Well, we are officially home-debters. So that's exciting. We signed our lives away in blood on Wednesday and we've been packing boxes and moving things around and trying to pretend to stay organized for the last 2 days. It hasn't helped that Rob has a cold that knocked him out for the better part of today, but it's okay, I didn't mind the excuse to go a little slower. Moving is, needless to say, a drag. But it's fun to have our own house and think things like, "We need to mow the lawn [with the lawnmower we're going to borrow from R & C]," and, "I'm going to cut down that tree [with the tools I'm going to borrow from R & C]," and other such things. The unorganized part is a neccessary evil and will be over soon enough.
That's about all we've thought about for the last little while. Because it's enough to think about. Rob's sister 2 hours north offered to watch our kids for us and so they've been up there since Tuesday and we'll get them back Saturday some time. She's a gem, offering that. She already has twin 3 1/2 year olds, so now she has triplets and Elijah. I'm glad I'm down here moving instead of doing what she's doing. She has the harder job. :)
Umm, that's all. Not very exciting, maybe, but exciting all at the same time. We still like the house. There's a little bit more work than we were thinking to be done on it. Well, a few more projects than we thought, not a lot of work, maybe. But we really like the house. We like that we can turn the heat on and the house is insulated enough to make it warm in a few minutes and not feel like 3 different climates from room to room. We like that we have shelves and space for just about everything that we've been cramming into our little apartment. We like that the kids' room looks HUGE without all the toys in it because they have a play room downstairs. And, of course, we really like our neighbors. :) Being so close to R & C is going to be fun and eventually we will not be borrowing half of their belongings all at the same time. They've fed us dinner 2 nights in a row. Isn't that nice? We like them a lot.
Okay, that's life here. Rob sounds like he's getting a lot better and over his cold, and moving doesn't feel so overwhelming today. It feels like a project that's doable and like it's something I WANT to do. :) Of course, wait till the kids get back and then, ... Oh well.
We love you all.
Tamra and Rob
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Family update (per dad's request)
Miciah's Pre-school: Arlitt
The more Rob and I learn about Miciah's pre-school (called the Arlitt Center) the more we like it. They attempt to teach the kids exactly how I think they should be taught. They play games and sing songs and let them use their imaginations. They let them paint (we have artwork covering our wall already) to figure out color concepts. They let them play simple dice games to learn math. They sing songs involving name cards of people in the room to teach them simple reading activities. The preschool (or rather people who teach at the preschool) actually has put out a whole series of books called things like 'More than Singing' and 'More than Magnets' and 'More than Letters' and things like that (you can find the books on Amazon, I just looked). It's a research center, too, and they're right now working with some federal grant thing to figure out better ways to teach and test younger children. I think it's all amazing. We chose the preschool because we liked how lax they are (they are out to let the kids have fun and learn through fun) and come to find later that they're super serious about what they do and they apparently are recognized as being really good at what they do. They were telling us about grants and things they have where they're 1 of 12 and 1 of 5 preschools in the nation to get the funding. Pretty cool stuff.
Miciah loves preschool, but she's really tired a lot of the time. She gets up earlier and goes to sleep a little earlier, but she can get pretty grouchy during the day after preschool. Makes me think we should have done afternoons with her cause then she could still sleep in. But, it's not bad to get up at 7:45, it's just a transition for her. We let her sleep in pretty late on Fridays and Saturdays and it seems to help come Monday. So we often spend a lot of our time at home watching movies and doing things less intensive. Her good friend Norene at preschool that I mentioned last time, is moving to New York. Miciah will be sad. But somehow I think she'll make another friend in about a day and a half. :)
Our House
We have told R & C about the house. They're excited. We went over there on Friday (we're usually over there at least once a week) and R said, "Did C tell you the good news? We're moving in 30 days!" We got a good laugh out of that one. But R did tell us that it was hunting season, so he'd rather not help us move if he can get away with it. :) It was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. R turned into this 5-year-old little boy pleading with his mom to let him do what he wants. :) We told him we have no intention of getting in the way of him hunting. We like the venison he brings home too much. He was much relieved. You could tell, he'd help if we asked, but we're not going to ask for that very reason. It's bow season right now and Thanksgiving week is the start of gun season. R will be gone every weekend from now until December. ... I met someone else today who was all dressed up to go hunting and was able to hold my own about hunting, which surprised me. Rob's going to go with R one of these years when we have $1000 to blow on hunting equipment that we'd have to buy. :) Maybe that'll be never. But I wouldn't mind not having to buy meat for a year.
Kay, that's life. The house still is not final, but they've brought up no problems to us. Just more paperwork. I feel like I'm selling my soul.
And I'm glad, Pop, that you mentioned that you owe me pictures. I was thinking last night about how you've never sent them off! And I really am anxious to see your handiwork. I send you ten or more pictures of a house I don't even live in yet and I can't even get a picture or two of a bookcase you've had completed for over a month. :) Not that I'm bitter.
Tamra and family
The more Rob and I learn about Miciah's pre-school (called the Arlitt Center) the more we like it. They attempt to teach the kids exactly how I think they should be taught. They play games and sing songs and let them use their imaginations. They let them paint (we have artwork covering our wall already) to figure out color concepts. They let them play simple dice games to learn math. They sing songs involving name cards of people in the room to teach them simple reading activities. The preschool (or rather people who teach at the preschool) actually has put out a whole series of books called things like 'More than Singing' and 'More than Magnets' and 'More than Letters' and things like that (you can find the books on Amazon, I just looked). It's a research center, too, and they're right now working with some federal grant thing to figure out better ways to teach and test younger children. I think it's all amazing. We chose the preschool because we liked how lax they are (they are out to let the kids have fun and learn through fun) and come to find later that they're super serious about what they do and they apparently are recognized as being really good at what they do. They were telling us about grants and things they have where they're 1 of 12 and 1 of 5 preschools in the nation to get the funding. Pretty cool stuff.
Miciah loves preschool, but she's really tired a lot of the time. She gets up earlier and goes to sleep a little earlier, but she can get pretty grouchy during the day after preschool. Makes me think we should have done afternoons with her cause then she could still sleep in. But, it's not bad to get up at 7:45, it's just a transition for her. We let her sleep in pretty late on Fridays and Saturdays and it seems to help come Monday. So we often spend a lot of our time at home watching movies and doing things less intensive. Her good friend Norene at preschool that I mentioned last time, is moving to New York. Miciah will be sad. But somehow I think she'll make another friend in about a day and a half. :)
Our House
We have told R & C about the house. They're excited. We went over there on Friday (we're usually over there at least once a week) and R said, "Did C tell you the good news? We're moving in 30 days!" We got a good laugh out of that one. But R did tell us that it was hunting season, so he'd rather not help us move if he can get away with it. :) It was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. R turned into this 5-year-old little boy pleading with his mom to let him do what he wants. :) We told him we have no intention of getting in the way of him hunting. We like the venison he brings home too much. He was much relieved. You could tell, he'd help if we asked, but we're not going to ask for that very reason. It's bow season right now and Thanksgiving week is the start of gun season. R will be gone every weekend from now until December. ... I met someone else today who was all dressed up to go hunting and was able to hold my own about hunting, which surprised me. Rob's going to go with R one of these years when we have $1000 to blow on hunting equipment that we'd have to buy. :) Maybe that'll be never. But I wouldn't mind not having to buy meat for a year.
Kay, that's life. The house still is not final, but they've brought up no problems to us. Just more paperwork. I feel like I'm selling my soul.
And I'm glad, Pop, that you mentioned that you owe me pictures. I was thinking last night about how you've never sent them off! And I really am anxious to see your handiwork. I send you ten or more pictures of a house I don't even live in yet and I can't even get a picture or two of a bookcase you've had completed for over a month. :) Not that I'm bitter.
Tamra and family
Thursday, October 6, 2005
Exciting news
Well, now's as good a time as any to announce some exciting changes coming our way. Rob and I are really excited about what this means for our family. And as Miciah nears 4 years old, and Elijah is 18 months, it's about time anyway. So we're going to be pretty busy in the near future, but it'll be GOOD busy, and that's okay with us.
We bought a house. (I wanted the previous paragraph to sound like we were going to have a baby. The two changes are pretty similar--baby and moving--but we're not having a baby any time soon. Just in case you were wondering.) Everything's signed and rolling and unless something unexpected comes up, we'll be moving into the house October 26th. Inspections are clear, so we're just waiting on financing to pull through, which it should just fine.
It's a cute little 2 bedroom house 2 doors down from R & C (who don't know yet). It's about the size of our apartment upstairs, but it has a nice useable yard and a basement. The basement isn't "fisnished", but it's wonderful and will suit our needs well (it's the best unfinished basement I've ever seen). One of my favorite features of the house is the old school retro kitchen and basement tile. Neither of which will be changed while we live in the house.
We have a ton of pictures of the house, most of which aren't very good pictures (I have no idea how to take pictures of a house), but I'll send a few your way. If you'd like more, you know, just let me know.
So now our secret is no longer a secret, at least to you guys. You can share this news with whomever you'd like, minus any Cincinnati people. Take care!
Tamra
We bought a house. (I wanted the previous paragraph to sound like we were going to have a baby. The two changes are pretty similar--baby and moving--but we're not having a baby any time soon. Just in case you were wondering.) Everything's signed and rolling and unless something unexpected comes up, we'll be moving into the house October 26th. Inspections are clear, so we're just waiting on financing to pull through, which it should just fine.
It's a cute little 2 bedroom house 2 doors down from R & C (who don't know yet). It's about the size of our apartment upstairs, but it has a nice useable yard and a basement. The basement isn't "fisnished", but it's wonderful and will suit our needs well (it's the best unfinished basement I've ever seen). One of my favorite features of the house is the old school retro kitchen and basement tile. Neither of which will be changed while we live in the house.
We have a ton of pictures of the house, most of which aren't very good pictures (I have no idea how to take pictures of a house), but I'll send a few your way. If you'd like more, you know, just let me know.
So now our secret is no longer a secret, at least to you guys. You can share this news with whomever you'd like, minus any Cincinnati people. Take care!
Tamra
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