Washington: First Weekend

We arrived on Friday afternoon and Pops and Uncle Furry picked us up from the airport. When we caught sight of my dad I pointed him out to the Boogie: "Look, there's Pops!"
"Pops!" she exclaimed, and started running toward him, arms outstretched. I thought she was going to throw herself into his arms but she stopped about two feet from him and said, "Where's Lela?" He says it's the story of his life, and that if he rose from the dead we kids would look at him and say, "Hi Pops! Where's Mom?"

Mom had to work so she couldn't come to the airport. We made it home around the same time though and she had dinner for us. My brother and his family had planned to come see us Friday night but due to our delayed arrival they decided to let us get settled and to come visit on Saturday. Vee came on Friday, though!

Saturday was beautiful, just beautiful. Both girls woke early, because of the time difference, but thankfully the Pheebs went back to sleep. She was exhausted from not having slept much while we traveled, so that helped her to make the adjustment. The Boogie was easily convinced to stay in her bed and watch a DVD on our laptop so I could doze just a little longer.

In the late morning some very special persons arrived: my bestest friend Mrs. Cowboy and her family!
(These pictures are from right before they left that evening; the Little Cowgirl did not wear pajamas all day!)

Bless their hearts, they drove 10 hours from Montana to spend one day with us, then drove the 10 hours back on Sunday. We hadn't seen each other since my wedding, before they even got married, and we hadn't seen each other's kids. It was so great to be together. It felt like we had just seen each other last week. It's always been that way for us, over the past 17 years of friendship.

Can you believe that, Mrs. Cowboy? We've been friends for 17 years.

The Little Cowgirl was as pretty as a picture. She wasn't too sure of all the people around. It was a lot of new faces to take in. But she did really well!

She and the Pheebs are just 4 months apart. They were too cute together.

And it was the first time Mr. Cowboy had met anyone in my family aside from myself and my brother B, so that was really nice too.

A little bit later B & D and their clan arrived. The little girls were SO excited to see each other! Sadly I did not have my camera handy to get pictures of their meeting. They instantly hit it off. SL is 5, HL is 4 (just a few days younger than the Boogie) and they played and played and played hard all day long, running around the yard, playing with toys, going for walks.

JL is just 2 and was a little wary of all the new faces. He is the spitting image of his daddy B -- I had seen pictures of course but there's nothing like seeing it in person! He is the cutest little guy.

It was the first time anyone had seen Phebis, with the exception of Vee who came to visit when Pheeboo was tiny. The Pheebs was a little uncertain of everyone at first -- when Pops and my brothers held her for the first times she kept her arms elevated so she wouldn't have to touch them! -- but warmed up fairly quickly.

It was sunny and pleasant all day, so we stayed outside for most of it and visited while the kids played.

It was a perfect first day of our visit!

On Sunday morning we attended church, where the Phebis went to her first Sunday school class. She even got a take-home paper ... awwww ... After the service she made the rounds of all the men in the church, hugging this guy's legs, leaning on that man's knee, reaching up to be held by some other fellow. Needless to say they were all pretty tickled by that.

Eric and Furry spent the afternoon at a car show, and Mom and Pops and the girls and I went back to their house because we were expecting a visitor:

Yep, our friend Reenie from Philadelphia! She had sent me a text on Thursday as we were on our way to the Philly airport, saying that she had flown out to Washington (she has family there as well) and was wondering if she could visit my parents on Sunday. She didn't know we were going, so we just kept it a big secret. When she arrived at their house on Sunday afternoon I sent the Boogie to answer the door. Boy, was Reenie surprised to see us! We had a lovely visit as always and she came to church with us that evening.

It was a full and fun weekend and a great way to kick off our visit.

NJ to WA: The Adventure

The long-awaited time has come, and we've arrived safely in Washington. The trip out did not go quite as planned ...

The Fourth of July weekend was spent getting our house ready for guests, as we had made arrangements for our friends the R family to stay there during our trip. I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday, then spent Thursday morning packing and doing last-minute things. MIL picked us up and off we went! Ah, it felt so good to be finished with all of the preparations, and to finally be on our way. 

We were scheduled to leave the Philadelphia airport at 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, July 7. We arrived at the airport, immediately checked our bags, sailed through security, and made it to our gate in plenty of time. The Boogie was plenty excited and Pheeboo was in a good mood. We didn't have to wait too long to board, found seats together, everything went great. The Boogie was SO excited to fly on a plane!

We taxied out to the runway where the pilot informed us that due to thunderstorm activity over Pennsylvania, our flight had to be re-routed and they were waiting for that information. So we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

For two hours.

Every now and then everyone would be asked to take our seats so that the plane could be moved somewhere else.  Every time the plane would start rolling the Boogie would get very excited and squirm around in her seat exclaiming, "Are we take-offing?" At one point a thunderstorm came through which provided temporary distraction. Both girls did pretty well, considering. There was a family across the aisle from us with 2 little girls and a baby girl and those children were amazingly well-behaved. We never heard a peep out of any of them. A few rows up was a toddler who was very unhappy to be where he was. He would  SCREAM and SCREAM and SCREAM for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then he would calm down for a bit. Then he would scream for another 10-15 minutes. Then he would calm down. Then he would start up again. I thought for sure his yowling would set off the Phebis but I think she only melted down once while we were waiting.

Every now and then the pilot would update us with the information that he had no information. After about 2 hours he said that we would wait just a bit more but if we didn't get clearance soon we would go back to the gate. Thankfully soon after that we were cleared for take-off.

We missed our connecting flight in Chicago by an hour. Of course plenty of other passengers had missed their connections as well so we waited in line for about 45 minutes for customer service. By that time it was after 9 p.m. and there were no other flights to Seattle, nor were there any available flights that would connect us to a Seattle flight somewhere else. We opted for a 7 a.m. flight out and then had to decide what to do for the rest of the night.

By that time I was in tears. I was worn out from the preparations and just so disappointed that we were going to make it to Seattle until so much later than planned.

The airline had some cots set up in a concourse and we considered staying there, but it soon became obvious that with two small children it was not going to be a good option for us. Eric called a local hotel who sent a shuttle over for us and before too long we were in a nice cozy room at a Hampton Inn. Praise the Lord for nice hotels! They provided us with breakfast bags since we would have to leave before their continental breakfast was served in the morning, and even charged us less for the room than what they quoted. Plus we had a neat view of Chicago in the early morning. We got a few hours of sleep, slept through our alarm, and barely caught the shuttle back to the airport!

We flew from Chicago to Los Angeles. We changed planes there and flew to Oakland, CA where thankfully we did not have to get off the plane, and were even able to move up closer to the front for the last leg of our journey to Seattle. That was one neat thing about it -- Eric had never actually been to the west coast, so he was able to see the Pacific from the plane, as well as the San Francisco Bay.

We finally made it to Seattle on Friday afternoon, almost a whole day later than planned. It was disappointing to be so delayed but God had a reason for it happening, though we may not ever learn what that reason was. And the girls did so great, even the Pheebs who was not as easily entertained as the Boogie. And, all of our luggage arrived safely as well!

It has been fantastic to be here with family, and to see friends. We are so grateful that God allowed us to come!

July Already?

And it's the fifth? That means yesterday was the Fourth. Oh, right, we watched some fireworks last night. On TV. Our poor kids. Next year FOR SURE we will go somewhere to watch fireworks. And we'll take our poor deprived children to a parade.

Five years ago today was my very first day at the office. One year ago today I returned to work after maternity leave. And five years ago today someone sweet was born. Happy 5th birthday to EK!

Our departure for Washington is coming up very soon. Some friends will be staying at our house while we're away so we've been doing some things that needed to be taken care of. You know, the kind of thing you can live with yourself but don't particular want your guests to have to live with? Like, putting up a door on the room they will be occupying ...

So yesterday was spent doing little things around the house. We didn't celebrate the holiday at all, except for watching some fireworks. Phebis enjoyed the marches and spun around and around. She kept falling down and getting back up! I guess that's how she dances.


This morning the Boogie patted Pheebs on the head and said, "This is my sonny boy." "Sonny boy!" I exclaimed. "No, she's a girl. She's a girly girl."
"Oh, right," the Boogie nodded, "she's my girly girl. Daddy is my ... boy-ly boy!" I'm pretty sure she didn't mean boily ...

Phebis has started responding "Hi!" when we say it to her. Yesterday I asked her if she wanted something and she shook her head and said "uh-uh." But she doesn't say "no" ... yet. When she nods her head she bounces her whole body up and down.

We had our second yard sale at 52 on Saturday. We didn't do as well as the first week, but we still got rid of quite a bit more which was the main goal. I must admit, it was a little weird to see some things go. A lot of what I sold had been packed away for a while, wedding gifts we never really used and things like that. But there were a few items that did get used quite a bit, like some candle holders that sat on my dresser for years, or a ride-on toy that the girls played with, and it was almost unsettling to see strangers walk away with that stuff. I know, I know, I'm weird! I have no excuse. It's how I'm wired, I guess.

I Love Lists

So here is one for you. There is no rhyme or reason.

-1. Most days I make lists of things to do. Then as I complete things I cross them off. If I do something extra I add it to the list ... so I can cross it off. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something in life.

-2. When packing for a trip I wait until almost the last minute because if I pack something too early I will inevitably need to use it, then will put it away where it belongs instead of re-packing it. So I make lists of things to pack and do it all at once.

-3. Today I entered a giveaway for a Nook. I hope I win it. It surely would be nice for our trip. There were, like, over thirty thousand entries though, so I guess my chances are pretty slim.

-4. The other day the Boogie asked me, "Honey, what lives on Tortuga?" Tortuga? Where in the world did she hear that? "I don't know," I said hesitantly, "um, pirates?" Wrong. She insisted that I guess again and again until I finally gave up and asked her to please tell me what in the world lives on Tortuga other than pirates. "Tortuguys," she informed me. Well, duh. Of course Tortuguys live on Tortuga. I totally thought she made it up but apparently she picked it up from the Wild Kratts show on PBS Kids.

-5. Last week I found the Pheebs with an open tube of bright pink chapstick. I didn't know she knew how to open chapstick. I thought I took it right away from her but a couple of days later I discovered bright pink chapstick on the back of the leaf quilt my mom made for us when we got married. I treated the stains and washed the quilt but forgot to take it out of the washer until the next day and the red leaves had bled into the white background. And none of the pink chapstick had come out. So I cried. Of all things for Pheebs to get chapstick on, you know? It couldn't have been on the old hand-me-down couch or the boring cheap brown rug in the living room. No, it had to be on the quilt my mom made. I put some Oxiclean on the red stains and let it sit for a few minutes then washed it again and not only did the red come out, but most of the pink did too! Thank you Lord for Oxiclean.

-6. I love Oxiclean. I use it almost every single day. I don't even buy the real thing. I buy the big tub of the Target version. It works just as well and is cheaper. More cheap. More ... cheaper ...

-7. Is it bedtime yet?

-8. I then hunted down and threw away a tube of bright pink chapstick and hid all the other tubes I could find.

-9. Several months ago my friend Abby blogged about making her own laundry soap. Since I think Abby is super mom and I want to be her when I grow up, I decided that I needed to try it too. I did it tonight for the first time so we'll see how it looks in the morning. I even bought some lavender and orange essential oils in case I decide I want to get fancy, but the soap itself smells really good. I had to grate a whole bar of Fels Naptha soap so if you come over for Mexican food and your grated cheese tastes a little soapy, that's why.

It even kind of looks like cheese ...

-10. I ordered a responsibility chart for the Boogie and it came today.

She was very excited and thought it was a game. "How do you play it?" she kept asking. We picked out some responsibilities for her to fulfill this week. I know she needs to have more chores to do so hopefully this will motivate me to motivate her.

-11. Last Saturday MIL and I had a yard sale at our house. It was beautiful weather and 3 other houses on our street had sales, too. As I unpacked boxes when we moved into this house, I turned right around and filled a bunch of boxes with yard sale stuff. Over the last few weeks I have been going through all of it and pricing it. I made signs and posted a listing on Craigslist. I thought we did fairly well. I sold a lot of household stuff and Eric donated a bunch of model cars and some baseball cards to the cause. I didn't care as much about making money as I did about getting rid of things! This weekend we will do it again at 52 and whatever I don't sell I will donate. I just want it gone gone gone. It's amazing how much STUFF you can accumulate in five years, even with a couple of moves thrown in. I am totally in purging mode and am constantly perusing the house for things to eliminate.

-12. After the yard sale on Saturday we went to Eric's work picnic. The info we got said it would go until 6 p.m. and we didn't get there until after 3:00. We took our time eating, and let the Boogie play with her cousin HE for a while. When HE needed to leave it was about 4:45 so we distracted the Boogie by telling her she could jump in the bounce house. But when we got to the bounce house the guy running it said he was shutting it down in ten minutes. So the Boogie jumped for a bit and then she said she wanted to go in the paddle boats on the lake. As soon as she and Eric set foot on the dock, the lifeguards said they weren't letting anyone else go out because it was time to close up. I was so disappointed for her because she was really excited to go out in the boats. I told her she could take her sandals off and wade for a few minutes, but as soon as she stepped into the water the lifeguards started yelling from the dock for her to get out. Really? She can't wade for five minutes? More disappointment. She had mentioned before that she wanted ice cream so I thought that might distract her and told her we would go get some ... but nope, they had put it all away. The whole place shut down at 5 p.m. I was really annoyed. Had our info been correct we would have made more of an effort to get there earlier, or at least get around to do more stuff before 5:00. I hate when my kid is let down when she's looking forward to something. That's one of the reasons we don't tell her anything ahead of time! She handled it really well, though -- I think I was more disappointed for her than she actually was. We stopped at Wawa on our way home for her ice cream sandwich and she was a happy girl.

-13. My daisies are blooming. I don't have a picture but they are pretty. They all lean in one direction which is funny. And my petunias are getting big. My friend Chrissy reminded me to use MiracleGro so I did that last week and I can tell a difference.

-14. Phebis is walking everywhere and sometimes seems on the verge of running. She is very steady and even does really well with shoes on, which impresses me. If she falls she usually crawls over to something to steady herself while she stands up, but in the last couple of days she's been standing up on her own, by balancing on all fours with her bottom sticking straight up, and then standing.

-15. She has cut her fourth molar with no sign of hives. There goes that theory.

-16. She says "cuh-cuh" for cup and cracker. Yesterday at 52 she opened a cabinet, pulled out a bag of Goldfish crackers, said "cuh-cuh", and took it right to MIL to open for her.

-17. She signs "more" and "milk" and something I made up for "all done."

-18. Today she said "book" and shook her head for "no" and nodded it for "yes."

-19. She has mad love for a big purple dinosaur. I won't be a bit surprised when her next word is "Barney."

-Tenteen. If she gets her hands on a hairbrush she goes straight for the Boogie and whacks her on the head with it. She is just trying to brush the Boogie's hair (girl has to live vicariously, you know) but has reduced her big sister to tears several times. She can pack quite the wallop.

-Eleventeen. We have had an influx of flies and I can't figure out where they are coming from. At first I thought it was through a window screen that had a hole in it, but we've been keeping that window shut lately. A few days last week were really awful. One day I'm pretty sure I killed at least twenty flies. They have reduced some in number but it's still creepy and nasty. Grosses me out, man. And of course we can't find flypaper anywhere. I need to get one of those light zapper thingies for the laundry room.

-Twelveteen. I spent a lot of time rearranging furniture today and I don't like any of what I did. But I don't want to spend any more time on it now. I've got other things to do. Like go to bed.

-Thirteenteen. "Cheeeeeee!"

Super Boogie

Today the Boogie came out of the bathroom with the handtowel around her shoulders and said in a deep voice, "I have super powers!" She was running around with her fist up in the air like she was flying. I went into the kitchen to make a sandwich and she stood at the doorway (it's blocked off so Pheebs can't get in) and said in her super-hero voice, "Honey, are you hurt?" I said no. Then she said, "Well, are you stuck?" I said no. Then she said, "Well, what are you then?" I said, "I'm just hungry." She dropped the super-hero voice and said in a regular voice, "Oh, I have super-sandwiches in my trunk."

Super-Sandwiches: The Food of Super Heroes

Wordless Wednesday

She's Walking!

Finally!

Every day she gets a little better. When I got home from work last night she was more steady than she was in the morning!

Temper, Temper

The Pheebs had her 12-month well-check yesterday. It was quite timely since she had busted out the hives welts that morning. Her pediatrician does not seem concerned at all about the hives, and said that very often they never can be traced to any specific thing. I would like to note, however, that Phebis is cutting another molar so that makes the third hives breakout that is in conjunction with a new tooth. It's suspiciously coincidental to me ...

Anway, her stats are as follows:
Weight: 22 lbs. 15 oz. -- 75th percentile
Height: 30 inches -- 75th percentile
Head circumference: I can't find the piece of paper it's written on so I don't know the measurement, but I do know that her head is in the 97th percentile. The child has a big noggin!

Also I would like to note that the child is developing quite the temper. Maybe I've blocked it out, but I don't remember the Boogie being quite so, um, volatile at this age. It's nothing unusual, just takes me by surprise sometimes!

She is finally, finally, FINALLY showing some interest in walking. So many people have said to me, "Don't wish for her to walk! You'll be sorry! Then she'll be into everything!" But she's already into everything, so what's the difference? At least if she walks there she won't have calloused knees!

Praying Baby

Every night at bedtime we all sit in the girls' room and I pray. For a while Pheeboo has been saying "'mmMEN!" after I say "amen", and lately when we say it's time to pray, she puts her head down and babbles something ending with "'mmMEN!" Tonight I managed to get a video of her doing it.

(Then she says "cheee'" and makes the cheese face which is invariably a frown.)

After praying she goes around giving kisses. She is choosy about kissing. Sometimes she will freely kiss all of us multiple times. Sometimes we each get one kiss. Sometimes she will kiss her sister but not the parents. Sometimes she will kiss the Boogie and Eric, but not me. Sometimes hugs accompany the kisses. Only one thing is for certain: her kisses are open-mouthed and very wet! 

A Friday Off

Normally I work every Friday afternoon, so at this time (1:00) I am running around, scrambling to gather the diaper bag and blankie, get shoes on everyone, and get out the door. Today, however, we spent the morning with some friends at the park and at their house eating lunch, and we just got home a little bit ago. Phebis fell asleep in the car and thankfully transferred nicely to her crib. After high temperatures accompanied by humidity earlier this week, yesterday and today have been cooler and windy. It was the perfect morning to go to the playground, although the pollen count is high and wreaking havoc on those with allergies!

Now I'm anticipating a nice afternoon at home, doing a few chores, maybe some beadwork, maybe even sit and read for a bit! And my teeny tiny garden could use some weeding, too.


But before I start on any of the things I need and want to do, and before you move on from reading blogs to whatever you need or want to do, these pictures require some viewing:

Sometimes I think she looks like me ... and sometimes I think she looks like my brother ... and sometimes I think she looks like my mom. But she NEVER reminds me of her daddy!

And this girl is getting quite the sprinkling of freckles on her nose. Please ignore the dirt and peanut butter.

And lastly, to toot my own horn, look what I did the other day!

 

 I have another one just like it on the other side of the front door. Finally, some flowers on my porch! I hope I don't kill them ...