October Road Trips

October was filled with road trips. We left our dining room in shambles to spend a weekend in West Virginia with my grandparents (the girls' Nana and Papaw). We also drove out to Chicago for Luke's best friend's wedding. He joined the Navy and went out to Chicago in July, so that is the first we had seen him since then. The girls do very well in the car, and although they were both short trips, we had loads of fun. The girls actually stayed in West Virginia a week before we went down to visit, so we only had Avery while we worked on the house. It just happened to coincide with my grandma's side of the family getting together at the family cabin in WV, so there was a lot of family members that I hadn't seen for a long while that were there. I hope we get to do that more often!


The bridge to West Virginia on 77 in Marietta


Athena sniffing out the back window. She had a comfy ride down since we didn't have Lexi or Lilly in the car.


Avery ready for a walk. It was her first trip to Nana and Papaw's.


We started fishing in the creek to catch minnows and crawdads


Nana brought out the nets


Papaw had a nap on the porch


Avery decided to nap as well:)


We could take pictures all day of butterflies on their flowers


We visited Hunter's house to play on the trampoline


Avery eating a pea


Lilly and Lexi helping in the kitchen


Papaw showing the girls how to mix a drink up at the cabin..LOL


Avery and Mo


Papaw in his natural state


Papaw doing what he does best


Great Aunt Shirley with the girls and I


Lexi and Lilly munching at the cabin


The old Lawson house up on Spruce


A short walk and Avery was out!


So Lexi walked Mo instead


Party at the cabin


The Schartiger Clan


On our way to Chicago!!!


The girls being silly in the backseat


Avery sleeping in her carseat


The odd and awesome things we see on the highway


Pit Stop


The scary hand dryer


Half-way through Indiana, right outside Notre Dame


I seem to always take pictures of water towers


The highway going by Chicago O'Hare is a great opportunity to see an airplane!


Traffic going the other direction was INSANE!! I don't know how city people commute like that.


The girls in front of Lake Michigan where we took Sean and Rachel for wedding pictures


Sean's brother taking a picture.


A tunnel


My powershot battery died on the way home, and Luke's camera was in the trunk, so I took Chicago shots from the highway on my cell phone...


Chicago from the car


More sights to see


and of course, a choo choo!!

A Little Vacation for Lexi and Lilly

On June 9th we met Nana and Papaw and Grandma Perkins in Marietta Ohio at McDonald's. We had a late lunch there and Lexi and Lilly went with Nana and Papaw back to West Virginia for a few days, while we brought Grandma Perkins back up to Ohio. The girls had a blast walking the hills and wading the creek catching crawdad's and minnows, and even played in the rain a bit.

Chelsea's car needed brake work, so Luke spent awhile working on her car, and we also had cousin Liz's senior shoot in Burton City while they were gone.

It slowly gets easier to let them go down for a few days, and it was nice because both of them talked with us on the phone every evening. When they went down in February we couldn't get them to talk to us much at all. I think we may do this again the end of July, we will have to see.


Nana with Lexi and Avery


Papaw with Lilly and Grandma Perkins


Luke eating a nasty double cheeseburger


Lexi and Lilly all strapped in for the rest of the trip to WV


Luke and his new toy, a 2TB hard drive


Holly and Avery watching Luke work on a car


Getting dirty


Avery being cute


Lexi and Lilly coming back home from WV

Back in the Swing of Things

Sunday we met with Nana and Papaw in Marietta and picked up Lexi and Lilly! They were very excited to see us, and they love their room. We have Dora wall clings, and glow in the dark planets, moons, and stars. They also have pink curtains now, and a pink see-through curtain on their closet, so now they like to hide in the closet.

We got the living room painted and have some pictures hung up. We still need to finish organizing the dining room and hang more pictures, but most importantly we need to paint a bunch of frames so we don't have a bunch of mis-matched wood like we do right now. My goal is to start getting the house into a nice enough look that we could put it on the market on a moments notice. I would love to move out and go build on the land, but the economy is just too crappy right now. I want to be ready, so when the market starts to turn, we can make a move!

Luke's knees are doing much better. He is down to half a tablet on the prednisone, and his knees aren't nearly as swollen and puffy as they were when we started this adventure.

So now we are back to normal. The house is full of noise and chaos. I've had Kendra this week to babysit, and looks like I may get Kaden on Friday. The house just feels empty and weird when it's so quiet. My nerves may be fried everyday, but I wouldn't want it any other way right now!

A Quiet House...

Yesterday we made the trek to Marietta to meet Nana and Papaw at Applebee's. We had a nice lunch and then Lexi and Lilly went with them to West Virginia. They will stay down there until Sunday, when we will meet half-way and pick them up. So far they are having a blast, playing in the snow. Lilly tells me Hi on the phone, but Lexi just listens to me and doesn't really talk. I miss them. At least I still have Avery to cuddle and make me feel like a Mom still.

Socks went to West Virginia as well, so she can be an outside cat with Callie. She will have to adjust a bit since there is still so much snow, but I know once she is familiar with her surroundings, she will love being on the prowl outside. Inside a house in the city just doesn't seem to fit her needs, so I'm sure she will be happier down there.

We've been working on the house a bit since they are gone. We are touching up the girls' room, and we have some Dora and star wall clings to decorate with. We are also going to re-paint the living room and paint a bunch of frames and redecorate the walls a bit. Hopefully we can get everything done, since Luke is still light duty with his leg.

Avery's 2 month checkup was today. She is 25 inches long and 14lbs 13oz. She is growing beautifully, and we all agree that she may be starting to teethe already. She is slobbing a bunch and chewing on her hand, even when she's not hungry. That should be a fun time! I don't think I want to go overdue with a pregnancy anymore. It seems like she is just growing so fast since she cooked a bit longer than Lexi and Lilly did.

Luke is doing well with his leg. He is on prednisone for inflammation, and he seems to be able to move his shoulder better than he has in years, and his knees are doing pretty good. The blood thinners have him a bit weak still, but I'm sure he will adjust soon. He has an appointment on March 1st with a rhuemotologist to diagnose his arthritis, and see how we can manage that for him.

He gets his finger pricked tomorrow to check his coumadin levels in his blood. Other than that, not much else is planned except to keep moving forward with the house.

A Quiet Weekend

Last Tuesday, my grandma drove up from West Virginia in preparation to take the girls down to her place in West Virginia over the weekend. She stayed Tuesday and Wednesday night, and took the girls to the park and cleaned things (she always has to clean something). On Wednesday my Aunt and Uncle came over with their boys, and we paid them to pull out the weeds in the front flower beds. They kept the girls entertained in the yard, and we ordered pizza and showed off a few pictures Luke had edited of the boys, (we did a photo shoot at their place on Sunday).

Thursday morning, grandma took of with the girls to pick up my brother and head down to her place. Lexi has stayed the night away from me once or twice with grandma, but it has been at my Uncle's place, 30 minutes away, not 4 hours into another state! To say I was scared/anxious/depressed would be an understatement. She called when they hit the border and stopped at the rest area, and at 2:26PM, I realized it was the first time I had ever been separated from my babies by a state border!

We had so much planned for when they were gone, but I physically and emotionally just felt ill by not having them. We caught the new Harry Potter movie, we hit some thrift shops and yardsales, and we finished adhering the shower tile (it still needs grout and sealant before the shower is usable again). We got our small fish tank set up on the fireplace, because we plan on transferring our fish out of the big tank. We are gonna sell the big tank, it just takes up too much space for Luke's "studio" in the dining room. I also set up my yardsale stuff and made about $20, not as good as last month when we made $50, but still...every little bit helps.

I truly believe that we actually get more accomplished when we have the kids. I function better when I know they are here and safe with me. It doesn't help that I am halfway through a pregnancy, so my emotions are wackey times 5,000!

Needless to say though, the kids are back safe. We picked them up Sunday in Marietta after hitting the local Kmart there and getting lots of toy deals :) We took them to a park before we came home, since Nana had said that we would, and Lexi never forgets! They had a blast in West Virginia, and missed us a bit, but wouldn't talk on the phone (a skill we need to work on) They played in a little pool, and sand, and the creek, and down the street at a neighbours.

I'm just happy to have them back. They may be exhausting at times, but they are my babies, and my responsibility, and it feels really weird to be without them!

Pictures to come soon...