Visitors

We have had several people come and visit our new house. If you are not one who has visited, you have an open invitation to come. Here are some pictures of our visitors. Our friends Leslie and Richard didn't make it into any pictures, so they will have to come back again so we can take a picture of their whole family.



My parents and my sister. If they look a little tired it is because they had helped us move twice in one month. They were troopers!



The Mitchell boys, Josiah and Caleb, and Mary Kate. They all had a good time playing together.



Rebeckah, Aunt Chris, and a boy named Connor came to see us. Mary Kate would not stop pulling Rebekah's pig tails. She was a good sport about it!

I will post pictures of our new house later this week for those of you who can't come visit us!

Thank God!

Well, we moved into our new house. It was hard work. We have accumulated alot of stuff in our almost five years of marriage. It took two truck loads and some extra car loads to get it all here, but it is here!

Here is a picture of Brian at home at 5:30 on his first day back at work. Two hours earlier than usual. :)




Mary Kate is everywhere and getting into everything. She tries to eat Aggie's food and anything else that she can. Here she is just crawling around. I tried to capture her looking out the window with the sun shining through, but she was too fast for me.

Homeowners Again

We officially closed on our new house in Rome on Friday. We are very excited and we move on Saturday. If you have any free hands on Saturday, we would love your help. :)

Mary Kate is crawling! She is also loving the pool and Aggie. She says "Aggie." At first we weren't sure if she was saying "Aggie" for real, but whenever Aggie enters the room, she says her name. I guess the dog is more important than Mommy or Daddy.

Quick Hits

I realize it's been a week since we posted on our blog, and I (brian) see the need to make it a little more masculine after that last post...here are some quick pieces of news:

1. We closed on our house in Rome last Friday, after much blood, sweat & tears. We're now official Rome homeowners (any ideas for another name for our blog?)

2. Click here for my sister's big news.

3. Mary Kate is crawling now...I swear tomorrow she'll be in college.

More soon, with pictures of our stay at the lovely Chateau La Hosch in Dacula, Georgia.

Beauty Tip for You Girls!

I found this great stuff that makes your hair shiny and feel great. It is called Shine Happy by Clairol. It is a clear glaze that conditions and makes your hair look shiny and great in just ten minutes. I used to go to the salon and pay 90 bucks for the same thing. (Yes, that was before I was married.) It is around 8 bucks and it does the same thing that I paid for in the salon. I just wanted to share!

Long Time, No Blog

Sorry that I have been such a slacker and have not updated the blog recently. Things have been busy and we don't have internet access on our computer.

We have moved and we are living with my parents for a few more weeks. We will close on our new house on June 9th but we are still not sure when we can move in. Things have been going well here. I have actually been taking some classes for my Masters Degree in Housekeeping. I have taken Lettuce Washing 101 and Car Washing for Beginners. I was taking Principles of Rag Usage, but I dropped that class because it was too difficult! (Just kidding Mom and Dad.) Really, things have gone quite smoothly with all of our stuff shoved into my parents basement and garage. I will post pictures of that later!

In other news, Mary Kate is almost crawling. She is getting more and more mobile. My parents also have a pool in their backyard and she has loved going swimming. Here she is with her "Aunt Maddie."

Packing

We have been packing up a storm lately. Almost everthing is boxed and ready. Even Mary Kate is in a box and ready to go. The sale was final last Friday. We are technically living in someone elses' house until Saturday. We will be staying with my parents for about a month. I will try to blog but I don't know how it will all work.

Shopping with a Baby

Gone are the days when I would zip into a store to shop. Here are a few observations about shopping with a baby.

1. It will take 5 plus minutes to get out of the car and get everything ready.

2. If you time it right, you can get behind a person entering the store so that they will feel compelled to hold the door open for you and all your baby gear keeping you from tripping over the stroller while trying to hold the door yourself.

3. You have exactly 30 seconds to shop before the first fuss. GO!

4. The store personnel purposefully makes the aisles too small for you to fit through with a stroller. They watch at a distance and laugh at your poor driving skills.

5. The store personel also purposefully make displays too short for you to see when you are pushing the car seat atop the shopping cart. Hazard!

6. If you attempt to bring in many toys to keep baby occupied, be prepared to pick them up 200 plus times.

7. It is possible to push a stroller, carry a bag, purse, and baby all the while tallking on your cell phone.

8. If you think it will be smart to put your purse in the bottom of the stoller to condense all of the gear you are carrying, rest assured that you cell phone will ring. You will find it as soon as it goes to voice mail.

9. It will take you longer than 5 minutes to get back into the car. Remember- you now have shopping bags too.

10. Babies do not like shopping! :)

Just a quick venting. I know many of you can relate to several of these.

Bathing Beauty

Mary Kate went swimming for the first time on Monday. Well, it was actually like taking a bath in a giant,luke-warm tub with your bathing suit on. She wasn't sure about it at first but she ended up splashing and loving it! Here she is before we left.

Contract Take Two!

Yea! We have a contract on our house. We are so excited! A very nice couple put a contract on it on Saturday. They made an offer last Wednesday but everything wasn't signed, sealed, and delivered until Saturday. We were about to pull our hair out until it was finalized. At one point on Saturday Brian said, "Jenny, why don't you go for a run. You are driving me crazy!" I guess I had so much anxiety because of what happened last time. We are set to close either May 5th or the following Monday. We have to be out on Mother's Day. We don't close on our other house until June 15th so we will be stuffing all of our stuff into my parents house and staying with them for about a month. Thanks to all of the family and friends who have prayed for 380 days for our house to sell. Rome, here we come!

New Outfit

I know that I mostly put pictures of Mary Kate and her clothing on the blog but she doesn't do much but look cute these days. Anything else that she does could only be showcased appropriately with a video camera. Nana and Pops (Brian's parents) went on a trip to Texas over spring break to visit the Starr family. They brought Mary Kate a very cute outfit and some sandals. Here she is admiring the sandals and wearing the outfit. She found the tags on the shoes immediately and pulled them off to eat. She loves tags. My parents gave her a "taggie blanket" for Easter and she loves it. Crazy kid!





(Brian typing) Since Jenny is humble and never puts herself on the blog, I will sneak in a shot of her and her daughter, and post it before she comes in the room and figures out what I'm doing (I got the shot with the trusty old "I need a pic for my desk at work" line):

Creamsicle

I bought this dress last summer before MK was born. It was a really good deal and I thought it was so cute. Brian said that she looked like a Creamsicle.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone! We had a wonderful Easter day. We went to church this morning and then Brian came home with Mary Kate and I taught Sunday School. Brian successfully put Mary Kate down for a nap. Bravo! After church we went over to my parents house for an Easter Feast! We had wonderful food including Aunt Chris' squash dressing and Jennifer's Asian salad. Both were a hit! Here are some pictures of Mary Kate.








Mary Kate's Easter was bigger than Christmas. She got clothes and diapers from Nana and Pops. She got clothes and toys from Grammy and Granddaddy and she just got a book from Brian and I. We wanted to start an Easter tradition but everything we thought of we will do when she is older.

I found myself having a hard time grasping what Christ did for us on the cross and how He rose again. I have heard the story all my life and sometimes it is easy to just take it for granted. Today, I really tried to think of the Resurrection like it was the first time I heard the story. It refreshed me!

Enough Already!

Geez...all we need to do is mention Dairy Queen, and we get 10 comments. Jenny and I are starting to learn what makes our friends tick...if you really are gaining weight and need a distraction, visit my running blog for inspiration to exercise and burn off those blizzards. Maybe you could lace up the shoes, run to your local DQ, and run home....not a bad idea....

The Grump

Mary Kate is teething and she is trying to transition from three naps to two naps. She is pretty cranky and grouchy. I am still trying to get things done, but it is taking me alot longer. I give her Motrin at night to ease the discomfort and the numbing cream for her gums during the day. I have never done this nap transition thing before so any advice would be welcomed!

Here are some happy moments!

New at Dairy Queen

I have discovered a new vice- Cream Pie Blizzards at Dairy Queen. They are soooo good! I have tasted the Banana Cream Pie and the Coconut Cream Pie. I think they are only out for a limited time, which is good for me. I might weigh 300 pounds if they stayed for very long. If you don't like cream pies then you won't like the Blizzards which just leaves more for me!

P.S. No pictures of these wonderful things because I inhale it as soon as I get one.

Standing Up

We opened the windows last night to let in the nice, cool breeze. MK and I were in her room and I took her over to the window to have a look outside. She grabbed the windowsill and just stood there. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Back from Costa Rica

My sister Madelyn just got back from a week long missions trip to Costa Rica. She worked in a nursing home helping repair and paint the building. She had a blast and learned alot. Yes, she came back with a tan while the rest of us are still pasty-white. Here she is with Mary Kate.

Yard-Work

We did yard work today. My previous suspicions proved correct. I HATE yardwork. The bees(serious phobia of bees),the bending over, the trimming of shubbery with small scissors- poor me. I guess I am just a pansy.

Mary Kate on the other hand enjoyed herself immensly. We put her toy in the back of the Montero and she played while we worked.

Plumber-Butt

Apparently, low-rider pants do the same thing to babies that they do to us females.

Sike!

Due to a series of unfortunate events, our house is no longer under contract. Our faith and patience have been tested in many ways. We have wanted to punch and kick several people in the process. I have been accused of threatening people with lawsuits and verbally abusing people all the while they are falsifying documents and lying. Anyway, it has been a rough couple of days. However, we are still moving. Brian and I have decided enough is enough with living in one place and working in another. We will be moving in June unless another series of unfortunate events takes place but we feel that this is what God is wanting us to do at this point. What can you do? You can pray that our house will sell (for real this time)by June so that we don't have to ask for donations from you to pay for two house payments.

On a lighter note, Mary Kate is six months old today! Yeah! I can't believe that she is a half-year old. Brian and I have loved being parents and we can't believe that Mary Kate is our daughter. She is a joy and delight every minute (yes, even when she is grunting loudly for something she wants). So, happy half-year-birthday to Mary Kate!

Holy Father, Batman!!

Have you ever had an experience that changed your life forever? Is there anyone out there in the world who, if you saw them on the street or anywhere else, would seem "larger than life?" Our Aunt Chris and Brian's grandmother got a chance to answer both of those questions recently on a trip to the Vatican:

Here's Grandma Bojo kissing the hand of Pope Benedict XVI (click on the picture for a bigger image):



And Brian's Aunt Chris doing the same:



Both say it was a life-changing experience they will never forget. If you ever meet or see them, be sure to ask for the story...it's a good one!

It's About Time!!!

We have good news! Our house is under contract! Yeah! We can hardly believe it. We most likely will have to be out in about three weeks. I will be contacting Jennifer Starr, the moving expert, to get some much needed pointers. :) We will be traveling to Rome very soon to try to find a house that we can move into A.S.A.P. If we don't find anything, then we will rent until we find something or until we can build a house.

In other news, Mary Kate is sitting up! She is also a grump. She is cutting her bottom teeth and I guess that is making her grouchy. Yikes!

Brian's First Marathon

Way to go, Brian! Brian ran and finished his first full marathon. He even ran it after biking 17 miles the day before. He wants to improve his time for the next marathon, but Mary Kate and I are so proud of him for running that long way. Here are a few pictures of the blessed event.


I know this picture is not good, but I was running to beat him to the finish line with the camera and I barely made it in time. Also, it was so bright that I couldn't see where I was aiming the camera.


Brian smiling for the camera. Or not.


Brian shaking hands with the race director.


P.S. Since I am already bragging about my husband, I'll say that he put all of the laundry away last night without me asking him. I know, I know. I am lucky!

Virginia Creeping Along

We took a vacation this weekend to the Virginia Creeper Trail in Abingdon, Virginia. If you haven't been there with your family, we highly recommend it. On the way up, we drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here we are on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee:



The Creeper Trail is an old railroad bed that...you know what, just read the historical marker:



The thing that all the cool kids do at the trail is rent bikes, get in a van, and get dumped at the top of a mountain, and ride down the trail. Since you're pretty much coasting downhill, anybody who can stay upright on a bike can do it (just watch for saddle soreness the next day!). Distance? It's 17 miles from the White Top trail head (where the marker above is located) to Damascus, VA, and 17 more miles from Damascus to Abingdon. Yes, we just rode to Damascus - our posse included Brian, Jenny, Jenny's Mom & Dad, Jenny's sister Madelyn & her friend Whitney, and Brian's Dad. The scenery was breathtaking. Here are some shots from the trail:

Jenny & Brian:



Diane, Jenny, Robert, & Pops, about 100 yards down the trail...NOT resting already, we promise:



The stereotypical American general store, which much to our chagrin, was closed. Our Snickers run would have to wait:



Madelyn & Whitney, on a cool-looking boulder in the middle of a stream:



We'll post more pictures of our trip later today.

Venting

Well, our house has been for sale for almost a year. Some of you might not believe that it has almost been a year, but I assure you- it has. I have a few bones to pick with prospective buyers. Here they are:
1. We do not have, never have had, and never will have a bonus room. If your heart is set on one- don't waste our time.

2. No, we do not have a basement. If you are wanting a house with a basement, please do not make me frantically clean my house and shove my daughter and dog in the car, only to say that you wanted a basement.

3. Yes, we are the first house in the neighborhood on the right. The traffic doesn't bother us. We are inside most of the time.

4. Yes, we do back up to a road. However, when faced with a choice of seeing a neighbor out back in his boxers smoking a cigarette and a nice iron fence with shrubbery and a road, we will choose the road.

5. No, the bulldog stone on top of the hill is not marking a grave of a bulldog. But, if that will make you buy the house, then sure it is. :)

Mmmm... Tasty!

Mary Kate has discovered her feet! Every time I change her diaper, she quickly grabs her feet and tries to shove them in her mouth. She has succeeded two times so far. I can't believe she can bend that way. Here are some pictures to prove it.