Halloween 2013

Finding out we were moving in the fall, my mind went directly to Halloween.  Because of Tim's job I always just err on the side of caution and assume he won't be there most holidays and special events.  This is our first year for trick or treating with the girls since in the past we have always been at a church event on Halloween.  I have been looking forward to it for a long time.  My Dad and Debbie live almost 60 miles away and I was not going to expect them to rush down after work to come with us.  Plus, Debbie did a cute little party for little kids which included young families she and my Dad work with as well as our girls and their cousins Xander and Cannon and they were able to see the girls in their costumes that day.  My aunt lives here but would be out of town, but my cousin Sara happily accepted the invitation to trick or treat and I was excited to do it in their neighborhood.  As it turned out, Tim's co-worker doesn't have kids and switched shifts so Tim could be off at 5 and come with us!  We took the girls for "kids eat free" at Baja Fresh (our FAVORITE) and then on to meet up with Sara.  My girls love Sara and she is so good with them and lots of fun to be around! They only lasted about 40 minutes but it was perfect.  It was cold but dry and there were leaves all over the ground.  My picture perfect fall night.  The people answering the door were so sweet (it's one of the neighborhoods with families whose kids are mostly grown so almost every house had their lights on).  Charlotte is still not walking but was able to hold one hand with her bucket in the other and walk up to nearly every door!  She left her wig on (which shocked me) but I was glad because she looked so cute and that thing took me hours to make.  All in all, it was a great first holiday in our new city and a great memory.

Practicing trick or treating

Fueling up!

My Dad and Debbie at their Halloween party for kids

I also carved pumpkins with Gracie...though she wanted nothing to do with the cleaning out part! She liked the end result

Beautiful Day

It was seventy degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Tim was off so we headed back to the zoo with a picnic lunch. We saw a whole section we missed last week...we sat on a blanket on the grass enjoying the sun, some sandwiches, and the laughter and conversations of strangers around us. It was a beautiful day. 

Oregon Zoo

On one of Tim's days off we took the girls to the zoo.  It has been beautiful in the 65-75 degree range with blue skies for two weeks now.  We have been to the pumpkin patch three times now, and we have spent pretty much every afternoon outside at the park across the street.  We got to the zoo in the morning, and had it been any other day of the week but Friday I am sure it wouldn't have been as crowded (Friday+morning= field trips).  Nonetheless it was still not too crowded to get an up-front-and-personal look at everything.  There is quite a bit of construction and some areas are closed but I was still impressed.  My favorite was we happened to be there when they fed the penguins so we saw them under water diving and swimming and it was great.  

You can imagine the excitement to our little Rapunzel lover when she saw "Pascal"!

Right after this he took that pink sheet and put it over his head...goodbye Mr. Monkey!

Still getting settled..:

I will post more about what we have been doing soon I hope...our internet went down last Thursday and because the homes in this neighborhood are pre-wired and the HOA handles internet this has been a pain. After hours of troubleshooting on the phone with no luck they will most likely have to send someone out. Boo.  It wouldn't be so bad except we have Netflix as our TV and we watch shows online so evenings for me have been boring. Also, our oven isn't working so we are still getting that handled. We did get approved for health insurance (yay!) and are just waiting in the cards...Charlotte is behind for her 15 month appt but that's no biggie...and we still are waiting on the paperwork to be done to register my car and we still need to do Tim's. All this is part of the moving process...I understand. I'm still trying to get everything put away in the most organized way and I have already moved furniture around to make it more functional. The only part of the house I actually miss from our old house it the girls' playroom. It was set up so nicely and was the prettiest color green. I am still getting used to all the white walls and their playroom will just never be what it was and that's okay. 

I am glad I was crazy and started Halloween costumes in August because here we are just over a week til Halloween and I just finished them yesterday. 

That's it for now. I am posting this from my phone and because of the lack of internet at home right now I have already received a warning on my data usage for the month. Boo. 

It happened.  The girls were playing happily and I decided to go through my pictures on my phone...because it was so full I couldn't take any more...and it hit me.  The last couple months in visuals.  Friends. Family.  All the emotions which have been easily masked by my tasks came like a freight train.  I had it all figured out when I came here.  I would join MOPS.  Gracie would start gymnastics and make friends at church.  I would meet moms at the park.  That's all good and well until it actually happens.  Here I am in the midst of the waiting.  Going to the park and slowly starting to talk to people.  There's one mom.  Her name is Alicia and we have talked a few times and she's really nice.  I know things won't be how they used to be with Linds and Reese and all our fun we had together.  Tomorrow I start MOPS.  I know the women won't necessarily be the "Michelles, Beccas, Melisas, Amandas, and Sarahs" that I am used to but they will be new and different...and nice.  It will be fine.  But in the meantime as I sit here in front of my fake fire with the girls in bed I am grateful for all the memories I am able to have in my little electronic device to look back at whenever I want...and I can look to the future- making memories in this house, and looking forward to the life we will create in this breathtakingly beautiful area we get to now call home.

The Ups and the Downs

Today was one of those days...one of those "Alexander and the No Good, Terrible, Very Bad Day" days.  Since we have been here things have been pretty great.  The girls have been a bit challenging but nothing too bad considering the huge life change we just made.  Coming here we knew we would need to find health insurance for a few months until it kicked in at Tim's work.  We also knew we would establish residency like register cars, get licenses etc.  We enrolled Gracie in gymnastics.  I got my library card and we have been a couple times and even attended story time.  It seems like everywhere we go there's a card of some kind.  Fred Meyer...want a club card? Sure!  Human Bean Coffee, Dutch Bros Coffee, Peets Coffee, Human Bean Coffee (can you tell we like coffee?!) all want to know if we want punch cards...yes please!  Big Town Hero (GREAT sandwiches)...want a punch card?  Anyway...we have been getting settled.  But this black cloud of DMV junk and health insurance has been killing me.  Just to elaborate...I applied for health insurance WEEKS ago.  We received a letter needing info to prove residency.  I send them what I had.  A week ago.  So today I call to check the status.  She tells me they need more residency proof.  Oooooookay.  Well registering my car is still in the works (my other headache), I haven't been here a full month to have a utility bill...ugh.  But a lovely lady at Golden 1 put a rush on some new checks for me which should be here in a few days and solve that problem...now in the meantime I need to bubble wrap my children and pray against sickness or ear infections because currently we are completely un-insured. Boo

I thought the car registration process could happen with one visit to the Oregon DMV.  Boy was I wrong.  Over a week ago I started that process with high hopes of having it finished because today marks the first day my car is no longer registered as of today.  Anywhere.  After I spent awhile getting the car taken care of at the DEQ (Oregon's version of SMOG) I rushed to the post office to do 2 day mail to our financial institution so it could sign off and get it sent with my check and DEQ certificate back to Oregon DMV.  It was guaranteed in Ohio Thursday and the guy at the bank said it would go out the day after they receive it...so I thought it would be back to Oregon DMV by today.  I called and they say they haven't received it.  Tim calls the bank and they say they never received it.  CRAP.  I go searching the house, the car, purses, pockets, trash cans...for the receipt with the tracking number.  I didn't find it anywhere.  I start freaking out.  I can't get another DEQ certificate.  I will have to go back to the DMV and get more paperwork and start ALL OVER AGAIN.  How could I be so stupid and not keep the tracking info somewhere safe?  Or better yet, pay extra for signature confirmation?

I took a break to take a walk with the girls and get the mail.  It's a nice walk and when we get to the mailbox it starts to rain.  I quickly grab the mail and we head back.  I get back to the house and think "where are my keys?" I always put them in my jacket pocket and they are not there.  I check with the mail.  Nothing.  Are you serious??  So I strap both girls in the car in the garage and say I will be right back and I run to the mailbox because now I know I must have left them hanging in the lock.  One of the gardeners must have seen them because they were inside our mailbox with the door almost closed so no one would see them.  Thank you so much!!  With keys in hand I run back to my girls.

 With some advice from my mom I decide to head back to the little post office where I mailed the paperwork.  The man was oh. so. nice. and he looked in his computer, found info on my package, tracked it and printed me confirmation that it was, in fact, delivered to Ohio ON THURSDAY.  Of course at that point this afternoon it was after hours in Ohio so it means another (and hopefully positive) phone call to them in the morning.  The day was looking up!

I head to Fred Meyer (one of the ONLY stores that I know how to get to...and it happens to be a place you can get everything from groceries to potted plants, shoes, clothes, and home improvement junk) to get some groceries and pick up my free Redbox.  I get there with both kids and there's one double shopping cart left.  Let me tell you, the double cart is amazing.  Even though it is the suburban of shopping carts, on a trip to a huge store like Freddie's the double cart means no whining from my 3 year old that her legs are tired.  So I am heading to grab the one double left and the mom in front of me with her ONE kid grabs for it.  I am sure she is moving it out of the way to get the regular cart in front of it.  She can't possibly be taking the double cart for her one child.  So I say, "Are you going to use that?" She replies, "Yes, I was going to" as she is wiping it with her sani-wipe...what the?  I get a regular cart, tell Gracie she has to walk, and under my breath say..."you only have one kid" while I send her a look.  The shopping trip was actually successful and my day was looking better.  I got a wool duster on clearance for only six bucks, and it will be great on the vaulted ceilings and other hard-to-reach areas.  Plus, it entertained the girls as Gracie carried it while she walked shoving it in Charlotte's face,,,which thankfully made her laugh.  In fact I was having such a good time and it was getting too late to cook a whole dinner at home that I asked Gracie if she would like to get Big Town Hero (which is conveniently located just outside the doors of Freddie's) to which she squeals, and I smile, filled with the "my daughter thinks I am the best mom in the world because I buy her a sandwich" kind of happiness.

As we are eating our dinner I realize I forgot to pick up my reserved movie...so after we finish, the girls and I head back into Freddie's to find the Redbox.  Turns out it's inside the other entrance so we make our way through the store to the other side.  As we do so, Gracie trips on an imaginary something and falls face first, smacking her forehead on the tile floor.  This happened right in front of a check stand with someone working there and I was SURE she was going to ask if Gracie was okay or offer ice or something.  She never said a word.  I know she heard the commotion.  If you know Gracie you know that the whole store probably heard her scream.  I take my hurt, crying girl and head to get my movie.  Then I go back.  Because you know what? That was wrong.  Darn you Fred Meyer.  You pride yourself on customer service.  So I went back and made sure they knew how absolutely disappointed I was at that lady.  And then I left...to go home and put the girls to bed, watch a good movie, eat some Halloween candy, go to bed, and start fresh tomorrow.

Pumpkin Patch

One of the things I was looking forward to when I knew we were moving here was visiting a pumpkin patch.  They have really good ones where we lived (like Bishops and U-Pick) but even in October it could be pretty hot.  In fact one of my friends posted pictures from this weekend and she was able to wear a sundress! I knew we have the rain looming on the horizon at most times, but today was PERFECT.  Tim was off for the first time and my cousin Sara was able to come with us which made it even more fun!  We went to a place called Plumpers Pumpkin Farm which is family owned and had lots to do in addition to picking pumpkins.  We picked little ones for the girls but we plan to go to another pumpkin patch with some other close friends so we will save picking a big one for that trip!

Some of the pumpkins and the picnic area 

Look at that view!

Some of the farm animals

The crazy hay slide!  Gracie and I did this one and we crashed!

The tube slide...this one looks awesome, but is super slow...

Sara and Charlotte!

The owner took us on a hay ride up to the top of the property for the most gorgeous view on a fall day, and he told us the history of the farm!  It was an extra special treat.

Baby pumpkins for baby

Enjoying the hay ride

The view and that SKY!

Little barrel train

Sara's winner!