Fall photos and random thoughts!

I would love to be showing you some "professional" fall photos, but the thought of coordinating time/weather/outfits/and crazy boys....just stresses me out!  So we journeyed out and landed on our front porch.  Sorry no photos of Sean and I...so major boo for updating photos on the wall!  The boys=not very cooperative.  Here they are!

Other randoms...

~~Unpacking is oh so fun!  We are probably about 90% unpacked.  Our basement bedroom is still a nightmare.  It will be a while before we can park in our garage.  But it is slowly coming along!  I pretty much just have 1 1/2 rooms in the house to put together.

~~The kids are adjusting.  The girls have made a few new little friends in the neighborhood, through PE class, and Co-op.  So they are doing ok.  They are still not thrilled that we moved, but I am sure they will slowly adapt a bit more as we meet more people.

~~Why is furniture sooooo expensive?  I have been on a manhunt for a new chest of drawers for the girls room...preferably white.  You can either buy something that will last 2 months for a lot of money or something that will last a bit longer for twice as much.  I am missing the built in's in their old closet.  No where to put pants and jeans right now, so it is a bit crazy in the girls' rooms.

~~I wrote last month that I hated potty training.  Still do.  Weston has no interest in participating.  None.  I am not too stressed about it, but he is going to be 3 soon, so I feel like I need to try a little harder.  But since he has no interest....it is not fun!

~~I started a new t25 workout program.  I am super sore.  Super.  I can barely move right now...which probably doesn't help in the unpacking department.

~~We never have, but we are handing out candy on Thursday night....in hopes to meet neighbors.  Not sure if it will happen, but we are trying.  So if you are in the area, stop on by.  I think I over did it and bought around a million pieces of candy.  We don't do Halloween, so this is really confusing the kiddos...so we have had some explaining to do.

~~I haven't gotten my mojo back for cooking and baking.  I know it will show up some day. It could be that our cabinets are pretty bare in the food department, so I made an official grocery list and am determined to start cooking real meals for the family.  Even though Sean is back on his chicken and pasta diet, so that doesn't help...but helps a bit I guess that I don't have to go overboard.  Thank goodness for the 2 people from Sean's work that have brought meals by!! 

~~We started back school yesterday at our new house.  In full swing...thank goodness for a semi-routine.

and last...we got library cards for the Grand Island Library.  I just have to say, that it is just about the best library I have been to in a long time.  Has Lincoln beat by a million points.  It didn't help that the librarian said that is all that Grand Island has to offer.  I am determined to prove her wrong!!

Our new home...with a few questions for readers...

We are officially living in our new home in Grand Island, NE. City of I think 45,000. It about 2 hours and 14 minutes West of Omaha and and hour and 15 minutes west of Lincoln. We will probably be spending a lot of time in the car going to church in Omaha, visiting family, and friends. Thank goodness for a DVD player in the car!

The kids are not here yet. Sean and I are staying here trying to tie up some lose ends before the movers drop off our stuff on Tuesday. So I thought I would post a few pictures and ask a few questions to my friends...maybe some of you have some answers to my deep questions:)

Here is our front porch! The kids decorated it last week with our pumpkin patch goodies.

Here is our kitchen. I can not wait to start cooking and baking...however I think the meals on the menu for this week will be sandwiches and cereal. Fun times! I was so smart enough to bring cups, cereal, and milk so we didn't have to go out and eat breakfast. Totally forgot a spoon though....so I had to drink my cereal. Oops.

Here is where Tiger our cat is living right now. Yes he is spoiled. Yesterday I went out there to find him and he wasn't anywhere to be found. I panicked just a bit because he always comes when I call his name (indoors). I thought maybe he got trapped somewhere and had an accident. After going back inside to double check if Sean had already let him in...he decided to come out from hiding. I think he likes the storage wells under the boat.

How on earth do you change lighting that is around a million feet high? We have 5 different lighting areas that are super tall? Do people just buy a million foot ladders?

Can you store water in a wine coolers? We don't drink wine or anything that would go in there, so I was thinking to put water in there??

Here is the girls room and bath. The pink turned out to be a pepto bismal color, but I kind of like it. They are going to go for a zebra theme.

Here is the boys room. They have already set up their train track. Their theme is going to be hunting.

I painted this bad boy the other night. 4 hours later....So many little corners to trim. I think I am on the slow side of painting though. The closet was in really bad shape, so it looks a lot cleaner now. We did hire a painter to paint it, however after painting the kids' room they probably took one look at it and said no way...or they simply forgot. We were in a time crunch, so I had to take matters into my own hands.

Here is the bathroom that Sean and I are sharing. Any tips for a husband to not freak out when my things just happened to be a little bit on his side? Even though in all fairness my item was sitting on his side last week before lines were drawn. We have never shared a bathroom before, so this will take some getting used to.

Would anyone like this ugly flower decoration...the one way up high? We actually have 2 and I will be giving them away for free! The previous owners were so kind in leaving them here! Weren't they nice!? We are replacing them with the pictures at the bottom of the photo. I am hoping to never have to dust that area...ever.

Lastly I would like to give a shout out to my parents! They have been with my kiddos for 20 of the last 30 days. Bless their hearts...they will drive them here on Wednesday. Couldn't ask for a better set of parents. Love them!

Well I am off to the store to look at furniture and then unpack a few boxes. I am hoping to enjoy my quiet kidless day!:)

 

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Market 2 Market relay: 2013!!

Running. 78 miles. 8 hot mamas. 21 stages. 1 van.

Lots of sparkles. Lots of running. Lots of laughing. Lots of tears (at the end). Lots of soreness. Lots of memories. Lots of fun.

Last year I entered my name in the lottery for the 6th annual Market 2 Market relay. 200 teams were to be chosen from this lottery and in all 500 teams would participate in the event. In May, I received word that my name was chosen and I had a team! I was so excited! Because I am so creative *not* I chose the name "Team Sparkle".

Market 2 Market starts in Omaha's Memorial park and ends in the Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Nebraska. It starts as early as 5am and could last up to 13 hours. Each team can have 5-8 members and each member runs 2-3 legs ranging from 2.7 miles to over 5 miles. Some runners could run a total of 6 miles over the course of the day to up to 13.1 miles. A long, long day, but totally worth it!

My team began our journey in Omaha the night before. We stayed at my parents house and had fun painting our nails with sparkle polish and decorating our van. We had to be out of the house by 5:30am in order to make it to our first leg of the race. We dropped our first runner off in the dark...and headed to the second stage to wait for her.

We ran on trails, roads, through small towns, and across bridges. We saw everything from men running in basically their underwear and capes, to teams dressed as pirates, to Toy Story characters. We tailgated with a team that set up a Nebraska Tailgate party at every stop...they even threw out warm hot dogs. We rocked with Team Run Jovi...who provided well needed music at each of our stops. It was so much fun seeing everyones costumes and the comradery among the running community.

I couldn't have asked for a better team! We finished almost an hour faster than our expected end time.

A team mate Erin took lots of pictures along the way and gave me permission to share some of them on my blog! I can't wait for next year!!!

Val & Erin: our 2 dark runners!

The sun is finally rising!

Donna waiting for her turn!

Part of the crew!

Kerstin and Val!

Donna running her 2nd leg!

A little bit of sparkle!

Erin showing off her team spirit!

Lots of corn along the way!

My team sparkle outfit..made by our on house designer Renee!

Val and her sparkle hands:)

A few of us tailgating!

Um gross...

Me!

Waiting for our runner to come in!,

Laura getting ready to go!

Our lovely van!

A blurry picture I took of us running to the finish line as a team,

The team at the end!

All boxes checked!

 

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Roca Berry Farm 2013

This has to be the one day that we look forward to every year...going to Roca Berry Farm in the fall. The kids absolutely LOVE this place and so do I! The weather was perfect and the time with friends was great as well! We can't wait to go next year...even though it will be around a 2 hour drive for us. Oh well...it will be worth it! Here are a few pictures from our day!

 

 

 

 

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