Since Eric had the day off yesterday, we decided to take the kiddos to the pool to get into the summer spirit. Eve had a blast and just giggled for the first 10 minutes, cautiously stepping in the water a couple feet, then coming back out, then back in. Ivy thought she was hot stuff for passing the "swim test", where she had to freestyle swim a length of the pool alone without stopping. That enabled her to jump off the diving board and go down the slide, which she did over and over and over. Ada was upset that she couldn't go with Ivy for a while, but she got over it and played in the shallower water. Eve and Eric left after about an hour so she could nap, and the older girls and I stayed another couple hours.
I'm always amazed at the trashy people I see at the pool these days. I'm not saying that all tattoos are bad, but c'mon! I never know if I should smile at these people or read them. I'm sure I look crazy with my head cocked to the side trying to make out that last word on their neck tattoo. I think my favorite one this time around was a tie between a "Pink Ladies" tattoo all across a large woman's back, and a tattoo of a huge lipstick kiss on another large woman's chest. Either way, it's always fun to people watch. Plus, I got a little sun on the pale white skin, which is nice too. I'm guessing this is the first of many many many more trips to the pool this summer.
I called the doctor's office yesterday to schedule Eve's 18 month well baby checkup. I apologized for not calling in sooner, since I was sure that she would turn 18 months old today! The receptionist was talking to herself on the phone, figuring out when she would be 18 months, and said we can schedule it for June 23rd. I said, "um, there's nothing sooner than that?" she said "well, she turns 18 months on June 21st, the computer automatically calculates it." Oh.
So today, Eve is 17 months old. She's starting to "talk" more, pointing and babbling in her little Eve lingo. She knows how to say a few things, but she doesn't want to be told what to say. She can point to her nose, belly, ears, and toes when you ask her where they are. Eve has taken the move the grandma and grandpa's house in stride. She goes right to sleep around 7-7:30 and sleeps until about 7-7:30am. She's still doing this thing when she's tired/uncomfortable where she sucks her thumb and uses her other hand to play with her ear. I have to say it's like the cutest thing I've ever seen. She's also quite the mama's girl. She loves to snuggle with me, and seems to know just when I need it (and I've needed a lot in the last month). I hope she doesn't outgrow that any time soon!
Well, we officially closed on our house yesterday, and I have to say I was a bit sadder than I thought I would be. When we moved from Kearney, I knew that I would be extremely sad to leave that house since we, okay mostly Eric, built it with our bare hands. I figured this house in Lincoln would be a piece of cake to say goodbye to.
When we moved here, Ivy was almost 3 and Ada was almost 1. They both met a lot of fun friends and made some great memories. They welcomed their baby sister Eve into this home. I know it's just a house, but it really does become a part of you. I teared up a little when I took the vinyl letters of the girls' names off the wall in the laundry room. And when I snapped this picture as I pulled out of the driveway one last time. She'll always hold a special place in our hearts..
We spent the weekend in Kearney for our niece, Cassidy's high school graduation. She was one of two people selected out of 370+ kids to give a commencement speech and she totally nailed it. I can't believe how well she did, this was the first time I wasn't totally bored at a graduation (mine included). The thought of getting up in front of any amount of people to give any kind of speech makes my heart race and my face and chest flush. Cassidy sounded like she was having a conversation with an old friend.
Eve managed to stay quiet enough during the first part of the ceremony so I was able to hear it, so I was very thankful for that. When it was time for the diplomas to be handed out, it was time for Eve to get out and run around. I just took her out in the hallway for about an hour and she had a good time making the rounds.
Here are a couple pics from the weekend.
I should have named this post Procrastination. We're getting down to the wire and I feel like we have so much left to do and not enough time to get it all done. Not only are we packing and moving stuff into storage, and the 'rents house...but we're also working with an architect to draw up the plans for the new house. It feels like we should've been doing this months ago, but we just dragged our feet deciding if we were going to build or not. Tom, our builder/friend, came over tonight to go over everything and discuss ideas. Movers are coming to move the hot tub on Thursday, and then again on Monday to move the big furniture and anything else that hasn't been moved yet.
Oh and to top it off, Eve has come down with something so she's been running a temp the last two days and threw up this afternoon. Hopefully, it's just viral, and I reeeeeeaaaalllly hope we don't all come down with it since this is our last chance to get everything done this week.
Grandma Becky has graciously offered to come from Kearney on her day off tomorrow to help with the kids, so hopefully, I'll get motivated and get a lot of stuff done!
See, I told you I'd do better...2 posts in 2 days! Eric and his friend Josh ran the Lincoln Half Marathon again this morning, so I packed up the kids and was determined to catch them running. We planned out where to meet at a couple of different spots throughout the course, and wouldn't you know it, I missed them. Apparently, they started sooner than expected and ran faster than they thought they would, so I was late to the first spot. My sister and her family met us there to watch, so we had fun cheering on some runners. By the time we figured out that they weren't coming, it was pretty much too late to meet them at the next spot. We decided to just skip down to the stadium to try to meet them at the finish line. And when I say skip down, I mean sit in traffic waiting for runners to cross the street. Driving around that area during the race is next to impossible. So, long story short, I made it downtown about the same time that Eric and Josh got into their car to head home. It was extremely frustrating, but the kids were great and didn't hardly complain. We stopped for donuts on the way home...watching all those people running made me hungry!
I know I know, I've been a horrible blogger. If anyone out there still reads this thing, I'm going to try harder to get back into blogging. I've said it before, but this time I really mean it.
Well, as some of you may know, we've sold our house. We had been hearing about the lack of homes for sale in Lincoln, so we put our house up on Zillow, just to see if there was interest. Well, there was plenty of interest, and we ended up selling it ourselves in about 3 weeks. We are closing on May 19th, but will be moving in with my parents on May 12th. We purchased a lot of land [right], and are going to start building a new house as soon as possible (be prepared for many annoying "house progress" posts). We are so grateful that my parents have agreed to let us stay there for a few months, and hopefully we won't completely wear out our welcome!
With this move, we'll be changing schools. The kids will go to St John's, which is where I went when we were kids. Ivy will start 2nd grade in the fall, and Ada will be a Kindergartener! Just saying that makes my heart ache a little. Where did the last 5 years go? Ada is so fun and easy to have around, and I will miss her dearly in the fall. Of course, I will still have Eve home with me. She's getting into the toddler stage in which she's getting into EVERYTHING. It's a fun, but exhausting time.
We've been packing and moving stuff into a storage unit, as we can. I've been able to get rid of a lot of stuff that hasn't been touched since the last time we moved, almost 5 years ago. I like moving, in that it forces you to go through and weed out the stuff you don't need, but I also get sad going through old photos and letters that I can't seem to part with. It also makes me realize how much better digital photography is...rolls and rolls of crappy pictures, only to develop one or two decent photos?! No thanks!
Ok, I'd better not get too long winded on this post, or I'll get burned out before I start...
Time sure flies when you're having fun, and Eve is FUN. I can't believe she's already a year old! She is such a great walker and looks so funny toddling around with her tiny legs and feet. She's waving hi and bye, says nigh nigh, dada, mama, ada, num. She's such an easy-going girl, just walks around and explores and doesn't fuss. We can't imagine not having her around!
I just have to get this down before I forget the details, since it made my heart about burst. Today was Ada’s Halloween costume party at preschool and they dressed up and played games. She was telling me stories from the day and mentioned that they played some of the games twice, but didn’t get prizes the second time around since it was “just for fun”. Well apparently a girl named A.J., who hasn’t been extremely nice to Ada so far, was crying because she wanted a prize on the second time too. Everyone was calling A.J. a baby except Ada, and I guess Ada told everyone else to “leave her alone!”. Miss Phyllis heard it and told Ada that was so nice of her, and then A.J. gave her a hug and said thanks. I wish I could’ve seen it! Kids are so mean sometimes that I’m so excited that Ada can be so sweet, even to someone who isn’t her favorite. I hope she keeps that attitude for the rest of her life!
I can’t believe I’ve never talked about Ada’s obsession with lemonade yet. For the last couple years, if we go somewhere for a treat, the only thing that Ada wants is lemonade…and preferably PINK! Ice cream does not interest her at all. At first I felt bad that we’d all be eating ice cream and all she had was lemonade, but that’s just the way she likes it. Anyway, just in case she would grow out of that, I wanted to make sure I remember it.