Our end of summer trip...

The summer was a lot of fun, but we stuck very close to home as we did not know if we would be moving anytime soon. So at the very end of hte summer we took a short trip to Kings Dominion in VA with all the kids. On the way down Don had a "surprise stop" for us.
We went to Washington DC for a day, which was GREAT!!
We started at teh International Spy Museaum, which while great for Don and Austin, was not so great for the girls. No strollers allowed, really geared for adults and very crowded.....
From there we moved on to the Mall, Washington monument and WW II and Lincoln Memorials. It was a beautiful day and the girls had lots of time to run around when they needed as we walked. It was a long day, but fun!


What a beautiful sight with all the flags flying...
WOW, Austin is a GIANT!!
Cooling off at the WW II Memorial. This is a really nice memorial with dedications for every state that lost soldiers in WW II and Star for every peoson lost to the war.

Austin and Bell climbing the steps to the Lincon Memorial.


OK, blogger is not letting me add any other pics right now - ugh...

Half hour a day....

OK, I am so behind I am going to work on this for 1/2 hour a day to try and catch up. I have been trying to find a whole download of pics that have somehow disappeared, so I am just going to post what I have.
Welcome back!

A soapbox post...

I don't get it, I understand how it works, but don't get WHY!!
Oil barrel prices have dropped $15 a barrel, but they say we probably will not see any decrease in costs at the pump because we have "increased our reserves". But when barrel prices went up we saw increases the very next day that were blamed on the barrel increases!
They just announced today that housing sales of existing homes was 1% lower than expected (2.5 % drop in June), so stocks dove down today. Banks gave crazy loans like ARM's and interest only to get buyers in, and now many of them are going into bancrupcy!! Two houses are empty on our block alone.
Many of you have heard me rant about our horrible neighbors who just left a few weeks ago - only owned the home for 13 months - it turns out they took all the appliances and the HOT TUB right out of the deck, never mind the filthy carpets, holes in the walls and food left out on the counters (they did not even bother to lock the doors)- ugh!!
So the County comes by yesterday, after I called about the grass being out of control. She tells me they post a sign, and send a letter and wait a few weeks for them to respond. If they don't the county will cut it. They thought the owners still lived there, so it was good I talked to her, she said it will save about a months time, as they were going to send the letter to the homeowners, and will now send it directly to the bank. She also said the banks are really big now on not selling forclosure houses, they are keeping them on their books and taking huge write offs - WHAT!! The government should not be giving write offs to banks who are not even trying to sell the houses!!! A friend of mine here has had a bank owned house next door to her empty for 2.5 years.
And so, the Fed Reserve is keeping interest rates below 2% to "stimulate the economy", but homeowners with good credit and mortgage histories are looking at home loan interest rates of 6.5%. Holy cow, we only have a 5.2% now, but if we sell and buy a new house we would go up 1.3%. How does that intice people to want to but a home?????
And get this, the mortgage broker tells me that we qualify to buy another home while we still own this one, what, so I can have two mortgages!!! Isn't this the stuff that has gotten them in trouble so far.
OK, I am done on my soapbox! ( BTW, we still have no idea if we will be moving or not - you did not miss a major announcement, I am just getting ready!)
Karen

What's been going on.....

OK, the kids are playing and I have a few minutes.....
Last night we went to the Delaware State Fair, which is only about 20 minutes from the house. We took 2 cars and Austin's friend JD, so I could take the girls home and Don could stay and ride the rides with the boys (till 1 AM!!!).
Bell went on the BIG Ferris Wheel with Dad and the boys - she LOVED it!! She seems like she is going to be one who loves rides. She also went on all the kiddie rides. This morning I asked her which was her "favorite" ride and she said... "I liked the BIG wheel (with hand gestures), the cars, the train, the boats, the otehr cars that Lina went on (with mom), the hot air balloons, and the horses, goats,pigs, lambs and the BIG cows."
OK, I guess she did not have a favorite, as she listed all the animals we saw as well! She had a great time!!

Job update:
I wish we had more to update......
Don was in Ohio last week for an interview. He thought it went really well, and he should hear on it this week. The salary is good and the benefits are better than what we have now - the medical is MUCH less expensive and there is a GREAT bonus structure, so..... We shall wait and see. He spent a day with a realtor while up there, they paid to fly him in, so we figured why not look around. He loved some of the areas and a few of the houses were what we would be looking for (both price and size). And I have been doing a ton of research online, even contacting the local moms groups for insight in to towns and schools. The areas West and Southwest of Cleveland actually look very promising, great demographics and schools. They would pay for 2 house hunting trips (and to move us), so we could get up there to get a better feel.
On Tuesday he also has a second in person interview in Wilmington, DE. Much closer to home, so hopefully he will get two offers at the same time and will have the option. He might need to be further north in DE to meet the response time they would need for emergencies at that job, so it would probably mean moving anyway, and we are not truley thrilled with moving to northern DE.
I feel like we have thrown our whole lives up in the air and are waiting for it to come back down, to see where it will land (and hopefully not hit us on the head!). But really, we have passed it up to God and we have faith that he will put us in the place that is best for our family at this point in our lives. As long as we are together, we can be happy anywhere!
My biggest concern right now is school for Austin. I still have no idea where the heck he is starting school in 5 weeks! Yikes!
Well, gotta go, be back soon......

July 4th

OK, let's catch up....
We went up for a quick trip to NJ for July 4th. We had a great time at Nick & Linda's house at their 4th party!! The girls looked so cute in their matching 4th outfits (I could not resist!) and Bell had a great time in the pool with both daddy and Austin.





Bell and Austin set to watch the fireworks from teh back of the car!

Taking Steps!!!

This was a few days ago. Lina is now taking 4-5 steps at a time all the time!!! SO cool.

Lina's hospital stay....

Lina was in the hospital last week for 4 days. She had Rotavirus and was dehydrated because we could not keep anything in her - poor baby! She is great now!! Here are some pics...

Lina napping on daddy at the hospital.
In between pokes and sticks, she was in a good mood.
The nurse took out her IV for a little bit so she could roam around....
No pants needed....
Look at that smile, she is so cute!!!

Check out these smiles!!

Step 1 - eat the apple sauce.
Step 2 - spill the apple sauce.
Step 3 - wear the bowl as a hat!!
Step 4 - try and get the apple sauce all over mommies camera.
Step 5 - give mommy the "you can't resist me face" :)



Bell and Lina playing in their outdoor kitchen ($5 at a garage sale, so it lives on the deck!!)

The girls love the new pool Lina got for her birthday. Lina can crawl in and out of it and loves to do that over and over again!

Bell helping mommy do laundry with her baby "taking a nap" on her back.

Walking baby and dad in AR

Look at her go!! She will be walking soon!!!! 4 more days until daddy comes home - it is great to get to see daddy on the webcam.

Back to real time - yesterday!!

We plan on getting a lot of use out of hte deck in the nice weather ahead!! The weather report this morning said 80's all week and then 90's all next week!! Thank goodness for central air and swimming pools. The little pool Lina got for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Tuscano is all set up on the deck, and the big pool is ready and just waiting for the water to warm up a little more!! This gazebo is the best thing ever!! Is keeps all of us fair skinned ones (not counting daddy of course) out of the sun!!

T shirts and diapers were the order of the day yesterday afternoon for both girls (and we can't forget hats and sunscreen)!! Bell helped water the plants, while all Lina wanted to do was eat them (of course!!).

This is the garden I added when we moved in. Isn't it pretty!!
The new bench went out front with some flowers by the pond, on the greenest grass we have!! We had to rope that off from the dogs for weeks to grow it!! The bench and flowers went in that spot specifically so that the dogs to not short cut across that corner. As you can see, Phoebe would be more than happy to do just that a ruin the grass!! Oh, and you can see her summer buzz cut here - she is such a small dog without all her fir!!
My little monkey! If I sit next to the playyard on the ground, Bell has figured out she can us me as a ladder to get on top of the palyyard. Then she turns around and climbs over the wall to drop down to the bottom and go down the slide! No fear....

The girls were so happy to see daddy!!

The girls were so happy to see daddy!!
And daddy was so happy to see his girls!!! Before daddy went away this time (for 16 days!) we bought webcams. Now we can see and talk to daddy at night and he can see his little girls. Bell has done no fussing for daddy like she did last time since she has been able to see him - it is working out GREAT!
Aust took on the task of putting together the new bench we got from Grandma Barry.
As you can see he suceeded!
We took the cardboard box from teh bench and made a fort house out of it. we painted the inside with flowers, birds, clouds and sun. So when we put it up and Be;ll goes inside, she can see them! She had a great time!!

More party pictures...

Speaking of "what kind of face is that"..... Another person who always looks like that in pictures. Dave (the METS fan - yuck!) and Dan - my twin brothers.
Grandma in her party hat - how styling!!
Danielle, that's a far way to have to look up!! And he is only 13!!!!
The girls and their pink dogs from Katie and Emily. Something was apparently funny!!

Angelina's First Birthday

What kind of face is that???
OK, this girl has the cutest smile and laugh you have EVER seen!!! But can I get it on film?? NO, all I end up with are pictures like this!! UGH....

Grandpa, Lina and mommy.
Bell is such a good big sister!

Gardener, Artist, Musician - what will she be....

Bell planting Mothers Day gifts while Lina tries to eat the dirt!

Bell and Austin hard a work painting party hats for Lina's First Birthday.

Bell concentrating on positioning her thumb just the way daddy taught her to play his banjo!!

Our little girl loves to do things and get involved!! Hopefully she will continue to love all these things as she gets older.

We miss you guys!!!

Don & Brett (and a bunch of alcohol!!). Our old neighbors and FRIENDS Brett and Steph came to visit in May from Guam. It was great to see tehm again - who knows when the next time will be!!
Steph with Jess & Lindsay.
Brett & Steph with the girls. Bell just loved Steph and has been talking about her since!
Steph and Lina among the musical instruments.