Where to begin

These last few weeks have been quite eventful around here. Unfortunately, I neglected to document them regularly here so I'll once again be stuck with a summary!

Several weeks ago, we had the delightful pleasure of meeting my cousins family. They were driving across the country from Washington (yes, the state, not the city) and came through Williamsburg. H1 was able to take one day off so we could join them in their sightseeing, and then I took a second afternoon with H3 to say hello for a bit longer before they left. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and seeing my cousin again. His family is so sweet and it was wonderful to finally meet his wife after all the emails we've exchanged! Below are some pictures of my cousins family having a little fun outside the courthouse in Colonial Williamsburg.

The next week is when everything started moving a bit faster. We signed a new lease on a house and are in the process of moving yet again. 5 times in not even 4 years now. I really hate moving. This new place is about twice the size of what we're in now, so we're finally moving out of the storage unit (hurray!), but it's also a mess. I've been running over there in the afternoons to paint and clean, trying to get things ready for us to be in by the 22nd of this month. The power is being turned on today, finally, so I'll be able to get a steam cleaner in there for the carpet and see if the appliances work. The stove is older than I am (we're guessing around 30 years old, maybe?) and the washer/dryer are about my age as well. I know that the only way to turn the washer on right now is with a pair of pliers! Can you guess what I'll be replacing as soon as we get back from NY this summer? I would do it now, but we're only going to be in the house for about 6 weeks before we move, and after all this chaos I don't feel like hunting down anything else on craigslist (already had to buy a fridge, area rugs to cover yucky linoleum, and a buffet for the dining room for storage). The landlord wasn't willing to clean up the place at all after the last tenant moved out, and I'm pretty sure that tenant didn't clean the entire time he lived there, but the price is right for the amount of space we're getting, so here goes! I may be offline for a bit as we try to get things moved over, but we'll see. Another teacher from H1's school is taking over the lease where we live, and she's living in H3's bedroom while we finish moving out (she had to get out of her other place due to.....we'll just say stuff), so the power and everything is still on at our "old" place.

In other news, we leave tomorrow morning for a trip out to Washington State! Our flight is at 1:00pm, and we're supposed to arrive around 8:00 tomorrow night in Seattle. We're staying with Bethany, my college roommate, and her family. My folks are also flying out from OH, but are staying with my aunt and uncle. The main purpose of the trip is to see my mom's parents, and my grandmother has't been doing too well. Both of my mom's siblings and their families will be joining us on Monday for a dinner and family photo session at my grandparents home. I haven't seen this set of grandparents in 19 years, so I'm really excited to see them. Other than 2 of my uncles and my former roommate, no one else living out there has met H1 (or H3), so I'm happy to be able to introduce them. Of my cousins (6 of us total) from my mom's side of the family, I think I'm the only one married. Anyways, I'll be sure to post plenty of pictures when we get back!

During the trip I'll be studying a lot for my class. I'm missing a lot of work and will have a mid-term exam when I return--ewww. I still like this class though and am enjoying the work. It's an ever-changing field and presents a challenge!

Off to clean and pack more things--both for the trip and the move. More later!

~H2

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....

Learning a lot

Children go through growth spurts. It's a fact. One day they fit in their clothes, and the next there is a minor state of panic when you discover that adorable outfit that fit two days ago suddenly seems way too small. I think adults go through growth spurts too, only not physical ones (although on occasion we do). Sometimes it's a growth spurt in our relationship with Christ, or maybe a change in the dynamic of your marriage. Well, I've been going through one over the last few weeks and it seems to be a combination of everything from the two spurts I just mentioned to how I view myself and what I want to do with my life. I'm still one of those forever kids dreaming of what I want to be when I grow up--and trying to figure out where God is actually leading me. I believe that many desires of what we want to do with our lives stem from God's plans for us, at least that applies if you are closely walking with Him. I remember having a conversation once with someone about the verse that says that God will give us the desires of our heart. That doesn't mean necessarily a dream job or a particular car or vacation we want, but rather that when we are fervently seeking after Christ, His desires become our desires. That being said, these last few weeks have been ones where I seem to catch a glimpse of what He has planned for us. No clear pictures by any stretch of means, but just little feelings or images and the knowledge that He has brought us to this place for a reason. Still don't know that reason yet, but it's there and unfolding slowly nonetheless. Something else I am continually learning is just how much family means to me. Having grown up without knowing most of them, I've realized how much I missed out on and am looking forward to what is in the process now. God gave us our families for a reason. Sometimes things don't go so hot and you wind up getting painful lessons out of the relationship more than anything else. Other times you get to bask in the enjoyment of good relationships and feeling amazed at how God brings people together. Both the pain and the joy shape our lives.
Okay, quasi-philosophical moment over. In the latest news, basketball season ended last week (Hallelujah, wait, did I just admit that??!!). I enjoyed the season, but it was certainly a challenge. Being a coach's wife can be really rough, especially when parents have bad attitudes. I learned a lot about holding my temper! H1 is now tutoring Monday - Thursday after school for a couple hours. The school pays him pretty decently for that, and we're looking forward to that extra income. I'm still trying to hunt down a part time job that is condusive to H1's work schedule and won't cut into my time with H3 (aka a night job), but that's been slow in coming. I've applied to a few and am waiting to hear back. One is a nanny job, one is working with the U.S. Census Bureau, and one is a Security Office at the local nuclear power plant (I'd get to go to work with body armor and a gun). I wouldn't mind any of the three, but with the local job market there's no guarantee I'd even get one. So in the meantime I'm still working on my baking skills and enjoying being around the house. There's a lot more going on, but it's going to have to wait until I take care of H3. The "philosophical" post was the main point to this one, I suppose, as I needed to write down my thoughts.