Rae's actual birthday

Poor Rae, this is the second time that we've moved right before her birthday. Last time (in 2008 when we moved to Kirksville) she was sick on her birthday and our moving truck hadn't arrived yet, so her birthday was pretty sad. This year was a lot better, but we didn't have our oven working yet, so I couldn't make her a homemade cheesecake like she wanted. But I think she was okay with it, because she got this instead:


Reese Peanut Butter Cheesecake - yummy!

My mom made her this great apron with her name on it. And gave her a little toy cupcake set and a treat cookbook - all so perfect for Rae!

The day before her birthday we went to Columbia and went to Chuck E. Cheese

Can you tell she had a blast?

Blaise, on the other hand, did not like it. Too many lights, loud music/games and crowds.

We had to get some fries for him just to get him to sit down and relax!

Finally his good friend Barney got him to smile!


This picture of Rae reminded me of the last time we went to Chuck E. Cheese and she got stuck in the play tunnels and couldn't figure out how to get out! I'm glad she had more fun this time!

Stuck in the mud

I didn't mean to go an entire week before blogging again. This week was a tough week for me - getting used to Roy being back at work. But I feel like I'm getting back in the rhythm and the kids are a bit more agreeable now that our routine is back. Isaac is still a mess - clingy, grumpy, tons of tantrums - but each day he gets a little more adjusted.

Anyway, here's the next thing I wanted to share:

Our move:

This move would not have been possible without Roy's mom. She was amazing. She had been visiting friends in Michigan and flew from there to Kirksville on Monday (July 26th). Even though she had been up since 4 in the morning she still worked her tail off helping us. We had picked up our uhaul earlier in the day, so that evening after the kids went to bed we started loading it up. My friend's husband and their son came by and helped us with the really heavy stuff. At around 10 we decided to call it quits on the truck, and started boxing up misc stuff from the house. The next morning we got back to work bright and early and finished loading up the truck at around 10. Then Roy took the kids out for a bit while Baerbel and I cleaned, cleaned and cleaned some more! It would have taken me so long by myself! Roy and the kids came back and then my friend Pattie came by and took them to her house (Isaac stayed home and actually napped - glad I remembered to leave the pack-n-play out! I picked up the kids while Roy and his mom finished up and by the time I got back they were done, so we loaded up the van and took off! We stopped in Moberly (an hour from Kirksville, 30 minutes from Fayette) for lunch.

I just loved this picture of Roy walking Rae back to the Uhaul after lunch. Rae and Blaise got to take turns riding with Roy. Blaise rode from Kirksville to Moberly but he slept the whole way!
So he was kinda upset about that. But he soon discovered that it was fun in the van too! :)



We got to Fayette and ran to the grocery store for some basics - milk, bread, etc and then waited for members from our branch to come and help us. The branch president and his wife (the Georges) showed up and then Sister George took off to get us some dinner. She came back with a ton of food - dinner, groceries, paper plates, ziplock bags - everything! She is so awesome! Then a couple of other guys showed up and we had the truck unloaded in about an hour. It was really really hot and really really humid, so I am SO glad we had help! Sister George even wiped down our bathtub for us so the kids could take a bath that night.

When we got to the house, Roy wanted to back the truck right up to the porch and then maybe lift the ramp directly onto the porch. Great idea right? We forgot to take into account the recent rains and condition of the grass. He immediately sunk into the mud and couldn't get out. Ugh. So we planned to just empty the truck and then try to get it out, but our landlord came by and hooked us up to his tractor and pulled the truck out. Great first impression huh? Now our lawn has HUGE tire track holes. Ergh. It would be a much nicer front yard if it weren't for those tracks. Our landlord said he'll come by sometime with some dirt to fill them up. Luckily he wasn't upset about it! After we got pulled out we were able to go on some grass that wasn't quiet as muddy and still back the truck up to the house - just not as close as we were trying :)


Okay, I didn't mean for this to be such a detailed post, I just wanted to write the story about getting stuck. But once I started writing I figured I might as well write down all of the details. This blog is really the only place I record stuff, so it's nice to be able to look back and know the dates and events. So, sorry it was a little boring :)

Totally slacking

I don't know why, but blogging is the last thing I want to do lately. I'm busy, this is true, but I find plenty of time to relax in the evening - checking facebook, watching tv, etc....but I just haven't felt like blogging. Part of it is because I don't really know where to begin, since I got so far behind. Part of it is because I just have SO many little stories that I want to share. And part of it is that I've been feeling like maybe I should make my blog private and I haven't decided, so I've been putting off posting anything new.

BUT, the other day I was looking through all of our pictures from the last month and realized that Roy's mom got a lot of great pictures that I wanted to share. In case anyone can't keep track of my status updates on facebook, Roy's mom flew into Kirksville to help us move and then a week later we all flew to her house in Vegas for a little visit. Before we left Vegas we got all the pictures that she had taken. She ALWAYS had her camera with her, and we NEVER had ours with us, so we had like 20 pictures and she had 200 :) I was so excited to see that she had gone through our new house and taken pictures of each room in various stages of unpacked-ness. So, that is what I will be sharing today. And hopefully by the end of the month all of our new furniture will be here and I'll be ready to take some pictures of the finished product. :)

Also, keep in mind that this house is no where near perfect. The man who bought it and fixed it up didn't do a super good job on a lot of stuff, and it's just an old house. But it's huge and we can afford the rent, so it's perfect to us :) It's definitely not the type of house I'd be interested in buying, but we'll be just fine here for a few years. Okay, here's a bum-load of pictures:

The tv room. Lots of work has gone into this room and it's my favorite because it's going to be the "nice room", so I can decorate it the way I want. Can't wait to show what I've done with it.

The living room/playroom. I believe in having a good play space/family space and I wanted it to be on the main level so I could keep a better eye on the wee ones.

Looking from that room into the dining room. This is a huge space, so we got a nice buffet and desk for my laptop. I wanted to keep it nice and open because the kids like to run laps around through the hallway and back into the living room!

Another view. Through the hallway you enter the kitchen:

This was before we got our oven, but after we got our lovely corner nook table. I love, love love this table!

Off the kitchen is the laundry room. I'm so excited about all this space! This leads out to the backyard/driveway, so it is a perfect room to take off shoes/raincoats/snow boots. Off of this room is a small bathroom. Unfortunately, this is the only shower in the house. Kinda inconvenient, but oh well.




And then we go upstairs - the hallway is really wide and long! It goes about 8ft past the bedroom doors. We are planning to put all of our food storage at the end and then hang a curtain to hide it all. A little make-shift storage closet :)


The first room coming up is the computer room/guest room. We just got a new bed for our bedroom (king, woo hoo!) so our old bed will go in here. It will be so nice to have a space for company! Someone better come visit soon!!!


The bathroom upstairs. Behind the door is a nice big closet.


Our bedroom. It is SOOOO much bigger than any room we've ever had, so it's become a bit of a storage room while we unpack.

Rae's room (with my MIL's bed on the floor while she was here) She now has a desk and dresser.

The boy's room.
A view from the top of the stairs in the attic. Ugh, so creepy up there!

A few from the top of the stairs looking down to the basement. Creepy and wet down there.

The back of the house. Roy and Rae looking for big ol' Missouri bugs.


The front of the house. Oh how I love our front porch!! Last night we all sat on it and watched a storm roll in and then watched the rain pour down. Lovely!



Stay tuned for:

-The "After" shots
-Fun things that happened during our move (Roy getting the truck stuck in the mud, Rae having her birthday)
-Creepy writing on the attic walls
-Our trip to Vegas