Crib Escape

Sofia has learned how to get out of her crib - all thanks to big brother, Will. You can see from this video that he's really proud and excited about that fact.

She surprised us one morning by actually walking into our room saying, "Hi Mommy. Hi Daddy. I wake up!" She was really excited about her escape - I just started worrying about what she would do at nap time. Luckily, she doesn't escape unless someone comes to get her (thank goodness!).

After I saw how she got out of the crib, we decided to put the bar down (so it's not such a long fall, just in case). Even with the bar down, she doesn't get out unless we get her. So, we think this may be the end of the crib. The current owners of our new house are leaving their kids twin beds and we plan to just put Sofia into that when we get into the new house. I'm not sure if we'll have to put a gate in her room or not (we did with Will in MI because he would wake up, get out of bed, and come upstairs to get us when he wasn't quite so good at the stairs) but we'll find out soon enough. She's getting so big!

Chipmunk Dance

The kids LOVE dancing to the Chipmunks CD. This is them dancing and singing to "She Loves You (also called the "Ya-Ya Song")," one of their favorites. Hope it makes you smile as much as we do.

Spring Sing 2010

Here's the video from Will's Spring Sing at school. I'm sorry it's a little jumpy, but I was holding Sofia and she didn't want to sit still (especially during the 1st song). But, we think it's cute and wanted to share. I really like the way he keeps time during the 2nd song by nodding his head to the beat. :)

Will's 4th B-day at School

Here's the video of Will's 4th birthday at school. We had a train cake made out of cupcakes and all the kids sang "Happy Birthday." Will, Sofia, Truman, and Jackson all helped blow out the candles.

Happy Birthday Babies!

My darling babies turned 4 and 2 this month. I can't believe it and like everyone says, the past year just flew by.

Will has become such a little boy this past year; I really can't call him a baby anymore. He helps teach Sofia things and plays with her in his room (they kicked me out the other day) - it just warms my heart and makes me so happy. He talks and tells you the coolest stuff (some of which you wonder, in a good way, how he learned it); he sings and dances. He's just such a joy.


Sofia's come a long way this year too - she's also singing and dancing and trying to do everything Will does. She's still very tall (98%) and has huge feet (for her age - size 9 -- I say she's gonna be a super model, Brent says WNBA). She's talking all the time and reveals more and more every day. She still loves her shoes, purses, and "pretties" and wears her sunglasses everywhere.

She's also shown me the difference between boys and girls at this age - she really is more mature. She can sing her ABC's (and even knows some of the letters if you show them to her), counts to 20, knows all her colors (and points them out all the time), and knows shapes. Will may have known these things, but he would never answer your questions about them; he'd just surprise you by pointing something out as you passed by. Fi's also interested in potty training (more about that later) but Will barely wanted to do that at the age of 3. I'm sure some of the difference is just due to the fact that she sees Will do things and wants to do them too. But, it's pretty interesting all the same.

We lucked out this year - their birthday was actually on a day Will had school, so we did his little party there. He wanted a train cake (of course) and I found this neat kit from Wilton that you can arrange cupcakes to either look like a train with a coal tender, a dump truck, or a rocket ship. I'm sure we'll get a ton of use out of them.

All the kids at school really liked Will's cake (the video to be posted next) and I thought I did a pretty good job. They gave him a "4" crown and sang happy birthday to him. He loved it! We finished that part of the festivities out with lunch at Chick Fil A.

We had a small family party for the kids on Saturday and I made Fi a ladybug cake (her favorite book right now is "Ladybug Girl and BumbleBee Boy"). I think this turned out super cute and I'm really quite proud of it (I did it free hand - I used Cathy's circle pan and made the design myself). Mom made #2 and #4 cookies and sent them in time for the fun. Barry and Cathy came over and we had tacos, cake, and ice cream. It was a good time.

Everyone was really generous with presents (it turned into an Alvin and the Chipmunks birthday - both movies and the CD, which they love and dance to every day). We had fun opening everything over Skype so people could see the reactions. As usual, they were terribly spoiled (and they loved everything they received).

We are just so proud of our little ones and can't believe how big they're getting. It's a wonder to watch them grow, change, and learn every day and we really appreciate and enjoy all of it. So, happy birthday, my babies! We love you so much!

The New House

We took the plunge and decided to buy a home in SC! This is it - isn't it pretty? That's right folks, it's permanent!

And, that's really what why we wanted to get a house - to make this move feel permanent (for at least as long as anything is permanent in automotive). I felt like we were living on hold for the past year, just waiting for something (like our house in MI to sell -- we've become landlords instead).

We started out looking for places to rent, but everything we wanted in our rental price range either wasn't big enough, was too outdated (lots of bad wall paper out there); or what we did like was more than a new mortgage anyway. And, the funny thing was that I was only looking at rentals because I thought Brent would totally be against buying something; he was only looking at rentals because that's what he thought I wanted. One Saturday, after looking at more disappointing rental properties, it hit us that we both really wanted to own a house.

So, we spent a frantic week looking at everything we could in our price range with a basement (not easy to find down here, but we really wanted somewhere to put the drum set for ALL my kids). Seriously, we made the poor realtor show us between 15 and 20 houses and investigate tons more for us. (The deadline was due to the tax credit.) We narrowed it down to 2 and had Barry and Cathy help us check them out one last time. (It's so nice to have someone else's help; someone who's bought more than one house and actually knows the area is just wonderful. I'll say it again - we are so lucky to have them down here.) And, we picked the first house we looked at.

Now, we're really excited to be moving forward. I'm excited to have triple the space we had in MI (I can't believe the size of my bathroom and closet - wonderful!), to have a large kitchen, and a garage. Good times! And, there's a guest room with full bath in the basement for anyone who comes visiting (make your reservation now).

We close on June 15th and Mom and Dad are coming down to help manage everything (mostly the kids). I'll post more pictures once we get settled. But, we're excited to make a real home here down south.

In the Merry Month of May

(Does anyone aside from Kristi recognize that intro? :)

In any case, it's been a wild and crazy month. I'm going to recap here and then start doing separate posts for each wonderful event.

This is what's happened:
- We bought a house
- The kids had birthdays - 2 and 4
- T-ball started (soccer ended)
- School Spring Sing Event
- Last Day of School
- I'm buying a van (and I'm not happy about it)

So, thanks for your patience - I hope you've checked in on us every once in awhile. You won't be disappointed now! :)