Sunday, March 29, 2009

Happy Birthday My Man!

Rob's birthday was over a week ago, but I failed to give him a shout out. So...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!!!
We love you!
For a while, we got to have him home a lot, and we loved this. Since we bought our new house, he spends an awful lot of time over there fixing it up. We miss having him around so much, but are very grateful for all the work he is putting on our new place. He is definitely a man of many skills, talents and great vision.
Why I love Rob:
He makes me laugh.
He's not afraid of hard work, or a big project.
He is so smart, and is always learning.
He's a great dancer.
He makes me awesome things- like furniture!
He's a great Dad. Our kids adore him!
He loves me.
His smile brightens my day.
He can be so silly, though it's a side of him that very few get to see.
He's my best friend.
The list could go on and on...
The kids love him because:
He plays with us.
He does such silly voices when he reads to us.
He loves to tease.
He loves to wrestle with us.
He takes us to Jazz games.
He works hard for us.
A few weeks ago, I took Nathan to a Jazz game. We had a great time with just the two of us. Nate informed me however, that "it's more fun to go with Dad, because Dad will run with me." (Sorry bud, but I'm not up to running from the car to the arena with my big belly and no sports bra.) I'm bet I'd get a similar response from Sarah as well. Her dad gives her piggyback rides to the arena. I'm sure he's more liberal with the flow of candy and treats than me too. Let's just face it, he's more fun than me. Love ya, mijn lievert!

Friday, March 20, 2009

The Best Webkinz

by Nathan


My new Webkinz is named Dr. Fluff and he is the best.
Snoopy is my other Webkinz.
All my webkinz are the best.
I made this background.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Nathan Turns 7!

Happy Birthday Nathan! We love you!!!

I can't believe my first born is 7-years-old already. Where has the time gone?! Nathan is such a great kid, and he is growing up so fast. He's funny, imaginative, obedient, and fun to be around. He's a great big brother; Sarah and Matthew look up to him, and try to be like him. We are so glad to have him in our family.
Life has been crazy around our place lately- what with buying a house, fixing it up, and getting ready to move. I really hadn't done anything (or really thought much about) Nathan's birthday coming up. He started making comments about how excited he was for his birthday etc. I guess I started feeling guilty, knowing that I couldn't just blow off his birthday because we were busy. Over a month ago he had come up with the idea for a Kung Fu Panda pinata. He thought that rather than hitting it with a stick, you should do kung fu to break open the pinata (kicking and punching anyway). What a clever idea!!! I can't claim any credit for that brilliant thought. Though it was almost too late to make the thing, I decided to do it. I really didn't have time or energy, but what the heck- I have a sinus infection and can't breath when I lay down anyway, so might as well stay up late working on a project.

We had our cousins that live close by, Nathan's friend Jake, and of course Aunt Terri, come over for cake and ice cream. I finished painting the pinata 10 minutes before they arrived. Thank goodness for blow dryers (I won't even explain how I got the pinata to dry as quickly as I did in my dryer)! I probably haven't done paper mache since 4th grade! I made the pinata look like the Po punching bag at the end of Kung Fu Panda, and I have to say I was quite pleased with the result. I have zero artistic ability, so ...

The kids had so much fun beating up poor Po. It was a riot. We laughed and laughed the whole time. It was well worth all the time and effort.Since it was dark outside, and we didn't have a place to hang it inside, Rob hung it off the end of a broom handle. Dangerous job! This is Sarah just realizing that she'd been punching her Dad instead of Po.Here are the kids laughing about Sarah punching Rob. I love Erin's face! Luckily Sarah's not very good in the punching category. It was so funny though. She loves telling people about it.
Ryan is a Kung Fu master! He did a lot of damage to poor Po. Po took it all like a champ, always with that same silly grin.
Adam was a bit shy about hitting Po.
The kids with big enough heads got to wear the "Pandana" as a blind fold. Nathan got it from saving tokens on cereal boxes.

If I ever make a pinata again, I need to come up with a better system for hanging it up. It tore off the hanger several times before it broke.

Nathan's birthday cake was dorky, but it was exactly what he wanted. I didn't have time to add any details to his Ninjas fighting in front of a cave cake. Whatever... it tasted good.He loves his Webkinz Yorkie. He made this "cowboy hat" to match the one he bought for Dr. Fluff (his Yorkie) on Webkinz World. Even though it looks more like a top hat, it's cute!


Happy Birthday Nathan. You're awesome!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Our New Home

We closed on our new house today. Hooray!

Our new home is about 15-20 minutes north and west of where we are currently living. It's a smaller, more rural town, and we really like the feel of it. We will have a lot more room in this house, but best of all- it sits on an acre lot!!! We are so excited about that. This is part of our back yard. It butts up against the playing fields of the local Jr. High.

We are so excited about all the room to run and have a big garden. We are already planning what fruit trees we'll plant, where to put the grapes etc. And maybe someday we'll have a cow. Doesn't that sound great?! To us it does. Everyone in our neighborhood has at least an acre lot. It's not our end-all dream home, but it's sure a step up from where we're living. Someday we hope to have more land.

The though of leaving where we live makes me cry (which I have done often). I love it here. But the thought of squeezing our new baby into our house makes me want to pull my hair out. We are just out of room. Really, we just have too much stuff! I can't believe we've been here for 7 years! We have two apartments in our basement, which has been a great investment for us, but it has left us with too little living space. We're keeping this house, and we will rent out the top part too. It will cover itself, plus most of our new mortgage. Now, just to find some good renters... That's the trick. We've had a few bad ones, but mostly we've had great tenants.

So now the work begins. The home we are buying was foreclosed on last Fall, so we are getting a really good deal. It needs some fix up before we can move in, so Rob has his work cut out for him. I'm glad he is such a handyman. I'm struggling choosing new paint colors and carpet. I'm just not good at that stuff. I've got my work cut out for me too. I need to get my house packed up, cleaned, and renters found over the next few weeks. Moving stinks! Especially moving at 7 months pregnant, where Rob doesn't want me lifting anything. Nathan just went off track, and I'm not sure if that's helpful, or a hindrance. Hopefully we'll be all settled in our new home well before this baby comes at the end of April. Wish me luck!

Here's Matthew running like a spaz on the deck.