The Latest

Feels like it's been too long since I've written, time seems to have been flying by lately. The girls seem to just be turning into little kids and not babies right before my eyes. Even though that's a good thing, I can't help to wish them to stay small sometimes. It is fun the older they get though, they play so good together and really like having each other as a buddy I think. When one of them is sleeping and there is only one to deal with, it seems very weird to me. Even Stella seems to be losing the "baby" look and turning into more of a kid. She will be a year old at the end of the month, sniff sniff! So what have we done lately....

We went to Zoo Lights with the girls in the past week and a half. They loved it! We used the wagon that Nanny and Papa got for them and boy did they have a blast in it. Emme was so excited, she helped Brian put it together and was very excited to get "nuggled" or snuggled as we would say, in it with all her blankets and Stella too of course. Emme was super excited to look at all the lights on display this year and Stella sat contently in the wagon being carted around. Great gift Nanny and Papa!

Also, we have registered Emme for preschool for next fall starting in August. I can not even believe we had to do this already but when I called the school she will be going to, they said they had 20 people signed up already and we better hurry since they were filling up. We took a tour this week and we absolutely loved it from the start and knew it was right for her. Emme loved it too right away and wanted to play with all their toys and the kids. We were so impressed by it, even all the kids seemed so well behaved and quiet in the classrooms. I can't believe even preschool costs an arm and leg these days but it will be well worth it for her. She will only go two days a week, half days but I think it will be great socialization for her and something she can do without me. So now we just have to make sure she's potty trained for good by then. She's doing really good for the most part but we still have a ways to go, I think she's well on her way however.

Now we just have to get ready for Brian's parents to visit at the end of January for a month and then my parents and Aunt and Uncle come in March. I love guests so I can't wait for everyone to get here! It will give me a reason to get in gear and get more things unpacked too. This unpacking thing takes awhile with kids and I just accepted that one. One day we will be all done, hopefully that day is soon!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween rolled around fast this year, or maybe I just thought it did because of the craziness going on in our lives lately with moving. It was nice to be in our new house for Halloween so we could go trick or treating in the new neighborhood. Our friends Andy and Leslie and their little girl Lilah came over since they live in the same community as us, and we all went trick or treating. Emme was tinkerbell and Stella was a lion which seemed to suit her quite well, she even gave us a few roars :) Literally, she is a mimic so all we did was say rooooarrrr to her and she had it down pat as was immitating it perfectly.
Emme was pretty pumped since she had been talking about it for a solid month whenever she saw a pumpkin or any halloween decorations. She kept saying door, knock knock, bucket, trick or treat! Ah the communication of a 2 year old. She was alittle hesitant of new people when she walked up to their door but she would stick out her bucket and say thank you when they handed her candy and then she would say trick or treat, as we were walking away from their house of course. I think she just didn't get the nerve to say it to their face until after the door closed. But that was alright :) She really had a blast this year since she knew what was going on this time around. She also liked handing out the candy to everyone that came to the door. All except for the boy with the really scary mask that came knocking, she was all set to hand the candy over to him and then she looked up at his face-realized he had on something very scary- literally jumped a foot in the air and whipped the candy at him and run the opposite direction into the living room-I think that was the highlight of the night for me, too funny. So now I'm just left with all the candy from halloween, trying to consume it all which I feel guilty for eating every day for the fact that I know I will just have about 2 cavities minimum when I go to the dentist next. Great! :)

Our New Home

Needless to say, the word crazy does not describe my life accurately enough lately. We just bought a new home in the past month and it's amazing how fast things fly! Right before we left for our trip to Pittsburgh in September, we made an offer on what is now our new home, and to our surprise, they accepted it! This house was the one we were watching for weeks because they had it priced above our price range originally. We made an informal offer on it right after it came on the market and the realtor said they wanted full price, uh not going to happen! So our realtor wisely suggested we wait it out and they would come down on price, which they did. They actually came down on the price twice before we tried again and they accepted our offer finally! So on our vacation in Pittsburgh, we were quite busy emailing and going over the specifics etc. so it wasn't as much of a vacation as I would have hoped with all this going on.

When we got home, we had about 2 weeks until closing which was filled with last minute things we had to fax over to the lender pretty much every day it seemed, it was a huge hassel. I told Brian I really never wanted to move and go through this again, whew!!! We closed on October 8th and ended up moving on the 13th. We didn't actually get all of our things in until the 15th basically. I actually can't believe that we got all of our stuff and junk out of Yuta street into Gloria Lane. I was feeling very overwhelmed but somehow we did it.

Now I am overwhelmed at the unpacking aspect but that is something I can do overtime at least and am not under a deadline. I will have to put the OCD part of me aside and just take it alittle at a time, especially with two small children 2 and under to deal with. They make it alittle challenging to get anything unpacked. Good news is that we won't have to unpack everything we packed since some things will stay in boxes in the garage such as camping gear, etc. So things are coming along slowly but surely and it's good just to be in the house.

We are still going to hold onto Yuta St. and rent it out so now we are in the process of finding renters. We have had some good response off of Craigslist so hopefully we will have someone in there by December. As for our new neighborhood, we love it here. There are so many nice people we have met and it's really a great neighborhood for kids. The clubhouse and park are only a few blocks away where we can walk which is very convienent. It's alittle farther to stores and shops than Ahwatukee, but I think with time, more businesses will definitely be expanding out here so I'm sure it will have the same feel as far as that goes within the next 5 years or so. I think we will be very happy here and the girls will have a great place to grow up in! We even have a casita for guests to come and visit so uh em hint hint to anyone who wants to come :)