Back to hotel life

I am sitting here back in our hotel while Owen naps and Maggie is playing with her sticker book. I don't think I'd care if I ever saw another hotel again! The kids and I headed back to Louisville on Sunday despite the snow storm. We went out to eat for Amanda and Mom's birthday before we left town since we weren't sure if we would be back to WV before their birthdays. Amanda and Maggie both wore the jackets they got each other.









Our house is really coming together. All they really have left is to put down the carpet which is being done today and tommorow and then it will be ours!! They finsihed the steps this past week which look awesome, they are oak with some stain on them which looks great (Joe picked out all that, I couldn't tell any differece in anything at the wood place), they are supposed to put a carpet runner down the steps which we hate to do since they are so pretty but with the kids I think it's a no brainer. I am going to have a hard enough time keeping Owen from jumping from the catwalk let alone sliding down the steps. We have kept busy this week picking out stuff for the house and getting all the new services set up. Today I took the kids for their Valentines pictures. They turned out really cute. I will post them when the picture people send them to me, but here are a few shots of them before we left today.





















I don't guess anything else new is going on here with us, Owen is really talking like crazy....it's like he totally understands everything you say to him, of course that doesn't always mean he listens. haha. He is so funny sometimes, last week he woke up in the middle of the night (again) and began his normal sing-songy yell for mooooommmmaaaa (mama). Amanda has this melody down perfect. After several minutes of yelling and me not coming he got totally quiet. I thought for sure he had given up and was going back to sleep when the noise from his room began again. Only this time it was "MIIIIIMIIIIII". (mimi, which is my mom) I guess he sat there for a minute thinking if I wasn't coming who else may come get him. I could hear mom and dad laughing in their room....but I did get up with him.

Maggie and I have been working alot with her letters and numbers and such. She has gotten the hang of it pretty good and can now spell her name. She is really excited about preschool this fall, I made a few phone calls to check out the preschool here and found one that seems really good. Plus, it doesn't start until 9, as opposed to the other ones that start at 8, so that will work alot better for her since she is like her mommy and doesn't like to wake up too early. We also found a church here that we really like. It is shelby christian church and has a website if you want to check it out. (www.shelbychristian.org) It is a sister church to southland in lexington where we used to go, but it isn't nearly as big. The pastor was really good and Maggie loved her class since there were lots of little girls. They have alot of activities to get involved in also, even ballet, tumbling, and soccer which Maggie wants to do(all 3). Well, I am gonna get off here and try to rest up before Owen gets up and the chasing begins. (We have a room with a hot tub in the middle of the living area so Owen's goal all day is to turn the water on and push the button that turns on the jets) Ahhhhh.........life in a hotel!

One more week

So we only have one more week before we get to move into our new home. We close next Saturday morning, and hopefully we can move our stuff in sometime the following week if we can find out where out stuff is. It is supposed to be on a train from New York to KY as of a week or so ago but we have no word since then. We are hoping it wasn't on that train that crashed in KY a week or so ago! How bad would that be? It will be so nice to finally all be together in our house. We aren't going anywhere for awhile once we get settled in. We are really going to miss being at Mimi and Grandad (jaja)'s house though. It has been so nice to get to spend these last few months with them and want to thank them so so much for letting us take over their home!! They are really going to miss us being here too I know, although they will probably be glad to finally get to sleep all night again without Owen waking them up.




This past week the kids and I went with Karri and Nicholas to the Clay Center and let the kids play there. They had a really good time, Owen hadn't been before and he loved playing in the balls.

It was fun to get to be with Karri too, she is due to have her 2nd baby in May so this summer we will have one more in tow with us when we get together.

Maggie is so funny and had to ask every kid there what their name was. She was especially fond of this one little boy and I asked her what his name was and she told me Superman. How funny is that.











Maggie is really excited to get in our house, but doesn't know why we can't take amanda with us. Right now they are watching Cinerealla together and acting out all the parts. Maggie spent the day over at Patti K and Jim's the other day and came home with earrings. (clip on of course) She loved them and insisted on wearing them to bed. She is such a girly girl. Owen on the other hand has no interest in wearing pink bows and earrings as you can see!!





















This past Friday night Tab, Amanda and I went out for girls night and had a blast. We went out to eat and then went and saw the movie Catch and Release. I personally liked the movie and how it ended...Amanda and Tab wished she had picked the other guy though. We had a really good time and stayed out later than I have been for along time. I have had alot of fun getting to hang out with my sis latley and am going to miss her tons when we get into our house. She has been going through a hard time right now, which most of you may know about. I am not going to give any time to Tres on this blog.....but you can see exactly what is going on by going to my sis's blog.

Kickboxing anyone???

So, we have all pretty much bummed around all week here at mom and dad's house. Tonight, my sis, Amanda, gets this big idea that she and I should go to a kick boxing class. I agreed, reluctantly. I must admit that the last time I really excercised was before Owen was ever born.(and he is 18 months) Unless of course you count the times that I opted to walk to the store in Germany instead of drive. :) So we get ready and get to the class as it is beginning and for the first 10 minutes or so it wasn't so bad. Amanda had told me the class was an hour long.....just for future reference it actually was an hour and 45 minutes! As for the rest of the class let's just put it this way.........If given the chance I would opt to go through Owen's labor and delivery weekly instead of going back to that class. (And I had Owen 100% naturally) Not only was this workout nonstop for like 2 hours, but we stood in a circle instead of all facing the same way. With all the moves this teacher was having us do it was hard enough to keep up let alone with her facing me so I had to try adn mimic her moves from the opposite direction. We did make it through the class and I will say it did feel good afterwards, but I think next time I will be sure to check whether I am in the beginer or advanced class before I let my sis sign me up for some workout.

We have had fun here this week just hanging out, and I don't know what Maggie is going to do when she has to leave Amanda. If given the option she ALWAYS chooses to stay with Amanda as opposed to going anywhere with me. They have sung and danced constantly and Maggie has leanred quite a few ballet moves from Amanda.

The kids and I are headed back to Shelbyville tommorow to spend the weekend with Joe before he heads to Alabama for all of next week. I think Mom, Dad, and Amanda are coming up Friday for a day or two so they can see the house so far and our new town. We will be back at mom and dad's for all of next week and then hopefully the following week we will be in our home....I am not getting my hopes too high yet though. There is still quite a bit to get done before then.

Movin' Around

So the kids and I spent the week in Kentucky and had a blast. We haven't been staying more than a few days since we are still in a hotel and that isn't so easy with 2 little ones for very long. But they did really good this week and Nick and Neila are great and let us use their house for a get away and dinners so that makes it easier. Our house is coming along good and we got our driveway this week so from the front it looks done, the inside not so much though. It is ready to paint and to get the flooring in though, so once that is done I am hoping it will go quickley from there. I got my new washer and dryer ordered this week and am SO exicted. I got the whirlpool cabrio and it has all the bells and whistles and since I love doing laundry (weird, I know) I am really excited to see how it works. Neila and I had a blast and are so excited for us to get moved in so we can have fun days all the time like we did this week. We went to the picture people on Thursday and Maggie did awesome. Her pictures turned out adorable and she was such a little model for them. Owen on the other hand needed his feet cemented to the floor. He would not stand still for a second, let along pose. Here are some of them, I can get them off the site but not without the "zazzle" sign across the front so just ignore that.
























We spent all day thursday and friday shopping till the kids literallly dropped as you can see from Owen.



















Maggie has turned into a pro shopper already and had fun posing with the old navy dog that she loves.


















We got tons of great deals and stocked up on alot of next year clothes for the kids.
We got Owen and Carson matching "heartbreaker" outfits but Owen was literally POURED into his so I returned it but not before we got a shot of them together.



















Maggie wasn't about to let a photo shoot go down without her in the middle of it though.












Joe is really liking his new job and the hours are great. He and Nick have began a workout routine and get up 3 days a week at 5 am and workout at the gym before going into work. Pretty impressive huh, Needless to say Neila and I are not going to be joining them but we do hope to get to the gym in the evenings so the boys don't look better than us at the beach this summer!
We headed back to mom and dad's this evening after dropping Joe off in Lexington to meet his dad and brother as they were going to a UK game. Joe is then heading here to Poca tommorow and has to work in Ashland all week so he will be staying with my cousins who live about 25 minutes from there. The following week he goes to Alabama all week for a training thing at work and hopefully the following week we will be in our house.....we hope!
That is about all going on with us, we are looking forward to having fun in WV with everyone and of course the kids are thrilled Amanda is here so they definetely won't get bored. Here are a few old pictures of the kids from this summer that I never got access to until latley. I thought they were really cute.

Who says you can't go back.............

Okay, so most of you guys already know about our big news, but for those of you who don't.....We are moving back to Kentucky!!!!! Joe finished up his last week at Cat in Germany in December and we have now just been getting ready and waiting. He started his new position here in Louisville today, at Progress Rail, which is a division of Caterpillar. Everything has just fallen in place with us getting back to the states and getting to end up back where we wanted to be. We are building a house in Shelbyville, Kentucky which is right between Louisville and Lexington. I have enough shopping between those two cities to last me along time! Our house will be only about 5 minutes from Nick and Neila's so we are so excited about living near them. The past few months have been pretty hectic boucning between houses and hotels but it will be so worth it when we get into our home. It should be finished at the end of the month and until then we will continue to stay at mom's house and here in Louisivlle some too at the hotel with Joe.


Here are some pictures of our house under construction!










Here is Joe, Maggie, and Owen on the catwalk overlooking the great room.









Maggie in her new walkin closet!

Happy New Year!!

So what a fun, crazy year we have had. We rung in the new year with our best friends, Nick, Neila, and Carson, once again and had so much fun.





Joe got Maggie a pinata to bust and she had lots of fun doing that.















Owen has had fun playing with Carson and giving him rides around the kitchen. As you can see, Carson isn't too sure about Owen being in charge!!



















Owen had his fair share of chocolates too and enjoyed them!


stay tuned to the blog for all our upcoming new year changes!!!