Moving Plans!

Alrighty-we finally have a bit of a plan for moving! Aaron talked to his boss about wanting to move, and they have been nothing but very supportive! They had nothing but good things to say about him and his work (I have to brag a bit-kinda proud of the guy!). They are getting a hold of the office in Dublin, OH and seeing what they can do about a transfer. They are trying to get him into an upper level position as much as possible-seeing as that he has been working at home office for the past year. He has a few 'big dogs' here pulling for him, so hopefully things will be completely ironed out soon. However, we have set the date for the move-in 3 1/2 weeks!!!! AAAGGHHH!!

My manager has been supportive as well, I'm turning in my official notice tomorrow. My last day is going to be Feb 18 (My sister's birthday actually!). That will still give me 2 days that Emily will go to daycare that week so that I can stay home and get some packing done without the "help" of Emily. I sent in my application to Nationwide Children's Hospital (Columbus Children's). I know a few people that work there, so the manager is already awaiting my application. I just have to get 24 CEUs quick in order to renew my Ohio RN license...I think I have like 12 to go...Thank goodness that you can get most of them for free online...Still, a bit of a pain!

We should be back in Ohio either Feb 22 or 23. Depends on how quick we get everything loaded up. My parents will be coming down that Fri evening to help load up and also to help drive everything. I'm still very tempted to go to IKEA and spend a bunch before we move. Actually (I just looked online) there's one in MI that's only an hour from Aaron's mom's house (so 3 hours from Columbus). I guess I can wait to splurge until we actually have the money to splurge! And we have a house to put it in for that matter! We are going to be staying at my parents house for a little while until we get ourselves back up on our feet. Hopefully our house in Charleston will sell soon and we won't have to stay for long! We just dropped the price a good bit and have had quite a few showings....hopefully soon!! Should be interesting though-we all kinda make jokes about it. Aaron decided that our contribution to staying there was going to be alcohol. Margarita's for everyone!!!!! Oh well-we all have a good attitude about it-just glad to be getting back home.

SO-it does feel good to pretty much have a plan. A weight being lifted off of our shoulders....only not all the way off- kinda like only off as much that if we get up too fast we'll hit our heads on it. But, better than before! It's all kinda come about pretty quick in this last week and a half. So, we're trying to pack up what we can, and try to have all our loose ends taken care of...We can't wait to be back closer to family!!!

Emily has been so much fun lately!! She's really starting to communicate with us all the time. She loves the Wiggles (I'm sure I've mentioned that already). Anyways, we watch it like a million times a day-Thank God for TiVo! She shakes her hands (kinda like the Wiggles do if you ever watch them) and that's her 'sign' for Wiggles. She has learned so many of the dances that they do-Aaron and I just laugh-cuz she'll get up off her chair and start dancing-the right moves too-at the right time!! Such a smart little cookie! I did get a little video of her pointing out body parts and animal noises and other cute things that Moms like...I have to download it to the computer yet though. Oh-and she loves to say 'Uh-Oh' aaaaallllllllll the time!!!!! It's so fun though. Oh yeah-this too-she loves to give us hugs and kisses! We must be doing something right! She'll go give Aaron a hug, then she'll go find me and give me a hug....back and forth, back and forth. Probably my favorite time of the day! Have I mentioned that she's in the next class at daycare? She isn't quite as comfortable as she used to be, but she knows all the kids, she has a few buddies in there, so fun to watch them interact. OK, sorry, I'll have pictures or videos or something more exciting than my rambling soon....

Snap, Crackle, Pop

So, the other day Emily decided that she wanted some Rice Krispies. She also thought that she was such a big girl that she could do it all by herself! When I walked in to see what was keeping Emily so quiet, I saw quite a mess! I couldn't be mad though-so I grabbed the camera instead!

Yes, that is the extent of the kitchen in our humble abode! I can't wait until we're out of here! We seriously can't open the fridge and the dishwasher at the same time. You don't realize how often you want to do that until you're not able to! Emily always pulls the dish towels on the floor as you can see-we had Rice Krispies all over them too!

Uh-Oh!

Why stop in the kitchen?

Don't worry Mom, I'll help clean up!

She really did take the sweeper out of my hands and wanted to do it herself!

Mmmm! After all that work, we need a snack.

Later that same day, she found a new seat-after emptying the cupboard of course!

Ahh, life is fun! She's so inquisitive and wants to see everything. Brings you back to reality a little to see things from the eyes of a child! And yes, if you were wondering, that is our little Christmas tree that is still up. Aaron decided that since we weren't going to be here much longer that we should leave it up. It keeps those nice, warm fuzzy feelings from Christmas going well into February. It's a nice light too!! I don't know if we're nostalgic, or just that lazy!! We are going to move soon, so it shouldn't be too much longer!!

Wisconsin

We went to visit Aaron's brother and his family in Wisconsin for the weekend. Emily had a lot of fun playing with her cousin Jack. I think Jack is starting to like Emily a little better now that she can run around with him. She was so into whatever he was doing, and had to do it too! So fun to watch her looking up to him! Of course Emily also loved their dog Hayes too!

All snuggled up with Aunt Kristie to watch the Wiggles with Jack. Jack wasn't too excited to be sharing both his mom and his movie!

Probably chasing the dog!

Self-portrait.

They had a lot of snow (that was actually starting to melt that day). There is a little hill in their yard that is perfect for the kids to go tubing on. (It's a foggy day too-not snow coming down).

Of course, Emily wasn't too sure about things! Jack is ready to go though!

At least Daddy was out there with her

When we got home, we opened her Christmas present from Uncle Todd and Aunt Kristie. Her own vacuum!!! She had so much fun playing with Jack's while we were visiting!

As soon as it was out of the package-away she went!

At least someone is cleaning up this place!

Thank you Uncle Todd and Aunt Kristie! We had fun visiting you guys too-yummy Turkey!!!

CHRISTMAS!!!!!

We went to Columbus for Christmas and had so much fun! It was so good to get to spend time with family over the holidays. It really made us excited to be getting back to Ohio (hopefully soon!). Emily started to figure out how to open presents, a little impatient while we opened the packages though! It was a lot of fun to watch her interact with Saylor. They are so cute to watch! We're looking forward to watching them grow up together. There are a lot of pictures here-I just couldn't decide which ones to put up!

Emily got an early gift from Crystal and Katlynn-she loves her new 'dolly'!!!

Saylor had fun playing with Emily's stroller.

Emily warmed up a little quicker to her Uncle Mike this time...well, almost :)

OOOHHHH Look at this!!!!

Nearly a smile.....

There it is!!! Way to go Michael-finally made friends!!

Yeah. I'm hot.

Emily just loved all the doggies!

All dressed up for church-so cute!

OK, really Mom.

Family picture.

Ready to go!

Opening their Christmas PJ's. How funny is Emily just sitting on that stool??!!

Of course-Emily giving treats!

Christmas morning (Well, Christmas Eve morning-I had to work Christmas day), Emily saw her new grocery cart and wasn't interested in anything else! She just pushed her cart around all morning. At least her new Mickey got to ride along!

Emily did share her new puzzle with Saylor....sort of!

What a big girl!

When we got back home, Emily ran around the whole time we were unloading the car. Good thing it wasn't too cold out!

But wait, there's more! A present from Grandma Walter that we forgot to bring along-she loves it!!

Quite a fun trip! I'll have to put up some pictures soon of Emily playing with all of her new toys. She loves them all!! We hope everyone else had a good Christmas with their families as well! Best wishes for 2008!

Go Buckeyes!!!!

Santa

We went to the mall to see Santa. (Of course this was before Christmas!). I was worried about Emily standing in line, but she actually had so much fun!! There was so much to look at while we were in line, and she was taking it all in. Right before you got to Santa there was this giant snow globe that you went into, one family at a time. There were lights, music, videos and snow!! Emily was so intrigued. I took some videos of her dancing and following the lights. Nothing too exciting, just super cute :)

Taking it all in!

WOW!!!!

Gettin' her groove on :)
(Kinda short and choppy)




Not quite sure what to look at, but dancing away the whole time.





One more quick dance with the lights, then runs away!

And a picture of the finished product....wasn't too excited about Santa (of course). This was the best we could get!! Should have gotten the one where she was crying!! :) Oh well, maybe next year!