Monday, January 11, 2010

February 2009

The weekend of Valentine's Day, we got to have a ton of help from family and friends who came to help us paint and get settled in. (They must really love us!) They were a tremendous help and we could not have done it without them! Of course they had to have a little fun too and while Ben and I were at Home Depot they got a little creative with the painting they were doing.


Colette, Ben's sister, gave us this amazing swing for James which was such a life saver during all that we had to do. The kids were great at keeping him entertained and I didn't have to worry so much when he was safe in his swing! They couldn't clobber him too much that way!

Here's the family room with the walls all painted. They did an amazing job! Thank you Jake, Dad, and Jared! And Mom, Susie, and Jenny too! We couldn't have done it without you.
This is before we got the new floors put in . More on that later.





Sunday, January 10, 2010

January and February 2009

I know, I know.... this is a year too late you say. But you have to understand, we had a very crazy 2009. It actually started at the end of 2008 with the birth of our fifth child, James, in November and then a job offer for Ben in December. I am recapping our year more for my sake than anything else. I was feeling a little sad that I didn't do a lot of posting last year. So here it goes...a quick review of 2009. Here is January and February. The rest will come later.

February 2009

The Move

On February 12th after the stress of keeping our house spotless with five kids so we could hopefully sell it we packed up our unsold house and moved to Las Vegas. Shortly after we moved we did sell for a little more than our asking price. Although we lost a ton of money we were glad we were able to sell it.




January 2009

House-hunting in Vegas





In January 2009 Ben, Elora, James and I went on a house hunting trip to find a new home in Las Vegas where Ben was getting a promotion with State Farm. It was a little challenging putting two little ones in and out of the car as we looked at dozens of houses. They were both so good though and although it was a difficult and stressful time trying to find a home in four days, we actually had a great little bonding time with Elora. We had decided to bring her at the last minute so we didn't really have any toys for her. At night she played with Fruit cups and other little snacks Ben's Aunt Nancy gave her. She stacked them and sorted them and put them in grocery sacks. She was an angel all week. My wonderful sister Beth, another angel, watched the other 3 kids for us while we were gone!

We had to take a little time off house hunting to play at the park which was probably good for all of us!







Wednesday, January 6, 2010

James' Favorite Toys


James got this teddy bear from Santa. On Christmas he hardly noticed it but the day after when Elora tried to claim it for her own he decided he loves this bear and she is not aloud to touch it! He woke up from a late nap the other day in time for dinner and had to hold his bear while he ate! It really is a cuddly bear! And James is my my cuddly little bear cub!

This is a fun riding toy James bought with his Christmas money from Great Grandparents. We got it on clearance at an after Christmas sale. He loves it and the kids love to give him rides on it. He is holding another favorite toy-- a chair to the girls' doll house! I don't know why he is so attached to it but he plays with it all the time!