Quick trip

Yesterday after church, H1, H3, and I headed down to Virginia Beach, although we took a slightly scenic route through Suffolk (on purpose this time) to see some of the beautiful houses on the waterfront. When we arrive, we only walked around the beach for about an hour before getting in the car to head home. Where we live, it was in the 60's, but there (an hour south) it was maybe in the low 50's or colder, and of course the wind was pretty nippy too.

On the way back, we stopped by Target to see if they had the laundry detergent I was looking for. Of course they were out, but I did spy something in the dollar section that I just had to have.

I thought these ears were hilarious. I put them on her while we were walking around in the store and people kept laughing, so I decided they had to come home with us. She doesn't seem to mind wearing them, except when they fall in her face because the headband is a bit big. Oh well. My poor child. What do parents live for except to take pictures that will embarrass their children in years to come? Kidding, of course, but still.....

Tomorrow night will be my second exam in my EMT class. So far this class hasn't been too difficult, but I suppose this test will be a better judge of that. The instructor has warned it will be harder than the first test. Guess I should do some studying tonight! Maybe that would be a good companion for all the cookies I made this afternoon--Cowboy Cookies, my mom's recipe. Some are with coconut and some without. Yummy!

Dinner and studying are the immediate agenda!

~H2

Weekend

The weekend is almost here! Granted, my next couple weekends won't quite be the normal, but it's still a weekend nonetheless. Tomorrow, I'm dropping H3 off with a sitter while I head to West Point, an hour and a half away, to babysit for Friday night through Saturday at noon. H1 will pick up H3 right after he gets off of work. Originally, H3 was coming with me to the babysitting, but I found out today that one of the kids has strep throat and I'm not going to introduce H3 to that right now after she's been sick for the last 2 weeks. Poor little thing needs a chance to get better first!

For next weekend's plans, I had an EVOC class, which teaches me to drive an ambulance. It's necessary for my EMT class. I'm kinda looking forward to it, but mostly not. I need to know how to drive those, but I hate the idea of driving a big box like that. Plus, the class is 7-10 pm on Friday, then from 8am - 5pm both Saturday and Sunday, so my weekend is completely shot. The class is 45 minutes away too, so I'll be leaving early and getting home late. Major bummer. It's only one weekend though and I will survive! I am really enjoying the EMT class. We're about 1/4 of the way through right now. Even better will be when I get to use my certification up at camp this summer! I'm so excited to be spending another summer outside, in God's beautiful creation, working with my family!

~H2

Green beans and such

I cannot believe how big H3 is getting! She loves to sit on my lap while I type and bang on the keyboard herself. Such a technology savy baby! Haha! She talks to the computer too. It's so funny.

I decided this past week that H3 must have some strong Blanchard genes in her. She loves green beans, which are her mommy's favorite veggie, along with her grandpa, and maybe her great-grandpa, although I'm not entirely sure because I've never asked him. I know they must be one of great-grandpa's favorites since he eats them a lot. Anyways, they are certainly her favorite food so far! She's had a blast with them this last week. I took quite a few pictures of her today while she was playing, so here are a few of them.

Happy St. Patty's Day

After a morning working to help redecorate the church, I'm back at home and completely exhausted. Poor little H3 was up coughing last night and sounded awful, so I barely got any sleep. She should be going down for a nap soon though and I'm planning to catch one too at the same time!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I had H3 dressed in little cream-color courderoy pants and a little green and pink shirt. She looked so adorable! I say "looked". That outfit lasted until about 1:00, by which time the shirt was wearing green beans and the pants showed the results of an explosive diaper. Sigh, so much for cute little outfit #1. Now we'll have to see how long the new outfit remains clean!

H1 called this morning and was expressing his concern that today would be his first St. Patty's Day without corned beef and cabbage, seeing as I'd cooked our only corned beef in the house a week or two ago. I assured him he would just fine. Little does he know that one is cooking in the crockpot already, along with cabbage, and I'll be adding potatoes soon. Hahaha. He underestimated the sneakyness! (ignore the spelling please, my higher brain functioning isn't there today).

I can hardly believe that I just cleaned this house yesterday. It looks like a bomb went off in here. That's my cue to clean again, I suppose!

Striving forward

Today we're headed up to our realtor's office, again. We've made an offer on a house closer to the school where H1 works and are hoping to hear back soon. The house was forclosed on and is owned by a bank. If the bank doesn't accept our offer, the house is scheduled to go up for auction on the 12th, and then it would be out of our reach. We're tring to hammer out some final details with a loan that we are hoping will go through. The problem isn't on our end, since we are approved for it and easily qualified, but rather that this particular federal loan is waiting for more funds to be available and they aren't 100% sure it will be by the time we want to close. All across the board it's just frustrating and we really don't want to lose this house. The price is amazing and probably the only one we would be able to afford in the area we live in, unless another house forecloses! This is what it looks like.




It needs a little tlc with decorating and landscaping, but nothing I can't handle.

It snowed here on Sunday night for the first time in years. There was only about 3 inches of the stuff, but plenty of ice. Enough that they canceled school both Monday and Tuesday! Main roads weren't a problem either day, but since we live in the middle of nowhere, they don't plough the backroads and the buses couldn't get through. H1 enjoyed both days off though, and we got a lot done around the house--including moving out the futon we sold and bringing in our new couch! We also had a few snowball fights. Even H3 poked her nose outside.

This is the view into our backyard.

I only took her outside for a few minutes, since she'd been under the weather last week. Apparently though, that under the weather has continued and she woke up from a nap on Wedn. with a body temp of 103. I took her into the pediatrician and she has some sort of bacterial bug and fluid behind both ears. Here's to the first round of antibiotics. Yesterday she still had a fever around 101 most of the day. Today it's been close to normal, so far. Just praying she will get better!

Lots more to do and I have to pick up H1 from work today. Hopefully more later....