settled

I think we're settled :) I was organizing in the garage today and hopefully, by the end of the week my bedroom will be put all the way back together!

We may have a potential buyer for our house already! Pray that she'll like our house and decide it's just what she needs. We haven't even listed it yet, as the painting is still continuing. 


We've had lots of rain lately. It sure gets old fast. Isaac tends to be a bit afraid of the thunder and lightening so we're dealing with that.

The cats have adjusted. Dazey and Jesse normally go out for a few minutes every day and apparently, that was all it took to make Jesse a happy kitty!

It's 2 weeks until Isaac's 4th birthday. I'm in birthday mode, planning a party and treats for his daycare/preschool class and his party here. Toy Story theme! It'll be fun!

I've been a reading fool, as I've read 8 books in about 10 days.  That makes for 9 since school has been out. I've made 3 trips to the Boone library to get books! We've visited the library here and Isaac likes it. It's smaller than Boone's, but that is ok! They still have a train table and puzzles to play with, so it's all good! My goal is to read 25 books by the time I go back to school in August. 

That's all the news from here! 

Moved.

We have moved and I'm glad that it's over, for the most part! We still have the basement to clean out, but that will come shortly!

It was crazy! I got a nasty case of strep throat 3 days before we moved. It was ugly. So, I lost one packing day to a 101* fever and the ickies that come with strep.

We hired a moving company to move the big stuff and are so happy we did! They were polite, courteous, on-time and nothing was broken. They were very friendly too.

Isaac spent the day with a friend of ours, his "Gramma Joyce". It was a relief to have him out from under foot, as we weren't sure how he'd react to seeing everything come out of the house. Before he came to Ogden that day, his room was set up and waiting for him. He didn't seem too concerned, but bedtime has been a struggle ever since we moved. i'm hoping it will wear off soon!

I had most of our stuff put away by Tuesday of last week. (well, the stuff that was here anyway). I'm still actually bringing "my kitchen" over from Boone. The house is getting painted so I'm trying to stay out of their way, although they should finish up this week. We have a few more things to get finished then the sign will be in the yard.

Isaac likes the backyard. It kinda has some boundaries so he knows where he can play. I got him a little chair and he likes to sit back there watching the cars go by on Highway 30 and having a snack. We'll get his sandbox over here soon.

I especially like that my washing machine and dryer are handy! I mean, no more dragging laundry up and down the stairs-gotta love that! Makes me more motivated to get it washed, dried and put away!

Ogden is a pretty small, friendly town. We visited the library the other day and they were very friendly. Isaac enjoyed it-they have a Thomas train table here too, just like in Boone. the grocery store is pretty small, so I anticipate doing most of my grocery shopping in Boone or Ames. We ended up getting a post office box so that will be a nice walk and/or bike ride to get the mail. (at least when it's not raining!)

My cats seemed to adjust ok. We left them at the house overnight the day we moved and brought them here Sunday. They spent that first day mostly under our bed. They quickly discovered hiding places and love the screen door!

I think everyone is getting pretty tired of all this rain lately. It makes Isaac crazy that he can't play outside and makes me crazy that he's going crazy!

3 weeks from today, Isaac turns 4! He wants a "Buzz Lightyear" birthday party so that's what we will have.  I think we're going to head to the zoo on his birthday and the Friday before, they are having a special story time at one of the fire stations in Ames so I think we'll head to that because he loves fire trucks and always wants to go by the fire department.

busy. tired. busy. tired

I'm keeping busy cleaning, purging, packing, throwing out, watering the lawn. My list seems to keep getting bigger, rather than smaller!

I got my plants planted on Tuesday (thanks Mom!). I've been dragging my hose and sprinkler all over my backyard to water the grass patch stuff.

I've taken 2 carloads of stuff to Goodwill. I've packed up a bunch. I had 2 garbage cans overflowing on trash day.  I've been busy!

Isaac has been sleeping erratically lately. The last 2 days, he was up at 3 to be changed. Yesterday, he slept until 8. The day before, was 7. He crawled in bed with me and was back asleep instantly for another 45 minutes!  Today: 5:30.  I'm tired because I'm working my tail off during the day and then staying up to late at night.

Been selling stuff on Craigslist. Trying to save myself a trip to the consignment store if I can!

The contractor that is working on our bathroom has been here today. It will be nice to get that project done.

It's cooler today than it has been the last few days. I hope we get the rain they are talking about. It's pretty windy, so maybe it will blow the rain our way. I am tired of watering!

Looking forward to Mark getting home tomorrow!

the week in review

Last Sunday, my sister, Isaac and I went north to join my parents for dinner then headed to their place. The 3 of us stayed in a hotel, which was Isaac's first experience. Needless to say, none of us got much sleep that night.
Monday, we went to our parents to begin cleaning/throwing out. Isaac was really well behaved, considering he didn't get much sleep. We found my brothers old tractors and that kept him occupied for quite a while.
Isaac and I went home Monday night, only for me to return on Tuesday while Isaac was at preschool. We got rid of a lot more stuff and loaded up the back of my car with stuff to donate to the Free Store (www.freestore.org). They run a warehouse with donated items for victims of domestic violence. They were happy for our donation!
Wednesday, I cleaned my office here at home. Lots of work!
Thursday, I worked in the living room.
Friday, I got to see Mark for a bit. He flew into town for about an hour so I ran out to work to see him.

Getting a house ready to sell is a lot of work! We have a contractor coming soon to finish our downstairs bathroom. I'm purging/cleaning/throwing out. It's amazing how much stuff we can accumulate!
3 weeks from today, the majority of our stuff is being moved. We're renting a townhouse.
We decided to sell our house for many reasons, the biggest being that within about 5 years, we want to get out of Iowa. Another reason is with me in school full time, Mark working full time and everything else we have going on, it's hard to keep up on maintenance, regular household tasks and try to stay on top of homework. The place we renting is about the size of our current downstairs, all on one level with a 2 car garage. Less space=less mess (I hope)

Finally got to work outside a bit the last couple days. I bought some plants for the backyard as well as some grass patch stuff, as I got a little zealous with weed killer and ended up killing big patches of our lawn. OOPS!

Isaac was awake at 4:30 today, after sleeping until 8 Thursday and 7 yesterday. I have a feeling it will be a long day, but I'm thinking long naps for both of us are in order today. We have to head to Mark's cousin's graduation party tonight and I teach at church tomorrow so we have a couple busy days ahead.

Next week, I'll continue with what I've been working on at home, except my cat Dazey has a vet appointment Monday and Isaac has a dentist appointment on Thursday.

Happy new week!

Happy Mama's Day!

This is my 5th Mother's Day! Technically, the 4th with Isaac physically here, but I was his mama when he was in utero, right?!


It's amazing what I've learned the last few years. 
I was a first time parent, with a husband that was halfway around the world for the first 14 months of our son's life. I learned that I am stronger than I know, have more independence in me than I thought and am capable of raising a healthy boy, keeping our home together and realized that I CAN DO WHATEVER I PUT MY MIND TO!


My house may not always be the most tidy, our meals may sometimes consist of grilled cheese 2x/week, the laundry may not always be folded, but my boy knows he is loved! He's loved more than he knows. It makes me laugh when Mark tells him he loves him. "I know Dad" is the answer in return. How awesome for Isaac to know! I never get tired of telling him that I love him.


The days where Isaac won't listen, he's been disciplined many times, instances of grinding crackers into the carpet...one day, I'll look back and be glad for these days, as they are so short and fleeting.


He'll be 4 in less than 2 short months. Where has the time gone? Where has my baby gone? He's learning to be a "big boy" and getting to be so independent, but that's what we moms want for our children, right?

Happy Mother's Day!  

Term 1:Complete!

YES! It's official. My semester ended on 5 May. I was relieved to take the test, have my clinical eval and walk out of DMACC free for the summer! It was a good semester, busy, crazy, fun, stressful. I met some awesome new people and we've all gotten to be pretty good friends, I think.

I'm excited for the fall term, but glad to have the summer off! Some of my classmates have classes to take, like Speech or Microbiology. Sorry for you girls! I'm actually finished with all the non-nursing coursework, which is an awesome feeling. Next term is 3 classes and 2 days of clinical.

My sister graduated from ISU yesterday! They sure do the ceremony differently than when I graduated from there in 2002! It was great to see all those people graduating and I know Kathryn is excited to be done. Isaac and I are heading to her place today for a celebration BBQ. Isaac is excited to see Kate, Grandma, and his cousins "Big" Jacob and Michael. I wish it were warmer though. Hard to want to be outside when it's only 50*!

Our downstairs bathroom is going to be completed soon! We finally got a contractor in and he'll finish it up. Can't wait for it to be finished. Isaac doesn't yet understand that he needs to go upstairs to go to the bathroom. Sure, he could use the one down here, but there is a hole in the floor, drywall everywhere and pretty much torn up.

Isaac has decided that wake up time is "the earlier the better". The last day of my clinical, he was up at 3 AM. He thought he should get up and have breakfast, watch a movie, etc. We've had some 4 AM, 5 AM, 6 AM wake ups too. Yesterday, it was 7:30, but that's only because he was up at 3:30. Took a lot of convincing to get him back to bed. Today, 6:30. *sigh*

Isaac is really coming along with his letters and numbers. We can tell a huge difference from when he started at Childcare Junction back at the end of February. Every day, he has a new "best friend", stemming from who he saw walking in at the same time with him. He loves it when dad drops him off and even better, picks him up!

Lots of plans for this summer, the least of which is having fun! I'm hoping to go to Adventureland at least once, the zoo a few times, maybe head to Omaha to the Henry Doorley Zoo and of course, swimming!

We'll be heading up north tomorrow for Mother's Day. Kat is going with us up to my parents. We're taking our parents out to dinner and then spending Monday/Tuesday cleaning/throwing out/organizing. Their house needs it badly and we have the time. I guess that's their Mother's Day, Father's Day, anniversary and birthday gifts all rolled into one!

my boy