Greetings from Texas!!

Many of you probably aren't aware (because I haven't updated this blog in almost a year!!) that we have relocated to Texas, Dallas-Fort Worth area to be exact. Chris got a job here in November and we moved the day after Thanksgiving. It was kind of a crazy, last minute decision but more on that later. How are we liking Texas?
Gordon's favorite thing about Texas: our apartment, the park here, there are so many sticks and acorns to play with.
Edison's favorite thing about Texas: playing at all the different parks
Chris's favorite thing about Texas: his job
My favorite thing about Texas: the city we live in and the weather (at least right now). There are so many parks and trails and trees everywhere.

The worst thing about Texas: Being away from family and friends.

I promised my family that I would update this blog more often now that we are far away. I won't make any promises about how often but it will be more than I did last year! Also, my new years resolution is to take more pictures. I was organizing my 2011 photos and was sad to see how few there were.

Hello friends, family, strangers, world wide web... where to even begin? I feel so (there is not even a word for it.) I want to blog and record my little family's life on this little blog in this little corner of the internet...but the only thing on my mind...I don't really want to blog about. My husband lost his job at the end of May and we put our house up for sale. Trying to sell your house is depressing. Chris and I have put so much work into this house. Our first house. All the fixing up is finally done but I feel like I can't enjoy it because it's not my house anymore. It is someone else's. What is the point of hanging up pictures or decorating if I am just going to have to take it all down again?
We have had  four open houses each one more depressing than the last. This selling your house business is an emotional roller coaster. Each Saturday I think, "This is the day. We just need one person to like our house enough to want to buy it. This is going to be the day." Then the minutes tick by and no one comes. Not.one.single.person. Sitting in my house all alone for three hours waiting and watching is the most depressing past time I can think of. But each time I tell myself, "This is going to be the day!" Why do I set myself up for such massive disappointment? Why? I don't know what else to do.
And don't even get me started on the job search. Everyone knows that is depressing. Chris is so much stronger than I am in this regard. At first we thought maybe he could do the Air Force/Army route and be an officer but when it came right down to it..he just couldn't do it. Then we thought maybe he should just go back to school. He decided that if he is going to go back to school he is going to do something this time that is guaranteed to make lots of money. Dentistry. But do we really want to go through 7 more years of school? I think not! Now, he is so dedicated to getting a job in landscape architecture. Which is great but I feel like there is nothing out there. He has more faith than I do, I guess. I just hate not knowing anything! Not knowing where we are going to live. Not knowing if we will sell our house. Not knowing if my husband will get a job? What job? Where? When? I know that I just need to trust in my Heavenly Father and know that all will work out in the end. I do know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who knows what is best for me and my family and I will just have to trust in that.

Tap, tap...is this thing on?

Well, hello again. I know I haven't been the best blogger in the world lately and I don't make any promises to become better anytime soon but my little boy just turned three on Saturday and I think he deserves a post. Edison is in love with Toy Story (the only movie he will sit through) and he especially loves Buzz Lightyear. So, of course we had to do a Buzz Lightyear themed party for him! The cake didn't turn out quite as I was hoping but Edison loved it and that's all that matters. He was in the bath while I was frosting it so he didn't see it until it was complete and he was so excited, he wanted to eat it right then.

I don't know if you can see his devilish eyebrow very well in this picture but let me tell you--this guy is a little rascal!! He certainly keeps me on my toes.

Edison was delighted that so many people came to our house just for him. We had 19 family members at the party and he was just pleased as punch that everyone was there for him. He took center stage and had no problem with it.

I decorated the house with cardboard stars covered in tinfoil, green and purple streamers, and a glittery Happy Birthday banner. We have this spare room upstairs so we turned it into our "Space Ranger Training Camp." We filled the empty room with about 200 balloons and had the kids do target practice with some nerf guns and then we gave each of them a can of silly string and let them go at it. We are planning on replacing the carpet in that room so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Boy was I wrong! It made such a mess! But the older kids thought it was cool to pick up all the silly string and make a big ball so they did most of the cleaning for me. Anyway, the kids enjoyed themselves so that was good. We got Edison a Toy Story bike that he still needs to learn how to peddle by himself but we can't get much practice time with all this snow and cold weather we've been having. We Gordon also got him a Zhu Zhu pet so that they could play together (Gordon got one from his cousin for Christmas and the boys think they are the coolest thing to hit planet earth!)

I just cannot believe my baby boy is three. His speech has really taken off in the last couple of months (Oh, one of those things I forgot to blog about--he graduated from speech therapy!! Like back in October/November?!) He is quite the chatter box now. In fact his favorite word lately is a curse word he heard from someone of the male species in this house. It starts with a d. He also loves to argue with his brother non-stop and won't give up. He knows he is always right! His other favorite thing is to have me close my eyes before he gives me anything and then put it in my hand and say "surprise!" We sure do love this little  big boy!

Gordon's 5th Birthday Interview

Interview with Gordon:
1. Something you do well.
swimming... plus one is two.
2. Something you wish you could do better.
do gymnastics
3. Your favorite food.
quesadilla
4. 3 words that tell about you.
me is me
5. What makes you happy.
you.
(oh, that is so sweet.)
Is there anything else that makes you happy?
No.
Something that makes you smile?
you.
6. The most important thing in your life right now.
the airport.
Why?
because that's is where airplanes land. That is where they start driving and fly.
7. Your favorite movie.
G-Force, Wipe-out, and Polar Express
8. Your favorite book.
Runaway Bunny- a bunny runs away and the mom bunny runs after it. If the baby bunny is a fish the mom bunny will fish for it.
9. Your favorite thing.
watching movies. My favorite song is You Better Watch Out! You better not cry!
10. Your favorite place to go.
to Izzy's house
11. Your favorite thing to draw.
Disneyland
12. Something you want for Christmas.
You know what Spencer got for Christmas at Papa's house. It is green and white and you plug it in? That is what I want.
13. Your favorite color.
Blue, yellow, white, green, red, black, peach
14. What do you like to play?
Going to Vegas
How do you play that?
Get on the couch. Pretend that the couch is a rocket. Get all your stuff, make a mess. (he means pack his clothes but I always tell him he is making a mess) Take a shower, take a bath, and go to Vegas!
15. What do you like to do when it's raining?
Stay inside. Play Vegas. Hug you. Take naps. Hahaha
16. Your favorite animal?

You.
No.
Um...Edison.
No.
Um...my favorite animal is...ME!
No.
an elephant.
One plus one is awesome!


How does it feel to be 5?
I don't know I haven't been 5 for very long.
What was your favorite thing about being 4?
Swimming and playing with Terin
What did you not like about being 4?
Not playing with rocks. I played with rocks when I was 3 but not when I was 4.
What is going to be exciting about being 5?
I am getting older.
What is good about getting older?
I am getting close to being a grownup.
What is so great about being a grownup?
Grownups are stronger and can lift heavier things and kids can't do that.

Better Late than Never

Gordon's party was monster themed and it was perfect because all the Halloween stuff was 75% off. I found this invitation online and changed it to suite our party:

I printed off some Yo Gabba Gabba monster masks and had the kids color them and add different things to them. Then we practiced being really scary monsters. We made scary faces, stomped, and made scary noises. Then we played Hide-n-Scare. Half the kids hid while the other kids looked for them and then they jumped out and made scary faces!

 All the kids making scary faces. Now the story behind the cupcakes. I found these cupcakes in the Fall issue of Taste of Home and that is what started this monster themed party. Well, we had the party planned and everything was ready, including the cupcakes and then Gordon woke up sick (vomiting). So we cancelled the party and ended up throwing away a lot of cupcakes. Well, Chris insisted that we make the cupcakes again and try for the party the next week.

 I wasn't so sure I wanted to make all those cupcakes again! But it actually turned out easier the second time. The kids absolutely loved them. And Gordon even got to help create some with the left over supplies.

At the end we had them follow the green monster footprints to find their goody bags. I just bought a bunch of Halloween stuff (spiders, googly eye glasses...) and I made some slime and put them each in a ziploc bag. All in all it was a successful party.

Fall Recipes

I have been looking forward to making these delicious soups. Both of these are family favorites. Try them out.

Autumn Chowder

6 slices bacon, chopped or 2 cups of ham, cubed

1 cup onion, chopped

1 cup water

3 cups potatoes, diced

1 carrot, sliced

1 tsp instant chicken bouillon

3 cups milk

2 cans corn, drained

½ tsp pepper

3 cups Cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp flour

Fry bacon. Add onions. Brown until bacon is crisp. Stir in water, potatoes, carrots, and bouillon. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes (it goes faster with the lid on). Stir in milk, corn, and pepper. Heat until simmering. Mix cheese and flour and add to soup mixture. Stir constantly until cheese is melted. 

(image copied from the web...it doesn't look good but it SO is)

Zuppa Toscana Soup

(From the Olive Garden)

1 lb sausage

2 large potatoes cubed

¾ cup chopped onion

1 ½ tsp minced garlic

2 cups kale- washed, dried, shredded

2 Tbsp chicken bouillon powder

1 quart water

1/3 cup heavy cream

½-1 tsp crushed red pepper

Cook sausage. Place onions in large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Add garlic to onion, cook an additional minute. Add chicken bouillon, water, potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes. Add sausage, kale, and cream. Simmer for 4 minutes. Serve and enjoy!!

All work and no play...

...would make for a dull summer! So of course our remodeling project wasn't all we did this summer. We went to Lagoon TWICE!! These pictures are from the whole Thomas Family Lagoon Trip! It was amazing. Seriously so fun!.

 Gordon thinks Lagoon is the best place on earth! It is pure joy for me just to see his face and how excited he gets. With his cousins with him it was heaven!

Edison did much better this trip than last time. He was not scared one bit. It was great to have everyone there (it would have been even better if we had Zach and Katie with us!)

 Chad and Katie with Grant and Lily.

 Maren and Brett with Fisher and Sarah.

Most of us together on the Tidal Wave.

The best was watching all the kids on the bumper cars. The older ones could get around pretty good but the younger ones just kept going in circles.

Thanks again family for the good time!!

Where do I even start?

Before

During

Before

The project that has taken most of our summer is redoing the floors in our house. We are still a long way from finished but we have also made a lot of progress. When we moved in we knew we were going to have to replace the carpet because the previous owner had cats and the whole upstairs stunk. Luckily the basement was remodeled after they moved out and before we moved in so we didn't need to worry about that.

Chris's parents dishwasher leaked and ruined the floor in front of it and that floor is not made anymore so they had to tear it all up and they gave it to us! Yeah! Well, when we tore the carpets up I don't think we were quite prepared for how bad it would be underneath.

During

Do you see all those nasty stains? It smelled so much worse (which I didn't think was possible.) It made me sick to think about how we had been walking and playing on this carpet for the past month! Anyway, we ended up tearing out all the sub-floor too. What a project! So this supposedly "free floor" we were getting wasn't quite turning out that way. We also had to knock down all the rock on the fireplace to get the boards out. After Chris's hard work, this is what the family room looks like today.

I know we still have to finish the fireplace and the trim but at least I have a floor.
Now the kitchen and dining room area we decided we wanted tile. It is still not in yet. This is what it looks like today. (literally I took this picture two minutes ago so forgive the mess.

(I have also been sanding and painting our table and chairs. That is another project for another post.)
This room has been even more of a nightmare because, as with most old houses, nothing is level. As you can see from this picture again...

The previous owners had put in some sort of plaster to try to even things out but it was all breaking up and cracking everywhere so we tore it out. We thought we had it level and put the backerboard down (the white boards you see under the table are for laying tile) and we would find it still wasn't level. So we would tear it up level it again and again and again. I think finally the dining room is level. we are still working on leveling the kitchen. The problem is it takes a good two hours to do a small area and we have to wait till the kids are in bed so it can dry with no little feet walking on it. Anyway, I feel like we take 2 steps forward 1 step back, 2 steps forward 1 step back...but hopefully it is finished soon. I told Chris I wanted to have a Halloween party at our house so it has to be done before then. Wish us luck!

I have been working on a few projects for the boys room. I still have a few more but who know when they will get done so I thought I would post what I finished.

I don't know if you remember this blanket...

I am trying to decorate the boys room with this blanket as the focus. I want to paint the small bookcase in their room orange or green. I think green would be a little safer but orange would be fun.

Edison

I realize Edison does not get nearly the amount of face time on this blog as Gordon does and it is just not fair!! Eddie is my little rascal. He loves to pull a funny face. He is always doing it at dinner time and making us all laugh.

Edison is super cute and boy does he know it. He uses his charms to get out of trouble all the time. He's just too hard to stay mad at. Except when he gets out of his crib at night and at nap time!! Just started that this week and it is sooo not fun.
We wanted to see if Edison's hair had any curl to it like Gordon's so we let it grow out a little bit. I wanted to document it before we cut it.