Toy Story 1 (not 3)

Sammy has been talking about Toy Story 3 with all the hype out there so I decided we needed to watch Toy Story 1 first so she knew at least some of the characters. Last Friday I was still flying solo with Andy in China again for work and it was so stormy outside...I figured it would be a good Mommy daughters activity for the night. I picked the girls up from daycare and we talked all the way home about watching Toy Story after we had pizza! Then I realized I have no idea where the box is after moving with my Disney movies in it..on VHS..wow I am old.. : )
I ran down to the basement and dug a bit and found the box...Toy Story was on top..thank you God! Then I get upstairs and realize we no longer have a VCR hooked up..I know we have one but where is it and can I hook it up if I even find it...luckily the girls played well without me for the time I was running around the house like a crazy woman... I finally find the VCR in a box and luckily there were component cables in the box as well. So Mommy did it..I just plugged the VCR right into the front of the TV and left it sitting on the floor ghetto style! We had fruit snacks and watched Toy Story 1! I forgot how much adult humor is in those movies..Sammy liked it but didn't really seem to get attached to it at all. But I think she understood it more than I realized--before bed she looked at me and said "Mom, I sleep with different animals all the time..not just one." I told her that was OK..then she said "then there shouldn't be one that gets sad right?" It was cute to see her concern... I am a little nervous that she is now never going to want to get rid of any toys cause they have feelings...

Skipping a year or so...HOUSE CRAZINESS

I have been reading the Shannon Family blog daily and caught up on Mandy's blog today..so I am in the mood to blog..totally shouldn't be but oh well...

Our old house...

In this economy and market everyone said the hard part was going to be selling..well for us the hard part was buying.....In early January we accepted an offer on our house which for this market we felt was a decent price. We got more than we paid for it in 2002 and only had it on the market for 42 days! We also figured we got out of it almost exactly what we had put into it..almost.. We were very excited! But that also meant I was mentally going crazy trying to find a house. We went out day after day starting in November looking at SO MANY HOUSES from Naperville to Bolingbrook to Plainfield and back again... On MLK day we went out without the girls thank you Jesse for watching them and literally looked at 18 more houses..and the one we kept comparing everything to was one house we saw back in early December..it was all trade offs but we took my Mom and Dad with us the next night and decided to put an offer on a house that had only been on the market for 4 days and had another offer already which is unheard of in this economy. We figured it was a long shot but we ended getting our offer accepted..crazy...beautiful house..huge garage..but further than I wanted to live..5 days later the sellers backed out...so on to house #2. Much Smaller garage but immaculate (cause they didn't have kids), closer to where I wanted to live..same schools as a friend of mine that could have taken Sam to school with her son..finished basement that had a unfinished 21'x13' workout room in the back that Andy agreed could be finished as my dance studio as soon as we moved in! I was pumped...we negotiated for over a week which again was a little strange but we got it..pool table and all...did the home inspection only found a few minor things... realized it had no linen closet..anyway... 4 days later they backed out on us..long crazy story but they sold it to a cash offer even though we told them we could have cleared our sale contingency or we only had a few weeks before we were closing...but the crazy people backed out.... so we were so upset...I kept having to tell myself everything happens for a reason..(and still on Redfin.com it still says this house hasn't actually closed...hmmm) We had to move onto house #3--we put an offer in..this was the first house we liked back in early December. It was priced a little high cause the guy had just gotten divorced and paid more for the house in 2006 than he even listed it for--we needed him to come down..but we also needed a house in only a few weeks so the games began...we negotiated and got the house. It is smaller than the others (and less$$) but had everything we wanted except brick on the front and the girls rooms weren't as big as I would have liked them to have..everything finally worked out... Andy and I love that it is in a pool community with a clubhouse etc. We back a pond which at first I was nervous about but it has been so fun to see the wildlife and Sammy actually picked the smallest bedroom just so she could face the pond. I find myself just standing at the patio door just zoned in on watching the egrets and the herons and the different varieties of ducks and the muskrats..its like living in front of an episode of national geographic!

We laugh about how in 2002 when we decided to move out of our townhouse we HAD to have a yard with a fence for Slater and really wanted at least 3 bedrooms and a finished basement would be great. I wanted a space that if I was coaching I could have all the girls over to watch film...these things are important to a recently married 26 year old dancer... So the house we chose in 2002 had a fenced yard with a great patio a finished basement with an office and 3 bedrooms plus a loft upstairs...Well this time we needed better schools, first and foremost, but we really wanted at least 4 bedrooms, a bigger family room, and a 3 car garage. Oh how the priorities change. We feel we accomplished our most important need and even most of our wants! 4 bedrooms plus a den/office 3 car garage wonderful family room etc.. However, we bought a house with no fence, a tiny builder issued deck, and an unfinished basement...I am excited to have a clean slate to make the basement what WE want but like I said how the priorities change. I should maybe not say WE cause I already have claimed an area in the basement that will someday be a dance studio for my girls and I and another area that will be a craft room..and an area for the girls dress up closet etc...we will see when that actually gets done...

Our new house

We are very fortunate that we were able to do all this right now and we were also able to take advantage of the $6500 tax credit.

We are getting things together day by day and last weekend met a ton of our neighbors when it was so nice out and I already got invited to play Bunco! yeah! I played (still do for now) in my old neighborhood and it is just a fun night out! I obviously should have been inside unpacking and organizing but it was nice to meet people!!! We got a new fence this week which is so nice to not have to worry about Slater on a tie out which he has never had to have and when we were in the yard I was always so paranoid my little fish (Alaina) would jump in the pond... : )


SO in the end we are so happy to be in a new place where we hope our kids will be very happy!


It was hard on me though for the last few weeks in our old house to think how we not only brought both our babies to that house after they were born but we are pretty sure we conceived both girls in that house too. I know TMI. And Alaina will not even remember that house. I would sit in the girls rooms and cry. I took so many pictures in the old house..

Ali and Sam in the old "Nursery"

It was Sam's then Ali's room

Sam in her old Mermaid Room

We had done so much to make it ours and upgrade things etc. It was hard to move. But I know we needed to make a change and now I have a new space to make ours.. now if I only could find some time to accomplish that it would be even better..and to all my decorating friends I need your help! : )

Life...

So realizing that I haven't blogged in FOREVER I just wanted to say hello to the blog world that I have been missing. With everything going on these days things have been a bit chaotic. ( And I blame facebook for my lack of blogging!)

The girls are growing so fast and I can't believe I have a 5 year old. We are interviewing daycare centers and looking at possible private schools..I am not old enough for this... : )

Work is work and the new house is coming together fairly well. We still have a TON to do but day to day is getting a bit more"normal".

I have to put out a request to pray for Brendan Shannon and Tim and Danielle. Her blog is keeping us all updated on what is going on with Brendan's Chemo and treatments..but my heart goes out to them and we are constantly checking the site for updates and praying for the treatments to be successful and not too hard on his little body! I am glad to hear that they can be back in Chicago for the next month's treatments etc.

I haven't uploaded pictures lately so I think the most current picture I have on my work computer is from November.

CONGRATS to Brian & Cyndi!

Anna Linn Smith was born this morning at 9:29 AM.
She was 9 lbs 9 oz and 22 inches long!!!!
She was about a week late and Cyndi and baby are doing great!
Yeah!!!!!

More January 2009

Wow I guess I liked my camera in January.

I also realized as I go back and look at pictures that Ali did look like Andy but as you see the pictures starting around April she starts to change......

More matching outfits..oh shock surprise....

My Little Cowgirl!

Sometimes after Saturday morning dance class we stop to get treats. Sammy LOVES chocolate..Andy and I aren't even that big into chocolate but she got that gene from her Uncle Brian.

Here she destroyed..I mean ate a chocolate frosted donut! Frosting first of course.

We had a fun night at Becky and Cort's to visit with Dave and Liz who were in town from Florida.

Thank you Emily for the cute matching outfits!!!!

Ali loves to scoot over to the patio door and Sam follows her and "hugs" or tortures her while she just wants to look outside.
Pink PJ's

Sammy and her Doggy! Slater looks thrilled huh?

Eyeore

Ali went to dance class with us and of course she wore her little dancer socks and ballerina outfit.

Sammy still loves her dolphins and whales!

I can't believe we went to our first preschool meeting to try to put Sammy into preschool. We decided in the end that she is getting enough at Daycare and we don't really have a good way as dual working parents to get her to a preschool..but I felt so old and my "baby" is a big girl......

Sammy is also my dreamer. She remembers her dreams and tells us about them. She had a few more crazy ones in January that I actually wrote down..Sammy also is starting to be very dry at night! And going to the potty on her own a few times during the day!

Ali is learning to pull open drawers and understanding the word no...

Andy is a Pilot! January 2009

January was a very long time ago but scrolling through my pictures tells the stories all over again.

January brought about a HUGE accomplishment for Andy. He is now a private pilot! I can not believe it and am a nervous wreck every time he goes up in the air but he has wanted this since he was a kid and I made a deal and had to hold up my end of it.... I have no plans to go in the little planes with him and it is one EXPENSIVE hobby. Of course Andy said once the lessons are done the cost will go down a little...yeah...a very little. He first got checked out in a Cesna 152 which is a very small 2 seater plane that is soo tiny but he passed his test on January 5 and is good to go.

This is a plaque that Mr. P hand carved for Andy (and one for his Dad too!) So amazing!

Andy Flying with his instructor the first time he did the "skyline tour" of the city. He took a friend of his with to take pictures. Andy said you really just follow the roads below. He took the Stevenson in and the Eisenhower out of the city. You have to watch out for the O'Hare and Midway traffic...YIKES!

The Andersons are definitely still having adventures

I am sad that I am so behind on blogging. I love to see other people's kids growing up and I feel like all of a sudden Sammy is a Little Girl not a toddler and Ali is a toddler..what happened... so here goes... Sue I am glad you posted that on my facebook too cause I miss posting just never find the time..too many adventures at the same time these days.