Monday, October 31, 2011

Teeth Falling Out BEFORE Candy?!?!

Madeline lost her first tooth!
I thought it was the candy that was supposed to make your teeth fall out.  Well....Madeline lost her first baby tooth, *before* the evening's trick or treating.  I picked Madeline up from school today and her tooth was out.....WHAT?!?!?!?!  I knew it was (slightly) loose but was under the assumption that this was going to take a while yet.  Madeline was not playing with or complaining about the tooth at all so I had zero belief that the tooth was ready to move any time soon.  Wow!!!  Our older baby is growing up.

 The remaining of the photos are pretty self explanatory. Although we have had to fumble our way thru the Fall traditions in our new city, we found a way to continue on with our seasonable traditions.
Anticipating Halloween the day before

Pumpkin Carving
Shopping for Halloween gear at WalMart


Are you kidding me Mom??? You want to stick me IN a pumpkin??

Absolute CHAOS, trying to get the perfect Halloween photo

Our lil pumpkin

Our Maddie-Witch

Our Little Monster

Madeline and Jonathan - Their 1st Halloween together

Our jack-o-lanterns

Jonathan, bundled up for trick or treating



Sunday, October 30, 2011

Finding My Feet

Moving Out - Truck loading up in NY
One room of 2 room suite in Niagara Falls our last night in NY
It has been one month since the movers came and dumped all of our belongings in a house 957 miles away from home.  Slowly we are all finding our way, and learning a new way of doing things, in foreign surroundings.  Slowly, the "foreign" is becoming more familiar.  And, although I occasionally get very blue from missing my friends and missing my favorite things from home that I cannot get here, I know we'll be okay.  Eventually I will find new favorite things.  Eventually I will make friends here that will be great companionship.  I know that I will eventually get back home to visit my NY friends and that they will also come to visit me.  I know we will eventually find a house that we'll eventually call home.  But, until then, we are finding our feet.  Yep, we are fish out of water......but we'll be okay.

2nd room of 2 room suite our last night in NY
A month has passed and juggling a move (with 2 adults, 2 kids, a dog and 2 cats crammed into a mini-van), a daughter who has started kindergarten for a second time this year, and a newborn son, I have been very busy.  Once again it makes sense to tell our story through photo captions.  But now, I *really do* hope to blog more often. As you finish viewing this entry, please - fasten your seat belt and enjoy the wild ride that has been our life the last few weeks.
On the way we visited David's parents. Here Jonathan meets Grandpa.


















Jonathan meets Grandma with his big sister, Madeline













467.8 miles from David's parents' house



















Chicago Skyline










 


Zoe in the pilot's chair with David




















WHERE are we going?!?!













THANK GOD for the van's DVD player!













Elston snoozing on Madeline




















Sobaka wants to know, "Are we there yet"??




















Welcome to Minnesota - Never thought I would say that!



















Our house rental that we rented sight unseen. It looks nicer on the outside than the inside - trust me!















Moving truck driving away after unloading in MN
















Madeline in her uniform and off to kindergarten




















OH CRAP...FLASHBACK - I never posted Madeline's 1st day picture for kindergarten back in New York



















Okay....back in Minnesota. 1st day in MN kindergarten with teacher, Mrs. Swartout




















This will take getting used to - seeing MN teams in Target













David's office view in downtown St. Paul - State Capitol (dome) on right & skyline of Minneapolis on left













It might get cold in MN but everything in St. Paul is connected by Skyway.  You don't have to go outside




















Ahhh if only there were a Tim Hortons here!  Luckily friends hooked us up before we left!




















David's job got him a tour of the Xcel Center. Here he is in locker room of Minnesota Wild (NHL team)















Jonathan's first hockey game. (Nowhere near the same fan excitement as watching a Sabres home game!)




















Madeline and Linus at the arena




















Madeline *ALWAYS* used to luck into seeing Sabretooth. The trend continued as she met "Nordy"




















Getting used to everyday life here. Madeline cooking lasagna with Mama




















Hanging out on a weekend morning




















Madeline painting her face at the Minnesota Children's Museum




















The finished product




















Jonathan, just being a dude




















A break for playground time while house hunting













Madeline had a long weekend from school so we met Papa for lunch













I was going to end this first official blog from Minnesota with a picture of me throwing my hat up in the air while standing next to the Mary Tyler Moore statue in downtown Minneapolis, but the few times that I have been in downtown Minneapolis, I did not have the appropriate prop (hat) so, that photo will have to come at a later date.  'Til then, stay tuned......