The Money Pit

Here is a picture of the reason why our home owners insurance will cancel our policy in March if we don't add a railing. Look at the dangerously steep steps! Actually, we don't think its unreasonable that rails should be added to the steps, but we do think its unreasonable that WE are the ones to have to do it! Our house is 30 years old! No one else was told to slap some rails on the front steps anytime in the last 30 years?

We did think it was a little odd that ALL of the houses on our street, most of which are bi-levels, had rails and ours didn't...

What do I do???

Today was Jonah's first day of pre-school and I think he fared far better than I did. School was a last minute thing for us. It was something we were going to look into for NEXT year. But since we are new in town and know no one we thought it might be a good idea. We thought Jonah could use some friends and some structure. Suprisingly, he got out of the van when it was his turn (his teachers come to the curb and help unload). When I picked him up he was fine, they said he was a little sad at times but he can't wait to go back tomorrow so I'm not too worried. The part that I didn't anticipate was what to do with my time (I think I need structure and friends too). I found myself driving around looking for things to do. I ended up at the children's section of the library picking out books for Jonah! I had to force myself to go down the stairs and find something for myself. It was an odd feeling reading a magazine from cover to cover in one sitting, but I think I liked it. Maybe I'll do it again!

Merry Christmas

Here is our Christmas Picture that did NOT make it in our Christmas Cards (Our heads were cut off when I picked up the pictures from Wal-mart).







Our Christmas Tree (and Jonah). Jonah and his daddy picked this out. We are so glad that we get to leave it up until Christmas Day this year. In the past it always came down several days before so it wouldn't be huge mess when we returned from a 2 week visit to Illinois.









Look at the ice from our recent ice storm! (Its pretty but a lot of poeple lost a lot of trees due to this storm. We were fortunate.)

The Good, the Bad and the Incredibly Inconvenient

(of moving into our new house)

So after living in Illinois for over three months we have finally moved into our own house. We appreciated the generosity of my parents for letting us stay at their house while Jake job hunted and then house hunted, but are glad to be "on our own" again. Here is what is happening:
THE GOOD:
We live right across the street from a little park. We haven't got to play there too much due to the rain, snow and cold temps, but we're enjoying the idea of it at least.

We have really nice neighbors right next door. They have grown children our age and we don't mind at all that they are a little parental towards us!


We have this great bar/island in our kitchen. Its a great place for Jonah to keep busy. He'll sit and color, help me bake, play with play dough and do other various activities. I love the easy clean-up and we can "hang-out" in the kitchen together and both "get stuff done."

We have three bathrooms! Although that means I have 3 to clean its still nice after sharing one at my parent's house!

We live really close to a shopping center that has everything I need: Wal-mart, Walgreens, Aldi's, Deals, our bank and Jonah has even seen a doctor that I really like there!

THE BAD
Hmmmm...the bad. I think the bad is the basic stuff that comes with buying an almost thirty year old house: you keep finding things to fix! So far we need to think about fixing/replacing:
roof ( in five years?? We're not sure)

water heater and furnace (both are old but still in working order. They are however covered by the home warranty that our seller's purchased so we are praying that they break in the next 12 months!)

our shower- I found a crack in the floor when I was cleaning it. Unfortunalty, the home inspector missed it (It is NOT covered by our warranty)

our gutter needs to be reattached or something of the sort.

our front door is VERY drafty because the molding around it hasn't been finished

our doorbell (no DING)

The INCONVENIENT
Its COLD here! We visited Arkansas for the weekend and couldn't believe how warm it was! Jonah was so excited not to have to wear a coat (so were we).

Speaking of cold, due to the ice storm that we had we just yesterday got internet service and a home phone. They are still not working so well...

We haven't found a church yet and we're not have much fun anymore looking for one. Its very hard for Jonah to visit a new class each week.

And, the worse part is, we are still friendless (def.- without friends). I find myself talking to people in line at Aldi's a lot more than I used to!!!

Here's our new place:



Come and see us!

A Battle (not to be fought)

Recently Jonah has showed a strong aversion to clothes. He would rather stay in his pajamas all day. Actually, that is not exactly true, he is willing to change out of the pajamas that he slept in into a pair of clean pjs in the morning. But yesterday, after threatening to take away all of his stuffed animals, we had a bath when he woke up. I had to pretty much throw him in and bribe him with shaving cream because he also rencently has decided to dislike baths and showers(and most foods, socks, coats, and flannel sheets). Obviously, most things are a battle for us and the clothing battle is one that I chose not to fight. Jake chooses to fight it on Sundays while I am perfectly willing to let him wear Scooby Do to church (instead we wear it UNDER a plain boring shirt with stripes or something that is "not his favorite"). After our bath yesterday he dressed himself. He hasn't quite got the hang of putting his head in first. Don't forget to notice his pants (on backwards). At least he got dressed! Amen to that!

ROAR!