What Steven and I Did in Gospel Doctrine Yesterday Instead of Paying Attention

What can I say? Yesterday was an off day. (The cut-off jacket, spike bracelets and black comb-over were Steven's special little touches).

5 Random Points of Interest From My Week

1. This house rocks the Casbah. It’s nice to be living in an actual house and not someplace falling apart at the seams. True, the guy who used to own it was a real do-it-yourselfer, but it’s still pretty nice and has plenty of room.

2. Furniture shopping is fun. Granted, it’s a lot more fun when you’re not hauling two kids under 5 years old around the stores with you, but its fun nonetheless. We’ve actually bought almost everything we need: living room furniture, bedroom furniture, and dining table and chairs.

3. I haven’t watched TV for 7 days (except, of course, the obligatory “Office” DVDs from Netflix at night with Steven before bed). We’ve opted to go without cable/dish/satellite here. I’m interested to see how long I can hold out without seeing all my forensic documentary shows on Court TV.

4. I suck at decorating. Now that I have this awesome new place, I have no idea how to adorn it. I’m scared to do anything just in case I end up making it look like Granny’s Attic or a French bordello. It’s pretty stark and I don’t know where to begin. I need some serious help here.

5. Waffle House is right down the street from us. Steven has a weird obsession with Waffle House, and so of course we’ve eaten there for practically every meal since we got here. Maple Syrup is beginning to sicken me.

Okay, so that’s where we’re at. I’ll post pictures as soon as we get all our stupid IKEA furniture assembled and our dining table on Monday. (I was just joking, IKEA. I love you and am grateful to assemble your furniture with as much spirit and gusto as the wholesome young Swedes who created it).

Super Succint Update

Got here late Sunday night (I know...we're slackers). Had a wonderful get-together with girls from the ward. Everyone brought us housewarming things, like dishes, silverware...you know...all those thiings that are mandatory for normal living but you never think about first. It's such a load-off and I feel so blessed and taken care of. It's overwhelming and comforting.

No furniture yet. Spent all day cleaning, seeing as how there was no place to sit down and be lazy (maybe I shouldn't get furniture...I'd be more productive). My feet are killing me. But Steven's taking the rest of the week off (he had Friday off anyway) and we're going furniture shopping. Warehouse furniture here I come!

Miss everyone in Arlington. Happy to get to know everyone in League city better.

So, so tired.

Bed now.

Busy Day

Yesterday was Stevie's last day of preschool. He had such a good experience and really enjoyed learning new things and being with his friends. I really wish there was some kind of equivalent in League City.

It was a particularly fun day because they had a Halloween party AND it was Pet Day. Afterwards, we got a picture of the kids in their costumes out on the playground.
(Starting from the left is Natalie, Stevie, James and Dallas).
Afterwards Shannon and I took our broods to McDonald's and had a lovely time. I just love Shannon, and it was so much fun to be able to talk and laugh while our kids went haywire on the play equipment.

Right afterwards it was off to Jan's house for another playdate. Jared and Stevie are such good friends. Whenver they get together, dressing up in costumes is an unwritten rule. They ended up dressing up in each other's Halloween costumes and, of course, gratuitous muscle-flexing immediately followed.
I just love Jan. Nothing is more cathartic than having a nice long talk with her about anything and everything under the sun. The best thing about her is that I always feel edified by the things she says and does. I feel like she really listens and appreciates me, and I always leave inspired to be a better person. I can't think of higher praise than that. *Sigh*...I tend to get just a little weepy now that it's time to leave all my wonderful friends.

Jumpin' on the Pumpkin Patch Train

Yesterday, Sarah and I headed out to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch with the kiddos. It was such a cool place, and completely free! I must admit that part of my motivation was getting some great fall pictures and alas, I was, for the most part, unsuccessful. You can find cuter ones on Sarah's post. HOWEVER, we still had a lovely (though exhausting) time.

This is us on the hayride. Can someone please tell me while I insist on making this insane face every time someone takes my picture lately? I either look hopped up on meth or like a mom about to lose her marbles. (It's usually the latter).
They had the coolest little mazes made out of hay that the kids really loved. At the end of the maze was a little castle slide (a big hit).
This faux tractor caused quite a bit of controversy in that both parties insisted they were the true tractor-driver.
This was pretty much David's mood the entire time. Always happens when he falls asleep in the car.
He was, however, delighted by the tiny pumpkins. I'm pretty sure he intended on taking them all home.
This picture was intended to be a cute little hugging picture of Stevie and Bella. It ended up looking like Stevie was assaulting her. Sorry, Sarah, I just thought it was too funny!
Be still my beating heart. This child is too precious.
Doesn't it look like Stevie's sort of hoping it will hatch?
David was mainly concerned with rearranging the pumpkins

This picture sums up Stevie's opinion of all my picture-taking by the end of the day. Not impressed.
Totally unrelated picture. I watched the kids last night while Sarah and James went to dinner and snapped this one in the midst of all the hub-bub. Two suckers and a cowboy hat. Priceless.

Unexpected But Most Excellent News

Since Steven just started his new job in June, he was originally told that he wouldn't begin accruing personal days until January. While Steven was asking permission to leave early on Thursday (the cable guy's coming), his boss shot him down, telling him he really couldn't justify the cable guy as a good excuse. His boss DID tell him, however, that he has 15 personal days that he needs to use up before the years out (or he'll lose them).

Whaaaaa???? 15 days? That's like 3 weeks!!

So not only will Steven be here early this week, but he'll also be able to take a couple days off next week so we can go furniture shopping together! So wonderful. And here I was moping about how I would have to be in an empty house all by myself waaahh, waaah, waaah, etc.

AND this also means we'll be able to take a trip to Chicago to go visit Steven's family! We haven't been to Chicago since August 2007, and we're just dying to see everyone; especially Steven's brother and sister-in-law Phil and Jessica.

So how's that for a little stumbled-upon serendipity?

Goooooooooo ANICO!

Moving.....Again.

We finally decided what we're going to do.

We found a nice house in League City for lease, and we decided to take it. It's not the ideal situation (seeing as how we originally planned to buy a house in November). But now we're not 100% sure we're going to stay in League City, so we thought it better to lease rather than lock ourselves into a house, and therefore lock us into Galveston County. It's a 12-month lease, and we figure we'll have a better idea of what we want to do in a year's time.

Our lease actually begins on OCT. 27th! Steven was all for me driving down Thursday morning. But we won't have anything in that house except clothes and air mattresses and hopefully a lawn chair or two. I don't really want to spend a week in a house completely bereft of any recognizable comforts. So he agreed to wait until the weekend to help me get some things together.

So make sure to to squeeze in an hour or so of play time with us before we leave! (But who knows...another hurricane might blow us back up here sooner than we think).

Here's some pictures of the new place:

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Yesterday we had oodles of fun. After our obligatory breakfast at IHOP (Steven insists on either a Waffle House or IHOP breakfast most Saturdays), we went to a birthday party for Stacie's little Jack. We had such a good time. Once again, Stacie's cute ideas blew me away! Instead of just having little Jack blow out the candles, she made cupcakes and put a candle on every one. Then when we sang to baby Jack, ALL the kids got to blow out their candle at the end. AS IF that wasn't cool enough, afterwards they got to decorate their own cupcakes. It was so cute and I thoroughly plan on shamelessly stealing all her ideas for our future birthday parties.

Afterwards we rushed to the store to buy some last minute supplies for our trunk and for Steven and my costumes for the Trunk-or-Treat. However, Stevie had a huge meltdown after seeing my costume, and firmly decided he no longer wanted to be a knight, but instead wanted to be the same thing as me. In the end, we came to a compromise, and he was a little bit of both. Here's what we all came up with:

If you're wondering what the heck I'm suppose to be, I'm a BLACK-EYED "P"! Get it? Don't feel bad, nobody else got it either. They all thought I was making a statement about spousal abuse or something. At any rate, my black eye make-up was of course what caused all the hub-bub with Stevie, and so I ended up blacking his eye anyways.

And if you're wondering what STEVEN is supposed to be...well, so are we. We just bought an cheap Elvis wig off the clearance rack at Target and that was it. The wig turned out to be kind of wonky and would not cooperate at all. I think Steven's attempting the lip curl in this one...I'm really not sure...

Our trunk decoration was (as was last year) a monster car who tried to bite your arm when you reached in the trunk for candy. It was a big hit (especially since Steven was running the show, complete with sound effects). At the end, the kids decided they needed to defeat the beast, seeing as how they were Knights and all.
All in all, a very fun night. But I was glad when it was over. I collapsed into bed at the earliest opportunity.

Dreaming

Now I know our insurance money (when we DO actually get it) is going to have to stretch, but if I look really hard on craigslist, maybe I can find something that looks remotely like this:

(These couches recline! Isn't that awesome? Though I'm not fond of the blue paint in this room.)
Or a bedroom set that even somewhat resembles this:


And maybe something homey and country-looking (but maybe a bit lighter) for the breakfast or dining room like this:
That would make me pretty happy. But then again, there will be a lot of little things that will eat up that money quicker than I think. Like towels and sheets and plates and silverware. A washer and dryer. A vacuum cleaner. Shoes. Etc.

But I can dream a little before it all starts to happen and decisions actually have to be made, can't I?

My Boys

This kid is talking more and more every day. Not always articulately, mind you, but he's talking nonetheless. He's also just recently taken to being a bit more surly and defiant. He pulls this exasperatingly adorable face where he scrunchs up his eyebrows and copies my voice when I'm getting onto him for doing something particularly impish. I honestly don't know whether to laugh at him or send him to his room without dessert.

David has truly mastered the art of tantrums, especially the all-important (and often insincere) drama involved in getting his way. This includes the "going limp" maneuver, where he will hang piteously by his arm when I'm trying to hold his hand to get him to go somewhere. Also, there's what I like to call the "Screech from Hades", which he's perfected in order to make it sound like he's being torn limb from limb, when in actuality, stevie is just standing too close to him or has a toy he wants or something.

And yet he's so adorable and I love him so much I can barely punish him...which is probably why he's being such a stinker lately.

Stevie, on the other hand, seems to be mellowing out lately. I was concerned for awhile there because he was so darned OCD about things like being able to lock the car door or having to leave the bathroom before the toilet finished running (that last one stumped me, I'll admit). But lately he just seems to gripe for a few minutes and get over it.

Stevie really enjoys restating facts that he already knows the answer to. I think it's just satisfying to him to be able to list his knowledge out loud. For example, he'll say something like "How old is Jared, Mama?" and I'm suppposed to reply "I don't know, Stevie, how old is he?" And he'll smugly answers "He's four years old." And heaven help you if you answer his question for him. He will, of course, immediately correct me by saying "No, you're supposed to say....etc, etc, etc.

I need to start incorporating Stevie/Mommy date nights, I've decided. I've noticed that I tend to give David all the attention and just expect Stevie to fend for himself. And he can and does, which makes it all the easier for me to focus on David. But the other day I was noticing that my baby is now all skinny arms and legs and his face is slimming out and he's losing all the baby fat. He's growing up so fast, and I better spend time with him now while I'm still one of the most important people in his world. I want him to be able to really talk to me all of his life. And if I don't start now, I can forget about it once puberty hits!

Sometimes I feel like I just want to stop everything and rock him in my arms for hours, but I doubt he'd let me anymore. He really just likes to check in every now and then with a big smile and kiss. And really, what more could I ask for?