High school blackmail

This has officially been documented and will be used for black mail in High School or any opportune time.
Colton wanted to use some of his Christmas $ to buy a Build a Bear and Christopher chose to pick out an outfit for his kitty (which he LOVES). His choices were a little pair of jeans with a black and white shirt or a frilly princess dress with butterfly wings on the back. Jesse said "Well, at least it's blue". :)

We were never quite sure if kitty was a boy or girl, and now we do. Kitty was very excited to recieve her new outfit!

Merry Christmas!

We had such a great Christmas! Some of the highlights are:
1. I actually surprised Jesse with a Love Sac! He had no idea-I guess it helps when you have a basement full of boxes. We absolutely LOVE this thing, it is truly the most comfortable thing I have EVER sat in!

2. Eventhough Colton didn't get some of the things he was hoping for, he had such a thankful heart and just loved the things that he recieved!

3. After a special present Christopher got, he hopped up and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek.
(I think they may be buttering me up for next year)

4. I really feel like I was able to put a lot of the focus on Jesus' birth and the spirit of giving more than the commercialism of Christmas. And I feel that they really "got it".

5. Um... with that being said, did you see that I got TWO adorable pairs of boots! I am hoping for a little "weather" so I can break in my new rubber boots.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year!

Advent Calendars and Christmas Eve gifts

So day 24 marks the last day of chocolates from our Advent calendars (though I know I will be hearing from Christopher, why we aren't having chocolate right before bed every night). I was very excited to find an Advent book with each day broken down into a small portion of the Nativity story. This was exactly what I was looking for and each little board book has a string that loops on to our little "sparkle" tree (fiber optics). I hope to continue this little tradition for many years to come.

Tried to use no flash so you could see the "sparkle"
Cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer

Carson loves his trucks. Thank you Evan!

This boy is beaming with pride in his black Spiderman suit! Thank you Kacie!

Colton was so excited for the Hero Factory motorcycle he got from Blake! Thank you!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

(At least for a few more hours. I put the baby gate up at the boys' door and it doesn't come down until after 6 am.)

Happy Christmas Steve!

This morning, as Christopher was snuggled in our bed, I said "Happy Christmas Eve" and he reciprocated, "Happy Christmas Steve". I thought it was too cute, that I needed to share!

Gingerbread Houses

So I haven't really established many traditions with our family, but we usually decorate Gingerbread houses and this year is no different. (I also found a super Advent book, but I promise to blog that soon). We did these this past weekend, but I didn't have the camera then. Here are the pics we took this morning so we could share with you all!

Christopher was too bothered by Carson taking the candy off of his house to look up and smile.

Colton's Gingerbread house with Mr. Mint standing guard

The backside of Colton's house with snowman & lopsided tree (with help from Me)

Carson pretty much ate the candy and smashed his house, so this is as close as he'll get!

Pics of the house

So I was scolded by my family for not keeping a proper update on my blog. I was waiting to take pictures when the house was somewhat presentable. Plus my camera was broken (by Christopher, again) and I was at the mercy of my cell phone camera. So anyway, I "opened" a Christmas present early so now you can look at decent pictures! Hurray!

Carson very happy that I have my new camera!

Hallway: see two posts earlier
Living room (the part that isn't too messy)

Kitchen while standing in the hallway

Kitchen: same place just a different angle to show the "window" into the dining room

View while sitting at the kitchen table.

So far we know 4 whitetail does, 2 foxes and numerous

squirrels, Cardinals, BlueJays, Woodpeckers, etc.
It's fun to sit down and watch out the window at all of the wildlife!

I didn't think that I would have that living in "the city"!

Update

So we've got most of the living room and rec (dining) room set up, along with bedrooms and surprisingly still have a ton of boxes in the basement. Part of me wants to just take all of the unopened boxes to the thrift store and hope that there is nothing valuable in them. Though I know that this isn't what we'll do. It's tempting. (sigh) I am having a sluggish sort of day after walking Colton to the bus stop and then realizing in the mad dash out the door, I locked myself out of the house. Long story short, I paid a guy $75 (which was only 1/4 of what he was going to charge) to discover that our basement door was unlocked. Grump. So I am taking a "mommy time out" and blogging and playing on the internet during nap time. I may update our GPSs so it doesn't take us on dilly-wampus routes like it seems to be doing lately. It also took us to the middle of the woods when we tried to find a Krispy Kreme. Weird. Guess it was looking out for our waistlines :)

Happy Thanksgiving

The movers came last Thursday, so I will officially drop the title of Gypsy Life. Just got the turkey in the oven and it should be ready at 11:30. Today we get to paint the dining room (which will be more of a rec/toy/sitting/library/piano room, since we have a decent sized kitchen and we don't really see the need to use the space for dining but rather playing. Hopefully after today our main floor will be fairly livable! Hope to get the pics up soon! Have a great Turkey Day!

Gypsy Life: Day 24 (Yesterday)

Well, my "gypsy life" is coming to an end! The movers are coming today to unload our stuff! What an exciting day. I really enjoy hotel life, but there is nothing like sleeping in your own (king size) bed and just having everything settled. Though I know that there will still be alot of nesting to do before we really feel "settled in", getting into our house will be so wonderful! I apologize for lacking on the blog-front, we have been getting the house ready to move in. Here are a few pics to catch you up to speed on all the happenings this week.

There are few things that a truly hate and one of them is taping trim. I loathe it. And most of the time it comes un-stuck, so it is almost pointless, but we are kind of messy painters and I am thankful for all that it does cover up. Anyway, here is a glimpse of 1) the five rolls of blue tape we used, 2) the "interesting" paint technique in the background that ran from the front door, through the hallway, up the stairs to the bedroom and all downstairs, and 3) our cozy, delicious brown that we chose for the entryway and living room.

my little "helper"Colton cleaning out the ice box

(Is it weird that while traveling I won't use ice that is already in the freezer? I have encountered this situation at a few times at the various hotels and I just can't bring myself to use ice that has been made from an unknown source. I think of the random person that was in the hotel room before us and I picture a villainous sort that would taint the cubes for the next guest, just because they can. Hm, add "ice snob" to the list of things that I am "particular" about.)

So any of you that truly know me, know that this makes me smile... a lot. We have one of these 0.3 miles from our house and it has a playland. (sigh) many a snowy-day lunches will be spent here, happily munching their nuggets while my children play. :)

Gypsy Life: Day 19

Today we closed on the house, and had planned on getting in there and painting all weekend. But Carson and Christopher both got diarrhea, so we decided to stay in tonight and hopefully they'll feel better tomorrow and we can get to work. So here are some pics from Wednesday night when we played Bingo down in the lobby it was for Give Kids the World. And Colton won twice! Someone at another table won a Coconut Cream pie and shared it with us. Enjoy the pics.

Colton and his "winnings"

Christopher jumping on the bed for a bite of pie

And Carson likes pie

It makes him very happy

To follow in his brother's footsteps,

Carson got into my bag and ate at least 10 pieces of gum.

Gypsy Life: Day 17

This pic was actually from Monday, Jesse's first day of work. Today is Colton's first day of school. It took us 45 minutes to drive 11 miles to get him to school. We got him settled into his class and met his teacher. She seems like exactly what he needs (Thank you, God!) So we'll find out how his day went this afternoon. He was so excited and ready to get into something "normal" and routine. Me and the two littles ran a few places and now we're lounging in the hotel, we'll do lunch, naps and then go to pick up Colton.

We close on the house this Friday and will probably have the furniture delivered Tuesday or Wednesday. I am also ready to get into something "normal" and routine. I'll keep you posted! Have a great day!

Gypsy Life: Day 13

Saturday started with a breakfast and then we hopped on the Metro to time Jesse's commute. And since we were downtown, we spent the day in the city checking out a few of the tourist-y things. We asked Colton what he wanted to do and all he wanted to do was go to the Smithsonian. We also ate lunch and then saw the Washington monument and the White House. Later we went to Megamind which turned out to be better than I expected.

The boys on the Metro

It only took Christopher once to remember to hold on when the Metro leaves the stop.

Colton was beyond excited about the minerals at the Smithsonian.

Not sure where that comes from!

(Sorry about the sideways pics)

The boys in front of the Washington monument

Carson spent most of the day riding in the stroller but he was a trooper!

Gypsy Life: Day 12

So we really didn't know where our evening would lead us when we left the hotel, so we just started to drive. I think we had a little cabin fever. So we started off at a pet store then to Chuck E Cheese (which Christopher has been asking for the last couple months since getting into PBS), then back to the hotel and swimming in the pool. We wore out the kids and they all slept really well.

Colton wants a puppy

Christopher wants a bird
Carson wants a gerbil, or maybe he was just kissing his reflection

Christopher at Chuck E Cheese

Colton and all of the tickets we won

Gypsy Life: Days 6, 7 & 8

So the original plan was to get to my sisters' house for halloween, do a little trick or treating and then the next day move on down the road. What happened was Friday Colton started vomiting and diarrhea, and did so much that we took him to the ER and he got meds and an IV. We had already checked out of the hotel, but since it was after check out we were able to get back in the same room without getting double charged. The next morning he seemed to be feeling better, so we headed out and made it to Rapid City, SD. We got checked into the new hotel, had dinner, and then it began to hit me. I spent that night miserable (and we won't go into details). Next day (Halloween) we did our obligatory 300 miles and then relaxed in our hotel. Today we made it to my sisters' but only to exchange clothing bins and say a quick hello. Our goal was to make to Iowa City, but about 20 miles from Des Moines the "sickness" hit Jesse, so we found the closest hotel (and we won't go into details). We have three more days and then we'll be in our temporary quarters for a couple weeks then into our home!

What dinner looks like with us.

Colton in the ER before getting "plugged in"

Colton after his IV, he thought he looked like Terminator.

Gypsy Life: Day Three/Four

*God loves me. See how a broken door handle was evidence that He makes all things work together for good (to those that love Him. Romans 8:28) Story after the pics.


Moving day arrived! Wednesday we were up bright and early to meet the truck that would load our "life" and take it to Virginia. It was a really long, tiring day eventhough all we did was stand around in the wind. (Ug, won't miss the wind!)

Colton taking one last ride on the swingset

Christopher climb on the playland behind our hotel.

Carson could swing all day long!

Christopher and his buddy Benjamin on his last day of Cubbies in MT

You made it past the pics of my adorable children, so I will tell you the crazy time I had yesterday. You can judge for yourself if it was God or coincidence.

For most of the week I have been suffering back & shoulders aches from the terrible hotel mattress, lack of sleep, and (probably) stress. Which finally turned into a headache that just wouldn't go away- not with tylenol, not with caffiene, not with water. Normally when this happens, I just take a "quiet day" and relax, take a nap and that will make it go away. But since this was moving day, I really didn't have that luxury. So I just ignored it and pushed on through. Most of the day was spent standing out in (this horrid) wind, watching the movers slowly take box after box onto the truck. After that I would get Colton from school, his last piano lesson, then pancakes at LBs, then to Awanas, during which LB and I were going to have our fun, laugh/tear-filled goodbye dinner.

But the headache finally caught up to me and turned into a full blown migraine. So as I nibbled at my dinner, I finally had to excuse myself and splash a little water on my face hoping that I could suppress the migraine. But to no avail, as soon as I sat down at the table, the look on my face made LB ask "Do we need to go?" I got a nod confirmation as I hurried out the door and got sick right outside. In that moment I thought "How horrible to walk up to a restaurant and see someone getting sick" So I spotted a patch of grass across the parking lot and proceed to run across, being sick all the way. (comical now, but not at the time) So I don't know what your experience is with migraines, but it's not like when you have a stomach flu and getting sick makes you feel better. With migraines, it makes it ten times worse. So anyway, LB takes me back to the hotel and here's where God stepped in.

During my dramatic exit from the restaurant, Jesse is hanging out in the hotel room with Carson. Somehow the bathroom door got jammed (I say locked) and when trying to open it, the door handle broke off in Jesse's hand. Leaving no access to the bathroom. He had a long, stressful day as well and was very frustrated, thinking "Why is this happening. Don't I have enough to deal with?" And talked with the front desk. They were very accomodating and set us up in a room a couple of floors down for the night until they could have the door handle fixed. Right about this time I called Jesse and told him what happened at the restaurant and that he would have to get the kids from Awanas. It was at this moment that Jesse realized why the door handle had broke. He met me at the door and took me right into the "extra room". (side note: Before I got back to the hotel, Jesse had managed to get the bathroom door open with a butter knife, but he had already had the other room set up. So the boys DID have access to the bathroom). There was no way that I could've slept in the room with Jesse and the kids with a migraine. I would have been sick all night long and into the next day.

So do you think things like this are a coincidence? I don't! Thank you, God!

Gypsy Life: Day One

We made it back to GF, MT safely and with no major catastrophes. Funny thing that when we got to Minn/St Paul airport for our layover, we walked down to our gate and saw Air Force One land right in front of us. I guess he was in town to speak at the college. Shoot, we should've just got a ride with him!

Anyway, the movers came today and packed everything up in boxes, we bought a GPS and a set of walkie-talkies (I know there is a cooler-more updated name for them, but that is what they are and I can't think of the other name for them), since Jesse has to turn in his work cell phone and won't get another til he reports to his new office. Sheesh, moving gets expensive! But we have our first night at our hotel that we will call home for five days, until we leave on Saturday. Tomorrow the movers will hit our storage unit and then Wednesday throw it all in the moving truck, not to be seen again until mid-November.

Not sure what else to say except that I have watched too many shows/news about bed bugs and am trying not to get creeped out by it. My step-Dad just had to deal with exterminating them in one of his rental units and with all of the hotels that we have to stay in for the next 20-ish days, I can't help but not get the heebie- jeebies!