Hurricane Time!!

We've been home from work the last two days due to Hurricane Sandy sweeping the east coast. Despite lots of anticipation and stress by me until I had the requisite 4 cases of water and enough food to get us through a week without power, we lost power for only a few hours last night as the worst of the storm hit our area. Lots of rain and wind, but not too much damage out here. Pretty lucky.  It was fun (and maybe a little stressful...) to have family time for a really LONG weekend.  Monday we were pretty cooped up but today we were able to get out a little which was nice.  Plus I got a lot of cleaning and a project done. And made a pie. YAY!!!

 Harrison and I got all bundled up and went for a walk in the CRAZY weather

 Finished some pictures for the dining room that I've been working on FOREVER

Apple pie with the apples we picked a couple of weeks ago. Looks wonky due to my lack of real pie plate :)

Cupcakes for Carter

On Sunday we had some great neighbor friends who were nice enough to come over despite the mounting hurricane and share cupcakes with us for Carter's birthday. We love that four families from our ward, each with a toddler and a baby (carter was the first to turn one), all live in same community :) Super fun.

 Carter was SO sad that daddy wouldn't let her grab the candle-haha--sorry we won't let you burn yourself, child.

 hmm.....frosting feels funny....

 OOH! Look how the cake squishes between my fingers

 FUN! (eat it? what? well, that peanut butter frosting was good...lucky I'm not allergic..)

 All done!

 No more pictures please! Let me down!

Harrison adelaide and alxed enjoy their cupcakes

Birthday Fun

On Carter's actual b day we kept things pretty low key. She opened her present in the morning and then  I tried to have 'Baby Friendly' food for dinner--which included gnocchi, mini pizzas, green beans, and veggie sticks (some of carter's favorites, with the exception of the green beans..).  Harrison made her a cute card the day before and wrote "happy birthday carter" on it.  

 I decided to go crazy and let carter unroll some toilet paper. Oh the fun to be had when you are one.

 We went to the park and Harrison and his friends played in the leaves

 After a yummy dinner

One year ago today

This little one came along and made our family complete (for now anyway). Happy Happy Birthday baby Carter Loa. We love your smile, giggles, mood swings, and fun personality. At one year old Carter loves to cruise around, climb on top of things, and LOVES to "walk" holding on to mommy or daddy's fingers.  Her favorite foods are frozen blueberries, veggie sticks, shredded cheese, noodles, and whole strawberries.  She says "dada" very clearly and also says some version of "hi" when she waves at people.  I think we're pretty close to "bottle" as well. No mama yet. Go figure. She is a bit of a daddy's girl right now and gets ecstatic when he gets home and wants no one else to get her out of her carseat after we pick daddy up at the metro.  She also loves to play with her big brother. Especially loves him chasing her around.  Her favorite toys are those that make noises. Baby laptop, xylophone, activity table. She also loves blocks. And toilet paper rolls and anything that can make a mess. She also loves a game where she throws something down and laughs a lot. And bounces  a ball. Such a cutie pie.  Here's a look back over the last year:

                                    

Nashville? Or not.

(cows by the side of the road in Spring Hill, Tennessee)


A little update on us. When we lost our second nanny after Carter was born we decided that managing two kids and finding consistent, affordable childcare was too much and made a goal for me to stay home. We didn't have the money to make it happen right away so we hired someone else. And she quit for personal reasons. After four days. That affirmed the goal for us.  Obviously.  We hired someone else who we knew could only stay until the end of the year hoping that we could find a cheaper place to live (in our out of VA) to do it on one income or that Cory could find a better job. Over the summer Cory's former boss at Nat Geo got a job for a company in Nashville and told Cory he should come out. They talked back and forth and Cory ended up interviewing a bunch of times.  We went out there over conference weekend and really liked it. Nice people, beautiful scenery, you can get a big house for the price of a tiny condo in the ghetto here, etc.  Plus when you go to restaurants they give you to go cups of diet coke without you even asking (obviously this is huge when deciding where to live, right??). Score.  Cory had an in person interview while we were there and things went well. It was pretty much a sure thing, just a matter of when they wanted us to move and whether they would meet our requested salary.  We came back and impatiently waited for the job offer......

After some more back and forth this week they came back and said that because the position they were considering Cory for wasn't number one on their priority hiring list they can't hire him right now.  So basically now we're looking at next year, if at all.  Bummer.  In this whole process over the last few months I've certainly had reservations about leaving our friends, our fantastic neighborhood, Harrison's great preschool, the ward where I don't have a calling in primary (KIDDING :) I loved all four years of being a primary teacher...), and all that the DC area has to offer for kids.  I've contemplated where the best place to raise a family is.  This area is a rat race in so many ways and you have to make a ton more money then we do to be really "comfortable" here, but it has lots of diversity, educated people, excellent schools, history, and proximity to a lot of fun stuff.  Cory also felt some sadness at the prospect of leaving a job he loves that allows him to do important work in his field (but that just doesn't pay him quite what he's worth).  Despite all of this though we thought Nashville was a good idea because it would allow me to be at home.  I'm not happy at my job (it's easy, it's flexible, it's very stable and I'm grateful for it, it's just not FUN).  I miss the kids (they're CUTE) and I want to be in the details of their day to day lives and activities.  I'm very lucky to get to spend much more time with my kids then working parents but that also means I get up WAY too early and have to cram a whole lot of cleaning and "household management" into those few hours as well.

So there you go.  We wanted something and didn't get it.  I'm a sad about it but I know it's for the best. We've prayed for guidance in this process and I know we have it.  We (I) just need to be patient. PATIENT. With faith that it will work out even better then we hoped.  And enjoy living in a wonderful place with good jobs and nice kids and lots of fun to be had.  That's not so hard, right?

Curls

Is there something I can slip in her formula to please make them stay forever?

Traditions-Homestead Farms

                                     
We went to Homestead Farms for the 3rd straight year on Saturday (can't believe we've lived here long enough for that). It was a beautiful day and lots of fun. Apple picking was nearly over but we managed to get enough for a pie.  Which I'm excited about. Per Harrison, we got four pumpkins, one for each of us. Of course, Harrison's favorite part of the day was climbing in the hay.  I love all the beautiful places to visit out here.