We have moved

We have LOTS of boxes. Big boxes, small boxes, heavy boxes, light boxes all full of stuff. Wow, we have got a lot of stuff. Useful stuff and not so useful stuff.
Yesterday was moving day and I will be spending the nest few weeks unboxing all that stuff. It is an exciting time. We are amazed at how big and nice our new home is. The kids are enjoying their new rooms and slept very well in them the first night. The unfortunate thing is that Zachery was sick during all this moving. He has got an awful cold. His nose is running, eyes are goopy, he's got a little cough and a low fever. Poor little guy. I sure hope he can kick it soon and get back to feeling better.

Moments like these .... ...

It was really quiet. You know that eerie quiet when you know your kids are up to something. I went to investigate and was pleased to find them sitting together quietly creating their own Mr. Potato Heads. I had to smile and grab my camera. What a rare occasion. I love moments like these when all three kids enjoy play time together.

BTW: I edited the previous post with pictures of the new house.

It's Official

We are home owners again!

View of the front door.

Front yard, a little over grown.

Back yard view.

The back corner of the yard has a fenced in area with a pond and a spot to hang a hammock.

Homesick

I think I am finally getting homesick for Idaho or extended family or something. The move across the country is finally hitting me. Slowly hitting me. I haven't sat down and cried about it, but I can feel the tears beginning to form if I start thinking about it.
I haven't been sad at all since we moved here. I have loved Virginia and we know we are supposed to be here, for whatever reason. But it dawned on me yesterday when I typed our new address to a friend, I suddenly realized I may never step into her home again and she in mine. I suddenly realized how extremely far away we were from old friends and family. (Ok, the tears are coming now, maybe I should stop typing).
And again today the realization came when we were having dinner. We had pot roast and I suddenly had the desire to have a Sunday dinner with my Aunt and her family and it hit me again that that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
Maybe it is the season that is bringing the understanding of our eastern location to heart. The stores are quickly filling with holiday cheer. I always get homesick for family in California this time of year anyway. I usually start plotting our next trip to CA but now I don't know when that could be. Now I just have to hope family will come out here and visit, since the cost is far too great, with 3 kids, to make it out there.
Maybe it is the rain that has brought this depression on. I realized as I rushed into Walmart seeking shelter from the rain and the wind that I will miss the snow. The cold, I won't miss at all. But the snow I will miss. I would much rather have snow then rain.
Whatever brought on the sadness, I hope it will dissolve soon. We close on the house this week. Maybe with packing, unpacking, and settling in, the homesickness for family and old friends will be minimized again. And just hopefully I can make it through the holiday season without it resurfacing. Just Maybe.
We miss you.

Scrapbooking Page: Paris, France

I have been a Layout Artist for Scrap Girls since May of this year. It has been fun. I love digital scrapbooking, I love Scrap Girl's products, and I love getting free stuff. As a Layout Artist I am required to submit 3 layout pages a month to be showcased in the Scrap Girls newsletter along with a mini how-to tutorial. My layouts are usually seen in the Monday newsletter. This page spread was in today's letter. The assignment was to use 5 or more pictures.

Full Spread:

Left Side:

Right Side:

I have so many pictures from our trip to France and Belgium last year. I still haven't sat down to scrap them all. I was excited about this assignment because not only are we given a certain subject to scrap but we are also given a certain product designer to focus on as well. For this assignment I was to use Caroline Kaiser's digital products. Caroline is from Luxembourg which is just below Belgium and she had just finished a collection called A Tour Across Europe. This inspired me to pull out our pictures from Europe and get to work. I really love how this page turned out and was really able to highlight many of the things we saw and did while in Paris.
Full list of Supplies: Here
Journaling:
“Sweet Dreams, in Paris” Not sure how that phrase started, but we used to say it to each other each night when we were dating in High School. I guess we have always dreamed of spending some time together in Paris. We even bought an Eiffel Tower lamp when we were first married. It sits on our night stand, sort of whispering dreams from Paris into our ears. I guess dreams do come true when you want it badly enough. But I never thought it would happen so soon in our lives. We made our trip to Paris the Summer of 2008. Jared was to go on business travel in Southern France. After which he was to travel to Belgium for another week or two. I was not about to let him spend three weeks in Europe with out me, especially since the trip would happen over our 6th wedding Anniversary. So we made arrangements to meet up in Paris after his time was done in Southern France. Grandma Sammie came to watch to kids for a week and I flew out to Paris. We spent three days in Paris and then took a train together over to Belgium.
Paris was indeed beautiful. However, once was enough for me. It had some amazing sites to see and terrific food. But it was just a big city with smelly ally ways. We did enjoy dinner on the Eiffel Tower and loved our time walking around the old cathedrals and cobblestone streets. We went inside the Notre Dame, saw the little Statue of Liberty, and took a bus tour around the city, and a river cruise as well. Our favorite stop was the Louvre. We spent three hours inside and barely scratched the surface. I could easily go back and enjoy more inside that magnificent building. The architect was of course our favorite. We can now say we have been to Paris. If we ever get a chance to go back, I would love to explore more of the French country side. I wouldn’t mind going back to Paris again, but I would much rather explore other areas. Au revoi, Paris.

Cold, Viral Infection, or H1N1??

We've had and still have something. What it is for sure, I don't know. It started last week with a cold. RJ had had a bad cough two weeks ago in which Jared soon caught. Not too long after that Savannah and I were both coughing like crazy. We pushed onward with our Halloween fun, ignoring the fact that this cold was seeming to get worse. Halloween night I came down with the chills. It took me several hours and Ibuprofen to get warm again. And then Sunday I was having high fevers, 102.5. Savannah and Jared were experiencing fevers as well but they never went over 101. Our cough had turned into a dry cough instead of a flemmy cough. So we went to the clinic. Or fevers were down by then with the help of drugs. The doc checked us for the flu and the results came back negative. He said that 45% of flu cases have come back negative, so he put Jared and I on Tamiflu anyway and thought that Savannah was on the mends of whatever was bugging her.
The next three days we were still drained. I was very nauseated and couldn't get much done in those days. Luckily, Jared had enough energy to do somethings to keep the apartment somewhat in order and the kids happy. The fevers were down and the chills were gone. Savannah's fever was in and out and her cough seemed to be getting worse. I almost took her in again on Tuesday but, she seemed to perk up again. Wednesday night we were all doing a little bit better. Thursday, Jared went back to work, I made it through the day with little trouble. So far, today has been much better. The cough is still around but everything else seems to have gone.

RJ never got it, but he had received the H1N1 vaccine in school. So maybe we did have a mild case of the swine flu? And Zachery thankful hasn't gotten sick at all, not even cold systems. Not sure how he was able to stay so healthy with all of us coughing everywhere and having to be in such close contact with me all the time. But I am not complaining at all. I just hope he continues to stay healthy. And if that was indeed the swine flu which we had, I can handle that. I am glad, for the most part, it is over and done with.

Halloween Fun

Monday night we had fun carving our pumpkins.

Both RJ and Savannah designed their own jack-o-lantern faces

After Savannah drew all over her pumpkin, she was real upset when I started cutting it out. She was afraid to hurt her pumpkin or mess up it's face. But after some reassurance she was OK with it and then thrilled with the results.

We made a special Pumpkin for both RJ and Savannah's first Halloween, I had to continue the tradition with Zachery.

On Halloween night we had our traditional dinner in a pumpkin, yum!!

All month RJ said he was going to be Indiana Jones but the the week before Halloween he became very indecisive. He suddenly thought he would rather be Darth Vader. But the costume in Target was $40 and very cheap, his mom wouldn't give in. And after some thought he knew he wouldn't be able to wear it to school anyway. Then he decided on a Ninja but couldn't decided on what color. After debating the different color options he decided to be a Ninja Turtle but soon changed his mind once more to a Karate Kid. We thought it was over and done with but then he had once last final thought and decided that Indiana Jones was the way to go. Before he changed his mind again, I went to the Goodwill to get a few things to finalize his Indiana Jones costume.

Savannah had problems choosing a costume as well. Everyday it was something new. A bunny, a princess, a witch, an angel, a pirate, a ballerina. Once we were at Target to look at costume she found a purple fairy she just loved. It was $10, I could handle that. She was then very happy and didn't change her mind. We went to the trunk-or-treat and carnival at the Church Wednesday night and she was the prettiest purple Fairy ever to be seen.

Friday Morning the library was having a trick-or treat and parade. I got out the fairy costume and Savannah said "No, I was already a fairy. I want to be a princess." Luckily we all ready have plenty of princess dress up items. And she went to the library as a pretty pink princess.

It was cute, the little boy in the parade in front of her was a frog and people thought they were together. The princess and the frog prince.

Final on Halloween I asked her if she was going to be a Fairy or a Princess. "A princess" she said. So I got her pink princess outfit out again and she said "No mommy, I already did that one. I want to be princess Belle." Luckily we had that pretty yellow dress as well. And I keep asking, why I even bothered buying her the fairy outfit?? Oh, well. One more item to add to the dress up box.

The only group pictures we could get.

And here is Zachery in his CUTE puppy dog costume.

Jared came home with costumes for us as well.

We enjoyed our time trick-or-treating and then finished off the evening at a fun Halloween Fair that one of the churches put on.