Skip to my lou

Hailey loves to skip.  I love when she does because she hasn't quite perfected it yet so it's sort of a run/hop/jump motion.  When I asked Hannah if she had anything to say about Hailey's skipping she said "She looks cute when she skips.  I don't think she will ever stop."  When I asked Hailey if she had anything to say about her skipping she said "I yike to skip because I 'm a good skipper and I like to play with my daddy but he's too fast so I have to skip to catch him."

Mom's New Toy

I have been wanting a Keurig for a while now.

Not really sure why except for the obvious reason, to make warm drinks.  Coffee, tea, whatever.

I am not a black coffee drinker.  I have tried but I just can not do it.

Lucky for me there are tons of K-Cups out there that are flavored for people like me.

At the very least I can actually offer guests a cup of coffee now :-)

Oh My Pink!

Back to the Barbie house!  As always the girls were so excited to see each other.  They ran to each other and gave each other huge hugs (I love that!).

After we walked through the Dreamhouse Stacey treated the girls to a cupcake.  After the party we spent the evening at the Busta's just hanging out.  They made all sorts of wontons and some boneless chicken wings.  All of the food was delicious.  YUM!

 

For the First Time in Forever

It's time!  Brian was home today and worked hard!  Our garage has been cleared out enough for us to get our vehicles inside!  I can't wait to park in an attached garage.

I will miss the first smells of spring and summer while walking to the garage and I will miss the morning sounds of the birds chirping and neighbors leaving for work.  

I won't miss the cold winter days or the rain though.  Definitely won't miss the rain.

Kiley slept over tonight.  The girls were so excited!

Maddie's Birthday party is tomorrow so she can ride with us :-)

Troy dropped her off and ended up sticking around for a few hours.  We had dinner and then the guys went downstairs and the girls went upstairs.  For the first time in forever I was in our house, alone.  I had my own floor of the house.  All to myself.

Oh my gosh!  What should I do?! 

I brought the computer out, turned on the tv and sat on the couch to catch up on some blogging.

It was fabulous for the 15 minutes that it lasted.

Soon I had the little ladies looking for treats.  Once they saw how much fun I was having, they had to get in on the action.  Just a small reminder of how blessed I am right now to have kids that at the moment want to be near their mother.  Even their friends wanna hang out with me.  This won't last forever.  Soon I won't be cool enough and they will be doing whatever they can to avoid me.  So even though my left arm is going numb, I will embrace this moment.

Strike a pose

This post was going to be about the fact that Hannah was eating leftovers from Benihana for breakfast.  It was going to be about the fact that I could only imagine what any adult that got close to her would think when she approached them smelling like shrimp sauce at 7:30 am.

I took the picture with those things in mind but as I looked again at this picture I couldn't help but notice that Ms. Hailey thought that I was taking a picture of her and was posing for me.  What a cutie!

"I emailed Dale"

 "I emailed Dale"

Those words have been said by either Brian or myself almost everyday (sometimes a few times a day) for the past few months.  Dale is our builder and prefers to be contacted directly with questions/concerns/requests.  We weren't always so good about remembering to copy each other on our emails to him.  They were frequent enough that I was certainly ok with that.  I don't need anymore emails.

This was also our que to let each other know what we were thinking about an upgrade, possible change, item at the constructed house that needed attention, etc.

I was feeling a little sad once we moved in thinking that we would speak these words less and less.

Little did I know...

We definitely don't connect with Dale as much as we used to but there are still plenty of things left undone (driveway, patio, painting, etc) and as we are here longer we start to notice other things to bring up.  We've had to have the girls bathtub looked at for a smudge mark, the vanity in the downstairs bathroom replaced due to a crack in the corner and a few of the lights were finally installed.

Most recently we have been 'marking'.

Dale will be stopping over in the next few days to talk about some imperfections that we have noticed.  In the meantime we have some new decorations.  

Hey Girl!

Hailey discovered a new app tonight- I think she was enjoying herself....

Celebration continues

My family came over today to celebrate my Birthday.

It was the first time that a lot of them had been out to the new house.

It was nice to have everyone over but it was even better that we cooked and ate dinner with not a single person getting tripped over or stepped on!

The new house doesn't feel overwhelmingly big but you can sure appreciate the extra space in situations like this!  

One of the gifts I opened today was from Hannah.

She gave me a quarter to buy a back massage from her.

I already cashed it in and she actually did a good job!

My mom brought over a box full of stuff.  Report cards, notes, school projects, worksheets, awards, etc.  This will be fun to look through some night!

Heart officially melted

Hailey was in her room and started crying.  She was feeling sad about something and I can not remember what it was all about.  Hannah was in her room and came running in to check on her.

Hannah: "Come here buddy, let me rock you."

Hailey jumped right up.

Hannah stood there swaying back and forth while Hannah rubbed her back.

'New Amy'

Today is my birthday.

I woke up in a great mood.  How could there be a reason to feel anything but absolute joy today?!

I am alive and fortunate enough to be celebrating another birthday.

As soon as I grabbed my phone there was a constant stream of Facebook notifications.  Well wishes and Happy Birthday greetings from so many people.  

Hannah woke up extra early this morning to wish me a Happy Birthday and then asked if there was anything I needed.  When I responded with no she clarified that she really wanted to get me something.  "Do you need breakfast or something?"  How could I say no to that?!

Minutes later she returned with a strawberry pop tart and Diet Coke.

I got to work and moments later I was presented with a desk full of goodies from Loriann.

Flowers, muffins for the team, Diet Coke, Red Vines, Cadbury Mini-Eggs and Gavin DeGraw tickets!

Another reminder of how lucky I am to have such a great friend.  I definitely don't tell her enough how much she means to me (but I think she knows).  This past year has been tough at work and I can honestly say that I am not sure it would have been worth sticking it out if she wasn't there.  I usually really enjoy my job and I have really appreciated working for HealthEast, I love it there, but it's been hard.  She gets it, she gets me.

It's great to have someone to talk to who understands and can also speak my language (which many days feels like Chinese).

After work Brian and the girls showered me with gifts.  A gift card to DSW and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  We had a nice dinner at PF Changs and Kim even joined us!

During dinner Kim mentioned that she wanted to take the girls home.  They were all in for that idea so after dinner they stopped home for a change of clothes and waved goodbye as they drove away.

I love the relationships that my sisters and my girls have. They are all so lucky to have each other.

We had heard that the neighbors were getting together tonight and we planned to stop over after dinner.

Tonight the party was at John and Elizabeth's.  As soon as we walked in we saw a table set up with balloons.  The balloons read Mike, Amy, Jake and New Amy.  Each balloon came with a gift (favorite alcohol for the others and flowers for me) and a birthday crown.  Elyse had shared with the group that it was my birthday and turns out there were actually 4 other birthdays within a few week period in March.  I tell ya, these people sure know how to make you feel welcome!  We met three more households worth of people tonight who were just as nice and fun as the ones we have met so far.

The day ended with knowing that we were going to be able to sleep in a little tomorrow!  

Happy Birthday to me! (thanks Kim and Jennie!)

Nailed it!

Today is the first nice day we have had in months.  MONTHS.

The sun is shining and you can be outside without a coat on.  Too nice to be inside, that's for sure.

The girls were begging to stay outside as well so we decided to spend sometime tonight picking up nails from the driveway/yard.  We haven't been parking in the garage yet.  It is slowly getting organized but it's just not ready for dirty cars yet (remember that we have a mud driveway right now).

When we first started I assumed we would get a small handful picked up.  My main goal was to get them away from our truck tires.  The LAST thing we need around here is a flat tire due to our construction zone.

After only about 20 minutes we had to get a small bucket out to hold all of the nails that we found.  Feels comforting to know that we picked so many up.  I am sure there are still tons of them out there somewhere but at least we tried to get as many of them as we could.  That should at least help.

Homework

Hannah:  "Mom, remember that homework that I was suppose to do while we were at grandma's and we never did it?"

Mom:  "Huh?  What homework?  Did you have homework that we missed?!  Oh man, how did we miss a homework assignment?!" (gotta admit, I was panicking a little- how can we have already missed a homework assignment, she's been in school for like 120 days?!  What in the world are we going to do when her homework really matters if she had homework and I didn't even know?!)

Hannah: "Yes mom.  We had homework we were suppose to do over winter break.  Don't worry Ms. Stauffenecker isn't mad, she knows that we moved in and that you are real busy.  Don't worry, she understands mom.  She is so understanding.  She understands everything she knows, mom."

Mom: "Hannah!  Just because we moved doesn't mean you don't have to do your homework.  How did we miss this? I am sorry buddy.  Are we suppose to do it and bring it in?"

Hannah:  (giggling while she talks)  "No mom.  Almost nobody in the class did their homework.  Not one person turned it in.  Ms Stauffenecker understands."

Something tells me that Ms Stauffenecker probably forgot to send some homework home.......

Reason #78

 

One of the many reasons that I wanted to move was to live in a neighborhood where people were outside.  Kids playing, grown ups talking.  We didn't have that on our old street.  Sure we knew a few of our neighbors really well but on our whole block I think I knew 5 families.  We really only ever spent time with Kris and Steve.  I wanted my kids to grow up in a neighborhood with kids and lots of them.  I also wouldn't mind if Brian and I made a few new friends in the process too.

Tonight we went over to Jake and Elyse's house where we also met Paul, Amy and their son Ethan. 

Jake and Elyse have a house like ours but because our houses are 'custom built' they are all different on the inside.  Based upon the changes or differences that each of us made.  They have a HUGE island with a beverage cooler and shelves built into the side.  They went with white trim and a white kitchen.  It is beautiful!

Everyone we have met so far is so nice and we hear that there are tons of kids on the block. 

YES!  I can't wait!

Our first visit

Earlier this week I had bought some blank canvases for the girls to paint.  I thought it would be cute to hang their artwork in the loft.  Each of them got two.  One large and one small.  Here goes nothin'!

The Parmley side of the family came over today for a March birthday celebration.  About 30 minutes after they arrived we got a visit from the neighbors.  Elyse, Jake and their newborn Emerson stopped over to meet us and brought us a bottle of wine.  What a nice surprise!  It was great to be officially greeted to the neighborhood!   I can't wait for this summer!

One week down, a lifetime to go!

It's a been a week since we moved in.  Seems unreal.

Hannah was home with me again today.  We spent the day getting more boxes unpacked and ran some more errands.  It's funny when you move into a new house how much stuff you need want to replace.  We also threw stuff out when we moved from our old house so we needed to replace the 'regular' items, condiments, paper products, etc. 

I have been obsessed with shopping for rugs lately and today I finally broke down and made a commitment to one that I have had my eye on.  I was a little nervous about it but today when I went to the store to buy it, it was on clearance!  50% off!!   I am so happy with it!

The girls LOVE our new stools.  I love having my little buddies with me whenever I am in the kitchen cooking or cleaning up.  They eat breakfast here every morning and most of the time during their evening treat.

Boxes anyone?

We have quite the collection of cardboard around here.  I posted something on Facebook asking if there was anyone that needed boxes.  Within a few minutes there were responses and today I loaded up my truck to make my first delivery.  I had mentioned to Loriann that I was going to meet someone for a drop off and then I was planning on heading out to Woodbury to do a little shopping so we met for lunch and spent the day kid-free shopping.  It was fabulous!

I ended up buying some pictures for the office and pillows for the loft.   I also got a picture for the loft. The pillows are out and look adorable.  The pictures will take me a while.  I can't bear the thought of putting holes in the walls just yet.    As much as I am wanting the house to look 'lived in' and decorated it makes me nervous to commit to anything.

My first official decoration

I bought some new salt and pepper shakers.  They look so cute on the counter. Could they be considered a decorative item?   The house is so empty.  I know it's only been a few days but I can't wait until we get settled a little and start to hang stuff on the walls, etc.

Girls Day!

Hannah is on Spring Break this week.   It's working out nicely since we just moved.  Loriann and Marlee came over yesterday so I also kept Hailey home and today we had plans to take the girls to the Mall of America to the Barbie Dreamhouse Experience.

It's nice to be able to take a break from work and the house to just spend a day together.

We didn't tell the girls that we were going there.  They were pretty sure that we were going on the rides but we kept telling them there was something else.  They didn't have a clue!

We got there early because we weren't sure how busy it would be.  The exhibit doesn't open until noon and we arrived between 10 and 10:30 so we had some time to kill.

As we were thinking of something to do I mentioned to Loriann that Hailey has been asking to get her haircut for weeks now and although I don't really think she is serious, maybe we should see if she was serious about it and go get her hair cut.

She was REAL excited about that idea so we were off to Regis!

As we were approaching the salon I had asked her how short she wanted to cut it.  She put her hand on top of her head and said 'Up to here'.  Yikes....what are we doing?!

We stopped outside of the salon for a quick 'Before' picture.

She was SO proud of herself.  The stylist called her back and she went with no problem.  They talked about what she wanted to do and before they got started the stylist looked over at me for my approval.  I gave her a very nervous and shaky thumbs up.  It's only hair, it will grow back.  Right?!?!

It was so hard to watch her hair be cut off.  Although I was pretty sure she was going to be adorable it was hard to see it go.  Made me nervous that maybe she wouldn't be so happy about it and I wouldn't be able to fix it.  Once it's gone we can't get it back and it was going to be too short for ponytails.  That much I could tell.  She kept getting a glimpse of herself in the mirror and at one point she reached for my hand and when I held hers she kissed my hand and said "I love it mommy".

 OH MY MG!  OH MY SAUSAGE!

Here it is! The 'After' picture.  She looks SO adorable!

She looks so different and she is so happy and proud of herself.

Hannah couldn't stop telling me how cute Hailey looked either.

We sent a message to Brian and he too was in love!

 

We ate at Rainforest Cafe for lunch and during the 'thunderstorms' Hailey kept covering her head with her menu afraid that the rain would be real and mess up her haircut.  After lunch we walked up to the entrance of the Barbie house.  As soon as the girls saw all of the pink they went crazy.  I am not sure they really knew what was happening, they just knew that there were Barbie signs everywhere.

The Barbie Dreamhouse Experience is a temporary exhibit at the Mall of America.

Kids can walk through a life size Barbie house and sit on her furniture, etc.

When you first 'check in' you are handed a bracelet.  The first step is to register the bracelet by creating an avatar.  Throughout the house there are iPad-type games that you can play and props set up to take pictures.  Your bracelet acts as a 'storage' for your games and pictures.  

This is a picture from Barbie's desk in her living room.  There was so much pink.  So. Much.

In Barbie's bedroom you could stand in her closet and try on her virtual outfits.  Hailey loved this part.

The last part of the exhibit is the Entertainment World.  There is a stage, runway, styling salon, movie bus, craft tables, etc.  The girls loved the runway.  They had costumes they could put on and our girls had a blast modeling their outfits and singing along to the Barbie tunes.

When it was time to leave the mall Hannah mentioned again how cute Hailey looked today.

I told her she could get her hair cut if she wanted and after I assured her that you can get a hair cut without chopping all of your hair off she was ready to go 'under the scissors'.

We went to the Regis salon in Maple Grove.

On the way there she searched for hairstyles on my phone and found one of  Jennifer Aniston that she really liked.  She wanted to try layering her hair to give it more style.

It was hard to believe that this was only her 3rd hair cut.  Ever in her life.  We have only gone once for a cut when she was about 3 and then one a few years ago to even things out.

And the 'After' picture

 

My phone died in the middle of her cut so I didn't get any pictures of the pile of hair on the floor or anymore during the cut.  Before we left she reminded me that we had her phone in my purse so we were able to snap a picture of her hair with her phone before we left.

Both girls did so great and they both looked so cute!

Their new styles make them look so old and grown up.  I am so happy that it all worked out and we didn't have anyone in tears today.  Well, anyone besides me.....don't judge.

Let the unpacking begin!

I took this week off.  I wanted to have some time unpacking and getting a little settled.

Loriann and Marlee came over today to help go through boxes and help me to decide how to decorate this place!    We carried a bookshelf and some toy shelves up to the loft and the girls closets.

We got a ton of boxes unpacked that had been sitting in the middle of the hallway for the past few days.  It feels good to actually have a full room almost done! 

"Mom, I love this house!"

We woke to the 'pitter patter' of little feet again.  This time we didn't notice them until they were on their way in our room.  Hailey climbed into bed with me and whispered "Mom, I love this house!"

 

Today we got some unpacking done and then made plans to go to Denny and Judy's to get the last of the items that we left over there.  She invited us for dinner which was perfect since I haven't made it to the grocery store yet.    We went to Dock 86 this morning to get some stools for our island.

After that we went to Five Guys for lunch- yummy!

They have a bulletin board there that you can pin up any pictures or notes that you made while you were there.  Both girls had some art up there and after Hailey pinned hers I caught her snapping a picture :-)  She was proud that her artwork was on display!

That's all folks! No more storage!

'Pitter patter, pitter patter'

Do you hear that?  It sounds like someone is awake.

'Ding'

Was that the microwave?!

A few minutes later the pitter patter got louder and Hailey was walking into our room with the biggest smile on her face.  "Hi Mama!"

I got up with her and we came downstairs where I learned that she had been awake for a while wandering around and even made herself a pop tart in the microwave.

I am sure the novelty of being able to reach the microwave and having full access to the pantry will wear off.  Eventually......

Stacey and Shane came back today to help and once again these two saved the day!
Brian and Shane got the entire 2nd storage unit cleaned out and by the end of the day everything we owned was officially in our house or garage.
My sisters came over and helped me carry boxes from the garage to the rooms they belong in.
Not much unpacking done today- this evening we went out to do some shopping and then went out to dinner while Brian got the tunes hooked up :-)

Closing Time

It was hard to sleep last night.  Both of us tossed and turned anxious to get our day started.

While I showered and got the girls ready for school, Brian and his dad loaded up my car.

I will drop the girls off then head over to the house to drop off the first official load.

After that I will meet Brian at the closing office.

In just a few short hours the papers will be signed and we will be on our way to our new home.  Even though it's happening today, it doesn't feel real.  I am so excited that it's hard to concentrate.  I can't think about anything other than moving today and getting settled during the next week while I am off work.
All I can think about it is where I am going to put my silverware.  What boxes we should unpack first.  Making the beds.  Doing laundry in our new washer. Putting down our new rugs and hanging up our new towels.  Sitting on our couches again!

I dropped off the girls and made it to the house with plenty of time to unload my car.  Kyle was here picking up the 'yard' and cleaning out the garage.  The cleaning lady pulled up just as I was leaving.  It is chilly today but not as cold as it has been.  You can almost start to smell spring in the air.  Almost.
At least there was something in the air today.

Our first load....

I didn't want to leave.  I got in the car to drive away and couldn't wait to be back.
I had an idea of where I needed to go for the closing but as I started to drive I started to second guess myself.  I wished for a red light so that I could stop to put the address in my GPS however I sailed right through every single green light.  Figures- when you want/need to stop you can't hit the red lights to save your life but if I was late or in a hurry I would have been stopped at every one.
The closing lasted a total of 40 minutes.  All of the papers were signed and copied and by 9:45 we were in our cars on our way to the house.
I pulled up to OUR house for the first time and wanted to cry.  She is beautiful!
The light brown trim should be painted the same off-white color that frames the garage and porch, the will come back to do that when it warms up.  We will also get our driveway and sidewalk sometime this spring/summer.  For now we will enjoy deal with the mud.

It's our stuff!  Well, at least the first trailer full.

Within a few hours there will be boxes, tape, furniture, TVs, toys, books, shoes, clothes, people and things everywhere.....better get a few pictures while I can.

We had help coming today starting around 11 so it was nice to see that we had gotten here with plenty of time to look around and feel a little settled before everyone started arriving.

It was such a great feeling to walk in the house and set my purse down.
Ahhhhh new house smell :-)

Brian, Shane, Troy, Denny and Tom did most of the heavy lifting.  They would hand boxes to my dad, Stacey and I and we would walk them to the rooms they belonged.  Judy ironed and hung all of the new curtains for the bedrooms and then we worked hard to get the girls rooms somewhat put together so they would have a surprise waiting for them when they got home.

Hannah's bed

Hailey's bed- not sure about that white dust ruffle

 We had a ton of great help today and we really appreciate everyone who came out! 
By early evening the guys had cleaned out our warm storage unit.  Most of our furniture was in the house and set up.  There were boxes everywhere but I expect that will be the norm around here for a while.

We got this couch from Stacey and Shane- something they had at their old house. 
It fits perfectly in the loft!

I have spent the last few weeks OBSESSED with rugs.
I mean crazy obsessed.  I have looked at 1000's of rugs.  Bathroom rugs, kitchen rugs, outdoor rugs, entryway/larger rugs. All shapes, sizes, colors and prices.

I settled on a few- the laundry room, master bathroom and first floor bathroom.
Many more to come......

Main Level Bath

 We had company until after 10:00 pm.
Stacey and Shane are planning on coming over again tomorrow to help so we called it a night pretty early not to mention we are all a little exhausted.

The girls went down very easy.  They were both SUPER excited to have their own rooms again and couldn't WAIT to sleep in their own beds.
Brian and I went into our room and after using the bathroom and climbing into bed we both commented about how it felt like being in a hotel.  Our room is HUGE compared to our old bedroom.  It feels twice the size and our furniture looks mini in there.
There was an unexplainable type of calm that was over me tonight as we went to bed.

Tomorrow will be another fun filled day of unpacking and carrying boxes- I'd better get some sleep!