updating again....

Maybe with this new school year, I can keep this blog thing going better.

Yeah right....


Well, the girls have started school for the year. They started last Wednesday. Dehlia is in 2nd grade and Madison is in 5th grade!!! OMG!!! They are getting too big! I think I am going to have to think about utilizing those cinderblocks that are sitting around outside of the house to hold these children down from growing!

Aric starts preschool after Labor Day. His last year of preschool before Kindergarten. I am sure that there will be many tears shed when graduation time comes around in May.

Soccer season is upon us also. Derek is coaching 2 1/2 teams this season. Head coaching Aric's U6 team, Assistant Coach for Dehlia's U8 team and Head Coach for Madison's U10 team. The calendar is filling up fast as practices are being arranged and games will be put on there soon!!

I am looking forward to having a little bit of downtime while Aric and the girls are all in school after Labor Day. Maybe I can get a little bit more done on my quilt top that I have been working on since before we moved. I have the blocks all assembled, but have to put on the border still. Hope to get to that in the VERY near future.

Derek is getting ready to travel some. Ofcourse he couldn't travel during the summer when the kids were out of school....has to be while they are in. Oh well. Thought about asking mom and dad to come visit for a couple days, but I don't know if it would work. We'll see.

Well, I hope to be back sooner rather than later. Only time will tell.....

updates....

Well,I feel like everytime I update this blog, I am saying how long it had been since I updated it. You would think that would entice me to update more. Maybe I'll try that ..... we'll see.

Now for the updates.....

All 3 kids are still playing soccer. They are doing great. Aric started off not wanting to be on the field at all, and now right after he takes a break to get some water, he is ready to get back out there. Dehlia is still impressing everyone with her footwork. Madison is helping the other girls on her team learn the game.

We've gotten rid of all the boxes that were hanging out in the house waiting for pickup. We had enough and just decided to take them up to recycling on our own....keep in mind we still haven't heard from the pick up people to come and get the boxes.

Easter brought Grandma and Grandad Rakowski to visit. They came in from the long drive from VA on Thursday afternooon. They stayed with us til Tuesday. We showed them around town (some of the not so pleasant ones too unfortunatley). They enjoyed seeing the grandkids and visiting.

The kids were on Spring break 2 weeks ago. Had a good time. Spring Break was right after Easter, so Grandma and Grandad were still visitiing at the beginning of the week, but at the end of the week we went out of town ourselves. We went to Atlanta. We visited the Zoo, Aquarium, and the World of Coca Cola. Stopped by the Lego Store too. Was a great weekend of weather and sightseeing.

My mom had surgery on last Thursday and she is home now. I went up there on Wednesday afternoon and came back on Friday. She came home from the hospital on Sunday. She has been doing really well. Just trying to keep her from overdoing it is all Dad is having trouble with.

Saturdays areound here are full of soccer, and last Saturday was no different. We had one game in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Inbetween the games, we visited the Spring Carnival that they were having at the girls' school. IT was a beautiful day, but hot. We all got a little bit sunburnt afer being outside all day, but we had fun and that's all that matters.

Wel, this week is full of soccer as usual. Practice or games every night.

Til later....but hopefully sooner.....

WOW.....

Has it really been almost a month since I posted last???? My how time does fly!!!!


Well, incase you hadn't guessed, WE'RE IN!!!!! We signed on the 20th and were inside painting that afternoon. We painted Aric's room blue, Dehlia's room yellow and Madison's room pink. The kids got to help. We had fun painting together. A little bit of stress of trying to get the kids to keep the paint on the walls and not on the trimwork and the carpet, but all in all, I think we had fun. The movers came on Saturday morning. Thank goodness they got a late start...it gave us time to have the fridge delivered, have the security systems people come in and for us to finish painting Madison's room since we didn't have enough energy to paint it on Firday afternoon. They came and unloaded the truck, put the beds together, and left. We went back to the apartment and got a few essentials and the dogs and came back to the house to sleep. This way, Angus didn't have to fight the steps at the apartment anymore. He had been having a time fighting his way back up after we walked him around to go potty.

We've gotten a lot of the boxes unpacked, but still have some work to do. We've been working on the fence a bunch lately too. Rented an auger that attached to a machine to make hole digging a LOT easier. Dad Lang's 1-person auger just wasn't cutting thru the dirt here. Have gotten all of the posts and stringers up and we are working on the pickets now. Having a rainy weekend, so I don't know how much will get done, but we will try to get out there if we can, or it will be done when the rain is done. Going to try to work in the garage on the gates since it is raining though.

The kids are loving the new house. Had Aric tell me for a few days that he wanted to stay at the apartment and not the new house, but he has since changed his tune. The girls are liking having their own room. Madison especially. She asys it is great to have her own room, but kind of creepy when it is dark. I think she is doing fine. It is working out well, since Dehlia is a morning person and Madison isn't really. Dehlia is up like a shot when the alarm goes off (like her Daddy) and Madison is slow to get going (1ike her Mommy). Aric likes his blue room too.

Angus is doing much better. I think that once we got him to the house with the furniture that he was accustomed to and everything, that he has relaxed some. Also, the medicine is in his system better, so we aren't seeing drunk Angus, just has to go out much more frequently Angus. I will surely be happy when we can just open the sliding door into the backyard to let them out instead of having to walk them. Angus goes back to the vet today to have them check his levels again. We'll see what they have to say about everything. Nilla is doing fine, just bopping along like normal.

We had some snow last week. The kids got to miss a day of school and play in it. They were so excited. Especially since the last time they missed school for snow, we really didn't get any. They had fun throwing snowballs and helping make a snowgirl.

Well, until the next time.....Have a good one!!

Moving Date....

Well, we don't have an exact date yet, but we do know around when we will be moving. Well, not really moving everything, but really just moving the essentials. You know, the clothes, food, dogs, fish, Futon for a couch, washer and dryer, you know the essentials. We are leaving the rest of our things here at the house. In case you thought we were nuts, we aren't. We are actually moving into an apartment right near our new house.

When we went down for the preconstruction meeting last weekend, we went by the girls' schools. While there we asked when would be the best time to integrate them into the new school since we have the option of doing it sooner or later. Well, the verdict was sooner rather than later. Madison being in 4th grade was the clencher. She will have to take end of grade tests this year again. Well, in SC they begin them in MARCH!!! We were kind of surprised at how early it is in the school year. If we move in February when the new house is ready, then she would only be in the new school for a little while and still have to take the tests. We don't think that is fair, so we are going to move in between the Christmas and New Year's holidays so that the girls can start the New Year off at a new school. This way Madison can get used to the curriculum and be prepared for the testing in March. Not to mention that she is going to have to get ready to go from Elementary School where we are now to being in Middle School in SC. What an adjustment Madison and us are going to have. From 1 teacher to 3 teachers. Kind of nervous for her, but I know that she will do fine.

So the move after the first of the year (maybe even wait til track out in February)time line just got shortened into 2 weeks left of school here. Going to make up cards for the girls to give out to their friends here with contact information. Trying to figure out what is essential that we need for 2 months and what we can live without. Not looking forward to Derek moving the washer and dryer out on Sunday evening so that he can take them on Monday to the apartment. 2 weeks without a washer and dryer will be interesting. It will be nice to not have to do that, but not nice to not have the convenience of doing it on my time!!

We found one!!

Well, we've gotten back from SC and WE FOUND A HOUSE!!!

Let me begin on Friday. Thank you MOM!!! She watched the kids so that we could go this past weekend to look for a house. She came in Friday afternoon and kept an eye on Aric while I dropped off the dogs at the kennel. Came back then went to get the girls from school. When we got back from school, Dad was here at the house. After Derek got home, we went to have pictures taken. If you get to utilize Portrait Innovations ever in your life, DO IT!! They are the best. They work with you and the prices are VERY reasonable!! We met, Matt and Melissa (Derek's brother and sister-in-law) and Grandma Hoover there to have family pictures done. They turned out great. We had gotten some shirts for Christmas 2 years ago and I told mom and dad that if we didn't get them take soon, Dehlia and Aric were going to outgrown them. Well, we got them taken. Took some other pictures of various arrangements of the group too. Check out the Flickr page if you want to see the rest of them. They turned out GREAT!!! After pictures were taken and picked out and paid for, Derek and I headed down to Charlotte to go house hunting Saturday morning.

Got down to Charlotte about 10:30 pm and went straight to bed. We were exhausted. Got up bright and early Saturday morning and met with our realtor at 9 am. We had done some homework before going down that helped us to narrow down how many houses we were going to look at. Had found about 9 to look at and also had found some neighborhoods that were building in and had houses ready to move into. Well, long story short there are people in SC not willing to sell their house right now. Out of the 9 listings that we wanted to see, 4 of them declined a showing. Keep in mind that they were called on Friday to let them know that realtor was going to be showing their house on Saturday to out of town clients. Their loss!! We went to one of the neighborhoods that we had found and fell in love with one of the houses that they had in there. They told us that they could build it in 4 months. That's fine, it give us til February to sell this one that we live in. Well, with all of the discounts and everythings, we are getting a house built!! We picked out a lot that is FLAT. 0.46 acres. We just couldn't pass up the offer that they were making to us.

Here's what the house will look like It will have a dark red door and dark red shutters. The stone will have red accents in it too. We are really excited. Going back down to SC at the beginning of December to show the kids where the house will be built at, where their school is, etc. They seem excited, but I think that once they see the lot and hopefully be able to see a house just like it that is already built, they will be thrilled!!!

The girls are tracked out right now. We got to start track out buying a house with out the kids and then came back to Dehlia having Pink Eye. took her to the doctor on Monday morning to get medicine and she is now better. Still have to finish the drops, but she is going to be fine. I have lost my voice. Woke us Yesterday with no voice. I feel fine (well maybe a little bit tired) but otherwise ok. Madison is feeling fine and Aric is feeling ok too. Aric got sent home from PReschool today because he got sick, but I think that he must have gotten choked on something because since he's been home, he's been his usual self. Derek is still a little stressed with work, but doing ok. Tired and busy and trying to figure out all of the $$ things that go into buying a house. Hopefully we will get to get everything tied up in the next day or two to let him breathe some.

Will keep you posted on how things are going with the house.

Changes.....

Wow have thing changed around here in the last few weeks.

Derek has accepted a new position at the South Eastern Engineering Facility of Deere which is in Charlotte. Therefore, we are MOVING!!! AAAGH!!! Our world here at home has been turned upside down with cleaning out the non essential things around the house and keeping everything straight and ready for showings. We have transported a bunch of stuff to Derek's grandmother's garage so that there is the feeling of space around here. The house is ready, just have to find the right buyer! Derek is officially on SEEC's payroll as of Today, but luckily his first job is to finish helping out the group that he is working with here. Sooo, he doesn't have to be in Charlotte til the beginning of the year. Yeah!! Derek and I are going down to Charlotte/South Carolina this weekend to look for a house. Grandma Birds is thankfully going to come down on Friday and watch the kids so that we don't have to truck them all over creation while we look at houses. We've had 2 showings since the house got listed. One on Halloween and one on Saturday. Hopefully someone will come along and feel that this is the right house for them.

Halloween was crazy around here since we had a showing. I spent most of the morning straightening up ( I hadn't done so the day before and paid for it) then had to go over the grandma's house to look for something in the boxes that are over at her house that I needed for Dehlia's Fall Party that was that afternoon. I touched every box twice, but still wasn't able to find what I was looking for. I figure I will find it AFTER we move and probably in a box that is still at the house here. Oh well. So I went from grandma's to Dehlia's party and thankfully Derek was able to come home on his lunch break and vacuum for me. I hadn't gotten a chance to get to that before I left. Since the showing was a 3:30, I was still going to be at the party. Derek was able to come home and get the dogs. We met up with his after school and went to the park. The kids are now begging to go back daily. Pretty sure that will be a frequent location to go to when we have showings. Especially since the girls track out on Friday. We got back to the house after the showing and had some dinner, then hung out til trick or treating time. Got the kids ready about 6:20 or so and headed out into the neighborhood. Derek's mom made their costumes again this year. THANKS MOM!!!!! Madison and Dehlia were High School Musical Cheerleaders and Aric was Donald Duck! The kids had a great time. They got a ton of candy. We were all tired by the end of the night.

Going backwards in the time line, Tuesday of this past week,
we also did something dramatic around here. Aric got a big 'ol haircut!!! Here's the back story.....Week before last, we got a note home from his preschool stating that there had been a case of Lice found in his class on Thursday. I didn't really think too much of it. We've got enough going on around here that I really didn't have time to think about it. Well, Tuesday came and I walked Aric in and they were checking heads before letting the kids stay in the classroom. Well, before the day was out, SIX of the kids in his class had it. I picked Aric up early from school that day and call Derek telling him that we needed to cut Aric's hair. Derek was thrilled. Derek had been wanting to shave Aric's hair all summer, but I couldn't let go of the curls. Well, this was a big enough straw to break the camel's back. Tuesday evening after dinner, we told Aric that he was getting a hair cut and asked him if he would like to cut Daddy's and them Daddy could cut his. He said, OK. Well, they would take turns back and forth (check out the Flickr page for more pics and a video) and this is what we ended up with. We only had one episode where Aric rebelled and didn't want to finish, but the half shaven head wasn't getting out of the bathroom. I had to put down the camera and have Derek put him in his lap, and I finished the job. There were tears shed by mommy, but I think missing out on the treat of having head lice in the house makes losing the curls all worth it. It is amazing how fast he grew up on us. He looks more like Derek now too. I am still getting used to seeing him without all of his curls. His hair will grow back. I just couldn't take the chance of him bringing it home and the girls getting it. Not right now with all that is going on around here.

Soccer has ended for Dehlia, only practices left for Madison's team, and Softball is over for me. My how our weeks have opened up. This will be our first week of the newer schedule. We are down to Madison practice on Monday nights, Faith Formation on Tuesday evening and then open the rest of the week. WOW!!! Madison will start Saturday practices back up in a week or so. There is a tournament in the area, so the fields are being used for that. Derek will still have Sunday games into December too. I guess we will have to figure out what to do with all of this free time that we have now. Especially since the girls will be tracked out come Friday.

Hopefully the house hunting trip will go good this weekend and we will come away knowing what we want to do and where we are going to move. Then we can take some time during track out to bring the girls down there and show them our new house.

Will keep you posted..........Til next time....

Problem solved.....

Well, I solved the problem with the preschool teacher that I wasn't too fond of. I went to the preschool director on Wednesday after I dropped off Aric in his class and told her how upset I was. The tears that were coming down my face probably told her that too. She said taht she didn't want me to pull him out and that she thought that we could work something out. Soooo, I had Aric switched to another class. It bumped him down to 2 days a week, but in my book 2 is better than none!! Even better about it is that the teacher that he has was Dehlia's assistant teacher when she was in the 3yr old class. The assistant teacher that Aric has now we know also. Her daughter is on Madison's soccer team. I felt so much better leaving him in class on Thursday. It was so much relief. I think that Aric will now be in a loving enviroment that will help him learn.

On the pottying front, we are doing pretty good. Having our accidents, but mainly becuase we need to go poop and we are scared to do that in the potty. We did poop in the potty on Monday, but I think he was at the point where he could hold it no longer. We rewared him with 4 cars. He was thrilled. We have gotten more prizes for pooping in the potty and he knows where they are. We tell him that if he poops in the potty he can have one. He really wants the Cars Movie coloring book that is up there right now. We'll see how long it takes him to get it. He has pottied at school too. 4 times on Wednesday and twice on Thursday! Yeah Aric!! Once I get him settled in the new class, I will send him in underwear. He has been keeping dry in pull ups at school and at home too. Just a matter of time now!!!

At last.....

I am updating this blog. We've been busy, go figure. Wanted to first say a big THANK YOU to Jennifer at craftygiveaways for the wonderful package of quilt blocks. Now I just need to decide if I want to orient the blocks in this layout......

or in this layout.....

Any feedback/opinions????

Then the happenings since I last updated. We've put the floor back together. The moulding went down tonight. Now to paint and caulk then it will be completely fixed (I hope!!). We've been out of town the last 2 weekends. The last weekend of August was spent in Charlotte at a soccer tournament for Madi's soccer team. They came in second place in their division!!! Labor Day Weekend was spent in VA visiting and helping parents. We helped my parents by doing some yard work and went to the Zoo with Derek's Mom (Dad wasn't feeling good) then went to the beach.



In between these weekends, Aric had his meet the teacher at preschool. While there for that, I was lucky to get out of there alive. I felt like Aric's new teacher was out to prove me the worst mother in the world because he isn't potty trained. I tried to explain taht he just turned 3 in July. Should he be potty trained??? I don't feel like he is ready. Also, we pushed the girls and didn't want to push him since pushing the girls created TONS of problems. Sooo, since the preschool wants him potty trained we are trying 1/2 naked times at the house. Aric gets to run around in the house in a shirt and nothing else. We started Wednesday afternoon and have been doing pretty good. I have kept him upstairs and he tells us that the tinkle is coming out and we run to the potty and go. We also race him there when we foresee him needing to go and most of the time he goes then too. Now to work our way into underpants. We've tried underpants today, but I don't thin he is that far yet. We've been just peeing in them like a diaper. He realizes that he is going and we run and go potty. Hopefully the lightbulb will click on fully soon. The preschool told me if he wasn't trained and had an accident of the poop variety they would change the first one, then they would call me to come and chage the next one. DO WHAT???? I have been very upset with all of this and frustrated at the same time. What's a mom to do. I am just trying to get thru the next week and if I come home next week feeling as crappy as I did about all of this then, I will probably pull him from the school. It's not fair to him or me to be treated this way. I can't make him be ready. Can I??? Any advice would be appreciated. The picture is of him on his first day of preschool. He has gotten too big too quick. He didn't want to go to school, but did really well (well except for the potty issues). Had to drag him somewhat on Friday. I thin kit is just going to take him getting used to the new routine and environment and teachers. Also, the girls go back to school on Modnay, so it will just be him and I going to preschool for dropoff. HOpefully the potty isses and everything will work out soon!!

Later!

First day of school......

First day of school......
Originally uploaded by nclangs99

Well, school started back on Monday. Their whole break between grades was a whole week!!! :)

Dehlia is in 1st grade now and Madison is in 4th grade.

My how time does fly!!!!

Now if I can just get Aric to go and play by himself again. He was doing so well, then BAM! the girls were out for a week. I guess I only have til September then he will be in Preschool 3 days a week. What will I do with myself?????

School is over !!!

The girls finished school this week. They will be out for a week, then go back on the 7th into the next grade. Madison into 4th grade and Dehlia into 1st grade. We are keeping busy this week. Besides my parents coming in to visit, the girls will be in soccer camp 4 mornings this week.

Here's the cake from Dehlia's class' end of year party....



Here's Dehlia with her Kindergarten teacher and teacher assistant......



Here's Madison with her 3rd grade teacher....



And here's what my living room looked like after they got home on the last day. So much for cleaning while they were at school!!!!