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I'll jumpstart my new & improved blog by posting a picture of my new & improved green thumb (well, the fruits of my green thumb's labor, actually). I have been known as the "plant killer" and cannot seem to keep anything that requires dirt in a pot alive. I had been pretty lucky with my aloe plant (because that requires very little skill to keep alive) so I decided to venture into herbs, mainly because I use them frequently to cook with and I'm tired of spending money to just use a tablespoon or so of them. My mother-in-law generously gave me some offspring of her mint plant (see it in the black pot in the pic on the right?) and I felt compelled to keep it alive. Since that worked out, I bought the boys a "salad" and "taco" kit of seeds. We started growing them inside, and to my surprise, they started growing! Dylan apparently inherited my "kill the plants" gene and murdered some seedlings, but we eventually got to the point where they were suffocating (is that a gardening term?) and I had to move them to a bigger home. We have tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, cilantro, mint, basil, and parsley! Sadly, I'm not sure the lettuce is going to make the cut, but stay tuned to find out!
What are your favorite things to grow?
Since I'm pretty good at starting things and not finishing them (i.e, this blog), I have decided to up my motivation and try again. So much has happened since August: Logan started (and is almost finished with) Kindergarten and can read like a champ, Dylan is walking and babbling, Kyle has started a new and wonderful job, and the biggest news.... we're buying our first home!
I have been following a few blogs regularly lately (my faves: my sister's blog, iheartorganizing) and they have inspired me to start my blog again. Except this time, it'll have a purpose. I'm hoping to share not only the happenings of my life, but my pursuit of my first dream home. It's not what many would call a dream home, but it's perfect for us. I'll be posting about my projects around the new home, the many recipes I have found on Pinterest and other sites, and other things.
I guess more background about this mini-dream home of mine: We'll be moving about 90 minutes away from where we're at now (real estate was much cheaper there!) and out of a townhouse and into a single family home! Now that I think about it, Logan & Dylan have never lived in a single family home - it's been a duplex, with my parents for about 5 months during Kyle's transition out of the Army and into civilian life, in an apartment, and in this townhouse, where Dylan was born. Anyway - it's a short sale (see here for more info) and we're still awaiting final approval from the seller's 2nd lien holder bank so it's unfortunately not yet 100% a done deal. We did recently get approval from one of their banks, so we're "cautiously optimistic" as our realtor says! According to our realtor once the first lender says yes it's only a matter of time for the second one to approve! They don't always approve the short sale, though - but 98% of the time they do - so we're still keeping our fingers crossed! They want us to close at the end of June, so I'm getting anxious, especially since we first put in our offer on the house 5 long months ago! Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I'm excited and whether we get that particular house or not, I'll have the same ideas for another home.
Until next time...
Wow, what a shaky Tuesday!
I woke up and did all my normal things, went to check on the still sleeping kids, turned on the TV to watch a little of my "mom-shows" (that's what Logan calls anything that's not a cartoon), checked Facebook, and checked my email.
I got an email from Kyle's mom that asked if I wanted to meet her at the zoo with the boys. I then checked the weather and saw that it was going to be a gorgeous day, so I thought, "why not?". Well, after we had it all planned (I would ride the Metro into DC and meet her at the main entrance of the zoo), I kind of had second thoughts. This would be my first venture into DC with two kids on the Metro by myself. I called Kyle and asked his opinion. Naturally he said it was a bad idea. This just gave me the fuel I needed to tell myself that I am a strong woman and I can do it all by myself!
So, we're off to the zoo! (First - let me apologize for lack of pictures :( I had forgotten to charge my phone the night before, and leaving the house with less than 20% of battery remaining is NOT a good idea. I decided to save my battery for phone calls). The drive to the Metro station and finding a parking spot were all uneventful. We get our passes and find a seat on the train - again uneventful. As we take off, I say a little prayer that it all goes smoothly. I'm not a very religious person, so I thought that it was a little strange to find myself in prayer, but I thought, "eh... it couldn't hurt.".
We get to the zoo and waited for Donna to meet up. We finally meet up and take a walk down Asia Trail and go see the much-adored pandas! We're watching one play with his food and eat with crumbs all down his (her?) big belly, then we walk away for a minute to go look at the exhibit they have set up for learning. I glance over at the panda and saw it stop eating, look around, and run. I thought to myself, "how cute, the panda is running!", and then hear a loud noise like a truck is driving over the roof of the exhibit. I know that's not possible, because it's not a road, so I shook it off ( quite literally). Then a few minutes later, Donna gets a call from Kyle's dad who said they just had an earthquake! I then get a text from Kyle asking if I was okay, so I put two and two together in my head a realized that I just experienced it too!
After a lot of "omg-ing" and "wow, I can't believe it!", we started walking around the zoo again. By that time, all of the buildings were closed, then after about an hour, the police shut the zoo down! This is when I learned that the Metro (the transportation I relied on to get home) was operating at 15mph on all tracks. Ick. I now knew that my commute home would be like Hell.
Donna & I separated ways (I will note that she offered to drive me to my car, but I declined because I had already purchased my Metro fare - thanks anyway, Donna!), and the boys and I headed toward the Metro station. We waited 30 minutes for our train, and when it came I saw that it was packed and there was NO way I could fit a stroller into that mess, so I waited for the next one to see if it was better. As I was waiting, Dylan became fussy so I fed him a bottle. As I was burping him, he decided to projectile spit-up EVERYWHERE. So, now I'm in a sea of post-earthquake shaken business-people who think that baby spit-up is the grossest thing in the universe, with puke on me, Logan, Dylan, the stoller, my diaper bag/purse for the day, and the ground. I shamefully clean up and walk away to avoid nasty stares. There was NO way I'd be hanging out in a Metro train with these people for the next two hours.
I find another spot to hang out in and wait for the train. It finally comes and we hop on. There were no available seats, so we just push ourselves in the little spot near the doors that was clear. We start moving (slowly, I might add) and then Dylan becomes fussy.
Perfect.
I pick him up out of his stroller and thankfully, a kind gentleman offers me his seat. Too bad Logan won't fit in the seat with us, because he now gets upset that he has to stand. At every stop, more and more people jump on, and nobody gets off. So now we're SUPER packed and Logan is almost invisible to all these DC commuters. After about an hour and a half of this, we finally get to breathe as we're nearing the end of the orange line - our final stop. We get off the Metro and walk to our van. Ahhh.
How was your Tuesday?
Okay, I admit it. I'm slacking. I really don't have much to say because nothing fun has been going on. Just working and enjoying my kids. I guess the most exciting thing I have to say is that the countdown to vacation has begun! 23 more days until we're on our way to OBX!
If my life gets more exciting, I'll let you know.
This weekend was the first weekend in over a month where we had NO plans! So, we made a plan to make it a lazy pool weekend. Yesterday lived up to just that. We went to the pool (after running around to 3 different stores to find a baby float for Dylan...), came home and relaxed, had dinner, then hung out with some of our awesome neighborhood people. Today, the plan is to do exactly the same thing (even running around to the store to get floaties, due to a hole that one got yesterday), except Mimi & LaLa are coming to visit and join us!
Oh - and in more exciting news, I'm getting my Flip Camera!!! Kyle is awesome and sold the laptop that he hasn't used in years on e-bay, and with the money he got for that, he bought a Flip for us! It's supposed to arrive on Thursday, so get ready for some awesome HD videos :D
Last week, my 5 year old niece had something happen to her that should have NEVER happened. She suffered the loss of her best friend, Lilly. Lilly was 5 years old and was killed by a drunk driver in a car accident. The rest of her family was also in their van and were injured, too. Following the story through my sister's blog, my heart breaks every time I read something else about it. If you would like to read the articles about this terrible tragedy, read this one then this one.
The family needs help with hospital expenses for themselves (they were all injured and poor Lilly's dad is unsure when he'll be able to return to work due to his injuries). Please read my sister's blog (click here) and how to help this family. If you can do anything at all, I know they'll appreciate it so much.
Drunk driving is so stupid. There's no reason at all to do it. Taxis exist, friends you can call exist, and if you can't rely on either of those, there's no reason to drink somewhere if you have to drive home. This poor little 5 year old girl lost her life, my niece lost her best friend, and that poor family has to live every day of their life suffering the loss of their daughter/sister.
Please, if you drink, DON'T DRIVE!!
This weekend was filled with lots of fun things! We went to two cookouts, hung out with friends and family, and saw awesome fireworks! Saturday was a preparation day, with me making lots of pasta salad to bring to the cookouts (in addition to me working that morning-afternoon).
Sunday was cookout #1. Logan had a blast at our friend's house - they set up an inflatable water slide because it was SO HOT out that day. Logan is definitely getting brave with water! I wish I had pictures, but our camera finally bit the dust that day, so now we're relying strictly on our iPhones to take pictures (BTW - can't wait until I can upgrade my iPhone to get a better camera, the 3g camera blows, but in the meantime if anyone would like to contribute to the Get Tiffany a New, Awesome Camera Fund, I'll gladly give you my PayPal address ;)). We did fireworks on the street after it got dark, and while Logan is brave with water, loud noises still scare him :( Somehow Dylan slept through the fireworks, but he would get his fair share the next day!
Monday, the official 4th of July was spent at Grandma & Grandpa's house for their annual 4th of July block party. We got to meet their great friends from CA for the first time (well, for me & the kids anyway but Kyle hasn't seen them in at least 10 years), hang out with the "Ferry Branch-ers", and play some ladderball and washers. For those of you who don't know what washers are, it's basically a redneck version of horseshoes, if horseshoes could get any more redneck. It was ANOTHER scorching day, so we set up a sprinkler for the kids to play in. Luckily, we had the only broken camera, so others got pictures and if I get some, I'll post them!
After the cookout at Grandma & Grandpa's, we met Mimi, Poppy, Lala, and Sunshine for fireworks! Logan covered his ears again and I covered Dylan's ears, but they both loved the fireworks!
Happy Birthday, America! Thank you to all the men & women who have served, are currently serving, and will serve our great country in the future.
