An Extended Stay in the Northeast

Never in a million years would I have thought that New Jersey would be my home for a long time. Way back in May, Pete received a promotion to come work at the home office. It is a temporary position that is required to move along. So great! We move to New Jersey thinking that it will be pretty temporary.....six months to a year or so. We will have lots of fun. See lots of things. Make the best of it. Along comes a DM position for NYC and New Jersey......and we are interested in it!?!? Yes, that is right! Pete applied for the position, was offered the job, and has accepted it!

Ok, so why will staying in NJ be great? I have to come up with some reasons.

1. It is against the law to pump your own gas in NJ......Full Service every time!!!

(These are in no particular order, but not having to pump my own gas when it is FREEZING outside is pretty darn great! So it might really be reason number one!)

2. We live very close to our great friends Pete and Jami.

3. We do not have such a huge move ahead of us. We are hoping to find a home very close to where we live now.

4. We already have friends here.

5. I can take my time working through my To Do List.

6. We can always go to the Army-Navy game.

7. We live close to some REALLY GREAT PLACES. Hopefully we will have LOTS OF VISITORS. (Did you catch my hint?)

8. Umm.....ok, I am having a hard time coming up with any more!

The good news is that we are Texans through and through. I WILL make sure that my girls say "y'all" and not "u's guys"! And WE'LL BE BACK! Texas will always be our home. We are determined to get back one day. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy our time here. We will look forward to having lots of visitors. And we'll make more friends and get to know the ones we have now even better.

And I am so happy for Pete! He is doing exactly what he wants to do..........next to playing in the PGA!

Please Touch

We made it to Philly this past weekend. A friend of mine told me about the Please Touch Museum so we decided to try it out. It was ok. I think it would have definitely been better if we had gone during the week and not a weekend. It was very crowded and there are weird people in Philly!!!  We also stopped and had lunch. I had my very first cheesesteak.....I tried to order the chicken cheesesteak-fearing what all those calories and fat grams would do to me. But the waitress and my mom and Pete were like, "You are silly! You are in Philadelphia! You better get the cheesesteak!" So I had my first cheesesteak at Mama's Pizzeria. It was close to the museum and rated at one of the best. It was good...and greasy.

Shopping at the museum.

A guitar player like her daddy.

Yes, Tori always insist on wearing a headband when she has piggie tails. And it is usually this beautiful yellow one that goes with the Belle princess dress.

 

Another check off my To Do List!

My Favorite Baby Item

Here is my sweet baby girl in her mei tai carrier. I have not worn her in months, but I had to get it out this past week when she was sick. She LOVED being in it just as she had when she was younger. She has tears in her eyes because I had to put her down to wrap it around my waist. This was the first day of her being sick and I could not put her down without her screaming. Doesn't she just look miserable? Poor Baby! She did not want her daddy. She did not want my mom. She did not want her sisters. All she wanted was me! So the only way I could get anything done was to wear her. I love this thing! Mine is a Doodlebug. Unfortunately, the Doodlebug lady is no longer making them. I recently bought a Baby Hawk for my friend Sammy. This carrier is definitely a must for moms with more than one child, but I would have loved to have had one even with my first. It is definitely my favorite baby item......oh, and the paci. The paci is definitely up there with the mei tai! I am so lucky that all my girls took a pacifier!

Another Snow Day

It snowed so much that even Pete stayed home from work!
We got out the sleds and spent some time outside playing. There was so much snow! We got about 7 inches! Everyone except Kate and I are over the sickness....but she was throwing a big fit about wanting to go out in the snow with everyone else so I let her. I know, BAD MOMMY! She did not have any fever today, just not back to herself. But honestly, she was only out for maybe 5 minutes. I spent more time getting her dress than she spent outside.

Sickness

That is all that is going on around here....a bunch of sickness! Alli caught the bug first. Tori was next. Then I got it and now Katie. Nothing is worse than seeing your babies sick! Hopefully my mom and Pete wont get it! I feel like I really haven't been able to enjoy my mom being here. But I am so glad that she is here to help take care of these sick kiddos. We were planning on driving into Philly this weekend. So hopefully my next post will be of us having a good time in Philly. I am so tired of being in the house!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is not only Valentine's Day, but it is also Alli's 100th day of school. Yay! Because I can not wait until kindergarten is over! Half day kinder makes my daily life a bit hectic. She had to wear something with 100 of something on it. So we made a shirt with 100 hearts. Alli brought home her 100th day of school work. They were asked to complete the following sentences:

1. If I could eat 100 of something it would be     cotton candy.

2. If I had $100 I would buy     make-up.  GO FIGURE! Boy, am I going to have my hands full with this girl!

She is also showing off her new Webkinz that she got for Valentine's Day.

We have been getting a little bit of snow here. And the other day it snowed a lot! Thank goodness! We were finally able to use our sleds. It was so much fun! I have never done that before and the girls and I really had a great time. Alli and I got to go to the really big hill while my mom came back inside with the younger two. Alli wanted to go down the steepest hill.....I wasn't sure at first, but we did and it was so fun.

 

 

You can't really see us, but that is Tori and me....nice trees though, right? We Texans really appreciate the big trees around here.

The girls are really loving having MoMo here and so am I!

I have been TAGGED!

Ok- so here are six random thoughts/quirks/habits about me.

Ummm....what shall I say??

1. I avoid conflict. I do not like to argue. I will choose to keep my opinions to myself just for the sake of not arguing.

2. I HAVE TO wash my body twice when I shower. Once with regular bar soap and once with a bath wash from Bath and Body Works. And when I get out of the shower, I ALWAYS use at least two kinds of lotion, a moisturizing one and one from Bath and Body. This is probably the only quirky thing about me.....I think?

3. I use to be a neat freak. My good friend Jami was recently up here visiting. I spent a lot of time with Jami before I had children. I was ready to walk out the door and all of the breakfast dishes were still on the table. Jami reminded me that I use to not be able to  leave the house until everything was put in its place. Well, that all went away after the third baby....or maybe it was the first baby! I think I would go crazy if I tried to put everything away before I left the house. There is just never enough time! And I am so happy that I can now leave my house and not be bothered by the fact that I left dirty dishes in the sink.

4. When I am at home, which is pretty much everyday, I eat all day long......and this is why I do not ALLOW sweets in the house! My will power is GONE!

5. I drink a venti size coffee every morning. I love my morning coffee. I only brew Starbucks coffee and I have to buy it at Starbucks....it is not as good when bought from the grocery store.

6. I love working out. I started exercising when I was 18 years old and haven't stopped. I am very grouchy when I miss a workout. Working out makes my days run smoother, makes me a better mommy and a better wife.

Ok- so now I tag Rachael, Shana and Sammy- aka Shannan. Sammy I know you JUST had a baby, but when you are awake at 3am feeding your precious baby, this will give you something to think about...instead of your sore nipples.

Thanks for the tag Laura!

An Early Valentine's Date

Pete and I took full advantage of my mom being here and went to NYC. My mom got here on Friday and we left Saturday afternoon for the city. With all of Pete's Marriot points, we were able to stay at the Marriot Marquis at Times Square in a suite on the 45th floor FOR FREE!!! It was so nice to just walk around and pop in and out of stores. We ate at a Sushi Bar for lunch and at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped in a deli that I noticed on our way out. They had a display of delicious looking cheesecake in the window. We bought a slice to take back to the hotel. I LOVE eating dessert in my pj's and in bed! And, let me tell you, the cheesecake tasted even better than it looked!! We chose the Toffee Heath Bar Cheesecake, $10 for one slice! But worth every dollar....at least last night it was. Now, of course, I feel a bit guilty for indulging...I am sure I ate more than Pete!

view from our room.....kind of scary being so high up!

And me in Times Square....yay, I get to check something off my To Do List! I just LOVE checking things off my To Do List!

Mommy Love

I am so excited for one of my very best friends, Sammy!! She is a mommy today! The baby that she has wanted and tried for for the past 3 years made his appearance into this world early this morning. I don't think I have ever been happier for one of my girlfriends!!

Here is Jacob Henry.

Isn't he precious! He weighed 7lbs 2oz and is 19 1/2 inches long.

I just LOVE newborn babies!

The Girls Love.....

I "interviewed" the girls so I could share what they love.

Alli Loves- glazed doughnuts, hanging out with her friends and her sisters (so funny that she says "hanging out"! Hello! You are 5! You play! You don't "hang out"!!), potato chips and Doritos, my MoMo, my mommy and daddy, my cousins, the beach, my Wii, apples, parties, cooking with my mommy, watermelon, coloring, gum, make-up, nail polish and Hannah Montana.

Tori Loves-my flip flops, the Busy Bee game, mommy and daddy, gummy worms, pink flowers, my doggy, and hamburgers. (I do not think she has EVER eaten a hamburger!)

Katie Loves (per Alli and Tori)- to play, to have her picture taken and her sisters. (They forgot to mention her paci's! And that she does love her mommy and daddy very much!)

The Greatest of All Loves

Today is Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent. Lent is the forty days prior to Easter and is a time to reflect on our sin and the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. How perfect that this falls in February- the Love Month. A perfect time to reflect on the Love of Christ. Truly, His is the greatest of all loves.

Love Is In The Air

Ahh...February is the month of LOVE. Pete and I got engaged on Valentine's Day 10 years ago. It was perfect! A day I will always cherish.

So, because it is the month of LOVE, I thought I would share a few things that I LOVE.

I LOVE Pete's determination and how he always inspires me, I LOVE watching Alli eat a doughnut, I LOVE Katie's feet, I LOVE Tori's smile, I LOVE when my girls are playing nicely, I LOVE good coffee, I LOVE running and working out, I LOVE my very diverse group of women at the Community Bible Study, I LOVE learning new things about God's word, I LOVE that my mom will be here for 6 weeks, I LOVE chocolate- especially dark chocolate, I LOVE to watch Tori "read" her books, I LOVE to see Alli practice gymnastics, I LOVE that Katie willingly and randomly gives me kisses all day, I LOVE talking on the phone to my girlfriends, I LOVE playing Bug Cafe with my girlfriends, I LOVE that Pete and I will be going on a date in NYC next weekend, I LOVE reading my friend's blogs, I LOVE hearing my girls laugh uncontrollably, I LOVE our night time routine with the girls and the quiet time that Pete and I have when they are asleep, I LOVE that Pete has not traveled since September- this is the longest amount of time since we have been married that he has not traveled, I LOVE my family, and I LOVE SO MUCH MORE! Ok- that was more than a few things. But LOVE is in the air! And I am so blessed to have all these things to LOVE! Tell me something that you LOVE.