Earth to Julie

Yes, we are still alive. No, we didn't move to another planet without internet access. I just honestly don't get on the computer much anymore. And when I do it's usually just to check email because someone says "didn't you get that email I sent?" There have been many funny little stories I'll think "oh, I should blog about that." and I just never get to it.
Our computer is acting funny now too. When I try to upload pictures our USB says it doesn't recognize the camera, so that's why the lack of pictures. Sorry. Here's what has happened and what we're looking forward to...
Recent history:
Another ER visit for Noah after he fell out of a cart at Lowe's and hit his head on the concrete floor and began throwing up. He is perfectly fine, just gave us a scare!
*Planted the front planter box. It's not a small planter box, it's almost 20ft. long and 6 ft. wide, so that felt pretty good. Adds a little more curb appeal.
*Campaigned FOR Prop. 8. YES ON 8!!!!!!!!!


Currently:
*Packing for our yearly trip to Yosemite. We leave tomorrow, Mia's school has a "teacher in-service day on Monday and we're staying for two nights. It's going to be beautiful weather and warm enough for the kids to get in the river.
*We're also having a new front door installed tomorrow. I can't wait since we can barely close our front door now.
*Trying to scrounge up bank statements and pay stubs so we can refinance. What a pain.
Looking forward to:
*My parents are coming for a visit in less than a week now. We're all very excited to see them.
*Halloween! We're going to be the Incredibles family, cheesy, but cute too. My dad can't wait to go trick or treating again. I won't be surprised if he tours the new neighborhood to scout out the most efficient route for maximum candy. Seriously.
*The election. I'm kinda dreading it too, I just want it to be over.

I can't believe that November is in one week! The holidays are almost here. My head just exploded.

Oh and check out my traveling siblings blogs. My brother Rhett is studying abroad for fall term in Romania and Whitney just went on a 10 day trip for her work www.freewheelchairmission.org
to South Africa. Whitney is on her trip now and probably won't be able to blog about it until she's back home. Anyway, that's all I have to report now.

Only one napper left!

So yesterday I realized that naps are just a form of torture for Kai now. His naps have dwindled from every day to about 2-3 times a week. Getting him down for a nap is fine, but like yesterday he had a nap in the afternoon, then I walked into the boys room at about 10:30 pm-2 hours after I put them to bed for the night and my sweet little boy was laying there wide awake even though his brother and sister had been passed out for over an hour. I could tell he wanted to be asleep, but he just wasn't tired enough after having a nap that same afternoon. Even though I enjoy quiet time and was hoping to make it through the new year with two nappers I know how much it sucks to lay in bed trying to fall asleep, but being unable to, and I don't want my selfish reasons to be the cause of Kai's restlessness. Another one bites the dust and it looks like I will now have just one sleeping which will probably make quiet time a little less quiet.

Putting it out there.

So, this decision came pretty easily to me after the VP candidates were selected and I'm voting for OBAMA! I have always liked him and thought he brought a positive outlook and a lot of charisma to politics. I didn't have much against McCain until he chose his VP. I absolutely, positively, cannot stand his horrible choice for VP. I mean give me a break!!!!!! His decision was purely to give his side some novelty, and had nothing to do with who would actually be the best VP for our country. The republican party has to have better candidates than that woman. I need to change the channel every time I hear Sarah Palin speak. BLECH! Obviously this is just my opinion, but I don't, don't, don't, don't like her. She's hokey, and dopey and never even met a foreign dignitary for crying out loud!
Whoever is sworn in, in January has a really rough road ahead and I'll be praying for them. I don't think either one will be able to keep all their promises because let's face it, no politicians at that level do. I do feel a little more optimistic about the direction Obama wants to take which is why the two votes in this house will be headed Obama's way. Not looking for debates, just happy to live in a country where we can have our say :)

Change stinks!

We are truly and completely blessed to have this opportunity to move into a nicer neighborhood (not that we were in the ghetto before), into a bigger house with a smaller monthly payment. It all seems like pluses, right? Well it's just been hard getting used to a new house. For instance, there is a wall my fridge door hits up against instead of being able to open all the way like it used to. The kitchen layout is totally dysfunctional here which is really tough because our kitchen was so handy before. I also thought I would love having all hard wood floors, but I really miss carpet (and we do have rugs). We also miss grass! Our yard needs landscaping badly, it is completely devoid of grass, so the kids have no soft place to play outside. It's all decking, dirt and rocks. Also the hot water runs out really fast here. It's a lukewarm shower, at best, if you're the third one to go. My laundry area has diminished from being able to hold 7-8 clean loads to two :( which means I actually have to start putting my laundry away instead of stockpiling it 'til it's time to start the next round. It's also really hard going from two fridges to one. We had an extra fridge in our garage before to hold all our drinks, so no more buying 24 packs of coke, or two gallons of milk at a time because it won't fit. In general, it's been hard figuring out where to put all our old things into our new house. I'm sure that's pretty normal for everyone, but still no fun. The one who's had the hardest time with this move is Kai. Yesterday, when we were pulling up to our new house, Kai said "no, I want to go HOME, I want to go HOME!" He also has run away once because he couldn't find me in the house. We found him crying up the street and there were a couple of worried neighbors around him. So great first impression we are making. He constantly is asking "are you gonna leave me?" Poor little guy, he doesn't understand yet.
Now for the positives. I LOVE being close to Mia's school. Her little friend who's up the street walks down with her mother every morning and they walk to school together. Then we get our little walk in the afternoon, when the boys and I go down to pick her up. I love having a real family room, before it was just a den area, here it is much bigger. I love the front deck, it faces the tree lined creek that runs along our house. YES, there is a real creek on the side of our house, no neighbor behind or on one side of us. At night we can leave our bedroom window open and hear the water flowing down the hill. Those are some more pretty good bonuses, and I'm sure we will all get used to the more difficult changes and continue to find more things we love in this house. I can't wait for everyone to see it...so come for a visit!