Saturday, October 25, 2008

Pumpkin hunters...

So we drove about fifteen minutes to this pumpkin farm that I saw in the newspaper. I wasn't really prepared for the dry but extremely huge pumpkin patch that we drove up to. The kids both had lots of fun. Curran tried to run around but kept tripping on the dried vines. Both the kids were enchanted by the profusion of corn husks (fertilizer?) that they found on the ground. Avery is holding his pumpkin in the picture that he picked out on his very own.

P.S. I found bell peppers for less than $1 :)


Thursday, October 23, 2008

Climate adjustments...

No more house pictures yet, just some thoughts on our new place. I walked Avery to preschool this morning, and I knew it was going to be cold so I made him (under duress) put on his puffy winter coat. He hasn't worn it since last winter, and wasn't particularly thrilled with the sensation apparently. I was thanked as soon as we stepped outside and got a, "Brrr it's cold!" out of him. It was somewhere around 40 degrees and very windy. Halfway through the twenty minute walk to preschool he wanted gloves too.
And poor Curran ran errands with me while his big brother had class, and he really didn't care for the wind. By time I removed him from the van for a second stop he learned to (hood up) tuck in his arms and curl his head into my chest to avoid the cold wind.
Of course after living in the bay area so long, I just always keep my sandal/flip-flops by the door for running around town. I managed to put on boots this morning for the long walk, but later in the day I just slipped the sandals over my socks and ran out... Toes got a bit chilly they did...
No snow around here, just a low of 23ish tonight. But our house heaters work great! You'd never know it was frigid outside - until of course you have to throw that stinky diaper in the outside garbage can. Our central heat works great, and the big open living room has extra heating along the baseboard/trim. I can only hope that the air conditioner feels so good when the summer heat sets in.
And please don't think I'm complaining about the cold. I'll sooo take 40 over 85! Okay, now since you've managed to make it through this wordy post, what you really want:















And no, the beach picture is not from our new home. Avery was making sand smoothies (and no, not really drinking them) about a month ago. The picture of Curran was taken on the steps that were our only 'soft' seating in the house until our furniture arrived. We finally got all the bookshelves assembled (thank you Dad) today, thereby drastically reducing the number of boxes filling our living room.
I have discovered that Curran really likes to help out. Most recently he helps me unload our (HOORAY!) dishwasher. He'll hand me the little plates one at a time while I stack them. It's quite cute. It's not quite so cute when he tries to hand me the paring knives, so I've learned to just remove the silverware tray first and avoid that argument :)
Some things here are sooo cheap. We found amazing leather/tapestry/carved wood couches for $850! It was very very hard not to break down and buy some perfectly matching set for our living room because "we could never get those prices in Marin!". On the other hand some things are much more expensive and disappointing - like the produce section. The bell peppers - even the green bell peppers are $2 each!! On the other hand I can still get hummus and pita bread out here, so that makes Avery (an avid fan) very happy.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A new state-

So we finally made the move and after twelve days got our furniture delivered. Hooray! My husband is of course keeping busy with his new job as solo pastor, but not as horrendously busy as I might have feared. The kids and I are just pulling through the other side of a yucky cold, so stuff is finally getting organized on my end. My current urgent project is actually making Avery's halloween costume (more on that in another post). So now; the virtual tour of our new home :)
Hmm... Scratch that. A lot of my pics are a lot darker than I thought, so I'll have to take more with lighting! Here are a couple of the bright ones:


So above is the backyard and porch, and the living room when you look to the right as you enter from the kitchen. There's a TV on the floor by the gas fireplace.


Here's the boys having fun in a random cupboard on the left side of the living room. Maybe it used to be for firewood before the living room was added on? And here is a rare shot of Curran looking grouchy.

For those that know me, I have video skype now - so feel free to download it and 'call' me - even if you don't have the video part. I want to send out a huge thank you to every one who helped us in every way. This move was the most difficult thing I've done in a while and I thank everyone who helped hold me and my family up. I miss you all so very much..