If only in my dreams

Could someone please find me alittle of this... I am SO tired of winter. It's not so much the cold, it's the no sun thing. I have barely seen any sun in 3 weeks and it's beginning to take it's toll. I'm crabby. I need sunshine. The beach would be an added bonus. :) Here's hoping that damn groundhog doesn't see his shadow on Tuesday. Who's with me?

FFF: Favorite Animals....

Both Alive and stuffed. We love both at our house. Toby and Liliana each have a couple of stuffed animals that they really like, but they don't love any the way they love Bear and Bun Bun.
Bear went with us to pick up Toby in Guatemala. And he has been Toby's constant companion ever since. He goes EVERYWHERE with us, but he's ususally not allowed to leave the car (he is that precious). I don't have any good pics of bear on this computer, they are all on the back-up or poor bear was cropped out of the pic. Here is the one I did find..... Bear as a tree ornament. Bet you didn't know they made such beautiful decorations.

Bunny was a welcome home gift from a friend and it is the only stuffed animal Lili instantly loved. This is how you can find bunny most days. His poor ears won't even come clean in the wash because she chews on them so much. The love between a child and their stuffed animal...sweet and yucky all at the same time.

Then their are our alive animals. They each have a special place in my heart.

Sultan: we took her from a horse farm in Missouri where she may not have made it to see 1. She's now gonna be 8 this year. And she's a Mama's girl.

Mokey: He was dumped in the alley near the school I taught at. He followed everyone around looking for attention and food. He had been in the rain for two days and I said if it rained the next day he was coming home with me. Well he came home and I tried to find him somewhere else to live but he got Greg to love him and that was that. He is by far the sweetest of the cats. He's very snuggly and tolerant. He's our baby at 3.

See those eyes....that's Shivers: She is the oldest and the most finicky. She was born with a disability and was the one kitten my neighbors couldn't get anyone to take. Enter the girl with sucker written across her forehead. She liked it best when it was just me and her but she deals with everything and everyone that has come into our lives in the last 9 years.

Last but not least is our fluffy puppy: Sadie. She loves everyone. She would prefer for the kids to not torment her and she tries to herd them like they are sheep, but she really loves them. She follows them around when we are outside watching their every move. She is a GREAT dog.

Yeah, I know we are the crazy animal people. But God gave me a heart for animals and children. So poor Greg has to deal with it. And he's very good about it. Hope you enjoyed my little animal tour. We REALLY like our animals at this house. ;)

A Daily Occurance...

This takes place every afternoon....as soon as I tell them Daddy will be home soon. They both climb up in the window and watch for his car so they can greet him at the door with much jumping and yelling of "Daddy's Home." The perfect way to come home after a long day at work if you ask me. :)

One Great Weekend

Nan and Pap came to visit us this weekend. We were blessed with 3 days with them. They arrived Friday night to two VERY excited small children. And they stayed through until Monday afternoon. It's much easier to do a breakdown of the weekend, so here it is....

Saturday: Nan and Pap helped us with some things around the house that we were unable to do without further assistance. After getting cleaned up and lunching, We headed down to Newport on the Levee to see what it was all about. It's nice down there during the day but it's hoppin at night! It started to get cold so we headed to Florence to get some shopping done. Pap, Greg, and Toby went home while Lili and me took Nan to Hobby Lobby and walmart. Btw, Hobby Lobby ROCKS! When we came home it was time to start dinner. Me being my brillant self thought I'd use my Christmas gift, a mandalin slicer, to cut the potatoes. Instead, right after my parents warned me to be careful, alittle foreshadowing maybe, I sliced my pinky finger and ended up in the ER for two hours. NaNa said she wanted to hang out with me...but I don't think she was thinking let's go to the ER together. They xrayed, cleaned, and bandaged my wound and sent my on my way with painkillers and a set of wound care instructions. Yippee!

Sunday: Nan and Pap went to church. I was in too much of a Vicodin induced haze to go and Greg stayed to watch me and the kids. Bet he never thought he'd have to babysit his own wife. The kids napped and we lunched and then we left for more shopping. It should be noted here that I was very dizzy so shopping was interesting to say the least for me. Greg got clothes for work and the kiddos and the grandparents spent time together eating ice cream and riding the two story carosel. Then it was out to dinner at TGIFriday's to celebrate Toby's 3 year homecoming anniversary.

Monday: We just all hung out together until it was time for them to leave. We had such a great time with them visiting. We miss them SO VERY MUCH already. Life is not the same here without them. We are counting down the days until The kids and I go and visit them. Here's the slideshow. (I'm running out of memory space so that's what you get)

Where we've been hiding

The majority of people that follow the blog know where I've been hiding. This is for those of you that may not know or that have so many friends on facebook that you missed it. As of Wednesday Jan. 6th, we are now Kentucky residents. We left everything and everyone we knew in my hometown and moved four hours away to Northern Kentucky. Greg took a new job that has tons of room for growth and development. And while we were incredibly sad (and still are) about leaving our comfort zone and the people we love, we are incredibly happy for the opportunity in this economic environment.

The move was not the easiest. With the holidays and everything else, we only had about a week to pack up five years worth of stuff. In those five years, we have acquired two beautiful children and all the "stuff" that goes with them...so lots to pack and sort through. We took car loads of clothes, knick-knacks, and toys to Goodwill and car loads still of trash/junk to the dumpsters and we never even made it to the basement. We are saving that for our first trip back in a couple of weeks. After getting everything basically packed, we had to go stay at my parents since there was no room left for us at the old house. The movers showed up on Monday and they loaded (very precisely) all of our stuff on a large van and let us know it would be there Wednesday. (Ooo goody a camping day at the new house.) We were all ready to leave, all I had to do was go out to the house and catch the cats. They would be riding with me, the dog, and the boy, while Lili was riding with Daddy in his overstocked car. Evidently, I wasn't even gone 10 minutes and Toby started hurling. Terriffic! So Greg took the cats and headed out into the wintery night to trek to the new house. Unfortunately someone had to be there for Tuesday since both the cable guy and the new fridge were arriving. The kids and I left Tuesday morning. Everything went fine on Tuesday and even on Wednesday for the move-in....UNTIL, I got the stomach bug that Toby had and then Greg and then Lili. SO, we didn't get much accomplished last week as far as unpacking goes. We did tons get tons of sleeping and barely eating done, and during periods were we actually felt human, we unpacked.

Today starts a new week and new tasks to be accomplished. My goal is to get 60% unpacked. I know 60% doesn't seem like alot, but there will probably be 10% that never gets unpacked for whatever reason. The 60% would get the kitchen, bathroom, and the clothes fully unpacked. That would really go a long way to it feeling more like home and less like a glorified hotel. I hope to have this finished by the time my parents get here on Friday. FRIDAY!!! WhoHoo!!!

Here are some pictures from our adventure...

Box Fortress in the Dining Room, part 1

Part 2

In the Living Room

In the mud room (inner front porch)

Bins in the bedroom

The kids room looking sparse

First night at the new house camping out

The truck ready to be unloaded. (The driver wasn't thrilled I took this picture. I think he thought it was for my records or what not, when really I just took it show I could show you guys how stuffed he had that truck. And it was even more stuffed inside to the right. He had to use a ladder to get things out)

So that's where we have been hiding. We have Skype, so if you have it too, search for me and we can chat. Which would make missing everyone much easier. Also we love visitors! My parents have claimed all the long weekends, but feel free to come and see us. It will be months before we get our bearings and start to fit in around here...familiar faces would be nice. :)