Finally getting into a routine...

It's only taken a month, but we're finally starting to get into a routine with all the newness in our lives. The changes have been awesome, but exhausting and confusing too. As we're settling in we decided a weekly dinner with my parents and sister would be a nice way for us to spend time together...since we live so close and all:) Last night was our first celebration of this new habit and it was wonderful! We enjoyed home made hamburgers, courtesy of my parents and sister, along with lots of yummy fruit!

After a Delicious dinner Trinity got a bubble bath in my parents wonderful tub. She got lost in all the bubbles, so I had to take some pics...

She declared it to be a googleplex of bubbles! Just FYI- googleplex is a real number, but it's way too big for me to define:)

We're so glad to have this event in our weekly routine now! We will look forward to Mondays every week...that's a first:)



Now, on a totally different subject...


This morning I was taking down some things the previous owners had left in the kitchen in order to install a new paper towel holder and Addison really wanted to help. She saw I was using a screwdriver so she went to the garage and found her own screwdrivers and brought them into me begging to help. When I told her it would be just a minute before I could pick her up to help me she quietly left the room. When I went to find her, this is what I saw:

I can't wait till she's big enough to help me with home repair work! This is gonna be awesome!

The great Funkytown!

For those of you unfamiliar with the name "Funkytown" (like I was up until about a month ago), this is nickname for Fort Worth. Don't ask me where it comes from or why it's used...just use it yourself and sound cool. Anyway, today was an especially great day for us here in our new home town...Funkytown. We started the day off with a lemonade/cookie stand. We live on a fairly busy corner, so knew we would get great exposure. We got the homemade lemonade ready and some cookies baked and our three little entrepreneurs set out on their first venture. They made some great signs (that unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of) and got everything arranged just perfectly, including the Barbies and flowers for decoration. The girls made $40 today at their stand! That's pretty amazing to me!

The best part about the lemonade stand wasn't the money we made, it was the way our neighbors came out of the woodwork to visit with us. I was a little late joining the party and when I walked out the front door there were at least 20 people standing in our front yard visiting! How wonderful to have fun and supportive neighbors! The girls started playing with our across the street neighbors (two little girls- one is a year older than Trinity and the other is about 6 months older than Emory), then two more little girls from down the street joined in the party! The girls were incredibly thrilled to have playmates their own ages! The across the street neighbors ended up becoming the hired help (it's amazing what kids will do for lemonade and cookies) and stayed to play for a couple of hours. Then...Trinity and Emory went to play at their house for like 5 hours! What a change of pace this is for us to have neighbors to play with! Their parents are totally cool too, we visited for several hours throughout the day too with them!

We also had several other visitors at our lemonade stand that were great surprises. Someone Greg and I have both worked with in the professional world, a childhood friend of mine...and some other really great neighbors!

Greg and I feel so blessed to have an incredible neighborhood surrounding us!

Won't you take me to...Funkytown...

Let's all go to the zoo!

Yesterday was a "staff development day" for Fort Worth ISD. For those of us unfamaliar with this term, it means the teachers work while the kids have the day off. We took advantage of the day off and the beautiful weather and spent the day at the zoo! We had a BLAST!!!!! Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure

Addison LOVED the animals! She waivied to each and every single one of them!

In this picture she was excitedly waiving to the wart hogs. I haven't seen anyone this excited to see a wart hog since Lion King first came out!

This gorilla was sleeping so peacefully and looked so comfy!

The girls loved riding the zoo train!

Nini treated her girls to a ride on the carosel. I think Addison was enjoying herself just a bit!

so was Emory

I'm afraid Trinity might be getting a little too old to find quite as much pleasure in these rides.

By the time we were ready to hop back on the train we were all a little worn out. Emory came really close to falling asleep just before I took this picture.

This is one of Addison's favorite facial expressions these days...I copied her:)

We had an awesome day at the zoo! Thanks Gaga for a wonderful and thoughtful "welcome to Fort Worth" gift that will keep on giving and thanks Nini for joining us!

A little behind

Sorry I'm a little behind with some very important posts from our lives, but I still haven't gotten to the store to get the software I need to load pictures...ugh! I'll give a brief synopsis of what we've been up to...


We finally got Trinity and Emory's room finished (well at least enough to move them in) and moved them in!
Emory has started school!

Emory started gymnastics!

Trinity started gymnastics!

Trinity turned 6!!!!!!

We went to the first UNT home football game of the season.

Trinity had the family over for a Hannah Montana birthday party!

We got the several light fixtures replaced (thanks Dad) and are slowly but surely updating the '60s decor in the house.
Trinity and Emory started church choir together!

Whoa...I'm sure I've left some very important things out, and I hope I remember them when I go back and actually give details and pictures!

That's all for now, gotta get to gymnastics!

A small glimpse

This evening we took the girls and my sister to a girls volleyball game at North Texas. It has been a long time since I attended a volleyball game and I forgot how much I enjoyed them! The girls really seemed to enjoy it too and while they were able to watch (the guys in front of us decided it would be a good idea to stand the ENTIRE time, so we couldn't see some of the action) they really got into it and asked a bunch of questions. Greg has been "bumping" the ball with them a lot and Trinity and Emory have both gotten really good at it recently!

So while I was sitting (or standing) in the stands I felt like I was looking into a crystal ball and seeing my future...cheering on a girls volleyball team! I do enjoy it, so if I were to pick a sport for my daughters to play, this one would definitely top the list! Lord knows they'll have the height for it, now the skills and desire are yet to be determined.

BTW, North Texas lost, we played Tech. Oh well, fun game anyway!

Bittersweet

Today we officially sold our old house. I am thrilled to not have the responsibility, stress and expense of it, but I am also very sad to not have it anymore. I haven't been back over there since last Tuesday, when we packed the truck and ran out in a rush to get to Ft. Worth and start unloading. I assumed I'd be back over to help finish gathering stuff and cleaning, but lucky for me I have an amazing husband, father and Mother-in-law who handled all of that for me. I feel like I didn't get to say good-bye to it though and to all of our memories there. I know it's just a house and the memories are in my heart and head, not in the house, but it's still a very special place to me and I feel like it deserved more from me than what it got. Oh well, it's done the way it's done and that's that. I just hope and pray the new owners are good to it and build wonderful memories of their own there.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled beyond belief with our decision to move and with the house we chose, they are all perfect, but closing an old chapter is always a little bittersweet.

Good bye house, thanks for welcoming our baby girls with open arms and for protecting us from the world! We hope your future is as wonderful as ours!

Whew...

We finally have internet at home! I was going through serious withdraw not being able to get online for a whole week! We're still without cable, but at least I have some form of communication with the outside world while I wait.

We are in the process of getting setlled in our wonderful, new house, although we still have a LONG ways to go! We still have tons of boxes in storage and at my parents' house, but we'll get to them...eventually. I started working on Trinity's and Emory's room the day after we moved in, and I'm still working on it. Since they have a massive (but really cool) castle bunk bed it is not movable once it is assembled, so we have to get it all finished before we move them in. This means all three girls have been sleeping in the same room for a week and I think all five of us are ready for that to come to an end. All of Trinity's and Emory's furniture (except their mattresses) are in the formal living room and it's pretty disastorous. We hope to make major leaps in our progress and get them moved in by the end of the day on Monday...say a prayer please!

Even more importantly Trinity is getting settled in her new school. We attended a fun kindergarten activity on Saturday, called Popsicles in the Park where all the incoming Kindergarteners and their parents hang out in the park across the street from the school and eat popsicles and visit. We really enjoyed getting to meet some of the other parents and children. I think there are between 80 and 90 kids in kindergartn this year, so it was quite a crowd! Trinity really likes her teacher, actually she has a sub through Thanksgiving because her teacher just had a baby. Greg and I really enjoyed our time with the sub though and know she is going to do a great job with our princess! Trinity isn't dreading going to school at all, in fact I think she secretly enjoys it and is trying to hide that enthusiasm for the sake of attention. I will get pics of her first day of school as soon as I get my camera stuff hooked up to the computer.

Oh, speaking of computers, my awesome Daddy got us a new one as a house warming gift and IT ROCKS! Thanks Daddy!

Emory got to go up to her new school today and take lunch to all the teachers and got to meet her teacher and play in her classroom. I think she is going to have a really fun year this year. There are 9 girls in her class out of 14 children, so she will have plenty of people to play babies and house with!

I am thrilled with our decision to move to Fort Worth and all of the wonderful things that are coming out of our move. This is going to be a wonderful home for us, both the house and the community!

I promise to post pictures in the near future. Till then...

Bye Dallas

So, we're actually moving! I've been thinking about the goods and bads about leaving my home of the past 7 years, Dallas, TX. In my thinking I've come up with a list of top 10 things I'll miss and the top 10 things I won't. So here goes:



Top 10 things I'll miss about living in Dallas:

1. LPG- our neighborhood parents group. When I found this group we went from living in a house to living in an amazing nieghborhood. Although I haven't been a very active participant in the activities they have been an amazing support group and ALWAYS there when we need them! I don't know if I will every find another group so great!

2. ZION LUTHERAN SCHOOL Our home away from home and our extended family for the past four years.

3. WHITE ROCK LAKE- such a beautiful place to go on walks with amazing wildlife all around it. The amount of "park land" and wildlife sanctuary land around it is such a wonderful blessing to this city and has been a great place for us to capture some family time along with great science lessons

4. BEING CLOSE TO MY IN-LAWS- Greg's mom is about 5 miles from us and his dad is about 15. This is the area where both of them grew up and it is the only "home" Greg has known. It has been very kind to us!

5. MY YARD. This place is amazing! We have just under 1/2 acre and it's like a park attached to our house! Greg has always given it extensive amounts of love and attention. I hope the future owners of the house enjoy it as much as we have and take good care of it too!

6. FRIENDS- we have had some amazing friends here! Some of them have been Greg's friends since he was a small child, going through all the highs and lows of life together, others we have known for a very short time, but all of them we will truly miss!

7. PARKS- There are at least five parks just in our neighborhood! We have wonderful memories at each and every one of them!

8. CREEKS- for some reason this area of the city has a million creeks! It makes for amazing greenbelts in the neighborhoods!

9. WILDLIFE- I have seriously walked out my door at 7 or 8 in the morning and seen red foxes jogging down the sidewalk! How incredible! Not to mention all the birds (we have a cardinal couple, a woodpecker, several bluejays and a woods owl that all live in OUR trees!)

10. last but most certinitally not least: OUR HOUSE! This is our first "home". Sure, we had a couple of apartments before we bought this house, but we never considered any of them to be home. This place was the welcoming place to all three of our precious daughters when they were born and these walls have witnessed them all as they have grown into the incredible little girls they are today! It has seen the hard times and the most amazing times we have experienced over the past 6 1/2 years. It has always been a source of comfort and will always be a huge part of who we are as a family! We are so blessed to have these memories and this beautiful place to have held them.


Top 10 things I won't miss about living in Dallas:

1. MATERIALISM- This is truly a big city and so many of the people (especially in this area) and incredibly materialistic and judgemental of other's material belongings.

2. COST OF LIVING/HOUSING- I know it's not the most exepensive in the country by any means, but it is seriously high!

3. TRAFFIC- I swear it takes me 20 mintues just to go down the street to the grocery store!

4. BEING FAR AWAY FROM MY FAMILY- It takes just over an hour to get from our house to my parents' and that is about 55 minutes too long, but fortunatley we have not allowed that to come between us!

5. PROXIMITY TO THE GHETTO- just two blocks away is an incredibly undesirable neighborhood, but one block from us in the other direction is REALLY nice homes with REALLY nice price tags!

6. PUBLIC SCHOOLS- this is a huge part of the reason we're moving...no details required.

7. FAST PACE- everyone is always in hurry, running late, running into traffic...just too stressful for me

8. OUR HOUSE- although it has been such a blessing to us, it has also been a constant struggle and project, not to mention a little cramped.

9. CRIME- I always feel like I have to look over my shoulder and never feel like I should trust anyone because of what they might do. Of course I'm sure this has nothing to do with me watching the news:)

10. LACK OF FRIENDLINESS- where I'm from everyone says hi to everyone, you never meet a stranger, and everyone is your neighbor. I know Dallas isn't as bad as say...NY, after all it is still in TX, but compared to my wonderful home town this place is awful! In fact when Greg and I were at lunch just before looking at houses he commented on how "weird" the people in the restaurant were to be having extremly polite conversations with complete strangers; then the other day a stranger offered to help me carry my food to the table since it was obvious it was going to take me more than one trip, and it took me a minute to realize I wasn't in Dallas and accept his kind offer.

All in all I am grateful for the time I have had in Dallas and all I have learned and experienced here, but at the same time I am so ready to move on to our next chapter!
Thanks for everything Big D, I look forward to visiting you regularly!

We won't be bored!

Even though almost every single thing we own is in a box or bag and ready to move the girls have still been able to find ways of entertaining themselves. Trinity and Addison made themselves at home under our little bitty nesting tables

Greg thought Addison looked adorable in her sister's Jr. Mean Green shirt

We found Trinity sitting on the sofa, all dressed up

Snagletooth strikes again!

Trinity FINALLY lost her second tooth last night! It has been loose since the last week of school (almost three months ago!) and it finally decided to part with her beautiful mouth last night, after quite a bit of coaxing from all of us. Her new tooth broke the surface behind her old tooth about a week ago so it is already very obvious. Here's a picture of her new, growing-up mouth:

I see braces in our future!

There's Greg doing his best to convince the tooth to go it's separate way.