Over The Mountains And Through The Snow To Grammie's House We Go!

This past Monday Shiloh and I drove up to PA to visit Grammy and Grandpa! I have to share that Shiloh did sooo well on the drive up. We've flown to my parents' for visits since Shiloh was born so I was very nervous about driving it with her for the first time. It took us 10 1/2 hours to get here and we only stopped once! Shiloh did so well entertaining herself in the backseat with her books. I was so proud!

We've had a great visit so far. Shiloh had a blast hanging out with her cousin, Brayden, last week. It's amazing how well they get along together. When we arrived Brayden was napping and when it was time for him to wake up we let Shiloh help. When Brayden first started to open his eyes he was pretty crabby but when he saw Shiloh he smiled big and said, "SHILOH!!". It was so sweet! He'll be back to visit tomorrow and then Tuesday Jeff, A, my mom and myself are taking the two kids to Chuck E Cheese! That should be a blast...Shiloh has never been.

We've also had a great time hanging out with Aunt A and "Uncle" Joe and a few of my high school friends. Today Adrienne and I even went sled riding. It was sooo much fun!

Here are some pictures from our trip so far....

The view from the front door

Running around on the driveway in her awesome bright orange snow suit

Brayden

Trying to reach the bath toys

Having fun with Uncle Jeff

Playing in the snow

Wordless Wednesday

These are two older pictures I don't think I ever shared. They are always good for a laugh for Richard and myself so I thought I would share them.

Please Vote!

I'm sick right now and can't think straight so I'm not going to make a long post out of this....

The studio that did Shiloh's "Celebrating Adoption" pictures is having a Best of 2008 Contest. The top 10 win a free session this year and the #1 picture wins all the digital prints from their 2008 session. If you have a free moment please go here and vote for Shiloh....her picture is #113. Thanks!

ETA: As of 1/13/09 at 6:30 pm we are tied for 2nd! Thanks to those who have already voted and to those who haven't please do so....you have until the 21st!!

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures!

Saturday Rich and I went out to Loganville so we could see the house in the daylight. There is a spot on the roof that needs fixed and Rich wanted to make sure it is something he can repair himself. Sunday we had a nice visit with our friends from Florida and Monday was the Fiesta Bowl!

Shiloh loves running around in the backyard

One reason Rich likes the house...the privacy in the backyard due to the house being at the top of a hill.

Josh and Kara

Rich and Josh were roomates while stationed at Camp Pendleton together.

Josh and Olivia

We gave Shiloh a piece of bread to feed the ducks. She decided to feed herself.

Shiloh goes up slides

Goooo Buckeyes!!

No idea what this face was about

No Bottle Zone!

Last night Shiloh went to bed without taking a bottle first!!!

The week before Shiloh's 1st birthday we cut off all daytime bottles but kept the nighttime one because it seemed to help her sleep better. She doesn't suck her thumb or take a pacifier so we felt it was okay to continue that one bottle a day. Well, I am pleased to announce that last night she took her nighttime milk from her sippy cup and slept great!!

No more cleaning bottles for this mom! Woo hoo!

Merry Christmas Indeed

A couple of weeks ago a good friend of Rich's called to inform him that he would be sending a Christmas present our way this year. He also informed us that there would be one stipulation to this gift; we would have to display it proudly in our home upon receiving it. Curious as to what it was Rich agreed and the gift was sent. While waiting for its arrival Rich got to thinking about what this gift might be. He decided worst case scenario it might be an embarassing picture from their Marine Corps days...boy, was he wrong!

This now sits on our kitchen counter.

A Great Start To A New Year!

This morning I received a phone call from Brittany (friend/realtor) with some great news!! The bank has accepted our offer...well, they basically accepted our offer. The offer we submitted was 12k less than the asking price, had the bank paying all closing costs and included an earnest check of $500. The bank counter offered with the price we submitted but we pay $150 of the closing costs and they asked us to up the earnest money a little. We, of course, said we'll take it! So we now have until February 19th to sell our house. We've been approved by the bank to rent the house (worst case scenario) but we'd really rather not have to do that.

Now, that the house is under contract I'll share some interior pictures....I didn't want to get too ahead of myself with the previous post. There are a lot of changes we want to make on the interior of the house but it's move in ready.

Shiloh fell in love with the stairs

The room you see to the right is the living room...across from it is the dining room

View of the family room from the hallway

Eventually, and when I say eventually I mean way down the road, we would like to basically turn this into a brand new kitchen by replacing/updating everything.

View of the kitchen from the family room

Straight ahead the first door you see open is the bathroom and across from that is the door to the garage. The room you can see into at the back of the hall is the laundry room.

Dining Room

View of Master bedroom from Master Bath...it even has a little sitting area!

Master bath...you can't see it but to the right (next to where I was standing) is the toilet room, as I like to call it. Rich will also tile this room

The other pictures I have are of the three other bedrooms so I won't bore you all with those.