February 2012

February 1st: Finally Mara's First Lost Tooth!

 

Tooth Fairy brought a 2 dollar bill!

 

She got a necklace from Kindergarten to celebrate. 

 

The girls discovered that playing in the 'hallway/landing' area is their favorite. 

 

February 6th: Lost tooth #2 

 

This time she got Gold Dollars from the Tooth Fairy!

 

 Shortly after we moved in we saw a mouse running around. We're pretty sure it got stuck in the wall and died. But then we found 2 more in Feb. After a TON of chasing and blocking off areas Pat finally killed them! (on different days too)

 

I LOVE this picture of my baby! Oh how she loves her blanket :) 

 

Valentines day called for heart hair!! 

 

 

On a warmer day, we took a walk to the elementary school so the kids could play. 

 

Jaina found daddy's phone and tried calling Mana!

 

 

Time for Birthday Celebrations!

My cake.

 

 Karri surrounded it with white chocolate Vinylmation guys and decorated them to match actual figures. It was awesome!!! 

 

Pat's cake: Boba Fett stuck in the Sarlacc Pit!!

 

 

Got a display case for my ever growing Vinylmation collection! 

 

 

Not sure why, but Mara wanted a picture of her on her bed.

 

Jaina set up a little bed on the floor beside Mara's 

 

I caught Jaina playing in the toy bucket after dumping it all out! Kids are funny. 

January 2012

Not much happened in January besides the kids starting a new school, making new friends, getting used to our new house and new ward.

But I did have a crazy case of eczema from head to toe 2 weeks after we moved. I saw a few doctors, got a cortisone shot, got some great great lotion and just had to wait it out! It was by far the WORST 2 weeks EVER!  I'm so glad it hasn't come back.  They couldn't figure out the cause besides the combination of new house, new water/air, new elevation, stress of moving, dry winter air, etc.

 

 

Jaina discovered the fun of sitting in the baby doll stroller. 

 

 

 

Cute girl watching Xander play his DS. 

 

Mara had her first loose tooth, but the adult tooth came in before the baby one fell out! 

Dec 2011 - New Years Eve

After a week of getting our house put together, we were super excited to be able to have our family over to OUR house for New Years Eve 2011.

 

 

Maddox, Mara, Addi 

 

Xander, Noah 

 

Xander, Cody, Noah, Alex 

 

Lana, Gwen, Liza, Me, Tammy

Maddox, Addi, Mara 

 

Noah 

 

We had good food, awesome family and made a lot of noise when the ball dropped.

Happy New Year

Dec 2011 - New House

Well, I'm officially a full year behind on this blog :(

It's time for much needed catch-up

 

Thursday, October 6th, 2011: We walked though THE HOUSE!! 

After looking at over 70 homes in 7 months, offering on 3, we finally found the one that felt perfect!!  It was a short sale and had been on the market for 1 day.  We immediately offered on it that night and were accepted by the owner by Monday!!  The whole process went fairly quick compared to other short sales I'd heard about.  There was a little hiccup around Thanksgiving, but when that got all sorted out, we were in the clear!!  We were able to close/fund/and get keys on Friday, December 23rd!!  It was the BEST Christmas Present EVER!  We cleaned the 23rd and 26th. Then moved in on the 27th!  We had awesome friends and family help out a TON those days.

 

*most of these first pics were taken during our 2nd walk through.

 

Kids rooms and bathroom.

I LOVE the Window Seats!

 

Master Bathroom

 

Many angles of the main floor/kitchen. 

 

Backyard/side yards

*needed a TON of work

 

 View from kitchen looking at dining area and 'hallway' to rooms, also lower family room.

 

 Front view

 

 

12-23-11 Closing Day!!!!! 

 

 

 

First time in OUR house!!  It was freezing cold in and out. 

 

Jaina looks so tiny in that window seat! 

 

Karri came down with dinner and to help! 

 

The kids had a grand time setting up all the little people, trying to keep busy in the empty house. 

 

12-27-11  Moving day! 

 

 

We had been boxing things up slowly for over a month! 

 

Friends Matt Marshall and Eric Westover helping load the truck. 

 

The kids room looking quite empty! I'm still amazed they all survived being in the same room together for so long! 

 

 

Time to UNLOAD!

I am SO thankful that we had a dry winter so we didn't have to deal with the snow while moving. 

 

Getting the girls room set up. 

 

 

Mara was super excited to have a princess canopy for her bed.

 

Jaina took over the stairs immediately!