Who's walking who?

Bailey wanted to come on a walk with us to see the tractors too.  Well, not sure if she wanted to see the tractors but she definately wanted to go on a walk.  Since staying at my parents house a full month so far, Bailey has proven herself to be a great dog and not wander off.  They are able to not put her on a leash and she stays in the yard!  Good bog Bailey!

We let Mikey hold her leash, and I think it's the first time that he's walked her...or maybe she was walking him.  It was pretty cute and everytime the leash dropped he yelled "Ot-oh!"

Here is a few pics. of our walk and some fun photos!

Tractors behind nana and papa's house!

Sooo, what did we do while waiting for our truck to deliver our things and vehicle to the storage facility?
We explored trucks in the field behind nana and papa's house!

They even had a shifter that shifted the rocks and stones out of the dirt.  What you are left with is great top soil.

Mikey was in HEAVEN!

"They call me bulldozer, or just dozer for short"

Uncle Matt and Mikey.

Moving Day

The packers arrived at 9:00am and packed our entire home by 3:00pm.  Pretty impressive as that would have easily taken us between 2or 3 weeks to pack.  Now, tomorrow they come back to pack everything onto the truck and will deliver things into our storage unit in PA on Monday afternoon and then the rest of our things to NYC on either the 1st or 2nd of March.  We only have 1 more week of living out of suitcases. 

I'm looking forward to living in NYC.  Of course there will be a period of adjustment and I'm sure there will be things I love/hate about living in the city/apartment.  I'll take the good with the bad.  It's all one big adventure for me!  I feel especially alive when we move to a new place, like I'm doing something with my life....living my life.  New places bring new friends, new opportunities, new possibilities.  Can't wait to experience it all and share it all with you.  Won't you come along with me to NYC?!! 

The next post you'll probably get from us will be either from PA or from NYC.  Check back in a week or so.

Packing everything in the kitchen.

Lots to pack!

Our dining room became a dumping ground for everything in the house.

Bedroom all stacked neatly agains the wall.

It took the driver an hour to get up the cul-de-sac in the snowy weather.

Even though they got a late start to the day they were outta here by 4:30pm, on schedule!

Doesn't look like much at the moment but everything is stacked to the top of the truck.  Luckily we have the entire truck to ourselves.

Nice and clean living room.

I scrubbed down everything while they were packing, so it was ready for the new renters!

Dining room was cleared out too!

This is what's coming with us.  It has everything we'll need for the next week.

Someone's 2nd airplane ride!

Katie's opinion about the move to NYC

Here's our girl - (she does this a lot!)

Here's a pic. of her blowing raspberries!

Still no teeth coming in!

Forgot to add this to the last post.  She was happy to have her own seat on the airplane ride!

Moving chaos

Before leaving for 2 weeks to go to PA and apartment search in NYC, we cleaned our home top to bottom and made it spotless so that while we were away our listing agent could show our home to potential renters.  Having 2 little kids, it's impossible to have a kept home for more than a few minutes so we were HOPING that we'd find a renter while we were away.....and we did! 

Now our home is complete chaos as we hurry to go through all of our belongings to figure out what we are taking and what's going into storage, now that we know the space that we have to work with.  Here's the current state of our home.

I try to walk around with my eyes closed so I don't stress out too much!

First Baking Lesson

I was busy today baking some cupcakes for Mikey's teachers at school.  I thought it was a great opportunity for Katie to learn the art of baking.  Her 1st baking lesson!

Sellers remorse?

Soooo, we've come to terms a while ago that we have to make some changes, for our new life in New York City.  One of those many changes, was the realization that we can only afford to have one car (if that) in NYC.  That means that we've had to sell MY first car that my dad purchased for me, my Toyota Camry.  It's been 10 years and 97,931 miles later.  It was a great car.  I'll miss you.

Teething

Katie has started teething and is slobbering everywhere and puts everything into her mouth.  She LOVES chewing on teething biscuits.

Yum.  It's very messy.

She still has those very blue eyes.

Up and away we go!

So our 10 hour car drive out to PA was terrible, good, okay.  Well parts were good, like the majority of the drive. Part of the trip, like driving in the snow through hilly and windy Pittsbugh was okay.  And for 3 solid hours with both kids screaming....well I think there's only one adj. left for that.  We decided after that trip that we would NOT be doing that same drive 3 weeks later at the end of February after we move out of our home.  We changed our flight from a one way flight from MDT back to ORD to a round trip flight.  We now fly back to Harrisburg Friday evening after the movers move everything onto our truck.

We flew to Chicago on Saturday and it was Katie's first time flying.  I think it was Mikey's 7th or 8th time flying, but it was his first time flying in his own seat.  Both kids had their moments on the 2 hour flight.  I learned that on the return flight to be more prepared with things to keep both kids occupied.

Treking through the airport must have looked pretty comical.  I was a camel with Mikey strapped in the baby carrier on my back (we left the stroller) and holding Katie in front.  Scott had 2 computer bags and a roller bag.

Sitting patiently while Daddy checks luggage.

Mikey checking out the airplane.

Busy pressing EVERY button he could find. :)

Katie Bug can now sit on her own!

From the moment she turned 6 months, she's had lots of time practicing sitting.  Slowly over the next 2 1/2 weeks I noticed her balance getting better and better.  She can now sit on her own.  Once in a blue moon if she turns her head too far to follow you across the room will she tip over.  Her reflexes are very slow and so as she tips, she doesn't do anything to stop herself from falling over.  Watching her tip over almost makes me want to yell "Timber!"  Good thing she's close to the ground and always on soft, cushy carpet.

See, no pillows around this little one.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to NOT rescue him (is that too many negatives in a sentence).  He thought this was a game and kept yelling out "help" and "stuck!"

Give me that!

Katie is becoming a grabber.  She is still honing her hand-eye coordination.  She's an expert at grabbing for whatever it is you're eating or drinking.  I've got some pics. of her in action!

Looks like she wants some OJ.

And toast.

Looks like shes ready to give you a hug right?....

....nah, she just wants the camera.

Trying to eat the camera.

Mmmmmm- I mean C is for Cookie!

Mikey was given a real treat by Aunt Jamie and Bryan.  They took him one evening to a favorite bakery!
They came home with a few different cookies they picked out.  Mikey used his independent thinking to pick out his very own cookie.  Can you guess which one he picked out?

Here are the cookies they picked out.

Here was his choice!  Looks yummy.

He really enjoyed it!

Can you see that he swiped of all the icing first?!

My happy boy.

Mmmm.

The aftermath.

All done...  His fingers and mouth were stained from the food coloring.