Moving along

Yesterday was a long day. I headed over to the new house at 5:30..... in the morning to trim some of the living room before heading to my men's group. I returned home from the group to get some things ready to take to the new house while waiting for Heather to arrive to eat lunch and go to the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Let me tell you, the Restore is great. We bought a table for the kids, it's one of those table you might see in a kindergarten room, it's round and short. We bought it for $7.50, what a deal. We also bought several nice paint brushes, a new dining room light and new lights for the hallway. We spent a total of $40.00, what a deal. If you have one in your area you need to check it out. The have a variety of things there. Anything from Pella windows, nice cabinets, paint, desks, tables, roofing, front doors, basically a variety of things. Anyways....... With Heather's help, Delilah and were able to paint the living room, kitchen, and clean the rest of the basement. Things are looking good. I think the plans today are to mop and steam vac the upstairs and maybe move a few things into the basement.
We have 2 great babysitters yesterday, they both put in long days for us. Grace babysat from noon till 9:30 pm and Sara (her sister) came at 3:00 to help out, since Heather's kids were here also.


Memory cards

Really? It's Friday.

Where has this week gone? I can not believe that it is Friday. This week has gone by in a blur. Jude had Safety Town this week. He had his little graduation ceremony today. We had our babysitter here through out the week. This gave me an opportunity to work on the new house. So far this week we have cleaned out Delilah's new craft room, the storage room, and the basement bathroom. The hallway/entry is now freshly painted. The living room and kitchen are taped ready to painted tomorrow and the yard had been mowed. It has been a crazy week. I am tired. My legs are tired. It will be a busy weekend as we try to get everything ready to be moved into the new house.


HDMI

Moving

We are moving. We found a house to rent that is literally just around the corner from us. It is a much nicer house for the same rent. We have been looking for houses for the last 2 months. They all seemed to be smaller than our current one for much more money. This will be a blessing to our family. Right now we are doing some painting. We really want to make the house our home. This will be the house we are in that we can really do that. We are excited. The new landlord it great. He is doing everything that he can to make sure we are happy when we move in.
The house we are moving into is a brick ranch built in the 50's. I never thought I would like a ranch. This house I like. It has 3 bedrooms, large living room, finished basement, which half of it is a rec room and the other half will consist of craft room, office, and kids play area. And maybe the best part is....... the house has landscaping. We miss out landscaping. The flower beds are over grown but they can be whipped into shape. The kids are excited as well. The new landlord actually gave the kids 2 new scooters. Well they look fairly new.
My goal was to get everything painted (kitchen, hallway, and living room) by the end of the week. I don't think it is going to happen though. Jude has safety town this week and tot time, so time is very precious to get anything done. Well, it's about time for tot time gotta run.

Sale

Staying active

This is my 200th post. I can't believe it. I never imagined I would keep with this blogging thing, I guess I surprised myself a little. Anyways..... I have been trying to stay active with the kids. I was going to say stay busy with the kids. I don't think the word busy is the right word to describe my intentions. Today we have had a little break in the weather. The a/c is turned off for the first time in a week. It is nice to have outside air blowing across your face when your in the house. Yesterday the kids enjoyed Tot Time. It is a time for tots to come together and do a craft. It runs through the whole summer and occurs twice a week. Tuesday they made name cards. At the end of the craft they took turns saying their names and something about themselves. Of course Jude and Elise didn't say anything, they would stand up or say their names.

Today, after Avery woke up from her morning nap we went for a hike through the Gorge Metro Park. It is nice because it is within walking distance from our house. No need to fire up the ole gas guzzler minivan. It is nice that the metro park is so close to the house. It is a nice metro park other then the fact it smells like sewer. The metro park needs to do something about the smell. There's nothing like breathing in stink while trying to enjoy the woods. After the hike I loaded the kids up in the van and we headed off to Delilah's work. We made a stop at Subway to pick up some lunch then to her work to pick her up and then off to a park in Kent. It was a nice time together. The kids enjoyed being with mom a little during the afternoon. Now they are all taking naps/quiet time.

Well gotta run and take advantage of this time and get a few things done.

Computer memory.

Hiking

It heated up as the day marched onward. The house with its windows and doors flung open was not able to stay cool as the day marched on. Something had to be done. What was the answer? The decision was made. It was time to dive deep into the van. The air condition was turned on while the errands were being run. The first scheduled stop was at the local library to return rented movies. The second scheduled stop was at Giant Eagle to pick up a prescription for little Avery. In an attempt to conserve the precious material we call gold, err gasoline, the windows were opened and engine was shut down while waiting at the drive up window. But to no avail, the prescription was not ready. It seemed they need the new health insurance card. The pharmacist said, "It will be ready in 20 minutes." Onward we travel to the third stop. To get the much needed water for the water cooler. At 25 cents a gallon, you can't beat the price for filtered, clean tasting water to drink on a hot day. Now it is time to head back to stop number two to pick up the prescription. Once again we pull up to the window. The van shuts down and the window's open. Success this time. Mission accomplished. On to stop number four. To the woods we go. As we travel down the road I try to remember which drive to use to enter the metro park. I use the wrong drive (again). Jude says that I am silly and need to get a map. I agree with him. After a little turn-around, we finally make it to the correct parking lot of the Summit County Metro Park's Oxbow Area. I told the kids we would go on a hike today. Silly daddy I thought as we got out of the van. I decided on the Oxbow Trail a 1.2 mile hike through the woods that followed the Cuyahoga River (Cuyahoga Falls River, according to Jude) for part of the way. I place Avery in the backpack for the first time. She didn't mind sitting in it at all. Very good sign. Jude, Elise, Avery and I started on the hike. As we were hiking a couple of thoughts ran through my brain. In no particular order.

• I have been feeling pity for myself because of staying at home with the kids.
• Oh crap, I forgot the diaper bag at home
• I sure hope Avery doesn't need a diaper before we get home.
• Who in their right mind says to kids, "Hey let's go hiking" when it is 3:00 pm, the hottest part of the day?
• Oh no, I didn't bring a bottle for Avery, I sure hope she doesn't want her 4:00 bottle before we get home.
• Seriously, who in the right mind wants to go on a 1.2 mile hike during the hot part of the day.

The children really enjoyed the hike. We skipped a few stones across the river at one point. Jude wanted to go into the river and get a pop can. Avery didn't need a diaper or bottle before getting home, whew. Jude and Elise both peeped in the woods. They seemed excited about that. Elise did a great job hiking. I was a little concerned because there is one area that has a bunch of steps to climb up, she did a great job. As I sit writing this Jude asks, "Dad, can we hiking again today?" I smartly reply we will have to see, it's suppose to be hot today. Whew.



Maybe next time I'll sit in the hammock chair instead of hiking.

Err the Weather

Today has been a rough day. It has rained most of the day at times it was coming down pretty good. Which means the kids get to stay indoors. So much fun. Actually, they did get outside for about 30 minutes this afternoon to play then we went for about a 30 minutes walk/bike ride after they played. Accuweather is calling for rain Wednesday and Thursday. I think I will be heading to the Y to use the treadmills, hopefully one will be open. They usually are. This way the kids can get out of the house and I can have a little free time zoning out while listening to the ipod. I guess we will have to see what kind of morning we have.

Peace.

Back to school

Jude and Elise spent most of last week in WV. There is always a transition period after the kids spend time away from the house. Jude had a rough time the first couple of nights getting back into the swing of things. Now it is back to school for him. back to learning how to read.
It's not just back to school for Jude but for me as well. I am 2 course away from having my associates degree. I am taking the course now through an external degree program at Upper Iowa University. It is a regionally accredited school. My ultimate goal is a degree in Public Administration through the university which I started about 3 years ago. The price for the schooling is very reasonable. Hopefully in about 4 months I will have my classes completed. The 2 courses which I am taking are Religion and Literature. The religion one will be interesting. I have started reading the text, right now I am reading about Hinduism. It is an interesting religion. I am excited about learning about Islam and being able to make my own conclusion on it. I had to buy The Holy Qur'an. Needless to say it does feel a little wierd to have the Qur'an in my house as a Christian. None-the-less, I look forward to studying on the religion.



How about those walk in tubs?