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!

Boogity Boogity Boogity

Saturday was a day I will never forget. I had the privledge of watching my boy's face light up with joy at seeing cup cars running live! It was more exciting than my first time! Sam had left with his team on Wednesday. On Saturday morning the kids and I loaded up in the car and headed NE to Virginia. It was not much of a drive (2hrs) and scenic the whole way. About 10 minutes from the track Blake said in a timid voice "Mommy, I have butterflies in my tummy". My heart melted! He was sooooo excited. When we walked in he spotted the SPEED booth so went that direction. One of the SPEED Girls handed us a schedule that said live filming was going to take place in 15 minutes, so we had to stay. We found a front row spot just behind the host and turned into those people I always make fun of; screaming waving and pointing at the camera. After our live television appearance we picked up our tickets, purchased a souvenier program and headed under the bleachers and throught the opening to see Martinsville Speedway. We found a spot right at the start/finish line where we sat to watch the Craftsman Trucks qualify. Before the Cup cars came out we moved to some other seats in turn one. It was pretty amazing to see all the huge transporters lined up inside a 1/2 mile track. One by one the cars began to line up and then enter the track. Reed Sorenson, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr.... I looked over at Blake and he was wringing hi hands with excitement. Emily was covering her ears saying "make it stop" because the noise was nearly deefening. After practice we decided to see if we could catch a glimpse of a driver or two as they headed back to their motorhomes, which were paked outside the track. Blake reconized every one of them that whizzed by on a golf cart. He even got autographs from some, included Kasey Kahne who wished him luck with quarter midget racing! Blake was on cloud nine. Before we knew it the the trucks were fired up and on the track. We rushed back in to find to once sparsely populatd bleachers to be packed. The only place we could find to sit was tight up front. Blake wasn't very happy that he couldn't see the backstretch, but we were able to see Sam catching left front tires during pit stops. We've seen him working in the pits many times before, but this 'aint just Yakima Speedway. We were proud of him! Near the end of the race two doozies of wrecks happened right in front of us, WOW! Blake watched a replay on tv today and relived every moment. He couldn't get over the fact that we had been there in such awesome seats. Good times, great memories!

Lovin' NC!

I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I last posted. Wow, time flies when you're having fun!

On Aug 30th we moved into a nice apartment complex in Huntersville, NC. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and is just as big as our old house. We have a garage right across the parking lot which is crammed full. Since we only signed a 3 month lease, we only carried in what we had to have. We bought some new living room furniture, a tv, and a dinette set. Add that to our beds, and we're getting by just fine.

The kids started school September 4th and really enjoy it. Unfortunately, they'll have to change schools when we buy a house and move. Luckily, they are easy going and say it will be cool. For now, they catch a bus at the entrance to our complex and ride it home (something they always wished they could do).

Huntersville is a nice area, but very busy. It's also part of Mecklenburg County which has taxes and utilities 4 times as much as outlying counties. We've driven almost 4000 miles since we got here. Through our travels we decided we like the area west of Lake Norman. It's more woodsy and less crowded. A friend of ours is a realtor here and is helping us out. I'm going to look at some more homes with her tomorrow. We found a place that we all like, but it's not perfect, so we'll keep looking for another week or two. It's a buyer's market right now, so homes are sitting awhile. We'll have to make a decision soon though. Our lease here expires 11/30 and it would cost a small fortune to renew it.

Sam has been working a few weeks now for WRE. The drivers (Scott and Nick Lynch) are from Idaho, but the team is based in Mooresville, NC. They have Grand National cars and Craftsman trucks. Sam says he's "just another grunt" right now, but we all know he'll move up quickly. Next month is when the majority of crew changes begin to take place, but Sam thinks he'll stay where he is. He's enjoying meeting people and learning a lot. The kids and I are going to drive to Martinsville, VA to watch his team in the truck race on Sat, so look for the "HELLO WASHINGTON" sign!

We've got to do quite a few fun things since we've been here. I'm overwhelmed with how much is always going on. I don't think there's much you couldn't do. We've gotten to see race shops, ride go-carts, play at the lake (which is incredibly warm), go to a fair.... Good times!

Last week my wonderful mother flew in to stay with the kids and animals while Sam and I went on a cruise. We had booked it in Feb so we could be with some friends as they got married. There were 13 0f us and we all had a fabulous time cruising the Eastern Caribbean! I, of course, was in heaven and wanted for nothing more than to float in the water all day! Sam went snorkeling for the first time and was amazed. He can't wait to do it again.

Well, it's about dinner time here, so I better go get cookin'.

Hope all our friends and family are doing well. We think of you often!