boxed up

Don't let the silence fool you--a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Our worldly possessions are now boxed up in a storage building, and we are in the condo. Lots of family came down to help us move. The girls started daycare. Shannon turned 34. I have taken lots of pictures, but we find ourselves in a predicament--we can't find anything! It's a miracle we have the computer up and running. The printer is not plugged in because we had to steal the power cord to plug in the TV. I've got lots of cameras in arms' reach--video, digital, 35mm, and APS--but not a USB cord in sight. I found my laptop, but not the power cord. I bought Rebekah a new nap mat for school because I had no idea where to even look for hers. Until the next day when I found it in a duffle bag in the bedroom, in pretty much plain sight. But we're managing just fine. We went swimming in the pool (well, Shannon and Rebekah did--I can't find my swimsuit!), and we plan to rent a boat next week and take a spin on the lake. Unfortunately Shannon can't use the golf course that is literally six feet out our door. It's a private club and there are signs telling us that we are not allowed to set foot "in or near" the golf course, even though the golfers drive their carts right up onto our sidewalk looking for stray balls. But the course does make for a lovely view from our gigantic window. I took special pleasure in watching yesterday as a sudden thunderstorm drenched the golfers. I have much to report, but I have to get to work--school has started!

Some crafty things

Worries over moving have led to insomnia, so what better time to blog? As always, my busy schedule has not prevented me from making little things here and there. Crafting is my favorite means of stress relief.

I've saved all of Rebekah's broken crayons for her whole life, and recently I melted them and made them into new fun shapes. I also made some tractor crayons for James. This is super easy. Just sort the crayons by colors--all the various shades of a color will mix into one shade--and melt them down. I used a pickle jar and set it in a pot of boiling water--they melt fast. Then pour the melted crayons into candy molds that you can get at a craft store for less then $2. Warning--I lost the purple ones because I put too much water in the pot and when it bubbled it knocked over the jar. So not only did I lose all the purple crayons, but I also had to wash them out of my pot.

I have also been saving wine corks for years and I finally did something with them. I painted a plain wooden tray, sliced the corks in half, and glued them down to make a wall decoration for the kitchen. If I were to do it over I wouldn't have cut them--that was tedious--but you'd need a lot more corks.

My favorite crafts lately have been greeting cards. I have found that I spend less time making my own cards than I spend at the store picking one out. I like doing these because if I need to wind down after the kids go to bed, I can just get out my box of supplies and make one. It's nice to be able to have a completed project in one sitting. Here are some I did for Mother's Day. The one with the picture of the girls is my favorite. Click on the picture to see more detail.

Yummy!

Annabelle had her first taste of solids today, and boy was she happy! Rebekah was not interested in eating from a spoon until she was at least seven months old, and she never liked cereal, so we didn't expect much. But Annabelle was raring to go. I made some very thin rice cereal, and at first she couldn't seem to figure out how to close her mouth, as you can she in the picture. Once she got the hang of it, I couldn't get it in fast enough, and I mixed more cereal in to thicken it up. She ate the whole bowl! Her eating habits are so different from Rebekah's. When Rebekah was a baby, she would nurse all day long if I let her. A feeding session would last forty-five minutes, and she was happy to live on milk for most of her first year. Annabelle nurses for five to ten minutes and is done. I fed her a bottle with a stage 2 nipple, and she guzzled it down, but Rebekah cried when we gave her a stage 2 even when she was a year old. Rebekah cried the first time we tried to give her cereal or baby food, but I could almost hear Annabelle thinking, where has this stuff been all my life? The funny thing is, Annabelle is growing at almost the exact same rate as Rebekah did. I guess babies just know what they need and are good at telling us about it.

making lemonade

We're taking our lemons and making lemonade. We are moving into a resort condo on Lake Conroe until our house is done. It's furnished, all utilities included, and a month to month lease, so it's ideal for our less-than-ideal situation. It's on a golf course and it has a swimming pool, so we can pretend like we're on vacation for awhile (except for that whole work thing). All of our stuff is going into storage, so I have the task now of figuring out what we need on hand and what we can live without for an undetermined amount of time. And now back to packing.

Annabelle's stats

Annabelle is four months old today! She is not a happy girl right now because she has a little cold and a bit of a fever, and she had four shots today. She weighs 15 lbs. 10 oz., almost double her birth weight, and she is 26 inches long. Like her sister, she is in the 90th percentile for weight and the 95th for height--we have some big girls. She will not lie on her back when we put her down. She rolls right over onto her tummy before you know it. She tried to roll off the scale and the exam table today. At night I still swaddle her to sleep because if I don't she rolls right over and pushes her head up and looks around. It's like she doesn't know how to be still, even though she is so sleepy. The doctor said that since she sits up so well, we might try to give her solid food. I remember being really anxious to give Rebekah solid food, but the thought hadn't even crossed my mind for Annabelle. Now I'm excited about the idea, and I think we'll try it tomorrow. Maybe she'll spread out her feedings a little--she rarely makes it two hours without wanting to be fed. Of course, she sleeps twelve hours a night, so I certainly can't complain.

look at the tickers

This is only true for a couple of days, so look now. Rebekah is 3 years and 3 weeks old, and Annabelle is 3 months and 3 weeks old. Just thought that deserved acknowledgment.

The Blog has a name

Finally, the blog has a title. In anticipation of our move to the land where everyone has two kids and two cars and all the houses look alike, we give you Suburban Utopia. (Title inspired by a recent viewing of the movie Over the Hedge, which could have been written about our neighborhood. Except in the the movie, they have electricity.)

Need advice

Bad news--the house is not ready, so we have to move into an apartment for a time until the electricity is in. (To clarify the problem, the whole street is new and has no electricity at all. There are ten houses all built and ready to go that don't have electricity.)

I'm concerned about how Rebekah will respond. She is excited about her new house and has seen it a few times, but we will have to live somewhere unfamiliar to her and then move her again to the house she's been looking forward to. How can I explain this to her in terms that she will understand? What can I do to make the transition easier for her? I have some ideas myself, but I would also like to hear any suggestions you might have.

Thanks. And pray for us--this is stressful and we're trying hard not to let it worry the kids.

Bekah-isms

According to Bekah, in the day time the sun is in, not out. At night the sun goes out and the moon comes in.

Also, she uses word ol' as an adverb to amplify her chosen adjective, as in, big ol' bug. She also repeats adjectives to amplify them, as in, big big bug. Separately, those are not that funny or unusual. But it was pretty funny when she saw a "big big big ol' ol' ol' ol' wasp" outside.

fussy girls

It has been loud in this house. The formerly pleasant and content Annabelle has lately become Miss Fussypants. She fits right in with her big sister, Miss Sassypants. Between the fuss and the sass, Mommy is tired. But now that they are asleep, the house should be peaceful until about 5:00 a.m. That's when I can expect Rebekah--that's right! the three-year-old!--to wake me up to start the day. The three-month-old will not awaken until 8:00. I put Annabelle to bed and she stays there happily for eleven, even twelve hours. I put Rebekah to bed and she wakes up three times before midnight. What's that all about? I'm hoping the fussiness and the early waking are phases that will pass in the next few days. The sassiness? That is here to stay.

moving update

The progress on the house is still stalled by the utility companies, and we don't have a move-in date yet. The good news is that we can stay in our rent house for a few more weeks, so hopefully that will give us enough time to get into the new house. The problem is the rain, and it's not letting up any time soon.

Thanks to our good friends Courtney and Tom, who babysat the girls, we were able to go out for our anniversary dinner on Thursday. We both appreciated the chance to enjoy being together and to get our minds off the stress of moving for a while.

babytalk

Annabelle has something to say.

Five Year Anniversary

We haven't done anything to celebrate yet, but Shannon brought me some flowers last night. Since we've been married, we've had two kids and moved five times. I'd say it's been a busy five years!

Matching dresses

Here are the girls in the matching dresses that G.G. and Great-Papaw Evans sent them.

Rebekah is 3!

Happy Birthday Rebekah!
She had her three-year-old check-up yesterday. She weighs 40.5 pounds and is three feet three and a half inches tall. She's still in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. She got one shot, and she didn't cry or even day "ouch"--she seemed almost happy about it, especially when she got a brightly colored band-aid. She finally got the Dora birthday cake she's been talking about for months, and she also brought some cookies to school today to celebrate with her friends. Shannon was happy to be able to make it home from work in time to cook hamburgers, in the Peters tradition. When he told her he was making her a special birthday burger she asked if it was going to have cake on it. We have one more special day planned for her on Sunday when we will take her to Build-a-Bear Workshop.

The Singing Bee

That last post calls for a happier story. I mentioned this on my other blog, but I'll elaborate here. The Singing Bee is the best game show ever! We were all stressed out last night over the many things happening in our lives, and then this show came on.

It was about half an hour past Rebekah's bedtime, but she was still up because she had just finished calling all of her grandparents so she could spell her name for them--that's right! Rebekah can spell her name--accurately and consistently! I didn't even know it. I picked her up from school and her teacher told me that she had told her how to spell her name when the teacher was writing it on her art project for the day. Rebekah was so proud of herself and we laughingly bragged that she could spell her name at two years old--she won't be three until tomorrow!

So, we were all still up and started watching the show and singing along and jumping around and dancing. Rebekah thought it was the funniest thing ever to see Mommy and Daddy dancing and singing, and she got all riled up, too. I can't imagine what Annabelle thought of the whole thing! Rebekah didn't get to sleep until almost 11:00 last night, but it was worth it to have an unplanned evening of fun. We've been so stressed out lately that we all needed to relax and be silly. I recommend watching it and playing along--adults and kids.

After Rebekah went to bed, Shannon and I stayed up making and coloring icing for Rebekah's birthday cake. Shannon remembered learning how to make roses when he was a little boy watching his mom decorate cakes, so he tried his hand at that last night. They weren't half bad. I won't be making any roses, but I think the cake will turn out nice. I'll post a picture after I finish it.

Stalled

Bad news on the house--it may not be done by the end of the month. The builders have done everything they can do, but they are waiting on the utility companies to come and put in the meters and whatever else has to be done to a new house. The builders can't finish until the utilities are in, and they can test to be sure that everything works. So everybody's just sitting around waiting. We are in a rent house now, so we have no leeway--someone is moving in here on August 1. So we have quite a pickle. We will literally be homeless. Everything will work out, but it's going to take lots of planning and lots of money that we really needed for other purposes. But moving is always expensive (believe me, I'm an expert on this topic). The best possible scenario is that it will all come together at the last minute and we can move right into our house. We're exploring our other options and trying to keep our heads on straight in the process. Pray for us!

Hello Annabelle!

In the past week, Annabelle has really opened up and shown us her personality. She's so expressive now, and she smiles and coos all the time. I brought her up to the office today, and someone said she's like a little kitten who has just opened her eyes. I took a ton of pictures yesterday (trying to capture a smile--haven't gotten it yet) and I played them on a slideshow on the computer. Annabelle loved watching the pictures and started cooing and reaching out like she was talking to the baby on the screen. We may be biased, but we're pretty sure she's the cutest baby ever. Or at least the cutest baby since Rebekah!

Surprise visit

Between our two trips last month, we got a surprise visit from even more cousins! Mikka and Chris (yet another Uncle Chris) stopped by on their way home from a trip to Houston, and the kids were excited to play together. Here's a picture of Kade, Kyra, Rebekah, and Annabelle. You can definitely tell which ones are siblings--Kade and Kyra look as much alike as Rebekah and Annabelle do.

More cousins!

Sarah and the girls went up to visit the Evans side of the family last week, and in addition to lots of attention from Granmommy and Papaw and Uncle Chris (one of them), the girls got to play with even more cousins. Rebekah and James played on the slides while Annabelle and Lily...well, pretty much just stared at each other. Rebekah got an early birthday cake and a new bicycle with training wheels. We have big birthday plans for next week, too, so she's going to think her birthday is supposed to last for weeks!