My plan was more often....

I had planned to blog more than once a month, but I have found that being a stay at home mom is much more time consuming than originally thought. The weeks seem to be flying by. We try to stick to a routine for Annabelle's nap, but then we also try to sneek in some outside play time, storytime and some play dates throughout the week as well. Once we've done all that it's almost dinner time and time for Daddy to come home. Here's some quick little updates on each of us...

Annabelle - she's walking! She looks like a little zombie with her arms straight out and her legs not bent. But she's the most adorable zombie EVER!! She is so excited to be walking. She literally went from crawling one day to walking the next. She trys so hard to keep up with Andrew that she is so happy to be moving at a faster pace, finally. She practices walking a lot with her baby stroller. Today I saw Andrew chasing her while she pushed it. Annabelle was laughing so hard she could hardly stand!

Andrew - he has been a social butterfly since we moved here. We were a little worried that having him out of day care would take its toll, but Andrew has two new friends that he gets along GREAT with. We see Jonathan about once a week. Andrew loves going to his house because Jonathan has a train table. The boys get along great and play with trains for hours. Jonathan has a new liter of puppies at his house. They are always trying to get us to take one home. I'm sure if we had a house to live in, David wouldn't even let us go over there for he knows we wouldn't be able to leave without one. Sensibility kicks in now for I know we don't have any room for a dog in this townhome!! Andrew's other buddy, Jacob, we see about twice a week. Jacob is another recent Louisville transplant. Jacob's mom Jen is another stay at home mommy, so we typically get together twice a week and find a park for the boys to run around and burn off their energy. Jen and I swap ideas on things to do with the kids - cheap and fun stuff!

David - busy, busy, busy! He's been working ALOT! He took a quick trip to Minneapolis to train his replacement and check in on our house a couple weeks ago. He's been working on a couple big projects lately, so we are anxious for things to calm down so we can see a little more of him in the coming months. Dave loves his new position and confirms the move has been well worth it!

Me - busy with the kids as usual. In my limited free time, I've been catching up on my scrapbooking and doing a lot of cooking. Cooking is a passion of mine that went by the wayside during my full time working days. A friend of mine has a cooking blog that I enjoy, so I might change things up a bit with a recipe here and there. With all the cooking, I've been forced to get back into a workout routine. Typically 5 days a week I will jump on the elliptical, pop in a movie and burn some calories. It's exhausting, but I feel so great afterwards!

As promised, here are some pictures of the kiddos. Enjoy!

Over the weekend we went to Discover the Dinosaurs. Not to sound negative, but what a rip off! We spent 30 minutes in line to get tickets (that was after we cut in line - Matt and Sheryl had saved our place and already waited about 30 minutes). The tickets cost $37 for the four of us to get in. We zipped though the dino exhibit in about 15 minutes and spent the majority of the time in line for the bouce houses, which, by the way cost, another $6 per time to go on! Not doing that again! Andrew had fun and that was the reason we went, but I think we'll find a cheaper place to enjoy bouce houses next time. (Doesn't he look excited here)
Miss Annabelle - she wants to do everything big brother does!

Last weekend we went to the car show and guess who made an appearance!?!?!

Our favorite cart at the grocery store. Thankfully that have about 6 of them, but boy are they a pain to steer! Good thing I have two extra drivers to help.

Here's Mocha trying to sneek along on Dave's trip to Minnesota.

We got 3 1/2 inches of snow today. The kids had a blast playing in the snow this morning. Annabelle only lasted about 10 minutes, but Andrew insisted on staying out a while longer.

Annabelle is not sure what to make of snow. I don't think she cracked a smile they entire time we were outside. Guess she's just like Mommy like that!

Here's Andrew and his dump truck playing in the snow.

The trees looked so pretty this morning, just had to snap a few shots.

Hi ya'll

A few pictures to start with.... Andrew - practicing his swing at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

Dave and Beth celebrating the Packer victory over the Lions!

Silly Annabelle!

Annabelle helping me unpack!

Andrew helping me unpack! He said the packaging reminded him of leaves. So he had to jump in the pile.

We are finally starting to settle in here in Kentucky. The move went well. It was very quick. We had the movers at our house on a Thursday and a week later they met us in Louisville to unpack us. We are still living in a sea of boxes but that is to be expected until we find a house. We are eagerly waiting for our house in Minnesota to sell before we buy down here. We have been out looking and are looking forward to the process this time around. Your dollar goes a lot further in Kentucky!

The kids and I are enjoying our time at home each day. We have our routine. We've been going to storytime each week at the library. It gives Andrew a chance to meet other kids and show off his arts 'n crafts skills. I was so impressed the first time I watched him cut things out with scissors. I didn't know he could do that. He told me "Mommy, you have to stay inside the lines, just like when cars drive on the road." Such a smart kid!!

We made a trip down to Nashville over the weekend to visit Aunt Katie and Duffy. Andrew enjoyed the trip and meeting their new puppies. We also went to the Humane Society they volunteer at and got to play with a lot of puppies and kitties. No - we didn't bring any home! Not this time :)

More pictures soon....

We're heading south for the winter... (and not coming back)!

We are grossly overdue for a family update. Since our last post Dave received a promotion/job offer for a position in Louisville, KY. He accepted the offer and we are well on our way to Louisville. Last week we put our house on the market, packed up our belongings (or rather, sat as movers packed everything), loaded the moving truck (again, sat and watched), made the 5 hour drive to Green Bay for a New Years/Christmas celebration with our families and tomorrow we make the 8 hour drive to Louisville. Dave drove down on Monday to start working today. It has been a fast and exhausting month. We are looking forward to slowing down a little in January. We found a townhome to rent in Louisville and it's working out so I can stay home with the kids while we get settled and learn the area.

Our new address is: 1178 Whetstone Way, Louisville, KY 40223

We would love to hear from you! Do us a favor and say a little prayer in hopes that we sell our Minnesota house fast!!

We have lots of pictures from our moving adventure and we'll post them soon (need to get internet service at our townhome first!)

Lots going on!

Over the past month we had a trip to Green Bay, Grandma came to visit for a week, Halloween, Andrew's 4th birthday party, 3 doctors visits, 2 trips to the emergency room, and a partridge in a pear tree. haha! We'll explain through the following pictures.
Halloween - here's Daddy, errr I mean Clark Kent or Superman saving a baby from a burning building.
We had a birthday party for Andrew while we were in Green Bay for the weekend. The kids had a blast. This was the best picture of the 3 kids together. Nikolas, Maya and Andrew.

Andrew and his monster truck birthday cake.

We went to the Zoo Boo while we were there too. Lots of fun and LOTS of candy! Andrew dressed up as Buzz Light year again this year. He loves that costume. I'm sure he'll wear it every year until it gets too small.

Annabelle was our little flower. So cute! If you look closely you'll see evidence of our first trip to the ER. Annabelle fell from a standing position to her tush and in doing so bumped her chin and her wrist. She was in so much pain from her wrist that we took her in for some X-rays. Thankfully, nothing was broken, just bumps and bruises, which are healed and gone today.

Andrew got a BIG monster truck for his birthday. It's remote controlled, but he won't let us or anyone use the remote. He just wants to push it around. Maybe some day we can race it with our other remote controlled car.

We did a little photo shoot in the park a few weeks back. The kids (and adults) had a blast playing in the leaves.

Our second ER visit was a result of a stomach bug Annabelle had. No fun! Andrew ended up at the doctor's office this past week with pnenomia! :( Other than some common colds, we are pretty much back to normal.

We are looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year and watching the Packers beat the Lions (...yeah right...)! Go Lions!

Apple Picking & Corn Pit

We made our annual trips to the Corn Maze/Corn Pit and apple picking. We had to enjoy our last bit of nice weather so we crammed both of these excursions into 1 day. It was a busy day, but lots of fun.

Miss Annabelle found her pumpkin.

Peek-a-boo!

No smiles from Andrew.

Annabelle loved apple picking. Her apple was like another nuk, just yummier. She took a little bite of it and spent the rest of the time sucking on it.

She wasn't too sure about this Corn Pit idea. Very strange. She had corn in places corn shouldn't be... (I'll leave it to your imagination to interpret that.)

Here she is having fun watching the kids run around the maze.

Annabelle and Milena!

Mr. Andrew in the corn pit. He had a blast. We all did.

Here's Andrew trying to find his way out. He did... eventually! And turned right around to do it again.

Mom and Dad had fun too. Since the theme of the day was corn, we had roasted corn... yummy!

Let's see ... what else is new with us. I started my new job this week at Hanover Insurance. It's going well. Lots to learn. My brain hurts at the end of each day, but I'm glad I made the change. It's a great office with really nice people and good management. Way less stressful!

It's Andrew's 4th birthday next week and he is eagerly awaiting it. I think this is the first year he really gets what it means to have a birthday. In his mind it's his day to do whatever he wants, have a party, eat cake, and get lots of presents. He's right! He knows his birthday is on Friday next week, but he didn't understand the next week part, so when he woke up today and heard it was Friday, he was very disappointed to find out it wasn't the Friday of his Birthday. Try explaining days vs. weeks vs. months to a 3, almost 4 year old. Not easy. The whole concept of time isn't easy to understand or explain.

Annabelle is growing... slowly! She pulls herself up all the time. While we know we're supposed to be excited for her to start walking, we are just fine if it takes a few more months. The more mobility from her ,the harder and more exhausting our lives get!

Dave is well .... the same. As long as his Brewers and Lions keep winning, he's happy! Guess he won't be so happy come Thanksgiving.... he-he-he!