The House

Trying to catch up on some posts... Here's the house. Took the movers two full days to get everything off the trailer and put the beds and crib together. Todd and I spent 4 straight 16 hour days unpacking, organizing, and shopping. We were wiped out. I'm back in Iowa for some meetings and will drive back to Ohio on Friday with Mom, Dad, and the kids.

Of all things...

There's an onion patch right outside the back door. Todd's favorite;)

Overheard

Veda and Papi were able to get some fishing in today and caught two fish. A small one and a larger one. Veda was excited to show us the catch in her net.

"There's a baby fish and a mommy fish."
"What are you going to do with them," I asked.
"We are going to eat them, we are going to eat this family."

Coincidently we did have fish for dinner. Fish that Papi caught on his trip to Florida. Veda is not a fish fan but when we told her we were eating the fish she had caught earler she couldn't resist and decided she loved it.

Clear Lake

We've made it to our next stop! I'm sick now... finally caught it from the kids. Making our trip a challenge but the girls are better and having fun and that's all that matters.

Homecoming Parade

We made it to Iowa. Emotional and exhausted but we couldn't miss the Iowa Homecoming Parade. Have to be honest though... total let down. Good thing Veda is easily impressed by deadbeat college students standing on Uhaul trailers.

Overheard

Dad can you open the car window so I can dry my thumb? Its wet because I sucked it. Dad go faster its not drying yet.

The Movers are Here

Having a Happy Meal picnic outside to stay out of the way. Lots of action.

Everything Fun

We brought the girls to a fundraiser for a child with cancer at a friend's salon. Adele sat for a $10 cut but Veda wont let anyone but Didi touch her hair;) There was a band, snow cones, hot dogs and a silent auction for mom!

Movie night in the hood... we're gonna miss this place!

Croup

Add this to the list of things we have to deal with before the movers get here on Tuesday. I guess I should be thankful she didn't get sick while we are holed up in the hotel and homeless next week. Poor thing is miserable and as usual we can't get her to take any medicine.

Overheard

I was taking a shower this morning and could hear the girls in the other room fighting. Rather, I could hear Veda screaming. Adele was pulling Veda's hair and laughing every time Veda would react. She thought it was a game. I tried to explain to Veda that Adele thought she was playing and that she really just wants to be close to her big sister because she loves her.

Huffing and puffing Veda says, "NO MOM! She wants to hurt me. She is trying to kill me."

Pool day

It's well into the 90s here which is a bit unusual so we decided to go for one last dip yesterday before the big move. I hadn't planned on getting in but Veda got excited and jumped in without her water wings which meant I had to go in after her... fully clothed;(

Overheard

I had lit some candles around the house and Todd had gone around and blown them out because we were leaving. Veda asked who had blown out the candles and I told her that Daddy did it.

"Oh, because he thought it was his birthday?"

Going on a Bug Hunt

Veda's favorite thing to do is hunt for bugs and "nature." When Nana and Bull were here she collected a full plastic bag of treasures. Today she found four ants and she named them cucumber, spot, macaroni and pepper. She decorated an old box and then taped it shut. But she made me put some cereal in it first so they would have something to eat.

"Sophie's" House

We drove down to Long Beach this past weekend to visit with my dear childhood friends, the Strauss' and to meet baby Charlie! Veda has been talking about the fun she had ever since. She calls it "Sohpie's" house and says she has a funny Grandma that tells funny stories. That would be Judy;) Thanks to Abby and Mike for having us and Jackie for taking time away from her pedi to visit with us;) Every time we see them it's like time has stood still. Love and miss my girls!

A couple pics from Maui...

 Outside Mama's Fish House

We took this same picture, in this exact same place, seven years ago this November when we attended the Maui Classic with the Hawkeyes.

Thank YOU Nana and Bull

Thanks for taking care of the beans while we were in Maui and ensuring we had a worry-free vacation. The girls loved reading books, going on walks to the park, collecting "nature", and watching Seasame Street on Bull's computer. Sure am glad we will see you again two weeks from today.

Maui

Missing the girls but not worried because we know Nana and Bull are taking good care of them. The Four Seasons is amazing and beautiful. The service here is over the top. Sitting at the serenity pool and the staff comes by every five minutes with fresh pineapple water and ice towels.

Play date

Having Quiet Time

For all of 60 seconds anyway...

Empty the shelves!

I've been trying to clean out the pantry in preparation for our move. What to do with stale fruit loops??? Make fruit loop trees of course. I was actually impressed w Veda's ability to master this project.

Drama

I pulled this plain grey sweatshirt out for Veda. She said, "wow that's the most amazing sweatshirt I never saw."

Getting Spooky

Veda LOVES Halloween. We are starting the festivities a little early given that we will be moving in the middle of October.

Happy Birthday Ry!

Hope you had a great day. Here's a picture of Veda working on the masterpiece she sent you;)

Desparate Measures

Over the last few weeks I've had a couple 7am conference calls. Too early for school and too early for the babysitter. So... I've resorted to movies and popsicles for breakfast. Oh yes I did;)

We miss you Dad - We LOVE YOU!

This was the greeting the girls gave Todd last week when he returned from 8 days on the road. We are looking forward to another one of these when he returns home from his trip to Europe.

18 mo.

This is Adele trying to demonstrate that she has not been eating the markers. I'm not buying it though... they just happen to be magic wonder markers that only work on magic paper so the evidence is invisable.

Adele had her 18mo appointment today. She weighed in at 22.03 lbs (20%), 31.5 inches (50%) and a 50% measurement for her head. The Dr. checked her eyes which he normally does at age 2 but he tested her early since we are moving and there is no guarantee her next Dr. will perform the test. She tested for a stigmatism in her right eye of 1.0. Not sure what that means but he said she should be tested again before she is 3 and if it gets worse than 1.75 then that's an issue but she's ok for now. She had three shots and hardly cried. One of them was the flu shot... it's that time of year! Have to make sure we all get our shots before Bean #3 gets here;)
At 18 mo Adele is still a littel daredevil but she's terrified of the vacuum cleaner and anything else that makes loud noise. She loves to blow kisses, tell you goodbye and I love you. She isn't a big talker like her sister was but it's clear that she understands most of what we are saying. She is always by Veda's side and Veda would tell you that most of the time... that's too close;)

Happy Birthday Jacob and Alex!

We celebrated with the twins today. Todd's out of town so I had to make the drive (hour each way) on my own with a screaming 18mo old in the back. Wasn't so much fun for me but the girls had a blast and I always look forward to seeing the Soria/Soffin crew. Mark this down as one of the top things I'm going to miss when we move;(( I said some goodbyes today and got emotional when I walked away from Christina's parents. As you know from my posts over the years... we love the Soffins and the Sorias. They are the most amazing, welcoming, accepting, FUN people I know. We are blessed to have had this time with them.

I did not think this was going to end well. Adele + The Twins in the bouncy house. She held her own though... way to go Dell.

 Whoops.

 The taco truck guys. The best part about Jon and Christina's parties. The real thing!

 Veda went to the ground during her dance number and Adele just does whatever her sister does.

I asked Veda what she was doing. She said she was pretending to be a ladybug stuck on his back and trying to roll over.

Overheard

Veda was sitting in my bed tonight watching Diego. Adele accidently changed the channel on the remote and Veda started screaming... a loud and dramatic rant. I quickly changed the channel back for her (I should have turned it off;) and she sighed loudly and said "Whew that was close."

Overheard

I was changing Adele's diaper when she kicked me square in the stomach. I yelled out in pain and Veda came running to my rescue.

"Oh no Baby Dell. We don't kick baby brother or his bones will come out of his body and his head and his toes will fall off."

Where were you?

Kel is visiting and we were just imagining what 9/11 would have been like had we had Twitter or Facebook back then. We would have been exposed to real time reports from those trapped on the plane and in the towers. I think that would have made it more tragic for those of us who were far away and not effected personally. Maybe it would have helped to thwart the efforts of the terrorists who were flying the second or third plane, just as they were able to do on the fourth pane.

I thought the kids would want to know what we were doing when we heard the news...

Kathy
I was driving to work the morning of 9/11 when they said that a plane had hit the world trade center. At first they thought it was a small private plane and were speculating about suicide and such. It wasn't until they came back on an announced that a second plane had hit that the announcers realized that something bigger was happening.

The second plane hit right as I was pulling into the lot at the Alumni Association. I ran in and turned on my computer. Then I called the building manager and suggested that she turn on the television in the ballroom. A group of about 20 to 30 of us were gathered there listening to a reporter from the pentagon when the third plane hit.

We watched the towers fall and as horrific as it was I didn't understand the magnitude of what was happening. I had never been to the trade centers. I didn't know how many people worked there. As the story unfolded in the days that followed I was GLUED to the TV. After hearing story after story of escape and peril I became very emotional and the realization finally hit me that this didn't happen in some foreign land... these were people just like you and me.

Todd
I was at the plant in Iowa City. I had already been at work for several hours so I was hearing the reports as everything happened. Eventually Todd Nickell and I brought it up on the computer and then we left work for the day and watched the news all day at Nickell's house.

Kelly
I had just moved to AZ. I had only been there for a couple of weeks. Kristi Diemer was staying with me because she was on her way to LA. We woke up in the morning (a few timezones behind) and heard about what had happened. I had to go to work that day at Canyon Communications and we spent most of the day in front of a small TV in my boss' office.

Field Trip!

Some pictures from Veda's field trip to the library. Most of the kids weren't too interested in what the Librarian had to say but Veda was all ears.

Moving to the Nati

The announcement has finally been made at Todd's office so now we can share the big news publicly. We are moving to Cincinnati in November. We will spend the last two weeks of October in Iowa while we are homeless. Looking forward to our new adventure but will dearly miss all the friends we've made here. When I told Veda about the move she got her suitcase out, packed all the toys she could fit, and exclaimed "I'm ready!"

1st day of Preschool, Last day with Didi

Grandma Diane has been here watching the kids all weekend while Todd and I were house hunting in Cincinnati. She left this morning after we dropped Veda at school.  The girls were sad to see her go. Thanks for all your help - I know it's a lot of work!!!

Overheard

Me to Veda: Guess what! Didi is coming to visit and then Auntie Kelly is going to come!

Veda: But Mom... Only one lady at a time!

Rody Pony

Awesome gift. Awesome visit. Thanks for coming to see us Auntie Megan. We love you!!