Boxes and Bare Walls

I feel like this has been my life for the past few weeks. Moving is a lot of work! In our case its been a little bit weird since I kind of had to decide what I "needed" and what I could "store" for a while.

We have been in the Condo for a week now and things are calming down. We had a few "bumps"the first week. First our phone got wired to the wrong condo so for a few days the guy upstairs was getting our calls. Then our fridge broke, but luckily our maintenance guy responds quicker than cox does.

There are definite ups and downs to "condo" living that I have realized over the last week.

A few of the ups include:

*the whole place takes about a fourth of the time to clean as the house did

*Courtney lives around the corner

*all the bills are cheaper (this was our #1 reason for going this route)

A few of the downs

* walking from the car to the condo with groceries and two kids

* walking to and from the car with laundry (I still have to do it at the house)

* super small kitchen with no counter space

* I could go on but I have promised Vaughn that I will try to be more positive about the situation :)

Its going to be fine. We have been talking a lot this week about how it feels a little bit simpler here. Kind of just "back to basics". You don't really realize how much stuff you acquire over time and how much of it you can really live without until you are forced to go through it. I am sure a lot of you can relate, with all the moving that has been going on lately.

So we are here for at least six months and then it just depends on how fast we find a house. I am still doing my preschool from the house and I think it should work out just fine. Macie and Ren have adjusted really well and for that I am truly grateful.

Toddler or Spider Monkey....you decide

So the other day I was down the hall and I hear Ren yelling in his "help me" voice. This is pretty common lately since this kid has no fear and has developed a love for getting himself into or onto things that he cannot get out of.

I round the corner and this is what I see....

So of course I ran to get the camera. He is always so proud of himself ,with the big "look at me smile", that I just have to laugh.

I don't even know how he got the stool over behind the couch. I am guessing he had some help from a certain big sister but she says "I didn't even do it mom".

Kathleen is full of stories about Vaughn climbing all kinds of things. They including a street light pole and the refrigerator, just to name a couple. So I guess this is just a case of "like father like son".

(I am not looking forward to the first run to the emergency room....but I can see it coming.)

Anyone for a trade??

So here is the deal. Ren has made the turn into full toddler mode and that causes a bit of a problem for me and my preschool.

I am looking for someone who would be interested in a "trade". Her child gets to come to preschool and she would take Ren away from the preschool. I would really like someone who has another young child at home so that Ren has someone to play with. It would be Tuesday and Thursday from 9am till noon starting in August. So if any of you ladies out there know of someone who you trust that maybe would like to have her 2 1/2 - 4 year old in preschool but maybe cant really afford it, would you please send her my way.

I added a link to my preschool blog on my sidebar incase you want to know more.

Thanks!!

The Seven Year Itch

I have this vivid memory of going visiting teaching with this lady from the first ward that Vaughn and i were in right after we got married. We had probably been married for about six months and I thought things were going great. I was telling this woman how great things were and I remember that she seemed really surprised to hear that. Then she went on to tell me how I should enjoy it while it lasts cuz it was only a matter of time before the fun wore off. She went in to this long story about how once you throw a couple of kids and a mortgage into the mix then I would know what real life was like and it would not be pretty. She kept saying things like "give it seven years" and "year seven is when it started for me". The conversation totally freaked me out back then and its kind of always been with me. Then Vaughn was talking to some girls at his office a few weeks ago about our upcoming anniversary and he was super surprised to find out that three of the girls he works with were divorced or separated during year seven of their marriage.

I am really lucky and blessed to be able to say that i feel like Vaughn and I kind of breezed through our first few years of married life. I will admit that the last couple of years we have had our fair share of challenges. But i feel like we have made the best of the hand we have been dealt and we have done our best to get through our challenges together and not against each other.

So it has been a little bit of a joke with us lately that our luck is about to run out and we must be in for a rocky year. I guess that's why we decided to get in a little "us time". We bought annual passes to Disneyland this year because we went earlier in the year with Vaughn's sister Eliza and her family and plan on going later in the year with some of my family. So we figured why not try to sneak in one more weekend since we already had the tickets.

It was great!! No strollers, no tired whining kids. We got to walk around holding hands and actually rode rides together instead of taking turns staying with the kids. The best part was eating at the restaurant in the pirates ride (I cant think of the name). I have always wanted to eat there!!! Vaughn would want me to add that the other best part was sleeping in till 9am because neither one of us can remember the last time we did that.

I will admit that I am a wimp and every little while I would sigh and say "Macie would love this" or "Ren would love this". Vaughn would roll his eyes and say "whatever....they can come next time" but I know he missed them a few times too. We had a really great time and are glad to have the chance to reconnect and be ready for another great year and hopefully seven more great years.

BBQ for the Birthday Boy

My little man is ONE!!! We had a BBQ with some family and friends to celebrate. I like to do first birthdays kind of on the big side. I feel like its a celebration for the parents just as much as the kid. Its a "we made it through the first year" party. My very favorite part is the cake. I don't no why I just really think it is the cutest thing to watch. And since Ren eats like he has a hollow leg, I knew he would love this tradition. Courtney and I worked really hard on this cake and I think it turned out pretty darn good. (Its a basketball in case you cant tell.) A couple weeks ago I asked Macie what kind of birthday Ren should have and she said a" boy basketball one" with out hesitating, so thats what we went with. She is kind of obsessed with birthdays right now. So she was super excited to have a party for Ren. It turned out to be a really nice day for June which I was really grateful for because the only place big enough for all the people we invited was the back yard. And I was really worried about everyone sweating their brains out and having no fun. But it turned out to be really great.

Four Year old Favorite's

Q and A with Macie Hazel Wright:

What is your favorite thing to do at school?

Play and snack

Who is your favorite teacher? Miss Kindra

Why? cuz that's you mom, your my teacher too

Who is your best friend? My best friend Natalie

Why? Courtney always brings her to play at my room

What is your favorite food? Peanut Butter

What is your favorite book? the one that ren is silly

What is your favorite treat? lollipops

What do you like to do? family walks with Jojo and Grannie

Where do you like to go? Courtney's house to swim

Who is your favorite animal? lamb and scat

What do you like to wear? Ballerina swimming suits

Who do you love?

my mommy ...and i love to hug my baby brother

Where does dad work? At KB home and at the airport

What does he do there? I always watch movies there and say hi to his friends

What do you like about grandmas house?

It looks fantastic

What games do you like?

play tug of war with Jojo

Whats your favorite color? brown..... like chocolate mmmm yummy

Whats your favorite movie? Scary movies

Why? cuz they are so scary that I don't like them I just like lamb movies

This little girl sure is hilarious and I love her TONS! She is turning into such a little lady and a definite girly girl but I wouldn't have it any other way.

All Dressed Up For Easter

Macie is such a Girlie Girl right now. She refuses to wear anything but dresses. She wants to be a princess all the time so for Easter I couldn't resist making her happy.

And my Renzo is just such a cutie! I just love his little personality. I really got lucky with this little guy!

These two are getting to be such good little friends! I really love to see them play together.