We made it!

Well, we're moved to Canby. "Moved" as in our stuff is in the apartment. "Moved in"??? Not so much. We managed to get all our gear in the apartment and then we left for the night to stay at Mark's mom's house. And then we're headed to the coast this afternoon for the night at a beach house. Then we're home tomorrow night and Mark starts working on some painting projects with a friend of our's on Tuesday while I stay home and try to organize stuff and get us semi-settled. My goal is to get the kids' rooms mostly put together and get our room empty enough that I can set up our bed and get a feel for how we want things arranged. The biggest challenge? The kitchen--zilch for cupboard space. *sigh* Oh well--I do have a dishwasher! WAHOO! I would rather have a small kitchen with a dishwasher than the large kitchen in Stanfield without one. Whew! Life just got a bit easier!

Well, that's about all I have to report for now--off to the coast we go! :)

So close and, yet, so far.

We're at that point in the moving process where you really can't do anything until the moving truck arrives and most, if not all, your gear is on the truck. We're throwing things in boxes and marking them "Misc" just to get stuff put in a box and out of the way. The kitchen is mostly done with a few dishes here and there. And, just when I think I'm done, I open another cupboard or drawer and find something more to pack. *sigh* It has to end sometime, right? And, thankfully, we have help on this side of things. People to help with the kiddos, people to load the truck and people to help me clean as the guys clear out rooms. The tricky part will be the other side...we're not certain how much, if any, help we'll have unloading. We're going into it thinking we'll have no help at all so that whatever help shows up is a huge blessing. One really good thing: Andrew will be hanging out with his Nana (Mark's momma) for the entire day. I won't have to worry about him running out the door, falling down the cement steps or getting underfoot. I can focus on unpacking boxes and putting his new room together so he can start settling in ASAP. Tori will hang with me all day, but she's not mobile yet, so she's still pretty easy. Plus, she'll have lots of action to watch and entertain her!

We're excited about the move, but there are a few things we will miss. Yes, believe it or not, we WILL miss some things. And it's those things that make us sad to go. Andrew & Tori have acquired an adopted gramma, auntie & uncle who will remain near & dear to us. If you ask Aleta how many grandchildren she has, she will tell you: "I have 12. 10 natural, 2 adopted." And she keeps pictures of our kiddos on her desk right next to her other grandkids. Anytime Andrew sees her, he lights up and runs to her.

Anytime we pull up in front of Bryan & Katie's house, he starts pointing and yelling, "Byon! Kee-dee's house! Kee-dee!!" And he pulls and tugs at his carseat straps to get out as fast as he can. He knows those two will play with him, talk to him and just be with him. They are such a blessing to us. In fact, they made Tori's middle of the night birthday possible by staying with Andrew all night. :o)

It's these people that make the leaving difficult and sad. We will miss them. And, we might just have to come back to see them every now and then. For now, though, we're headed on a new adventure and we're excited about it.

I'll be filling you all in as soon as we have internet access. Until then, pray for us...we're going to need it!

Relax? What?

What a fun weekend! But oh-so busy. We had Bell Ranch complete with BBQ, camping, a Lu'au, outdoor church and swimming in the river. Andrew couldn't get enough of it! Tori was pretty happy, too--she was able to nap out in the fresh air and get carted all over the campgrounds by anyone and everyone. It's so funny how people just want to hold a baby and snuggle with them. While Tori isn't much of a snuggler, she doesn't mind being held and walked around so she can watch all the action around her.

After hours of settting up, having a great time and then tearing down, we headed to Madre's house to organize stuff and take a (short) break before my brother & sister-in-law arrived with her parents and my nephew in tow. William is 15 months and he & Andrew were so excited to hang out and play together. They're still learning about sharing, but they loved watching eachother and following eachother around. We had a nice 2-day visit with them before heading home. They got to meet Tori and get a little "baby fix" before we left. I have more pictures of the crazy boys to post later, but here are a couple for now:

Now its back to Stanfield and packing for our big move! Only 3 days away and so much left to do! After we (finally) get settled, I think I'm going to crash and sleep for a week! Well, as much as the kiddos will allow, anyway!

I spoke too soon...

Andrew may have had an awesome time at Bell Ranch yesterday, but he had a terrible night starting at about 11 PM. The poor kid has never dealt with allergies before, but as soon as we got home I noticed he was congested. He & I were up until 1:30 this morning trying to figure out how to manage it. Then he was up at 5:40 wanting to get up for the day. He finally went back to sleep and is still out, but I have the feeling I'll need to pick up some kind of baby allergy medicine today if we're going to manage the rest of the weekend. Poor little dude! I felt so bad for him tryin' to breath and cry and settle down. He just kept asking for his bed and to go to sleep ("My bed. Seep! Seep in my bed!") but each time I would lay him down, he would be crying from the congestion. *sigh* Hopefully today will be better...

A wonderful start to our busy weekend...

Today I was reminded of how blessed my children are. Not only do they have amazing family members in their lives who love & adore them, but they are blessed with amazing friends who might as well be family!

Today was our first day out at Bell Ranch for the church camp-out with Madre's church (mine and Mark's old church in Corvallis). There's plenty of grassy areas, dirt and a little swimming area nearby--Andrew was in heaven. The best part? He had people who played with him non-stop. Pa-pa Marv took him for a ride on his shoulders all over the campground and chased him across the grass and played with him in the dirt. Auntie Stacy helped him get dinner and played in the dirt with him some more. Carina played "volleyball" with him in the grass. All the while, Tori was being held and talked to and cuddled by these same people when they weren't with Andrew. I had people take my kiddos from me and say, "get your dinner...get a drink...take a seat...take a break....let me play with him...let me rock her...let me give her a bottle..." I had time to help set up while chatting with someone I didn't know that well and came away feeling closer to her. I had time to sit back and really ENJOY the fresh air.

Evening rolled around and the kiddos got tired. I brought them home and got Andrew a bath--he spent the entire ride home and the bedtime routine talking about his day. "Pa-pa Marv and Auntie (stacy) in the dirt with the trucks! My ball! Keena (carina) and the bolley (volley) ball! I ate hot dog for dinner! And chips! And water!" I kissed him goodnight, layed him down and he was asleep...

Tori cried the whole drive home but passed out as soon as I pulled her out of her carseat and layed her in her bed.

Both kids are tired but are also very, very blessed...

Packing for this; packing for that! Is anybody else going crazy yet???

We have had one crazy busy summer! Having a baby, making trips home to show off the baby, a wedding in Seattle, a trip to North Carolina, another trip to Seattle, a trip to Redmond to visit a friend and one more trip home. In the midst of all that, we're trying to pack to move! *sigh* This is our last trip "home" before moving and it's just me and the kids this go 'round. Mark is staying here to get some "REAL" packing done (meaning: Andrew isn't unpacking what we're packing and Tori isn't drooling all over the boxes while we try and pack one-handed while holding her). He's also going to try to get a head start on some lesson plans for next year. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather (it's over 100 degrees today!) while Mark is looking forward to a full night's sleep (lucky!!). We'll arrive in Corvallis late tonight (I'm driving while the kiddos are sleeping) and then we'll head back to Stanfield Monday or Tuesday night and then we move Saturday! WAHOO! What I'm having a hard time with is figuring out what to pack for the move, what to pack for the trip and what to leave out until the last possible minute. I've been doing "grocery math" and "laundry math" to figure out exactly how much food to buy and exactly what clothes to leave out for the kids and me. That way, Mark can rearrange, pack and do whatever he wants with everything while we're gone. I know we'll have enough clothes to get us through this trip and next week. We'll worry about laundry and grocery shopping on the Canby side of things.

In the mean time, I'm going to go pack another bag. What am I going to pack? I have no idea, but I know there must be SOMETHING that needs packing!

Oh yeah! Good news: I talked with the apartment manager this morning and they are tearing out the old carpet today, putting in the new carpet Monday morning, painting Tuesday & Wednesday, cleaning Thursday and taking care of anything last minute on Friday so its all ready for our arrival on Saturday. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! We cannot wait to get there!

Big Boy Helper!

Andrew will often decide he doesn't want Daddy holding Tori ("Daddy, give Tori to mommy...drive cars with me...") or he'll let us know he needs a break from Tori ("Mom, I play here. Tori sit on blanket."). However, on occasion he'll decide he likes her and might even want her to be happy. Today is one of those days. All day today, if she has fussed or whimpered even a little bit, he has run to me and said, "Mommy! Baby crying! Pacifier! Bottle! Pick up!" He's come up with all sorts of suggestions about how to make her happy. I love watching him try to soothe her--he'll kneel down beside her on the blanket, rub her tummy and say, "Shhhh, baby, shhhhh" and offer her a pacifier. If that doesn't work, he'll find a rattle and try to play with her. He'll also try a game of peek-a-boo (his favorite). If that STILL doesn't work, he'll do his best to pick her up (supervised, of course) and bounce her on his lap. The best part, is that she adores him. She smiles and coos anytime he tries to play with her. I know they'll bicker and pick fights with eachother in the not-too-distant future, so I love watching these little moments of sibling peace.

Here's a picture of a little game of peek-a-boo...