Another Day, Another Post

I forgot to mention in my other posts, that within a week of moving here, Nicole finally learned how to ride her bike without the training wheels!  Now, on an occasional nice weather day, they go out and ride their bikes.

So on my last post, I wrote about Emily not having any other loose teeth, well that changed very quickly!  Emily was watching TV and somehow pushed one of her top teeth with her bottom teeth too hard, and it loosened it up. She said it hurt when she did it. So weird because I had been feeling those top teeth, and they weren't budging, and now it is pretty loose. I actually have the feeling Emily's top tooth will fall out before Nicole's, which have been loose forever now. Once Emily gets a loose tooth, she plays with it enough that it comes out fairly quickly.

The other day we went to my friend Rachel's, sister's house. She likes to make a lot of homemade products...laundry soap, regular soap, lotion, cleaning supplies, ect. Well when we went over there we made homemade chapstick! It came out wonderful and works great! I really appreciate her inviting us over to do this. Here are some pictures of my girl's making their very own chapstick!

 

 

Emily and Nicole's bunny's are getting so big! We sometimes bring them inside to let them run around and the girl's love playing with them. They each wanted their picture taken with a bunny, so here are some pictures of that. Soon, we might be getting Ashley a bunny, she has wanted one since Emily and Nicole first got theirs, and my friend's bunny just had babies not long ago.

 

 

These two bunnies are brother and sister, and love each other so much. We have them separated in different cages outside, but then put them together when we bring them inside. Lukily they have not reached sexual maturity yet, because right now when we put them together, they just like to snuggle and clean each other. It really is sweet. It'll be a sad day when they can no longer be put together to play.



Catching Up

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Trying To Settle In

We have been here over a month, and just now Joe got our computers hooked up. The problem is that our 4th bedroom is not finished yet, and that is ultimately where we will end up putting the computers. We also do not having a living room yet because as it stands, our living room will be in that 4th bedroom as well. We have a wood burning stove in the room where the living room should be, so we really can't put much around that. Most of the unpacking is done, but some is left undone also because of that 4th bedroom not being finished. I will take more pictures of the house once it is more complete. Here are a few pics of the rooms that are done.


Toy Room

Our Bedroom




 

Girl's Room 1

Girl's Room 2
 



Toy Room/Coat Closet 2

Clothing Closet





 



Toy Room/Coat Closet 1
 





Only 4 Days Left

It's been awhile since I wrote a new post, as I stated before, I will start doing posts regularly once I get settled in at TN. Only 4 days left until our move and I am getting anxious. I think it will be very chaotic at first, but hopefully we'll be able to settle down quickly. I've been very busy packing and also trying to get together with family and friends for the last time. Every time I say good-bye to someone else it just gets harder and harder. It really hurts inside. Right now I'm hoping we'll only be up there for the year, but only time will tell with that. Ashley has her last day of school on Friday (Joe has his last day of work), Sat. we get the truck and load it, Sunday we leave. I'm hoping we'll have a smooth sailing safe trip up there, I've heard nothing but news of bad weather, so hopefully it will be better by the time we leave this weekend. Here is a picture of the family before the move, you can even see the boxes in the background. :o(

Tentative Date Set

The trip to TN went okay. Undoubtedly the scenery is far more beautiful. When driving you see rolling hills, farm land, rivers and trees....much different than what you see driving through the city. However, with that said, I would personally trade all of that in to have everything close by. Everything out there is so far away, just to go to wal-mart will be a trip in itself. The manufactured home is small but doable, I know we'll make it work somehow. The 10 1/2 acres is cool to have, but will definitely require some work. I'm so sad to leave, but a small part of me is looking forward to a new beginning and "getting away from it all".  Here is a short video of the girls jumping into the leaves on our TN property.

 So Joe set a date to rent the U-Haul. He set it for January 25th, but also said if we need later that Feb. 1st would also be okay. I am trying to get Joe to set it for the Feb. 1st date instead so that gives us just a little more time. We are having a birthday party for Emily, Nicole, and Ashley on the 20th, and if we leave on the 25th that is just going to be too much of a time crunch. Not to mention that we pay by the month for Ashley's preschool, so I'd like for her to at least be able to finish out the month of January there. I will keep everyone up to date on the date we are going to leave for sure, as soon as I know.

The Notice Has Been Given

Talked to Joe last night, and he gave his notice to his job on Monday (Dec. 3rd). It is a 2 month notice, which means we should be moving around the 1st week of February. There are some things I am excited about....starting over in a new place, kind of like a new beginning. Also there are 2 girls in the "neighborhood" we will be staying at which are aged either 5 and 7 or 6 and 7. Either way, they are definitely in the right age group for Emily and Nicole. There are also a couple of stay at home mom groups in the county, though at this moment I do not know if I will continue to homeschool for 1st grade or let them finish out 1st grade in the public school there. Also (something I am looking the most forward to) is the fact that we will probably be able to own a few goats, bunny's, maybe a pig...I'm just a big animal person, and with having all that property, a barn, and a fenced in pasture, we can really explore having some animals we'd never be able to have here.  A couple of things I'm not looking forward to (other than obviously missing family and friends), is the cold weather and the fact that everything is so far away. Here in FL we are worried about "coastal flooding" and hurricanes, but there we have to worry about the New Madrid Fault. I found out that we are most definitely in a zone that could sustain damage from a massive earthquake. I think living out of the city will be to our benefit, but don't necessarily feel safer when it comes to global catastrophe's.  We are well into that red zone.



I am also worried about the restaurant failing. If it succeeds...awesome! But 80% of new restaurants fail, so we are more likely to fail than to succeed (statistically speaking). If it were just me and Joe fine, but we have our little girls to support, so this takes a huge leap of faith...faith that I don't have. Needless to say, we are leaving on Tuesday to check everything out, so when I get back I will write another post to let everyone know how it all went. I am hopeful.

Counting Down The Days

What I really want to call this is "My TN Nightmare", but truth be told, I don't really know how it will be. I am really nervous (and sad) about moving away from everything I've known all my life...all on a chance that this may or may not work. I won't be posting much here now, but as it gets closer to the time we leave and especially once I get there I will be using this all the time as a means for those I know and love to be in touch with how we are doing out there. As it stands right now the plan is to leave around the first week of February, but that is subject to change. As of right now Joe, myself, my mom, and the kids are all taking a trip up to TN Dec. 12th to view the potential property we are looking to rent from and also to check out the area/neighbors. Please save the web address (or add it to your favorites) so you can check in from time to time.