Saturday, January 26, 2013

Slacking

I know I have been slacking on my blog posting but I have just been so overwhelmed with everything else I have to do. Things are starting to slow down a little bit, I just have to get the last little bit of stuff put away and fold the huge pile of clean laundry, then our little apartment will feel much better.

We are adjusting to our new home and routine. The kids are both learning so much lately. Emma is almost walking, she takes a few steps and then sits down right now, but for 9 months that is still impressive.

We sold the Pathfinder we had and our trailer and used that money plus our tax return to buy a Ford Freestyle outright. It is great to have a larger more versatile vehicle and NO car payment on it, I will be so excited once we have the title in hand (the DMV has to process it still). We also bought a washer and dryer (new to us), and I found a bike trailer on craigslist (then found out it SMELLED HORRIBLE), and then found a used bike at a bike co-op (we are in Oregon you know). There is a great bike trail by our house and the kids and I are going to start riding it so I can get another form of exercise in during the week. Quite a few big purchases, hopefully we are almost done with those.

Although next on the list is health insurance for me, I have found a few plans that might be worth the money, we just need to make sure we can really afford the extra every month until we get the corolla paid off (only 2300 more dollars and we are car payment free!). That car has the best interest, and right now we wouldn't qualify for rates that low, so we have never paid much more than the monthly payment on it.

That is where we are at. I love my kids, the job is going well, and it is time to get these kids ready for bed!

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Wow

A LOT has happened in the last month, not only Christmas which is usually a busy time of the year, but a new job and a move that were not previously planned.

We thought we were going to have a week to slowly get moved and then I would go to training and we would start our new job after I was able to go through training... not so... we found out Thursday (27th Dec.) that we would be starting Monday (the 31st) and would need to move in over the weekend. We were not packed and we were still out of town visiting family. So when we got home we made a plan and started moving. We rented a truck Friday afternoon and just started loading the essentials (furniture, clothes, kitchen, bathroom). Saturday around 1pm we drove the moving truck to our new apartment (Matthew loved riding in the BIG truck with Chris). During this chaos we were lucky enough to have a friend of ours watching the kids, or it really would have been bad.

We are still trying to sort through and clean up the old house but our new place is coming along nicely. It is nice to have a home, instead of having to set it up to meet state licensing requirements. It is also nice that we have the extra space of the office available to us if we need it.

The move was the traumatic event that I am still facing everyday, I will be happy when we turn the keys over to the owners (oh and we were able to find new renters for the house we are leaving, so that was good!)

The job is going well (I think) we still don't have a clear idea of all of the things we are responsible for but I think that will come with time, I am sure after I go through training I will learn more also. I am not excited that I will have to be away from the kids for 3 days, it is about an hour away and about 8 hours long which means 10 hours a day for me. It makes me very thankful that I don't have to be away from them for that long everyday for work like many parents have to.

We are looking for a dryer, so laundry is piling up, I may have to break down and get some quarters and use the laundry facilities.

We had a great Christmas!

Matthew LOVED opening presents this year and made sure he was a part of opening everyone's presents. His favorite presents were: his wood block train, dump truck, leap pad.

Emma Lee had no interest in opening the presents but liked the toys after Matthew opened them for her. Her favorite toys: A singing cow stuffed animal, and her ball popping toys.