Spilt milk...

This should be considered a national disaster...

When you only have this much left...And the cheapest gallon you've found is this...

$3.75!!!!

Out of curiosity how much do you pay for milk?

A month of break throughs!

I have been a huge slacker with the move and all the move extras... so its time to do an update on the kiddos!

Something fun and new has been happening! They are starting to play with each other more! Before the extent of their playing has been Hallie trying to get Micah to chase her and giggling the whole time. Sometimes he would entertain her and chase her, but then she would attack squeals, hugs, and "kisses" (more like bites) which usually ended with him in tears and screaming trying to get away from the mauling!

But lately... they giggle at each other frequently AND Micah actually initiates maulings himself! Today, Hallie woke up early from her nap so when I came in to to get Micah she crawled in following me, she starting playing with things in their room and when I left carrying Micah he started CRYING!! The second I went back so he could see Hallie he STOPPED!! How stikin' sweet!

Here's one of the first mauling series that was initiated by Micah- believe it or not he hugged her first which was followed by what you see here!

They are getting to be so much fun!

Our New Neighborhood

Here are some pics of our new neighborhood :) Way different then our peaceful, quiet, walk 4 strollers wide down the middle of the street old neighborhood... but a fun area none the less! It's a young, cute, growing business area with lots of little daytime deli's popping up, as I mentioned before an AMC and IMAX nearby, lots of new apartment homes with lots of young people. It should be a fun place to be if the weather were only a little warmer! I think we're going to begin "cold" training for Micah and Hallie, there are so many places nearby to go and explore, I just can't imagine being stuck inside the whole time we're here!

our nice few of the freeway from our living room :) with a nice grass area below... which would be great for kids except the neighborhood's idea of a kid is a dog- you would be amazed at the amount and SIZE of dogs we see on a daily basis! Needless to say we will not be using that grass area anytime soon!

A view of the metro in the distance, it really is a lot closer then it appears!

How hip is your neighborhood? I was just looking for pics of the rest of the area cause I haven't had a chance to take pics myself and the neighborhood has its own blog :) creekstone where you at? :) check it out!

Our DC weekend

My mom stuck around until Wednesday of last week so we were able to go explore a little while she was here. A majority of Sunday was spent recovering from our travel day, but we braved the COLD wind and drove the 10 miles to Mt. Vernon. This was one of my favorite stops when I visited DC 10 years ago, but one my mom hadn't been to yet.

** a bit of background for future posts... I came to DC while in high school 10 years ago, Tyson has never been, both of our parents have been here before. It is one place that has been on the top of Tyson's must visit list **

It was a wonderful visit, we strapped both kids into the backpack carriers- pretty sure these will get lots of usage here! This was well planned out, because we knew you couldn't bring strollers into the house and didn't want to carry the kiddos. To our dismay, we were told we couldn't bring the carriers into the house either! for what reason we'll never know!?! So we made it through the house and enjoyed seeing the 3rd floor which is only open during the Christmas season and saw what looked like a wonderfully delicious cake which Martha (Washington that is!) would have served guest during the Holiday season- made with only 3 lbs of butter and too many eggs to mention! I love how well the property is maintained and the special spirit which exists there... it truly is a majestic place. We would all do well to follow some of the standards and practices of George Washington!

Tyson headed back to work Monday, and mom and I attempted to take the kiddos down to Old Town Alexandria- again only a few short miles away. (we really are in a great location for anyone who needs a vacation!) Well it was bitter cold again and I had lost their mittens in the move so we ended our short walk quickly after the screaming began- their poor little fingers!! That night we again braved the cold and headed into DC, with a pit stop for mittens of course, to see the National Christmas tree and the White House. The tree is simple, but beautiful and we of course made a quick stop for a pic in front of Washington's tree. There were various musical groups singing at a stage nearby which was added to the whole Christmas ambiance. Poor Hallie again had to remind us that she did not like the cold, and cried the entire 6+ blocks back to the car- I really hope she's not this dramatic as a teenager! We ended up taking the long way home... which really means we just got lost and couldn't figure out how to get home! But in the process drove down embassy row which was interesting, definitely a walk or drive we'll do again in the daytime!

Tuesday was filled with a trip to the AFB to see where Ty works, a lunch outing, and a trip through the BX. That evening, Ty got off a little early so mom and I could go out kid free. We decided to take the Metro so we could get it down before taking Micah and Hallie. We walked the short (less than 1/2 mile!) walk to the metro station and hopped on for our ride of less than 20 minutes into DC. (total plug for coming to see us! oh and did I mention the Ronald Reagan airport is only a 5 minute metro ride from our house?!?) We were able to visit the National Archives- amazing place, didn't realize this, but they keep all the letters written to presidents... umm... WOW! I may even have a few in there somewhere! Some of the letters they have displayed are quite funny, kids requesting that PE teachers be held to the same standards they are instead of standing around talking :) This kid may actually be on to something!

On a more serious note, what an amazing place to go, some of the most important and inspired documents for this world contained in there... amazing stuff. We hoofed it through the mall and over to the Jefferson Memorial all of which is gorgeous at night- too bad pictures don't turn out at night at least not for my trusty little camera :) We returned home to put the kiddos in bed followed by a trip to fuddruckers where I had a delish shake and went to rent Mamma Mia, but we were a week early! It wasn't out yet!

We had a great time, and it was a huge help to have her here in the transition. Tyson and I were able to go out a couple times so I could get better acquainted with the city and how to get around. We were sad to see her go, but I'll spare you all (and myself) and won't go there again :)

The flight from...

Hades? Way down under? H-E-Double hockey sticks? K really it wasn't that bad for us at least... I'm not sure what the people next to us would say! All in all they were very good considering we were on a plane for 7 + hours and they were napless.

I took a lot of your advice and we had 2 diaper bags jammed full of small toys, electronic toys, DVD player, lots of snacks, and finally I even did the one thing I said I would never do- a wee bit of benadryl before we got on the plane... they were out before we even took off! So much for sucking something on take off- the second the benadryl kicked in and the whole no morning nap thing they were out cold! It was a huge sigh of relief- until they woke up 20 minutes later! Seriously... I was thinking what the crap????? They were supposed to be out for at least an hour! So the games began!

Thankfully our flight had been delayed an hour due to inclement weather in Cincinnati... so our plane was virtually empty. Our seats away from each other, in the middle seat (YUCK! even without children- with children, pure misery!) suddenly became seats across the aisle from each other with a whole 2 rows all to ourselves! I am SO THANKFUL our flight was rescheduled and over half the people on the plane were moved to other flights! I don't want to image what it would have been like otherwise!

The second lag of our flight was much worse than the first. I finally was able to get Hallie to sleep again at the end of our first flight, but terror-if-i-don't-get-at-least-an-1 1/2 hour-nap-Micah wouldn't fall asleep and was quite cranky for my mom. We weren't so lucky on this flight, there were quite a few more people and even though it was only an hour long flight we had to do the whole deicing thing (dang cold!) so our flight suddenly became close to 2 hours of confinement. The new flight attendants were not friendly in any way shape or form... k snotty and rude is probably a better description. I think they acted more annoyed with Micah and Hallie then the other passengers did! My mom kept her row to herself, but on command of the not-so-nice flight attendants, I had to sit in my correct seat (shhh don't tell, but I sat on the aisle seat instead of the middle seat!) next to a man who didn't look so excited to be sitting next to a baby. The guy across the aisle offered to switch seats with me, which I said would be great, but me being the good patron I was :) said lets wait until we're in the air... not wanting to upset the already cranky attendants (really I kept waiting for them to be nicer, but wow! I'm hoping they had an excuse like working too many hours, but really they we're based out of Cincinnati so I'm pretty sure they were fresh!) So it ended up taking a LONG time to get in the air, and in the meantime, we have 2 cranky tired babies. I finally got Micah to sleep, so never switched seats. Sleep was good, but Hallie cried every time she saw me sitting behind her... not fun! They were SO done with the plane, which in the future I'll probably do another shot of benadryl in a circumstance like that, but really I've never had rude flight attendants... so next time rude flight attendants or not, I'll be a little more demanding and a little less accommodating! The whole time I was worried about doing something else to upset them! You know those movies and stories you hear about flight attendants WAY overreacting and FREAKING out, I really felt like they could be one of those flight attendants! Anyway we made it safe and sound, were so excited to see Tyson waiting for us, and we all survived the 45 minute drive to our new house!

OK wow! again, I managed to make a not so long story really long! So if you made it this far congratulations! And if you skimmed like I probably would have :) The flight was just ok, could have been A LOT worse, we had some fun, we had some screaming, some wonderful flight attendants, some not so wonderful flight attendants, more benadryl next time, and looking on the upside- flights can really only get better from here right!?!

enjoy the one picture my mom managed to snap at the beginning of our flight! :)

Different

So after reviewing my recent posts, I realized that I am coming across as being really negative! Which is so not me... I realize that I have really focused on the things that I "don't like" about being here, but after thinking about it, it's not that I "don't like" here... it's just different, and different is not always easy to like. Hope that makes some kind of sense- it made sense in my head (and that's what counts right?!?) Anyway like I said at the end of my last post I think I've got most of the negative differences about here out in the open and I can focus more on the positives. Thank you all so much for the suggestions and positive comments, this is definitely the place to come for a pick me up!

So with that said, I AM excited to be here and I have complete faith that I WILL enjoy our time here, I WILL meet lots of friendly people, and I WILL learn my way around! Now off to take some pics before it gets any darker outside!

Reality.

Reality is my mom left yesterday...

She was my last tie to family and home. I have greatly enjoyed living so close to her the last couple years. It has been so nice to spend so much time with her, she has truly become one of my best friends.

I was hanging on to that last tie to get me through and when she left, well let's just say yesterday wasn't exactly the happiest day I've had in awhile. I'm coming out of it little by little, and don't get me wrong I am happy to be here for 2 big reasons, to explore the area and all it's treasures and to be here with our little family. It will be so good for us to grow as a family. But boy is it out of the comfort zone! Not knowing anyone, not knowing the area, looking out my window at the freeway, the metro, and skyscrapers- way different then what I'm used to! And to top that all off, people are different here. I realize I haven't been here a full week yet, but using my quick judgement- people aren't as friendly as they are on the West Coast. I fully realize that may totally change once we get to know people, but on a day to day stranger basis- not as friendly here.

And the fast food/service WOW! weird. First of all you can't understand half the people so you say yes and hope you're saying yes to something you really wanted! And when they give you your food or whatever, most places say thanks, or have a good day, or there you go, or do you want ketchup with that... or something to let you know you've got all your food and you're all done. SOMETHING! It's weird, when you get to a window, they'll tell you the amount while hardly glancing at you, give you your product and then... NOTHING!!! absolutely nothing, they nonchalantly kinda walk away so you stand there waiting... am I done now? did I get all my food? WEIRD! So you leave with the only interaction being someone barely mumbling out your total. Again- WEIRD!

And while I'm on a rant... what about the road systems/signs! Talk about CONFUSING!!! There are seriously at least 3 names for every street, and those names can change at any random point they feel like. So really when you need to turn somewhere you have to be looking for 3 different names or you may miss the street you were supposed to take! And then turning around- ha! Half the time you can't! There's a divider or you turn around to go the way you came and it totally takes you another way! Oh and for example my directions to Ty's work told me to take Mill Rd, which ok simple just follow Mill Rd, but no not so simple they don't tell you that you have to take a left at the stop light to stay on Mill Rd and of course there are no street signs to tell you which road you are on, so instead you follow the Rd you are on, which should continue to be Mill Rd right? cause you haven't made any turns, right!?! NOPE! It takes you onto a dead end... which is actually a good case scenario, cause then you don't get entirely lost! Long story short... the road systems here make absolutely NO SENSE!!!!!! Maybe that's why people take the metro... that and absolutely no parking. Weird.

So I think I've finally got all the negativity out, so hopefully tomorrow I'll try to fill you in on some more of the positives about being here :)