November's End

L loved sucking on a turkey bone while we finished getting dinner ready.

Vallarie dressed up her & Nat's American Girl dolls for Thanksgiving. Her and I made the cornecopia last week.


Natalie's class had a Thanksgiving parade. She had made a turkey hat!

Valla made a little bed in L's closet and brought her in there to camp out!


It's so funny what will make a baby laugh...

Natalieisms-

• "Mom, I want to wear that shirt that keeps my neck safe." ........ a turtleneck!

Anyone familiar with Gainesville is familiar with the 34th St Wall. It's a concrete wall that is constantly being painted by anyone who chooses to. Over the years we've seen memorials, artwork, marriage proposals, ads, & tons of other messages. Now we've made our mark on the wall!

The girls were so excited to paint what ever they wanted. Lauren slept in the car while we painted. Both V & N left their handprints and we are now forever part of the 34th St Wall!!

(ps- You might notice Jason has no shirt on. We forgot the paint shirts for the girls, so Valla wore a towel with a whole cut out and Nat wore Jason's shirt while they painted. He's usually not a shirtless painter!)

Look Who's Sittin' Pretty

L is almost 6 months...ugh! She's close to sitting up by herself. Still a little wobbly, but close! She's also cutting her 1st tooth! It's just now poking through and of course drooling like crazy. She loves bananas and peaches & has her 1st cold.

It's that time of year... all three girls have some stage of a cold. Poor little L's nostrils are so small to begin with, it doesn't take much for them to get clogged! She likes to fall asleep with a pacifier and with a stuffy nose is having trouble breathing with it. The vaporizer is a lifesaver, but it does make her room feel like a sauna.

V's interest in horseback riding has been waning so I talked to her about it and she said she's done for a while. I called her wonderful instructor, Anna, to let her know. Later that day I told Val, "Anna said best of luck and you were a great student!" Valla burst into tears! We talked and she decided she was getting tired of working on trotting, but she wants to be around the horses to feed, clean, and just be with them. So I called Anna back and both girls are headed out to the barn tomorrow to clean stalls and feed horses, and yet I'm paying for it!

The house sale is moving along. We've had the regular and termite inspection & apprasial. All is on schedule to close Dec 22. We've got to look into storage units in Orlando. Anyone have any experience with issues of nonairconditioned storage? Let me know if you have an opinion on this.

We've booked our London flights!! We fly out of Orlando on Jan 9th at 5pm. We're excited my mom has taken us up on our invitation to join us. Since there will be 6 of us and we'll be there when the weather will be cold & rainy (avg temp in Jan= 43!) we think it will be important to have some space. Prepare for sticker shock, Nothing in London is cheap! We're looking at this place... http://www.foxtons.co.uk/SH/chpk0074055
With a bigger place we'll have room for any visitors too, come on over!

Natalie went to her first Gator game with Jason on Sat. Of course she was more interested in the cotton candy and Popsicle, but it was a special day just her and her dad.

We made candy coated pretzels and Natalie decorated them- delicious!.

Natalieisms-

• She returned from the neighbor's with painted nails. I told her she needed to ask before painting her nails. She says, "I did ask her to use her polish." I meant to ask me!!
  
• Mom, "Natalaie, what's the month after December?....it starts with a J." Natalie replies, "Jaycember!"
• "Mom, your alarmo'clock is ringing!"
• "Mom, can I have some appletizer." Apple Cider
  

• V- "Mom you don't cook gross stuff it's just delicious stuff we don't like."
• V- "Mom you're the best mom I've ever had and you'll probably be the only one I have."
  

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon

A lot can change in a week! Last weekend we had no interest in our house and we had abandoned the idea of spending Jason's last semester abroad in London, England. We were so concerned about the sluggish housing market we were fearful of having to rent our house out or the girls and I staying in Gville waiting for it to sell while Jason started his job in Orlando in Aug 2009.

But Monday around 11 as we had a playdate with our friends, Pam & Holland, a realtor called & wanted to show the house at 1. I got it ready to show & as we were waiting a different realtor called from our driveway & says, "I forgot to call earlier, can I show your house NOW?" Only because of the first realtor was the house ready... the first realtor never showed or called. Apparently her 'purpose' was to prepare the house. The lady came through and was gone 15 min later. That evening she called and brought her husband by. Two days later and no word.

Wed we get a call from a couple who had seen the house a few weeks back and who we'd thought had moved on. They came for a 2nd showing Wed & let us know to expect an offer Mon after they returned from vacation. We see London has a lifeline!

Thurs the realtor calls to say the couple from Mon wants a 3rd look! We ended up with two almost identical offers on Sat. By Sat evening we had a signed contract on our house! After a lot of work and 45 days on the market we pulled the sign from our yard!

We close Dec 22, move out Dec 31 to put our things in storage in Orlando, and plan to fly to London around Jan 10. Jason starts classes Jan 13th. We're looking for a flat to rent and are slowly figuring out the rest! We'll be there until the end of April when we'll head to Orlando to find the next house. Jason graduates mid May in Gainesville and starts bar prep classes soon after in Orlando.

We are beyond excited about experiencing London, especially since we really thought it wasn't going to happen. I can't believe we now only have 6 more weeks in Gville.

Natalieisms-

• "Mom there's a rock in my brownie!" It was a walnut. :)
• I've caught her sucking her thumb after we worked so hard this summer to break the habit. She responds with, "A kid's gotta do what kids do Mom!"

This chick LOVES to watch football!

L's 1st Tea Party. Her sisters put her at the "baby" table!

L's 1st bike ride.

Candid Camera

This is why I keep the camera with me at all times! This is in the parking lot of Toys R Us this morning.

Natalieism-
Valla dropped an entire container of beads and they went ALL over the laminate flooring. Natalie calls out, "Daddy, 911- WE NEED HELP!!"

End of October

It was observation week in N's jazz class. She's doing so well!! It's the first time I was able to see what she does in there and she really paid attention and tried so hard. I was so proud. :)

Tuesday evening we had a Daisy Girl Scout Halloween party. It was in the low 50's, but lots of fun!

With the cold snap the beginning of the week and I was glad she got to wear this cute outfit Aunt Niki got her a while back.

L has a new favorite snack- her toes! Any chance she gets, she pops them into her mouth.

We visited a Corn Maze last weekend. The girls loved playing in the Corn Box and it was a great day to be outside.

Natalie woke up Friday morning yelling, "IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!" They were so excited. I went into V's class to do a spider craft with her class and it's SO nice to be the parent and not the teacher with the sugar filled kids!

Lauren was a Daisy, Natalie was a Barbie Island Princess, and Valla was an 80's Diva. We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with friends and they had a blast.

The Loot & tired trick-or-treaters.

This morning, L had her first bites of rice cereal. She seemed to really like it and ate the entire bowl. The big sisters were so excited she's eating food and had fun feeding her!

The girls were watching Aladdin and I asked them what their three wishes would be.

Natalie-

1. To be a real princess.
2. A shooting star.
3. To marry a prince.

Vallarie-

1. A barn
2. A tack room full with all the horse stuff.
3. A bunch of horses

Natalieism-

• "I'm a fan of candy."

House Update- The house is still For Sale By Owner and is now on Realtor.com and the MLS but no action yet. We're resigned to being here in Gville for the Spring but are keeping it up for sale in hopes with the sluggish market we'll sell by June when we'll be ready to move to Orlando.