We're Moving!!

No, the blog isn't changing addresses, the family is!  But don't fret, we won't have to change the blog title, we happen to be moving to another tudor house. 

We are moving out of the city to the adjacent suburban town, where many of Tyler's friends already live.  The school system there is amazing, which was a huge factor in our decision to move.  We are also gaining some square footage, primarily in Emma's room.  Her new room is triple the size of her old room at least.  This may sound prepsterous until you recall that her current room might be better described as a glorified closet.  Her new room will accomodate her impending upgrade to a toddler bed, and eventually to a twin size as well.  We weren't sure that would be possible in her current room. 

The other room that is gaining a lot of space is the kitchen.  I am really excited about this.  There is a wall of pantry cupboards next to the refridgerator.  There are so many more cupboards and drawers throughout the whole kitchen, and counter space too.  The kitchen sink has two bowls, and a sprayer!  (We had a single bowl with no sprayer at our current house, and it drove me crazy.)  They put the sink and stove on 45 degree angles in the corners, which I think might be the best idea ever.  The stove is very interesting, it's a gas cooktop with an electric wall oven mounted underneath.  We will have to see how that works out. 

Last, but certianly not least, the new house has a finished attic.  This will be the kids' playroom.  Finally, a home for all of the shared toys!  There is also a full bath up there, so we envision this becoming a teen lounge some day in the future, which I'm sure will happen much sooner than we think. 

 

The big move is happening in late June.  Wish us luck!

Happy Holidays

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  It snowed all day around the Tudor House today.  Tyler is so excitied.  This is the first major snow of the season, and only the second snow so far.  It was really cold and blowing like crazy today so we didn't go out to play.  I'm sure it will happen sometime tomorrow, either during the morning at preschool or at home in the afternoon, or possibly both.  I updated the sidebar with a picture of the house decked out in its Christmas finest.

We are enjoying opening a new door on our advent calendar each morning.  This year we have a pop-up advent calendar from Eric Carle based on his "Dream Snow" book.  We also added the story to our collection, and have been enjoying reading that.  I had the pleasure of being Guest Reader at preschool last week and "Dream Snow" was the book that was chosen for the event.  It was a lot of fun reading to the class.

Last Friday we went to a reading of "The Polar Express" at the local Barnes and Noble.  After the story Santa Claus came in and the kids had the chance to sit on his lap and tell him what they would like for Christmas.  Tyler quite enjoyed this and was happy to wait his turn so that he could inform Santa that he would "like three (more) large dinosaurs and one smaller one." 

Emma wanted nothing to do with Santa.  She started screaming when he came down the escalator, and really lost it when he walked past on his way to the chair.  Tyler will have to pass along her wish list for her this year.  We were glad we figured this out when we did and not after waiting in a long line to see a mall Santa. 

Hopefully this weekend we will finish getting the indoor decorations up.  Our pre-lit tree doesn't seem to be so well lighted this year, so no ornaments on it yet.  I did finish knitting Emma's personalized stocking, so she will have a stocking with her name on it this year, just like the rest of the family.  I'll post pictures of the decorations as soon as they are ready.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas!

Daytona Beach

We've been at Daytona Beach since Monday afternoon. It was pouring rain when we got to the hotel. Tyler didn't care, he wanted to go out on the beach anyway. Steve obliged his request and they went out in swim trunks and t-shirts. Once they finished on the beach they hopped in the hotel's outdoor heated pool. Tyler complained that the water was too hot at first, but then he got used to it and had fun splashing around. Those swimming lessons sure are paying off!

Yesterday we went to the Turtle Sanctuary, caught up with my Grandma Bluett, and went on a boat ride. Here is Emma at the turtle sanctuary:

Seabreeze

During Steve's holiday we took the family back to where it all began... Seabreeze Amusement Park. What a fun day! Steve and I hadn't been back to the park since the summer that we worked there, which is how we met. A few things had changed... the Quantum Loop has been replaced (this was the roller coaster that got stuck and nearly ruined our first date), the Gyrosphere is gone, and the water park has added a spray park area and a wave pool. My mom and dad came along for the adventure. We all had a blast watching Tyler ride all of the kiddie rides.