Snow Day

Last night, we got 6+ inches of snow around Richmond. According to the news, it was the largest snowstorm to hit this area in 7 years! What did this mean for me? SNOW DAY!!! It was probably the first snow day I have had since high school, and it was great! What did this mean for Dennis and Theron? Lots of fun playing (& working) in the snow. First, I have to thank my husband for cleaning off my car, although I think we made some sort of deal about that when we agreed our next transfer would be to a "northern" state. Luckily for him, it doesn't snow that often in Richmond.

It's probably inaccurate to say that we spent a lot of time "playing" in the snow. Our time outside mostly consisted of walking around and Theron asking for "help" because he couldn't really get far without Mom or Dad's assistance. Not that I'm complaining about this, I actually think it's incredibly sweet that he can ask for help and I am savoring every moment before the "I DO IT!" stage starts. I know it's coming....

I would say that just within the last couple of months, Theron's verbal communication has doubled, or even tripled. I am honestly amazed at not just how many words he knows, but how efficient he has become at letting us know what he wants, or what he is thinking about. We have also been working with him on "baby signing," a form of ASL, to help communicate as well. Here is his interpretation of the sign for "help."

And a few more of my favorite pictures:

Overall, we had a good time playing in the snow. Being that it's been over five years since we've had a beautiful snowfall to enjoy, I think Dennis and I are especially appreciative of the occasion. But now I'm ready for spring!

...And We're Back...

Wow! It's hard to believe it's been one month since my last post. For those who don't already know, everything went great with our house closing, and my lack of posting has not been because we have been homeless living on the streets and singing for our food for the past 30 days. In reality, we have been INCREDIBLY busy, with moving, unpacking and family visiting for Thanksgiving. Regardless, I apologize for my lack of posts and for keeping you in suspense about whether or not we actually had a place to live.

Unpacking has been a sllllllooooowwwww process. Anyone who has a toddler will completely understand this. The fact that there are still boxes to be opened and things to be put away has definitely been a "monkey on my back," so to say. And just in case you need a visual of this, please note the following photo:

Mom: Trying to unload the dishwasher.
Theron: Trying to prevent mom from unloading the dishwasher.
Dad: How funny! Let's take a picture! (Basically, no help at all.)

(Of course, you can see from my face how truly irritated I am!)

Aside from the piles of empty boxes and piles of stuff waiting to find it's designated location, things have been going pretty well. Dennis has still been playing "stay at home dad" and doing a pretty good job of it. I can't say much for a whole lot of unpacking getting done, or housework for that matter, but he and Theron spend a lot of time playing, and that's really what's important.

Here are a couple of pictures of Theron, in a laundry hamper with his "Spongeball-Spherepants" ball. I am told he got in there all by himself, but I'm not completely convinced. Either way, he's having a blast, so I didn't inquire too much about the logistics.

Tomorrow my mom is packing up and heading down to Richmond for a couple of weeks, so hopefully I will have some pictures of the house soon. Anyone who knows my mom, knows that all the boxes should be unpacked and everything should be put away, by about, Thursday. Okay, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I'll tell you what, she is quick and thorough. I know she will have it in ship-shape in no time!

Sneak Peak

101 Phone calls later...

I just found out that we are going to be able to move up our closing date! And EVEN BETTER, the movers were able to move up our move-in date as well. Which means, if everything goes according to plan, ONE WEEK from today we will be moved in to our new house!

I am so excited! I think before this point it hasn't seemed real, hasn't really sunk in that we were going to be homeowners and actually have our own home. And now, in ONE WEEK, we will!

Here is a sneak peak of our house:


Isn't it PERFECT?

New Shoes

The countdown in on! We are set to close on our house one week from tomorrow. According to our realtor, the seller wants to close earlier, so it may be as early as Wednesday, we'll see. Trying to purchase a house has been an interesting process, with many up and downs, and one that I am not likely to repeat any time soon. I will share more details of our ordeal, along with some pictures of our house, hopefully this weekend.

But tonight I want to tell you about a interesting, and scary, situation we went through last night. For the last three weeks we have been staying in Temporary Housing and living off of a Government Per Diem, which is a daily allowance set by my agency to cover our expenses until were in a permanent residence. One stipulation is that I'm supposed to use my Government issued credit card to pay for food and housing.

Last night, after placing an order for pizza, the restaurant called to let me know my card had been declined. This is highly unusual for a government issued card, so I called the bank to check on the status of my account. After asking me several security questions, the representative stated that she needed to verify some recent charges.

Did I charge $32 for Panera? --Yes, and it was delicious!

Did I charge $25 from a Pizzeria? --Yes. For dinner the next night -- also delicious.

Did I charge $1 from "e-mudd"? --Hum... that doesn't sound familiar.

Did I charge $1346 worth of merchandise at Zappos.com?

--What?!?! NO WAY!!!!! $1346 Dollars worth of SHOES!?!?!

Apparently, I am the victim of credit fraud! I cannot believe it! According to the representative, there are people who sit around guessing at credit card numbers. When they find one that takes, they try to make purchases with it. Something didn't match up with the purchases, so the bank put a hold on the account.

I was (and am still) utterly dumbfounded. This is something I thought only happened to "other people." It was definitely a humbling experience that it actually happened to me and that I was completely helpless to prevent it. I guess it's a good example of why it's so important to check your statements when they come in the mail.

One highlight was how amazing and professional the bank representative was. She immediately cancelled my card and issued me a new one. (And sent it overnight delivery, so that we should have it by this weekend). I am grateful to the credit card company for being so diligent to check for suspicious activity, and even more grateful that they are not holding me responsible for the charges.

And now all that's left is for me to do is dream about what I would do with $1346 dollars worth of new shoes!

Pun'kin Picking

Last weekend we spent Sunday afternoon out at Chesterfield Berry Farms, participating in a typical American tradition - Pumpkin Picking! Because Sunday was my birthday, I was able to use this as leverage to convince Dennis this was the place to be on a Sunday afternoon... Not that he didn't have a good time once we got there.


They have lots of fun things to do for their Autumn Harvest Festival, although we "cheap-skated" it because Theron is still too small to participate in a lot of super-scary or super-rambunctious activities. We did have a lot of fun looking at the farm animals, playing in the straw pit, and "riding" the tractors. We also enjoyed watching the piggy races. Unfortunately, we lost a good portion of our life savings when we put an impulse bet on 'Baconator,' who only managed to come in fourth place.

At the end of the afternoon, we went on a hayride to a pumpkin patch, where Theron got to pick his first Halloween pumpkin. It was pretty cute because he kept saying, "Ba...? Ba...? Ba...?" He was truly amazed to see a whole field filled with all those "Balls."

This last picture is to show what happened when I tried to reason with Theron about what pumpkin he was allowed to take home. I tried to explain to him that it is not necessary for someone so small to have a pumpkin three times his size, especially when neither Daddy or I could carry it, and it was doubtful about whether it would fit in the car, but he would not listen to reason. Thankfully, I was able to utilize my amazing parental power of persuasion to change his mind. I call it "distraction." Really -- it works wonders on toddlers.

As a compromise, we settled on two smaller pumpkins, which we could actually carry, and headed home. I would say our first family pumpkin picking adventure was truly a success!

"We're too Boring for a Blog..."

... at least according to my husband. And maybe he's right - we'll see. I've been wanting to start a blog for awhile now, or at least since Theron was born. I had thought it would be the easiest way to keep our family & friends updated with pictures & stories of our life with the baby. Although, in all honesty, there usually isn't too much to tell. Really - we are kinda boring.

But now that we've been transplanted to another state, the important people we want to keep in touch with have been expanded to a multi-state following - our "families" now reside in Michigan, as well as, Mississippi and a few other states across the country. I'm hoping I can utilize this blog to keep everyone informed of how we're adjusting to our new lives here in Virginia. (All the boring details, you could say...)

Tomorrow I will post some pictures of our pumpkin picking excursion from last weeked. But until then, I will leave you with a family picture from our festive day.