Family Pictures

Last weekend we took our family pictures.  We had fun...and once I figured out how to use the timer on the camera (it's new), it was even better!!

 Even though Claire isn't looking at the camera, I really like this photo.  These were taken at the kids' school.

 



If Lauren hadn't blinked, this would've been a good one as well. 

I love my kids!! 

 Another great shot!

 Claire was getting frustrated with the picture taking!

 

Spontaneous kid shot!



 

 If it wasn't for the shadows, this is a great shot!

 



This is the one I have on Facebook 

 Darn shadows!!

 I love this one!



This was totally spontaneous!!  Claire wanted a break from the pictures and sat down off to the side.  She looked so cute I had to grab the camera!

 



Since Claire got her picture taken, the other two wanted theirs done as well.

 



I really like this one.  The kids have such nice smiles!

 

 Lauren hamming it up for the camera!!

 I was still in the processess of putting Claire on my lap!  These were taken at a church down the street.  We loved the wreathes on the doors.

 Gotta have a nose picking picture!

 



 Lauren decided to do it to...and as you can see, I was in the middle of telling her to get her finger out of her nose!  We were actually thinking about putting this on our Christmas cards!!  Gotta keep it real!

 This is Kevin's favorite

 No photo shoot would be complete without a silly picture!  We also thought about putting this on our Christmas cards!

 Cheese!

This picture shows their personalities very well.



Time For An Update

Boy, it's been awhile since I've last posted something...we have been busy with sports and school. Curtis is playing t-ball for the Hot Rods and Lauren is playing soccer for the Flames. It's been fun watching them play and learning new skills! They are half way through the season and they want to switch for next season with Curtis playing soccer and Lauren playing t-ball. So we may have both playing soccer in the fall. We just got Lauren registered for kindergarten, so she is super excited to be starting school in the fall! I'm looking forward to spending some one-on-one time with Claire. Speaking of Claire...can you believe she is going to be three in a few weeks! I've been busy trying to figure out what to do for her birthday. She finally decided that she wanted a Tinkerbell cake, so I will be making a Tinkerbell cake that's peanut butter chocolate chip (she loves peanut butter)! Curtis and Claire have also transitioned to bigger beds with Curtis moving to a twin bed and Claire moving into Curtis' toddler bed. They have both transitioned very well which surprised us because Claire had a major meltdown when Kevin was taking her crib apart. Claire is also in the process of potty training herself! We have been working on it, but she wasn't too interested until last week then something just clicked and she will tell us she needs to go potty and go sit herself on the toilet and go!

In other news, Kevin got a call from our pastor last week saying that he was recommended for our church's leadership class, so he will be starting that this summer. Also, the business is finally getting up and running. As of May first, Kevin will be a business owner and working again! The Lord has really blessed us this past month. It has been awsome to watch God put the pieces together.

I stay busy with house work and getting Lauren ready for kindergarten. I've also got little projects going here and there. I made a dress for Tony's daughter for a wedding and now I'm working on some pj's for Curtis. I'm also going to be an aunt at the end of the year! My brother and his wife are expecting their first child in November.

Well, that's where we are at, so now it's time for pictures!

Lauren got this shirt at her kindergarten screening and she had to wear it as soon as we got home!

Claire loves her new bed. She has transitioned the best out of all three!

Curtis also lost his first tooth! He has another one loose, so it won't be too long before it comes out.

Curtis and his new bed that he helped sand down and refinish!

The kids at the annual easter egg hunt. They had so much fun!

Curtis, our t-ball superstar!

Lauren, our soccer superstar!

Grandma's Visit

My Mom flew out here for Thanksgiving and spent ten fun filled days with us. It was so nice to see her again since we haven't seen her since last Thanksgiving. The kids had so much fun and Lauren keeps asking when we will see her again (she didn't want Grandma to leave). Thankfully this Thanksgiving was much better than last years (no bleeding and no exploding pie pans)! So here are some pictures from my Mom's visit.

My Mom's flight came in on Friday, while Curtis was at school and we had told the kids that she would be flying in on Saturday. I picked my Mom up and we made it back home just in time to pick Curtis up from school. I had my Mom sit on the bench and I walked Curtis over and he didn't recognize her! He was so excited when he finally realized that Grandma was here!

On Saturday, we went with a church to Tanglewood's Festival of Lights. We rode in the church bus and had a wonderful time. The kids loved looking at all of the beautiful lights.

The kids couldn't get enough Grandma and kept asking her to read them stories!

The highlight of the visit (for the kids) was having a sleepover with Grandma. One night she slept in the girls room, and the next night in Curtis' room. They had been waiting for this for months!

Our Thanksgiving meal. We had turkey breast cooked in the crockpot with apple cider, seasoned pepper, and salt; garlic mashed potatoes; brown gravy; green beans; brown sugar glazed carrots; cresent rolls; apple and pumpkin pies (made by the kids with Grandma's help).

Taking a quick break for a picture.

This is one of my favorites...Claire had to have Grandma blow the dandilion!

Our final picture at the airport. We didn't want Grandma to leave. We are now looking ahead to January when we fly out to California for my best friends wedding!

Pictures #1

Here are some pictures of what's been going on with us the last couple of months.

My grandparents came to visit right before we moved. The kids had so much fun being with G.G. and PaPa

This is an old candy boiler that the kids affectionately call R2D2Claire and Natalee Feldman at our going away party. They enjoyed going for a bike ride with cousin Lily at the wheel.

This is Lauren's Hello Kitty cupcake cake. We moved on her birthday, so we had to do something fun for her.

The kids with cousin Sophie at Grandma and Grandpa E's house in Illinois. We stopped there for a few days to break up the moving trip.

Celebrating Curtis and Lauren's birthdays at Grandma and Grandpa E's house

Sears Tower in Chicago

I will post more pictures on another day. 'Till then, take care.

Adjusting

I'm baaack!! Since the move, my focus has been on unpacking and helping the kids adjust which means focusing all my attention on them. I will say that they have adjusted very well, better than I thought they would. I think it helped that I am not going off to work and we are in a house, where they can run around and just be themselves.

We have now been here in North Carolina for two months and we are loving it!! The people here are so friendly. We are fitting in quite nicely. The move was horrible and I am so thankful that it's a memory, but if we ever have to do another long distance move, we are hiring a moving company.

For those of you that keep up with me on FB, you know that we went through Hurricane Irene our first week here. It's the first time any of us have been through one... and thankfully we are far enough inland that we just got some rain and a lot of wind. We also felt the effects of Tropical Storm Lee...which was a lot worse than Irene. We got a lot of rain (thunderstorms) and wind.

Curtis started school the Thursday after we arrived. That Tuesday we got him registered, the school had orientation, so Curtis got to meet his teacher and see his classroom. The teacher had his desk all set up and his name on the door with the other kids in the class. That really made his day! Curtis had a rough beginning to the school year...he didn't do very well on his assessment (he just kind of shut down because of the move and being in a new school where he didn't know anyone) and was going to have to go to a special class. Thankfully, within three weeks he was his old self and approved by leaps and bounds in school. He still has to go to a special reading group, since he is not at the reading level he needs to be. His teacher is amazed at his progress and thinks he will be up to speed on his reading in no time. I have to say that his teachers, no his school, is amazing. These teachers love on the kids! I've met his reading teacher and she ran, yes ran, up to him and gave him a big bear hug and tells me that he is the best reader in his group! I walk him to school (it's only half a block away) and when we get inside by the office, the school secretary says, "Good morning, Buzz." She calls him Buzz because he wears a Buzz Lightyear backpack. Then she gives him a hug and tells him to have a good day. She does this every day and not only to Curtis, to the other students as well. I am so thankful for this school because being loved on is what he needs to help him adjust to the new surroundings.

Lauren has adjusted very well. Her only complaint is that she can't go to school this year. The pre-k class was already full. Every day she asks if she can go to school with Curtis, and gets upset when I tell her no. She loves having me home and we can now fully focus on getting her ready for school. We are currently working on writing the alphabet, and she loves it! She will grab her little workbook and ask me if she can work on her letters. It's so refreshing, I had to fight tooth and nail with Curtis to get him to write his letters). She gets so excited when she gets the letter right. I don't think she is going to have any problems in school! She did go seven months with no bleeding, then had a couple days of bleeding, and hasn't had any bleeding since. I think it was because we didn't keep up on the Miralax during the move. With Thanksgiving coming up, we are praying that she will not have another bad bout of bleeding and prolapse.

Claire has also adjusted very well. She loves her Tinkerbell room that she shares with Lauren and will be moving to Curtis' toddler bed once we can find Curtis a twin bed. Claire is our little comedienne and she loves making us laugh! Her vocabulary has exploded and loves playing with rocks. She has gotten very tall (she is only two inches shorter than Lauren) and we've have quite a few people ask us if the girls are twins. Not sure how they come up with that one, but we just roll with it.

Like I said, I get to stay at home and I love every minute of it! I've missed this. It's so nice to cook and clean for my family and just love on them. We are back down to one car, but with Kevin still at home it hasn't been an issue.

Kevin is still looking for work while pGf is getting up and running. I feel so bad for him. He has his resume with three staffing agencies and he is constantly sending his resume out, but he hasn't gotten anything yet. We have now been with no income coming in for three months. thankfully we have savings, but we don't want to deplete it. Kevin is thinking about going back into food service just to get some money coming in. We're hoping that pGf will get incorporated by the end of the year so that sales can start being made, which will generate income for us.

I'm sure that some of you are thinking that we are crazy for moving to a different state with no income set up, but when the Lord moves you, you move. The Lord has and will continue to provide for us and we have come to fully rely on Him for everything. What an awesome way to strengthen your faith!

That's what I have for now...I will post pictures this weekend.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Things are definitely full speed ahead around here. I've been packing like crazy and trying to find a place for us to live. We are waiting to hear back if our application has been approved on an apartment. We are praying that we will have a place to live once we get to Minnesota. It's hard to believe that next week is Kevin's last week at his work. Poor guy, the president, owner, and owner's wife have been giving Kevin the cold shoulder. It's sad that people have to be like that, especially since Kevin has bent over backwards for them. Oh well, God has something better in store for him:) Here are some pictures of the kiddos:

Our big girl!

Buzz Lightyear, need I say more:)

Lauren has been taking her naps in Curtis' bed. She wants out of the crib so bad. Once we move, we will be getting Curtis a twin bed so that Lauren can have the toddler bed and Claire will go in the crib.

Claire making her scrunchy face. Notice her two front teeth are completely in and her orange nose. Curtis had an orange nose as well. It must be a 'C' thang.

Here is Curtis and his orange nose.

Lauren decided to get herself dressed and put on Claire's shirt. Lauren calls her ponytail her "pretty, pretty hair".

Curtis wanted me to take a picture of him and Claire. I love the look on Claire's face.