I am fading

My energy is slowly depleting tonight, thus I am not going to make a new post here, because I just finished a new one over here. Enjoy!

In short

Two Friday's ago our neighbors house started burning down at 10:30 at night. Our house is about 18 feet away. We had to evacuate (and I mean grab the baby, and shoes, and get out) our house, stand in the snow for awhile while dark smoke billowed upward, mingling with the white flakes, and eventually leave to a friends house where we could sleep safely for the night. Well, sleep.... actually not so much. Between a wired toddler and extreme worries about the state in which we would find our house the next day, very little sleep was actually had. My most favorite moment of the night: Corrina finally fell asleep, so Dave and I were lying dead still (2:15 am). I began to think about the state in which we left the house (mid Carcassone game with a new Dave's-birthday-gift expansion pack we were playing for the first time, trying to get Corrina back to sleep after a waking.. nightmare maybe... we were sitting at the table, drinking tea.... oh Sh*t (pardon my french, but feel the stress!) we left candles burning on our table!!!!) and to make a long story short (ha, not really) dave went back to our house. Thankfully he found it standing with no fire damage. The police and fire people were still working on securing our neighbors house, putting up boards, cleaning up, etc.... The police office allowed dave to go back into our house to 'close' things up for the night.
Some funny details of the story: a week or so earlier I had called the health department because of all the garbage (large and small) spilling out in every direction from our neighbors house. Apparently upon inspection the house was condemned. When I first got outside in response to our neighbors yelling "fire" I found one hysterical (intoxicated?!) person and one very calm person who proceeded to announce to me: "Oh well, the house was going to be condemned on monday anyway..." In my very unknowledgeable opinion, I think they burned the house down to get the insurance money to rebuild! And rebuild they are!
Another funny detail: after about 5 minutes of standing on the street, going over in our head which area of our house may catch fire, Dave decided to go back in to get the computer! A fire person found him and kicked him out, with computer in hand! Dave tried to lock the door, and they wouldn't let him... they made dave give them the keys and locked up for us!
The majority of the fire was coming out of the top story of the house, out the back windows.
The side of the house bears dark burn marks from the flames. They all go in one direction: away from our house! They reach up to the roof, and at least 6 feet across the back of the house. Had the wind been blowing the other direction, toward our house, well, we try not to focus on attention on that. Praise God we are safe, and by all accounts our neighbors are physically safe as well. Priase God that our house is fine! We are glad to not be making a house insurance claim at the same time we are making car insurance claims! That would just be ridiculous, maybe. Although, i would take that over civil war, so, if we put things into proper perspective, really this was nothing!
I did mean to share this little story in short... really...

This weekend Corrina and I got to accompany dave and his youth group (along with two other church youth groups) to a really neat bible camp for a tri-youth retreat! It was great fun. I loved connecting a bit more with our youth, and meeting tons of other young people as well! Corrina got so much attention and exercise, and I got to relax and not cook!
Now we are home, back in the swing of things, and I have my last exam for the semester tomorrow night. I hope that things get 'boring' again... I could use some normal!

Apparently my new favorite thing to do is forget to blog.  Now that I am (almost) done school for the semester I can 'remember' again!
We are alive and kicking these days. I have lists made, games planned, friends written in on the calendar! I am so into this change of season. Spring brings such fresh feelings inside my heart and mind! And I can see the freshness appearing all around me too. For instance, the grass in our new front yard is starting to surface from the crystal snow that has forced it into hibernation for so long. Many wonderful treats (beer cans, fruit snack packages, full bags of previous owners garbage) are starting to appear in the back yard too. It's almost like finding a beautiful secret garden underneath all the snow. Almost! We have been waiting a month and a half to find out what exactly will be in our backyard. So far garbage is out winning grass by a long shot, but there's still lots of melting to be completed; I'm just trying to stay optimistic with my gardening gloves close by instead of my garbage gloves. Either way, when we are done with our yard it will be grassy, flowery, and playable, with room for the car too! I bought seeds for a salad garden yesterday, as well as different varieties of flowers. I have climbing vines, cutting flowers, and even a raspberry plant! How are other people's springs shaping up?Easter came and went. It's so far back I can't really remember the events, but here are some pictures of Corrina going on her 8 egg easter hunt. I think that she only found like 6 that day, and saved the rest for surprise discoveries later that week:This is Corrina and her little friend K hanging out together at church on Easter. These two gals are just 2.5 weeks apart. Play ground time together is pretty funny. First they avoid one another, than they fight it out, leading to great intimacy which allows them to actually play together. Good times!

Oh, and these little babies I am so proud of! I LOVE french braid pigtails, and was so pleased when she sat long enough for me to get them in there!
That is it for now. Nothing new to report, nothing else to say that I can think of.
Enjoy the springing spring, where ever you are in the world!

Corrina had her face painted for the first time last weekend at the children's museum. I was at home writing a paper, but when she came through the door she made sure i knew that she was a kitty, by pointing at her nose and saying "MEEEEOOOWWW"
Corrina and I painted easter eggs today, and made a happy easter banner out of them. I painted a few more than she did, but for a busy toddler she did very well at concentrating on the task! Corrina just dove right into this basket of laundry! I went to get the camera, of course by which time she had climbed out, but she was a great sport and 'modeled' her cute antics for me, over and over again! I just love my sweetie!

Here is a nice little movie of Corrina pointing out her eggs. Just remember folks, ya gotta be careful with that easter lingo!


Here is a nice little chat with Corrina. it is so neat that she can "talk" with us now! Love it!

Way back when

Let's go back to valentine's day (has it really been that long.. wow... let's just say Big, Long, Important-for-the-rest-of-my-future-as-a-social-worker(hopefully) Papers!)
Thanks for the stickers in the mail claire! Corrina put them all over her, and papers, and teddies... it was very fun!

And of course how can you have valentines day without sugar free whole wheat hearty pancakes! To make hearts, or any shapes for that matter, you dribble batter off a teaspoon into the skillet in the shape you want your cake to be, then fill it in carefully with batter! In other words, make an outline.. that's it!My mom came to visit and I didn't take enough photos with my camera because I was using hers to take them all. Ops. But this one is really nice.. Can it be, am I actualy shorter than my very short mother (yes, I measure in at a whooping 5'2")???? The funny thing was that my mom didn't know she was short. We had a whole conversation about how she thought she was average.. Hate to break it to ya mom, but, well, we're short!

So, does anyone remember when I eagerly sewed this for Corrina???? She was, just under one, and it was HUGE on her.. ha ha ha, i tried. Well, I am so excited that it finally fits! Maybe I will try the sewing things again this summer!Corrina had her "First Hair Cut"... but it was really only a bang cut, so i'm not sure if that counts... But we did put the hair in an envelope!



She looks much better now that she isn't pushing little wispy bangs out of her eyes all day long!

We are still loving our house, and finally have only about 5 more essential boxes to unpack.. there are loads in the basement that we will pick away at, but that will take years! Our next biggest task is to continue to make our house energy smart, and winter proof.. just haven't made it to that darn hardware store yet this week! We were in a minor car accident.. rearended... but that has taken up most of our time. Our car is written off, we are just awaiting our settlement, and praying that it will be something decent. We will negotiate for more if its not suitable, but we just want the process to work out well. Both dave and I have funny backs (corrina was there too and it hardly phased her!) which are taking time to heal, not to mention the numerous chiro appointments (no worries mark, corrina is seeing the chiro too!). But, we love our Chiro Doc so it's nice to see her, and I always feel much better aftewards. Actualy, sitting here at the computer desk is just killing my back, so I am going to sign off now!

First Hair do's!

Corrina let us put elastics in her hair, so here we have FIRST PIG TAILS, and FIRST PONY TAIL! I am so excited because it is so darn cute!



I made a little video of one area of our house....

I have been trying to get a good video of Corrina chatting, but I she stops babbling when the camera comes out.. oh well!
And a kitchen picture for you to view...The second one is really badly lit, but you get the idea! I still need cupboard handles, but those are coming soon! I love having a place ontop of the cabinets to store fun things.. like the fondue pot and apple pot! Corrina sometimes plays at her kitchen while I am making things.. mostly she sits at the mini-island cart and eats! ha ha!

This is the 'other' side of the kitchen, not nicely unpacked yet. We are going to build a shelving unit around the desk and up the wall, and paint everything the same as the cabinets. that will take some time though! For now, this will do!

I did something so idiotic the other night... Corrina wanted to help sweep, so I thought I would give her something to sweep up. I dumped a handful of rice on the floor, which she happily played with for a bit, but before I knew it she grabbed the rice container and dumped the rest on the floor! After she flicked it all over the house with her hands and feet, kicking and giggling, we grabbed her tea set and played with it, scooping it into cups and pots! Actually, in the end it made for a rather fun activity!

Dave was home with COrrina, playing the night away. She got into a few things.. I'll let you see for yourself.
I'd like to know what she is thinking from time to time!
This is Corrina playing in her corner of the unpainted living room! This is a rather badly lit picture, but you get the idea!

Well, that is all for now. Hope you enjoyed!

Here

I am indeed writing this post from my new house! This is exciting, yet also very odd for me. I feel like I am going through house-culture shock. Chris and Mary just left this morning and I miss them already. It was so great to have them here both to help and visit with! They worked so very hard to help us get things in order and do some tough jobs. Thanks for your hard work guys! Now it is just quiet, and there are sooooo many boxes to unpack, yet I don't want to even start because i just feel lonely.
Despite all that, I am going to work on the kitchen some more. It is set up, but the majority of the floor space has been given to boxes full of tools and random things that keep coming through the door. I am doing away with them this afternoon, and then, if I have time, I will work on our bedroom.
Corrina is enjoying her new space and has been napping and sleeping just fine at night. She likes to go up the stairs and play in all the different rooms. She has sort of found her toys but is more interested in visiting the cats in the basement and chasing them around boxes and getting stuck in precarious places! All in all she is adjusting just fine!
I am not used to having my own washer/dryer and I keep forgetting to take the laundry out... as well I am convinced that I am going to have to start washing dishes again.. its just a feeling of habit; when I formulate my afternoon lists I always start with dishes, and I am still doing it.. only now it is load the washer.. much quicker!
Dave has hardly had a moment to sit and enjoy his new house because he has been busy coming and going between home and work. When he is home there are little projects to be done and not really time to play or sit or unpack. I plan on suggesting that we just stay IN tonight and enjoy some time together (in otherwords... you play with Corrina while I try to get some things put away!)
I have the camera sitting right in front of me... with pictures, but I can't find the transfer cord. So, I give you my girl scout promise that I will post some as soon as I find that very important cord.

Painted... er... painting

Happy Second Birthday dear sweet, crazy, assertive, adorable, smiley, joyful Corrina! We love you!





Wow, I hate painting prep! Dave and I had a full day to spend time painting, but we hardly got any paint to board at all.. one coat on the cabinets.. that was it! Luckily a friend babysat (thanks bre) so we were able to get back to the house and do the second coat, plus a little of the walls.

Look how different the place looks, ya know, besides the lack of cabinet doors and the blue tape!


The color we choose in the end is called Cup of Cocoa, but Behr paint, and the cabinets are Swiss Coffee...both very kitcheney names! So far it seems that the color will work well with this odd tile!
This is all we have done so far, with so much more to go. I don't think we will get anything more than the kitchen done before we move in, but at least that will be out of the way!
I'm off to get some school stuff out of the way so I can party with a two year old! Yippy!

New House overload

We move so very soon, which tickles me pink, and orange, and green too! I truly am excited now that we have passed the "make a million phone calls a day" stage, and the "you want how much money by when?" phase. Everything is in order, except the colors that our new house will be.
I am lost in a mad world of inspiration! We went to a Color your World store today and found some colors we like for the kitchen, but then I came home and saw another color I liked. What is a girl to do! I find it hard to pull it all together, and very hard to find the links for the colors I wish I could show you.

I also spotted Dave looking at this website, which then got my mind going even more... How would these look in the hallway, or the bedroom, or the kitchen?
Or maybe this one... I think this one is truly my favorite.

I am trying to decide what I want my house to feel like. I have loved having a green living room, because it feels fresh all year long, coordinates with spring, fall, and especially Christmas without really feeling specific to any season. But then something comes over me and I start thinking I want an uber neutral house... but then I think I might regret not having green... oh dear me.
I want our house to feel warm, and cozy, to feel homey and trendy, and unique and beautiful. Maybe I am asking too much of a paint color, what do you think?

S' about time

that we show off a few photos of our new house! It is a 3 bedroom, about 100 years old but completely redone, in a good location! It hardly needs any work at all, which we like because we don't have the time right now! The back yard is a good sized, plus the basement is clean, dry and drywalled, so we will do what we can with it!

Front, with little fenced area. The front window is the living room of course. The kitchen is an extension, the full width of the house on the back!

Back... sides are fenced, but we will need to add the back fence. The window and door go into the large kitchen!

Kitchen... the neat part is that this is only one side of the kitchen because it is eat in... however, there is also a dinning area, so I am going to make a great computer/home organization/mudroom area on the other side. We are going to paint out the cabinets and go for a bright, modern country style kitchen. We bought our appliances and the place will look homey once we are all moved in! I love the two windows, and the double sink.. not that we will need it since we bought a dishwasher (whoo hoo... i can't imagine how many hours that will add onto my day.. not to mention my afternoon dishwashing session is history!)

Living room and entry way, a view from standing in the dinning area. The space is a lot bigger than this photo shows it to be!

And this picture is a view of the dinning space, taken from the living room. You can see through to the kitchen and the back door of the house as well! The stairs to the basement are to the far left, behind the wall, good layout!
And this last photo is Corrina at her second implant activation, a few weeks ago. We were on the news (did you see us?), and Corrina did great. She was a little scared by the new ear becuse the first side has such refined hearing now that what she was getting in the second ear didn't sound like what she was used to. It looks like she is sleeping, but she is just going into a little shell, with her eyes closed, and rocking. She was the one who was actualy doing all the rocking, propelling me back and forth for about 45 mins. We coaxed her out of her shell with fun toys once we thought she could handle it. She did fine, and within 2 days had adjusted to having two ears. She is coming along great, localizing sound (that is, turning to us when we call her name, instead of scanning the room to find the source of sound) and she is able to hear sounds at a farther distance!

Corrina loves this elephant towel and spends a lot of afterbath time running around being an elephant (which she also has an action and sound for!)

Choral Chaos!

It's time once again for our annual Toy Show! I count about 60! How many can you name?

First 'winter' post

Guess what I'm not doing right now (besides that fact that I just realized i need to take cookies out of the oven this second.. .why am I still typing and not taking things out.. brb) I'M NOT STUDYING! I am done school school school... just finished today today today! I feel good. I feel good to have worked hard and accomplished great grades, I feel good to have applied myself and truly learned very important skills and techniques. I just need practice now... anyone want to volunteer themselves and their problems to my listening ear for an hour?
Here is Corrina, making some toast!


I couldn't believe the state of our house this past week, with very busy Church activities, studying and bad colds we really let things get messy! But, with a small amount of time the house is back in place, the tree is glowing and the candles on my pretend mantle are flickering brightly. My oven is fulfilling it's destiny to be hot, my flour, sugar, and butter are being scorched until lightly browned, and my camera is loading photos beside me, all in an effort to bring you this wintry post!

We thought Corrina might be interested in helping with tree set up.. she had her times I guess, but mostly just wanted to play with her toys, without a tree obstructing them (sorry that I take such idiotic videos and talk the whole time.. note that Corrina is copying dave very specifically, can you see it?):


This second video is ridiculous and has some Corrina bum in it, but you can hear her making a few sounds! Don't feel bad if you laugh at how dumb this video is:


My pseudo-mantle is warming our living room and waiting for presents! I just added the buttons a few days ago, because what is any decoration without buttons!


We love our tree. We decided that when we went on holidays we would pick up ornaments to remind us of the place we have been. Here is Arizona


And Here is Newfoundland (colorful row houses.. they're famous for them.. we bought three ornaments so we could hang them in a row!)


Here is the whole deal:


I love the colors of Christmas time, or the colors I choose to love and decorate with at Christmas time: red and white. What better way to enjoy them than in my tummy. For a few years I have made this recipe, but found this recipe on another blog I read (thanks K)! It was the oatmeal that attracted me to it, and lack of nuts, so I changed recipes (if you know me, you know that I am not one for tradition and I seek change in life like a Santa seeks milk and cookies... no wait.. not just once a year.. that's a bad metaphor), uhm, like toddlers seek chocking hazards.. all the time! Don't those colors make you happy?

We also made some 'window pane' sugar cookies a week ago. Yummy and pretty!


In other words, Gilmore Girls seven is on it's way home from the store with Dave... I can't wait! What a perfect way to celebrate being all done classes for a few weeks!