Monday, March 31, 2008
Quotes from the weekend
B: "I hate painting."
B: "I really hate painting."
M: "I live there? It's so pretty!"
B: No more toys. Ever.
B: "I really hate painting."
M: "I live there? It's so pretty!"
B: No more toys. Ever.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Zoo, New Calling, Visits, Easter, Friends
We checked out the A-town Zoo last weekend (as a family) and then again last Thursday (with friends) and it is really fun. The zoo can be seen in its entirety in about one hour, which is as long as we can stand to be there anyway with three little ones. :) We got a membership that is reciprocal with the Dallas Zoo, so whenever we're in town we can go to our wonderful zoo that we've been to SO many times and still enjoy every time! This zoo has a bridge to walk over the giraffe's area, so you can feed them and one of them stuck their tongue out and almost licked Little N! They also have a pier to walk out over the lake to feed the ducks (and the big mouth fish!) and the girls loved that.
I started my primary chorister duties on Sunday and it was actually a lot of fun. Not as nerve-racking as I thought it might be and the kids really liked the game we played to pick songs to sing. The bishop asked if I would like to sing in Sacrament in a few weeks. I told him I love to sing with other people, so hopefully there will be no solos in the near future. The choir isn't up and running currently but maybe we can do some quartets or something.
We STILL don't have much painting done. B did the kitchen and together we did one wall of our bedroom before bed the other night. I LOVE the color but finding the time to do it when the kids are asleep and we're not exhausted is going to be the hard part!
B asked for one small thing to make this home just right for him, so we got a basketball hoop! The girls love playing with Daddy out on the driveway and he's enjoying getting exercise. We had a most pleasant surprise last Saturday when our good friends, the Rappleyes, called and wanted to come visit since they were out our way. Crysta and I had a great time chatting, the girls all played together, Spencer was sweet and ended up going to sleep, and Chris & B got the hoop up and were able to play some basketball! Thanks for visiting guys!
We dyed some Easter eggs this year (usually just do plastic eggs) and I'm not so good at hard boiling eggs without cracking them (any tips, all you experts?) but we made a few and it was fun having the short egg hunt on Sunday morning. Then they got baskets that were already full of little toys and plastic eggs with candy in them. We watched a great video called "The Lamb of God" to show the kids what Easter was all about. J thought it was amazing. I love that she's old enough now to kind of get the spiritual messages behind the stories we share with her. She is an extremely sensitive child and, in this case, it's a good thing. :)
Our RS had an enrichment last night to celebrate the birthday of the RS and we had birthday cake and played Bunco. So fun! It's fun to get to know everyone through a game like that. We're really enjoying being here. I joined a Stay at Home Mothers group on meetup dot com and we went to storytime at the library with them and are going to a petting farm next week. Fun stuff. I sure love being a stay at home mom despite what I tell Ben every evening. Hee hee!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Play Group, Family Visits, Projects from You Know Where, Credit Cards, and Callings
I took the girls to the ward Play Group on Thursday and trudged through the snow to get there. It was so beautiful but it left too quickly. Evidently we missed a HUGE snowstorm in our old neighborhood (it never did that when we lived there!!!!). We got about 4 inches here and it came down really fast but was mostly melted by the time Ben headed home from work. Amazing how it can be snowing and then heat up so fast. I met a lot of nice women from church. So weird to be the new one that doesn't know what's going on. But I'm going to book club in a couple of weeks and Enrichment is at the end of the month and I'll go to play group on Thursdays, so hopefully I won't be "the new one" for long.
B's parents came to visit for the weekend and we had a lot of fun with them. We put up all the new blinds in the house and took a lot of old fixtures and things to Good Will and decided to install the new kitchen faucet that my mom and brother bought us for a housewarming gift. The old one leaked and obviously needed repair, so Ben thought he could tackle the project with his dad assisting him. Sadly, the faucet was in SUCH bad shape that they could NOT take it off (B even sheered a bolt he was trying so hard to get the nut off!) and after 7 hours, the faucet was installed. In a new sink. Yes, he just took the whole dumb sink out of the countertop!!! It wasn't in the best shape anyway, so we just got a nice, shiny one from Lowes and put the faucet in that one! I am amazed at what B can do. He is SO strong! His dad said it should have just been a 30 minute project but things like that always happen with kitchen projects! :)
On Friday night we went to Pizza Hut and I let my screaming banshee (a.k.a. Little N) play with my wallet. No biggie. She plays with the cards and everything is always back where it should be before I leave the room. Well, we got home and I realized my Discover card was gone. I didn't think it had been in the wallet when we went to the restaurant because I was paying some bills beforehand and thought I left it on the desk. Couldn't find it. Pizza Hut couldn't find it. The next morning I reported it lost (I couldn't believe this had happened!!!) and later that night I put the older girls to bed and Little N was messing around in the living room. She opened our video drawer in the entertainment center (still empty) and pulled something out, walked over to me, and handed me my Discover card! AAAH! I called Discover right away and asked them to please not cancel my card and make me update all my automatic payment info with every company I buy from and they said, "Sorry, it's been cancelled. Just throw it away and your new one will be there within the week." Ugh! It's our only credit card, so this is a major pain but at least I know that I didn't lose it by letting my baby play with my wallet at Pizza Hut! I lost it because I left it on the desk that was within her reach! Dumb dumb dumb! I've learned my lesson. :)
B and I showed up at church on Sunday (our 2nd week!) and both were approached about callings. I am excited but very nervous to be the new Primary Chorister. I love music and I love kids but I know how much preparation goes into teaching these kids the songs, so I know I'm in for a lot of work! I think I'll beg my buddy Melissa for tips, since she's a pro! B is the 2nd counselor in... duh duh duh DUH... Young Mens. Big surprise! Oh well. He is really good in there and I guess he'll just be a forever youth leader!
The house is getting better every day and most rooms are at least 90% unpacked except for the office because we're still deciding where to put things and hoping to buy a new desk. So we're doing good. Next project is PAINTING! Anyone wanna come over for a painting party??? :)
B's parents came to visit for the weekend and we had a lot of fun with them. We put up all the new blinds in the house and took a lot of old fixtures and things to Good Will and decided to install the new kitchen faucet that my mom and brother bought us for a housewarming gift. The old one leaked and obviously needed repair, so Ben thought he could tackle the project with his dad assisting him. Sadly, the faucet was in SUCH bad shape that they could NOT take it off (B even sheered a bolt he was trying so hard to get the nut off!) and after 7 hours, the faucet was installed. In a new sink. Yes, he just took the whole dumb sink out of the countertop!!! It wasn't in the best shape anyway, so we just got a nice, shiny one from Lowes and put the faucet in that one! I am amazed at what B can do. He is SO strong! His dad said it should have just been a 30 minute project but things like that always happen with kitchen projects! :)
On Friday night we went to Pizza Hut and I let my screaming banshee (a.k.a. Little N) play with my wallet. No biggie. She plays with the cards and everything is always back where it should be before I leave the room. Well, we got home and I realized my Discover card was gone. I didn't think it had been in the wallet when we went to the restaurant because I was paying some bills beforehand and thought I left it on the desk. Couldn't find it. Pizza Hut couldn't find it. The next morning I reported it lost (I couldn't believe this had happened!!!) and later that night I put the older girls to bed and Little N was messing around in the living room. She opened our video drawer in the entertainment center (still empty) and pulled something out, walked over to me, and handed me my Discover card! AAAH! I called Discover right away and asked them to please not cancel my card and make me update all my automatic payment info with every company I buy from and they said, "Sorry, it's been cancelled. Just throw it away and your new one will be there within the week." Ugh! It's our only credit card, so this is a major pain but at least I know that I didn't lose it by letting my baby play with my wallet at Pizza Hut! I lost it because I left it on the desk that was within her reach! Dumb dumb dumb! I've learned my lesson. :)
B and I showed up at church on Sunday (our 2nd week!) and both were approached about callings. I am excited but very nervous to be the new Primary Chorister. I love music and I love kids but I know how much preparation goes into teaching these kids the songs, so I know I'm in for a lot of work! I think I'll beg my buddy Melissa for tips, since she's a pro! B is the 2nd counselor in... duh duh duh DUH... Young Mens. Big surprise! Oh well. He is really good in there and I guess he'll just be a forever youth leader!
The house is getting better every day and most rooms are at least 90% unpacked except for the office because we're still deciding where to put things and hoping to buy a new desk. So we're doing good. Next project is PAINTING! Anyone wanna come over for a painting party??? :)
Monday, March 3, 2008
We're HEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!
Hey all-
We are all set up in A-town. It has been a positive experience overall. I did forget one little thing... having the water turned on! So we had to wait from 11 to 4 before the water guy got here, so I could clean! But the movers were really good and everyone I've met in A-town bends over backwards to help you, so things are good! My across the street neighbor gave me a bucket of hot water to start cleaning with and said he'd drag his hose across the street if I needed more. :) A little girl J's age and her mom stopped by to say they were thrilled to have girls on the block! Church was pretty fun. The ward is actually smaller than our last one (B had said he thought it was about the same but maybe there were a lot of visitors that first week that he went?) and I think it'll be easier to get to know people this way. A lot of people introduced themselves before the first meeting and then they announced that they received records for new members (us! -- hooray for a ward clerk who works fast! -- thanks Taylor!)and afterwards a lot of people came up to meet us. They were thrilled that we're boosting the Primary with three more kids and there about 15 of us in Relief Society, so they're probably glad I'm filling a seat in there too!
The house has been great so far and it's getting better. After about $1500 spent at Lowe's we are really loving it! :) My awesome mom and brother came down to help out and did SO much. My poor mom was even sick and came later than she planned but still came and watched my kiddos and cleaned and unpacked a ton. My brother who is just a master at anything electricity-related or anything really (he impresses me, ok?) did a ton of work updating nasty ceiling fans, lights, outlet covers and switches, switched out the dryer receptacle to fit our dryer cord, fixed the back porch post, put up new smoke alarms, and a bunch of other stuff. B helped him do a lot of these things plus he put up towel racks (they had none in the house!), toilet paper holders, new knobs and pulls on every drawer and cabinet in the house, etc. This place is looking nice!!! Next project is new doorknobs which should arrive today. Yay Ebay! None of them match in the whole house and there's 16 doors in this house! The carpet is in poor condition (feels like no pad underneath in most rooms!) and the kitchen cabinets should be axed down but... :) we'll live with those for now. The house is very livable and even nice and HUGE! The kids get kind of lost and say, "Mommy, where are you?" and because we don't have enough furniture to fill all the rooms, there's an echo and it's hard to figure out where I am even when I say, "I'm in here!" :)
I am SO grateful for my friends. Marilyn called the day we closed on the old house to see if she could do anything to help. I was running late, so I swallowed my pride and asked if she could start vacuuming. By the time I got to the house from my in-laws (where I was staying), she had finished vacuuming the whole house, plus cleaned up the laundry room, and I am SO grateful for her!!! I never would have had time to finish it all and get to closing on time.
Meredith called me once I was in the new house to see how things were going. How nice to hear from a friend when I'm in the midst of being the new person and knowing noone here! Thanks Mer!
So things are good here and I think we've made a great decision to become A-towners. Keep in touch everyone!
We are all set up in A-town. It has been a positive experience overall. I did forget one little thing... having the water turned on! So we had to wait from 11 to 4 before the water guy got here, so I could clean! But the movers were really good and everyone I've met in A-town bends over backwards to help you, so things are good! My across the street neighbor gave me a bucket of hot water to start cleaning with and said he'd drag his hose across the street if I needed more. :) A little girl J's age and her mom stopped by to say they were thrilled to have girls on the block! Church was pretty fun. The ward is actually smaller than our last one (B had said he thought it was about the same but maybe there were a lot of visitors that first week that he went?) and I think it'll be easier to get to know people this way. A lot of people introduced themselves before the first meeting and then they announced that they received records for new members (us! -- hooray for a ward clerk who works fast! -- thanks Taylor!)and afterwards a lot of people came up to meet us. They were thrilled that we're boosting the Primary with three more kids and there about 15 of us in Relief Society, so they're probably glad I'm filling a seat in there too!
The house has been great so far and it's getting better. After about $1500 spent at Lowe's we are really loving it! :) My awesome mom and brother came down to help out and did SO much. My poor mom was even sick and came later than she planned but still came and watched my kiddos and cleaned and unpacked a ton. My brother who is just a master at anything electricity-related or anything really (he impresses me, ok?) did a ton of work updating nasty ceiling fans, lights, outlet covers and switches, switched out the dryer receptacle to fit our dryer cord, fixed the back porch post, put up new smoke alarms, and a bunch of other stuff. B helped him do a lot of these things plus he put up towel racks (they had none in the house!), toilet paper holders, new knobs and pulls on every drawer and cabinet in the house, etc. This place is looking nice!!! Next project is new doorknobs which should arrive today. Yay Ebay! None of them match in the whole house and there's 16 doors in this house! The carpet is in poor condition (feels like no pad underneath in most rooms!) and the kitchen cabinets should be axed down but... :) we'll live with those for now. The house is very livable and even nice and HUGE! The kids get kind of lost and say, "Mommy, where are you?" and because we don't have enough furniture to fill all the rooms, there's an echo and it's hard to figure out where I am even when I say, "I'm in here!" :)
I am SO grateful for my friends. Marilyn called the day we closed on the old house to see if she could do anything to help. I was running late, so I swallowed my pride and asked if she could start vacuuming. By the time I got to the house from my in-laws (where I was staying), she had finished vacuuming the whole house, plus cleaned up the laundry room, and I am SO grateful for her!!! I never would have had time to finish it all and get to closing on time.
Meredith called me once I was in the new house to see how things were going. How nice to hear from a friend when I'm in the midst of being the new person and knowing noone here! Thanks Mer!
So things are good here and I think we've made a great decision to become A-towners. Keep in touch everyone!
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