Recently...

We're finally sort of feeling settled in. Sort of. I also think I'm sort of starting to feel better and have more energy. Sort of. Besides the kids being sick with Strep this week, things really have been going well. I think I'm going to enjoy living here and I'm excited to get us all connected.

We took the kids to Casa Bonita for the first time with the youth leaders. They had fun. Zane wanted to keep going through the cave, even though it was pretty scary. We only took poor Emmy through once - she hated it.

Watching the divers...
Silly photo shoot - meet "Swimmer Man Superhero" and his sidekick "Babe."




The sweetest moment -
This was the day that Zane started feeling super sick and also the day that Pappy had to go to his mom's funeral. Out of a bunch of people sitting around, Zane just climbed up on Pappy's lap out of the blue and snuggled in.
He fell asleep and took a good nap. He never does that anymore, so it was really sweet. I think they both needed a good snuggle after a tough day.

Granny

Yesterday, as we celebrated Granny's life, I realized more than ever just how much of an impact she had on my life and so many others' lives. She dedicated her entire life to loving and serving God and others. She was a firm foundation of our family and I know she's a big reason why our family is so close to each other. Hearing all the stories of her life story and examples of her extraordinary character just made me want to strive to be as similar to her as possible. One of the coolest things was seeing several of her young neighbors at the funeral, and hearing them talk about how much they loved Granny and how thankful they were for all she did for them - of course along with a huge group of other people who loved and adored her.

We will miss her so so so much, but I know she's happy in Heaven. Zane told me he thinks she's an invisible angel who will take care of us now and that she's playing games with God up in Heaven - I definitely believe it.

These are pictures from about a month ago when we were able to celebrate her 100th birthday. It was so amazing to get to party with 5 generations of family members. :)

Sweet Granny...

Zane with his cousin Maylee.
My sisters, mom, and I with Granny and Gramps.
Zarg the pirate, saying "Arrrrrrg!"
Silly face.
Emmy with Maylee.

Randomness

Playing in the Yard

I feel like the past few weeks have been one big blur. I've barely taken any pictures or videos. We've totally been out of our routine. We've lived surrounded by a chaotic mess. We've done our best to find a new school and new activities. But at least we've still tried to have some fun. We've been swimming at the rec, the library, the park, and other places. But pretty much their favorite place has been our backyard. They love the freedom of going in and out whenever they want. They love getting messy in the yard and sandbox. And I am so thankful for that!!

Here are a few pictures of playing with bubbles in the backyard.

Why So Hard?

I think my blog is going to turn into a place for me to vent a little bit - maybe an outlet for me to tell my stories, feelings, and thoughts. It already sort of is, but I feel like writing more often would be good for me.

Don't get me wrong - being a mom is the best thing ever and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love it!! But one question comes to mind after today...Why is it SO hard to run errands with two little munchkins? Starting with getting out of the house to getting back in time for naps, it's all around just tough.

My goal today was to make it to Target (been my goal since we moved) to get a bunch of odds and ends that we really need. I figured on the way, I really needed to quickly stop by two other places and assumed it would be no big deal. What was I thinking?

The first stop was to Walgreens to refil our printer ink cartridges. I need to print out a letter that we've wrote and have been wanting to send out for about 3 weeks now. Figured we'd walk in and right back out. It turns out they don't refil them at that one, so they told me where to drive to another one that does fill them. So, back out to the car and over to the next stop.

The second stop was to Wells Fargo to get a temporary check card until I get my new one. I had to do this because I was so DUMB and canceled my old one because I was sure it got lost in the move and then I ended up finding it a few hours after I canceled it. Figures. By the way, now I have to change our card number on any automatic withdraws. Ugh. Anyways, it took about 20 minutes just to get it and you can imagine how impatient Zane and Emmy were by then. They were crawling around, up and down, yelling at each other, etc. Then, on the way out, Emmy didn't want to leave so threw a huge fit. But as we were leaving, Zane told me he really needed to go poop in the potty, so we had to go back in. Up the elevator to the second floor, we went to the bathroom and I changed Emmy's diaper too, since she had pooped during the meeting with the banker.

Next stop - the next Walgreens that I'm hoping with fill up my ink cartridge. We drove about 10 min away to find out they didn't fill our specific number of cartridge. And, as we need to leave, Emmy decided she didn't want to put a toy back that she was holding from the rack and threw tantrum number 2. I had to carry her out screaming again.

By this point, since everything took so long, it was nap time and I knew there was no way we could make it to Target. So we drove home without new ink and without going to Target.

Why does it have to be so hard?!? LOL.

On a positive note, we did get a lot of unpacking done yesterday so that feels a little bit less chaotic.

Moving Oh My

Just a glimpse of what we've been up to. Lot's of boxes. Lot's of running around. Lot's of craziness.

Untitled from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Wow. Moving is hard, hard work. I've pretty much been one big, tired, nauseous, grouch for the past few weeks while trying to prioritize a million things to do. Our kids have adjusted alright, but have sort of been acting like they're on one long vacation - just out of their routine, restless, and squirly.

At least after almost a week of living here, we're finally seeing a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Next top priority: find Zane the perfect school...