Wednesday, October 19, 2005

The packers are here!

Care Bear is supervising Mark, our packer/driver for the move. She is also watching Blue's Clues and running around "helping Grandma" who is teaching her how to dry dishes. I hear, "all done!" and she's getting another one. You can tell I don't dry dishes- that's what the strainer is for ;) Hehe!

This will be the last post for an undetermined amount of time, so I got some pictures on here too for your viewing pleasure. Yesterday was gorgeous out so we fed some of our leftover cereal to the birds. Today is packing day, tomorrow is loading day, and then we leave! Yippie!

Dada made it to Germany safe & sound but didn't get to sleep as much as he'd have liked on the plane. He called this morning at 10:15 to say he was going to shower, have dinner, and head to bed. Thanks for prayers for his safe travels!

We'll see lots of you this weekend, but for those of you who we won't see, have a great weekend & check back in several days to see if we're back up & running yet. Take good care & thanks for all the prayers that this move would go fast- it's been terrific!

Oh, I'm getting told, "don't buzz me" which I think is "don't bug me" since we keep telling her to "not bug Mark." Over & out... don't buzz me! ;)

Feeding birds in the front yard yesterday Posted by Picasa

Supervising the packing while eating her banana Posted by Picasa

She enjoyed playing in the empty closets. Good acoustics in there too! Posted by Picasa

"My room is going into boxes! Hope he doesn't put ME in one..." Posted by Picasa

Mark, our packer/driver, w/ Carrie in her room Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 17, 2005

Stickers & such

Care Bear loves stickers. Thanks to all of you who mail them to her, I think ;) They end up in some odd places, that's for sure. She's had a wonderful time moving these small smiley face stickers around. She had them all up & around her arm like henna art the other day. Then Dada strayed into range and she got him instead!

The block ring picture is from this morning. I finally remembered to rotate her toys (I hid all the Little People and their accessories a month or so ago) so she has been getting really accomplished w/ blocks and those huge Lego impersonators. She definitely got the engineering skills from Scott and not me! I hear lots of "Mama pay cuppo mitt-ets?" which translates into, you got it, "Mama play a couple minutes?" and "oh no, my tower!" or "oh no, my house! Fall down!"

It's very cloudy & pretty breezy outside this morning. Not sure if we'll be doing any playing out there or not. The leaves have started to fall & I'm hoping most of them stay on their trees until after we leave Thursday! I don't want to rake! Yet still she says, "nice day, Mama." I think she's pretty indescriminate when it comes to nice days ;)

The other funny Carrie quote is having her name who's on her green pajamas. From her chin on down it's Mickey, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Minnie. She says, "Mickey, Ga goh Guck, Goosey, et Minnie!" Cracks me up every time. Especially the "Goosey" part.

And she's discovered imaginary friends- only they're the characters from Oobi on Noggin. She talks to Kako, Uma, and Oobi like they're right there, even when the TV is off. And she talks to JoePa, which I think is hilarious. "YAY, JoePa" and "poor JoePa" are common to hear. She just ran up to me and yelled "football!" for no apparent reason....

I'll try to blog one more time before we go. We pick up Grandma tomorrow at the airport and she's getting so excited about the airplanes & Grandma & the fountains there. Gonna be one long day today until we can go get her. The packers come Wednesday, so it'll be an exciting week around here! Have a great one!


The flash caught her unawares. Look at all those smiley stickers on her hand! Posted by Picasa

Stickers don't stay in one location very long in our house... Posted by Picasa

Care Bear in her block ring this morning Posted by Picasa

Friday, October 14, 2005

The last week

Last night was our final small group meeting =( Carrie gave lots of hugs & kisses to all her buddies, including some new ones, and will only be seeing them one last time, on Sunday. We didn't even attempt to do an actual lesson. We just talked & visited & caught up w/ some of our group that we haven't seen and tried to include our new members/visitors as best we could during all this transition. Kia leaves in 3 weeks too! Here's a picture of Kia, Carrie, & Shawn- all in red shirts!

This is our last weekend in Illinois and we'll be running around like crazy people the entire time! We're headed to La Salle/ Peru tomorrow for some things at the mall (not going to miss that 40 minute drive to get things done!) and need to pack up Scott's car for Toledo w/ stuff the movers won't move. Please be praying for him- he's starting to get that itchy, sick-in-the-back-of-your-throat feeling and this is obviously not the most convenient time for him to get sick =/ I think we'll all feel much better come the 24th when the new house is ours and half the craziness is behind us!

Church is going to be sad on Sunday... our last time there. Gotta remember to take my tissues! We will really miss First Presbyterian in Ottawa. It has been a tremendous blessing to us while we've been here! Always sad to leave such wonderful people, but such a good reminder at how incredibly amazing Heaven will be when we're all reunited again. We're going to know a lot of people there if we keep moving like this! ;) Hehe!

Some more prayer requests are: Carrie, our next door neighbor, is being induced to have her baby boy on Monday morning. She plans to get home Wednesday, which means we will hopefully get to meet little Anthony before we leave. Please pray that her c-section & recovery both go well and that their family adjusts smoothly to the new little guy. And our friend Meredith is jobhunting, rather against her will, so please send some prayers & good thoughts her way as she figures out what she's supposed to be doing next. Also, Mike & Elly's baby is due Nov. 17th so keep them in mind, too. Lots of babies this fall!

I'll try to post again before we take off, but at some point I have to disconnect all these wires & everything cuz the movers won't mess w/ all that. I'd like to get a lot of pictures w/ Care Bear among the boxes, etc. so be watching for those probably two weeks from now. We'll be seeing quite a few of you between now and then, so look for pictures of all y'all then as well! =) Have a good weekend! Best way to get a hold of us this weekend would be cell phones. G'night!

Girls in red shirts Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Priorities

Forgot to say that when we finally got home from the Dr's office, we had missed Maisy, her very favorite show. Trying to get her to take her nap was not going well, so I told her afterwards we could watch Nemo. She also wanted more cheese. So this was the napping agreement in Carriese:

"Up again, see Nemo, have cheese!"

I just told her we'd have pizza for dinner, as I put in Nemo and hand her a bowl of cheese cubes and I hear "no cheese! Pizza! No cheese!"... had to tell her "pizza later, cheese now" and she's sucked into Nemo =) So I'm going to go put in the pizza and watch Nemo and have cheese too! G'night!

Construction and conversation

Last night Care Bear dragged out her big Legos and we all worked together to build a big church & roadway. She had the best time opening & closing the door on the church, and sticking signposts on the roof. Silly kid!

This morning I told her that tomorrow night our buddies would be coming over (last small group meeting)... "Mike, Leeann, Kia, Shawn, and Kindra."
Carrie: "And DD" (Derek, who is off at college)
Me: "DD's far away at school"
Carrie: "DD bye bye"
Me: "That's right"
Carrie: "DD gat cool?"

Me: "Yep, DD's at school."
So smart! I'm glad we got to see him & Christine & Kyle on Sunday one last time!

She's very into traffic these days. For some reason there have been a lot of semis going by on our small street, as well as school buses and the white hospital shuttle (which I've never seen before). Lots of talk about "big guks" and "lellow bus" and "hite bus" and "cool bus" which is a school bus. And of course she watches for Whahly and Gone, our neighbors Sally & John. Our mailman has changed times, so he comes here around 4 these days while she's down for her nap. Bet he misses her. She's sure to point out any "mail guks" she sees anytime we're out.

She's enjoying leafing through magazines, looking for babies and puppies. Sadly, the only one we get anymore is NEWSWEEK so she doesn't see too many these days... kept her busy in the doctor's office today, though. She found a Parenting magazine that had lots of her favorite subjects! (The Dr said everything looks good. He was "slower'n molasses" though, and I can't wait to move & see my old/new Dr again. She rocks!) She was really good for as long as we had to wait... even got to play w/ Silly Putty for the first time, which was a hit. She especially liked the egg that holds it. That's my kid.

I think she's up, so I better get a move on. Have a good rest of the week. "Allllmost the weekend!" =D

This reminds me of Gramps. Makes me laugh! She's totally faking sleep. Posted by Picasa

Look at that concentration! Posted by Picasa

Our Kurth family creation up close Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Two weeks to go!

Only two weeks left until we're moved into our new place! I'm so excited! And I'm really thrilled for the chance to visit my parents & grandparents & girlfriends the weekend between closing & moving in. Yippie!

On another fun note, Sharon's been bitten by the blogger bug too! Check out her link, above, to the Gombas Gang. She's getting really good at it! =D Probably helps that she has very cute, photogenic subjects. ;) Hehe!

Happy birthday to my aunt Kay & Carrie's aunt Becky & our friends Joy and Kyle this week! Love you all!

Sorry, no new pictures. Been really lazy about that. And Care Bear looked absolutely darling in her Cookie Monster dress from Grandmama & Pa Pa... she wore it w/ her red tights and red shoes- quite stunning! Maybe next time...

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

19 days...

Nineteen days until the move (not that anyone is counting down) and another preggo picture or two for those of you who've been requesting them. I've gained 25 pounds so far! Carrie particularly likes when the baby has hiccups. Thinks it's the funniest thing in the world... and then she tries to get them, too! Headed to bed, so have a great night, all! =)

My girth, coming along quite nicely... Posted by Picasa

"19 days until the move!" Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Plans

Happy autumn! Here are the last of the house hunting trip pictures... two from one of the rest areas and one here in the "old" house. Only 20 days until we move in!

So here's the plan w/ that... Scott's mom is flying out on the 18th. The packers come the 19th. The movers take everything the 20th. We leave then too and will sign everything in Toledo before heading to Butler that weekend to play! Yay! Hoping to see Nana, Pap Pap, Pap, Lisa, and Mar at least while we stay w/ Pa Pa and Grandmama. Now nobody will leave notes on here and in our email inbox saying, "where the heck are you!?" We'll move into our new house on the 24th but I'm not exactly sure when the movers will supply our stuff. Eh, who needs stuff anyway?!

In the meantime, for all of you who are asking how to help, there really isn't much to do! Professionals come to pack & move us so we don't have to do any of that. Good thing too, cuz bending is getting a little more tricky. Darn that gravity! Things need to fall up when you're pregnant. Seems like everything I touch ends up on the floor. Grrrr! We will need more help doing the unpacking end of things since nobody gets paid to do that ;) We'll let you know when to come! If you time it right, you might even get to see a new baby. Hehe!

Care Bear is back in her groove, watching Noggin and entertaining all the neighbors when she's outside. They're really going to miss her. It's been great weather for being fall... at least I think so. Since I'd much rather be warm, I'm not complaining about still having to use the AC inside in October! Love it! (Sorry, Meredith. Hehe!)

Almost nap time so I better head. Have a wonderful day & we're really looking forward to being closer to most of you! All we need to do now is kidnap our Olsons..............

For my Lisa. She found the driving game in the arcade and was in that seat before we knew it! Posted by Picasa

She found every single button, of course. Posted by Picasa

This is what we encountered as we brought all our junk in from the car after the trip. She's at the top of the steps, pleased as punch to be home! Posted by Picasa

Saturday, October 01, 2005

OI pictures

Here are the OI pictures from Tuesday. The hotel kicked us out around 1, so Dada rescued us and took us into the office so he could finish up. This is how Care Bear entertained herself (and everyone else) while at work! She loved running around, finding all the "red O, boo I"s everywhere (OI's logo) and charmed everyone she met (naturally). Some of them were so tickled w/ her that they gave her anything they could think of to make her stay more pleasant. She ended up w/ a huge box, a cookie, and one of those water toys that you flip over repeatedly and watch the bubbles and gears inside. She really enjoyed the blue and lavendar highlighters from the desk and the magnet display of nuts. And thank God for play doh! =)

A ride on the dolly for the big girl! Posted by Picasa

This is a magnet display w/ tons of small nuts that she was very interested in rearranging. Posted by Picasa

She did this play doh face all by herself Posted by Picasa

The long view of the faces Posted by Picasa

The cafeteria ladies gave her a box to play with. The USS Kurthing! Posted by Picasa