Christmas Time is Here!

Well, we're not done yet, but we're slowly but surely getting the house dolled up for Christmas. We do have our tree, with lights & the unbreakable ball ornaments (which were put up by Patrick and Noah); we have a shelf that's a good substitute for our mantel and I've got my Christmas hand towels out.

We've still got to wrap the porch railing in garland & lights, and Mom donated a Christmas wreath for the door that needs to be plugged in, but the most important decorations have been put up:

The inflatable Santa & inflatable Mickey Santa.

Our across-the-street neighbors have some inflatables, and when Noah saw them, he asked when we were going to put up our Santa & Mickey Santa. I thought it was amazing that he remembered them from last year.

I wish we'd taken video when Patrick was setting them up--the joy on his face, the jumping up & down, the clapping...almost made us cry, and SO made us want to buy up every single inflatable and put it in our yard.

I'll take more pictures when the outside is done, but this should give you an idea of what it's starting to look like.

Our love to all!
Enjoy!

Wow. 39? Really?

Okay, I know that this is cliched, but I don't feel old. In fact, I feel anything but. Well, except in the morning when my knees are a bit stiff, or when I've slept funny and my back sorta aches, or when I don't get any of the pop culture references the kids are talking about these days.

But seriously--it seems odd that I'm in my last year of my thirties. I'm the age that I thought was positively ancient, and yet...here I am.

I don't see myself as ancient, and I don't mind getting older--every day is a new opportunity, a new somethin' or other to learn. And, of course, it does beat the alternative. I guess it helps that I still shock people when they find out my true age, because I must look that young.

I look back at everything I've accomplished, and even though I may not have done everything that I thought I would, or even that I did everything "right," I think my life so far has been pretty great: I've got wonderful parents, great friends & family, and I've had some great adventures: living in Alaska, experiencing -60 degree temps, going to England twice, getting married (on a glacier!), having a baby, getting a chance to see said baby grow into a little boy, and hopefully get to see him have a life of his own adventures.

I think I've had a pretty amazing journey up to this part--and can't wait to see what the next 39 years will bring!

Goodbye, Carolina Avenue...

It seems so strange that tonight is our last night at 201 Carolina Avenue, Greer. I was trying to remember the exact day we moved in, but couldn't. I know we closed on the house 4 days after Noah was born, but the move itself is a bit fuzzy. I do remember that I was still in a fragile state, and didn't do a whole lot (when I tried, well, it wasn't good...I just remember thinking, "Uh Oh" and "Did I rip something?").

I remember it was very, very hot, and we had everyone pitching in to help move us in--Patrick, Mom, Dad, Dan, Janet, Rachel... We had Sonic for lunch (I think I still have the receipt we used to write the order down on), which again reinforces Patrick's belief that I only remember things when there's food associated. He may be right.

I remember the first thing to come into the house was Noah's Pack-n-Play--this was the only bed we had for him, since a true crib wouldn't fit in the apartment. Then the red sofa for a place for me to sit. Then I just watched our belongings being carted in by various family members.

We were so excited about the house, the yard, the location. It really has a lot going for it--lots of charm in the wood floors and original doorknobs; the large kitchen; the huge, fenced yard; the man shed that we had all sorts of ideas for (guest cottage was what we would have loved to have done. As it was, it was an amazing storage space). We loved the little dollhouse, and could just see a little girl loving it (at the time we made an offer on the house, I was still pregnant, and the sex of The Bean was still unknown). Then, when Noah made his appearance we thought when he got older we'd make some modifications to the doll house & make it a boy house someway--a barn-type house, maybe.

The house wasn't perfect, but I don't think any house IS perfect. We loved the porch, the deck, and the fact that we could walk to Downtown Greer. We really loved that last part when Greer went all-out and did a gorgeous park, and restaurants started moving in (then moving out...but then a resurgence, and more eateries are moving to Downtown). It had its quirks, as most old houses do.

I think I'll always have a special place in my heart for 201 Carolina--

It's the first house we brought our son to.

It's the house our baby said his first word, "Kitty." (Thanks, Mouse, for upstaging us yet again.)

It's the house our baby first crawled, and then rolled.

It's the house our baby took his first steps (finally!).

It's the house we took our Christmas picture in for the first 3 years of Noah's life.

It's the house that saw the transition from floppy baby, to baby, to toddler, to little boy.

It was our home.

I wish the new occupant many years of happiness, and hope that some of our joy we found within these walls will remain to bless the new families that will call this house their home.

Boo at the Zoo!

We had our first Boo at the Zoo last night, and Noah had a great time. We were a little worried--driving up to the zoo, they had a police officer directing traffic, and we noticed immediately that the first parking lot was completely filled up. Granted, this isn't Disney World, but it is a little intimidating when you see the line getting into the zoo stretching past the gates, and nearly down into the parking lot, doubling on itself... But, we figured that we were there, may as well see how bad it's going to be. And you know, it wasn't bad at all. We waited in line for maybe 15 minutes, and during the wait, Noah really enjoyed seeing all the kids dressed up in the costumes, and it was great weather, and people seemed like they were in good moods.

Once we were in, they gave Noah a bag, and we went through the zoo, stopping at the various stations getting treats. We were there for about 1 1/2 hours, and got lots of pictures and some video of Noah the Dinosaur. He really enjoyed all the blow up decorations--in fact, he woke up this morning talking about one of the large decorations in particular (of course, it would be the one that I didn't take any pictures of, and Patrick thought he had video of it, but when we got home, realized he didn't get it).

I give it a big thumbs up, and hope we'll be able to go back next year!

Enjoy the pictures, and our love to all!

Out front, waiting to get in; they had a sorta Harry Potter theme going on.



One of the treats were vampire teeth; snapped this in the nick of time, because they promptly fell out of his mouth after the picture. I've got the teeth, though, and will sanitize them for future use!


Chatting with the "snowman."


Loved the kitty in the pumpkin.


This is one of my favorites, I think because it's something that I can see us getting a picture here each year...

In front of one of his much-loved blow up decorations.


With a fellow dinosaur!


One of the treats was an animal mask. He's the elusive Raccoonasaurus. I think there needs to be a comic book about him...


Looking for the piggy...


With his friend, the Owl. We were so proud of him--he saw "Boo" all over the place, and he pointed at it and said, "That spells boo!"

A new blog...

I am not giving up my blog--I've had it for too long, it's seen me through way too much, and I do enjoy it when I have time.

We think you'll like the new blog--it's basically a Noah Picture-of-the-Day.

I got a wild hair the other day to just take a quick picture of Noah before we left for school. We see him every day, and certainly notice the changes going on--legs getting longer, face looking more like a boy, ability to put outfits together.

So, we thought we'd document these changes on a new blog.

Hope you enjoy!

Noah Pic-of-the-Day blog

We're doing the Happy Dance

Okay, let me first say that we haven't gotten to the closing table yet--we still have inspections and the appraisal. I really don't think that there's going to be anything major found in either of those hurdles to prevent us from closing, but you never count on the closing absolutely happening until you're getting up from the closing table, handing your keys over to the new owner!

We put the house on the market late Monday night (the 14th--Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!); had two showings the following Tuesday; a 2nd showing on Wednesday; a contract & counter-offer on Thursday; and accepted contract on Friday.

We are thrilled.

The closing date is October 14--it was supposed to be the 16th, but the closing attorney is going on a fishing vacation, so we had to move it back 2 days. Now the next step is finding Mom & Dad a house--we've looked at a few that have NEARLY everything, but not quite, so we're sure that the house is out there, we're just not sure when we'll find it!

We are just thrilled, though, that we got a contract that quickly! I guess it has something to do with having a really awesome Realtor who knows her stuff! :)

Our love to all!

Videos!

I upgraded my phone to a nifty little model that takes videos! Unfortunately, the format that I set some of my videos in, MP4, doesn't quite translate to all the players that our family has out there. SO--with some fancy footwork and some help from Patrick, we uploaded them to YouTube so we can embed them here.

Hope you enjoy!