Meggie's Room

Final House tour :)

Meg is finally unpacked. All of her stuff fit well - it helps that she has a walk-in closet. Ella said to Benjamin the other day, "My rules are the same as Aunt Meg's rules - if my door is shut do NOT come in."

Animal Grand Central

Me and my blankie
Yogurt nose

Cool quote

"I'm old enough to be satisfied with what I have, and young enough to still want more; Lucky enough to have been really stupid and lived to tell about it; cursed enough to have a good memory; Intelligent enough to understand that I still have a lot to learn, and ignorant enough to continually prove to myself that I still haven't."

Well just to keep you updated - not because I have good news... The leak is fixed no thanks to the home warranty people.Apparentlyy drilling into your own pipe exceeds normal wear and tear. **@#^&*

AND our van is terminally ill. After doing 200 dollars worth of work the mechanic found a head gasket problem. As of yet the van has not run hot so he suggested we put leak stop in it and wear it out. So now we wait for Kyle's Christmas bonus and hope its enough for a big down payment. There is nothing quite as exhilarating and annoying as driving and wondering which turn, acceleration, or start up will be the last.
Luckily my coupon system is still saving us money - got $167 worth of groceries for $119!

We are also saying many prayers for Nana! She is having knee surgery this week. She has a triple threat - arthritis, a cyst, and torn ligament!
Now for some better news - Meg is doing great with her classes, two A's in one week - the best being the biology test that she was deathly afraid of!

The good the bad and the frustrating

Well I had a running blog in my head. It was going to be about my new favorite things here in Teckis. I'll still hit the highlights but now it is a two way street. We have been jinxed lately. But anyhow I'll start with the good:
Maiya is walking all the time now! I am very excited to have a toddler. We now wear cute shoes (and have a reason to wear them). No more dirty knees!!! The downside is she likes to go visiting during sacrament. Maiya has yet to meet a stranger. She waddles away several times during the meeting, three pews up she'll stop, raise her arms to a perfect stranger; if they pick her up they immediately get kisses! She'll continue this on and off the whole time. If you try to stop her she screams! But on her own she's pretty quiet making the rounds - she'll sit 10 or 15 minutes with other families.
Kyle has been working like crazy on a huge project at work. I suppose that is par for the course since he is a project manager - but I miss him! He works late often and continues working once he gets home. The good news is this project should be done soon and I have been given the thumbs up to plan a camping trip. I am so excited. I already smell the smores. There are few things better than a fall camping trip in my book!
Speaking of fall - now that things are cooling off around here it has been so nice. For a while there in July I was pretty sure that our subdivision bordered hell literally. It was so hot!! But now the windows are open, AC is off and I am loving it. I got inside information from Meg that Home depot was marking down outside stuff and I loaded up - table, umbrella, and chairs for a steal! Ever since we have had dinner outside almost every night. The kids really like it. The breeze feels great and so far no bugs - I think the miserable summer and drought killed them all. The best part about eating outside is afterwards I can just hose everything off!
Now for the bad - The van broke down again!!! AHHHHHH On the way home from church the belt popped. So its in the shop and they have also found a coolant leak. So while the van was in the shop I thought I'd work in the vehicle free garage. I was lubricating the garage door opener (something I didn't even know you had to do until recently) when I saw water running through the garage. I thought I had busted something in a box when I moved the box and found mold on the drywall. AHHHHH once again. It seems as though we nicked a pipe when installing our 'garage organizer' two weeks ago. Meg had to end her shower mid shampoo and I am now waiting for the plumber. We have a home warranty but I don't know if breaking the pipe yourself is covered. My plan is to act dumb - yeah, yeah I know that isn't so hard:)

Poor Kyle

Yesterday was my man's birthday. It was a comedy of errors on my part! - I arranged piano lessons as his gift - I made a cute card on Microsoft word then forgot to close it out. He came home and saw it on the screen instead of in the sealed decorated envelope. I made one of his favorite dinners - cube steak and potatoes. Once at the table we realized we never replenished our Heinz 57 sauce supply post move. He was very upset apparently cube steak isn't the same without the right sauce! Now moving on to the cake. I got this crazy idea to make my own ice cream cake - how hard can it be I thought. I made a cream filling, crushed oreos into it, spread the ice cream then decorated the top with icing - each ingredient ok by itself - awful together!! It was so sweet none of us could eat it - even Benjamin - well he finished his but didn't want seconds. So sorry babe - better luck next year. (It better be that's going to be the big 3-0)

Holy Cow cont.

Well so much for "there won't be any changes soon until they build another building"...A High Council member from the Stake announced in Sacrament meeting today that there will be a special meeting next Sunday outlining the boundaries for a new ward! So we will find out next week if we are members of the Frisco 5th ward.

Some more...

My Kitchen - I love it! - I decorated much more "country" than my style - but it went with the border, and until I paint it will work. Now I just need the motivation to keep it clean!
The girls room
Notice our little walker in the picture - the tide has turned to almost 90% walking!

As you can see it will be a tight squeeze to have two twin beds - so when the time comes the girls will switch rooms with Benjamin. They have already made paint color selections :)

I still have so much to organize in their room - but it is so hard. My main work time is during her nap, so its a little difficult to do when its her room to work on - everyday I say I'll set up the play pen for her to nap and do it - but you know how plans go!

Holy Cow

So I knew we were coming to a bigger ward but oh my goodness, this ward is huge. Today the Bishop announced that the ward membership is over 600. There are full chairs all the way to the back of the cultural hall. There were three new babies blessed today. Nursery (18 months-3 years) will be at 55+ kids by the end of the year. Primary had to move permanently into the chapel because they have over 145 kids! I'd say just about everybody is active and does their callings. We haven't once felt like "one in the crowd" or lost in the shuffle, but I still can't help but think that this can't go on much longer. One issue is there is no way in the near future to split us into two wards. There is already four wards in Frisco and there aren't' any plans (that we know of yet) to build another building. My new calling is "media specialist" I do the Sacrament programs, photography, and the bulletin board. I am riding two emotions right now - I wish we could be split into two wards and not feel like we are at a major conference each Sunday. But I also like not having a huge load of responsibility. I guess overall I am just glad the Gospel is spreading and we have so many members!!

Nana won!

Our favorite words on the painting are...
Kyle - Temple
Janie - Bittersweet
Benjamin - Hello
Ella - Family
Maiya - Baby

More of the house tour

The Gameroom

So funny story... That tri-level storage bin was actually a "dumpster diving" find for me - someone had it out at the curb for trash in VA, and I snatched it - I could tell it was real wood, so I figured I'd find or make shelves for it at some point. Then once here, I was looking around at IKEA and found out it's actually an IKEA piece designed for those buckets - I was so excited! - Apparently I have an eye for IKEA stuff - even if its in the trash:)

Upstairs

The layout is a little unusual- the stairs come up at an angle - which is nice because we have an extra wide area in the hallway (for stuff to collect).

Benjamin's room

He is at the front of the house with the huge window. He loves it! At night we can see the local county airport from his window.

Our room

So you probably can't tell from the picture but we have lots more room, but it was hard to get that in the picture - I am not crazy about the paint, but I do love the "corner" window - We get just the right amount of light - enough to brighten the room but not so much that it makes it too hot.

more pictures later... and I'll give people another day or so and I'll tell our "words"