Gracyn's 2nd Birthday

The girls surprised me by being up bright and early on Gracyn's birthday. They stayed up really late the previous night, after picking Grandma and Pampa up from the airport, so I wasn't anticipating a 6:30 start time, but we went with it! We told Gracyn happy birthday right away and headed downstairs. We wanted to wait until evening, so Daddy could be with us to open her presents, but she saw the pile and had to open just one! She got a new doctor's kit. Playing doctor with her baby Lanie is one of her very favorite things to do....it's actually one of the few toys she plays with. But, our doctor kit is from when Addison was a year old. It was falling apart, missing a few pieces and most importantly it is in one of the few boxes in the basement that I haven't unpacked! I am losing momentum fast, so who knows if we will ever see it again!!!

Gracyn is very particular about her unwrapping! She goes slow and steady and likes to get every tiny bit of paper off. I think it makes her sisters crazy!

Here she is checking baby Lanie's heart beat. After playing for awhile, we got all dressed and ready to grab some lunch and shop for birthday presents with Grandma and Pampa. I couldn't resist letting her open one more gift. She was delighted to open her own Twinkle Toes, and we were delighted to watch her stomp around the living room making them light up. She realized a few weeks ago, that she was the only girl in the backseat who's shoes weren't lighting up. We had to take care of that.

Posing for a picture with the grandparents.

Addison photography....she got most of Gracie.

When Daddy got home, she opened her talking picnic basket from Pappy and Miss Debra. She stuffed this orange in her mouth!

Next we went to Red Robin for her traditional birthday dinner. Did I mention she stayed up late and got up early? Poor tired girl slept through most of her dinner. I woke her at the very end, so they could sing.

See how we only take up about 1/5 of the booth? That is not a pose for the picture....that is how close they like to sit to me at restaurants. I like to snuggle, but I could use a little elbow room for eating!!!

A little more spread out on that side of the table...

Birthday girl wasn't too sure what to think of all the strangers singing to her....especially after just waking up. She didn't love their singing, but she did like their ice cream.

One last birthday stop....we had to introduce our visitors to Greaters Ice Cream. It is a chain of old fashioned ice cream shops here. Yummy ice cream, candy treats and baked goods. It might be our favorite find here so far. Gracyn was full of ice cream from Red Robin, so she picked a lolli!

Addison had been working on another loose tooth, which I pulled in the ice cream shop. She pulled the last one at school, so I didn't realize there was going to be so much blood....maybe better wait and pull it at home next time.

So thankful for my sweet birthday girl and the blessing she is to us! She has been feeling better this week and is just a joy to be around. She is funny, caring, polite, curious and just all around adorable! We love you little one!!!

One year and 364 days

Love these shots of this little cutie pie on her last day as a one-year-old. I am so thankful she is feeling better and back to her usual chipper self. She is a laugh a minute and says one funny thing after another. Right now she often says she doesn't like things "Any more" or "At all!". For instance, "I not take my meda (medicine) any more, I don't like it at all!". She asks us daily, "Can I do dat by myself?" and she works hard to keep up with her sisters! Love this girl and those shiny blue eyes!!!

Future Ninjas

Shortly after moving here, we began talking about what activities the girls might be interested in trying. Reagan asked, over and over again, for karate. We gave it a try and they love it! The class is for 4 to 6 year olds, so Addison jumped in as well. They love it. Tommy wrestles them nightly and they are basically little cage fighters, so this just makes it more official. Tommy thought if we could have them at black belts before they start dating, he will be happy. Who knows if they will make it that long, but they are thrilled with their white belts for now. It's a whole new world for this little ballet mama.....think sparing tournaments in a month....but I do think they are just as cute in their little ghes as they are in their tutus!

Reagan Ainslee

Love Her! Is she in an ice-cream coma?

Kitchen Before

Updates to the kitchen start tomorrow, so I wanted to get a few "before" pictures today. The fruit border.....she's coming down tomorrow. And, the lavender wall is getting painted over. I actually like the color, but it doesn't go with anything I have or anything in the house. The other walls that are a pale yellow, are staying the way they are. I didn't think I would keep that color, but since their isn't really much sunshine here, I need the yellow! Over the weekend Tommy and I are getting the border and paint done, so it will be ready for the tile guy. He will be coming to install a tile backsplash as soon as we can get the tile picked out for him. This is the window seat. It is one of the features that drew us to the house! Little did we know, that it is actually a do-it-yourself project disaster! It looks good, but if you do much investigating you realize that they didn't put anything together correctly. When we looked at the house they had a small kitchen table pulled up to the seat and used that for their eating area. We couldn't really find a table for 5 that worked well there, but that is okay. Our bigger table, pulled to the center of the room works fine. The main problem with the windowseat are the cabinets that frame it. They aren't attached to anything. They are just pushed in there. Their height doesn't line up correctly with my other cabinets and they are too deep for the space. And finally, the tops, well there are none. They actually just have giant pieces of slate lying on top of the cabinets! That is a disaster waiting to happen around here. Unfortunately, there isn't a great solution to fixing it. Two separate contractors have recommended just pulling it out, but I don't really want to do away with it. In a perfect world, the cabinets would be screwed in and they would extend my granite countertops over the one and add a matching granite top for the other. The problem is making the cabinets line up correctly, and matching the granite. It would have to be a near perfect match since one piece would have to seem with my counters. The last contractor suggested pulling the whole thing and just creating a new windowseat, with bench storage that extends the full length of the area. It looks like that is what we will have to go with. We will have a few days while he is working on the tile to decide.

This is the island. I am not sure what happened to the island that was original to the house. I suspect it was taken apart and that is where the cabinets around the window seat came from. They replaced it with an antique island that we like okay. I know that a contrasting island is really trendy right now, but it isn't my personal preference. I especially don't love the black granite top, but it costs a small fortune to replace a slab that big, and again it is too hard to match our countertops. For now it is staying, minus those metal barstools, they will be gone as soon as I can find a replacement. Thankfully it functions great for us! I love being able to feed the girls breakfast and lunch there and having them sit here for crafts, homework and cooking.

Here is one last closer view of the before look. I am excited to update it more to our taste and can't wait to see how it turns out!

How Sweet Midwest

Can you spot 3 little girls in in this picture? They are all there! This is our new home-sweet-home. We are settling in and liking it so far. The outdoor space is HUGE compared to what we are used to, and even though the weather hasn't been great (you can see the rain on the roof) we are enjoying it. The 3-car garage is a big bonus, although somehow I still sometimes manage to drive through our yard when I am backing up. Soon, when we have a nice day and my poor husband makes it through our LONG list of indoor projects, we will be hanging some red shutters and painting the door red. She is really brown and could use some color! This charming little mailbox is one of my favorite things!!! I love having our own traditional mailbox at the end of the drive, instead of a group box down the street. The girls were assigned the chore of checking the mail daily and couldn't be more delighted to do so! The plant around it is a giant rosebush. I am sure it will be beautiful when it warms up and blooms, but it is a bit of a hazard for small people reaching in for mail. It's a bit thorny. I will have to figure out how to prune it way back, or else we will have to pull it out. Anyone know the proper way to prune a rosebush. I am not sure, but I don't think you are supposed to just start cutting on them???

We had about 5 warmish days over the past week. Not really sunny, but nice! As a result these beautiful daffodils starting popping up all over my flowerbeds. They were a nice surprise. Unfortunately today, the weather took a turn back to cold. When I took this picture this morning, it was 34 degrees outside, with a chance of snow, and they were looking VERY droopy. The temps are expected to remain cold for the next 5 days.....I hope they make it.

Reagan's First Day of School

Reagan's first day of school was a tremendous blessing for all of us! It was really the first "real-life" thing we did in Ohio. We weren't even in our house yet, we were still staying at Great Wolf, but she has been registered in the preschool for months, they have been waiting for her, and she only goes two days each week, so we went ahead and took her.

Mrs. Marsha, the director is precious. She greeted us at the door and made Reagan feel so welcome right away. Then, we headed down to the guppies room and met Mrs. Meagan, her new teacher. Mrs. Meagan is super sweet, lovey, kind and warm.....she is everything you would expect in a preschool teacher. Reagan was all smiles and happily went right in. They were actually headed to chapel soon after class began, so we all stayed and attended Reagan's first chapel with her. We left feeling totally comfortable! We are so thankful to God for directing us and leading us to the perfect place for her.

Within days of her first classes we learned that one of the little girls in her class lives two doors down from us and several kids live in our neighborhood. The mom's have been really sweet in helping me find my way around, giving me recommendations for doctors and even bringing me dinner. I look forward to her school days, so I can chat with them.

Dropping Reagan off for her first day. (I am still recovering from my eye problems, hence the glasses) She made sure to wear her "best-friends" necklace from Ava.

Mrs. Meagan giving her a warm welcome.

She had this sign outside the door.

Getting ready for chapel to start.

After we dropped her off the rest of us headed over to the (empty) house to work on a few things. Gracyn loved the swing on the back deck. She still wasn't feeling good, so one minute you get this.....

And the next you get this!

Great Wolf Lodge

We spent our first night in Ohio at a hotel here in town, then we woke up the next morning and headed to a 3-night stay at Great Wolf Lodge. The lodge was a great way for a little down-time, while we were waiting for our truck to arrive from Colorado. They have a huge indoor waterpark, an arcade, a Kid's Club activity room, and a gigantic indoor waterpark. We spent time at the hotel playing each day, in between starting Reagan's school, closing on the house, my eye issue and beginning to get settled.

The girls loved the waterpark. Addison could ride everything alone, and she did! She is so brave. She loves speed!!! Reagan could ride almost everything in a double tube with one of us, and had a great time! Poor Gracyn was still sick and didn't really care where she was, as long as one of us was holding her. She took several naps poolside.

I didn't get a chance to explore the kid's club, but Tommy took them in to do some crafts while I was resting my hurt eye. They went back for more fun on the last morning at the hotel, while I was at the house with the movers.

The nightly storytime was a big favorite for my kids. The clocktower has several animated characters that come to life each night for a song and dance show. Then, a resort employee comes out with the Violet, the hotel mascott, and reads them a story. Even by poor sick baby enjoyed this part.

Addison and Violet

Reagan and Violet
Fun swim time...at least for 2 out of 3.

Fine if Mama just holds her.

Reagan in the wave pool. It was a big hit for the girls, probably their favorite part.

Daddy and the girls catching some waves.

Addison and Reagan loved holding on to the overhead ropes and crossing these lilypads.

Skinny-Minny Reagan's turn.

Lazy river time!

Addison grabbing a tube and heading to a slide.

Daddy having some fun!

Reagan and Mommy coming down the slide!

Addison coming down from the "toilet slide".

We can't wait to head back to Great Wolf.....anyone want to come visit??

Good-Bye Denver

This was our final fare-well to the Ranch. We went to sweet Lila's second birthday party Saturday morning and left straight from there to our one-way flights to Cincinnati. In hind sight, that may not have been the best idea, as we left all our friends at once, already tired and emotional, and we wrecked the end of poor Lila's party. There were lots of tears and sweet good-bye hugs. Thankfully the mood was lightened when we hit the parking lot and saw our rental car. Michele had carefully tied the cans from an entire case of Pepsi to the back of our car. That was her rebellion to Coke for taking us away. The kids thought it was hilarious and they would have loved to drive off with it. But, Tommy took one look at those Pepsi cans and ripped them off in a hurry!

Our trip to the airport was a sad one. I am still not sure my kids really understood that we were leaving forever, but they did know that everyone was crying. Reagan said a few times that she didn't want to move, but that is about all we heard from them. They were fine by the time we got to the airport. However, the remainder of the day was full of very uncharacteristic temper-tantrums and melt-downs, so I am sure that was their emotion coming out.

We fly fairly often with our crew, but each time I forget just how much work it is. We had so much stuff, we could barely make it through the airport with it all. Add to that big girls crying over various different things (everything but being sad, though I am sure that was the underlying cause) and Gracyn being just plain miserable with really high fever, and it was not one of our better trips. Addison and Reagan were fine on the plane. They sat in a row with Tommy and stayed busy with their backpacks full of books, coloring and movies. Gracyn and I sat in front of them, next to another passenger. Thank goodness she had her carseat, where she slept for about an hour. The remaining hour and a half she just cried. Poor girl was miserable and nothing could make her happy.

Thankfully we made it, exhausted and emotional, crammed everything into Tommy's new company car and headed for the hotel.

I can really honestly say that I don't think the full impact of the move has hit me yet. I keep waiting for the realization to hit. I am so busy. Taking care of my crew is a full-time job without adding in unpacking, setting up a house, adjusting to new schools and all the other details that come with a move. I know in a few weeks, as life settles down, I may have some hard moments. For now, I get little hints of sadness at the time of day we are used to playing with friends, when I want to just call someone....but everyone is so far away, when my girls ask why we don't have playdates, things like that. But, having done this moving thing a few times before, I know that, in time, God will provide new relationships and eventually this will be home. We can already see so many small blessings and provisions from him and are blessed that things are going as well as could possible be expected!

Moving Day

Yeah!!! Hooray for Internet connection and being able to blog again. Although, I am blogging from what is apparently my new office (at least until we figure out a computer situation), which happens to be the cold concrete floor in the unfinished basement. I can't get my laptop to upload pictures unless I am sitting next to the router down there. I am going way back, to Friday two weeks ago and blogging our adventures from the beginning.

We were blessed with incredible movers this time around. Ricardo Sr. and Ricardo Jr. were a father and son team from Houston they worked on both ends and drove the truck here, and they had an additional hired day helper on each end. It was nice to have our stuff in the hands of hard workers who took great care in doing their job well and were sweet to our girls! They worked fast and came in last Thursday to pack our entire house. Friday morning they were back to disassemble furniture and load the truck. I tried to keep the girls out as much as possible, as it was pretty hazardous for them, but they had a great time playing in boxes and exploring the truck while they were there.

Gracyn spent the week prior to our move and then 2 weeks after feeling bad. You can tell from most of the pictures that she just doesn't feel great. Add sickness to the overall confusion of having your entire home packed up and she had a tough time!

Addison and Reagan playing in thier room one last time.


That is one big truck. One other family was already loaded in. They left filled to the brim!

Little Explorers.

Big Sister helping Gracyn on the ramp. That is Ricardo Sr.

For some reason they were thrilled to get the rental car, after my car was picked up.

Taking a break on the Iphone.

Poor Gracyn, she napped on the floor after they had packed up her mattress.

We spent the afternoon at our neighbors house having a playdate. Tommy was worried we would be too sad, so he didn't even give us a chance to say good-bye to the house. We left our playdate (the last one Boo-hoo) to find the house locked-up and the car loaded and ready to go. We followed the truck off of the Circle for the last time and headed to spend the night with the Neufelds. We were excited for one last slumber party before we left. We ate dinner, let the girls play and then set up pallets for them in the theatre room.

Reagie and Ju-ju watching Little Mermaid.

Addison and Gracyn snuggled up. At one point during the day I thought the movers had accidently packed Gracyn's "Baby Lanie". I was headed out the door to American Girl for a replacent when we found her. There was no way she was going to make it a week without her.

Big girls tucked in.

Gracyn loved having this blow-up bed at the end of our bed. She thought she was so big! We got some precious video of her getting herself ready to sleep. Poor girl was feeling a little yucky when she went to bed and then woke up with 104.7 fever!

We woke up bright and early the next day, so we could get to our last Colorado birthday party and they could head out to ballet class.