Murphy and His (Dead) Deer

Murphy has been in hog heaven since we have moved into our new neighborhood.  It use to be an old farm so I assume the smells out here are tremendous.  He has the best time on his little adventures through the many unoccupied lots still remaining.  He'll be gone for a while and then mosey on back home, happy as a clam.  This was fine with us....until recently.  He evidently found a deer carcass in the woods somewhere and proceeded to try to bring it home.  For several days in a row, he would show up with some foul-smelling remnant and I wasn't sure what it was, just that it was a bone and it smelled.  I would wrap it in a grocery bag, dump it in the trash, and take Murphy in for a bath.  Then he brought home a whole leg, hoof intact!!!  Talk about disgusting!!  He got one heck of a bath that night!  He hasn't brought anything back for a while now so hopefully the other animals out there took care of it for him.;)

We Got Morgan!!

We are blessed to live in a larger city and county that encourage parental choice in children's education.  In the public school system, we have a choice about where our children attend school beyond just where they are assigned based on our address.  They have divided the county into zones and parents have a choice, usually among 5-6 elementary schools per zone.  Your child can attend any school in that zone and still be provided transportation.  You have the option of requesting out-of-zone schools as well, but then must provide your own transportation.
I have always thought this was so impressive to allow parents to find the right fit for their child.  And I still do..........but after the last couple of months, I see the advantage of having only your assigned school--you don't have to stress over it!!;0)
Our new neighborhood is in an area that has been redistricted recently due to a new elementary school opening up.  This has shifted kids around a bit and made this decision a little more difficult.  We are smack dab in the middle of three of the better elementary schools in our zone.  So after Christmas, Will and I went around and did tours of all three schools.  We talked and compared and solicited advice from friends and church family that had ties to each of the schools.  Then, on February 11th, I completed a request card and ranked our first, second, and third choice.  Assignment letters were to be mailed out on March 19th, so we have been doing the waiting game.  We were a little nervous because our first choice was the new school and it was already close to capacity.  They warned us that the assignment team was going to try not to push them to capacity since they were only two years old.  So, we kept our fingers crossed and said many prayers asking that Anna end up where she was meant to be.  And waited.
We were pleasantly surprised last week when the letter arrived a whole week early.  Then we were thrilled to find out that we got our first choice!!!  Anna will be going to Morgan next year for kindergarten!!  And that means Jack will be able to go there, too, since he is a sibling.  We are so excited!  We truly feel like it is the best place for her and, although we can't believe it's time, she is SO ready.  Here she comes elementary school!!

Under Contract!!

Mark the calendar!!  Today is the day that we signed the papers and officially went under contract on our old home!!  It has been on the market for two weeks shy of a year and we finally got an offer that was acceptable.  We have gotten a couple of offers that were about 40K below our asking price (that we had already lowered once) but you can't get very far when you start that low.  It had been on the market for a while and we really wanted to get out from under double mortgages, but we didn't want to give it away.  Finally, a family with three children looked at it, came back again, loved it, and gave us an offer including the playset in the backyard.  After negotiating briefly, we took it!

We are so excited about getting down to just one mortgage!!  It has been stressful with two, but luckily Will had prepared for this situation when we planned to build the new house and so he had a stash tucked away just in case.  Also, he and his dad have had some pretty big opportunities at work that have helped as well.  God is good if you are faithful!  Now we can hopefully get some things settled and not have to do the waiting game anymore.  Fingers are crossed that the inspection and due diligence period go by without a hitch!  We need April 15th to get here without issue--and not for tax reasons!;)

I have to admit it is a little sad to let the other house go.  It is the home where Will and I started our married life.  It's where my babies were born and learned to walk.  It was the home of many special events with family and friends.  But now I walk into that empty house and it's just that--a house.  I have those precious memories that I will treasure forever.  Now I walk into our new house where my sweet family is so happy and know that that is where I'm truly at home.

Caroline's Bubble Guppies Party

Just as Jack loves his tractors, Duwine (Caroline in Jack-ese) loves her some Bubble Guppies.  So, of course, Sarah and Jason threw her a Bubble Guppies party for her second birthday!  They were hoping it could be outside, but 40s with a chance of rain doesn't lend itself to a really good time, so we converged on the Smith casa.  We had so much fun! I can't believe that sweet girl is two!  My, how time flies!!

Being 2 is great!

Anna and Alex with the birthday girl.

Yummy hot dogs!

Jason did an awesome job on the cake!
Crushed graham crackers really look like sand!

Make a wish!

The kids were loving their cake and "ice keem"!!

February Fun

I made the mistake of saying "Now that we're back
from a healthy trip to Disney, I don't care if both
kids get sick."  Yep, it happened.
That was not a fun next week.

Still rocking the post-nap fro when Daddy gets home!

What do you do with a kid who gets up earlier
than you planned and you still have to get ready?
Stick them in front of an iPad.

Caroline was sick, too, so she hung out with us on
Valentine's Day.

Daddy brought flowers to both the girls in his life!

Watching Daniel Tiger
(and for once not fighting over the iPad!)

The girl is ready!

Silliness in the carpool line

Hard at work with Aunt E.

Jack's Big Boy Bed...and the Aftermath

Jack has known how to climb out of his crib for a while now, but has been pretty good about staying in it and calling us until recently.  Watching the monitor, I have seen him almost catapult head first off the side and have had to race up the stairs to stop him.  I wanted to go ahead and convert the crib to a toddler bed, but knew the Disney trip was coming and that he would be at my parent's house so I waited.  I didn't want to confuse him before we left and make things more difficult for my mom.  So, on Sunday (after we got back from Disney on Saturday), we converted his crib to a big boy bed!  Initially, I was excited but then got really ticked when we pulled out the conversion kit that I bought six years ago when we bought the crib and it didn't have a side rail piece.  Of course, I look online at the Pottery Barn cribs and it's one of two that don't have a side rail with the conversion kit.  Great!  Now we had made this big deal about Jack getting a big boy bed, and he was going to fall out of it!!  He is such a tosser when he sleeps.

Luckily, I got online and found a rail and ordered it so we only had to wait the 3-5 days.  We just made do and backed two chairs up to the crib.  He only fell out once before the rail came!;0)

Proud boy in his big boy bed!

With the much more secure bed rail!

I was hoping that this was the end of the story, but I'm afraid not.  Initially, he did well and slept normally...for about 3 days.  And then the freedom was just too much for him.  He started waking up at all hours of the night--3, 4, 5, 5:30, you name it.  I would startle awake with him standing beside the bed and he would say so proudly, "Jack-Jack wape up!"  Not before 6 you don't!!  So for two weeks we had to put him back to bed and explain that it wasn't time to "wape up" yet.  And finally, he started sleeping past 6...for 3 days.  Then he started waking up and opening the doors to Anna's room.  Not cool, Jack!  I got desperate and ordered a sleep training night light that has a bunny sleeping and awake that you set timers for so they have a visual way of knowing what time it is.  Anna was older when she started this and knew her numbers, so we could tell her to stay in her room until the first number was a seven.  That method ain't working right now!  So, here we are in sleep training mode.  Please, please let this kick in quickly!!

We're Off to Disney World!

The Sunday morning after Jack's tractor party, Mimi took Jack and Murphy back to Wilmington, and Will and Anna and I hopped on a plane to Disney World!!  You can read about our last trip in November of 2011 here.  It was a fun trip, but Anna and I were both sick and the trip definitely suffered because of it.  That's why Will and I were both shocked and excited when we WON a trip to Disney this past summer.  We went back and forth a million times about whether we should take Jack since it was a trip for four.  We ultimately decided that we should just do a do-over and leave Jack at home.  It was definitely the right call.  There were a handful of times that we wished he had been there, but really enjoyed the flexibility that came with just having a five year old.  I won't bore you with photos of Anna with every character under the sun--I made her a photo book with all of those photos.  Here are just a few to recap the trip!

This trip is starting out right--
a doughnut for breakfast!!

Passing time in the airport with the "magic computer".

Ready to take off!

On the bus, ready to be at Disney World!

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge--
it was modeled after a mountain cabin
and was gorgeous!

Mickey was waiting in our room!

Anna was pumped about the bunk bed!

The first night we went back to Chef Mickey's.

Family photo with Donald

Minnie and Anna

Monday we headed to the Magic Kingdom.

 It was funny to us because last time, Anna was scared of the dark and didn't 

want to ride anything that went in the dark.  Even the People Mover goes in the dark for a short time!  Instead of riding a lot of rides, we focused on seeing the princesses and getting autographs.  This time, Anna was all about the rides!!  She rode everything but Space Mountain (still too much dark) and Splash Mountain (closed for repairs).  It was such a different experience, especially since all of us felt fantastic!

At the end of our fun first day!

That night we went to Ohana's.
Anna looked sassy with her Shirley Temple!

Tuesday was Hollywood Studios.

We loved the Beauty and the Beast show!

That afternoon we came back to the hotel
for some relaxation and pool time.
Anna went down this water slide at least 167 times!

Wednesday was Epcot and Anna was super excited
about finding Mary Poppins since it's one
of her recent favorite movies.

KidCot extraordinaire! 

We all really enjoyed Epcot this time.  Anna loved Soarin' and the Nemo ride and we rode both Test Track and Spaceship Earth twice!  Anna also had a blast in the World Showcase because of a new-to-us program called KidCot.  At each "country," there was a KidCot table set up.  The kids picked a paper puppet on a paint stick and could color it in with the basket of markers on the table.  The staffer manning the table would then stamp the back of the puppet with a stamp from that country.  Some of them drew the country's flag or some symbol that was pertinent.  Anna even got her name written in Chinese, Japanese, and Aramaic!  She was all about getting her stamps and so we ended up going into every country.  It was cute! 

For dinner that night, we ate in Norway at the Akershus Hall with the princesses!

Thursday was Animal Kingdom.  Anna even rode Expedition Everest!!!

Thursday night, we headed to Downtown Disney.
Anna begged to get her face painted
and then we ate at Wolfgang Puck's.

Friday we went back to the Magic Kingdom to make sure
we rode all of our favorite rides and got all of our autographs.
Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster was Anna's favorite!

Back at the pool, Anna just had to have
her hair wrapped!

So proud!

Her sweet friend, Rebecca, that she made and
hung out with all afternoon at the pool.

Friday night, we headed over to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop-Di-Doo Review.  Although it was late (our reservations were at 8:30!) it was so hilarious.  I haven't seen Anna laugh that hard in a long time.  It's definitely something we will do again when we go back with Jack.

We had an absolutely fantastic trip!  We are so glad we got the chance to go back and experience everything again--and with no sickness!!  We created some amazing memories!

And Jack was pretty happy the whole week getting to be the only child (for once) at Mimi and Papa's.  He got to watch "tractors" at the construction sites every morning and went to the park several times with Mimi.  He played with Nellie and rode the tractor with Papa in the yard.  Our sweet boy had a large time himself!  We owe a huge thank you to Mimi and Papa for keeping him for us!!  This mama sure was glad to get him back in her arms again!;)