Feb 28 2009

Is the end date of the lease I signed yesterday for our apartment. Our original 3 month lease was up as of 11/30 and they wanted an arm and a leg to continue on a monthly basis. Turns out, since the longer lease you agree to the lower your monthly payment, we were better off to sign a long-term lease and pay a early termination penalty when we are ready to move out. I never imagined that we would be in this situation. Considering the little house we came from and the great places available here, I was sure we'd be in something and happy as clams by now. But for some reason, houses that we'd have been trilled with back in Yakima don't even get a second look here. I am determined to get a home with space (or at least the potential of a space) for the kids to hang out in that's separate from the other living area. We want a great room open to the kitchen and breakfast area. I love tall ceilings and lots of windows. Ideally the master bedroom would be on the main floor and the master bath must have a walk-in shower for Sam. He also wants granite counters, wood floors, brick exterior and a front porch on a professionally landscaped large lot in a community with lots of trees. Did I mention we have a budget to stick to? Geez, I always thought that shopping for a new house would be fun, but there is not much about this that is. I have officially turned the house hunting over to Sam because I get too emotionally attached to places I like and am heart broken when he rejects them. He checks listings online everyday and every free weekend we drive around looking at places. I buried a St Joseph statue when we needed to sell our home in Yakima, I wonder if it would help us find a house too?
Anyway, we are all getting along fine. The kids are enjoying school. Sam is still very busy at work. He says they are way behind schedule trying to prepare for next year. I'm busy doing Christmas shopping and it will be a miracle if I get things shipped to WA in time. Speaking of, I better get off this computer and get some other things done! Here a some pics I took yesterday of the rugrats. Take care y'all!

Blessings

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was very calm and peaceful, quite enjoyable! I spent a couple weeks acquiring enough dishes and food to prepare my first solo Thanksgiving feast.

The kids were off Wed-Sun and Sam was off Thu-Sun. It was the first time I can recall us being together for 4 whole days. Wednesday the kids and I just hung out and relaxed. When Sam got home we headed down to Chralotte where there was supposed to be a big tree-lighting ceremony with entertainment and fireworks at the mall there. It was an amazing 75 degrees, so it was a perfect evening. We found the mall and decided to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. One of the parking attendants directed us to area where the tree was, but we were so overwhelmed by the size of the mall, we didn't make it in time for the event but still had a good evening. Thursday we woke up and watched the Macy's Parade, some of the dog show and the Charlotte Parade. We snacked on salami, crackers, cheese, fruit kabobs and Chex Mix. The kids were a huge help in the kitchen all day! It was a really good feeling =) In between everything else, we spent the day working on a puzzle together and doing making place cards. At 6pm we sat down to a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, cranberry sauce and rolls. After dinner we all labled some leaves with things we are thankful for an taped them to a "tree". We played a round of Bingo before topping our already full bellies off with pupmkin pie, apple crisp and ice cream. MmmmmmmMmmmmm!

Happy Birthday Emily!

From the first time we stepped foot into the Northlake Mall Emily knew what she wanted to do for her birthday. I'm used to going all-out for birthdays, but this time I booked online, printed invitations from online and sent them to school, and showed up. It was great! Don't get me wrong, I adore throwing parties for my kids, but it was enjoyable to stand back and watch someone else entertain.

The gal at Build-a-Bear was great fun! She had the girls yelling, squealing and laughing. Emily and 5 of her friends from school got to pick an animal, give it a heart, watch it be stuffed, clean it, pick out an outfit for it, dress it and name it.

They all went home with their animals, the animals' birth certificates, a pin, a poster and some other goodies. Emily even got a special bear that everyone autographed for her. She proclaimed her 8th birthday "The best birthday ever", just as she had the previous 7 ; )
It so happened that Monday and Tuesday were teacher work days so NO SCHOOL! How fun to get to have your birthday off! We just hung out and played with the gifts from her friends until Sam got home from work.
She could hardly wait to tear in to the pile of presents that had been taunting her in the living room all day. After that we treated her to her favorite dinner..... steak! The girl ate a whole 8 oz medium rare steak all by herself, amazing!
That night she again commented on having the best birthday ever, which made Sam and I soooo glad to hear!