First off, let me just tell you, that I am having so much trouble posting pictures on this. The pictures just do not move how I want them to! So I am sorry if the pictures seem all messed up when I post them. I just wanted to catch up on everything that has happened since we've been here. The first thing was/is that dumb ol' wood burning stove. Ahhhh! Hate that thing. The biggest problem is location, it is just in such a weird spot and takes up so much room that we can not have a living room. It was also very expensive and hard to install. After all that work and all that money, we have ended up not using it anyway! Joe is gone long hours and it is hard for me to maintain it and keep it going during the day. Likewise at night, it was hard for Joe to have to get up several times during the night trying to keep it going, so ultimately we have ended up getting gas heat, which does do a good job of heating up the house. So you would probably tell yourself, great, now you can just get rid of the wood burning stove and get your living room back. Nope, Joe wants to keep it for emergencies. So here it will sit, just waiting for an emergency I suppose. It is too big, heavy, and hard to take in and out to move it, unless we (actually Joe) wanted it gone for good.
The best thing that has happened since I've been here was/is becoming great friends with one of the homeschooling moms. She is only a few miles away from me, so we get together at least a few days a week. This has been extremely important lately since Joe got a truck (it lasted for a little over a week), and has been broken down ever since. I believe going on 3 weeks now. So since then I have been stuck without a car but thanks to my friend, I have been able to get out a little bit with her. She and her husband have just opened up their own church, so we have been going to her church on Tuesday's for homeschooling co-op classes, on Wed. nights for a girls club for the girls, and of course on Sunday's for church and Sunday school. I never thought I'd be in a church so much, but I guess you just never know! It gives us something to do, and the girls seem to really enjoy it. One day she picked us up and we went to the park that is almost right behind their church. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.
Another thing that has happened since we've been here, was a couple of days of snow. Since I've never actually seen snow falling, and I am so used to living in FL, the first couple of times I looked outside, I didn't even realize it was snowing. My brain was telling me it must be pollen falling from our big tree (even though there really are no leaves on the tree, lol). I just never expected it to snow. Finally I realized it was snowing and told the girls and they all ran outside to "play" in it. They couldn't really play in it because it melted as soon as it touched anything. They mostly were just sticking their tongues out and trying to catch it. By the second day it was snowing, they weren't even interested in going outside to play in it. Here are a few pics from their first time in the snow.
My friend also told me about a program that Lowe's has that we will be bringing the girl's to, twice a month. It is Lowe's build and grow. The kid's loved it! They get to go there and build different things, the week that we went the girl's built a monster truck, almost completely by themselves! Here is a picture of the finished product.
More recently, Emily just lost her second tooth. Oh boy was this crazy! We Emily had been wiggling and wiggling her tooth, it was actually becoming uncomfortable for her to eat anything. She'd want me to wiggle it, but not pull it out, and honestly I was too scared to pull too hard anyway. Ultimately I somehow convinced her to let me put a string around it and tie it to a door and then slam the door shut. She was apprehensive, but was convinced with an oreo cookie. :o) Well, once I got the string around well enough, I decided just to give it a quick yank...and it worked! Tooth popped right out! She started crying, so I comforted her, but then she told me she was crying because she was so happy it was finally out! Here is a picture taken right after we got it out.
With that said, Nicole's two top teeth have been loose for over a year now! She doesn't want them to come out, so she never messes with them, and they just won't loosen up enough to come out. My girl's are 7 years, 2 1/2 months old, and both have only lost their two bottom teeth. Emily has no other loose teeth. I'm guessing by the time they are 8-9, they will probably start loosing them more rapidly?
So, is Petey having a good time? Well, here he is chasing a miniture horse!
Before we moved in, I was told that the minture horse was somewhat of an esacape artist, and sure enough the other day he/she was out in our yard. Petey and Sally (the next door neighbor's dog) chased him/her back to his/her own yard. Petey is living it up here, being both an inside and outside dog. He gets to play outside with his neighborhood dog friends, marking his spots, freedom to roam around, chase cars, chase horses, etc. Plus he gets to come inside and be loved by all of us. While the horse was out, we got to get up close and petted all the horses, these are my favorite pictures from that.
Here are a couple of more pictures. One is a picture of the ladybug's the girl's have caught (they catch them everyday). The lady bugs don't like the cold so they always end up inside by the windows. I'm not sure where they come in at, but everyone out here get's the ladybugs. And the other is just a sassy picture of Ashley. Their Aunt Katie sent them some sweatshirts and Ashley wanted to pose and show it off. :o)
As far as schooling goes, I have decided to continue with homeschooling. The biggest thing is that the kids would be getting on the bus between 6:45am/7am and then don't get home until 3:30pm/3:45pm. That is a very LONG day for children who are used to being home all the time. I have asked them both if they WANT to go to public school and they don't. I've also heard that the school they'd be going to really isn't a great school. We are part of a homeschool group out here that get's together for field trips, party's, etc. We're also part of a co-op that my friend just recently started, and then they also have a couple of neighborhood friends as well. Now that my computer is up and running, hopefully I can also do more research to maybe find some other groups, friends, activities, etc.
As far as Joe's restaurant goes, the closer it get's to opening, the more I am believing it is going to be a success. Compared to all the other restaurants we've been to out here (that are open and doing well), Ernie's food is above average. Everyone who has tasted the BBQ loves it! He also has a special sauce that really is special. I have never had better BBQ sauce in my life, and everyone who has tasted it feels the same. They are going to have a soft opening on the 15th, and then once they feel comfortable with everything, they will advertise and have a grand opening.
So I guess that is it, now you are up to date on how it has been going here. Weather wise, it is crappy. Either rainy, windy, cold, or all of the above. So far we seem to rarely have a nice sunny day. Only a few times since I've been here. All the girl's have gotten hair cuts (that I did myself) and are really loving them. And now that I have my computer back I'll be able to keep up with everything that is going on. Hope you enjoy! Miss everyone SO SO much!
