Baltimore, D.C, and Family Fun

The Lincoln Memorial. This was one of the highlights for me.
I was really dissapointed this was under construction. Still a neat thing to see.
At the end of the day after walking, and walking and more walking. They were HUGE troopers.
Jane was a happy girl and even took her afternoon nap right on schedule.
Justin and Juma trying to recover from the miles and miles we covered.
Us. How often do you have a picture just the two of you. Thanks for the idea Sarah :)
Abe Lincoln himself. Two shots basically the same, but it's good to have proof that I am part of the family once in a while.

The Washington Monument
The whole clan.
The White House, like you needed the label.

I think this was a treasury or something? Too long ago...
The first night we went down to the pier to see the boats and cool stuff like that. It was obviously chilly.
The sign where we had dinner. You had to laugh.


This is one of the best pictures of the whole trip.
Anna at the Pier

The kids sitting on a HUGE Anchor






Part of the campus at Johns Hopkins, it was beautiful.

These two hit it off quickly and had a great time. Too bad we don't live a little closer.

This was outside the farmers market we walked too. I loved the brightly painted row houses.
Justin and Sarah's apartment. It was really cool with a awesome sun room out the double doors.
the "nice" part of Baltimore, or not ;)

In April we had the chance to go spend the weekend with Rand's sister Sarah and her husband Justin and son Juma. We don't get to see them very often and hadn't seen them since we moved East. None of us had ever been to Baltimore and so it was a fun trip. Baltimore was very different than I imagined it. Some parts were really sad and broken down and other parts very charming and inviting. It was interesting how immediately the vibe there was much more relaxed than around here. Ethan and Juma are just 2 months a part and really got along great, especially for how little time they have spent together over the years. We love it when Ethan has the chance to spend time with another boy his age because somehow it seems it is always girls, girls, girls not just home but everywhere we go.

Friday or Saturday night we went down to Inner Harbor. They had an old Navy ship (I think) and a "pirate ship" that was fun to see. It was just nice to get out and see around the down town area a little bit. We also ate at a great little neighborhood pizza place. One of the favorite pizza's was a pear with gorgonzola and a balsamic reduction sauce on it. It was delicious. Sad that I can remember everything about the food but not the sites.... Saturday morning we went to a local farmers market which is always fun. There were many different kind of booths like home made soaps, honey, soups, fresh mushrooms, buffalo jerky ( a hit with the kids), flowers etc. I love me a good farmers market. The one here in Summit is on Sunday mornings so we always miss it because of church.

Then we walked down to see Johns Hopkins University campus where Sarah is currently working on her PhD. It was a beautiful campus and it makes me reminiscent for my days at University of Michigan. Later we went to the harbor and the pizza place. It's all coming back to me now.

Sunday Sarah and Justin were kind enough to take us to D.C. even though it seems with every visitor they get they have to do the tour. We Randall and I very quickly realized the D.C. is not for larger families with small children. As soon as we found parking Kate had to go to the bathroom etc, etc. By the time we found a public restroom and made a bottle for Jane and fed and changed her and met up with Sarah and Justin at the Natural history museum they kids were already hungry for lunch. Typical. So Rand and I were in the museum long enough to walk in and take a picture and walk out to find a nearby hot dog stand. It was really fun to see all the historical and and iconic things like the White House, The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial. It was pretty much a walk by quickly and say see, see, hurry see. But it was still totally worth while. The kids did amazing and walked forever without complaining. Needless to say we were all exhausted by the time we had to head home. On the way home I just happened to get a horrible migraine which never happens to me. I ended up throwing up in a big gulp cup for about the first 3 hours of the trip home. Needless to say other than the long and miserable trip home, we had a fabulous time with family, hurray!

Prima Ballerina

In April it was the end of Anna's first ballet and tap class. Something she has been wanting to do FOREVER! We went to watch her in "action" and it was so fun to see her in her element. Anna is very precise and perfect in each of her movements. She always has her toes pointed and arms gracefully extended. Even when she is dancing in the living room, which is often it is clear that she could be a natural for ballet. For her age she is incredibly graceful and just feels and moves naturally to the music. Even Randall blocked off a few hours from work to come see her last class.

One of Anna's best friends from her school class Molly was also in the class which made it fun for both of them. A perk for me was that Molly's Mom and I would sit during the hour long class and talk and now we have all become really good friends. Molly's Mom Laura, is now one of my closest friends here. Thank heavens for Ballet!

As one of the last units in school for Kindergarten each student in Anna's class was asked to do a "How To" presentation. Each child had to choose what they would teach, how they would do it, what supplies if any they would need etc. I thought this was so great. I suggested that Anna teach the kids the many ways to eat an Oreo :) but she being smarter than I, decided she would teach the kids how to tap. She made the plan, dressed in her ballet clothes that day and practiced her steps and we even came up with a little routine for her to do for her class. In her report card at the end of school year, her teacher included a special note about how well Anna had done at that and how much fun she had and that she was truly "in her element". I think Anna would be an excellent teacher. She loves to be in charge and make sure that everyone is doing the right thing at the right time. Now that Anna has done this dance class she wants to try gymnastics. I don't mind her trying that to see which she prefers, but I'm pretty sure she will want to go back to being our Prima Ballerina.

Jane Turns 1

If there has ever been a case of Mommy guilt, when it comes to Jane's first birthday there is a lot of just that, mega guilt. Her actual birthday was April 21st and we were down in Atlanta "buying" a house so needless to say the only thing that happened on her actual day was that she wore a cute little shirt that my Mom bought that said "I'm the Birthday girl!" We bought some cupcakes at the grocery store but when it came down to it, there really was nowhere for her to eat it and not make a huge mess since we were in a hotel and all. So... because of that I felt really bad and wanted to do a take II. About a week after we came home from Georgia and things settled down a bit, we again bought cup cakes and for a family home evening tried to have a little party. Sadly instead of great pictures and a great night the kids were all fighting over what color they got etc. Even as we were singing Happy Birthday the kids were fighting in the background and we would intermittently stop and yell "knock it off, it's your sister's Birthday!" Needless to say it was not a memorable day, at least not in the way I would have liked. In fact now two months later we never even bought her a gift to open. She opened some gifts from my parents in Atlanta since they were there with us, and the gifts from my in laws at her "second" party. I know everybody says she doesn't care, and she'll never know, but none the less I feel bad about it. I guess we'll have to do it up right when she turns 2!

Jane is now 14 months...and still a sweetheart, though admittedly she has just suddenly started showing she can have a real opinion about things. She now screams when she wants things her way. She is also trying to feed herself with a spoon like with yogurt and things. She does alright but if I thought she was a messy eater before, that was nothing to now. She still is not walking, and I'm ok with that for now. She is still calm and laid back. When we go to the park she is still mostly happy to just sit calmly in her stroller and watch the kids run and play. I know this is unusual and it won't be long before she will be having a fit and running around.

She hates to give kisses and will NOT give a kiss if you ask her. They are seldom and at complete random times on her own terms. Last night I was holding her and talking to Rand telling him I was sad about something and that exact moment I mentioned I was sad she whipped her binki out quick as a flash and reached up and give me a big, huge kiss on the mouth. I couldn't believe it. It made it feel so much better and I don't know if that was sheer coincidence or if she could feel I was sad, or understood somehow was I was saying. All I know is she is a sweetheart and we sure are glad she's a part of our family.

She is starting to say a few words and now says Dada, mama (on occasion, although she mostly calls me Fafa for whatever reason) says yum, wow, bye, hi and i think that's about it.

Guess What ?!

We found a house that we love, and not just the house, but the yard, the layout, everything was perfect, as if it was built with the knowledge that we had 1 boy and three girls. We entered negotiations and after some back and forth we decided we were ready to pull the trigger. THEN... we couldn't get in touch with our original lender so after some time we decided we would have to contact the lender our agent uses. After some time he came back to tell us that although we have the income, the credit score, and the down payment, due to a new law with freddie mac and fannie mae you have to have at least 12 months of rental history on your tax forms and we only have a 5 month rental history from our town home in Utah we are renting. So basically... NO DEAL. You can imagine our shock since we were preapproved for a loan (twice) before we even went to Georgia to make sure our ducks were all in a row and what price range we would be comfortable in.

The good news is we weren't devastated. In fact maybe it just isn't the right time for us. I guess we aren't meant to leave Jersey just yet. After talking, Randall and I decided that we are going to use our down payment to pay off our van (hurray!) and some other debt. We have decided that instead of this being the year of our dream home and settling in, it will be the year of getting out of debt. The thought of that actually brings us even more joy than buying our "dream" home would. We feel very peaceful about that decision. We all know the economy is in the toilet and we have heard the housing market hasn't hit the bottom yet, so maybe next year would be an even better time to buy.

The hard part of course is that we now know what Georgia has to offer. It is absolutely stunningly beautiful. It is the epitome of American suburbia. The homes and yards and businesses are all clean, well groomed, and beautiful. The weather while we were there was perfect and sunny. The kids did some swimming and loved it. The people there could not be any kinder. The home that we fell in love with was on almost an acre backing up to a ten acre woodland that would not be built on. Basically a peaceful paradise. With that in mind it is a bit hard to come back to our present situation, of sirens and parking meters, no garage tiny bathrooms and one dim light in the kitchen. I'm sure for a lot of people all over the world this would be their "dream" home. I'm just going channel my inner Pollyanna and play the glad game for a bit to get my head back into the New Jersey realm. As we drove the 14 hrs last night we made a lengthy list of things we get to do here this summer. Camping and kayaking, beach visits, NYC of course, and a plethora of other things. For now it's all good and maybe we will just try again next year.

Culture Shock

We have arrived safely in Georgia. It was another long day but thankfully the kids again were total champs. I have to admit that along the way the further south we came the fewer teeth, shirts and shoes we saw! At one stop we saw a lot of t-shirts that said things along the lines of "If you mess with me you mess with the whole trailer park". I wondered if we had made the right decision but Randall assured me we were still very much in the sticks and all would be well. When we finally reached South Carolina close to Georgia we stopped at a Chick fil A for lunch, and it actually had a play place. We haven't seen a play place since we moved to Jersey. Now I know normally they are a tad germ infested but you can imagine that after so many hours in the car we told the kids to get crazy. They played for a good while. As Randall and I sat and talked over lunch I was seriously feeling culture shock. People were kind and so polite that it was seriously weird. People kept commenting about how cute the kids were. People were wearing actual color in their clothing. Nobody was rude or yelling in the restaurant. Just last week when we were in D.C. some crazy man came into a restaurant yelling like a crazy. Randall was seriously scared something was going to happen. On the road today someone cut about 4 cars off and it was a very close call but nobody honked or used any finger signals. At home when we are at a stop Anna often yells "Mom, just honk!" We now see a lot of bigger cars and many SUV's something that is not common around our area. It is strange to see actual business that were built for the purpose of business and not an old home turned into a law firm, a dental office etc. In Jersey when I am looking for a place of business I am still surprised to find it is an old house just among everything else. There are a lot of restaurants(with drive thru's) and it just feels really different. I should say that I loved it immediately but honestly it just feels so completely...different! I know it sounds dramatic, but I feel like I'm experiencing culture shock.

We decided it would be fun to drive through a neighborhood or two of two of homes at the top of our favorites list. We were both blown away! I don't know if it's just that we are coming from something so completely different, but these neighborhoods are beautiful! We kept having to pinch ourselves that this is for real. I almost feel like a total jerk looking to buy something in such a nice place. In fact one of the homes that we have LOVED on line and loved the neighborhood looked like it may have a very small backyard. Like not really room for a garden and and any place to toss a football. We shall see what it's really like but we felt like how could we be so picky now, and yet I don't want to choose something that really won't workout in the end, just because it actually has closets, and a garage and more than one bathroom big enough that you can't sit on the potty, wash your feet in the shower and your hands in the sink. Don't get me wrong. Jersey has been really good for us and I am actually really sad to leave for several reasons but being here now is making me feel really excited.

After we checked itto our hotel the kids did a little swimming in the 89 degree weather. I will say that the water was freezing! It was breezy too but they were having a ball. I just put my feet in with Jane and Randall was a champ to get in with the kids. We are now waiting for my parents to arrive which should be any time now. The kids are a little wild now I'm sure making up for the fact they've been strapped in their seats for so long.

I want to post pics but I only have Rand's work computer so I can't until we get home. We are excited for tomorrow. Our agent said she has appointments set all day. We hope everything falls into place! Who's going to be first to come visit? It's not NYC but I'm sure we could at the very least find us some good BBQ.

Along Our Way

I thought it would be fun to write some things that happen along our way to look back on in years to come. Today was the first day on the way to Georgia. I had some anxiety about being in the car all day with the kids, but it could not have gone more smoothly. The kids were so great! We didn't even turn a movie on for the first 3 hrs. At first they were just happy to ride a long. Then we turned on a book on CD, which they love. We listened to a good portion of Ramona Age 8. It was so much fun. Even Randall and I enjoyed it. I thought the kids would like it and picked that book in particular because Ramona is the same age as Ethan and is starting a new school and in the 3rd grade just like Ethan will be. I had forgotten what fun books they are since I haven't read them since I was really young. After that they watched a movie and we stopped a few times for bathroom breaks and lunch, and the time was just sailing by. Jane had the hardest time but really doesn't do badly either. Poor little thing though, I knew she was cutting one molar and has been a champ but today I was feeling around in her mouth and realized she is cutting 2 molars with 2 more on the way. One of the molars that hasn't cut yet is so incredibly swollen it looks like a little marshmallow in her mouth. She easily could be screaming just because of her poor gums but just fusses some and wants me to get her out and hold her. I've done that sitting in the back strapped in, but it makes me really nervous... I can't imagine back in the day when kids didn't have car seats or even seat belts. Although I'm sure they weren't driving as fast as we do now. Not that it would matter I guess.

The ride was absolutely beautiful too. We drove for about 4 hrs through the Shenandoah Valley and it was amazing. It was incredibly green and lush and so many of the trees are in bloom with bright purple flowers. In Jersey it is just barely beginning to show any signs of spring with just the tiniest bit of buds and color, so the ride was beautiful. I also thought it would be mostly flat but was quite hilly. We even saw some "mountains", well at least what people in the East would call mountains :)

It was fun to call out and tell the kids that we just went from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, to Maryland, to West Virginia to Virginia. Of course only Ethan really gets what we are talking about and none of them really care, but for us it's fun to think about all the places we are getting to at least say we have been too.

We have stopped for the night in southern Virginia about 30 minutes out from North Carolina. Tomorrow we should only have 4 hrs or so until we reach our destination. It is feeling more real, and yet still surreal what we are about to do. I'm very excited to see what will soon be our home and I don't mean the actual house but our surrounding community and state. Although the house part is exciting too, just a tad more nerve wracking.

The kids are excited to stay in a hotel and have jumped on the beds a bit which normally I don't like, but truthfully after doing so well in the car I think it's ok to get a few wiggles out. They thought it was fun to flip through the channels and watch "real" TV since we just have netflix at home. Ethan and Anna are sharing a bed tonight and they were having a hard time settling in saying "Stop pulling on the covers... You have more than me!" I finally realized that I don't know that any of them have actually ever shared a bed before! A room yes, but not a bed. Gone are the days of 5 kids all sleeping together.

I'm hoping tomorrow goes as smoothly as it did today.

Mixed Emotions

Tomorrow we will be on our way to Georgia! My emotions are many as you can imagine, excitement tinged with a little worry and anxiety. I'm hoping that the 14 hrs in the car goes smoothly and all will be well. I'm praying we not only find a home in a great neighborhood but that the owner will be willing to let us close in at least 60 days. I have faith that things will work out for us.

Also this week our little Jane will turn 1. Can you believe it? I can't, and with that big event also comes mixed emotions. The time has passed quickly that's for sure. Jane is suddenly becoming a big girl waving and saying "hi" and is now even crawling all over the place. It's really fun to see her change and develop.

I'm also feeling sad and a little helpless as there is a man our our street and a member of our church, who is basically being kicked out of the room he has been renting in a home here. In fact for the past several months he has not even had heat in his little room. We have tried to do the little we can to help him. He keeps coming by today offering us things he has since he has no where to go and nowhere to put it. I feel so helpless and wish I knew what we could do. It makes me feel guilty and yet very grateful for the situation we are in. Here we are on our way to buy a new home, while this poor man by tomorrow is basically homeless. That is one thing I have learned while living here. So many people go without so much. We are so incredibly blessed. There are rich and poor all over the world but I have never seen such a stark contrast so vividly before. I watch mothers on our street with day old infants walking their children to school in a snow storm because they don't own a car. This man on our street just came and gave us a frozen turkey that someone gave him at Christmas time but he had no way to cook, and now has nowhere to keep it, and yet we who are blessed with so much now have his turkey sitting in our freezer!?! I told him that when we come back from out trip I will cook it and have him come to dinner. I'm grateful that the things we see and experience here give our children a chance to see the difference opportunity, education, and many other life experiences make. I hope it will make them a little kinder, a little more tolerant, and a much less judge mental of people and their circumstances. I know I could do better myself. At times I feel guilty for the comforts of life that we not only have right now, but will be blessed with in Georgia.

Like I said, mixed emotions...wish us luck!