Nate & the House Search

My sweet Nate has been in more than his fair share of houses in the past few months. Since he was home part-time over the summer, he dashed with me at lunch to meet our realtor on more than a few occasions. I've also visited several houses with both of the kids in tow without Scott. It's oh-so-much-fun, let-me-tell-ya. But sometimes you gotta do it.

Anyway, Nate has become quite the expert when it comes to looking at houses. He's learned exactly what usually makes us say no to a house. Since we live (and want to stay) in a community that's been around for a while, the houses are usually 100+ years old. If we get one that is say below 80, we consider that like almost new. It's all a matter of perspective.

So one day we're walking up to a house and he says, "Mom, this house looks great from the outside." I told him I agreed. He goes on to say, "But we'll have to see what the basement looks like. That's where ALL the problems are." Why yes, my real estate expert. I'd say he's seen more basements that he cares to remember.

We are off to see another house today and I was telling Nate about it yesterday. I told him I would miss him looking around with me. He thought for a moment. Then said, "Mom? If they have one of those papers with pictures on it, please bring it to me. I'll check it out and let you know what I think." Such a sweet boy not wanting to fall down on the job:)

As we enter our 7th month of looking around for another house in our school district, it can get discouraging because sometimes it feels like we are unrealistic in our expectations of our next house. But I remind myself that we do not have to move. We would like to move. We are not unhappy in our current house and location by any means. We would simply like a tad more space if possible. So I feel at peace that when the right house comes along, we'll know it. And until then, we'll just be thankful that we have a house:)

Weekend & School Update

For some reason, I can't get the pictures off my phone these days. So until I figure out that technical glitch, I have to remember to use the real camera. It doesn't happen very often:) 

But I did pop it out this last weekend to get some pictures of Nate and his new buddy. He loves Truman and it does make my heart happy that he finally has a pet of his own. 

It's technically Lila's too of course, but she's a little more skittish. She loves to pick him up but is not a fan of his kitten claws and teeth.

So Nate gets most of the holding time. But it seems to work. Kitty P is still not too thrilled about the addition, but Truman is getting better and better about ignoring her. He even encroached on her space to swipe her kitty treat! I thought she was going to have a heart attack. She was hissing so hard that she was out of breath. Pretty funny sight. He was not bothered by her in the least.

I didn't find any spectacular pictures of Lila on the camera. But this sums up her distaste that Truman accidentally scratched her pretty bad on her hand (see the band-aid? we went through 3 before we got the right one.)

Other than the kitty and settling back into school, we've been fairly relaxed the past week. We hit up the pool both days this weekend because the weather all the sudden decided it's the middle of July. Except it's not.

Nate loves his new teacher and is getting along just fine. We both like his homework schedule a little better this year and it hasn't been too much of a fight yet. He will start Lego Club in a few weeks and he is excited about that new adventure.

Lila also likes her room and the transition has been smooth. She continues to be a huge mess, especially when out in public. Nate never talked to ANYONE. Even people we knew. Lila? She talks to EVERYONE. It's funny and embarrassing all at the same time:)

Happy last week of August!

Wunderlist

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I'm a list maker. And my favorite way to make a list has historically been the old fashioned way - on paper. Even with the addition of awesome tools on the iPhone and iPad. I just never got into it and thought it was more cumbersome that just writing it down. 

Then Scott got a new job and he started helping out with the grocery shopping. And the written list actually became cumbersome. He would forget to take it with him, or would want to stop while he was out but didn't have the list. When I first read about this app on a blog I frequent, I thought to myself that it could never work for me. That it was just one of those apps that I would download and never use. 

Wunderlist

Well, I was wrong. Wunderlist has changed the way we make lists! You can set it up for the lists you need to keep AND both of us can see them and add to them! It's genius.

I currently have it setup to show lists for Target, Aldi, Schnucks, and Scott's To-Do (he put that in there by the way). I have it downloaded to my iPhone and iPad, as well as on my PC. So if I think of something, I immediately add it. Because I'm bad about not getting everything I need at the store because I forgot to write it down.

I'm sure to you savvy peeps this is so last year. But even as a latecomer, it's slowly becoming one of my favorite apps. So if you need something to simplify procurement at your house, try it!

Truman Baxter

Meet the newest member of our family...

Truman Baxter Boyle

Named after the Missouri Tigers and the Georgia Bulldogs. I'll have you know I offered for Baxter to be the first name, but the kids chose Truman. 

Tears. 

Truman comes to us from my aunt Lee. My kids got to meet him a few weeks ago when we were in Costa Rica. My mom sent us a picture of the kids holding Truman with the subject line "Can we have this kitten?"

Um. 

I don't know who can answer NO to a kitten and kids that you haven't seen in 5 days. 

Not us. 

So when Truman was ready to leave him mother, he came to live with us. 

We love him. 

Kitty P? 

Not so much. 

Costa Rica Part 3: Adventures

We had many adventures while in Costa Rica. Riding in the car is an adventure in itself!  But I did something I've never done before. I zip-lined. I agreed to it long ago. And when the day arrived, I wasn't really that nervous. I didn't really want to do it, but my stomach wasn't in knots or anything. I felt pretty comfortable as we got suited up and drove to the site. 

And then they asked me to climb this ladder. Um. My heart started beating so hard. And I was rethinking my answer to the heart condition question on the waiver form. I made it to the first platform and was still thinking, what the heck am I doing here?!? 

I went right after Audra - I was thinking to myself, if she can do it, I can too (she has also done it before, so I took comfort in that). Stepping off the platform is the hardest thing. Visit Audra's blog here for more pictures of this adventure. 

But once I was in the air, I was fine. Although I had to gear up to step off the platform every time. There were 10 platforms in all. Scott kept asking me if I saw the scenery. Um. No, I'm just concentrating on getting from one platform to the next. At the 10th platform, there was no line. We were informed we would be repelling off the platform to the ground. So I started to repeat over and over in my head "You are 36 years old. Do not cry in front of these people." I was the very last to go. After Audra, who screamed. Boy was I excited. 55 foot drop. Let's just say I won't be doing that again!

Other activities...eating dinner on our porch. In CR, it gets completely dark by about 6:15 PM. So we all had a hard time staying up past 9:00 PM.

Eating breakfast on the beach, where the dogs were too close for comfort.

Taking a boat ride, that caused Audra & I to be seasick. Ick.

Dolphins in the distance - we were hoping to see the whale we had been seeing from our porch, but no such luck!

The boys were dying to go snorkeling.

They got their wish, while Audra and I tried not to be sick in the boat.

Eating lunch on the beach. We sat inside the restaurant this time to try to avoid the dogs.

Spectacular sushi!

Trying to convince Audra to try the sushi I'm sure:)

While we had a wonderful time in Costa Rica, the best part about the trip was the company. You don't find too many people in life that you can hang out with for a week and still be laughing at the end. We are so very lucky to have the Pooleys in our life! I came back rested, relaxed and encouraged from spending time with Ryan & Audra. We solved all the world's problems. Until next time...

Costa Rica Part 2: Samara & Fish

Samara is a quaint little town. When you go to a rural area in a foreign country, I feel you get to experience it much more than in a resort. It's a vacation and an adventure, which we like. 

Most people did not speak English. Some could get out broken English, but some just sort of sat there and waited for us to make hand gestures. Which we got pretty good at.

The town and the people are so laid back. We navigated the streets well (I use streets lightly). We only had to change course a few times when we simply could not find what we were looking for. There were no street signs and the directions consisted of "Go past the Pali, turn towards the beach and you'll dead end into it." Well. There are 4 roads past the Pali and we turned on all of them before we got the one we needed. The Pali was one of the grocery stores. I'll use grocery store lightly too:)

The main part of town dead ends into the beach and you can see it in the distance here. It's an atmosphere of relaxation. No one gets real excited. We were driving one day and Audra and I looked behind us when one of the boys was backing up (in the middle of the road, yes) and we both screamed "Watch out for the horse!"  We got a little excited then. But we were the only ones.

The home owner was the best we've had to date. Pages and pages of information on grocery stores, restaurants, activities. You name it, it was there. Except how to communicate in Spanish with the administrator when you don't speak Spanish:)

Anyway, we sought out the grocery stores the first day. Here is the Super Samara. It wasn't quite what I expected from the pages and pages of info, but it worked. And funny thing, by the end we were all calling it "the good grocery store." Perspective. 

Being by the ocean, we knew from the first day that we wanted to buy some fresh fish and cook it ourselves (the house had an amazing kitchen). We talked about it daily, and got a lot of differing accounts of where we needed to purchase it. Most of which ended down a dirt road in the "hood" as Scott called it.

So we asked our friend at the Info Center (oh my word, you would never expect this great resource out in the middle of NOWHERE, plus she spoke English). She said that the town fish monger (I don't think I've ever used those words) would be glad to sell us fish from their catch. Then she told us where to find it. And really, once we were looking for the signs, we had no trouble finding it.

 However, when we pulled up, I would say we might have been looking for something a little different (although I don't know why we thought that, we'd been there for a week.) It was the home of the fish monger. Complete with laundry hanging in the front yard (very typical here). Audra and I stayed in the car while the boys tried to procure fish in Spanish. We were not sure they would be successful.

But lo and behold, they were. And it was the best red snapper I'd ever eaten!!

Try new things and you will be rewarded:)

First Day of School!

Today, Nate starts 2nd grade. In our school district, the Early Childhood Center houses Pre-K, K, and 1st Grade. So that is where Nate has been for the last 2 years. So in addition to starting 2nd grade, he is also in a new building, the Elementary School. So it was a bit of first day of school jitters again. Not for him. For me of course. 

He has another wonderful Mrs. S. We are very excited to see what this year holds for him in her class. Since I'm not a teacher, I often wonder to what extent the old teacher preps the new teacher. For Nate, I imagine the notes are something like this...Nate is a super handsome boy, who wears an insane amount of khaki, is liked by all his classmates (especially the girls), is eager to learn and try new things, has selective hearing at times, tries to do his best, and would rather do math than read or write. Okay, okay, it's got a little Mom bias, but that's what I'm here for.

This little girl started in her new class yesterday. No, I didn't take a picture, so we'll have to fudge. One morning a year for the camera is enough. She has Mrs. F., who Nate had when he was her age. We're excited and it feels good and familiar. She did great and was ready to back today. Such a big girl.

There were many days this summer, maybe even yesterday, that I was dying for Nate to go back to school. But at 7:28 AM when we left him, I was sad. Even though they drive me crazy sometimes, I am sad when they aren't with me. I guess that's part of being a parent.

Scott had dress up day at work today, so thank goodness you get this outfit instead of the scrubs.

Today is his last day of the 7 on, and we are very VERY glad.

Happy 1st Day of School!