Back in the saddle!

Well it has been a long time since I blogged, but due to the move I hope to be a fairly regular blogger to keep the grandparents off my back. ;) (note: Chicago is much further from the sun, but since it's temporary, I'll leave the title alone.)

Things are going well for us, we are settled into our new home, rattling around a bit with very meager furnishings, but we don't mind. The kids made a quick disaster of the basement with their toys, but I am really enjoying the minimal mess in the bedrooms! Oh how I long for a basement in Tucson! The "summer" here is, I'm told, very unusual. It's been very mild, in the upper 70's/low 80's during the day and raining a lot. The heat is bearable even at 85 with humidity, if it ever gets into the 90's I'll let you know which is worse, the "dry" heat of AZ or the "humid" heat of Illinois. The jury is still out!

The pets have finally decided things are ok. Tipper had his pride hurt as man of the house when I glued soft rubber tips to his claws to eliminate his naughty scratching habit. He didn't have much to do with me for nearly 3 days. Loco just spends his time doing what he's always done, hiding from the kids and hanging out in our room. Tasha is having terrible issues with the squirrels. They just hang out in the back yard, threatening her people. Dangerous little creatures, playing on the play structure for the kids and running up and down the trees like they own the place. It is extremely distressing and she is constantly getting yelled at for barking incessantly at them. Hallie finally figured out that the ground does is not required to be hard as a rock to potty. She refused to pee in the grass for several days, I was getting really tired of hosing off the patio. She is really not impressed with the wet stuff falling down out of the sky every other time she goes out either. She is a house dog. She is going to be fabulous to deal with when the snow comes. ;)

Shawn is working hard, and seems to be enjoying getting the hang of things. I just asked him if there was anything else to tell, and he asked me who wants to know. So, sorry family, that's all I've got. ;) He's good!

I'm doing well. Miss having my friends around to escape "mommyhood" on occassion. I had to go to TJMaxx, Target and the bookstore all alone last week. I enjoyed my break from the kids (it had been nearly 2 weeks straight of 24/7) but sure missed having someone to talk to and hang out with.

I joined a gym. It's very cool, but Evan has a summer cold and the daycare won't let him in when he isn't well. I am trying to motivate myself to go this evening when Shawn is done working. They have a pool with two water slides and the kids are loving that when it is sunny. I also met a woman named Anna there, I'm hoping to run into her again, she was really fun to talk too. In other news I hit the JACKPOT of thrift stores. It's about 10 miles from our house, but it is so COOL! I'm a girl who loves a good deal and thrift stores are in my blood (thanks to my Grandma Skinner!) but this Salvation Army store is not only the BIGGEST thrift store I've ever encountered, it gets Targets "reject" stuff. I cannot tell you how excited I was to see a clock I've seen and contemplated for $25 at T tons of times, for $5. I snagged that baby, and it works perfectly!


Kira made friends with Rachel next door. There are only the two girls on our street, so even though Rachel is going to be in 5th grade she is more than happy to hang with Kira and do "girl" stuff. They get along really well. She is also looking forward to starting ballet, and did her own research and has chosen a studio (the one Rachel goes too of course! ;) ) and so we will head over Monday to sign up.

Evan is hanging with the nicest group of boys on the street. They are ranging in age from 7-11 or so I'd guess and they just are so sweet to include him and play so nicely with him. He is learning to ride his bike without training wheels so he can keep up a little better with the boys. He still has no desire to be in "anything", so no sports, or lessons for him. He's still holding out for kindergarten to "read" as well. He is loving not having to put shoes on to go outside and is a slayer of spiders for his sister. He just kills them with a broom. No big deal. We do have a ton of spiders it seems.

So for now I'll just post some pics of the house. I'll get some with our fantastic rental furniture later, and some of us hanging out enjoying the huge lawn. Also we took a walk to see the Des Plaines river that is at the end of our street. We didn't make it all the way, we got bogged down in the bog. Mud and muck. What a mess.

Without further ado, pics. (I'm too lazy to label all of these, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!)