Ballet class show

Julia was also in Ballet this past fall. Occasionally the teacher would teach the kids a few short routines and put on a 5-10 minute show for the parents.

They did a show on the day of her last class, which was 2 weeks before Christmas.









At the end of each class they sing a good-bye song that the kids love!

My BIG girl!

Julia had her 4 yr check-up on Monday. She is a BIG girl!! She is at or above the 95 percentile for both weight and height! Height was 42.5" and her weight was 44 lbs. She definitely takes after my family! Because she is so tall, her weight is proportional to her height, so she is not over weight. She is just tall and solidly built! She is currently in size 6/6X clothes and I hope she does not have a growth spurt before winter is over!

I felt bad for Julia because I kept telling her she would not get a shot at this visit and she ended up getting a vaccination anyway. My pedi gives the second dose of the Chicken Pox vax at 4 yrs old, instead of waiting until they are five. Their reasoning is that they have to get so many other vaccinations at 5 to comply with what the school wants, so by giving this one at 4, they don't get quite as many at 5.

Poor Julia had a bad reaction to the shot, though. She did not have a reaction when she got it the first time, but I think her immune system was not up to par since she just recently got over a stomach bug. Her poor arm swelled up, was red and hard, and was really sore. It took several days for the reaction to get better and I was actually starting to get a little worried. This is the first time she has ever had a reaction to a vax.

Julia brightened a soldier's day!

Jerrod's cousin is an officer in the army currently over serving his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. I know he is in a pretty dangerous area and has lost men in his unit.

Occasionally I will send him a craft or scribble or drawing that Julia has made. They are nothing special and you can tell a 3 (now 4) yr old made them. I figured if he thought they were stupid, he could just throw them away.

This cousin is currently home on leave. We had a family lunch today so everyone could see him. He thanked me repeatedly for sending the stuff Julia makes to him. He said "they make me smile and very little makes me smile over there". He and his mother (Jerrod's aunt) asked several times to please keep sending the little stuff Julia makes. I guess he has a bulletin board that he hangs all that stuff on.

I felt silly sending him those little things Julia made when everyone else was sending him baby wipes, games, food, etc., but I guess Julia's things are just as appreciated, if not more so.

I will definitely make sure to start sending him little things the kids make more often. Julia LOVES making crafts and drawing, so I know she will be happy to do it.

Tumbling class

Julia loves Tumbling class. She was sad when the class was over. I just registered her for the class again and it starts next week.

At her last class, which was a couple weeks before Christmas, I brought my camera to take some pictures of all Julia does during her tumbling class.







She LOVES front rolls.



They started teaching "hop-overs" (the start of cartwheels) in the last few classes.


I think the trampoline is her favorite part of class though...

Julia is FOUR!!

(yes, I know Julia's birthday was almost 3 weeks ago, but I am just now getting a chance to post)

I cannot believe that my baby girl is FOUR! She acts so grown up.

Her birthday was on a weeknight and her party was on the weekend, so we baked cupcakes on her birthday, but the big cake was saved for the party.

Singing her "Happy Birthday" on her actual birthday. I did not realize I had no birthday candles in the house, so I had to improvise and used a votive candle.


Mimi and Bapa gave her a trampoline since she loves the one at tumbling class.


She thinks it is great to lay on and watch TV too!


Her birthday cake that took me 3 hours to decorate!


She got a little chair from us. (not use why the pix is sideways, but I cannot fix it)


Showing off another present.


She LOVED her purple castle cake. It was totally worth all the time it took to decorate when I saw the look on her face when she saw it.



Happy Birthday Princess!

Helping Bapa

We have been working on getting our house ready to sell. Jerry and Debbie have been over a lot helping.

Jude thinks it is great fun to help is Bapa.

Carrying around Daddy's hammer....


Helping Bapa roll the new flooring.



Bapa was unhooking stuff so we could replace the counter top, and Jude thought he had to be right there with him helping.

Finally a house! (Hopefully)

After a few false starts and some offers that fell through, I think we finally found a house to live in once we sell ours. The contract has already been reviewed and signed, so unless something weird happens, this will be our new house.

We actually like it a LOT better than the other one and it works for us MUCH better! It is in a nice neighborhood. There are neighbors nearby, but it is a big lot with mature trees. The lot is .72 acres on a quiet street, so a big backyard for the kids to play in. It is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a spare room that could be a 4th bedroom, but we will use it as a computer/office room. It also has a BIG family room, which will basically be a big playroom for the kids. All their toys can stay in there. It has a HUGE kitchen with all new, custom-made cabinets! I am in LOVE with the kitchen!! It also has all new appliances (including washer and dryer) that come with the house. The house is a tri-level. You walk in the front door into the living room, which is attached to the kitchen. Go up 5 steps, and all the bedrooms and one bathroom is up there. Go down 5 steps, and you will find the family room, office, and another bath which includes the washer and dryer. All the flooring and windows are brand new too!

The house has an attached 2 car garage, a detached 2-car garage, and a large shed/workshop out back. There is an attached deck in back also. So lots of storage! It is only a few miles from Troy, but it is in Miami East School District. It far enough out that it is on a well and septic.

According to the realtor, an older couple bought it about 4 years ago, put almost $50,000 into it completely remodeling it, then decided that the couple steps were just too much for them and bought a one-story ranch.

The new cement driveway will be great for the kids to ride their bikes on. (something they currently cannot do at our house.)

Here are a few pictures I copied from the listing...


In this picture you can see the new driveway and the new (built in 09) detached garage.


The AWESOME kitchen!!


The deck out back.


At first glance at the outside pictures, I did not think I would like it. But once I walked into the house and saw the backyard (and especially the kitchen!), I really loved it. I think some landscaping (and maybe a little paint) and help with the curb appeal of the house.

The best part of it all is that everything is brand new, so NO REPAIRS or upgrades needed!! We have been remodeling our current house for most of the 10 years we have lived in it. That is not needed in this new house. Maybe a change of wall color in the bedrooms, but that is super minor.

I am super excited and cannot wait. Repairs are coming along great in our house and we hope to get it on the market soon.

Writing her name!

I was blown away by Julia this week.

She has started writing her name!!!!

I am not sure how she picked it up. I don't think preschool is teaching her it. I really think it is from the worksheets I print off for her. I have a font in my Word program that will print everything in dotted lines, so Julia can trace it. I have been printing off worksheets of Julia's name for her to trace. I really did not think she was getting it, because she gets frustrated so fast and is not very careful when she does trace her name.

But this week she definitely wrote her name! She forgot the "u" and put in an extra "a", but I knew what she was trying to write. I was impressed.

I will definitely be having her practice it more and more.

Back to house hunting

The house deal fell through. Basically, once we reviewed the contract, there were several things we did not like about it. Unfortunately, it just did not work out.

BUT... It is a buyers market out there and there are plenty of other houses that will fit our needs. We actually have our eye on one now.

It is stressful and I have not been sleeping well, but I know it will eventually all work out.

House answers

I guess my post about selling our house confused several people, so I thought I would clarify.

We had been planning on selling for a few years now. The original plan was to build a new house, but that got thrown out the window when I lost my job.

We still wanted to move/sell, but decided that it had to happen this Spring for numerous reasons. The biggest ones being that we wanted Julia to go to Miami East school, we wanted her to start there. We also wanted to live closer to family. Currently it is a 50 minute drive to my parent's and a 35-40 minute drive to Jerrod's parent's. I also really wanted to get out of the city. I am just not made for city life. Too many people and lights. Our current house really has no good place for the kids to play at outside. We really wanted something with a yard. One of other major reasons the move is happening now, is because with me being unemployed, our mortgage is just too high. We wanted to reduce our payments.

At first, we thought this meant we were going to have to live in an apartment for a year or two, but then a great opportunity came up! Jerrod's parent's found a house not far from them up for sale on land contract. Basically, you make a down payment, pay rent for 5 years (rent goes towards the principal on the house), and then at the end of the 5 years you get a loan for the remainder of the principal and you own the house!

We looked at the house. Other than the house being pretty small, it was everything else we could have wanted. It is in the country on almost an acre of land, it is in Miami East SD, it is MUCH closer to family, it is a house, not an apartment, and it really reduces our monthly payment! We liked it so much that we asked the seller if we paid the down payment, would he hold it for us up to 6 months so we have time to sell our house. He agreed!

So.... We should have our house ready to sell by spring and we have a new house waiting on us!

Like I said, the house is small, it is only 2 bedrooms, but it is something we can deal with for several years. It does have 2 full baths. There is a sunroom that could actually be a third bedroom or a playroom. It has an oversized 2-car garage (we currently so not have a garage and I HATE that on snowy days), it also have a HUGE barn in the back. So storage is not an issue.

The new house is stuck in the 70's with it's decor, as in gold/yellow kitchen sink and countertops and one bedroom has purple shag carpet! The kitchen/dining room has green carpet, but the seller said he would replace it at his cost. I even get to pick out what I want it replaced with! I will replace it with pergo flooring, not carpet! The house has good construction, so I can deal with the decor. It is minor and can be changed later.

Speaking of changes. The seller said we could make any changes to the house we wanted, even add onto it if we wanted. All we have to do is run the changes past him first.

The seller was super nice and could tell he really had a soft heart. (He lives next door and has a business next door. This was his parent's house.) We talked/discussed a lot of things with him and found him very caring and understanding to our needs. We explained that we are quiet people and the most they would hear from us would be our kids screaming/playing and toys everywhere. He said nothing would warm his heart more than to look over and see kids playing in the yard.

He had one set of renters in the house before that he ended up having to evict, so he was leery of people wanting the house now, but he said that he felt really good about us and could tell that we would not give him any trouble.

Here are a few pictures of the new place.



There you can see the barn in the back.


The tiny kitchen! (It will be the FIRST major change I make.)



The purple shag.... Julia LOVES it!


The main bath, with a FULL sized tub. (We have a smaller than normal tub now.)


The BIG utility room/second bath.


We are excited and rushing to get our house ready to sell.

Internet/Interstate

Every time I drive on the interstate, Julia says "I don't want to go on the internet!"

She means the interstate, but for some reason she always calls it the internet.

We never even heard on the internet when we were her age. (Was it even invented yet?)

Baby dolls

Julia loves her baby dolls. She has 3 of them that have to sleep with her every night. However, the first one she ever got is still her favorite. I spied this the other night.....

Happy boy

I really think Jude would have to be seriously sick or unconscious before his disposition changes.

This weekend he came down with croup. By Monday his cough was really barky and his breathing was labored. I almost took him to the ER, but was able to get into the dr.'s office. Dr. added a steroid to his breathing treatments.

Through it all Jude was smiling and laughing. You could tell he was really sick, but he did not show it. He is just so happy all the time. He even likes his breathing treatments! (Julia took the first two pictures!)



See him smiling behind the mask?

Getting ready to sell

Jerry, Debbie and I walked through the house today to make a list of all that needs to be done before our house can be put on the market. It was quite a list. Most of it was minor stuff, but it is still going to take time. I really hope we can have it ready in 3 months time. Spring is the perfect time to sell this house. It is on a wooded lot and it is gorgeous here in the Spring time with everything blooming.

In the meantime, I will start boxing up items we down immediately use so we can reduce the clutter in the house. So now I need boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. Luckily, we have a place to store all this stuff.

Gingerbread house

Last year Julia and I made a Gingerbread house. She had so much fun doing it, that I thought we would do it again.

This year's kit was a little different from last year's, but we made it work. Julia especially liked sampling the icing.

She is showing it off with icing on her face and showing everyone her gingerbread man tattoo.

Must be a boy thing...

You would think I never watch my kids with all the mischief Jude gets into. I think it is a boy thing. Julia was NEVER like this as a baby/toddler. It must just be a boy thing. I am glad I only have one boy. My poor sister has THREE boys! I don't know how she is not completely grey by now!

Up to his usual antics!