Update Update Update

Well, it looks like this year's scrapbook is going to be shamefully empty. At the end of each of the past few years, I have taken my blog posts and favorite photos and carefully edited them into a Shutterfly photo book to have a physical record of our family fun and activities. Since I haven't posted in about, well, forever, it looks like 2011's book will be woefully small.

Tomorrow is Mia's last day of first grade. Laney had her last day of preschool last Wednesday, and is sick with a fever today. We also bought a new house today! Monday the new owners move into our current house, so Sunday we will be moving into a temporary apartment until we close in August on our new one in Great Falls, Va. The girls are excited about the prospect of a pool for the summer, and I'm not looking forward to the 3 staircases I have to figure out how to climb with a toddler and whatever else I need to bring up to the new digs. But, we're grateful to have found a place that fits our needs and would rent to us short-term. (More about the new house later as I don't want to jinx anything and have had eerily terrible luck with houses this spring.)

So for now, I'm off to bed after packing a few boxes, and I'll take my camera with me tomorrow to get some fun shots of Mia's friends and school.

(Grr, please forgive the sideways Mia picture. All the recent photos of her were taken vertically, and our camera has a setting that automatically flips them for viewing on the lcd screen. This results in sideways pics on the blog if the original photo was taken vertically. Anyone know how to undo this after the fact? )

Where Have We Been?

Well, mostly getting our house ready for the market and getting out of dodge when someone comes to look. If you want to see, click here:

http://megfinn.com/PropertyDetails.aspx?MlsCompanyID=2&MlsNumber=MC7550052
We have also moved about a third of our furniture out, which means there is only one chair and one desk in the office, so late night blog updates are on hold for awhile.

We're also on the prowl for a perfect house to move into. Where? Well we don't really know - somewhere in the area for sure, but exactly which state, county, and school district we haven't nailed down yet. We'll update when we know where we are landing. :)

January Recap

January was a cold snowy month for us. Mia was sick the first week of January with a tummy bug, and we had a handful of snowdays as well. Patrick and I went to Universal Orlando for my birthday weekend and enjoyed the roller coasters and the new Harry Potter part of the park, while the kids enjoyed a visit from Marme and GDaddy.




Patrick's company had a winter party at the National Building Museum, so we got to get dressed up in our fancy attire and enjoy a night out, too!




The kids have also been playing a lot of Wii, especially our new Wii Family Sings Disney Karoke - even Carina likes to sing the princess songs!

Getting Ready

Since Patrick has to travel for work a lot this month, we got right to decorating for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. Tree? Up. Outside lights and ornaments? Up. Glowing inflatable Santa? Yup, he's up too. Advent calendar filled with treats? Check. Stockings hung? Check. Little People Nativity out? Check. Christmas books out and Fall books put away? Check. Pumpkin Spice and Macintosh candles replaced with Mistletoe and Home Sweet Home candles? Check!
There is still more to do on the tree and boxes to be taken down to the basement, but overall a lot was accomplished in a very short time. I'm still not sure how we got to December already, but since the decorations are up, it must really be.

The Scooter Dilemma

Most of you all know that we live on a very busy street, a highway really, and that it is the main reason I want to move. An 11 year old was struck by a car a few years ago right outside our home so we put up a fence in the back yard to keep the kids from running out into the street. We have a bus stop right next to our driveway, and the fire department is at one end of our block and the police at the other end, so we hear sirens ALL THE TIME. Oh, and we live pretty close to the top of a hill. Our driveway slants down towards the street full of traffic, and the sidewalk slopes down the street towards the library and community center/police station. The people in the traffic are usually nice and will let us into and out of our driveway quickly, but during rush hour or school drop-off / pick-up hours, our street is full of cars. During the night, cars speed down the street (called either Philadelphia Ave or MD410 if you wish) at crazy speeds.

For all these reasons and the fact that our oldest has very little innate caution, I have told the older girls that as long as we live where we do, they cannot have scooters. I know, I know, there are sidewalks. And crossing guards. And other friends who live on our street and in our neighborhood ride their scooters along our street. I know all this and yet I cannot, cannot, in my right mind let MY children have one lest they be the one that slips, or chases a butterfly, or forgets to stop to look up the driveways for cars who can't see them, or... you get the picture.

Anyway, two days ago Carina got creative with her RideOn/PushWalker toy and what do you know, she has a scooter! The older girls are fuming.

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving at home and our friend Frank came over to have some yummy dinner with us. This year I am thankful for so many things. For Patrick's work, our friends, for being able to stay home with the kids, for our home, our children, my husband, and our health. It all sounds cliche, but knowing others who do not have these things makes each one precious and reminds me not to take any one of them for granted.


Patrick slipped down the stairs and probably broke his toe - that makes 4 of the 5 of us who have taken that trip. Hopefully we will move before Carina joins in that statistic. Poor guy, though. He didn't want to go to the hospital or Urgent Care on Thanksgiving, so we taped a bag of corn to his foot and watched it turn purple. (Don't worry, he went the next day.) Fun times. Fun times. Frank is a very!! generous friend and actually bought us MarioKart for the Wii and two steering wheels, which kept the kids entertained immensely. (Secretly I have wanted this game for years and did a mini woo-hoo! of my own.)

Laney's Song

Laney wants to share her original Christmas song, Love Bright. I have no idea what the words are, however. Enjoy!!