Happy Birthday to...ME!

So, It's not really my birthday.  It's actually my wonderful husband's and my equally wonderful dad's.  But I kind of feel like it is because my precious little baby decided to let me sleep last night until 6 am!!!  I guess it was more of a gift for Mark, because I am a much better person when I've had lots of sleep.  I have to admit, I feel great today!

Well, great, other than the fact that my parents left this morning.   It's always so sad when they leave.  We had a wonderful time with them.  They fell in love with the Asheville area.  In fact, my mom was ready to sell it all and move here!

Here are a few pics from the weekend...

What made me ever think that I should make Monroe's costume?  I was up pretty late last night putting this little owl outfit together.

And for what?  Walking around to about 6 or 7 houses!  Oh, well.  She sure looked adorable:)

I didn't end up making a costume for Keeks.  I just didn't have it in me.  She didn't seem too torn up over it, though.

Keeks and I are pretty tight.  She just loves me like crazy and that makes me so happy.  Whenever I look at her she smiles so big.  She has also started cooing!  I love the baby stage.  I can't believe how much she has grown up in the last few months. 

So anyway, I better get to bed.  I do want to mention that I am so happy to be married to the hottest 30 year old ever:)  I really like that Mark is 30 now!  I don't feel so much like I robbed the cradle.  We are both oldies but goodies now!  Happy Birthday, Handsome! 

Long time, no blog

Sorry for the lack of communication here.  Things have been pretty crazy and I have hardly been on the internet at all.  Not even Pinterest, and that's really saying something.

Just wanted to let you know that things are good and we are finally getting settled in our home!  I couldn't be happier.  We have also been treated with some visits from the fam.  Mark's parents were here this week, but left early this morning and my parents arrived this afternoon.  Yay!  I can honestly say that all of our visitors absolutely love North Carolina!  I, for one, agree.  So I would like to formally invite each of you to come see us!  I know you are going to LOVE it here.

I can't wait to show you pics of all of the projects I have been working on.  My biggest accomplishment from this week was painting and decorating our bedroom.  Before we moved, we decided it was time for new bedding.  I had gotten ours way back in Tulsa from West Elm and loved it, but it definitely needed to be retired.  My new color scheme for the bedroom is gray, white, and yellow.  We painted the room a light gray and I LOVE it!  (Don't worry, I had some help with the choosing.)   I guess any color would be better than the purple that was in the room when we got here.  

I also found the perfect bedding (duvet, sheets, pillows).  It looks shockingly similar to what I had before, duvet-wise, but it's white instead of natural.  It's very fresh and I absolutely love the new room.  The only problem is that I haven't been able to find ANY yellow accessories!  I have looked and looked.  I am really looking for a gray and yellow pillow and a yellow throw.  Please let me know if you see one.     Anyway, pictures are coming soon.

I feel like I have so much to share, but not enough hours in the day to blog about them!  Kuddos to you mamas who can make it happen.   I will be really trying to post more, I promise.

Here are a few pictures from this week.  We are vowing to take some pictures of my parents, too!

Well, sleep is calling my name.  Hope everyone is doing well.  Miss you!

The longest day

Yesterday had to be one of the longest I've had.  I was up early with the girls and then I jumped right into unpacking, organizing and putting things away.  If I wasn't doing one of those things, I was either feeding or holding a child. 

Rosie was extra needy and whiney yesterday, so that made it pretty stressful.  Also, Mark had work and then a meeting until after 9pm.  I was never so glad to have adult contact and I was never so tired when he walked in the door.  I ended up working until I had unpacked every box downstairs (not counting the garage).  Now, the stuff is not all put away, but its out of boxes, so I feel pretty good about that.

I was so exhausted when I climbed into bed last night and was so looking forward to a good night's sleep, but sadly that didn't happen.  Keeks was up quite a few times in the night and so was Monroe.  Of all nights!  Keeks had been sleeping from 9pm until 5:30am lately, so you can see why I was surprised to have to be up three times with her!

Mark had a seven o'clock meeting this morning and both girls woke up at 6:55.  I brought them both in bed with me where we rested until 7:45.  Then my day began again with breakfast prep for Rosie. 

I kind of feel like I am still asleep, but I'm pretty sure I'm not.  Who knows though, I could be a sleep blogger.  All I can say is, TGIF!

So good to be home

So, I am posting from my bed in our home!  It feels so good.  There is so much work to do, but I don't mind a bit. 

We don't get internet until Friday, so this is going to be short.  I'm not any good at typing on my phone.  Love u all and goodnight!

Pantry Planning

The house is OURS!  I couldn't be happier.  They got out much later than planned, but we were able to go over tonight and look everything over.  I'm so excited about moving in tomorrow!  Monroe loved her new room.  I bet she will like it a lot more when there is actually stuff inside:)

Our realtor was so sweet.  She brought me a new hard wood cleaning system and a gift card to Lowe's to get our paint.  She also got the girls some little things.  She was a very sweet little lady.  I would post pics, but I can't find my cord that hooks my camera to the computer.  Hopefully I'll find it soon.

Tonight we ate dinner at a little hot dog place called Dog Town in Mills River.  They had veggie dogs that were pretty great.  Monroe ate a whole veggie hot dog and an order of fries.  It's crazy to see that she's a big girl now!

So, I really wanted to be as organized as I possibly can be when we move into the new house.  I want to de-clutter and get rid of everything un-needed.  I just want to live simply!  I'm already planning all of the furniture that I'm going to try and sell on Craigslist!  I can't wait.

So anyway, I want everything from the closets to the pantry to be neat, organized and beautiful.  Beautiful pantry?  I know, but then I saw these pics on Pinterest...

 Source: Pinterest 

Source: Pinterest 

 Source: Pinterest 

Source: Pinterest  

Pretty amazing, huh?!  I'll have to take some before and after pics.  I have a feeling that my blog might have a lot of before and afters in the next few weeks/months/years.  Bare with me!  

Well, I better go and get to bed.  I think tomorrow is going to be a really long day!  

Put on Pause

Our realtor said yesterday that the old owners would be out of the house by noon and she would call me as soon as they were gone.  Well, it's 4 and still no call.  What a bummer.  I really wanted to go over and get a feel for the place without all of their stuff in it.  Hopefully, I will get the call soon.

Nothing to exciting happening over here.  I've just been doing laundry and cleaning the house.  I don't want Maria to have to do any cleaning when she gets home if I can help it.

I've learned that I don't want a puppy for a long, long time.  Macy, the Nudd's dog, is very sweet and cute, but I have to watch it like a hawk.  She has already eaten two binkies and anything else she can get her mouth on.  I was changing Kiki's diaper and when I reached down to get the diaper, it was gone.  I looked all over and finally found Macy enjoying it.  Then I went and got another diaper and by the time I got back, the wipes had disappeared.  Like I said, very cute, but I want nothing of it for awhile.  Monroe would take her home with her right now if she could.  She loves puppies!  I'm sure we will give in eventually, but I will need some time.

Mark has been bringing us lunch home from the hospital almost every day and I have learned that I love greens.  They really do them up great there.  Every day it's been a different flavor, but always very good.  Today he brought garlicky ones.  Very tasty and very good for you!  The South is definitely rubbing off on us.

Did I tell you we bought a kitchen table the other day?  We have our one table that we got when we first got married.

Very old picture, but I couldn't find another of the table.  

We've never lived in a place that has both a dining room and an eating area in the kitchen, so we've only ever needed one table.  Now we have both, so our old table will go in the dining room and we needed one for the kitchen.  It needed to be small and I preferred a pub style for the area.  We did some looking around and this is what we found.  We got different chairs, but I really think it will look good in the space.

Look what I made today (yes, I am BORED)...

I saw something kind of similar on Pinterest (my current obsession) and thought it would be fun.  As you probably guessed, they are important dates in our family.  I just posterized a wedding photo and added the numbers.  Very easy and I love how personal it is.  I think I may get it printed and frame it for our bedroom.  

Okay, well, I better run and fold some laundry.  Hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday.  Love to you!

So Close to Close

Today is the day!  The day we are set to close on our house.  We can't move in until Wednesday, but I couldn't be happier to be moving along in the process.  I really feel like things are looking up:)

We had a great Sunday.  After breakfast, we headed to a piece of land that Mark was interested in checking out.  He is very much interested in buying some land here for later in life.  I would love to retire here myself.  It is really an amazing area.  We then drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is a highway going through the mountains and is gorgeous this time of year.  People come from all over to drive it and see the changing leaves.  We definitely weren't the only ones who decided that would be a fun Sunday morning activity.  Everybody and their brother was there to enjoy the scenery!  It was so beautiful.

We took a lot of pictures!  I will have to post some later.

We didn't get home until later in the afternoon.  After Monroe napped, we went over to Mark's cousin, Elizabeth's house for dinner.  They just moved to NC, as well.  They live in the most beautiful setting I have ever seen.  It is just so lovely.  They are right on a little lake on rolling hills.

We ate dinner outside overlooking the lake and then chatted while the kids played.  It was getting dark, but Mark really wanted to try out their canoe.  We all packed up (they have three kids ages 3, 2 and 6 months) and headed down to the lake in the back of their truck.  Monroe was in hog heaven.  She thought it was pretty great to get to ride in the back.  Then we put the life jacket on her and you would have thought she won the lottery.  She loved it.  THEN, she got in the canoe and went around the lake with daddy and the other kids and her world was made.  She didn't want to get out when it was over.  It was really dark by that point, so we knew we needed to head back.  She wouldn't take her lifejacket off until right before we left their house!  It makes me a little sad that we don't have any land, but at least we have family and friends who are willing to share theirs!

In other Monroe news, she has started calling me Mom!  This is not sitting very well with me.  I am MOMMY or MOMMA!  I was feeling pretty bad until she started calling daddy, Mark:)  

Another thing that has made me pretty sad is that every time we leave Maria and Brandon's house to run errands, etc., she always asks, "We coming back?"  She's been moved around so much that she worries we aren't going to come back.  She adores their home.  I mean there's nothing you can't love about it.  It's gorgeous.  She might be a little let down when she sees our house:)  I feel so terrible that she doesn't feel settled.  I will be so happy for Wednesday!

Some good news is that Mark LOVES his job.  What a blessing!  I don't think there is anything better than knowing your spouse loves what he does.  In fact, I am literally grinning from ear to ear as I type this.  He really feels like he is learning a lot and really enjoys it!  So that's pretty awesome.  I'm loving my new job as well;)

Later tonight...


So we own a house again!!!  Yay!  I am so excited and can't wait to get started making it our home.  Closing was rather uneventful.  In fact, we don't even get the keys until tomorrow!

Tomorrow my job is to find us the perfect paint colors.  That should be fun, but hard.  I am notoriously known for choosing the worst paint colors.  In our Tulsa house,  I convinced Mark to paint our GINORMOUS living area the worst yellow color ever.  I envisioned a soft wheat color, but somehow came home with a bright garish yellow.  I accented the room in reds, so it totally looked like ketchup and mustard.  I always thought of McDonald's when I walked in the house.  After a few weeks, we ended up changing it to the softer yellow I had envisioned with paint color selection help from Mark's mom.  I felt horrible because, I'm not kidding, it was a big room to paint, but it really needed to be done.

In the same house, I painted our bathroom what was supposed to be a light green and ended up being this...

Let's all admit it, I don't have an eye for color, but I have really tried to do my research this time.  I will be looking for the perfect gray color.  It seems that it would be pretty hard to screw that up, but I wouldn't put it past me.

I'm considering this color...

I also like the "greige" colors...

Tonight, we went over to Mark's cousin's house again.  Their names are Elizabeth and David and they have the sweetest kiddos, Lauren, Matthew and MaryAnne.  We had a lovely dinner of potato soup, salad and bread ended with apple crisp.  It all really hit the spot.  The kids really enjoy each other, so it was so fun watching them play.

Now, I'm just hanging out on the couch watching "The Sing Off".  I think I will probably turn in early tonight.  Mark went to a movie with some friends, so it's just us girls and two of them are sleeping pretty soundly.

Just wanted to thank each of you for your thoughts and prayers.  I occasionally get emails and comments from some of you and they really mean a lot.  It is so nice to know that I have such a wonderful group of friends/family/bloggers.  Love to you!

Rant.

Okay, so what part of Mother's Room, makes you think that you should hang out in there men?  This drives me nuts!  I have experienced a lot of different Mother's Rooms in the last few weeks and I now realize how important a good mother's room is to me.  I would have a hard time joining a church that didn't have a good one.

I have had some of the weirdest experiences in them lately.  At one church there was just a man sitting in there when I went in to nurse McKinley.  How awkward!  Luckily, he ended up leaving, but why was he there in the first place?  At another Church there was a lady with her two kids that were probably 10 and 12 years old.  Why did she need a mother's room, I ask?!  The kids were playing and being so loud.  At another church there were two older women that were taking two of the rockers and just chatting away like they were at a coffee shop.   At the church we attended today, I entered the mother's room and found that it was half mother's room, half overflow room.  There was an area for nursing mothers with a comfy rocker and a television to transmit the church service.  There was a curtain to separate it from the overflow area and give a mother privacy.  The overflow area had about 9 metals chairs set up.  When I walked in there was a lady and a man inside.  They each had  two children (I would say 5 or 6 years old) and were letting them play/yell/run.  The lady looked at me and my baby and said, "I took the comfy chair" and then proceeded to get up and shut the curtain blocking me into the overflow area and the metal chairs to nurse.  I couldn't even see the tv that had the church service playing.  They set and talked away about garage sales in the area while their kids played through all of church.

Why do I have my panties in such a wad?  I don't really know, but this whole thing just really aggravates me.  I just want to go in a quiet/semi dark room to feed my baby.  That's what Mother's Rooms are for, right?  Not a place for loud kids to play, older women to catch up, or men to sit and lurk!  

I have been to some phenomenal ones.  I loved Hinsdale Church's.   There was a sign on the door that read "For Nursing Mother's ONLY".  It was nice and dark and had the most amazing rockers.  It was soothing for baby and for mommy and allowed you to enjoy the church service at the same time.  Fletcher Church (the one we are really considering) has a similar set up.  So anyway, please think about this for your church.  I beg of you to make a nice soothing place for mothers.  It really means a lot to us and for myself, has become a deal breaker when choosing a church.  

Sorry about that rant!  Today actually was a great day.  We visited Mount Pisgah Church.  We went to see one of Mark's parent's friends, The Fullers.  We ate lunch with them after church.  It was nice to meet them.  He works at the hospital with Mark and she is a teacher at the school.  We then headed home and took quick naps and fed Keeks.  We then hopped in the car for a Sabbath Afternoon drive.  We went to the Dupont State Park.  It was BEAUTIFUL.  It's leaf season here and I can totally see why people come from all over the world to see it.  I really hope that the trees don't lose all of their leave before our parents come to visit.  I feel so lucky that we live so close to this beauty.  It's the perfect place to experience the fall season.

We didn't get back into town until after dark and we were all pretty hungry.  We decided to stop at our favorite restaurant here in the area, Papas and Beer.  Don't let the name throw you.  It's a little Mexican place and is know all over town for it's amazing food.  It is sooooooo good.  If any of you come to visit us, we will definitely take you there.  You will LOVE it, I can assure you.  Monroe really loves it there.  She's on a real chips and salsa (she calls it sauce) kick.  She can eat a whole basket of chips and salsa if you don't stop her!  

Well, I better head off here.  I want to cuddle with my hubby.  Love you all!  

House Confusion

I'm feeling pretty bad.  Poor Monroe will have been in 7 different houses/places to stay in less than a month.  I think she's getting pretty confused.  I'm sure she thinks that every place is home, and then we pack up and leave.  Hopefully this whole process hasn't completely scarred her.  At least we will be HOME soon!

Yesterday we went to some new friends house, the Wells, for dinner.  We met them when we came a few months ago, so it was fun to hang out with them again.  They live in the same neighborhood as the Nudd's and have three kiddos.  Monroe had a blast playing with their daughter (she's probably about 7).  They played dolls and she thought it was the best thing ever.  It was very cute to see her try and act like a "big girl".

Both of the kids did great last night.  It was so nice for them to have their own spaces.  The Nudd's ended up leaving this morning instead of last night.  It was nice because we got to spend a little quality time with them before they left.  We found out that they love the same show that Mark and I love, The Mentalist.  The title sounds like a weird show, but it is really quite good.  It was fun watching it with friends.

Today has been pretty low key.  Done a ton of laundry.  I will never take that for granted again.  I totally didn't realize how dirty two little girls can make clothes.  It is so nice to be able to just throw it in the wash. So thankful.

I hate that I am so bad at doing hair.  I can never make it look like it does the day I get it cut.  It just never looks the same.  It doesn't help that I have ZERO of the tools that she used to do it.  Everything is with my stuff in storage.  I don't have my round brush, my good blow dryer, root lifter, or my straightener.  Hopefully, I will get the hang of it soon.

I think I've decided that I want to start collecting vintage tea cups.  You may remember that I collect soup tureens, but they take up A LOT of space and I don't think I have room for any more.  I saw this picture (see below) and I fell in love.  Don't they have so much character?!  So far I don't even have one tea cup.  I better get started!

I think I am going to cook tonight!  I haven't cooked in FOREVER!  I've really missed it.  Mark said he was craving soup, so I need to figure out which one to make.  I also think I might make this...

Orange Spice Pumpkin Bread!  It is amazing.   A friend of ours made it the other night and I just love it.  The recipe is from Williams-Sonoma.  I really love Williams-Sonoma.  On my wish list right now from them is this.  It's a Vegetable Chop and Measurer.  It really is so helpful and works great.  I used one last weekend at a friends house and feel that it is a must for every kitchen.  If you hate chopping onions like I do, you need to get it.  

Well, I think I'm going to take a little nap.  Have a great afternoon.  Love to you all!

Light at the end of the tunnel

Well, question answered, we are sticking with house number one.  Besides pricing issues, the house had two mortgages on it which just would have complicated the sale.  I'm a little sad, but also kind of relieved because I know that the other house wasn't the right one for us right now.  I'm super excited to get in our house, though.  Our closing date is set for the 17th (in order to keep our interest rate), but we can't move in until the 19th.  Kind of a bummer, but at least I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have to admit, I was at my wits end yesterday morning.  The night had been horrible.  Both Rosie and Kiki didn't sleep, which means I didn't sleep.  I felt out of control and I ended up breaking down and crying.  It was all so overwhelming.  I just gave it all to God (the girls, current living situation, houses) and let me tell you, it ended up being a great day.  And last night was even better.  Mark had the brilliant idea of putting Monroe in her pack-n-play instead of in the bed.  We also really tried to wear her out yesterday.  We went to the gym and played basketball with her and really got her to run.  It all worked and she was asleep by nine.  Much better than eleven!

I realized that we were all getting pretty bored here in the hotel.  It has been raining here for the last few days and that gives us zero to do. I found a fun blog that had a list of fun things to do with toddlers.  Some of them were a little over Rosie's head, but some were perfect.  So far today, we've played with sock puppets, brushed each other's teeth (don't recommend this one), played peek-a-boo, raced cars, piggy back rides, and jumped from the couch onto pillows.  She loved it and it helped me, too.

Yesterday, we received something pretty great in the mail...a care package from Mom Murrill.  It totally reminded me of high school and college when my mom used to send me care packages full of goodies.  This box was full of treats.  Everything from toy cars to race to all of the stuff to make caramel apples.  It was such a breath of fresh air!  Thanks mom!  It made being here more bearable! Monroe LOVED it.  She kept saying, "From Memaw!"

I wanted to mention something pretty funny that Monroe has started doing.  If she asks for something and I tell her no, she looks at me with this really cute face, bats her eyes, turns her head to the side and says in a sweet little voice, "Just one, mommy?  Just one?"  Oh, it's so hard to say not to give in, but I'm usually able to resist.  

I have some pretty big news...this is our last night in the hotel!!!   Our friends, the Nudd's, are headed to Chicago to visit Mike and Melissa and have offered their house to us while they are gone!  We will be there until we close.  What a relief.  It will be so nice to be in a house again and it will also save us about $400!  Thank you, thank you!!!

Mark told Ronnie that we would be leaving and he really got sad.  He also surprised us with a big bag of apples.  Isn't that so sweet?  He told Mark that we better come back and see him!  I've grown pretty attached to the housekeeping ladies, as well.  I'm really going to miss them...but not enough to stick around.

Our Parting Gift from Ronnie 

I almost forgot to mention...I got my hair cut tonight.  I went a little nuts, but I needed something easy.  My hair hasn't been the same since my pregnancies, so I knew I needed to start over.  I've NEVER had my hair this short.  I figure that hair grows if I end up hating it.  

 All of the hair

The results

So anyway, that's what's going on over here.  In other news, my niece Vivian "Vivi" was just voted Lee Elementary's Student Body President.  Here are a few pics of her.  The first is her "mixing it up" for her speech (with help from her daddy) and the second is her with some of the signs that my mom, brother and nephew made.  Pretty cool!  Congrats, Vivian!  We are so proud.

Well, I better head to bed.  I'm very sleepy.  Love ya! 

My Two Houses

I took a bath tonight.  I haven't had a bath in I don't know how long, but it was one of those days.  I needed some time to be alone with my thoughts and just relax.  Now granted it only lasted about 7 minutes, because I could hear Kiki getting pretty angry and knew she was probably still hungry, but it was wonderful no matter how short.

While I was relaxing I noticed the water wasn't warm enough for my liking.  If you know me, you know that I always come out of a shower with red marks from the heat.  I love me some hot water!  So anyway, I turned up the heat.  I didn't really notice it heating up at all.  Then I slowly started feeling the hot and warm water mixing.  I could almost see it happening.  For some reason, this made me think of the object lesson of the frog in water.  If you put it in a pot of cool water and slowly warm it up to boiling, it will have grown so content that it will never notice and will end up being boiled to death, never even realizing it could have jumped out to safety.  I think it was a frog...I could be getting confused with the frog churning milk into butter.   No matter, which animal got boiled to death isn't really the point. This story made me think.  It's easy to get so content in life.  So content with everything that you don't even realize that you aren't depending 100% on God.  You don't even feel Satan creeping in.

Today was kind of a stressful day.  A day where I said to myself, "I really need you right now, God."  After I said it, I got really ashamed, because, I really need him every day, all of the time.  Not just when things get tough or hard to figure out.  I really am striving to make Him my everyday priority.  To put Him first and not wait until things get tense and I don't know what else to do.  Now when I read back over this, I don't really know how the frog story really goes with this, but somehow in my head it did.

So, you may be wondering, "What's been so stressful today, Stephanie?"  Well, I hate to admit this, but we found a different house we really like.  I know, why were we even looking?  I don't know!!!  But we found it and we couldn't get it out of our heads.  It has 1.44 acres and has the most amazing play area in the backyard for kids.  We ended up telling our realtor about it and she took us this afternoon to look at it.  Well, we really loved it inside, as well.  It needs a little updating here and there, but all in all it's pretty perfect.  You may remember that we are supposed to close on our other house next week!  I love the other house.  There is nothing that needs to be done with it, but I hate the fact that we are so close to our neighbors.  Will I be happy in that house?  Of course, but we had to see about this other house.

It is a short sale and has been on the market for quite awhile, so the sellers are very motivated.  That does mean that the bank has to give it's approval on any offer.  At this point, the asking price is way above our price range, but since they are so motivated our realtor thought there is a chance they might accept a low ball offer.  We decided to continue on with our current contract (because we still love the first house), but put a majorly low offer on the other house.  If, for some reason, the owners and the bank accept the offer, we know it was supposed to happen.  If not, we tried.  There are some other things that will need to come together, as well, but they are all technical and I don't feeling like typing that much tonight.  So anyway, we put it all in God's hands and we will see what's going to happen in the next few days.

We will probably end up losing a few thousand dollars in the process if we break the other contract, so that will be a big bummer.  Nobody loves losing money, especially if it's in the thousands.  So anyway, there's a lot to consider and I'm just plain stressed about it.  Also, my two wailing little girls who have had about enough of living in one room didn't help either.

Here are a few pics of the house. They aren't great.

So back to my epiphany in the bath.  I hate that days like this are the days that I realize how much I need God.  I read a quote by Max Lucado that really hit me today, "A woman's heart should be so hidden in God's that a man should have to seek Him, just to find her."  I want that for my life and for my relationship with God.  I don't want to be a fair weather friend, but have a relationship so close that it's hard to tell us apart:).

Please keep this situation in your prayers.  The good thing is that we will definitely be happy no matter where we are as long as we've got our little family.  We are so blessed and if finding the right house is the biggest problem we have, we are doing okay:)

Love you all!

Hotel Living

There's nothing better than waking up to a mug (or in my case a styrofoam cup) of hot choffee.  Yes, I said choffee.  It's my newest favorite thing.  I read about it on another blog and I just love it.  To have your own steaming cup, pour hot chocolate powder into a cup and add coffee instead of water.  I know... I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to my recipe complexity.  I actually went a little rogue and made a slight variation on the recipe and used decaf instead of regular, so I don't elongate my already sleepless nights.  If you are looking for a new exciting drink for your mornings, I would definitely give Choffee a try.

We got some pretty bad news yesterday.  The sellers are pushing back our close date a few days.  This means more time in the hotel:(.   It will also change our interest rate, as it is only locked in for 30 days.   This could mean its higher or lower.  We are praying for a lower rate!

This news didn't hit me very well.  This may come as a shock to you, but I haven't loved living in the hotel.  My goal was to make it until next Friday.  I kept pumping myself up about it and telling myself that I only had one more week.  Now they are tacking on 4 more days and that really screws up our whole plan.  We were going to use the weekend to get everything painted. Ugh.  If you haven't already, please send up a few prayers for the Murrill family.  This whole process is really testing our patience.  

I have to admit, there are a few good things about living in a hotel.  We do have maid service and free breakfasts.  But the very best thing about hotel living is our new friend, Ronnie.  He is the front desk guy.  I like to consider him our doorman.  He's taken a real interest in our little family and is just adorable.  He's in his early twenties and came to Asheville because of the openness of the community for him and his partner.  He always greets us and is so helpful.  This morning, Mark let me sleep in and took the girls to breakfast (because I was up sporadically from 2am am until 5 am with the Keekster ).  At 10am, I ran out to the breakfast area to get a spoon and I ran into Ronnie.  He mentioned how glad he was that I had gotten a chance to sleep in this morning.   Well, true to their word here at Mountain Inn, breakfast is over at 10 am and they had already put everything away, including the spoons.  I had to ask the breakfast lady if I could have one.  On my way back to my room, I ran into Ronnie again.  He realized that breakfast had been put away and whispered, if there is anything you want I can sneak and get it for you, no problem.  How sweet is he?!   He also gives us the best advice on finding great NC spots (waterfalls, hiking. etc.).  He knows the area well.  Every time we leave or come home (I can't believe I just typed home) and Ronnie is at the front desk, Monroe says, "How's it going, Ronnie?!".  He just eats it up.  So, yeah, there are some major perks with living here.

Monroe is going through a rough patch when it comes to acting up.  I think that the close quarters has affected us all.  She gets very frustrated, very easily.  She is constantly throwing little tiny tantrums, when I tell her not to do something.  I try and nip them in the bud right away with time outs, but I really don't think they are helping or making any kind of an impact.  Does anyone have any sage advice on what might work?  I know that having her own space again and a better sleep schedule (she hasn't been falling asleep until ten!).

Well, I better go and get this day started.  It may not seem it from this post, but I'm trying to remain very upbeat and positive.  The weather is AMAZING here, so we are going to try and get out.  Have a wonderful day!!

The post where I make ridiculous demands of people

I've explained before how hard it was to leave the people of Chicago.  We have such fabulous family and friends there.  Before I left, I begged many of my friends that they needed to either start blogging or keep their blogs up-to-date.

What a treat to see that someone actually heeded my request.  My beautiful friend, Kelsey, sent me an email a few days ago letting me know about her new blog!  Also, my equally beautiful sis-in-law, Melissa, has updated her blog (although her latest post made me cry).

So anyway, I was up late last night to breastfeed (and because I couldn't sleep due to watching a show called Infested, about families that have gone through various infestations of pests in their homes--snakes, mice, bedbugs, ants, etc...It was terrifying), and I started thinking about all of the people that I love and how I wished I had more time to talk with them.  Then I realized that these people need to blog!  Here's where I start making demands...

I am still waiting on an email from my lovely friend Nicole to let me know that she is ready to unveil her blog!  Nicole, you are just going to have to let go of perfect writing.  As you can tell, I sure did:)  You couldn't write something not wonderful if you tried.  You are so talented and I have to know what E is up to.  

Jenn, you need to start, too!  I would love to hear all about your running journey and to know what's going on with Will and Ella.

Kaylee Elizabeth, you must start blogging!  You are more than halfway through growing Kiki's bestie and I haven't seen even one picture of that belly of yours.  You could be the J.Lo of blogging because you are such a triple threat--you are an amazing writer, you are hilarious and you are a photographer.  Please consider it!

Andrea, you do have a baby blog, but you RARELY update.  I need more pics!  I have to know more about what you, Carlos and baby girl A are up to.  

Ash, you would have an amazing blog.  You are so creative and I'm sure you have a ton of funny teaching stories.  You could post all of the before and afters of the furniture you refurbish!  Oh, and wouldn't Jaime's be a fun blog to read?!!!

While I'm at it, Mom, you and our Tulsa ladies (Vicki and the Lori's) need to start blogging.  I know those posts would be so fun, hilarious and entertaining.  I miss Tulsa so much and would love to know how everyone is doing there.   Stephen and Michelle at least have blogs, although Stephen has fallen off the face of the blogging earth.

Mom Murrill and Grandma Murrill, you need to do blogs, too!  Mom M., I would love to hear what life is like now that you are living the life of a housewife!  What a transition you have made in the last few months and it would be fun to read about:)  Grandma Murrill, you have such wisdom and recipes to share!  A blog would be the perfect avenue!

Allison, I doubt you will read this, but just in case, I would LOVE to hear what the life of a hot young principal is like!  Another brilliant writer that I would so enjoy reading.

Kenneth, you are my fair weather reader, but I so need you to write a blog.  A little bird told me that you can write "books" if you want to, so lets channel that to a satirical blog that keeps me laughing.  Get to it!

And last, but certainly NOT least, my man Mark really needs to just take the plunge and get his blog started.  He's got a lot of great ideas, but he needs to be like Nike and just do it!

I must give props to all of my lovelies that do blog.  Tasha, I so appreciate all of your updates and Hanne, you are the most eloquent of mommies.  Mellie, I love learning more about Mei Li.  We now need to work on Mags to start up!

I'm also thankful for the ladies that I've gotten to know more through the blogging world.  Angie, Kate, and Anca, you are all so talented and wonderful mommies!

So anyway, I can't wait to read all of your blogs:)  Okay, I totally understand that you are busy and probably don't have a whole lot of extra time for blogging, but I can assure you it is very therapeutic and also is a great way to keep track of your life.  It's really fun to look back and see what you were doing three years ago.  I like to think that my girls will enjoy reading mine someday.  It's kind of like my legacy.   Go start yours!

Falling into Fall

So, Rosie has had a rough few days/nights and most of the roughness involves falls.  We went to Barnes and Noble yesterday to look at books with some friends and she ended up tripping while coming down the stairs of the little stage in the kid's area and hitting her mouth on a wooden bench.  Her teeth made deep gashes in the inside of her lip and there was A LOT of blood.  I felt so bad because you could tell she was in a lot of pain.

Then, last night, she fell out of bed.  I found her crying in a little heap on the floor.  Poor little thing, can't catch a break.  Hopefully, things will start going her way soon.

I breastfeed Kiki in Rosie's room area at night.  She sleeps right through it and that way I don't wake Mark up.  Last night I thoroughly enjoyed watching Rosie sleep.  I've never seen anything like it.  In the 40 minutes I was there, she went from the top of the bed, to the bottom and even spent time on both sides.  She was on her stomach, then on her back.  At times she was in the fetal position and other times she was as stiff as a board.  My favorite was when she put her butt in the air.  She's quite the sleeper.  She also does some sleep talking.  I distinctly heard something about birthdays and then she said in kind of a sing-songy voice, "poopoo".  She's pretty hilarious.

Life in the hotel room is getting more and more overwhelming.  I swear the walls are closing in:)  We have had the hardest time getting Rosie to sleep at night.   Tonight for example, we put her in bed at 8:30, but for the next hour she cried, talked, sang & whined.  Two pieces of bread later and I can still hear her talking in there.  It's 10pm!!!  We really need our house and soon!!!

It's been hard not to be able to do anything crafty.  I found myself REALLY needing some sort of creative outlet.  I finally ran to the store last night and got some yarn so that I could do a little crocheting.  It feels good to do something productive in my free time.  It will be nice to be able to have all of my supplies and my sewing machine back.  Did I mention I'm ready to close on our house? ;)

Today, Mark brought us lunch from the hospital.  I have to say, it was amazing.  It was a total Thanksgiving feast...Dinner Roast (my favorite), mashed potatoes (my other favorite), green bean casserole, fresh steamed veggies, stuffing and sweet potatoes.   I love living in the South!  The food is totally up my alley.  Mark couldn't be happier because he can get his beloved sweet tea.  You can also find the "popcorn of the south", fried okra, everywhere.  Here at the hotel breakfast, they have little packets of "just add water" buttered grits instead of packets of oatmeal.  It's pretty funny.

I apologize for the randomness of this entry.  I have written little bits throughout the night and I know it doesn't quite flow very well.

I will leave you with a few pics of Keeks that I took today.  She's pretty solemn in them, but she has started giving us some smiles.  She especially loves to smile at her big sissy!

What to be or not to be...that is my question!

I'm trying to come up with a cute idea for halloween costumes for the girls.  I've mentioned before that I'm not into Halloween, but I love a good fall festival.  I thought I would try to make them again this year, unless I find something super cute to buy.  This was Monroe the last two years...

Our Sweet Pea

Fifties Girlie 

Here are a few of my ideas...

Wizard of Oz

Monroe has those shoes so I thought making a little Dorothy dress would be pretty easy.  

I thought that McKinley could be the scarecrow.

Owls 

Chickens 

Princess Leia (just because those buns are so cute)

I also don't know when I will be able to make them.  I can see this being a night before project.  At this point I am still living in a hotel and I have no idea where my sewing machine is. Well, I guess I do know.  It's in a box in a storage facility in Asheville.  Hopefully I will get them done in time!  

Also, I'm not sure why the font got small all of a sudden.  It looks normal here, but when I go to publish it, it's tiny.  Sorry about that!