Woot!

We closed on our new house today (Friday)! After the closing we went over to the house and did several happy dances :)

Tonight we went to Lowe's and bought 6 gallons of paint, then took the kids to see the house again. They had been inside during the inspections, but every time we drove by (before it was officially ours) Anna would beg to please go inside. So as soon as we opened the front door both kids took off running and ran giggling around the empty rooms for almost an hour. Then they made a clubhouse out of the space under the kitchen planning desk. Little cuties.

Tomorrow the painting begins! I've said it before, but again, there probably won't be many pictures on here until after we move and set up the home computer again. But you can bet we'll be taking plenty of before and after shots!

We're Home

And we're cold. And exhausted. And buried in laundry. But we really are so happy to be home and be back with the kids. I cried when I saw them and they looked about 10 years older to me! We came home and got them down for much needed naps, and I think they were both happy to be back in their own beds. While I was reading Noah his naptime stories he kept turning around and smiling at me. I felt like he was saying, "Hey! It's you!". Anna is snuggly too and I love hearing her little songs and stories again. We're looking forward to getting back into our routine......well, as much as you can when you're moving in 2 weeks!


Hiking to volcanic craters gets a big thumbs up.

Why I Love This Man

Earlier this morning I peeked out the hotel window to see Nathan and his coworkers starting up their Survivor challenges. I saw hula-hooping, and I laughed hysterically. A while later, Nathan ran up to the room for a short break and told me that his team had earned second place. He hula-hooped for 1 minute and 30 seconds, but was given points for 1 minute and 50 seconds because he wore the grass skirt and coconut bra while doing it. He's awesome :)

Still Here

And still loving it. We've left Kauai and are now in Maui, which means we've also moved into our fabulous new hotel . Ya know, the one we're not paying for? Kauai was great but it was rainy a lot of the time, and cloudy most of the time. It was also cooler than we expected, but it was still gorgeous. We still got out and did some great things. My favorite so far was hiking to a waterfall. We were the only ones there, and it was so surreal! Many, many stories and pictures to come.

Maui is totally different weather wise. In the area that we're in it only rains 3-4 times a year and it's almost 80 degrees today. We hear there's 2 inches of snow back home, so we're soaking this up while we can, although I have no intention of attempting a tan (aka: burning myself). Today is Nathan's first day of "work". I use that term lightly since he gets out at 2pm and they're doing some sort of team building exercise built around the show Survivor. He's the team leader. It cracks me up just thinking about it!

I have purposely had a super lazy morning. I slept in a tiny bit, then finished my book club book on our lanai (Kacy and Michelle you were right! Ack!), and a soak in this giant bathtub just might be in order. We've had great hotels like this before but since we've always brought the kids I've never been able to take advantage of things like the soaker tub! But soon I need to meet Nathan for lunch, and then we'll be out for the rest of the day.

I am missing the kids a ton, of course. Last night I opened our travel book and a picture of Anna fell out. I may have cried a little :( And this morning I actually woke up in tears because I was having a nightmare that Noah got away from whoever was caring for him at the time, and no one could find him anywhere. I can NOT wait to see them again! We break all the laws of the child-free getaway, and we talk about them constantly. Luckily it's both of our favorite subject :)

p.s. All of these post times are on home time, not Hawaii time.

We're here!

We just got in yesterday evening, so I confess we didn't take that picture, but it really does look like that!

Yesterday was a very long day of travel, but things worked out really well. We were able to change some flights around at the last minute so we only had to take 3 instead of 4, and we got here about 3 hours earlier than we were scheduled to. Yay! When we got to our hotel they put us in a top floor ocean front room, even though we had just booked a normal room and were hoping for a good one. It was evening when we got here, but it was still light enough to see the awesome view. We went to eat, went to pick up our luggage that was still on the late flight (it all arrived), and yes, Roger, we went to the Kauai Walmart to buy sunscreen!

This morning Nathan is down in the lobby making a work phone call and I'm watching the sun rise over the ocean. Ahhhh.....

We miss the kiddies already, but we're also looking at each other 10 times a day and saying, "Hey, there's no pack and play in this hotel room! We don't need a highchair at this restaurant!" etc. I miss them the most when I see other kids their age, but I know they're having a blast at Mamaw's house right now.

Today's schedule is wide open (which I love). We're going for banana macadamia coconut pancakes at a little place next door, and then we plan to take a drive up to a nearby waterfall and hike around. Not sure how much I'll be blogging while we're here, but you know we'll have a ton of pictures to share when we get home! Aloha ;)

Love her!

Anna has turned into such a snuggle bug! All day today she was asking me to snuggle her, to hold her, to share a blanket, etc. It could never be too much for me since I've waited almost 4 years for her snuggly side to emerge. I'm loving every second!

These two are just some of the cute and hilarious things she's said to me lately:

Yesterday she told Nathan and I that when she grew up she was going to be a "ballerina mom who works in a pizzeria". Way to multitask!

A while back she was sitting next to me and she kept opening her mouth really wide over and over and then making a little frustrated sound. When I asked her what she was doing she cried, "I want God to come flying out of my mouth!". After many questions from me I figured out that she had taken the idea of God living inside each of us quite literally! She kept saying, "But I want him to come out so I can see him!". It was pretty sad, and completely adorable :)

Thursday was Anna's Valentine party at preschool. At the beginning of the year I chose that as my assigned party and I may have been more excited to go than she was! We made owl valentines and she signed her name on every one, so I think she was eager to hand them out. At the last minute I thought I was going to have to take Noah, but Nathan was able to stay home for a while so I could go and have some time with just my girl. It was so cute and I was so happy that I could be there with her. I took a million pictures, but again, we probably won't be setting up our home computer until after we move (which is so soon, and we are so not ready!) so I can't share them just yet.

Update - No way!!!!

We have an offer on our house! Already! Our open house was supposed to be tomorrow afternoon but a few hours ago we got a call that a young couple would like to see our house tonight. We had about an hour to straighten up and get out so they could do a walk through. When we got back the realtor called with an offer that was only 2 thousand less than the full asking price! Woo hoo! We're still in negotiations, but this is so exciting that we have an offer only 24 hours after we listed, and before we could even do the open house! Yay! Please pray for things to go well, and we'll keep you updated! :)

** As of 1:00 p.m. today (Sunday), our house is officially SOLD! Inspections pending of course, but we've come to an agreement on price and set a closing date. We're really happy with this deal, but we went ahead with the open house and it looks like we have about 3 more couples who are waiting in the wings should this deal fall through. Yahoo!

Bittersweet

Our house is for sale. We are so excited to start life in our new house, but we are so very sad to leave this one. This morning our favorite neighbors called to tell us how sad they are that we're leaving, saying several times, "What will we do without Anna?". I almost cried about 10 times during our short conversation! I'll save the big weepy post for closer to moving day, but our neighbors are going to be the hardest thing about leaving. Last night we were getting in the car and the little girl next door walked across her yard and quietly asked, "Why do you have to move?". Ughhh! She was 2 when we moved in and now she's almost 10, and she loves playing with Anna and Ruby. I know this is just one of those bittersweet things like when your child starts school, but can we please just live in two houses? Or take our neighbors with us? :(

I love...

That Anna took a crayon, and with nothing more than me talking her through it, wrote her own name on a piece of paper. I almost cried I was so excited!

That she thinks her rocking horse can be milked. She holds a tea cup under it, saying quietly to herself "I think horses do make milk", and then offers me a fresh cup of horse milk. Mmmm. Today she offered it to me out of a baby doll shoe. Even better!


That when you close the blinds Noah waves and yells, "Bye bye, snow!" over and over.

That he's talking so much more just in the last few weeks. His conversations make no sense logically, but I love being able to understand him more often than not. During a diaper change I might hear, "Big truck. Vrooom! Doggie go woof woof! That's giraffey. Blanket, ha ha. Cookie?". So random, and so cute!


p.s. our house will officially be on the market Friday morning. Say a little prayer that the new buyers come quickly!