Hair Bows

I don't have little girls... I have nieces and two of my best friends have girls, so I live vicariously through them! This year for Christmas I wanted to do handmade gifts for these lovely girls in my life... there are two 3 year olds, one 1 year old, and two under one. So I came up with making hair bows... fueled by my obsession with Etsy.com and my friends (different friends) who were making hairbows for their little girls. So, I set out to get all the materials I needed (spent way too much on little stuff and ribbon I am sure) and made all these lovely bows for my favorite little girls!! I can't wait to give them all their gifts at Christmas. -- Now they are all given so I can post about it!!

I also made hairbow holders. I bought some cutouts at Michael's and Hobby Lobby that were pre-painted and added ribbon. They will look super cute in the girls' rooms (or closets, wherever they hang them)!

Last wreath of the season

My entire mantel... notice my "Wise Men still Seek Him" (another blog find)

I wanted a fun way to display cards this year and I needed something to hang over my fireplace (awesome to have one in our new house- even if we don't have any wood), so I scoured the pages of the crafting blogs I belong to... I found two that I really liked this one from Clover Lane and this one from Craftiness is not Optional. I couldn't get the supplies for the first one, so I did the clothes pin wreath instead... actually, I was going to do BOTH, but I didn't have time to drive an hour to a craft store to get the supplies I would need... plus, we moved and we aren't getting as many cards this year... hmmm...

Here is my example of the clothes pin wreath. I don't like my bow.... something I have to work on, but overall I love the outcome. A bonus was that Jman got to practice some small motor skills while we were working on this wreath, because he strung the beads for me. :)

Neighbor Gifts

I wanted to find a fun way to share the holidays with our new neighbors. I decided I wanted to make gift jars, after looking at tons of sites and recipes, I decided to use this one for oatmeal chocolate chip from Poofy Cheeks (click on cookie name for link to recipe). I changed the order of the ingredients... I put the brown sugar and then the white sugar. I tried it the way the recipe said to do it and the white sugar went all the way down and I didn't like the look. So, instead I put the brown sugar on top of the chocolate chips and packed it down slightly around the edges. Also, I didn't pack any of the ingredients down until the end if I needed to. It barely fills up the jar the way it is.

I had a couple of bags of holiday M&Ms, so I added those to the mix, it gave it a little color.

I made two of the snowball jars, because I had some pecans. This one does not fill the jar... I would think of doing it a little differently for that one. But overall I like the looks!

This is the snowball recipe... you can see that it doesn't quite fill up the 1 Quart jar

I made up the jars and put on the recipe tags and a little gift tag (get it here). I decorated a few of the jars with some snowman stickers I got for $1 at Walmart. The jars are also from Walmart (only $7.50 for 12!!). It was a very inexpensive gift, but I think it's thoughtful and fun!!

Fabric Wreath

I LOVE this wreath!

I got the fabric at JoAnn Fabrics and it didn't take too much time... I made a pretty big wreath so it took about 1.25 yards of fabric. I chose to only use 3 different kinds of fabric, because that was what I could find in the fabrics I liked (50% off though). I got the idea from Polka Dots and Pizza. She made a tutorial that you can take a look at. I wish I had a pinky blade for my roatary cutter, because cutting all the squares was hard on my fingers!!

5 little snowmen...

Another crafty day... easy crafts, but fun to know that I am accomplishing some things! This one is for Jackson's stocking and if I have time I will be making them for my neices. :)

I made this "snowman puppet" from a little white stretch glove. I found them at JoAnn Fabrics for $1 for the pair (you can make 2 out of each pair!). I got the idea from Mommy's Treasures, she made pumpkins and monsters. I think my little monster is going to love the "bloves" (gloves).

Here are a couple of poems I will be attaching to the gloves.

FIVE LITTLE SNOWMEN
from this site:
Five little men all made of snow
Five little snowmen in a row
Out came the sun and shone all day
And one little snowman melted away.
Continue for 4, 3, 2, 1

Five Little Snowmen
from this site:
5 little snowmen sitting on the ground, (pat hands on floor)
the first one said; "oh my aren't we round." (make circle with arms)
The second one said; "there are snowflakes in the air." (wiggle fingers above head)
The third one said; "but we don't care." (shrug shoulders)
The fourth one said; "lets run and run and run. (pat hands quickly on the floor)
The fifth one said; "I'm ready for some fun." (smile)
Whew went the wind (blow)
and out came the sun (make circle with arms over head)
and the five little snowman knew their fun was done.(pretend your melting)

Five Little Snowpeople

from this site:
Five little snowpeople, jolly and fat. The first one waved a big, black hat. The second one clapped his hands in the cold. The third one's eyes blinked and rolled. The fourth one stamped his feet up and down. And the fifth one turned around and around.

Toddler Sites

I offered for a friend to put up a few of the websites I have found for activities for kiddos. Here are a few sites that I have used. :) Enjoy!

http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/

http://activitymom.blogspot.com/

http://ucreatewithkids.blogspot.com/

http://jadaroo.blogspot.com/

http://sandtopearl.blogspot.com/

http://www.kids-meal-ideas.com/

http://momentsofmommyhood.blogspot.com/

http://www.alittletipsy.com/2010/10/preschool-at-home.html

http://maddiemadechristmas.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-11-20T12%3A43%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

Bowling Boys & Girls

I get Disney's Family Fun magazine and they always have such great ideas in there! In the October/November issue they had these little Bowling Boys. My little guy is ADDICTED to bowling. He is even in a league (for 2 year olds, he never gets more than 50)! So I thought this would be a perfect stocking stuffer for him!! I am making them for all the little boys in my life and even the little girls! They are really simple and inexpensive!! I'm making the Jman a second set to keep in the diaper bag... I hope they keep him occupied at the restaurant!!

I found my little bowling boys at this esty shop. But you can also get them from this website. I tried attaching the ribbon with Terrifically Tacky Tape, but I think that hot glue works better and is easier. I cut a whole bunch of ribbons (I got a bunch of these ribbons from the $1 section at Target) Then I used sharpies to draw the faces. Very simple!! You can seal them with a little spray, but I didn't do it this time. Maybe next time... I just ordered 200 more little men (makes 20 sets) from Caseyswood.com (I got my first batch of little men from this etsy shop, you can buy them at Michael's, but they were more expensive than the other places online) so I can make them for the rest of the people I want to make them for... I only made 5 sets for Christmas.

To make the gift I put the 10 little men and the ball in a baggie and attached a little directions (see below).

Yarn Wreath

So I finally tried one of the 1,000 cool ideas I found online for Christmas ... this does not mean I have any of my Christmas presents finished... ha ha!

I found some really cool wreaths on all the crafty blogs I follow... but I thought I would like one of these yarn wreaths. I found tutorials here and here. I bought all the stuff to do this wreath from Polka Dots and Pizza... but I definately need to get my Christmas presents finished BEFORE I can start on this one!!

I decided to use a 10 inch straw wreath for 2 reasons 1) it was only $2.79 at Hobby Lobby, so if I didn't like it or never got to it this winter, I wouldn't feel so bad. 2) I wanted to go small so I could have time to finish it! I used Sugar 'n Cream cotton crochet yarn called Misteltoe (mostly because it was cheap and had all three colors I was looking for on 1 roll... red, green, white). Anyhoo... I really like how it turned out. :) I finally was able to finish it last night when my 2 year old had finally headed to bed and was actually STAYING in his bed!!

Things I learned from this wreath:

1. Thicker yarn might be more expensive, but it won't take as long to wrap! :)
2. The wreath needs to be covered before you put on the yarn- I saw someone use some batting. I think it would make it smoother, the straw sticks up and makes it uneven.
3. It's imporant that you look at the back to make sure you aren't overlapping the yarn, because it will leave gaps.
4. USE the GLUE GUN A LOT!!

Deer Hunting

We were lucky to have my family come visit last weekend! It was Deer hunting, so the big boys were all off hunting. The little boys and us girls stayed home and played! We did go to Decorah for a big Walmart trip... always the excitement! Here are some pictures of the family's visit. Boys with Grandma Donna and Grandpa Leslie- Jman is watching a Christmas movie, can't be torn away... :)
I took about 15 pictures and this one is my favorite... it captures what these boys do!
Boys with Grandma and Aunt Jenny.

Gum drop tree

Yesterday, Jackson and I created a gum drop tree. I found it on this blog Jada Roo Can Do. I also saw it some other place and thought it would be cute. I thought I would be different and use green and red Christmas Bells. Yeah, big mistake! Jackson has since destroyed the tree by taking all the candy off and eating it (taking out the toothpicks- Thanfully). I should have used the spice drops... no one likes those. Oh, well, next year! The cute decoration lasted 1 night at least!!
Maxwell at age 4weeks!

Jackson fixing "Baby Jesus's house"- by the morning he had broken the whole thing!!

If you get mail from me... you might be getting one of these in the mail, too! But I couldn't wait to share my creation and beautiful pictures of my little ones! I have a Christmas card started, too... but I need to get their outfits cleaned so I can take the picture!!!!

Maxwell Allan

He's HERE!! Finally, after 9 months of waiting and 7 months of hoping... We have our perfect little bundle! He is just Wonderful and we couldn't be a happier family of FOUR!!

Maxwell Allan was born a day early... November 8, 2010 at 9:53 AM. He was suppose to be born on November 9, via c-section, but couldn't wait!

I went into labor around 12:30am on Monday the 8th. I convinced myself by 5am that it was false labor... however by 6:30am-- there was no denying... I was in labor! We went to the hospital. They were going to make me wait until NOON to have my c-section, WOW! I was in so much pain and my contractions were only 5 minutes apart...I couldn't help but to cry. The nurse came back in a few minutes later and said I bumped the 9am person and now we were going to have a baby ASAP!! They gave me some drugs to stop the contractions. Life was much better after that! I cried a bunch before the c-section-- mostly because I was upset that our plans had changed. I was suppose to have Maxwell on my Mom's 60th birthday (Nov. 9), but since he had different plans...

Maxwell arrived a healthy 9 pounds & 9 ounces (exactly the same as Jackson) and 21 inches long. When we left the hospital he was at 8 pounds & 8 ounces. He was a little Jaundice-- so we had to get his heel pricked over the first week of his life. But by the time his first week came along he was up to 9 pounds & 2 ounces and his Jaundice was on it's way down and his coloring is almost normal now.

Here are a picture from his first day... I still have to upload more from the last week. :)

ambitious

I have to stop looking at Do-It-Yourself Blogs. In my head I have become a master of sewing (even though I haven't gotten my sewing machine plugged in yet) and all other crafty things. Is it nesting? Maybe, I just want to make everything i see!! Here are a few Christmas presents I hope to accomplish for my kids and a few other kiddos in my life...

1. A puppet theatre for Jackson!
2. A Book Sling for baby, Jackson, and a few other special little people.
3. A Hobby Horse for each of my little boys.
4. An Advent Calendar (for next Christmas I think) for my little guys.

Of course all of these have to wait until AFTER I have finished my class (due Nov. 30th)and baby #2 is born (November 9). But maybe I can get a few of these done...

Tired...

It's amazing what a busy weekend will do to a women who is 9 months pregnant. The wedding was Saturday- it's Tuesday and I am STILL exhausted! It was a great weekend filled with friends and family! Jackson did an awesome job as the ring bearer! He danced until 10:30pm on Saturday! He did about a million cute things during the wedding, rehearsal, bus ride, and reception!

Here are a couple of cute pictures I have. I will get more posted later this week!

4 Weeks...

In four weeks... yes, that's 4 weeks... I will officially be the mother of two little boys! I can't believe how fast/slow this pregnancy has gone! I can't get enough of snuggling Jackson, because I know in 4 weeks (yep, 4 weeks), my attention will be split and I am just not sure I am ready for that!!

I have a list... quite long really... of things that need to be done before the baby arrives in Waukon. Maybe if I make a list and post it for other people I will actually get some of it accomplished.

1. Set up swing in living room
2. Set up pack 'n' play in our bedroom
3. Wash diapers
4. Clean out baby's room
5. Hang up curtains in Baby and Jackson's room
6. Purchase baby bouncer and monitor
7. Make Baby's blanket
8. hang up pictures in baby's room
9. Wash bottles
10. Pack "emergency" hospital bag
11. Make at least 2 more casseroles for freezer
12. Clean out and plug in big freezer in garage
13. Wash Boppy
14. Potty train child #1 (okay, so this isn't going to happen, but I wish)
15. Finish video class (due at end of November)
16. Figure out how to use my sewing machine so I can finish the 3 Christmas presents I want to make.
17. Finish buying all my Christmas presents... really only have a few things left on the list.
18. Finish Jackson's Pregnancy book... I don't think this baby is getting one... maybe he will get a pregnancy section in his scrapbook.
19. Take picture of Jackson with my belly...
20. About 100 other little things I want done!
Ahhhhhh!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Two weekends ago we went to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch in Praire du Chein while my parents were here to visit. Jackson has become obsessed with apples since the visit and so have I! Jackson carries around an apple after his nap and munches on it until dinner time (he still only gets about 1/3 of the way through the apple).

I love making things with the apples we purchased. Although, I find it time consuming (and my feet swell) when I have to stand and core/peel/slice or dice the apples, so I haven't made as much as I would like. But I want to get a peck of apples to make some more desserts and apple sauce before Apple season is done! I made this really easy applesause... super easy and fast. core/peel/slice 8 apples, 3/4 c. brown sugar, 1/2 c. water, 1 Teaspoon cinnamon. Mix all together in crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours. Smash with potatoe masher and serve warm (or cold). It's wonderful!!! I also made an apple crisp for Andy, because he loves apple crisp. I have to make it again for him, because we had company when we made it and he didn't get to have any leftovers. Here are some pictures of our trip. :)

Crunch, crunch...
The Moores

Bowling Time

Jackson has "joined" a bumper bowling league! He started yesterday (Saturday), with a whopping score of 31- he had a BLAST!! It's a drop in kind of league, we go at 10am on the days we are able to go and then he is put on a team with other kids who have shown up, too.

This week, Jackson bowled with 2 other little boys. One was 5 and 1 was about 3. Jackson had so much fun!! Although his score was 31 and he got the ball going at about 1.2 mph, for a little boy bowling with a 6lb ball (1/5 of his weight), he did great. 1 hour later and 20 thrown balls later Jackson completed his first bowling game. I think we know what he will be getting for Christmas this year!! :)

Andy's parents stopped by to see the last few frames and Jackson was excited to see Grandma Jo and Granpa Larry. We then went to the park for a little while. He was very tired by the end of it and took a 3 1/2 hour nap!

We will definately be spending Saturday mornings bowling for the next 15 weeks.

Enjoy the pictures!
Love,
The Moores

Some fun picture updates

Insurance

I have calmed down quite a bit about this topic and now I think I am ready to blog about it.

There is new legislation that has been passed with "Obama Care" that says that when a child under the age of 19 gets a new insurance plan can have no pre-exisiting conditions exceptions placed on the policy. It use to be that the insurance companies could give them coverage, but exclude certain conditions either forever or for a certain time period. Now, with this new legislation (effective Sept 23, but Sept 1 with all insurance companies, due to the way they do buisness) the insurance companies are being forced to take ALL pre-exisiting conditions or deny the child coverage.

Because I am no longer working, we need to buy individual health insurance for our family. Andy was accepted, Jackson was excluded from coverage-- this means denied coverage due to "multiple" illnessess... aka pneumonia and ear infections. So, we were ALMOST without coverage, but we could add our family to my coverage through Davenport up until September 5-- it was September 3 when we were told about this denial.

We wanted the best coverage for our family, now we have to decide to pay HUGE amounts of money for the best coverage or go for sub-standard and just get Jackson on a plan, hoping that in the future we can get the BEST coverage at some time.


Just another bump in this road of life...

Labor Day Weekend

It's been a very busy, but fun weekend at the Moore House! We had lots of company (which we loved) and got to spend our time as a family!! We even had a break from "projects" for the weekend!!

Friday, we spent most of the night getting ready for our company. During the week we got the bathroom upstairs and the main floor powder room done and the baby's room 2nd coated. So we were able on Friday to move all of the furniture back into the baby's room and get it set up a little. That means that Jman's room also got put together! We got the guest room all set up with a new bed and nice and organized! The boys' bathroom is all blue and done and looks GREAT! We just have to hang a mirror to finish it off! The Powder Room got 2 coats of Autumal (we need some artwork hung up to make it complete) and it no longer looks like a cave!

Saturday we spent some time cleaning up the main floor and getting a few things together/cleaned up. Then Michael and Jenny (my bro and future Sister-in-law) came for a visit. We went to the river and hung out with the Moore family in Postville. Andy's older brother and his family were also up for the weekend. Then we came back to our house and Michael and Andy hung out in the hot tub while I made breakfast casseroles.

Sunday, andy's family came to breakfast and to hang out. Jackson just loved playing with his cousin Aubrey (Ahh-Bee). They spent a lot of time just following each other around. He also just couldn't get enough of having Uncle Michael and Aunt Jenny around. He is still talking about them!! Sunday afternoon we hit the river again in Lansing. Then Michael and jenny headed home and we headed to Postville to hang out for awhile with everyone. The kids had a great time together!!

Today, Monday, we did a whole lot of just hanging out. We stayed in bed until 8:30, then had waffles. Hung out some more and headed to get sand for Jman's sandbox. He fell asleep in the car on the way home. Then we took naps (all 3 of us). After our naps, Andy and Jackson got his sandbox filled up. After that we met our friend Bean and her daughter and Mom at the park in Waukon. She was visiting from Ames. It was nice to catch up. We then headed home and played in the sandbox and sang songs! It was a relaxing day, until the whole storm system came through and interupted bed time! Jman was afraid of the thunder. So, it was another late bedtime!

Now, I am tired and we have a long day ahead of us. We have a visitation to attend in Cedar Falls. And then we are getting ready for yet another trip to the QCA!

Another week of excitement!
Love,
The Moores

Sleep

I have 12 weeks until this baby is due to arrive... 11 weeks until my c-section will be scheduled... I know that pregnancy is suppose to get you ready for having a newborn, but this is ridiculous! I can't sleep, an hour, maybe 2 if I am lucky. Doesn't little boy #2 know that his brother slept through the night at 2 weeks??? I'm not planning on being up this much with #2!!

Sleep, please come soon!

Naptime

Sometimes, naptime is a horrendous, terrible, screaming mess. Other times it is easy and Jman just says, nigh, night Mommy. And he's out.

Today, was not one of those easy to bed days. Daddy was home longer than normal at lunchtime, so Jackson got to eat and play with Daddy... that makes for a wound up little boy! He did not want to go down. I had to finally just throw him into the crib and he laid down and was out.

What I find funny is how he goes down mad as bee... but wakes up and plays in his crib, talking, reading, playing with "wiggle" (Wrigley his puppy from Build a Bear. He named it after my parents' neighbors' dog.). A nap was all the little boy needed. :)

I still don't have my cupcakes frosted... I was going to make homemade chocolate frosting, but I think it might be a day for canned frosting. I'm not Suzy homemaker yet... I'm too interested in unpacking and organizing and decorating my house. Maybe another day!!

Stink

As I type Jackson is on the other side of the room getting out all of the stuff to change his "stink". He just said, "Stink". Then went for the diaper cady, took out the changing pad and laid it down! All without any prompting... I guess changing a stinky diaper is in my future!!

Week 3 in Waukon

I will soon have to stop the week by week count up, because this is where we call home now, but it's easier to keep track for now!

We have started the week off well. Jackson is starting to get into a routine... bedtime at 9pm, awake about 8:15. I am loving this schedule!! Although, we now have to use an alarm so that Andy can get to work on time. ;) But I can live with that! Now, if I could only sleep more than 30 minute to 1 hour stretches! I do not remember having this much trouble sleeping this early with Jackson!

Today, Jackson and I ran a few errands. Of course one of the stores I wanted to go to was closed. But I got to Fareway and the hardware store. One good thing about not having HyVees and Target close is that our selections are limited and I can keep my grocery bill lower... less temptations!! :)

While Jackson was napping (and before my nap), I taped the trim/windows/doors in the baby's room. Then after naptime I taped in Jackson's room. Andy and his dad are going to start painting tomorrow. We have to prime 1 big wall in each of the boys' rooms because of the dark color. I am excited to have some before and after pictures of that!! I also painted a sample of the paint I want to paint the powder room. I can't decide if I like the color or if I just like ANYTHING better than what was there. ;)

**Jackson just fell off the couch. He bumped his bottom against the coffee table. He said, "Mommy kiss it". Then he went to his diapers and pulled a new one out, because the diaper hurt. The new diaper made it all better!!

We are headed to Bettendorf of Wednesday. We have lots of fun things planned... including a RhoGam shot for me, dinner with friends for Jenny, shopping, Stroller Strides (a couple of times), and a birthday party! Can't wait to see my family and friends!

Jman Moments

As of 2 weeks ago, Jackson would not count past 2. He would repeat: "1, 2, 1, 2". Last Wednesday he counted "1,2,3" while we were at a furniture store, but did not repeat it again. Wednesday, he started counting to 10! He does it a lot when we are going up and down the stairs and sometimes will even make it to 14. He is getting so smart!! He doesn't skip numbers that I have noticed, but sometimes will say 7 or 8 two times in a row.

Today, he FINALLY started singing his ABC's. He says L,M,N,O,P really fast, it's so cute! He also sang Twinkle, Twinkle and Row, Row, Row Your boat. In the past he has just refused to do so, I was wondering when he would get into singing songs, since he LOVES to dance to them! We are very proud!

Trucks, Tractors, and Bowling are all his favorites. We live very close to the bowling alley in town. Andy took him there on Tuesday night while I was at Wal-Mart. So now when we pass the bowling alley, he repeats bowling alley for about 20 minutes! Tonight, Andy had to run in the alley to drop something off and Jackson cried for 30 minutes about going into the bowling alley. Nothing would get him off of it, not even ice cream! We have a field in the front yard and they have been harvesting the alfafa for the last couple of days, that is exciting, because Jman got to watch the tractors. Down the street is a cement plant- so we have dump trucks and cement mixers up and down the street, he also loves that!! Not to mention that we live on the golf course, so he sees the golf carts driving around!! Very busy!

Today, we were outside singing our songs, mowing the lawn, and playing with the rocks in the yard (in the flower beds and fire-pit) and Jackson looked up at the sky and started putting his toys away. He kept saying it was going to rain! It didn't for another 2 hours, but he was convinced and had to go into the house! Very cute!!

I think that's all for now. I found my adapter, so I need to take some more pictures over the weekend and get them up!

Much love,
The Moores

Painting

So... We had an estimate for the rooms in the house to be painted- just bedrooms, bathrooms, basement ceiling, and living room. Though the bid was very reasonable and the ladies would be fun to work with, Andy has talked me out of having them do any of the painting right now. We are definately hiring them for the basement ceiling (if I have any say, the basement walls, too). So now it's going to be done by my fabulous husband... he is going to try to get Jackson's room and baby #2's room done while the Jman and I are out of town next week. I think I will do a little taping next week to help him along!

I am going to attempt to do the painting in the boys' bathroom. There are no windows and just 1 doorway, I am hoping I can accomplish it the week after next. I have to make a trip to Lowe's to get the paint. So, my next trip the QCA will not be a cheap one, either! But, since we are saving money on the painters, we can get the new mirrors and lights for the bathrooms that I wanted. :)

I really need to tackle some boxes now... the gloomy day is not overly motivating!

Menards Online Sucks

I just tried to place 1 order on menards.com. However, somehow without me choosing to CONFIRM the order, it placed the same order 2 times! Now, on normal shopping websites, you can immediately delete/cancel an order when something like this happens... or they offer you a PHONE NUMBER to call to assist you... NOT on Menards! You have to send an EMAIL. I guess I will have to call a store and get them to give me a phone number to someone in the online department, because I AM NOT paying for the same order twice. GRRRR!!!!

Not only am I tired of spending money on a our new house and wishing that all our boxes would just disappear and all of our thing would magically be organized into the proper place, but now I have to deal with dumb stuff like call Menards to figure out the issue!

Time for bed, my ranting is done. I do love my new house and adore being with my whole family (cat included), I just have this nesting issue going on, on top of all my instant gratificatin needs. ;)

Love,
The Moores

Pictures of our House in Waukon

I tried making this a link, but my brain is done working for the day...

http://photo1.walgreens.com/walgreens/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4130991003/a=4339660_4339660/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/

Week 2 in Waukon

We survived week 1 and are on to week 2! I have yet to find all of my computer stuff, so I still can't upload pictures, but I hope to get the energy/time to get it done this week!

We have had an exciting week so far. We brought our Spooky cat home! It is great to have her around and I think she likes having us here so far. She is currently looking out the window at all the stuff in the backyard. She slept with us last night, instead of hiding under the bed. Today she cuddled with me while I rested and she even hangs out with Jackson a bit. He is still not quite use to her being here, but I'm sure their friendship will pick up where it left off very soon!

Jackson is still having a hard time adjusting. He is fine while we are in the house and outside playing, but if you move too many things while he is watching or if anyone "strange" comes into the house, he gets really clingy and whiney. He is also watching WAY too much TV for my liking, but since I need time to get stuff done right now, so we can live here, it will just have to do! We need to get a routine of things we do, but everything has been so off with the move and trying to make our house liveable, it's just not possible.

We were in the Quad Cities over the weekend. That was fun. My mom and I went out and picked up a bunch of stuff that we needed and that is hard to find around here. It's expensive to move! We have to replace all of the faucets in the bathrooms, because they don't have drains. This is not acceptable for me! I have a 2 year old- we can't risk him figuring out you can drop things down there!!! I figure since we are going to have the bathrooms painted, we will replace the boring mirrors and light fixtures, too. It will really give all of the bathrooms a new look without spending a ton of money.

We are having fans installed in the bedrooms upstairs and having some painting done. I wish we could just do all the painting at once, but I think we will have to settle for just a few rooms at a time... the kids' rooms & bathroom are first and then the main floor powder room. They are all way too dark! next priority for me is our room and bathroom... I need something other than gray!!

I tried to go to Walmart today... however, we had unexpected visitors... the electrician came to see about the lights we need done and Andy's cousin Amy and her son Ryder stopped by. I was all packed and everything to go! Now, I am waiting for Andy to get home so I can make my trip. I just want to get it all done today, so I can go to the hardware store tomorrow to find the other stuff I need. If I can get to Decorah tonight I can stick closer to home tomorrow and finish up.

It's made difficult, because we eat lunch at 12 (andy comes home, which we love) and then Jackson goes down for his nap... he's been taking 3 1/2 hour naps! So he went down around 1 and didn't get up until 4:30. We can't go to Walmart, cause it will be supper time and I just don't feel like taking a hungry little boy to walmart!

More another day...hopefully with pictures!

Moving...

We have moved into our new home in Waukon. I love all the GREAT space and all the plans that I have to look forward to comepleting! The house has some great aspects, but needs a good paint job. I am a warm color person... so I need walls that aren't so gray. :) Even the boys' rooms have gray walls!!

The move started last week when Andy worked everyday after work to move things from our storage units into the garage of the house. Unfortunately, most of our furniture had mold on it from being in the storage units in the heat and humidity. This was a HUGE set back for moving in. Although, our furniture has never looked so good!!! :) Saturday was spent with our parents cleaning all the furniture and moving things as we could. My mom got all the kitchen organized and cleaned. I have a few things I need to move around... but not too much! She is great at organizing! Andy's mom watched Jman at their house so we could get stuff done.

Sunday, more scrubbing and organizing. I got a lot of closets cleaned out and little things organized. We also have been doing laundry Non-stop. There was a lot of stinky linens! But now I am able to put some of those linens away and get it more organized. after my parents left on Sunday, Jo and I set up the living room furniture and got all our clothes in the right places!

Monday, I spent the entire day emptying boxes and putting family room and kitchen things away. We have made the Family room/eat-in kitchen/kitchen liveable. I am going to keep this area liveable so that we can have a place that doesn't feel chaotic! I have most of the linen closet upstairs put away, too. It's weird having so much space I keep moving things around to make them fit!

Today, was a big day... we went to Walmart. We left the house at 8am, dropped my car off to be fixed in Postville, back to Waukon, then to Decorah. It was fine until we had been at Walmart for awhile and Jackson climbed out of the strap in the cart, so he walked for awhile... then he cried for most of the rest of the trip and fell asleep in the car... it was exhausting!!! But I got what we needed at Walmart!!

I will upload some pictures tonight.

Waukon, here we come!!

We are headed to Waukon, FINALLY!!! We are moving on Saturday and hopefully will have our stuff at least at the house by the end of the day!!! I can't wait to have my family together again!!!

Jman 2nd birthday (251 photos), by Emily Moore

I'd like to share my Walgreens Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Album 07/15/10 (40 photos), by Emily Moore

I'd like to share my Walgreens Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

30...

I turned 30 last month... I have been "avoiding" uploading pictures, mostly because I am tired, but it also makes it real... ha ha. I had a great day with family and friends. I was lucky to have my friends all come out to eat with us the Saturday before and we had a nice time! Of course, not being able to drink made it less "exciting"!