Our new house!

So I'm finally getting around to posting a picture of our new house. We love it. We are finally beginning to feel like it's our home. We feel very blessed and thankful to have a house. One of these days we may get around to having a house warming party...but stop on by if you're in the neighborhood. By the way our neighborhood is Deer Creek in Camas.

This is for the moms out there.

Happy Holidays. This will be my Christmas Card this year...you can probably figure out why. I'll plan on sending out a we've moved card when we finally get our new house. For now, sit back and enjoy the story.

Here's a little background for you before the story I believe it will help you feel sorry for me so I want you to know before the story begins. Yesterday Lauren had a doctor appointment for her ears at 4pm in Vancouver near our old house. Now I've been to this doctor several times, so I knew that when the appointment was at 4, that really meant more like 4:30pm if we were lucky. It's two parts; hearing test and then see the doctor to discuss results. I had worked all day. (yes it's Christmas break...teachers still work because we have too much to do!) The kids had been at daycare, and it was a decent day. Did I mention I live in Gresham with my in-laws? That will be important for the story.

When I picked Andrew up I could tell he was tired, it was 3:40pm and he had no nap. Lauren had just had a big poopie diaper according to our daycare provider and was ready to go. I'm thinking okay we're set. As I was putting Lauren in the car he was playing in the side gravel drive (he's never done that before). When it was time for him to get in the car he came running and I thought no big deal. We headed off. Things were going well, we were on time and all was good.

About 7 minutes before getting to the doctor Andrew informs me he has poop on his hand and his shoe...hmmm how is this possible? I was driving on the highway so as he's FREAKING out I say, we'll take care of it when we get to the doctor, just hang on. We sing a few songs and he manages to calm down. When we get to the doctor I pull a wipe out and sure enough there's poop on Andrew's hand and ALL over the bottom of his shoe. Awesome. I calmly clean it up and tell him not to touch anything until I say it's okay. We get Lauren out and head into the doctor.

After we check in we promptly go into the bathroom where I make Andrew scrub his hands for 5 minutes. At this point I'm thinking okay, this isn't the end of the world. I'm just sweating a little...I'm handling it. I pick up Lauren and carry her back to the waiting room and as I do I feel her do a big pooh in her diaper. Okay. I can handle it.
She's been having a little trouble lately so I give her about 10 more minutes to make sure she's done. Sure enough she has a few more moments to fill her diaper. I think okay, I'll wait to change it when we get back to our private room.

I grab the diaper bag and go through it to find a diaper and the wipes. And then I realize...NO DIAPERS. That's right, none. Fantastic. I'm now sweating copious amounts. I have no diapers, it's 4:15pm and we haven't even been seen by the hearing test doctor, and we live in GRESHAM. Did I mention that? That means that it's going to take me about 40 minutes to get home. Okay what am I going to do? I'm beginning to smell Lauren in the waiting room as I'm sure everyone else is.

Quickly I think I'll call Krathbu because her mom's in town and I know she has diapers. So I give her a call, her mom is out running errands. Of course she is. However...Krathbu told me she had been gone awhile so she expected her soon. She told me she would call as soon as she got home. Okay, I tell the receptionist that a friend will be bringing me a diaper and could she please bring it to me ASAP if I'm back with the doctor. She smiles and says sure...I'm sure she was thinking good grief lady what is wrong with you?

We get called back for the hearing test. As we're getting ready for it, my phone rings. There's krathbu. We do the test, and I go back out to the waiting room call katie and she's on her way. Thank you Lord! Seriously. Luckily she came while I was still waiting to see the doctor. So then I was able to change Lolo as soon as we got back to our private room. She only had to sit in it for about 40 minutes. Nice.

During the visit with the doctor the kids were eating gold fish because it's 5pm and they haven't had a snack since lunch. I'm eating them as well. :) The bad news about 3 fell on the ground. One which Andrew ate off the ground after I told him not to in front of the doctor. The other two made it into the trash, where my daughter proceeded to take one out of the garbage and eat it as I'm trying to talk to the doctor. Seriously. Seriously. The man probably thought oh lady good luck to you.

That's about where the evening ended. To be totally honest I stayed very calm, did not get angry, did not yell, did not cry, did not freak out. Pretty good for me I would say. I owe a HUGE thanks to Katie for rescuing me and bringing me diapers in the mist of your own chaos. Oh my. Good times. Happy Holidays to you all. Love ya!

Changes are here

It's been awhile. I check my blog everyday to see if people have posted. I realized that the toilet is probably getting old to look at. I thought it might be time for an update. I don't have pictures to post...need to get better at that. If you're interested in what's new with us, keep reading. If not well...pics to come soon...for now enjoy.
Well we're moving...in with my in-laws. Our house has sold and we have to be out by the end of the month. Today we began the momentous task of packing. I can't say we got to far, considering we got about 2 boxes done. We did some really good talking about it though. I think somewhere down the road we'll be close to putting this whole thing into action.
We've got an offer on a house but it's a short sale. If you're familiar with this you'll know that it can be quite a long process. We're not exactly sure what to expect, but we're hoping that we'll know some answers sooner rather than later. The house is down the street from where we live now. It would be really great to get the extra space. It needs new flooring throughout and paint. I would love to do the counter tops, landscape, and built in bookshelves all at the same time-but we're not made of money. And it doesn't grow on trees.
The kids are doing great. Andrew is in Montessori school here in Vancouver, and it's so wonderful. We went to a parent night last week and learned about his day, and the philosophy behind the education. We are so happy with his teacher and he seems to be adapting to his new surroundings. He still cries everyday that I drop him off, but his teacher has assured me he stops crying quickly. He's been invited to a birthday for a boy in his class next week and he's quite excited about going.
When asked what he wants to be for Halloween he's decided Sammy Stroughter. For those of you who don't know anything about this-my son thinks he is Sammy Stroughter. Sammy is currently in his first season as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. He graduated from Oregon State last year. So we're in the market for a football helmet. He pretty much has the other gear necessary. His papa has supplied him with quite a few OSU football jerseys.
Lauren is getting quite big. She's grown up so much it makes me sad. She loves to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She'll tell you which one she wants and if you sing the wrong one she yells at you until you stop. She's a complete reader. She'll read alone or with you, I don't really think she has a preference. The other day we noticed she shut herself in her bedroom. We finally opened the door about 15 minutes later and we found her in her tent, with her head on her pillow reading a book quietly to herself. She's quite independent like that. (And I love her for it.) As I'm typing now she's thumbing through a dinosaur book (and Andrew is playing football of course).
Lauren has her doctor appointment for her 18 month check next week. It's late due to some miscommunication between me and the Dr. office ( I blame them). She is very sure of what she wants. She will tell you with her words if she can. She's trying very hard to talk with us...but many things sound alike. She loves to sing her ABCs. Not too many of the letters sound right, but she has the rthym and tone correct for the whole song. Our daycare provider likes to call her Bossy Bessy (in the most loving way), Lolo likes to have control over things and people everywhere she goes. I blame Nick.
I'm excited fall is here, but a little sad because I can't decorate my house the way I usually do. I'm also feeling a little sad because I don't know if I'll have Thanksgiving and Christmas in my own house...but I feel very lucky that we have a place to live and that we'll hopefully be getting into a great home.
I hope to post some pictures soon. For now that is the latest and greatest. I hope you all enjoy the season with your family and loved ones.

Two posts in one

AWESOME! This is what I found when I walked into my bathroom last night before bed.


After showing Nick this lovely present, we could only deduce that our precious little GIRL had been having some fun earlier in the day.


Apparently while on daddy duty Lauren was left unattended in the back of our house, near our bathroom. This is what we've learned from leaving her unattended. I think next time daddy duty rolls around he'll make sure and close the bathroom doors, because it wasn't a tone of fun for him to clean up.

Side note: Andrew did not ever do anything like this...hmmm...not sure what to think of our little girl.

Two posts in one

They are the cutest. This was them this morning playing in the garage by themselves before church. When I walked in Andrew told me, "We're taking care of the baby right now. Can we have one more minute?" What's a mommy to say? Of course you can! They really are starting to become good friends. Except for when Andrew pushes her down and Lolo tries to bite him. :)

Update with a few pics

Typical Saturday morning. Lots of playing. Andrew dressed up as someone. Lolo being proud of herself that she can get up on the bed and back down. Good times.
Lots of things to post about but feeling quite tired. I'll do something worth reading in awhile. Summer is winding down and I'm not sure how I feel about it. More on that later.