OMG!!!!!

Look how much snow Mike had to shovel out of our driveway!






Just kidding. LOL! Got you for a second though, didn't I?!? (Mike's sitting on his knees) Here's a real photo of Daniel by our backdoor (that's snow coming up several inches on the door's window)......and it's still coming down. They've already cancelled school for tomorrow which is good, but Mike has to go into work. All I know is my butt's staying put tomorrow.

Oh...and I just heard on the news that because they got no snow at the airport, we are officially going on the record books as having 0 inches of snow today! The weatherman was just in shock.

Snow Play

The kids just couldn't wait until tomorrow to play in the snow. So, they went out tonight and had a ball. There are more than a few inches out there...and it's still falling!

So Freaking Cold!

Okay, so the kids had a snow day today. And with good reason. The back streets are still solid sheets of ice although the main streets are fine. Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel (I re-subscribed to the Notify service) has called me 4 times to remind me of the Heavy Snow Warning. The kids and I headed up to Super Target this morning to get hats/gloves and lots of other necessities for the snowstorm (milk, juice, snacks, etc). Boy, I have not missed this weather. Actual temperature outside is 15...wind chill is 0. Ugh.

It began snowing about an hour ago and it's really coming down. Big fat flakes. I'd be happier about the snow if it weren't so flipping cold! I guess I got spoiled in Virginia.

Our frontyard around 2:15 pm

Our backyard around 2:15 pm

The frontyard at 3:15 pm

Our backyard at 3:15 pm

It also seems as though the furnace is not working again. Nice. It's currently 63 degrees in the house...amazingly, the upstairs and the basement are warmer. The fireplace helps and I made some cookies so having the oven on helped too. The guy's on his way to fix it. I can't wait for it to be nice and warm again.

Just In...

The National Weather Service In ... Has Issued A Heavy Snow Warning... Which Is In Effect From 12 PM Thursday To 6 AM CST Friday. The Ice Storm Warning Has Been Canceled.

The Next Winter Storm System Will Move Into ... Kansas And ... By Thursday Afternoon. Accumulating Snow Is Expected To Start First Over Southwestern Sections Of The ... Area Around The Noon Hour And Then Spread Eastward Across The Rest Of The Metro By Mid Afternoon. The Snow Is Expected To Become Quite Heavy During The Evening Hours With Snowfall Rates Of Up To 2 Inches Per Hour Possible With Thunder Snow. The Snow Is Expected To End During The Pre-Dawn Hours Of Friday Morning With Total Snowfall Accumulations Ranging From Around 6 Inches From ... To ... To A Foot Of Snow South Of The ... River.

I just loved the Thunder Snow reference! This winter's going to suck.

Updating

I can't tell if this is ice or snow! It sure looks like snow but feels like ice. If it's snow, it's not as big of a deal but if it's ice...ummm...I'm a little frightened for the ride into school tomorrow. It's still coming down so who nows just how much we're going to get.

My neighbor, Larry, stopped by tonight. He said that they took Abby the cat in because they saw her wandering around with icicles hanging from her fur. He wanted to know if we had any kitty litter that we could spare. I told him that we did and I could even give him some cat food. I told him that we'd been feeding her because we felt bad for her and he told me that several other neighbors have been feeding her too. He was planning on calling her owners in Maryland to see if they still want her and how to ship her if they do.

BTW...they just broke into a commercial (I've never seen them break into commercials before!) to update the weather...he said that there's a storm over Colorado right now that if it tracks just a little to the north, we're going to get dumped on snow-wise. Great. Thanks a lot, Sue!

Oh, and Mike...you pulled me from Virginia for this?!? :)

Got Ice?

We do! They're saying that we're going to get 1/2-3/4 of an inch of ice before it starts snowing. The sleet/freezing rain started about 2 hours ago. Ugh. I was not prepared for this. Luckily, the streets look like they're just wet. It's been so warm for the last week or so that I think it's going to take a few more hours before it starts to get slick. Poor Abby's outside the door right now. I feel so bad for her.

The deck (Daniel thought it was snowing but it's ice)

My poor van!

I thought the double icicles on the deck was funny

Comcast Hates Me, I Just Know It

(It's Comcastic! LOL!)

We've been struggling with our phone and cable since we moved in. The only thing that has worked is the internet. After numerous calls to Comcast, we had everything straightened out...that is, until I went to use the remote on the cable box downstairs. I couldn't get the thing to work! Arg. So...another call to Comcast. I couldn't get the guy to understand that the box was working fine but I couldn't get the remote and box to communicate. Long story short, they're bringing out another remote tomorrow. I would just love one day where I didn't have to be home to meet someone or didn't have something I had to do.

I can't complain about Comcast service, really. They were scheduled to show between noon-3pm and the guy showed up at 11:30...right as I was walking out the door to get Daniel. He waited outside for me to go and come back. He also resolved the problem. It took him a while, but he did it.

Now, I have to go get Jacob from school. I'm getting really tired of this no bus thing.

The Photo Post

Sue was saying that she didn't take many pictures at Thanksgiving...well, this is pretty much all I took: (L-R...Jacob, Emma, Mary Rose, Daniel and Hannah running up and down Mom and Dad's driveway)
I know...everyone can pick themselves up off of the floor...Thanksgiving is just one of those holidays where all you are really doing is eating. Who wants photos of themselves eating? LOL!

So, here are the kids' new beds. BTW, they are all out like a light...in their own beds for once!


So, I know what you're thinking..."Barb, Hannah's bed's a bunk bed!" Not really. There's no bed under hers and it's not even tall enough to be considered a loft bed (in my opinion). She wanted her fort bed and so she got it since we could get it for her. It is possible to make it into a regular twin bed, in case you are wondering.


And the boys... I love the boys' beds. I just love the wood. They'll have these beds for quite some time.

Finally Posting

Sorry about the few days without posting. We went to my Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving and got back last night. The ride from Kansas to Illinois is a lot easier than traveling through the mountains from Virginia. It's not nearly as scenic, though.

Before we left, we had an interesting thing happen. Hannah and I had changed the bunny's litter. Mike bought pine bedding instead of the recycled fluff that we normally get because they didn't have it. I didn't think twice about it. We were walking out the door when Hannah says that her eye hurts. She had a bunch of little blister looking things all over her eye. Within 5 minutes, her eye was almost completely swollen shut. I took her up to the emergency room and they gave her some prednisone (she's been on so much of that lately) and massive doses of Benadryl. They said that it was an allergic reaction to the bedding. She's fine now but we've gotten rid of the bedding.

The kids' beds come tomorrow. We went to the store to get bedding and whatnot tonight. All three kids will be in twin beds (finally...I hate toddler beds) and they all got to choose what kind of sheets they wanted. Daniel picked Spider Man, Hannah picked Hello Kitty and Jacob picked a Monkey. He didn't want superheroes, he wanted a monkey swinging in a tree. Whatever.

I met more of the neighbors tonight. I was outside with Hannah and Jacob watching everyone talking in their little groups...desperately missing Virginia. I saw a girl drive down the street and stopped to talk to another girl across the street. She drove to the cul-du-sac and immediately came over to talk to me. Her name is Amy (the second Amy on the street) and she has two kids. She has also moved a lot but is hoping that this is it. They've been here two years. They also lived in Indianapolis (she says 5-10 minutes from Carmel) and in Joliet (Plainfield). The family on the corner (they've been here 4 months) is from South Bend, Indiana. We were laughing about the small world it really is when she happens to drop Jackie's (three doors down) husband's name. I stopped her and said, "did you say her husband's name is Todd?" Amy says, "yes." I explained to her that we had neighbors, Jackie and Todd, in Virginia. It just keeps getting wierder and wierder. Jackie and Todd, Cindy and Larry. Several of the girls are trying to get a playgroup together and I told her to definately put me on the list. She also gave me the name of a preschool for Hannah. I guess all of the kids on the street go there. That's handy.

After they get the new beds and stuff in, I'll take some pictures of upstairs and post them. We've actually gotten the upstairs pretty much done now so all that's left is the basement. Then, we have to hang all of the pictures.

Here are Your Stinking Pictures!!!

It has come to my attention that some of you want pictures of inside the house. Fine...Here you go...(you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

The front entry


The dining room

The kitchen

Another of the kitchen (the door on the left is the laundry room)

The eat-in area of the kitchen and you can see part of the living room

The living room

Another view of the living room...I love that peek through hole to upstairs...you can even kind of see the door to Daniel's room

Happy now? LOL!

OH! And we found out the kitty's name is Abby.

Jacob's First Day

Jacob also made it through his first day of school. I arrived at the school a little later this time and I was regretting it. I waited in the car line for 20 minutes just to get up to the door to pick him up. He gets in the car and asks where I've been. Lesson learned...if the line's long when I get there, park and walk up to get him.

Jacob also had Spanish today...he wasn't as excited about it but I was encouraged by the little packet Mrs. Senora (I like that Daniel calls her that) sent home with him. He told me that it's harder here but I'm sure a good part of that is the fact that they are doing different stuff than they were in Virginia. His teacher did proclaim him a "very good" reader. Not a real surprise there.

I went to Dillon's today. Our first grocery run since we've been here. We had been running out to Walgreen's for this and that up until now. All you Illinois people will better know Dillon's as Kroger. I'm pretty sure that it's also the same as Food Lion in Virginia. I got my card today and they offer the 10 cents off per gallon of gas just like Martin's did in Virginia. No Easy Scan or Tree House but whatever. I still have yet to go to the Super Target (yay!!!)

I met several of the neighbors today...one has a daughter that's the same age as Hannah a daughter who's in Daniel's class. I also met another neighbor, Jackie and her kids. But the really funny thing was when we met our neighbors Cindy and Larry and their kids. LOL! I immediately thought of Cindy and Larry in Virginia. Too funny!

Daniel's First Day

I just picked up Daniel from school. 100% of the kids are picked up. Not one child rides the bus. Interesting. Anyway...

I was way early to pick him up. We literally waited 20 minutes for them to come out. That was my fault...I knew they got out at 11:45 but in my mind, I was thinking that I had to get there so much earlier. Amazingly, pulling in at 11:25, I was still third in the car line.

He gets into the car and begins to tell me that he had music this morning. He then tells me that he had Spanish as well. He tells me that his Spanish teacher's name is Mrs. Senora. LOL! He also rattled off some random Spanish words. Color me impressed. I wonder if Jacob had Spanish today.

All in all, he seemed to really like his new school. I'm already more impressed with this teacher than I was with his old one and it's only been one day!

Huh

Well, the boys are off at their new school. I was nervous because only one of our alarm clocks was unpacked but Mike called to give me a wakeup call and we were fine. We drove up to the school (apparently, no one takes the bus...in fact, I only saw one pull up to the school) and went into the office. The secretary walked us to the boys rooms and it suddenly became like I didn't even exist. When I left Jacob's room, he had been swarmed with kids offering to help. I hope he didn't get overwhelmed. Daniel was fascinated by the fact that another girl in his class had the same backpack he does. It was sad for me...just like a second first day for Daniel.

Their new school is nice but different. I know my way around their old school and I know how they do things. It's going to take me a while to get the hang of this new school...the voice mailbox (every student has one to get updates from the teacher), the carpooling, and the routine.

I don't know if Mike knows this but they have a Chess Club starting in 3rd grade. I just found that out today.

I took Oriana out this morning and that cat (it's a girl) was outside trying to get in. When we pulled in from taking the kids to school, I heard meowing as soon as I opened the car door and she tried to follow me into the house. Hannah was so upset about it and was yelling at the cat for trying to come in.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the move...

The van being put onto the moving truck

Mike's car being added to the moving truck

A cool picture from the plane. I loved looking down at the clouds

Another cool one from the plane. If you look close, you can see little houses

Here's the front of the house

And the back

Another view of the back

Guillermo's favorite spot on the stairs

And the kitty that was left behind (looks like Guillermo, doesn't it?)

We took a tour of the school today...given by two 4th grade "ambassadors." They were really cute. Jacob fell in love with the library because it was so huge. We got to meet their new teachers and Daniel even got to check out a book since his class was in the library at the time. I guess we are the third family to start school there this week. There was another family that started today and another was taking the tour right behind us. The kids have decided that it's an awesome school. I'm curiuos to see how the Spanish lessons will work out (they take Spanish 2 times a week). Now, I must unpack more boxes.

Welcome to Kansas

Well, here we are. In Kansas. We made it. Just after posting on Friday, the movers came up and told me that it was time to pack the computer. Good timing. So, after that, I was able to visit with my friend, Sara (BTW, baby Daphne is too cute, Sara!), and was able to say goodbye to some neighbors on the street. Cindy stopped by and picked up the fish and I was able to say goodbye to her as well. We tied up some loose ends and the moving van drove off around 3 pm. We picked up Jacob from the bus stop and headed out for dinner.

We decided that for our last night in Winchester, we'd go to Ichiban. The kids always loved eating there and that was no exception. We then headed to the hotel where the kids got to swim for a while and went to bed very early.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and headed over to the house to get the animals and pick up a few things we had left. Cheryl graciously offered to mail a few things to us and we headed out to the airport...we thought that we'd be really early since Mike's flight was at 2:30 and mine was at 4:30. I dropped everyone off at departures and headed back to drop off the rental car.

When I got back, Mike was still checking in. Apparently, there's a huge difference between a large dog and an extra large dog. A large dog can ride on the smaller plane, an extra large dog cannot...and I guess Oriana is an extra large dog. So, Mike and Hannah...along with Oriana, flew out to Kansas via Chicago (with a one hour layover)and Jacob, Daniel and I will take the 2:30 nonstop flight. The catch is that Mike and Hannah's flight was in 30 minutes so I had to take care of the animals. Nice.

I had to follow the dog over to the TSA screeners and take her out of the crate (we had literally just taken the muzzle off of her and I had to put it back on), pat her down while they put the crate through the machine. I then had the pleasure of putting her back into the crate. Luckily, by that point I had it down. I got to repeat the same process with the bunny. After that, the kids, cat and I headed for the security screeners with our tickets in hand.

After removing everyone's shoes, coats, etc, I was instructed to remove Guillermo from the carrier (it took me ten minutes just to get him in) and walk through the x-ray machine with him. Getting him out of the carrier was actually harder than getting him in. I thought that I was going to have to pull the carrier apart. After getting everyone through, we then got to put ourselves back together and it took me another 10 minutes to get the cat back into the carrier. We then headed to the gate.

We finally got onto the plane and one of the flight attendants kept asking me how I was able to get the cat on the plane and what paperwork I needed because he's going to be taking his cat soon. Just to prove to you how much the United reservations people do not know, this guy told me that reservations told him that unless he was on an international flight, his cat would not need a health certificate. I told him that he would definately need a health certificate for his cat. Gotta love United.

There was another gentleman on the plane who had heard me talking to the boys about Kansas. He asked if we were relocating and I said yes. He said that he had done the exact same thing 25 years ago almost to the day. He said that he thought we'd like it here. I sure hope so.

Amazingly, our flight was 20 minutes early into Kansas and it made me nervous because I had no idea when Mike's flight would be in from Chicago. Timing was perfect because just a few minutes after we landed, Mike and Hannah landed. We picked up the pets and a co worker of Mike's took us over to rent a car.

I was nervous about seeing the house for the first time but quickly discovered that Mike had done a great job in picking out a house. It really is awesome. It feels really big and the kids love the basement. Mom will be happy to know that the "safe room" is a reinforced tornado shelter. Sweet.

We headed out to Nebraska Furniture Mart this morning to get even more new furniture. Think of Good's Furniture on steroids. This place was huge. We got our own personal assistant for the day and picked out beds for all of the kids, a TV stand, a bookshelf and nightstands for our room. Awesome place. That will be here a week from tomorrow...our couches and stuff come tomorrow, as does the rest of our stuff.

I know that there's a lot that I'm forgetting and I'm sure that Mike would like to tell his side of things but I think that's enough for now.

STUFF I FORGOT TO ADD...

1. It seems we have inherited a kitty. The previous owners decided to just leave their cat here and moved away without him. So sad. It's a nice cat but it just seems to keep trying to come into the house whenever we open a door. Last night, he (or she we just don't know) came in only to be greeted by Oriana. He (she) ran out with a big fat tail. Knowing that we'd probably end up adopting the little beggar anyway, we went ahead and fed him this morning. He's cute...looks like a long haired version of Guillermo. We still have not allowed him inside the house.

2. The bastards that sold us the house decided to get one last jab in. We discovered the furnace went out so our first (and only) attempt at fixing it was to see if the circuit breaker was tripped. It wasn't but there was another that was so I flipped it back over only to discover that it was the breaker to the smoke detector. That asshole decided that instead of fixing a SAFETY ISSUE, he'd take the easy way out and just flip the switch off. What a bastard. Nice, huh?

3. I will be posting pictures as soon as our computer is up and running tomorrow! I've got lots of them...I took some from the airplane looking down at the clouds and i have some of the house...as well as of the cat that it looks like we now own.

4. The kids take their tour of the school tomorrow and meet their teachers. They will be starting school on Tuesday. We've passed their school several times...it looks really nice.

Last Post From Virginia

1 Day Until the Move

This is my last post from Virginia. How sad is that? Sara's going to come pick me up soon to take me to get the rental car and Cindy's coming over this afternoon to pick up the fish. We're staying in a hotel tonight and then the fun really begins tomorrow.

I was extremely sad this morning dropping the kids off at the bus stop. Jan (a neighbor) was shocked that we were already moving and that kind of set me off.

Even with all of the boxes all over the house, I'm not sure I completely believed we were going. Then, at 8:00am, my dresser went out the door and onto the truck. I wanted to cry. I still want to cry.

Okay, so I need to get going. I'll post as soon as I can once we get to Kansas. I'm sure we'll have lots of good stories for everyone!

Wish us luck!

Packing Day!

2 Days Until the Move (although it feels a lot closer than that)

As I post, there are three guys packing up the house. They are working hard. Which is a good thing.

I went to my last MOMS meeting this morning and was able to say goodbye to some friends. Thanks, Michelle for the books. It'll be a nice memory of Virginia! Debora and Barbra came by last night to say goodbye. It really feels real now.

That's all I have time to post right now...I'll give an update later.

My friends Michelle and Erin (I told you I'd put it here!)...
It could be worse...I could have put up the one where you look like you're crying, Erin! LOL

The moving truck in front of our house

The boxes are piling up

Hee Hee

Okay, since I saw Sue put up pictures as links in her favorites list, I've been trying to figure out just how she did it. Well, it took me a while, but I figured it out too! Yay me! So, you can just click on Meredith and Derek over there on the left and you are taken to the Grey's Anatomy website! Too cool!

And speaking of Meredith and Derek...it's Thursday, so that means it's Grey's Day!!! In case everyone forgot, they kissed last week!!!


Aren't they so cute?


I know. I'm nuts...but damn, Patrick Dempsey's just so hot! LOL!

Found These For the Kids

I love these smileys!!!