went back to sleep. Until early this morning, probably when the sun was shining in her room where we forgot to put the curtain back up, when she went to our bedroom door and layed down on the floor. She looked so pathetic and sad when I got her. She came back and snuggled in bed this morning and then around 9am literally pushed Cliff out of bed.

It was another long day packing the old house up and we're still not done. Bert again came and helped us out (do you see a pattern here?) but when we realized he was missing lots of time with his daughter we sent him home and finally called my brother to come assist us unload the truck. It was great having him and his family over. They brought us dinner (and Cliff discovered Little Caesars Pizza is actually really good with fresh basil on it) and all the kids got a chance to play together for a few hours. Something I know my kids really needed and we just haven't been able to do.

While at the old house Evelyn discovered her birthday toys that we never gave her so he opened her presents and went to sleep tonight on the couch cuddling her new night light friend.

The old house is so close to being done and yet somehow I've lost my kitchen again under a new mound of boxes. Where did we keep all this stuff?! It makes me think of a video I saw many years ago by George Carlin...


My own little pile of stuff with a cover on it.

Reconnected to the World

Comcast came yesterday (and since Cliff didn't move the TV in time Debby and I had the joy of moving that 200 pound beast from the old house to the new house. I was really grateful the guy didn't need to have it upstairs to finish the installation) and hooked up the internet to Cliff's computer. I called them today to find out when the router they were supposed to send me would arrive and they told me it wasn't ordered. Quality work people.

I'm not a patient person, and since I had to go to frys to return a video card anyway I picked up a router, and a wireless receiver for my computer in case we decided to move it to somewhere else in the house. It was very challenging, but I have internet on my computer! It only took 6 phone calls, an hour and a half talking to India, and half a bottle of rum turned daiquiris to keep me sane, but I have internet and a working wireless router. Oh the joys of outsourcing.

Cliff packed up the old house and did another huge load to the new house. He is a good man.

My great news for the day: Comcast rules! We were always having issues with u-verse and not getting the download speeds they promised us (we were paying for 18Mbps, most days barely pulling 8Mbps) but with comcast our service is GREAT!

I know you're jealous 

I have to be honest, I didn't even realize these speeds were possible without fancy equipment and lots of money.

I have a kitchen?!

Mom and Debby came over again today (can't begin to explain how much I needed them today!) to help me in the house. Debby got all the sprinklers fixed and on a working timer (quite a feat since the previous owners cut the wire!) and finished getting all the green waste in the can. She also fixed the broken pipe in the front of the house that has been leaking since we first started looking at the house 7 months ago. 

Mom, after scrubbing me a beautiful bathtub that I can finally bathe in, helped me put my kitchen together. She finished lining the cupboards I hadn't gotten to yet, cleaned the inside of the icky oven so that now I can actually prepare meals in my home, and empty the boxes putting the kitchen stuff away. We emptied about 10 boxes and had a beautiful, functioning, clean kitchen at the end of the night. 

She also assisted me with my french memory boards for the kids. Then I realized it's a bit more of a task than I first planned, but we got it off to a good start. 

My new kitchen light

When it got too hot outside, Debby came inside and installed my pretty lamp that Mom helped me pick out at Home Dept. When we moved into the house the 3 things I hated the most (besides the pure dirtiness) was the black stained carpet, the fact that the dining room area is carpeted, and the really ugly low hanging lamp they had in the kitchen. 2 out of 3, not bad!

I'm speechless with how much work and love has gone into our home. I'm finally feeling like there is a purpose and an ending in sight (although I'm aware it's far away). 

I have a real kitchen and a beautiful backyard that essentially takes care of itself! How could I be any more blessed?!

Hamburgler

Last night for dinner we had more fast food. Yuck. As a kid I would only order cheese burgers because my family thought it was funny when I'd say hamburger and it would come out hamburgler. I hated it then, but I get it now. 

Evelyn called it a Hambugubugubuger. It was so precious. I managed to get a recording of it before she got it right, but every time it got a little shorter. One less bugubuh in the word. 

Kitchen Janitorial Yard

Again, God bless a good family. Mamaw and Debby stopped by to help clean and put my house together today.  I needed it! Mom brought over her magic tools and cleaned bathrooms that I was still afraid of in a matter of minutes. And it looked 10Xs better than my 3 hour job! Magic tools however, have an ending and my bathrooms ate them. Debby went to work on the backyard and Mom and I ran to the janitorial supply store for more magic items. It's crazy how expensive just a few items can be, but they were worth it! Not only do I know that my rooms are clean, but they are finally starting to look clean as well!

I gave Debby carte blanche in my backyard and I'm so thrilled with what she's done. It actually looks like a yard now instead of an overgrown dying jungle! She worked her butt off in the crazy heat and it shows. She literally removed a tree! But, she said she's not done so her and mom are coming back tomorrow.  Cliff and I were in such awe over the difference that he couldn't wait to show it off to Bert- who again, drove all the way out here to help us move. I love that man. Best brother I never had- even though he's Cliff's cousin by marriage now removed... he's a brother in my heart.

Mom also helped me figure out my yellow issue in my guest bathroom. She's confident we can fix it and I'm very grateful for the help. She's planning on bringing some samples tomorrow.

I really felt kind of useless today. I got stuff put away, but Mom made miracles happen scrubbing my bathrooms, and Debby transformed my yard. This is where I just have to step back, and say a very big Thank You. This is what family is for and I indeed have the best.

First Knight

We got all the essentials (fridge!) brought over and we were rewarded with getting to spend our first night here. The neighbors have all been wonderful and the boys had their first play date today with the kids on the corner. It was so strange for me when Isaac asked if he could go meet the neighbors and I had no qualms about it. Almost every house has come over to say hello and welcome us to the neighborhood, it's such a wonderful change from stuck up, poo throwing rocklin. I'm still unfamiliar with the area but I love my house!

Bert, again, came to the rescue. He and his daughter stayed up very late and helped us move our fridge, our freezer, our beds, and most of the major living stuff we hadn't yet moved. We had enjoyed our first night  here and although it's not done, it already feels like home.

We actually moved their bed frames in too, but I had my camera before that happened, not after

No Noah

I didn't have Noah today so I spent it moving with kids. Isaac was in a total mood and Evelyn had a nasty stomach flu making her very crabby so I accomplished very little. I hate to say it, but I feel like the day was totally wasted. We're still at our old house.

Paint, Wall Scrubbing, and a Pressure Washer

Thank God for good family. I, have the best.

Melissa came down this morning to help me paint for an hour (lucky me she was able to stay almost all day). Dad also came down with the pressure washer and got to work on my backyard. Cliff called Bert to come out and help but the truck battery went dead last night so we left it here, then this morning he forgot his car keys so he had to run home to get them. He chose instead to switch my car for the work truck, take that home to get truck keys and load it up with all the big stuff solo, then come to the new house to unload. Silly, but it worked out somehow.

Melissa showed me how to paint the kids hideous rooms with primer and then our paint colors. She helped me see my previous color choices weren't great, and did both ceilings for me. I love her!
*I should add that she stayed a bit longer than she planned knocking out all the paint in Evelyn's room for me... which in turn inspired me to stay up until *ahem* 4am finishing the trim and closets in the boys room so that their first day back would be exciting!*

New paint replaced hideous red ceiling and orange and red walls. Yes, I painted the closet too

Dad cleaned up the back yard and made the back of the house more approachable. It was covered in so much animal muck you didn't want to go near it, but now it's much better. He even pulled apart our BBQ and started cleaning it for us and let us borrow the pressure washer so we could finish what was left.

Bert and his 16yo daughter scrubbed my downstairs walls with TSP. Again, I have the best family. I was SO grateful for all the help and I feel SO accomplished right now.

This whole weekend neighbors have been stopping by and introducing themselves and welcoming us to the neighborhood. This is such a great change from the hellish neighbors we're leaving behind. Our direct neighbors even brought us a couple of cold drinks yesterday because he didn't think we had our 'box' yet and it was a really hot day. I'm so happy we got this house!

Perkos

In search of food Cliff, Bert, and myself wound up in a Perkos near the house. True to name, everyone seemed to be in incredible moods. We were very hungry and the food was satisfying enough, and then she offered us dessert. It wasn't on the menu, but it was pictured so I got it.
Sugar overload. But yummy.

New Kitty

The previous jerks who used to own our house left their cats behind, and from what our neighbors tell us, they were locked in the garage for a number of days in high heats. I'm very grateful we didn't buy a house with kitty corpses....

We found their kitty 'Bell' first. She's very sweet and tolerant so we'll probably be keeping her. We've renamed her "Berty". Very funny when people think our kids are talking about a birdie in the house, and not a cat.

The other cat "Sweetie" doensn't like Berty at all and she has the most annoying meow. She'll sit under our windows crying for someone, then when you come outside she runs away, only to come back and do it again. Annoying.

We were very fortunate this morning and were able to schedule someone to come clean the carpets and have someone change the many locks.

We started calling carpet cleaning places and the first guy we spoke to was amazing! He was super knowledgeable and was telling us how to help treat some of our problem areas before we ever even told him we wanted to hire him. To add to he awesomeness, he was the owner and took our call while out having coffee with his wife. It was the kind of business etiquette Cliff uses. We hired him for both houses without even calling anyone else. I'm so grateful too, he did an AMAZING job! The carpets were so disgusting I wanted nothing to do with them and although some areas are obviously still grey from the heavy traffic and the fact that the owners NEVER seemed to vacuum, they are sterile, odorless, and such a huge improvement!

One of the 'before' pictures

I was also able to get someone from Pop-a-Lock to come re-key the house. They did the duplex we were in (took 2 and a half hours for 3 locks, and 1 of them seriously broke a few months later) so I gave them a call. Turns out you get a referral discount and the guy that came this time did all 8 locks in about 40 minutes. He was really great too. I like it when people who come to work on/in/at your house have good personalities.

It was such a treat to see the Advanced Carpet Cleaning truck in my driveway, and the Pop-a-Lock in front of my house. Had I not been so crazy busy I might have taken a picture.

Bert, Cliff, and I chose an area to clean and spent the next 3 hours working on it. Bert made our wash room spotless (amazing people actually cleaned stuff in such filth), I scrubbed the downstairs bathroom and it still looked foul, and Cliff scrubbed the outside and behind the stove and it was still greasy. We worked really hard, it didn't seem fair to accomplish so little.

Daisy Plate

We conned Bert to help us move and clean with dinner at The Pearl House. Really scrumptious food and huge portions. I know it's wrong, but I think I'm in love with these plates. Blue daisies! What could be better?

Lemon Heaven

Ending a very exciting and busy week, I took Evelyn up to stay with Mamaw and Grandma Debby for the weekend and while up there we took all the kids to the Grass Valley Children's Festival.  We had a great time last year, and now that Evelyn is old enough to actually participate I was really excited about it. I think Alex is outgrowing tolerance for such a simple thing, but with Mamaw and Grandma Debby there we were able to divide the kids and let them each pick the activities they wanted to do.

Before heading home Grandma Debby noticed a favorite childhood treat that she hasn't seen as an adult. Peppermint lemons. I thought she was crazy, until she got one for all of us and I tried it for myself. Pure heaven. I went back and got 3 more so I could share with Cliff and Bert when they came over that night.

The not so glorious part of my day: I backed into a guy at a stop light heading to the new house. My first 100% at fault accident. No one got hurt, but he had a little meep meep car and I was driving the truck so I dented his front bumper with the tail gate and the hood with my own bumper. At least the guy was super nice about it.

The house is officially ours. Well, actually we got it a day earlier than we expected, but that's just as well because the amount of filth left behind is mind boggling. How do people live like this?!

We didn't get too much done today after Cliff got off of work, but Bert did come to help out. It gave us a chance to start some cleaning (hours and hours of it with many more days left to do!) and meet one of the abandoned kitties. She's very friendly, and our new neighbors (who are awesome!) told us they they've been feeding her for us and saved her (and the others) from a roasting death in our garage. Not sure if we'll keep her yet, but she seems to think that we've moved into her home.

More pictures from the fair here

Pie Face

Just about finished moving into the new house but we ran out of time (and energy) to cook dinner so we headed to Brookfields for happy hour and pie. Evelyn has learned she loves the pie as much as I do! Every time she saw Daddy put a bite on his spoon this is the face she'd make as she followed the spoon with her eyes hoping it would come to her mouth. If he took the bite, she'd get a real sad pouty look and say "Stop it Daddy!" very firmly. I think for once I actually enjoyed the show more than the pie.

Home Owners!

I think it's fair to say I waited all day to get the call that I could pick up the house keys and finally it came. Not until after dinner but it came none the less. We had a beautiful card from our Realtor Lisa, a welcoming packet including address stamps and postcards for sharing our new address, and of course, the most important part. One. Big. Ugly. Key. Just one, and no garage door opener, but I still got a key. Since it was a kings key, and I'm anti-kings, I went to the local (crappy) walmart and had a copy made.

Also, this morning I picked up a tip top shape school cubby (I'll post a picture later) for just $60. I haven't been able to find them for less than $300. It was officially the first thing I moved into our new house (along with the cool entry table I got for $20 off craigslist as well (picture of that later as well).

Yay! Wedgies!

What happens when you trim a video from a birthday party for personal entertainment. Also, what happens when you stay up until 3am.

You boys are lucky I didn't have my camera with me by the end of that party....