7 months and Storm Juno

Well, just like Malachi's eight month pictures we are in a hotel for Anneliese's 7 month pictures. She getting around alot but not technically crawling...and she has a new friend that she is smitten with, Froggy. You'll see him in the pictures. 

Also, Storm Juno hit the east coast last night. Predictions said accumulation of 20-30 inches of snow...there was concern that this would be one of the biggest storms in history for this area. Boston was hit hard but our area wasn't as bad. We got approximately 8 inches of snow....but it's still snowing and could snow for the rest of the day. Kids and I love having Andrew home from work...we already went out and did a little sledding on a hill right behind our hotel. 

As long as the storm doesn't put a stop to it, we'll have our stuff delivered to our house thursday. A cute house in the little town of Gillette. We are super excited to make it our home. 

Her froggy friend

Waiting for Mommy to get off the phone with Daddy

She's always getting up on all 4's and rocks back and forth but hasn't moved the hands and knees yet. But that sure doesn't stop her from getting around, she's all over the place!

Yesterday afternoon

This morning...doesn't look hugely different

Goodbye Canada, Hello New Jersey!

Well last week was a whirlwind but felt like a month long all at the same time. 

Movers had everything boxed up and loaded in 2 days...we drove down to Portland to drop off our cars and said our goodbyes to family and friends. Took a redeye flight sunday night/monday morning and now we're living in a hotel till we find a place. 

Here's our traditional picture we like to take, on our last day in Canada. It's funny to think the last time we took a "goodby home" picture we only had Malachi and he was the same age Anneliese is in this picture!

For those wondering, we rented the top portion of this house. We're standing next to the door we used which opens to stairs that take you to our apartment. The big window next to us was rented separately. Yes we used the little porch above the downstairs window. 

Even though we are happy to be back in the US, and only lived in this small place for a year and a half, it was still our home and I teared up seeing it all empty. 

But now it's time for a new beginning (and adventure!) and we pray for graces to find God's new home for us here in New Jersey. 

Advent, 1/2 year, NJ and Mum mums!

Yep, Anneliese is 6 months old whether I'm ready or not! Yesterday she started "talking"...Andrew swore she said "Dadada" first...She had her first mum mum last night and we'll do the traditional mashed banana and then rice cereal sometime soon when things slow down. Why are things a bit crazy you ask? Well, we found out Wednesday that we're moving to the East Coast! Andrew's being moved to the Goethals Bridge project connecting Staten Island to Elizabeth, New Jersey. It's far from family and friends (I'm still shedding tears) but we're excited for this new adventure for our little family.

We fly out Monday, will spend next week getting to know the area, look at some places and then fly back Friday to spend two weeks in Oregon for Christmas. But even with all the chaos I'm trying to do something extra for Advent, I'm reading Joy to the World by Scott Hahn....would highly recommend it to anyone wanting do learn more about the nativity story!

Happy Advent!

 

I don't think I could have gotten a more genuine smile from Malachi, guess he's excited to visit Carlo's Bakery! I know I am

 



5 Months

Here's our little girl....5 months old. Wearing 9 month clothes, rolling and scooting all over the place. Yesterday I heard Malachi telling her "no," she was starting to grab his train. Heaven forbid anyone touch his trains...haha. By the way, little under 2 weeks till Malachi's 2nd birthday, of course it'll be train themed! Until then, watch your lego's, Anneliese is coming after them!

Smiling at Daddy

These photoshoots can be tiring, I guess

Garden Update

So here are some of our garden pics...we produced much more food than I would have thought. I had major doubts about the zucchini...didn't think they'd have enough sun, well they had plenty of sun and almost took over the whole yard!! Thanks to Andrew's optimism for the plants we were able to enjoy everything from grilled and fried zucchini to zucchini brownies, muffins, bread and even pancakes. 

Our tomatoes were okay; the cherry tomatoes were the best but the roma's weren't as good. Many started but then died or Malachi picked them too soon. We did get a couple of beefsteak though. 

Strawberries were a treat! SO sweet....I mean I have a sweet tooth but they were almost too sweet!

Our herbs didn't do as well, basil died right away...oregano hung on a little longer and parsley is still going a bit...but we didn't harvest it much. 

It was great to have home grown lettuce, but while we were out of town in the summer they started to sprout or something, I can't completely explain it....got really tall without producing anything.

Anyway, it was fun and we're hoping to be in a place next year that has more space for a bigger garden! There may be some repeat pictures below from previous posts but I wanted to be able to compare the pictures next to eachother.

Our box when we started: basin and tomatoes

Tomato plants half as big as they got.

Beefsteak tomatoes

Zuchinni when they were nice and small

Starting to take over....never got a picture when they were the biggest they got

Beginning of lettuce...

...end of the lettuce.

Thought I'd share a zucchini my parents grew...it's a monster!

Dumping Debt: Exciting Quick update

I know I'm WAY behind on our Dumping Debt Series...I apologize for that. I keep reminding myself to write a post but just can't seem to sit down and get it done. However, I don't want to miss this milestone in our Total Money Makeover (TMM), so I'm writing a quick post to tell you last night we made a payment that bumped us over the halfway mark!!! AND we have paid off all of our Army Career starter loan, so we only have Andrews student loan left!
 I still intend to update you on the rest of our TMM from the past couple of months.

Happy Halloween!

$25,031.25 paid off

$20.702.45 left

Celebrating with some Halloween cupcakes that Malachi and I made at a playdate.

First Haircut & Vancouver Aquariam

All right, I'm actually posting besides Anneliese's monthly pictures!

Last weekend was a fun one. Saturday night we decided to give Malachi his first haircut...the curls above his ears sure were cute but they were a little out of control. We didn't know exactly what we were doing but Andrew did the finishing touches and it looks great....our little man looks so much older!

Then after mass Sunday we spontaneously decided to visit the Vancouver Aquarium...it was quite awesome. I would highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Vancouver BC. This Aquarium is ranked #8 out of the top 25 in the world, that is, on TripAdvisor, at least. My favorite were the jellyfish....the beluga was cool and of course we really liked the dolphin show. We got some pictures but not tons. Then we ended the day with a very nice Salmon (how appropriate since we spent the day with fish) BBQ at church.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Vancouver Aquarium

SHARK

Beluga

Frog Tank