I Finally Met Elana!

So every summer for the past 5 years, Ron Cantor comes to our church to speak. Over the years I have repeatedly bugged him to please bring his wife, Elana. Well this year he finally did. I fell in love instantly! And as always when Ron comes, we had a blast together. She is such an amazing woman. We clicked right away. Kindred Spirits as Anne of Green Gables would say. I just knew that they would make the blog. So I took my camera with last night and documented our time together. It was definately blog-worthy!
Scott has been doing this sanctified old Beatles song at church for the past couple months. Everybody loves it, so he did it last night. Ron had gone to the bathroom when he started it and came back halfway through it. He later told the congregation that when he left to got to the restroom we were worshiping and when he came back worrship had turned into a rock and roll concert. If you're familiar with MorngStar you may have heard Come Together before. I tried to get a picture of them doing it. If you look really close you can see the words on the screen.



After church we went to Friday's to eat. We were all pretty tired and a little bit punchy. Natalie was sucking on Scott's broccoli. She sucked the juice off of every last one. I ate a bunch of his rice. Poor guy hardly got any of his own food. His women were all over his food.

"Uncle Ronnie" enjoying his pasta.


Natalie decided when she was done that she was leaving, so Elana went with her. It was so cute!



On the way home Natalie was watching the moon. Everytime I'd turn and she lost sight of it she'd say, "Mommy, moon go?" And I'd tell her where it was (mostly behind us). So when we got home she wanted me to take a picture of it. This a really bad shot of a gorgeous moon. And then Natalie watching the moon.


Elana brought me a dozen roses--Bless her heart! I love flowers, especially pink roses. As always, I had to take a pictures of them!

I had such a good time with both Ron and Elana, but it was especially fun to hang out with Elana finally! I can't wait to go to Isreal in March. (They're hosting a tour of the Holy Land in March and I am speaking in faith that I am going!) At the top is their website where you can all the info about them and their ministry in Isreal. Here it is again just in case you can't see it too well. www.cantorlink.com

We just had breakfast with them and ever since we got back home, Natalie has been asking "where Unky Ronnie go?" When I tell her that he went bye bye with Aunt Elana, she says "Unky Ronnie An Wana go bye bye." She's watching me put these pictures up and talking about dinner last night. She keeps laughing at the pictures. She's too cute!

What Natalie Dreams About...

...a diamond encrusted pacifier.

You too can get your little prince or princess one today! Diamond Pacifiers will arrive in an elaborate display box with a cushion pillow on which the diamond binky rests. Total weight is 68 grams of 14kt European white gold (nickel free palladium alloy). 278 Diamonds (3.09ct. total weight) cover this treasure, and for only $17,000 it is quite a bargain! Check out ItsMyBinky.com to order yours today.

Beach Bums

So last week I went to the beach with the girls for a couple days. I had to come back early to help Scott with our apartment before we checked out of it. Then Scott came back down to the beach with me. The other hubbies were coming down Friday afternoon too. We had so much fun!!! Here are some pics of our time...

Here are Natalie and Taylor posing in the sand for me.

Another one of Natalie in the sand.

Suzie and I took our kids to Funland on the Boardwalk on Wednesday night. Natalie and Taylor rode tons of rides together. Jordy got Suzie and I on this big ride that spun us around and up and down. It was so much fun to watch my baby on the rides. She's such a big girl now!



Here are a few shots of the night time football game. It really wasn't as dark as it looks. It was dusk and dusk pictures always look darker than they truly are.



This is Scott and his new beach "thongs."


This is a good pic of us lounging around and you can see our beach house on the right in the background.


I always have to get a picture of the guys and girls, but this time I only got one of the guys. (Tim, Scott, Corbit, John, and Jeff)


Here's one of the whole group. (Us, Jeff and Debby Miller, Tim and Suzie, Jordy and Taylor Pope, John and Sandy Gabrielli, and Corbit and Susan, Amber and Kara Norman)

Paddleball and football were the games of the weekend. Here are Corbitt and Susan and John and Sandy playing.

John and Corbit doing the paddleball dance.

Scott with his paddle.


John lounging around...


Natalie got so tired but wouldn't stop for a nap. Instead she wanted her burpee, baby, and nunny (all are required when she is tired) and then continued to walk the beach.


Here's another one of Natalie.


And finally we all stopped to eat on our way out of town and I caught this cute shot of Jordy and Taylor.


So anyway, that was our beach week. There is nothing better than sitting with your feet burried in sand and soaking up vitamin d! I always knew I was a beach bum, but living in Wisconsin, it's hard to get to the beach. I love living an hour and a half away from the coast! It's the best!

I'll be posting pictures from our trip to TN in the next couple of days. I have lots of funny stories and cute pictures to share.

MY TOE!!!

So we got home from the beach today to absolute choas. Our house is no where near being in order and as we dumped beach stuff in on top of the other stuff, I became totally overwhelmed. So I have been working like a mad woman to put stuff away, do laundry, and clean my house as much as I can with stuff everywhere. This is the first that I have even sat down since we got home at 5 (other than dinner). While I was making dinner, I decided that I needed to vaccum. I went to move the ottomon to vaccum underneath it and half scraped and half dropped it on my toe. It hurt SOOOO BAD!!! The most excrutiating pain sinc giving birth naturally. I was screaming, the vaccum was still running, Natalie was watching her Spider movie (and laughing at me), and Scott was outside grilling. It would've have been a hilarious sight if I hadn't been in so much pain!!! Here's a picture of my toe. It's pretty swollen and still hurts like you wouldn't believe! It's just throbbing.


I have all my beach pictures ready to blog, but I need to go put my foot up. I'm skipping church tomorrow to get ready to leave for TN when Scott gets home. Hopefully I'll have some time then to put the pictures up. Until then, here's a sneak peak...

We Are Officially Moved In! FINALLY!

So yesterday was the big day and of course my camera was packed, so I couldn't take any pictures of the mass choas as it happened. We had 10 men loading all our stuff into a huge enclosed trailer. They started at 9:10am and by 10:30 they were heading out to the house. By about 1pm everything was here (except some of my clothes in the master closet). Jackie was the only female to hold my hand. She finished packing up my kitchen as the guys loaded the truck and then she unpacked it at our new house. Suzie came and helped unpack the kitchen too. I couldn't have stayed sane without them. Even Jordy and Taylor were here helping however they could. When everyone was done, we fed and hydrated them and then they left. They left us to make sense of the disaster. Yikes!!! I started with Natalie's room. I wanted to get it in order so that she would feel at home for bedtime. (Again, camera is packed.) While I was doing that Scott got the internet and tv all set up. (Of course! Where else would he be?)

B R E A K I N G N E W S ! ! !
THIS JUST IN... THE CAMERA HAS FINALLY BEEN LOCATED!!

Back to the story...Natalie watched a Bob Moomie (VeggieTales) while we worked. Sometime during the movie she fell asleep. We worked until we crashed around 830. I think we went to bed around 930. I did NOT want to get up this morning!!

But the good news is that I got her room pretty much put together. There are two boxes left in her room but the are filled with stuffed animals and toys. After church today we worked on the kitchen while we waited for the lasagne to bake. (Thank you Debbie McDowell. You are the best! I love you love you love you!) So the kitchen is sort of put together. After laying Natalie down for a nap, we moved on to our bedroom. The clothes are now put away, bed is up and made... but that's it.

Scott is now crashed on the couch and I came downstairs to size up the mess in the basement. As I walked down the stairs I felt my heart sinking in anticipation of what I was going to find. Yesterday whenever anyone would ask me where something went and I didn't know, I told them to put it in the basement. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. So when I finally got to the bottom of the stairs (remember we have 100 stairs to the basement), I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and slowely turned the corner. I paused and slowly peeked my eyes open. --insert small gasp here-- Initial shock was big, but then I saw the computer. In the midst of choas and mayheim, there it was shining like a beacon of light, beckoning me to come and have rest.
It was all set up for me and everything was working. It was a beautiful sight. I made a beeline for the chair. As I checked my email I noticed that if I ignored my periphial vision I couldn't see all the mess. This is all I see...

But, if I am brave (and for the sake of my blog) and turn around, this is my panaramic view I see...






Probably not something I'd want to look at everday, but since it's the basement, it is the lowest on my list of rooms to organize. Being down here isn't made any easier because our smoke detector is dying. The battery has been on it's last leg since we looked at the house for the first time back in April. It chirps to let you know it needs to be change. It is the most annoying sound in the wolrd. I can even hear it up in my bedroom 2 stories up! Yesterday, Sean, our youth pastor, tried to shimmy up the 2x6's to change the battery but couldn't hang up there long enough to get the thing opened. Remember we have 15 foot ceilings down here. So until we build a tower of Babel to reach it I have to listen to it chirp. I want to kill it.

I feel like Phoebe on that one episode of friends. Her smoke alarm is chirping and she can't get it to stop so she smashes it with a hammer and it still chirps. It's like the Terminator or something. It never dies.

I'll take some more pictures of the rest of the house now that the camera has been found. Scott is off tomorrow, and then on Tuesday Natalie and I are heading to the beach till Thursday (or until we get sick of the rain). On Sunday we leave for my parents in TN. We'll get back the following Thursday. We have a wedding on that Saturday (the 8th) and Ron and Elaina Cantor will be with us for services on Sunday. Phew! Then maybe we'll get back to unpacking.

So that's the latest with us. I think I'm going to go take a nap before Home Fellowships tonight.

Oh and by the way, we celebrated our 5th anniversary on Friday. We packed all day, and then went to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. I hate having to have delayed celebrations especially for the first milestone anniversary!! At least this time Scott wasn't sick like he has been for every other anniversary. Darn allergies!

Our Crack Has Been Filled!

Ok, sorry about the awful pun, but it has become a running joke here that our crack needed filling. Anyway, the crack IN OUR BASEMENT has been fixed. Here's what it looked like before...


The guy came and drilled about a million holes up the wal and inserted these tubes. Then he took some foam stuff and shot it into each tube until it could hold no more. The foam went through the tube and up the crack filling in every crevice and crack. The guy said that it was biggest basement/foundation crack he'd ever seen. He also said that he had to use more foam stuff than any other job he's ever done. So hopefully our problem has been fixed. It is guaranteed for five years which is nice to know. Here's what it looks like now...



Here's a better picture of the globs of hardened foam goo.

Once we frame in the walls and put up drywall all that unsightly mess will go away, but for now it will be my constant companion as I do laundry. It is a basement afterall.

"Happy Padder Daddy"

That's Natalina for "Happy Father's Day Daddy."


So Scott had a good day today. He got a new phone. A friend of mine was upgrading her husband's phone for Father's Day and gave me a great deal on his "old" phone. This is the upgraded phone, but Scott's looks just like it. He was so pumped. He helped Donna get the new phone and was totally bummed when she told him she had already sold her husband's old one (to me!!!). Needless to say, I did good!



This is what he had told me he wanted. It a micro chip thing that goes in the shoe and another one attaches to the Nano. You can then set you Nano to play according to your running pace. You can customize you run music. If the shoe sensor detects that you are slowing down it will change the music to pump you back up. It also tracks your run stats and fun stuff like that. It's actually pretty cool, but since he has a regular iPod and not the Nano I would have had to buy the whole system which would have been $430. Yeah right!! We just bought a house. I want paint!!! But he said the phone was way better anyway. (You can read more about this thing at www.apple.com/ipod/nike/.)




He wanted to go to Red Robin today for lunch. I wasn't in the mood for a burger, but hey it's not about me! After lunch we went to Home Depot to pick up some more paint samples. The we came home where Natalie and Daddy napped. While they slept I poured over paint samples. I couldn't get our bedroom color right so I decided to go over to Linens n' Things which is where my bedding is being held hostage until I can pay for it. I found some amazing bargains at their summer clearence sale. I also got a bunch of space bags for all of Natalie's baby clothes. (She has millions!!!) The are in 4 giant rubbermaid bins right now taking up waaaay too much space, hence the need for the space bags. (This is the bedding that we're getting. It's white and a very dark chocolate brown.)



When I got home, everyone was up. We played and talked for a while. Natalie and I had a taco and then we all went to Bruster's for ice cream. We had to stop at "Mallmart" (Natalina) for packaging tape before coming home. Now Natalie is in bed. Scott is playing Xbox 360, and I am writing this and watching Iron Chef America. Go Morimoto!!!

Anyway, that was our day. I'm exhausted from all the cleaning and landscaping we've been doing at the new house and all the packing we've been doing here at the apartment. BIG SIGH!!! I'm going to bed.

A Big Boy License

Ok, so I just had to share this little story with you from the other day. On Wednesday, Scott and I went to Manassass, VA, home of the Potomac District Offices for his licensing interview. He is upgrading his "specialized license in music" to a regular license to preach or a "big boy license" as he's been saying. For some silly reason I had to go along. Manassass is a good 2 1/2 hour drive from Elkton so we had to make a very early start to make our 10am appointment. (I slept most of the way.) We were about 5 minutes away and realized that we had gone past the place, so as to avoid being majorly late I made Scott call right away and find out exactly where we were going. (Ok, now a little background info on Scott: He has a nasty habit of accidentally hanging up on people while they are still talking. You see, when he is done talking, he assumes the other person is as well, so he hangs up. He doesn't wait to hear if they truly are done or not.) Back to the story...So while he's getting directions from the receptionist HE finishes the conversation and hangs up while the receptionist is STILL talking. I couldn't believe it! I laughed so hard! What a way to make a first impression!! I told him that it's one thing to do it to me, but to someone that you don't even know is another thing!

So, we get there right on time. Since we'd been driving for a while we both needed to use the restroom. After that we went into the chapel to wait our turn with 4 other couples who were also there for interviews. We take a seat close to the front and chat amongst ourselves. We notice quickly that everyone else is dressed to impress in suits. Meanwhile Scott and I are dressed up, but slightly more casual--no coat for Scott and no pantsuit and pumps for me. I was glad that we were dressed as we were, because it reflects the way we are. We don't put on pretenses to try to impress (not saying that the others were). We are who we are, take it or leave it. I leaned over to share this thought with Scott, but all I got out was, "I'm glad you're not wearing a suit..." when I noticed his fly was WIDE open! I gasped and told him in a panic. We quietly busted out laughing. Because of where we were sitting it wasn't easy for him to pull his zipper up without drawing attention so I leaned slightly forward and fussed with my shoe to give him a screen of privacy. The next thing I hear is a loud "ZZZIIPPPP!!!" I have never heard such a loud zipper in all my life! Well, this only served to make us laugh even harder! You must know that everyone else is all proper and reading their Bibles or other holy material while we're cracking up over an open fly. It was so funny.

Anyway, our turn comes along and who walks in to interview us but the new district superintendent himself. What a great guy! He seemed to instantly fall in love with us, but he's the kind of guy that would love everyone he meets. The interview went as well as it could have. One of the presbyters was relentless with questions on theology and doctrine. He was looking for the textbook AG answer and when Scott would paraphrase it his own way he would press and press and press until Scott worded it exactly how he wanted it. He kept twisting Scott around. I thought for a second that the guy was purposely trying to catch Scott up on something. That was frustrating for me to watch, but I just kept smiling. I said earlier that it was pretty silly that I HAD to be there because they asked me only one question and that was if I had a mentor or not. I said I did, but what would they have said if I had said no? It seemed so pointless for me to be there, but whatever. It was a day off being mommy and a day being only a wife which was needed.

All in all, I think Scott did really well, but I am biased. God's hand of favor is upon him heavily so I know we are a blessed family. I really believe that it was not by chance that the superintendent himself conducted our interview. I had a feeling the night before that there was going to be some sort of important connection made at the interview. Scott and I have JOKED about how he's going to take over the Potomac district ever since we moved here. (It's actually just a beginning. Once we take over our district, then we're going to take over the nation, and then it's on to the world!! Muah-ha-ha-ha!!!) But seriously I think there may be some truth to those jokes. I know that we are here by Divine direction and for a specific purpose. Whether it is to rise in position or to just serve alongside some amazing men and women is yet to be determined. Either way, we are just blessed to be here in this amazing body. What a fantastic thing to be on this earth, living in the best nation of the world, at this exact time in history!!

So anyway, that's my funny story from the other day. Hope you got a good laugh out of it. I'm off to bed now.

Ikea, Here We Come!

So we went to Ikea today to check some things out. I had a big long list of stuff I wanted to look at and compare to what I had seen online. The Baltimore Ikea is not a very big one, so a lot of what I wanted to look at wasn't there. I was kinda bummed by that, but we found some really great curtains for the sliding glass doors in the kitchen. I was planning on making some, but buying them is way easier. This is the photo from Ikea's website. You really can't see them too well, but I will take lots of pictures once they're up. You can count on that. I might use some of the wall paint to add some flair to them. Like maybe a red stripe here and there. I'll have to see what they look like once they're up. Anyway, we kinda took the day off from house stuff other than the whole trip-to-Ikea thing. I was starting to feel consumed. I was there everyday last week. Some days I spent more time there than our apartment. Kinda sad since there isn't really anything relaxing about the house right now. All I dreamt about last night was curtain panels and spackling. Not very peaceful! I missed my REMs!

Monday we start painting. Our friend Corbit is coming after work to start on the ceilings. Those need to be done by Thursday night so that on Friday morning we can start on all the walls. That's going to be the really fun part!!! Mmmm... Paint!

Well, so that's that...nothing earth shattering, but it keeps us busy. Hopefully this will all come together really fast!


By the way, who's booking a flight to come out and help me pack and move? Anyone? I'll feed you. I make an amazing meatloaf! I'll even let you sleep on the floor in my new house! Who could possibly pass up that offer?!

I have to go to bed now. I'm losing my mind.

A Long Day

So we had a long day today. Ugh! I am exhausted! Let's see, what all did we do? Scott picked up our washer and dryer, took back the washer because it had a big dent in the front, then brought it back. Now that may not seem like much to those of you who live around the corner of your neighborhood Lowe's or Home Depot, but for Scott that meant about a two hour trip each time he had to go to Lowe's. It's Friday and lots of traffic, so that was a big chunk of his day. Because of the dent, Lowe's gave us 10% back. That's great! We'll use that money for paint now. I worked most of the morning on a project for church. When I was done, Natalie and I headed out to the house. I finished getting the blinds perfect, and when I say perfect, I mean PERFECT! Just ask Terri. I was totally nuts with them. My friend, Holly also stopped by to check on the Fresh Air machine. She adjusted it and now the air in our house should be sanitized and not smelly within a day or so. Did I mention that I am exhausted? The guy came out to fix the crack in our basement, He said it was the biggest crack he'd ever seen in a basement. Ha ha ha!!! That sounds so funny! He's coming back on Tuesday to completely fix it. The electrician was there too to give us an estimate for some things I want done in the house. Bad news--no washer and dryer in the upstairs bathroom. Good news (if I choose to look at it this way)--I won't need to work out anymore. All I need to do is laundry. Bah! OR because I have to climb all those steps I get to eat that many more chocolate chip cookies. (Thanks for the suggestion Cindy!) So not at all what I was hoping for. I'm kinda bummed, but since there's nothing I can do about it, I'm moving on. Just so you all know what I'm dealing with when I talk about climbing "all those stairs," I'm posting a picture taken from the bottom of the steps in the basement. It'll give you some perspective. The picture doesn't even show the bottom 4 stairs! Yikes!
So there was more to our day, but I'm too tired to type anymore tonight.

My Bargain Bin Dining "Set"

So this is our brand new table and chairs. They are not a set per se, but they still look pretty good together. The chairs (there's 6 of them) are solid oak and HEAVY!! They're beautiful! They were regular priced at Value City for $900 ($150 a piece) and we paid $288 for all six. That's about $48 per chair!! HELLO!!!

Ok, but it gets better... The table came with a leaf that turns the rectangle into a giant square that seats 8! Two sides have linen drawers and there is an imperfection in the wood on the top. The table was regularly priced $1050 and we paid...$78.50!!!!! No joke!! Can you believe that!!! I was soooo excited!!!! We wanted to eventually get a new dining set but had other priorities first, like washer and dryer and living room furniture, but God just plopped this in our laps and we couldn't turn it down!! I sill can't get over it!

I wanted to take some pictures of the table with the leaf in it but I was alone at the house with Natalie today and didn't have the energy to do it myself. It's a big leaf and kinda bulky. I also meant to take a picture of the imperfection on the top, but forgot. I forgot to do the one thing that was the whole purpose to our trip there today (move the fresh air machine upstairs and set it to "away" mode). I had a horrible migraine earlier today, so I guess I'm still a bit out of sorts.

The chairs are big, much bigger and more substantial than we have ever had. It's hard to tell without a point of reference, so I had Natalie climb up on them. I also took a picture of her on a chair we are currently using to show the difference in size.



When I go out there on Thursday with Scott, we'll put the leaf in and I'll take a few pictures so you can all see the big square. I hope you aren't totally bored hearing about all the treasures I'm finding and adventures we're having.

Comments

I just realized that my settings were kinda screwed up for the comment portion of my blog. I apologize if you have tried to leave a comment about a post and it hasn't let you. I reset it, so all should be good now. You can leave me comments now, which I love to get. I have it set so that anyone can leave a comment. You don't have to have a blogger account or be registered with them.

Gotta run! My child is freaking out and it sounds like Daddy is about to loose it with her.

Moving Right Along

There I so much to write about, but I don't know where to start. God has been blessing us left and right. This coming Friday a guy is coming to the house to hopefully fix the crack for good. He is a friend of a friend of a friend and is giving us an UNBELIEVABLE deal on the work!

We finally bought our washer and dryer yesterday and got an incredible deal on it. It's a Frigidaire Affinity set.

Our plan is to put it upstairs in the bathroom. Our good friend, John, is a plumber and really helping us out with the whole thing. (We're stacking the washer and dryer and putting them where a stall shower is now. John will move the shower to the huge garden tub on the other side of the closet.) We are waiting to begin until we get an electrician out to give an estimate to how much it will cost to wire up from the basement. (I have a whole list of things for this poor electrician to do.)

We also bought a new dining table and chairs. This was something that we had been planning on doing eventually, but God provided us with above and beyond what we were wanting for pennies. Not even joking. Scott is picking it up tomorrow afternoon. I'll take some pictures of it and tell you the full story of how we got it.

There is so much more to talk about, but I don't have the time right now. I will keep you posted as we progress.