I'm going to Disneyland

We leave for California in just 2 days for the much-anticipated trip to Disneyland. There are some reasons not to go: predicted earthquake and Arizonans don't much care for California boycotting us. I guess the earthquake is the principle concern here. If my parents read this blog, they'd be calling and asking us not to go! We won't tell them until we're actually there.... So, we're meeting our friends, the Myrums, in LA, and then bringing them back to the Arizona heat with us next Wednesday. We are excited to have them visit for 8 days and do some relaxing. They have 2 kids with similar ages as our 2 older kids, so it should be a fun time! Lauren is excited to meet Disney princesses this time, especially Tinkerbell and Sleeping Booty (how she says it). Grant swears he is going on Tower of Terror. We think it's just too scary for him, but so far he's adamant. Maybe he'll change his mind once we're out front. We're staying at a hotel right on the park property so kids (adults) can take naps if needed. It's gonna be fun!

Of course, with all that comes frantic cleaning, straightening, packing, etc to make sure everything's in shape for our visitors. I actually made myself a little schedule of things to get done this week. The schedule makes me feel more organized and purposeful, and less CRAZY. I tend to get frustrated thinking of all the things I need to do before a certain time, but I'm in a little more control this time. Yay me!

Disney and Myrums, here we come!

Reese pictures

Here is an update of the youngest Tammany via pictures...

music

So I'm hanging out with Reese in the kitchen listening to some old tunes. So I NEVER listen to the radio in the car. I just don't. I used to all of the time. I think since I had kids I just stopped, just like that. So I've been back to listening to all of the cool songs Sean has on his itunes. It's fun to dance around the kitchen to old school stuff and it puts me in a good mood. Love it. That's all - just a rambling post about some music and how I'm loving listening to it. I'd forgotten how music can change your mood and how it really affects people. Plus, I like Sean's music style - he's got some good tunes. Well, I did marry him, so I'll take some of the credit there.

Lauren Nicole

Lauren also deserves a post since she turned 3 last month! She visited a nail salon for the first time and her fingers and toes painted. She wore a little tutu skirt and looked just adorable. Both grandmas, Aunt Aileen, and Reese were able to join her at the salon. It was a regular girls' day! Afterward Aileen, mom, Lauren and Reese went to California Pizza Kitchen and the mall to complete the girly fun. She also had a birthday party the following Saturday and had lots of friends come over to decorate jewelry boxes and jump in the big jumper outside. Lauren loves being 3 and LOVES to talk. She often opens her mouth to talk before she even knows what to say, so it's interesting hearing the things that do come out! She loves to talk about Jesus and has much of Psalm 100 memorized (her brother has the entire thing memorized, thanks to Grandma Laux). Here are pictures of her in March.

Reese Elizabeth

Our newest baby girl, Reese Elizabeth, has joined us. Yes - I am 6 weeks late in announcing this! She is very precious, sleeping right now, while her older brother and sister are watching a movie at the theatre with their Aunt Aileen. That means I have time to write here!

Reese arrived on March 16, weighing in at 7 pounds and 19 inches - I think everyone always wants to know statistics...... Labor was a little longer than with the other two, but pushing was the shortest I believe. One big push, lasting about 15 seconds, according to the nurse. We were VERY surprised she was a girl, although we didn't know either way. Sean thought for sure she would be a boy. I thought she was a boy too, until about a month before I delivered. We are delighted she is a girl and Lauren's excited to have a little sister to teach (yikes). Grant and Lauren are amazing with her and not jealous in the slightest.

Having Reese means I can finally do some things again! I can sleep on my back and stomach (oh the joy!), blow dry my hair without stopping to rest my arm (it always fell asleep and cramped), eat sushi, wear my normal clothes (I feel like I have a whole new wardrobe), tie my own shoes, etc. I didn't realize all the things I couldn't do! Now I just can't sleep, but that will hopefully pass soon enough.

Getting ready

We are getting ready for the new little one set to join us any week now. I'm 37 1/2 weeks pregnant and ready to have this baby! We don't know what it is, so I do have more of a feeling of being unprepared, but it's exciting too! Lots of friends and family are having babies too, so this one will have lots of little friends!

I also took Grant's 5-yr-old pictures today and they turned out pretty well. Here is a little sampling and a bonus one of Lauren. She turns 3 at the end of this month.

Life is going well here. My parents have been here well over a month now, helping and waiting for the baby to arrive. It's been such a blessing to have them here and I'm a little nervous about them leaving me all of the household chores to do when they go back to Missouri!

my little bro's visit

Ryan, Tiffany and Cadence came for a visit last week and we already miss them dearly! These are some photos of the fun time we had together. The kids were cute and loved playing with one another. Grant and Lauren even got a little taste of Christmas! The Lauxes brought their gifts for the kids so they could see them open them. Lauren loves her shoes and likes to wear them around the house. She's wear them everywhere else too if I didn't stop her. As you can see from the picture of her in the pink dress, she's wearing pink dress up shoes (and she kept falling). Hopefully we'll see the Lauxes again soon, but right now they're busy building their new house. Check out their blog here.

Finally...a new home

We did it. We got a contract accepted on a home. Yay!! We are moving around the beginning of December, assuming everything goes well while it's in escrow. It's kind of a big house, so I guess I'll be teaching the kids how to clean sooner rather than later. They are really excited and have picked out their rooms and already want to go swimming, although it's too cold now.

We're putting in new carpet and a pool fence before we move in. Can't have the kids drowning! That wouldn't be good.

A Return to Greenville

Last weekend Sean and I flew to St. Louis for my 10-year college reunion at Greenville College. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we decided to go. Above is my good friend Jennie. We went to a bar/restaurant on the Landing and were hit on by a couple of young drunk men. When they found out our age one of them told the other that they were a "generation off." So, is one supposed to feel flattered or put down about that? Well, at least we still look good!

Homecoming/Reunion weekend was fun. We saw some friends and were able to reminisce about old times. The campus looks different because Hogue is gone. Although it looks nice, I loved Hogue Hall and the presence it had on campus. It was COLD though, especially for this Arizona girl. I think Sean had a harder time with the cold. Since I'm pregnant, I tend to be warmer anyway! 45 as a high is not very high, especially when we left 90 degrees!

Pumpkin Day!

My kids are super excited about "pumpkin day" every year. We're not big into celebrating halloween, so it's what I started calling the "holiday." This year we actually made a special pumpkin day though. We did everything pumpkin. We had a pumpkin breakfast (I cheated and went to Starbucks though....), we went to a pumpkin farm, painted pumpkin crafts, ate pumpkin chili, carved pumpkins, and made toasted pumpkin seeds. It was a fun day! Here are some pics to highlight the moments.

Eating pumpkin chili! It was yummy! Sean ate two bowls.

Lauren is proud of her pumpkin.Grant's finished pumpkin.


We started off with breakfast....Grant was very excited about the corn maze.

Grant practiced for the corn maze by doing the kiddie maze first.

yep, milking water from a plastic cow.

Ugh.....Potty Training

I can't do it. Or rather, she can't do it. Pee on the toilet that is. She sits on the toilet for about 15 minutes, whining the whole time, then after she's off the toilet, she pees her pants. Ugh - it's so frustrating! Yesterday I had to clean up 3 "accidents." What am I supposed to do? Any advice out there? She's 2 1/2 and should be ready for this - all the indicators are there, except for her willingness. She's been offered rewards, punishments, cajoling, etc......

I have a blog?

Wait a second. I have a blog? Apparently I completely forgot about it because it's been over 2 months! I think that is just because I have been so busy that there just isn't time for this little release o' mine.

Much has happened. May was great - we were busy with friends, we went to Disneyland over Mother's Day. I just remember being busy busy busy. I turned 32 about a week ago. Yep, 32. Wow. I wouldn't say that's mid-30s yet, but I suppose I'm getting there. That does mean my brother only has 4 1/2 years until he's 40. That will be a big one to rub in.

We're going through a few changes around here. One I can't say yet, the other is that we are moving. Where to? Um, I don't really know! The date is June 29 and it looks pretty solid, so we'll be moving over the 4th of July weekend. We have a couple offers on homes. So while the banks twiddle their thumbs, we need to find some sort of temporary housing. It's interesting to pack when you're not really sure what's going on or what type of house you'll be living. I'm hoping for the house we have an offer on with a basement and pool.

I'm headed to Missouri with the kids in July. Sean and I are also going to Greenville for my 10-year reunion in October, sans kids this time. It should be fun - October's the best month in the Midwest and I'm excited to see my friends!

This is a blog all about nothing. Exciting, I know.

the pillowcase race!

butterflies

Lauren had a fun little party - pillowcase race, bubbles, pinatas - I think the kids had a great time! I made her a butterfly cake and Aileen helped me decorate it - thanks Aileen! Here's a pic of it.

We also did bubbles at night and the flash reflected off the bubbles, so it looks pretty cool! The pillowcase race was fun and there is a video of Lauren blowing out her candles (a bit prematurely).

Lauren girl turns 2!

My baby girl turned 2 on Tuesday! Wow! I can't believe my youngest is 2 already. We had a fun birthday, but her party will actually be tomorrow evening. We're just going to have family and her cousins Katelyn and Emily come over. It will be fun to watch her open presents and get excited about her butterfly cake I'm going to make. Yep, I'm gonna make her a butterfly-shaped cake - it's really cupcakes and cakes, but the pattern looks pretty simple. I'll have to post a picture if it looks good enough!

She also went to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) for the first time today. She liked it and learned about manna. Grant was excited for her to go. It's exciting for her to be learning about God and the life of Moses, of all things!

a renter's quandry

We rent our home. Today, I'm happy to type something like that. It's not such a good time to own a home in the Phoenix area right now. We sold our beautiful home 2 years ago because of the direction we thought/think the housing market is taking. We were right, BUT we weren't prepared for the owner of our rental home to foreclose on US. Apparently this is happening more and more from the stories I am hearing. It happened to my parents a couple of years ago. They were renting and the owners couldn't make payments and foreclosed on them too. But here, the landlord didn't bother to tell us. I found out on my own. I'm sneaky that way. I also found that 5 of his other properties are also in foreclosure. Excellent. He tells me he's trying to modify the loan, etc, but with so many other properties in foreclosure, I'm guessing that's just not gonna happen.

April 20 is the magic date and we're looking for a place to live now. I'd love to buy and have it over with, but we also don't think it's time yet. We think there's another year to this housing madness in Phoenix. What if the landlord forecloses again? I suppose there's never a sure thing, but it will be frustrating to have to look the house up in the tax records every month to make sure you're not missing anything and have enough time to recup the deposits.

My husband also wants to stay here for as long as possible. It does make sense, no rent, delay moving, harvest the fruits, which are vegetables, of the garden my dad just planted, etc. So, I guess we're waiting for an eviction notice, which terrifies me. We've done nothing wrong and yet we'll get an eviction notice. They give you 2 weeks after that (so I've heard) to move out. Sean wants to see if the bank will rent it to us while they try to sell it. Never heard of that happening, but I suppose it's worth a try.

they moved away.....again

So, my parents officially have no belongings here in Arizona, except us of course. I haven't blogged in awhile, lots of stuff going on. We've had friends visit from Alaska, I was in Denver for a BSF retreat (amazing!!!), and then my brother and 2 of his kids were here for awhile and then helped my parents drive the rest of their belongings to Missouri. They arrived there late last night (early this am, I guess).

I'll just post some pics to fill you in. Some pictures Grant took, so beware.....