No more babies...

So we are officially in a house without babies (although there still seems to be plenty of crying going on).  Addy and Marcus turned 3 last Friday.  So weird!

My sisters went to the beach for a week and invited us to join them.  We went for two nights, coming home Friday afternoon so the twins could be with Mark on their birthday.  It was a lot of fun.

We got to the beach and the kids wanted to immediately get in the water like we did in May.  They were not happy about having to haul everything up to our room and change into swimsuits.  But then Talia showed up so they stopped complaining--cousins fix everything.  We went swimming in one of the hotel pools and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on the beach.  

Thursday was a beautiful day.  Everyone in our little group spent the day on the beach.  Katie and I jumped some waves; Marcus and I built some sand castles (safely away from the waves) and Addy did a little of both.  Mostly they just played with cousins and I just gossiped with my sisters.

Both nights the kids got to stay up late to go out to dinner with everyone.

Chris, Adam, Will, Marcus, Cooper, Addy, Carson, Flossie, Katie, Talia and Sarah

Thurs night, after dinner we hit up Krispy Kreme.  The line was long and we didn't get back to the hotel until late, but obviously the kids really enjoyed the donuts.

Katie and Talia

Friday was a wet and cold day, but a great day to have a birthday!  With our room we got a fabulous breakfast where we could eat whatever we wanted.  Friday morning Marcus and Addy had a little of everything; french toast, fruit, yogurt, bacon, bagels--you get the idea.

We spent the morning hanging out at the indoor pools and hottubs and then packed up to head home.  

Katie's school was having a kids concert and dinner and we thought that would be a fun way to celebrate turning three.  We met Mark there and danced the night away.

(That night as I was getting Addy out of the car to go to bed she said to me, "Hey! you didn't make me a cake!"  It was so accusatory in her cute little voice, like I was trying to pull something over on her.)

Saturday we partied!

We opened presents and ate.

Addy wanted cake, Marcus wanted cupcakes, I made both.

 

Happy Birthday Marcus and Addy!  I can't believe it's been three whole years.

1 step forward and 2 steps back...

Warning this post is going to have some major complaining in it...

Since we moved in 6 weeks ago (the date on this post should be 9/13--I don't love how blogger has changed things)--I have been dealing with contractors.  Every time one came out to fix something, another thing would come up.

The first thing we had to do when we moved in was get our kitchen fixed.  Our builder had his drunk uncle install our IKEA kitchen cabinets--seriously he was drunk.  He did almost everything wrong.  We kept asking our builder to fix and he wouldn't.  We finally stopped asking and decided to have an IKEA crew come in and do it themselves so that it was done right.  The IKEA guys said it was the worst job they had ever seen.   They had to spend two whole days fixing what we thought would be a 4 hour job.  Luckily, the IKEA crew was able to fix everything and now the kitchen looks fantastic.

We didn't have gas for the first month.  It was hooked up twice, but both times there was a leak and we had to have it turned off.  Do you know how hard it is to make spaghetti without a stove top!

Mark was unpacking one of our closets and found the carpet wet...there had been a leak somewhere since we moved in.  Five holes in the wall later the plumber finally found the problem.  The builder had nailed the laundry room shelves into one of the pipes.  Luckily we caught it when we did and two weeks later it was finally patched up (thank goodness for our warranty).

We had the electrician come out to fix the motion sensor light.  Within 20 mins of leaving 1/2 the lights in the house were not working.  We had to watch the first BYU game using an extension cord from the garage.

Now before you think we got a bad house--like Mark and I have started to wonder--our house is beautiful and we got it for a great price, so we are dealing with the crap.

On a brighter note...

The kids summer ended with a bang.  First, they had music camp.

 

It went Monday-Thurs.  It took place the first full week we were in our new house, so it was perfect timing, I was able to unpack and deal with contractors without kids underfoot.  Thursday night they put on a concert for us.  Poor Katie got stuck in the back so it was really hard to see her.  Addy was SUPER animated and dancing and singing--so cute.  And Marcus got on stage (unlike a couple other kids) but he sat down,  at one point he saw me and became brave enough to stand up.

 

Right before school started Hannah came down to stay with the kids so Mark and I could escape to NYC for a long weekend for our 7th anniversary.  With all the stress of the house going on we didn't get to plan anything ahead of time and packed 20 mins before we left for the airport.  And Hannah didn't have any gas in the house.  But she and the kids survived and the trip was amazing.

Statue of Liberty in the background.

We stayed at a new European style hotel a short walk from Times Square.  We spent tons of time walking around and of course eating.

We saw one of my mission friends, Heather, and her kids and we met Mark's cousin Berkelee and her husband for lunch, we went and saw the Addam's family broadway, we braved China Town to get a new purse (you actually feel like you are breaking the law when you buy something there now--when everyone started running Mark got a little nervous about getting disbarred.  He warned me that if the police came he was gone, but that he would come bail me out.)  We didn't take a lot of pictures because we were having to much fun to document it and because it is New York and we have seen it all so many times before.

When we got back we closed on the house, but that did not stop the problems from happening, we continued to deal with crap until mid Sept.

Marcus and Addy started preschool the beginning of Sept.  They are going 3 days a week.  (I tried them in separate classrooms for the first couple weeks but I didn't feel like it was going well for Marcus and just had them moved back to the same room.  Hopefully Marcus will start loving preschool again.)  Katie didn't have school that day so we had a special day.  We looked for furniture, got our nails done and went to eat bagels.  Everything was Katie's choice (except for the furniture shopping, she could have done without that).

Katie requested one of these pictures that we take ourselves.  She thinks it is so cool.

So the last big "thing" we have had to deal with since moving in is Katie's school.  One of the reasons we chose (and stuck it out with) this house is because there is a great school 5 houses down the street.  Our school district is not the greatest and the closer to the city you get, the harder it is to find a good public school.  This school accepts kids based on a lottery, which we applied for, but we had to apply with our old address and after some appeals still did not get in.  We looked at some other options, the local public school, private schools, charter schools, etc.  But long story short we want all the kids in this school and because we now live in what they consider the priority zone we should get in.  The other problem we were facing is that it is hard to get into the school in any grade other than kindergarten.  So we found a transitional kindergarten M-F in the mornings for Katie and will apply to this school next year with Katie as a kindergartener.  I may or may not push for them to move Katie into first grade after she gets in, but that is a whole other blog post.  I was very upset and negative about the school issue in the beginning, but it has turned out to be the greatest thing.  Katie's school is in the city, one block from Mark's work.  She rides to work with him and he walks her to school every morning.   A few times he has needed to go in a few mins early, so Katie hangs out in his office until it is time to take her to school, Katie has Mark's secretary print out Hello Kitty pictures for her to color and has free reign of his tape and stapler.  Both Mark and Katie are in heaven.  It takes me a little longer for me to grab the kids since I pick up from two schools, but it is not too bad.  And at least my little 5 year old is not in school from 9am-4pm every day.

 

First day of TK

All in all, we love the house and the move.  We love our neighborhood.  Mark is only 5 mins from work (15 mins door to door) so he has been around more. Our house is super cute and we are now done with contractors (fingers crossed) and we are enjoying the decorating and shopping aspects that come with a new house. 

Up next - the yard.

B's wedding

After being in our house for 5 days, we packed up and headed to DC for my little sister's, Bethany, wedding.  It was a little difficult finding everything, I had packed with the intention of unpacking the next day, so I had not pulled all the wedding clothes.  We were able to find everything we HAD to have.  We spent Friday morning getting a few boxes unpacked and then we piled in the car.  

Our first stop was in Richmond, VA where the groom's parents hosted an open house (they were leaving directly after the wedding to go on their honeymoon).  Most of the cousins were there and everyone was so excited to see each other.

After the open house we drove to DC, despite Mark's bad attitude (he was mad at Bethany and Eric for getting married in a city with lots of traffic; he has that right you know to tell people where they should get married) it was uneventful and there was minimal traffic.  We stayed in a great hotel close to the mall.  My whole family was staying in the same hotel, which is always an adventure.

Sat morning was the big moment.

The bride was beautiful and my kids were cute.

Bethany and Eric decided not to have a reception, and just do a family lunch.  So after the temple and pictures we all headed to a great Italian restaurant.

All the grandkids and my youngest siblings

This is just my side of the family!

Bethany and Eric

After the luncheon, we headed back to see some of DC.  That night we went to the Natural History and Air and Space museums.  The next morning we went to the Zoo.  During and in between all of this the kids played with their cousins.  Marcus and Max (Jenn's son) became best friends (it started off with the love of trains, Max had an oldschool movie on trains that he was watching at the luncheon, every single little boy was squeezed around his little DVD player trying to see).

Carson, Talia, Katie and Addy at the museum

Marcus and Max being silly in the car

The Adventure...

As we watched our stuff being loaded into the moving truck and going to...STORAGE, Mark and I were both on the verge of a mental breakdown.  This has all been too much for us, but we were trying to stay positive for the kids.  We called it an "Adventure", Katie was so excited.

The kids hung out with our neighbors while Mark and I finished packing and directed the movers.

The kids with John our neighbor, they helped him "move" everything from his room to the steps, they even packed it in boxes.

Then around dinner time the kids and I got in the car and headed to a friend's house for dinner, leaving Mark to deal with everything else.  After dinner we drove to my cousin's studio apt.  She lives about 15 mins from the house we are building.  Ashley has two kids, a daughter a couple months younger then Katie and a son a month younger then the twins.  Needless to say, all the kids were super excited about living so close to each other.  Bennet asked if we could stay forever. (please no)

Getting stuff to storage took longer then we expected so Mark ended up sleeping at the old place (technically he was squatting, but he was gone in the early morning so no one ever knew).  I spent that night on a tile floor while all the kids slept together in the bed.  I think that night set the tone for the week.

The first day we went to the Discovery Place and met Mark for lunch.

Addy on a bed of nails.

That afternoon the kids took a nap, and I did paperwork on the tile floor of the bathroom.   Tuesday we met Bethany and Hannah for a day at Sarah's pool.  Addy started swimming by herself while we were there.  She was so proud of herself.  Because she had been practicing the moves from her float all summer she could instantly swim as well as Marcus and Katie.  She had been afraid to jump in the pool before, but once she realized she could swim, she realized she could jump in--it got a little crazy with all three of my kids trying to swim independantly.

 Wednesday we went wedding lace shopping with Bethany. And Thursday we met Hannah (she was babysitting Talia and Will) at the Nature Museum and then went to the mall.  Every night the kids would play with Bennett and Miller when they got home.  

At night we had Addy and Katie sleeping on our Love Sac (a big bean bag for those non-Utah people) and Marcus slept on his old crib mattress.  Mark got home late every night that week so I would watch Roswell on my laptop with my earphones in while the kids slept.

I don't think I officially lost it until Thursday.  But our dag-blasted builder was taking his sweet time on everything and it was looking like it would never going to be finished.

Friday morning I left with the kids and went to my parents house.  Sat was Bethany's bridal shower.  The kids had a blast, but I was losing my mind.  Mark and I looked at short term rentals, but none seemed to work out or be a good idea.  Friday afternoon the electricity went on in the house.  So Mark and I  decided we were moving in--like it or not Mr Builder. (He has told us we could move in before we closed, and we had already signed a lease, but then he kept pushing back the actual move-in date, yet NOTHING was really being done at the house.  We figured it would get done faster if I was in the house to "push" people.)

My mom offered to watch the kids so Sunday morning after church I drove to Charlotte to help Mark move in.  When I arrived the house was a construction zone.  I spent the day cleaning, etc trying to make it livable for the kids.  At this point everything was working except the gas and a few odds and ends with plumbing and electric.  That night we moved in.  My mom kept the kids until Tuesday morning, and my sister Flossie brought them to me.  I spent those day stressing out and trying to get things together.  The kids spent those days sliding down homemade slip'n'slides (read more about this here-lol-http://ericandbethy.blogspot.com/2011/07/ghetto-water-slide.html/) and playing with animals.  The cat even had kittens while they were there.  It truly was an "adventure" for the kids--they loved every sec of it.