It's been awhile...

Yes, I've been putting off blogging for awhile now! Things have been busy, but mostly, I (like Jena!) am SO SICK of dial-up! It takes FOREVER to upload pictures. And come on, most of you only read this to see the pictures of Jackson anyway, right? :)

But yeah, it has been a very busy October for us. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel though, after this weekend at least. Our church missions conference was last week, which we love, but it does make it busy being at church every night. Plus Jon is on the committee, so he has even more stuff to do. We also hosted a missionary in our home, who showed up over 24 hours early without warning! A little stressful at the beginning, but it ended up being great - we know if he wouldn't have come early, we wouldn't have gotten to know him as good as we were able to, because he was really busy too!

On Saturday we went to the E-town College homecoming parade (which lasted less than 10 minutes but was still fun....if you read Jena's blog, you will know that we are a parade loving family!) Saturday evening we went to a Barn Party for our Sunday School families. Jackson had fun dressing up in his Halloween costume (a dragon), although he didn't wear the hat much. He loved to pet the rabbit and goats! He kept blinking at the rabbit, because he thinks this is what a rabbit does (he is trying to wriggle his nose but somehow closes his eyes instead). Here's 2 pictures from the Barn Party...

Tonight we have another parade to go to! This was a hit last year because we can stand right in front of Grandma & Grandpa Mohr's house and grab lots of candy - the whole town gets involved and all the kids (and many adults) are in costume.

This weekend is our youth groups annual over-nighter, so Jackson will be staying with Peeps & Nana Friday night. I am looking forward to it, but a little worried....I haven't stayed up that late in a LONG LONG time!! I will have to have an Iced Coffee IV. Well that's about it...I will try to blog a little more regularly now that we won't be quite as busy! Thanks for the reminder Kort :)

to Aunt JoJo

Happy Homecoming Weekend!

leaders trivia...

Last Wednesday at youth group, the kids were supposed to match up 3 random facts to each leader...here were mine...would you have known?
1: I was born in Arkansas.
2: I can't curl my tongue.
3: I had 5 wisdom teeth.

Jon and I were able to take a break from working on the house today and go to Hershey Park! Believe it or not, it was my first time there...pathetic after living so close for 3 1/2 years. We had free tickets though so that got us there :) We had a lot of fun spending the whole day together! Jackson stayed with Nana & Peeps (& Aunt JoJo who was home today!) We felt a little guilty because every time we told people about going to Hershey Park, they said, "Oh, Jackson will love it!" And then we had to say, "yeah...we're not taking him." I think it would have been pretty overwhelming for him this year - the zoo part he would have liked, but I couldn't see him on any of the rides. Next year he will definitely love it though, we can't wait! Speaking of Jackson, my sweet boy turned 1 1/2 this weekend!

EWWWW

Not for the squeamish...
Ever since we have moved into the new house, it's been great taking the dog out to do his thing, because the backyard is completely fenced in. We just open the door, let him out, and let him back in later. So this afternoon, I let him out and after awhile decided to let him back in. I called and whistled and he didn't come, so I decided to give him a few minutes. Then I heard him pawing at the door, so I went to open it. Luckily before I did, I saw his mouth, screamed, shut the door in his face, and ran away. Luckily #2, Jon was home, so I yelled "something's wrong with Jake! It looks like he has worms coming out of his mouth and I'm not touching him!!" Poor Jon doesn't even like dogs, but, he is the man of the house after all! Anyway Jon went to see what the problem was and I hear him yell, "OH MY GOSH!! JAKE CAUGHT A MOUSE!" The "worm" I had seen was a mouse tail!!! SOOOO glad I didn't go with my first instinct and pry his jaw open!!! So yes, evidently people weren't kidding when they said Westies were originally bred to hunt mice and rats. I just never really knew Jake had it in him. I have mixed feelings about the whole occurence...I'm still gagging and shuddering every time I think about it, but on the other hand, I now know that if there were mice in the house, Jake would be going crazy trying to catch them, so it doesn't seem like we have any at this point (I was a little paranoid because I heard scurrying one night, but Jon thinks it was a squirrel on the roof??) Also I'm realizing that it is quite evident that I'm not quite the country girl I assumed I was...who would have thought, growing up in Garrett County? Well that's the story. Congratulations, Jake, on your first kill.

finally an update!

I thought I better give an update so everyone knows I still exist...I've just been quite busy!! We have spent the past several weeks painting, cleaning, packing & unpacking, and as of last saturday, are living in our new (to us) home! It still needs a lot of work...and will for a long time...we have many projects ahead of us....but we LOVE it! We have so much more room! One of the things we have loved the most is our screened-in porch...we have been eating most of our meals out there and it is so peaceful like we are in the middle of nowhere (or the middle of the jungle might be more accurate if you have seen our backyard). We have many many boxes that we still need to unpack, and yes MOPS girls, I finally am able to brush my hair after finding my hairbrush last night!!

One thing we have definitely realized over the past few weeks is how God has been watching over us! The biggest example I can think of is that a week before settlement of our new home, there was a fire in it! In the electrical box, to be more precise. Evidently the road was closed, there were 6 firetrucks & several ambulances involved. The thing is, the electrical box was going to be one of our first big projects to change since it was very out of date. Instead, the previous owner's home insurance paid it, saving us about $2000!! (And whoever estimated the cost for them estimated big and it even ended up paying for the previous owner's deductible!) Besides the saving $$, the fire happened at a perfect time. The owners were here, moving things out, and were able to smell the smoke. If they were not here, the whole house most likely would have been lost. If they were here and sleeping, their smoke detectors were broken and they may have been killed. Nothing (except the electrical box) was destroyed. God's timing is perfect!!

We have also been realizing what great friends & family we have!! Many people have helped us in the past few weeks and I might as well take a minute to mention some of them....THANK YOUS to Dawn & Selena for helping to pick paint colors, Jena for watching Jackson and packing most of my kitchen, Ryan for helping to rip down wallpaper, Carol for cleaning all my floors and bathrooms, watching Jackson, etc, Jerry for taking the chainsaw to the yard, helping to move, and keeping my veins pumped full of iced coffee, Selena & Lindsey for painting, packing, and helping on moving day, and to our fabulous movers: Scott, Josh, Pastor Jonathan, Jon H, and Clayton. I'm sure I am forgetting someone, but we really couldn't have done it without you! THANK YOU!

In Jackson news.... he is loving the house, especially his new toy room....the first time he went in, he looked around and his eyes were HUGE! Now he typically uses it as a reading room. Even with all the cool toys, he goes in, plops himself down on the floor and reads. We should have made him a library instead! He is also enjoying chasing the dog around the house and just making laps around the house in general. Now that he has been fully mobile for awhile, I find him in random places quite often....like the other day when I found him in the bathroom, swishing my keys in the toilet bowl. Lovely.

Finally, I have started an eBay store. I haven't had much time to work on it yet, but I've had some good results in the few days it's been up. I'll put a link up soon.

Ok, it is time for Steelers kickoff, must go. Before & after pics to come at some point!

peer pressure

I give in to peer pressure waaay too easily. Two friends mention that I should join Facebook, and my first thought is no way. A few days later and I have joined and also spent way too much time searching for friends to add. No one told me it would be this addicting!

I have a question for all of you who are more computer literate than I .... is there a way to know if people have updated their blogs without individually clicking on each one? That was one of the best Xanga features...you just clicked on subscriptions and whoever had updated came up. Enlighten me please.

Jackson has been sick this week... Monday night Joelle and I had quite the interesting shopping trip as Jack suddenly didn't feel well and screamed for a long long time in the mall....unfortunately, Jon & Jerry had dropped us off and were working, and Jon had my car keys. So we were stuck at the York Galleria until they were finished. When we got home I took Jack's temp and it was 102.3. Wow, who felt like the world's worst mother!!! Last night his temp was back up to 101 but today he seems to be doing much better.

Well I better go make dinner...not sure what we're having yet so I'll see what I can throw together!

Monster Truck

Last week my parents came to visit for a few days and brought Jackson a special present! Someone had given them this adorable Sesame Street Monster Truck. Thanks Pap and Grandy! So far he hasn't quite figured out how to move his feet to make the truck go, but he loves turning the steering wheel and talking on the cell phone.

We're having a great week...beautiful weather, not as hot as it has been. Jack and I "went to the beach" this morning out on our deck...he played in his pool and I read Harry Potter. Amazing that he sat and played in his pool for an hour...ever since he's started walking, he hasn't stopped! He just toddles around the house from room to room laughing. It's quite cute!