A couple things

So, how's it going? We're fine, busy, feeling better and getting this house in order. Eric has been working hard, I have been taking the kids out, so he can work hard. I still seem to be pretty tired by the evenings, not tired enough to go to bed, but too tired to move. I have found that if I go to bed too early and I get awakened in the night I can't get back to sleep! I guess that must be why my Dad used to snooze on the couch before moving to the bed for his real sleep! (please excuse the mountain of laundry in my closet! Eric thought the kids were being cute, so he took some pictures.)

They were actually playing together, looking at the toy together, you know sharing, like they liked each other!

Nate is getting more and more into things, babies like him are why they invented baby locks! He is everywhere and he thinks when you move him from something he is not supposed to be touching while saying no, that is a fun game! Suffice it to say, it is not going well, this no thing! Gwen asked me today if I was going to put him into time out! He is a mad man, crawling around on the floor, he can really come after you quickly, I totally have to start cleaning, i.e. vacuuming and laundry while he is not around, he totally gets all up in my business, and have I mentioned, he doesn't really think no means "NO!" This is one of the toys I purchased that is one thing that would totally get put in the trash, but both kids love it! It has the most sensitive switch and it can be very LOUD. I tell you that is the worst thing about buying the kids toys used at these large sales, no perception of how loud something really is!

The problem with this toy, apparently Nate has figured out how to stand on it and I went to get a picture (like a good Mom!) and then he got excited I was taking his picture and fell down, and this is the picture I got! You can see, rather upset...

Gwen is still adjusting to the boundaries, she is really having a difficult time understanding that she isn't allowed to do something Nate is and she is trying to tell him what to do and take stuff from him. I do have a funny story about Gwen, have I mentioned that she is a mimic? Well the other day we were at Barnes & Noble and Gwen had me help her take off her jacket and then she picked up a "baby" and lifted up her shirt to nurse and then put her jacket over the baby. The reason why this was funny, is because there was a someone in the store nursing her baby! She's never actually tried to publicly nurse a "baby".
The other day I took Gwen outside to distract her from the fact that she wanted to be with Daddy while he was trying to work. She seems to have figured out how to blow bubbles without actually trying to drink the liquid; a big step!

Feeling better, but not 100%

It has been awhile since I updated on the real day-to-day around here. Of course I don't know that there has been a real day-to-day around here in months, especially since we came back from the big RV trip and all got sick! :( I think we are all on the mend, so I hope we can all get the ball moving on this moving thing.
Did I mention that Nate has learned to crawl up the steps? So we definitely have to stairs up gates closed now. While I am speaking about Nate I should mention that he is a super fast crawler now, if he sees something he wants, he is out of here! I have also not mentioned Nate's swim classes, he LOVES them. They are little too close to nap time, but he kicks the whole time, he loves chasing after the ball and he loves get his face wet and he loves when I blow bubbles and he tries to "catch" them. Today I tried to get him to be upright, and he got "mad" and flopped himself back down so he could be "swimming" again.

Gwen is getting to be a challenge. We imagine that is becuase she is 2.5! Difficult age, I have been told by many people. I hear that 4 is a good age! And it is not that she isn't sweet and loving, oh she has her moments, she is quite funny. Her conversations are quite humourous, when we know what she is talking about, but the thing is you must know what has gone on in the last couple of days because she often picks up our conversations and adds them into hers, so you don't always know what she is saying, unless you are in the trenches, so to speak. But, she is definitely very trying these days, she does not like to share any of the spotlight with anyone else! Especially Nate! She does not want to share with him, she wants to have our attention, postive or negative, all the time and she doesn't care if she sits in time out (if she is especially ornery). I think we will make it, but I tell you she really knows how to test our patience...but she's usually still good in public, these are only home battles!

We have hammered out the details for the coming weeks of house moving/hunting and whatever else. We are definitely starting to get our act together so hopefully we can make this as painless as possible? Ok, who am I kidding, this process will have some pain, we have 2 young children to work around! But, at least Eric is unemployed so we can tag team house projects and watching kids. That is to say, this might not be updated much, if not at all in the upcoming weeks. We will see how it goes! Eric was able to get a picture of Nate's teeth! He loves scrunching up his nose and smiling. We think he is soon going to have 4 top teeth and 2 bottom, but I haven't seen or felt the proof yet.

Kites

A couple days before we left we decided to try to fly kites, we weren't 100% successful, but we had fun!

RV day 5-7

Ok, so I guess with day 5-7 I should announce that we have decided to move to NC. Sorry about that AL friends, we decided to go with the better school and the more poor route. This will really test what I have been telling Eric, I don't need lots of things to be happy...but it is a nice area and we are looking forward to the new surroundings.
So, on to the RV trip: We visited with my goddaughter and her family and then went to Chucky Cheese for dinner and met with some other friends. It was a long evening. I am quite amazed the Gwen & Nate did so well. The next day we left to drive home and this was the day I about flipped out. It was a long day, we stayed that night in a real live RV campground, all I can say is WOW! The lady that was running that place, WOW! She kept calling the kids, "little humans" does that bother anyone else? I mean sure they are little humans, but they are children, and did you know that they charge extra for the children, what's that about? On the next day we drove home, put the kids to bed, cleaned the RV and slept in our own beds!!!! AWESOME!

So now we are home, the decision has been made, is anyone else stressed out and frazzled? Ok, actually I am not stressed out and frazzled, I am just having a problem figuring out what day it is, we have been unable to have our exercise group due to illness and I think Gwen is also either coming down with something or is having seasonal allergies. So in case I don't get back on here before Sunday...Happy Easter!

Evening Day1-Day4!

Here are days 2, 3, & 4 and a couple of shots from the evening of Day1.

So, I guess I haven't really discussed the trip yet. It was a pretty good trip. We looked at houses in both NC & AL. The kids were good, despite having late nights every night. Eric did all the driving and I did all the entertaining. Eric says he doesn't want to do any driving for like a week, I think that means I shouldn't have to do any entertaining!
Day 1 we picked up the RV and then drove the RV to a questionable park in Chapel hill, we were in the overflow lot, next to the dumpster and some kind of construction site. Day 2 we saw some houses, most pretty nice. Then we drove to Jess's and hung out briefly with her and the kids.
Then, day 3, we drove to Birmingham and stayed with John & Liesa. The only problem with these pictures is that I forgot to bring in my camera in when we were there, I was so tired after that 7hour drive! I must apologize to Liesa's Mom (Hi!) who reads this blog and I should have pictures of her Grandkids on here, sorry! I wish I had my camera because Gwen was so funny, she just wormed her way onto the couch right in between them. We all had a pretty good laugh about that (us parents!) This was also the first night I got a really good night of sleep because John & Liesa & the boys were kind enough to let Nate and I sleep in the house, while Gwen and Eric slept in the RV.
Day 4 we looked at houses in Birmingham, and then drove to Beth's house. This concluded the "business" portion of the trip (the looking at the houses, which was the whole reason for the trip!) We played a fun game with Brian & Beth while the girls played all played together and watched TV!

Decisions, decisions!

We are in the mist of decision making, Eric has until tax day to notify his school of choice, so I hope he will make that decision soon! But, really that is a post for another day! Today we are here to discuss the fact that we are safely home from our RV trip. We returned the RV and have I mentioned we all arrived safely. The trip went well, I only had 1 day where I demanded Eric get me out of the RV before I threw myself out the window...I would say that is a good trip! Eric did all the driving, which meant I did all the entertaining. I don't really know who was more tired!
So, I leave you with RVing, day1...when I find my camera, I will likely update with more pictures...ENJOY!