our baby...

is not a baby anymore. Abigail turned 2 today...where does the time go?? We celebrated with a little family get together last week here in Jersey because Richie was leaving to go back to NC to finish work (it looks like we are settling down here in NJ, at least for the time being). We also had cake today for the actual birthday. We had a Barney cake for her party because that is Abby's latest obsession. Everything MUST be Barney. Obviously we didn't get the memo that Barney is soooo 90's. After I ordered her cake I went to Party City and went nuts searching the whole store for Barney decorations. I asked one of the girls who worked there where their "Barney section" was and she looked at me like I had 2 heads. My poor Abby was born about a decade too late!

Our little girl brings so much joy into our lives I honestly don't even remember what life was like without her. She is full of spunk, that is one adjective that fits her to a T. She is strong-willed, energetic, loving, and oh so fun! Other than Barney, you can find her playing with cars at all times of the day. I swear the only reason she was born a girl was because I wanted one so bad. My dreams of brushing my little girl's hair and playing dolls with her are yet to be realized. She loves her brother so much that he is always the third person she cries for when hurt, sad, or mad (after mama and dada of course :) She is 2 going on 13, her wheels turn way too fast for a 2 year old. She doesn't talk too clearly yet, but she sure is one smart cookie. That might be one of the reasons why we butt heads more often than I would like. But no matter how many tantrums she throws, pigtails she pulls out, or "NOOOO's" she screams, I wouldn't trade her for the world. Abigail Mia, we are so blessed to have you be a part of our family. We're grateful to our Heavenly Father for choosing us as your parents, and we are thankful for the knowledge that we have that we can all be together forever. Happy Birthday Abby, we love you more than you will ever know!

The Bensons and Boo at the Zoo.

We are so blessed to have great friends! Last week we made the trek to the Atlanta area to see our friends the Bensons once again. Richie had training in Mississippi (yeah, not sure why exactly they're still training him...) and since I am a baby and I'm scared to stay alone he dropped us off at the half-way point which just happened to be where our great friends live! Dawnelle was a wonderful hostess as always, and Carter kept Isaac quite entertained for me. Little Ellie is so much bigger since we last saw her which was less than 2 months ago, and for the first time, I actually saw Abby pay attention to a baby and not give me death looks while I got the chance to hold the sweet little girl.

On Friday we went to the Atlanta Zoo for what they call they're "Boo at the Zoo." It took us a couple of hours to get there thanks to rush hour traffic, but honestly, I didn't mind too much because I actually miss being in a big city :) The kids had a lot of fun getting dressed up. I kind of feel like I'm cheating by posting these pics of their costumes early but let's be honest, my picture taking skills aren't very good, so I put these up in hopes of getting some better shots next Friday when we take them trick-or-treating. I will also have to say that my camera was not cooperating so I'm not the only one to blame, plus the kids were so busy pumping themselves full of sugar that they could care less about posing for some pictures. But look at the little ladybug...isn't she the cutest??

Our sources for costume shopping are limited to Walmart here so we didn't have a wide variety of choices. Abby was Tinkerbell, the cutest costume at the store, and Isaac was Jeff Gordon, the NASCAR guy. Yeah I know, we've only been in the south for a few months and already...well, you know...Isaac doesn't really know who he is but through a mix up we had a NASCAR online gift card so this is what we got, plus he loves ANYTHING having to do with race cars. Next year I will definitely be a better mom and spend more time finding the perfect costume for my kids! Well at least that's the plan...Thank you Bensons for making our week a whole lot brighter! And of course, we miss you already :)

Our first night there we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express because we had a free night with them. The Bensons came over for HIE's famous breakfast, here are the kids relaxing in the lobby after eating.
Isaac and Carter doing dishes and getting water everywhere, Dawnelle is such a good sport!
Abby's reaction when I told her to smile for the camera

Isaac and Carter

A rare picture of mom and Abby, yes, she still sucks her thumb when she's tired.I love this pic...she totally has him wrapped around her finger!
For a $16 costume, she sure was one super cute Tinkerbell :) TheLadybug and Tinkerbell, future BFF's.

Isaac and Carter with Curious George, Carter's favorite.

Wordless Wednesday: Today I'm missing this...

Curve Ball

I was talking to one of my friends last week about how sometimes you wonder when you became an adult. Sometimes I feel like I am still a kid, just forced into adult situations.

Last week Richie was informed that the plant he just recently started working for here in NC is closing “indefinitely” in 2 months. Talk about being thrown a curve ball. The company is laying off about 4oo employees right before Christmas. We are lucky because Richie has been told that he will not be layed off right away; he can continue working for Georgia Pacific but will just have to travel to different locations and help out with various projects until or if they decide to start back up again, or if they find a permanent position for him somewhere. Of course, this totally changes all the plans we had once made. To build a house, to make North Carolina our home, to finally get all of our things out of storage.

The first thing I kept asking myself was why? We had prayed about this move before we left Oregon and we had felt that it was the right thing to do. We had prayed about what house to make our home, and we had also felt the same way about that. And now, everything was going to change, just like that.

Then I remembered all the trouble we had been having getting the builder to finally start our home. As of the day Richie found out this news, they had not started. I quickly realized that we were so blessed. We have nothing to tie us down here. We can find another job and go where we need to. If they had started on our house when they were supposed to, we probably would have closed sometime last week. We’d have a mortgage to pay and Richie would have to stay with Georgia Pacific, an unstable job right now, even if it meant having to leave his family to travel for work very often.

Our Heavenly Father is watching over our family, I have no doubt of that. I feel silly now for getting so upset about things not going the way we planned. I think sometimes we feel like we know more than He does, like we have our whole life planned out and we’re just hoping Heavenly Father helps us along.

I am so grateful for all of our blessings. For this little house we’re renting that provides a shelter, for the food we can put on our table every day, for Richie’s education, which is an insurance policy at times like this, for our amazing family that have expressed their support, unconditionally. Most of all, I am so grateful for the gospel and for the comfort and peace it provides at times like this. As I look back now, I realize how all week last week I was being prepared for this. The gospel doctrine lesson that talked about understanding and accepting Heavenly Father’s will. The scriptures I read that reminded me to always trust in our Heavenly Father. The wonderful General Conference talks that truly felt like they were being spoken right at me.

I would be lying if I said that I was happy as can be. I still get down at times during the day, but then I am quickly reminded of all the things I have to be grateful for. No, we don’t know where we’re going from here, the job hunt will have to start up once again. But we know that our Heavenly Father knows our needs and will never give us more than we can handle. We are forever grateful for His love and for His watch over our little family.

Picture People

We were in Jersey last week and I decided to get the kids pictures taken while I was there. I've gone to kiddie kandids in the past but decided to go to Picture People this time to give them a try. I think they did wonderful! I would highly recommend them, they are a little bit pricier than kiddie kandids but I had a coupon so it ended up being about the same...Here are some of my favs...



I think it goes without saying that I spent a fortune...I can't wait to actually have a house so I can put these up on the wall! Don't worry grandparents, some of these are coming your way!

the things kids say...

Isaac has been saying really funny things lately. Some we laugh hysterically at because they just crack us up, sometimes we have to try as hard as we can to hold it in because it's not the time to laugh. A couple of weeks ago at church he did the unthinkable. We have Sacrament meeting last in our branch and recently Richie taught Isaac that when both hands on the clock are on the 12 (noon), it is time to go home. Well, a sweet brother was giving his talk and he was going a little over his time limit. One of the young women had offered to take my kids to the nursery because they were starting to lose it. So Richie and I are sitting in Sacrament during this brother's talk and Isaac comes sprinting in screaming "Dada, Mama, it's time to go home, it's time to go home, look at the clock!!" Over and over and over again. Everyone chuckled a little, some even gave him a thumbs up for the hint that it was, indeed, time to go home. We finally got him to calm down and wait. The brother finally concluded his talk and said "Amen." Isaac followed that with the most enthusiastic "AAAAAMENNNNN" you could ever imagine! That did it for everyone and we all started cracking up....talk about Reverence. (The branch president told me later that Isaac was only expressing the feelings of everyone in the congregation :)

Last night Isaac said something funny and cute. The house we are renting right now has the vents for the AC and heat on the floor so they shoot the air straight up. Well Abby really really likes to put her face in front of the vents lately, don't ask me why...but she loves it! Isaac thought it was sooo funny and said "Abby, you look like Dewek!!!" (translation: Derek, our good friend). This is not the first time he's said something about Derek when Abby's hair is standing up like that, but I thought it was cute he said that because we haven't seen the Hansen's for quite a few months now but he still remembers Derek's hair. So Derek, if you're reading this, we're sure you'd be happy to know that your hair has made QUITE an impression on our son :)

And he's off!

Today was Isaac's first day of preschool. I knew when he was born that there would be certain milestones when I would think "wow, I am a MOM!" Well today was definitely one of those and that thought was followed by "I am sooo old!" No matter how many times I get mistaken for a Young Women at church from now on, I will remember I have a boy in preschool!

This morning when I got up I totally felt butterflies in my stomach. I felt like I was the one having my first day of school! Isaac on the other hand slept great and got up super happy. He has been looking forward to this day forever so he was quite anxious to finally step into preschool. After a quick photoshoot we got in the car and the first thing Isaac said to me was "mama, let's say a prayer." I seriously have the sweetest boy! I love how he always reminds me to stay close to our Heavenly Father, especially during big milestones like today.

We took some more pictures in front of his preschool (Busy Bees Preschool). He just wanted to get it over with so he could run into school. I walked him in, he put his lunchbox in his cubby (he picked out his "Speed Racer" one a couple of weeks ago) and he sat down at his table. No turning back, no hesitation in the least. I had to run over to him to give him a quick kiss and reassure him that I would be back to pick him up in a few hours, but honestly, I think the reassurance was for me because the kid was totally fine! I still can not believe he didn't cry! My boy is definitely growing up!

Abby was sad to leave her brother and was saying "Zaza Zaza" (Isaac) the whole way home. I was a little sad too, but it didn't really hit me until we walked back into our house and it was eerily quiet. I didn't cry though which was impressive, but the lump in my throat was quite large...

So Abby and I have been spending some quality time together, alone, for the first time in...well, maybe ever! She has been a little, um, how do you call it, moody lately. She has been picking out interesting outfits to wear, and lucky for her, her dad is a sucker and will put on whatever she wants. She is definitely a strong willed little girl and I am scared for when she reaches the teenage years...I'm really scared...

I'm also adding some pics that I took at the McDonalds playplace a few weeks ago, and some of Abby in the tutu I bought her...I was not going to post those after seeing my very talented friend Alissa's tutu she made for her little girl, but hey, unfortunately I was not blessed with the sewing talent! After a few minutes of being my cute little ballerina though, Abby turned into what can only be described as a mixture between a ballerina, Dora the Explorer, and a tourist. She is crazy!

Having too much fun!

I actually had to go in and get her...not fun...

This is what Richie calls "the cheese"

Some of her interesting outfits...

And this picture describes how Abby has been acting for the last couple of weeks...or as we like to call it, "Abbytude"

blogworthy

Yesterday was an interesting day. We have been having some problems getting the permit for our house to even begin to be built (yes I know, RIDICULOUS) so Richie called our "quite unhelpful, liar, could care less" sales representative at DR Horton. We were informed that due to some floorplan changes blah blah blah they are not sure when they can get the permit for our house to be built with the vaulted kitchen ceiling I was so looking forward to. The way things are going, I am starting to doubt we would move into our house before the end of the year, when originally the target date was the end October. We have a few options to consider, one of which is to move into a house that is part of their standing inventory for probably the same price as our home. The house would probably be somewhat larger and pretty comparable to the options we had chosen, but it would NOT be the house we designed. Richie was pretty shocked when I told him I would highly consider that option opposed to just giving up the vaulted ceiling. Then last night I told him about the experience I had while walking the streets of downtown Whiteville...

Yesterday Richie and I both had dental appointments near the downtown area of our ghost town more commonly known as Whiteville. My appointment was first and Richie stayed with the kids in the waiting area during that time. Then when I was done and it was his turn, I noticed the kids were done being there. So I pulled the stroller out of our trunk and took the kids for a walk.
I was actually quite surprised at how fun our walk was. A lot of the stores in the downtown area are shut down, but there are a few cute shops that are still open. The kids were thirsty and hot from our walk so we stopped at a little coffee shop for a while. When I ordered two juice boxes the guy at the register gave me kind of a weird look. I don't know if that was due to my order or if it was because he was confused as to what me and my 2 kids were doing here. I usually get asked that question quite a bit, I don't really "blend in" very well here. And usually I have to tell them the whole story....Richie joked about how he's going to have a shirt made for me that says "Just moved here from Oregon, husband works at GA Pacific, building a house near Myrtle Beach, stuck here til then." Anyway, he didn't ask which made me happy because I didn't feel like telling the story once more.

I was starting to feel like I should maybe give this little town another chance on our walk back to the dentist. And then this happened:
A man is walking the opposite direction as us. I smiled while I walked past (everyone is pretty friendly here), which I tend to do so I don't stand out even more than I need to. As he walked past me, I thought I heard him ask me something, so I turned around. (with quite a puzzled look)"Excuse me?" I said. "mumble mumble mumble mumble peanuts mumble mumble." I quickly was trying to figure out what exactly he was asking me. I have a hard time understanding people here because of the southern drawl but this was a little more difficult than usual. Then I realized he only had 2 teeth so that provided an explanation. I felt pretty silly but once again I asked "what's that?" Hoping for 3rd times the charm I listened as he asked "Do you want to buy some peanuts that I sell at the back of this store over there?" Hmm...for a whole 10 seconds I was silent while I was trying to figure out if this was really happening and what my answer to him should be and if I should just make a run for it. I politely answered "No thank you I'm allergic to peanuts."

The man said something along the lines of oh no we don't want you eating those then go take care of those kids...While I walked away I thought, ok, seriously, there is no store around here that sells food or that would sell "peanuts." I didn't know if I should be laughing or if I should go home and check the America's Most Wanted website. We are DEFINITELY not in Oregon anymore. And tomorrow, we ARE driving down to our new development and looking at some of those houses they have in inventory. And just in case that doesn't work out, I already ordered myself one of those shirts that tells my story.

5 years.

Richie and I were married 5 years ago today in the beautiful Washington, DC temple. Since then, we have moved 3 times, lived in 4 states, and had 2 kids...and shared lots of wonderful moments in between :) Happy Anniversary baby! Can't wait to see where we're at in another 5 years!

PS- Somehow 5 years ago I managed to talk my hubby into letting this Nsync song be our wedding song...that's how I knew we were meant to be :)

Roommates

Last week we were lucky enough to visit our good friends the Bensons in Georgia. We had so much fun with them and were definitely sad to leave. I have kind of been having a hard time with my "lack of" friends here in NC so it was such a treat to be surrounded by wonderful friends once again. One of the perks of being at the Benson's beautiful house was that Isaac and Abby slept in different rooms. My children did not wake up before 7:30 am the whole time we were there! Talk about heavenly sleep...

Well now we're back in our "tiny" house as Isaac likes to call it. My kids are back to sharing a room. Yesterday I put them down for their naps and this is what I found after 20 minutes:

Yeah...they didn't fall asleep until about an hour later...luckily they ended up sleeping for like 3 hours! I guess the jumping in the crib tired them out. It might be a litte hard to put them in separate rooms once we finally move into our house...

And here's the only picture I got of our visit to Georgia...

Dawnelle has successfully talked me into running a half marathon in Myrtle Beach on Feb. 14th. I have exactly six months to train. She has a 4 month old baby girl and here I am worrying that I won't have enough time....Dawnelle, you are my inspiration! Wish us luck!