Nate's 1st Day

Nate started pre-school last Thursday the 4th at Holy Spirit School. No, he is not wearing a little Catholic school-boy uniform yet...that will be next year for kindergarten! So far, we are really pleased with the school and have heard great things about it. It is a 5 day-a-week program, from 8-12. Quite a change from last year, when he just went 2 days/week. We are hoping Nate really likes the new schedule though, since lately it seems as though he’s a little bored and really thrives being around other kids.

Nate has 15 other kids in his class, and 2 awesome teachers: Miss Thompson & Miss P. There are 10 girls and 6 boys total, so we are confident Nate will have a new girlfriend in no time (though we are still missing our sweet Mal Mal desperately)!!

He was SUPER grumpy when I picked him up from his first day (very overstimulated & tired I guess...ready to come home & nap!)...but had a good day. The teachers remarked that he is “very sweet” and “a rule-follower.” Um, yes, that about sums him up perfectly! He said he made one friend, Amare, who was very shy and would only talk to Nate. He didn’t like his lunch bread and said “Daddy needs to take it back to the store.” Other than that, the only other tidbits I was able to pull out of him was that he had fun playing legos, going on the playground, and doing circle time on the carpet squares. Sounds like a good first day to me!

Update: Today (Monday the 8th) Nate got to see the classroom pets – Bugsy & Percy the guinea pigs! Quite a new experience for him since we are not big pet people :) He told me not to put my fingers in the cage b/c they look like carrots & guinea pigs chomp on carrots. Also, this afternoon, he told me he has a new rule: "You can talk to me on the way to school but not on the way home." Bossy much!? I guess I am asking too many questions these days.

Moving Mishaps

Here is just a small glimpse into our lives these days. And keep in mind, this is an ongoing list...

Problems so far:
1. No mailbox
2. No natural gas (=no hot water or use of the gas stove)
3. Broken disposal
4. Broken ice-maker
5. 5 rooms had electrical/wiring issues
6. No internet due to a “facility problem”
7. Washer/Dryer leaking water all over the floor
8. A/C broken upstairs (where kids rooms and master bedroom is located) – got up to 95 degrees at one point!
9. Ceiling leak upstairs

As you can probably guess, our landlord hates us and is wondering why we are calling him every hour with a new problem. But hey, this is a 50 year old house people! And no one has lived here for over a year. We are thinking the tornado from April really did a number on the house/wiring, etc and the owner just was not aware of it (since he lives in Atlanta)! Anyways, we are in the process of getting these things fixed. So far, 4 of the above issues have been resolved and 5 are still open.

Oh, and did I mention that you can hear a train in the distance every night? Usually around 3 or 4 am. In addition to the massive dog next door that likes to bark non-stop. Fun times!

And the problems are not just limited to just our rental in AL...the tenants renting our house in TN have had some issues too. We have had to call an A/C guy for them, as well as getting an electrician out there b/c one of the bedrooms blew a fuse or something and completely lost power. Oh the joys of being a property manager!

Adventures in Babysitting

So I know most of you read this blog to see lots of pics/hear stories of my cute kiddos...well, here ya go!!

Again, we need to back up about 1.5 wks...

My parents (Nanny & Poppy) took the kids to my sister’s house in Knoxville for 5 days while Greg and I dealt with the whole moving process. And all I can say is...WHAT A BLESSING! It was SUCH a hectic time, and having 2 toddlers there would have multiplied that by about 1000. So, a big thank you to N&P!!

And thanks to my sister, Becky (aka The Paparazzi), I got to see every hour of the kids’ days :) They spent a LOT of time at the pool and according to Bec, both Nate & Abby are going to be Olympic swimmers one day. I’ll send you a check, Bec! Both kids loved running between the big pool & baby pools, and eating treats from the snack bar.



Nate got to spend a special afternoon with Poppy at the movies one day, b/c Abby was at home with Nanny with an upset stomach. They saw “Winnie the Pooh” and according to Nate, it was a “really funny movie!”

N&P, the kids, and Becky all took her hubbie, Mike, out to dinner for his 30th birthday one night. Apparently, Abby Reece ate her weight in Mexican rice, and then when they got home, proceeded to do the same with Mike’s ice cream cake. That’s my girl!!







The kids took multiple trips to the Dollar Store and came away with mermaids, pool toys, and a police set. Just what every 4 yr old needs – handcuffs!

When the kids arrived at the house on Tuesday afternoon, they were SO excited to see the house! After Nate did a tour of the backyard, and saw his “huge” room, he announced that this was the “best house in the whole world!” Now, if we could just find him some friends :)

So far, the kids have adjusted really well. They are (knock on wood) playing really well together and love playing tag/doing laps in the house. We had to hide/put away a lot of toys during the whole “showing” process in TN, so they have rediscovered some of their old toys and have really had a lot of fun doing that. And their latest obsession is playing dress-up...even Abby (aka Buzzette Lightyear) likes to get in on the action! I am so thankful they have each other to keep them entertained during this transition.

Welcome!

What a week!! I have so much to say and can hardly believe we've been here a week already. Time flies when things are going wrong! (More on that later....)

First of all....welcome to my new blog! This "Bama Mama" will use this as a space to update everyone on our Alabama Adventures. And so far, there have been many....

But let me back up a week....

Last Thursday was an emotional day because the kids had to say their goodbyes to the neighbors. It was especially hard for Mallory & Nate, and watching Mallory sob just broke my heart. All of our sweet, sweet neighbors came out to see the kids off, as they were headed to Knoxville with Nanny & Poppy for a few days. Thursday was the first day I actually cried too....it just hit me after the kids left that they will never live at Foundry Circle again. And from my previous post, you know how much that house/neighborhood has meant to us.

The next few days were spent packing, running errands, Greg had a guy's night out with some neighborhood guys, and the two of us even squeezed in a few last date nights in Murfreesboro.

When the movers/packers arrived on Friday, I didn't know what to expect since we had never used movers before. Well, let me just say this....they were wonderful but MAN was I bored!!! We needed to be there to "supervise" and answer questions, but weren't allowed to help. I think read 250+ pages that day in my book, and went to the gym just to have something to do. I just do NOT do well with boredom! :)


Saturday morning, the movers came bright & early to load up one of the BIGGEST moving trucks I'd ever seen! Who knew we had that much stuff, even after all my purging. They had quite a morning since it decided to rain harder & longer than it had in months, but they powered through it and were finished by 2 pm. Then it was time for me & Greg to get to work cleaning! Again, I was just happy to have something to do. (Sad, I know.) We cleaned that house from top to bottom, and our renters actually started moving in that afternoon as well. Very anxious I guess! We just had them stage stuff in the garage.



Sunday morning, we started the trek to Tuscaloosa finally!! Since Greg has the "Red Rocket" now instead of Rosie, we actually got to go over 60 mph on the heaven...it was nice.

We got to the house about 1 pm and it was as charming as we remembered! Again, we cleaned cleaned cleaned, and then had our first big date night...seeing the last "Harry Potter" movie in 3D at the IMAX. (Yes, surprisingly, Tuscaloosa has an IMAX theatre and Murfreesboro does not. Score one for Alabama!!) We were complete nerds at the movie, but had a ball & thoroughly enjoyed it.

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed to our house...finally, OUR HOUSE!! We had a little more cleaning to do before the movers arrived to unload around 9 am. I set up my "command post" in the bonus room by the back door and just directed all the guys to the correct rooms to unload. So fun!

It was a hectic day and by the end of it, Greg & I had gotten the kitchen completely unpacked. It was quite a task and we didn't finish until about 10 pm.

The only thing I wanted to do was take a shower and then hit the sack....well, that didn't work out so well. We discovered our hot water heater was working so, yep you guessed it, we had cold showers. Like, ice cold. What a great first night in our new house!!

This was just the first thing to go wrong....I have a WHOLE long list but will leave that for my next blogpost. Including adventures with the kids....they arrived at the new house Tuesday with Nanny & Poppy....

For now, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to my friend, Kelsey, for designing this blog for me! You're the best!!