Moving Miscellaneous

Mike taking a Pizza Break from moving.

Hannah, Sydney, Josie & Peter watch "Nemo" while we painted.

Aren't they so cute.

Our new Roomate- Tony "Butch"

& Yes that is a banana in his pocket.

I'm a Great Aunt!

I am a Great Aunt! My niece Nikki gave birth to a darling little girl on June 19. She weighed 7 pound 3 ounces. They named her Isabella. Such a pretty name for a beautiful baby! She was born one day after Mike's birthday.

Nikki & Isabella

Isn't she Pretty! Look at those tiny little fingers. Sydney kept saying the baby was in her PJ's and had tiny fingers.

The Proud Daddy San and Isabella

Sydney and me with Isabella. I kept telling Sydney we were going to go see a new little baby. We went to the store and went shopping for her. I would say which one do you like (holding up baby clothes)? And she would pick one out. Then she started picking out stuff say "How Cute" "Look Here Mom" "What do you Think" "Pretty". So she pretty much picked out the clothes and the pink star ballon for the baby. I was afraid she would not give the ballon to the baby, but she did. She would try to put it into the baby's tiny hand.

When we first got there, we went to the Nurses station and Sydney told them she was there to see the baby and had a ballon for the little baby. They kept asking her questions and then they pointed her in the right direction. She told them Thanks and we were on our way to see Nikki & Isabella without one word from Mom. On the way out she told the nurses Bye. My baby is growing up. But she will always be my baby. I asked her is she wanted a little baby? She said "sure". I told her she would have to share Mom & Dad with a new baby. She really had to think about that one and just gave me a puzzled look. Even if we are ready for another one, she may have other ideas.

I Feel Like a Queen...

Sleeping with the King…I mean on a King. We got a bed finally. After several years sleeping on a queen bed that was given to me and which had seen better days, we finally got a new one.

We had lined out buying one last weekend. But it didn’t work out. But we were on the way to the dump with our queen. So then we were down to the full size I keep in the guest room. Guess it beats the floor. Anyway, after sleeping with the little princess between us in a Full size, we finally got the King Bed. I headed to Wally World after work and picked up some sheets & a mattress pad while Mike and Tony brought it over and set it up.

We slept so good, we both overslept this morning and it was hard to get Sydney out of there as well. She was actually giddy last night when we got it set up. Although Mike and I was both giddy as well (he may deny it, but he was).

Here is a close up of our bedspread. I love the colors.

My walls are painted brown and Desert something

Sydney enjoying "our" new bed

Little by Little

We spent all weekend working on putting stuff away and rearranging it. Then we moved some more in to put away later. Right now Sydney’s Room and the Kitchen are starting to take shape. I haven’t even started with the rest of the house. I am going through things and trying to pare them down and get rid of a lot of stuff. After moving it all, I can tell I am just holding on to too much stuff. So trying to decide what is really important to me is a little difficult.

Mike worked on the garage. It went from being full and not being able to walk through it, to being very well organized. Today he is going to tackle the lawn again, since it looks like a rare sunny day. Hopefully after he is done, we can go for a bike ride. I want to take advantage of the sunshine.

As soon as I get things together I am going to have a garage sale and see if I can make any money to buy new stuff or furniture at least.

Last night we had softball. Honestly, I was so tired from the weekend I wasn’t able to put out much of an effort. Mike did well though. Had a couple good hits and a few catches and one “lucky” catch. Sydney got to play in the park across the street for a little while after the game. She loves to roll down the hill that is there.

Mike's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Mike! Yesterday was his 44th birthday. We celebrated it rather low key. We went home and worked on the house some more. I swear that I could have the entire week off of work and concentrate on nothing but packing and still not get through the mountains of boxes that I am trying to conquer. I know tiny steps! But I am so ready to get into our house.

Around 7:30 Tony Butch, the Jackson's and the newly married Norton's came over to hang out for a little while and see our new house. We had a great time talking out on the deck. The kid enjoyed the birthday cake and ice cream. Sydney was very sure of the birthday cake that she picked out for her dad. She wouldn't let Josie touch it. She picked out the one with Rainbow color edging and writing and Rainbow sprinkles. In fact, she insisted on that one. When we started to sing Happy Birthday to Mike, she ran over to set by him. As soon as we were finished she ran back into the house to retrieve the ballon with a frog, ladybug and snail on it that she had picked out for him for his birthday. She allows him to look at the ballon, but she is in charge of carrying it around.

My little Snow White

Here is my little princess. Snow White. From the first moment I set my eyes on her, I thought she looked like Snow White. Dark Black hair, fair complexion and bright red heart lips. She is now a darker complexion, but still reminds me of Snow White. She loves for me to read the book Snow White to her also. She says the “Priwnses”. Sydney likes the shoes and purse that goes with the dress best. She likes the crown ok. But that purse….A girl who likes to accessorize. She has another purse that is clear that she fills with money and carries around. She loves to carry that one around all the time. She will always be my little princess.

Easter Egg Hunting Artic Style

Here are some pictures of Sydney during Easter. After church we went over to her friends house for an easter egg hunt. Easter egg hunting in Alaska is way different than how we did it in Oklahoma.





First of all you have to find places to hide the eggs. They don't really blend in with the grass. So it isn't really that challenging to see where they are hidden. Actually, you could almost just walk outside and throw them up in the air and that would be considered hid. Then you have to spend time getting your precious excited child into her snow pants, gloves and coat or heavy sweatshirt. Then the momement is finally you go outside to watch your child marvel over the first egg she finds, while her friend scurries along like a hoover vacuum cleaner plucking up every egg she finds. She obviously didn't learn much from the practice hunts that you did earlier in the week. Then after getting tired of your child not getting any eggs, your competitive side kicks in and you grab your childs hand and tell her each and every egg to pick up. When your little angel starts to get the hang of it and her basket is starting to fill up you relax a little, only for her to slip on the snow, not to mention how hard it is to move in those multiple layers and snow pants and spill all the eggs that she just picked up (with assistance from mom) Then my sweet little angel yells "Oh Shit, my eggs". Meanwhile the little vacuum is waving you off saying "I got it". Meanwhile, Dad can't take anymore of the drama and goes in the house to watch the game. Then as the little egg hunters make it around back, they decide the swings look so much more fun and don't want to pick up eggs anymore. I'm just glad we decided to not go to the church easter egg hunt.

A Herd of Turtles

We are like a herd of turtles. Well that is our pace anyway. Still working on the house. I am exhausted, anxiousand irritable, which isn't the best mix. Trying to get things done one at a time. Wanting everything done at once. I want to be the rabbit in the race, not the dang turtle.

Anyway, yesterday I finished up what should have been the last coat in the kitchen. So now my kitchen is a orangy/tangerine color. It was suppose to be a green/cream/bronze faux finish. But it is orange. Not what I had in mind. My friend Dana is suppose to come over and help me figure out how to fix it. Her second job in as an interior designer and she does faux finishes all the time. So hopefully she can do some color correction for me. Mike got a second coat of brown paint on the accent wall in our bedroom and is planning on painting the other 3 walls in our bedroom (again) to finish it up tonight. He worked on putting togather some furniture and mowed our lawn (or should I say weeds). I unpacked some of the kitchen and filled the dishwasher with new wedding dishes and dug through some boxes in Sydney's room. I finally found it. Sydney's clothes that I bought her for her second birthday last Sept. Mom accidently packed them up when she was helping us move. I looked all over for those things and dug through storage a couple of times looking for them. Luckily, I bought those one and half sizes too big. So now they will fit her. It seems that she pretty much skipped a size. Or didn't stay in 2T very long anyway. So I was really estatic to find the pretty sailor outfits that I had bought her. Nothing like new baby clothes to get me excited.

Sydney hasn't warmed up to the house yet. First things she wanted to do when she got there was go visit her toys. She enjoyed playing outside with her t-ball set and soccer ball. Later she enjoyed watching her tricycle "fall" down the driveway. She shoved it and watched it go all the way down into the street, then told me "it fell". When she gets bored or sleepy, she tells us "Go to the House"

Mike and I have to find another bed. We are wanting a King, so maybe we will sleep a little better. Although, I feel that the reason we are not sleeping too well is laying in between us. Our queen bed is shot. It has a hole on one side, springs poking through it and collapsed side. So we have to get another bed before we can "officially" move in. Although I have a full size bed at the house already and I am thinking of starting to stay there anyway. We are about two weeks behind getting into the house and it is driving me crazy. I think I can get more done, if we are in the house and working on it a little at a time. But at any rate, it is do or die come this weekend. I will be staying there anyway. I am not sure about Sydney and Mike though. They may like staying with Grandma a little while longer. I will let you know how that turns out this weekend.

Work in Progress

We worked all weekend on the house. Mike concentrated on the yard and garage. He worked on the back yard only on Sunday for 9 hours. Some of my friends came over to help us paint. Rhonda, Christina, Rachel, Lorraine, Kerri and Paul supervised. We got a lot painted. The attached pictures are some of the ones that are a work in progress. The green room is Sydney’s. I am so tired and sore, but there is so much more work to be done.

Glass Castle

LastTuesday our book club met. It was Angel’s turn to pick and we met at her house. Kerri, Sharron and myself were able to make it. Her pick was: Glass Castle, a Memoir by Jeannette Walls. It was a really good book talking about her life growing up poor and with really dysfunctional parents. I would recommend this book, it was very good, entertaining and one of those books, you couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. Check it out if you are wanting a good book.

Dirty, Dirty

Last Night we went to our new house. We showed it to Tim, Pat, Kerri and Angel. It was dirty. Mike and I wiped down the walls to clean off the dust. It was pretty bad and after I got home I kept washing my hands. Just got a call from Mike and he said that the cleaners are about finished cleaning and said I would be impressed. So since he is the one who was worried about their quality of work, it makes me feel real good to hear that. I am on my way after work to pick up the paint that I ordered on my lunch. Then I will pick up my niece Hannah who will watch Sydney for us for a little while. Then I will start taping and prepping so, I can really get started painting in the morning. Oh boy do I have my work cut out for me.

Good News and Sad News

The Good News first. We got the keys to our new house and are going over after work to check it out. I am so excited. So is Mike, this is his first time to be a home owner. My first time to own an actual house and not a trailer or condo. We are taking Sydney and Pat, Mike’s mom over after work to show it to them. We will be painting and doing yard work this weekend and this upcoming week trying to get ready to move in the next weekend.

Unfortunately, I am sorry to have to say that my Uncle Burl passed away. He was married to my Aunt Jeanie and they lived in Ada, Oklahoma. He has been sick for awhile and left us early this morning. Please keep my Aunt and her family in your prayers and thoughts. He was a good man who loved my Aunt and treated her great. He will be missed by many people. Burl coached women’s basket ball at OU for several years. From what I understand and remember he was a great coach and was put in their hall of fame.

Moose in Alaska

Here are some Moose pictures taken today at the National Guard Armory. I couldn’t resist sharing. The babies are so cute. But the mama Moose is considered to be as dangerous as a bear when it comes to their babies.

Fun Cakes

Here are some cakes that I have made recently. Actually my friend Kerri helped me out a lot with both of them. The first one is of my Wedding cake. It is a 3 tiered cake with trimmed with orange and pink. The shells are made out of sugar and colored Pink and Orange. We used flowers to decorate in between the tiers and on the topper. The layers are also trimmed in pink ribbon and there are balls covered in orange fondant between the tiers. I loved the way it turned out!











The purple and pink cake is a birthday cake made for my friend Rhonda’s mother’s 70th birthday. The second cake is a 3 layered stacked cake. The layers get smaller as they higher. The layers had a lemon & raspberry filling between them and the icing also had a hint of lemon. On the top is a fondant bow, which is cascading down the side of the cake. It is a little hard to make out in the picture. The top of the cake also had roses cascading down. Rhonda and her family loved the cake.

Still Counting the Days....

Still counting down until we get into the house, I am very anxious and about ready to explode. I have so much I want to do, so to sit here and play the wait game is driving me nuts. I am told that we may be able to close tomorrow and be in the house this weekend. This past weekend, I did a few things at Pat’s house to get ready for moving in. I bought and planted some flowers in some containers and hanging baskets. I sanded down a storage unit that I bought at a garage sale, getting it ready to paint and I painted some big plastic pots that Pat gave me for some flowers. Seems like all I think about is planting and painting. Here are some pictures of our house. So you can say these are the before pictures. And no, we still do not have snow in our yards here in Alaska. These pictures were taken in March. And the furniture and curtains are not ours!

This past weekend went by really quick. We went for a Bike ride to the Jackson’s house on Friday night, Saturday was full of errands and Sydney had her friend Josie tagging along with us. Then I stayed up until 10 planting flowers. Sunday, Mike went over to help the Marshalls with the building of their deck. I sanded and painted, until I went over also. Kerri and I helped Sharron with her flowerbed and then we sat around watching the guys build the deck. Sydney and Josie had a great time playing in their back yard and Sydney was filthy when we got home. It was definitely a two bath day for her. Last night after planting flowers in our Law Firms flower bed, Mike, Sydney and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was pretty good. Tonight we have a softball game after work. Busy, Busy, Busy.