Dizzy

At church we were talking about prayer. I was teaching the preschoolers that prayer doesn't have to be a certain way but it is most important that we talk to God openly. I told the children that some people kneel, some open their arms, some lay down and that you can even pray when you are jumping up and down. Noah raised his hand and said, "Mommy, God lives in our hearts, right?" I said, "Yes, Noah" and he said, "If we jump up and down then God will get really dizzy, right?"

House Update

It's been very hard to blog lately with the crazy life we are trying to lead!

2-3 days a week we stay in Oxford with a very dear friend so that I can go to evening meetings.
The rest of the days we stay in Birdsboro with my grandmother.

On any given day we generally drive from Birdsboro to Oxford and then to Downingtown for Noah to go to Kindergarten for 3 hours. During that time I drive to a wi-fi spot while Maeve naps in the car to do work on my computer. Afterward we either drive back to Oxford or back to Birdsboro! Maeve is generally in the car for 5-6 hours a day.

We are generally eating almost all fast food unless my grandmother cooks for us which she does while we are there. It's been nothing short of exhausting!

However, the kids are finally adjusting and not as wild as they were when this journey started. They have grown to call grandmas house home and only occasionally ask to go "home." We feel very blessed to have some great friends and family helping us with many things right now.

The new house is under way. It is 3 minutes from Noah's school so I can check on it every day. They have dug out the foundation, poured the footers, put stone on the basement floor, poured the garage and put stone on the driveway. There are 3 houses being built at the same time with ours scheduled to be done first. The promised date was December 15th. The weather has been good enough to work in and so we are hoping for a little bit of an early delivery which they said is very possible. We are also looking forward to the 3.6-4.0 interest rates right now! We're hoping they'll hold out a few more months which seems to be a reality.



I'm also very happy that we decided to put Noah in the Downingtown district. He and I are already making friends and we have our first playdate next week with a mom who lives in another part of our community. The time up there is allowing me to figure out the roads and the stores, etc. His classroom is amazing... there are 16 kids with 1 teacher, 2 aides and a student teacher! The school has a laptop for every child to use and so he practices his own login and password. Each room has a smart board (a computer that is interactive and looks like a dry erase board). They have online homework (which we haven't had to do yet) that will chart each child's learning style and capabilities so that the teacher can assess them from their homework easily and provide learning opportunities geared toward each child. They have monthly family nights at the school with movies or bingo or bowling nights out, etc. that we are really looking forward to. So, all in all, it feels good to be really excited about his school considering that was a major factor for our move.

If anything, I miss my friends (new and old) because there simply isn't any time right now for anything. And more than anything, I miss Paul! We see each other for about an hour a night and that is consumed with laundry and bills, as well as organizing our calendar. But we know this is temporary and we can't wait for our new home!!!!

Lewes Day Trip

Our good friends Doug and Lisa were on the east coast for a few weeks surrounding Labor Day so we took a day trip to see them and relax at the beach. We had yet to meet baby Zane and were excited to see Adin again (of course Doug and Lisa too!) We had a great day in the sun, wonderful food, and the kids played and enjoyed each other's company! I thought Adin was the best baby ever but I think Zane might have him beat!!!

Bunny Slippers

Boscov's had these cute slippers on sale for $1.99.  I couldn't say no!

And then I got pummeled by cuteness.

Atlantic City 2011

Our beach vacation this year was at Atlantic City, Nj.  EVERYONE asked me why we went to AC.  We entered a 2 year trial to a Wyndham resort club membership last year and AC was the closest resort we could travel to.  We are using the trial for a trip to disney next March but we had a few extra points to do some smaller trips, so that is why we chose Atlantic City.  The resort was very nice.  A 1 bedroom with a kitchen, dining room, sleeper living room and deck.  The master bedroom had a huge soaker jet tub and sink, so it was 1.5 baths total.  We were 1 block from the beach and the service was amazing.  When we arrived, the valet took our car and a nice man took our luggage right upstairs.  The kids were greeted with popcorn and lemonade in the lobby!

Of course it was slated to rain all week so we were a little bummed out.  On Monday morning we realized we didn't bring a stroller and so we drove around looking for a place to grab a stroller.  It was still raining so we used our Groupon for the Atlantic City Aquarium (which I don't really recommend!).  The kids enjoyed all of the things to touch but it was small, crowded, and dingy overall.  

We headed down to the beach when it cleared up that night and just walked in the sand.

I tried to get them to pose in front of the pier....

We got in one ride before it started to rain again.

In our welcome kit from the resort we got breathe right strips!  Noah insisted that he snores so he HAD to wear them!!!

Modeling the sun glasses...

We finally got to take the kids to the Rainforest Cafe which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.  They LOVED it! Animals moving in the walls and thunderstorms every hour!!!

The Atlantic City Boardwalk is NICE!!

The kids had a wonderful time on the beach.  They played and played in the sand and on the water.  They couldn't have had more fun!! Maeve was still a little too daring but she lived!

On Wednesday we were greeted by the Atlantic City Air Show.  All day long from 9-3 planes flew up and down the beach doing tricks.  It was absolutely amazing to see what they could do!!!

This is my favorite picture... it captures the essence of my sweet little girl:

Thursday it rained in the morning and so I went to the grocery store while Paul took the kids to the pool. In the afternoon it cleared up and we headed to an empty beach.  We had the best time building our sand village complete with a pond for our sea dragon Pixie!

We used a Groupon for a dolphin and whale watching boat on Saturday morning.  By that point the kids were exhausted but we did it anyway.  We saw lots of dolphins but no whales.

And while there were lulls in the dolphins the kids could play with live animals in a touch tank.  It was awesome!

It was really a wonderful week for us to relax together.  The best part for me was laughing in bed with everyone jumping and dancing.  With the house sold we were able to really get away and think of nothing but our family. What a wonderful week!!!