Gotta ♥ NJ

Because it is ONLY (said sarcastically) 10 hours from Tennessee!  10 hours is ridiculous, but a lot shorter than 17 which is how long the trip is from Texas.  This means that when feeling particularly optimistic I can agree to come home for my niece's birthday party so that my girls can have Tinker Bell buckets.  Of course, I regretted this optimism several times before and during the trip.  But honestly, it was worth it!!

S, A, and the birthday girl

A with Opa and yes, he is sporting Ariel sunglasses!

Gotta ♥ NJ

Gotta ♥ NJ because there is a Dunkin Donuts on every corner.  I used to be a Krispy Kreme gal, but these munchkins might change my mind!

Gotta ♥ NJ

It is hard for us and others to believe that we are excited about living in New Jersey.  First, we left really good friends in Texas not to mention  those of our daughters.  We also left the harsh summer months for harsh winter ones.  Then when you start speaking of the cost of living, no one would believe that we are excited to be here, not even us.  However, we are excited and to remind myself of that even on days when things (Verizon internet) frustrates me, I am starting a It is Wednesday and you gotta ♥ NJ post.  Here is the first one.

I gotta love NJ because they have Pretty Pretty Princess Teas at the Y for my 5 year old.  Thank you Y!

It is DONE!!

It’s Done! It’s Done!

Before we moved I was somewhat confident that I could combine our guestroom and my sewing room.  When we got here, however, all my confidence went out the window.  The room was a MESS.  OK, the whole house was a mess and the guestroom was last priority since it really isn’t a living space.  So, each day I would go down and want to do something about the mess, want to sew, but there was no time to clean and no conceivable way to fit the old full bed, dresser, my sewing table, and cutting table in the room. 

Finally, about two weeks ago, we had a breakthrough.  IKEA! Yes, I realize that we are probably contributing to the downfall of the West by buying all this Made in China stuff, but I love IKEA.  It came through again with a daybed that pulls out to create a full bed.  I didn’t want to ask our adult guests to sleep on a trundle that was low to the ground and it was hard to find one that popped up. While we were at IKEA for the 4^th time, we saw this bed that pulls out and after you transfer the second mattress over it makes a full bed.  Yay!

Now the room looks like this

and my first sewing project, S’s curtains, is done.  I even made S another dress-up dress out of the material.  There is enough left to make one for A and many of the animals that S has been wanting to clothe.

Before-Trying to keep the curtains away from vent.

After

Sewing Note-This fabric was tough to work with.  It was hard to cut straight, sew straight, and not pull.  I actually don’t know what it is other than to say that it is gauzy.  It is a miracle that the curtains are similar in length.

I have missed the blogosphere

I do not actually mean that I have missed writing my blog.  I like to write but usually only when I have something that I think is cool to share.  The passed several months have not been full of those things.  Who wants to hear about how frustrating it is to get all the paperwork in for a loan or how annoying it is to go buy a luggage carrier for a car and get it home only to find it has a crack in it.  These things are not fun or educational, just annoying.  Life is full of annoying things.  We all have our own little annoyances and we do not really need to hear about those of  others...in my opinion...unless funny or educational.  So, I have kept quiet.

Now, after the move, we have a bit more time (and with snow days, a LOT more time) to do fun stuff.  Since I am creatively challenged I go straight to the web for ideas on what to do and how to do it.  The latest was homemade Valentines.  I like having the kids make homemade stuff for a couple of reasons.  First, it means it really comes from them.  Secondly, if I take them to the store to buy something we will end up with tons of stuff for them not for their friends.  Sad, but true.

As you may know, S loves many things including butterflies and the color blue.  When she loves, she goes all out, so it should be no surprise that she wanted blue butterfly Valentines.  I knew there would be some cute stuff out there and when I googled  it, I was not disappointed.  One of my favorite sites, Skip to my Lou, was first on the list.  She has a printable from last year and it hit the spot!

The girls and I made a shopping list and headed to Staples which is just a second from our new house.  I just happened to have a ton of Dum Dum suckers since that is the girls' favorite so did not even have to get those.  Now, we were going to just do glitter glue eyes, but got the shopping bug and headed to Target after Staples.  Target had the googly eyes and even though I thought they were a bit too big for the Dum Dum suckers, it turned out well.  We spent the rest of the afternoon cutting, napping, and decorating.  S's got finished up this morning, but I don't have any pics.  Sorry.

This is just another reason, I love blogs!

A chose pink because that is as close to Elmo's red as the pack of pastel paper came.

She is so proud!

Hard at work...notice the artistic heart sticker on the forehead.

1,623 miles

We started our move way back in October.  E and I were able to go on a house hunting trip by OURSELVES because my parents were nice enough to take care of the kids.  What happened on that trip? I got a stomach bug and felt like death.  The good thing: we found a house anyway.  It is on a little circle, near a good school and a cute town center.  Yay! It might be 50 years old and less than half the size of our old house, but hey at least that means no maid service to pay.  Yay! Wait, did I just say yay to no maid.  Yep.  I'm pretty sure I have already confessed to being cheap.

little circle

The next couple of months consisted of bank loans, saying goodbye, and dreaming up complicated logistics that was suppose to make our lives easier in the long run.  One of these logistical ideas included driving to Tennessee for Thanksgiving and allowing my sister to babysit my dog for a month.  I know, so sweet of me to include my whole family in the move! So, as of Thanksgiving we had no dog and only one car.  We didn't miss the car, but man I missed my little hoover.  I did not realize that A was soooo messy with the goldfish until Jasmine left us.

We moved out of our Texas home on the 19th or the 22nd of December depending on your definition of "we." We spent a wonderful Christmas in Tennessee and an all adult New Year's in Blowing Rock, NC.  Yay friends with houses in beautiful places.

S and cousins surveying their loot

The whole family gathered at Oma and Opa's

The women at Blowing Rock 

The adults

I didn't want Sophia to spend her 5th birthday in a house full of stuff on the floor (the movers take the boxes but leave the unorganized stuff) and no friends, so we stayed in TN one more week to allow her to celebrate her birthday with her Opa and Aunt Angie who both share it with her.  It was a grand time that led to many a beauty session the following days.

S with her "frog"-google frog cupcakes, I swear you will see this!

The best gift ever-The princess salon

Finally, we headed up to New Jersey.  The trip wasn't too bad, just a bit boring.  The first night in the house was AWFUL! The contractors who were painting, installing new doors, and refinishing the floors were JUST finishing up when we pulled into the driveway at 5ish.  The house reeked (and still does according to recent visitors) of polyurethane.  We opted to sleep on air mattresses in the basement the first night to be as far away from the smell as possible.  Unfortunately we were not that familiar with the thermostat and FROZE while the baby was up all night most likely freezing her chubby little ass off.  Not once did it occur to me to go upstairs and turn up the thermostat.  My brain must have been frozen too!

The next morning came and so did the movers.  As mentioned earlier they unpack everything, but put away nothing.  As I looked at A's room I had a little breakdown.  It looked like an episode of Hoarders.  I made an emergency phone call to my friend Gina and she calmed me down.  Now you know why she gets the gifts!  Soon after that the driver/leader told two of the more unhelpful movers to leave.  Everything calmed after that but I still told them to leave 10 or so boxes unpacked because other than floor space we had no other room for the stuff.  The next several days would include a LOT of TV for the girls and a LOT of packing material for me.

It has been 3 weeks now.  We have made 4 trips to IKEA, 3 to Walmart, 2 to Target and 2 to Costco.  If you refrain from looking in certain kitchen cabinets, the guest room, or along the walls where all of our pictures still lean you will think that we are moved in.  The kids go to school three times a week, but have yet to have a full week. We have had a bit of white stuff (19in  sorry, 29in.  The 19in was just the latest.) since we arrived.  E comes home at lunch (oh yeah, that 10 min. commute is awesome).  Neighbors have come by to say hi while others have actually helped shovel snow. The Jets lost their Superbowl bid (their practice field is across from E's work).  And we have finally made our first trip into the City.  We are on our way.  We are hopeful.  Still a bit scarred, but hopeful!

On train-notice my new, very warm jacket!

When you least expect it...

things change.

I have neglected the blog.  I did it intentionally since the summer was so busy and the sewing was so little.  I did get to do some fun stuff (all gifts that have been given away BEFORE pictures.  Shameful.) like the gathered clutch and  my new tote bag pattern.  They both turned out really well.  Normally, I would not buy a tote bag pattern but it was suppose to be the basis of my very first beginners' sewing class!  So exciting.  The girls finally went back to school in Sept., I had time to sew.  All was well.

Two weeks in we had a trip to Germany scheduled.  Last year I resisted this trip because I think it is hard on kids to begin a new schedule only to be yanked out of it.  But this year, I realized that next year Sophia would be in KINDERGARTEN and we couldn't pull her out of "real" school.  So off we went to enjoy friends, Wurstmarkt, and Oktoberfest. Yes, we really ought to have had enough of these things, but no.  We enjoy them in a different way now with kids.

We had a WONDERFUL trip.  The weather and events were on our side.  The weather was perfect at 75F and sunny.  We enjoyed the Wurstmarkt with Anna and Filippo.  It was not the best place to catch up with friends, but the kids had a big time.

Filippo, Amelia, and Sophia,Wurstmarkt 2010

Mama and Amelia on the Riesenrad, Wurstmark 2010

Sophia on the Riesenrad, Wurstmarkt 2010

Sophia on random ride that goes round and round and round, Wurstmark 2010

Amelia enjoying her first Hollandische Pommes, Wurstmarkt 2010

We also had a great time with Joe, Melissa and family at many events, but the one that we loved the most was the kulinarische Wanderung in Rodenbach near Kindsbach.

Eric, Sophia, Heather, and Amelia at Stop #2, Kulinarische Wanderung  2010

After a few wonderful days in our old home state (Rheinland-Pfalz) we headed off to Munich to visit other old haunts.  I know we should break out, but we can't help it: we love these places!!  So, off we went.  The first day in Munich we actually traveled by Strassenbahn to Oberpfaffenhofen.  Then we endured enjoyed a 3 or so mile hike up to the Andechs Monastery.  If you love dark beer (specifically doppelbock) you NEED to go to Andechs!   The hike there is heavenly (even with two kids) and when you get there, the reward is...heavenly.  Sorry, there are just no other words.  The fact that the weather was still on our side was just plain old good luck.  The amount of people there surprised us, but everyone was having such a wonderful time enjoying the moment!

Amelia with the best strawberry ice cream ever, Andechs 2010

Mama and Sophia, Andechs 2010

However, our carefree times were about over.  While at Andechs, actually during our second bit of doppelbock, Eric got a phone call.  

Amelia and Eric hard at work, Andechs 2010

He got a promotion, yay!  We are moving to NJ, fun?! Holy **** we have a lot to do!  But before that, we still have several days of fun...

Amelia's first real taste of apple juice.  I swear it is like crack for babies!

Sophia and Amelia enjoying apple juice, Hirschgarten 2010

Collecting chestnuts so that we could feed the deer at the Hirschgarten in Munich.

Deer, Hirschgarten 2010

Taking Amelia on the Riesenrad at Oktoberfest.  This was Sophia's first ride when she was 9 months old.

Amelia, Eric, Heather, and Sophia, Oktoberfest 2010

Octoberfest 2010

Amelia's first kid ride, ever.

Amelia and Sophia, Oktoberfest 2010

Family time at a great event.

The family in the Augustiner-Festhalle, Oktoberfest 2010

The girls +girl/elephant, Oktoberfest 2010

After Amelia discovered her love of juice and Sophia her love of big, ol' pretzels, we headed back to Kindsbach.  We had a wonderful last few days that included a great Oktoberfest celebrations in Kindsbach and a lot of computer time on city-data.com trying to figure out where we should move.  It was a great vacation!  And now, it is back to reality...

NJ bound!