November's gone and it's December already

Wow, I can't believe it is December already. November flew by. I don't even know what we did in November to tell you the truth. I guess we have just all been adjusting to our new home and new schedules. Jensen is loving his new preschool. He even had a girlfriend already ( much to Moms disappointment). Peyton is getting bigger and talking more and more. The boys are enjoying having each other to play with, at least most of the time. I have been trying to get involved in local groups around here to make some friends. I have joined our local MOPS group which has been really great. There have been some great speakers that have really shown me that even though sometimes as a stay at home mom you don't always feel like you are contributing much to society but rather the job I do everyday as a mom is so important in the lives of my kids and how they will turn out in the future. Anyways, we are getting ready for the holidays around here. We have our apartment decorated and most of my shopping is done already. The boys are enjoying watching Christmas movies, hearing Christmas music and seeing lights. Peyton loves Santa and calls him Isa for some reason but he just lights up whenever he sees him. We took the boys to see Santa at the mall the other day and he could not wait to get up on his lap. They both went up together and Peyton was just as happy as could be just sitting there while brother told Santa everything he wanted for Christmas. Here are a few pics from that day!

Trick or Treat

We took the boys out trick or treating around our apt complex. Jensen was Elmo and Peyton was Tigger. I wanted to give Peyton some whiskers so Jensen had to have something on his face too so we wrote Elmo on his cheeks. They both had a great time. This was Peyton's first time going to the door himself, last year he was too little. He did a great job and was telling everyone "Tank you" and "Buh bye". He could have gone all night long but Jensen got tired after just a half an hour. Here are some pictures:

Jensen -Elmo & Peyton - Tigger

Jensen and his pumpkin

It was windy and a little rainy so we had to bring umbrellas with us. We took them around in a wagon which worked out great.

Peyton couldn't wait to check out all of his candy. He was digging through his bucket after every stop to see what all he had so he was so excited to dump it out all over the floor.

Apt Tour

Jensen's Bible Rap

The Move

Well, it has certainly been a very busy month and a half. As I mentioned in my last post, we have made a move 2 hours away from our old home to Grand Haven, Michigan. Brian was offered the job on the 7th of September and had to start on the first of October so we had to get ourselves in gear and quick. With lots of help from my wonderful mother-in-law as well as my parents and Lynnette we were able to pull it off. We put together a garage sale in just a few days time and we were so pleased to be able to sell all of our big items that we didn't want to take with us. We also got rid of a lot of toys and other misc things. Boy, you really realize how much junk you accumulate over time when you move. It's crazy. We spent the week after packing up our 4 bedroom 3 floor house. We were able to move all of our stuff into the garage by the last week of September so they could come and clean out the house. Dad and Lynnette came over on the motorcycle on my bday to help us finish packing up.
Lynnette was home for a week in September so I got a chance to spend some time with her and she and Lara actually threw me a surprise party for my 30th birthday. It was lots of fun and I was so glad Net was able to be there.

I had already set up a sister week in Indy with Lynnette and Lara for the last week of September so I went ahead and went down there and Brian and the boys stayed at his mom's house for a week. That weekend he brought over the necessities so that he could live in our new place for the first week of his new job as we were not able to get the help to move until the first weekend of October. On my way home from Indiana I stopped in Grand Haven and stayed there a few days painting walls and doing other misc things that needed to be done to prepare for the move. Brian and I had our first experience in painting and it was an adventure. We are definately not experts but I like how it makes it feel more cozy. Brian swears he will never paint again, we'll see. So the first weekend of October we loaded up a moving truck with the help of my parents and Brian's mom and we made our way over here to Grand Haven. Brian had his new boss from work come over to help us unpack which worked out great. My mother-in-law agreed to stay with us for the first few weeks so we could get set up and that was a huge help. The first week we unpacked, the second week we were in the emergency room and at urgent care with Peyton as he had an ear infection and stomach virus as well as Jensen and myself being sick for a few days that week. So that week was pretty much blown in terms of getting anything done around here. Lara and Bethany and Valerie all came over to visit us that week as well which was great! When Lara was here we went over to a pumpkin farm which was lots of fun.

Last week I was able to get the details taken care of like decorating and other misc things. This past weekend I took my mother in law back home and we went to the annual Fall Party at Ben and Tim Mowat's house. The boys went candy hunting and rolled pumpkins. Finally, to round out the fun weekend we went to my Uncle Darwin's new church for revival services on Sunday.
Candy Hunting

Pumpkin Roll

Lara, Ben & Jess


Me & Bethany

Making a "Bold" Move

Well, God had some plans in mind for us that we were not expecting at all. Brian had been looking around for a new job because they had stopped overtime and so it was getting too tight for us to be living on one income. He had a few interviews around here in Saginaw and Bay City but nothing that he was excited about leaving his current job for. Then out of the blue one day he received an email from a company in Spring Lake Michigan about a job he had not even applied for. He told me about it and we laughed because just this April we had stayed in that area for our anniversary and we had joked about living there one day. He told me he would probably call and tell them he wasn't interested so the next day he made the call. He said that when he went to make the call he had a feeling he needed to at least hear what they had to say. They told him that they have been doing searches for someone that would fit a job opening they had and every time Brian's name would come up as a perfect match but they weren't sure if he would even consider relocating. They said that they were really impressed with his resume and that he had all the credentials and more than what they were looking for and they were interested in doing some phone interviews with him. So he decided, why not, so he did the interviews which went really well. They asked him what it would take for him to consider moving this far and he gave them a number and they said that would not be a problem. He told them he would talk to me about it and they said that they would get back to him if they wanted him to come over for a in person interview. He told me about what was going on and surprisingly at first I was very excited about it and said that yeah it was okay to continue with the process. The very next morning he got an email saying that they would like him to come over for an interview so we set that up for the following week on a day that I could go with him and we could stay over to look at housing in the area. We both talked about the possibility of the move a lot and we gave it all over to God. We had been praying about our financial situation for months and felt this could very well be God's answer for us. We went to the interview on Friday Sept 7 and it lasted 2 hours. I sat in the car the whole time, and it went by pretty fast luckily. Anyways, they ended up offering him the job on the spot. They offered him almost 20,000 more a year than his current salary and immediate benefits and wanted him to start on Oct 1st. We knew for sure at that point that is where God wanted us to be. We were able to look around the area for housing and the next morning found an apartment that was perfect for us in Grand Haven. We will be giving up a lot of living space but we knew we needed to find something quickly and we would like to have time to get to know the area before buying a house or even renting one for that matter. So Brian is moving in on Sept 28th and we are going to be officially moving the first weekend of October. It has been a whirlwind of events but we can't even question the fact that this is what God wants for us as he has worked out all the details so well. We still need to find someone to sub-lease our current place so we are praying about that now. Anyways, we will keep you posted!

The company Brian is going to be working for is the Bold Companies and they design and manufacture mostly office furniture and wood displays. He is going to be a Project Manager there. Here are a few pictures of the office.

First Day of Pre-school

Jensen had his first day of pre-school today. He did really well. He didn't even care that we were leaving him. He found his locker right away with his symbol a triangle on it. Then he walked right into the classroom and started playing. His teacher's name is Mrs Lucas. He said he had fun today but I didn't get many details, typical guy.

Ready to go, but he must be still sleepy he can't keep his eyes open :)

Bob the Builder backpack

Daddy and Jensen

School

Jensen's locker

Playing in the Classroom

Labor Day Weekend

We had a different kind of Labor Day weekend this year than usual. We normally go camping with Brian's family but that didn't work out this year so we decided to camp in our backyard. Jensen and I stayed out in the tent for 3 nights. We had fun. I told him stories and we ate snacks and listened to music. Fun memories. He is starting pre-school tomorrow so I wanted some special Mommy and Jensen time. On Labor Day we took the boys to a local park to go swimming it was lots of fun.

Tent camping in the backyard

Playing in the sand together at the beach

Peyton at the beach

Jensen at the beach

Peyton in his ducky floatie

Sandy hands

Peyton with daddy

Peyton walking in the sand

This is Peyton trying to walk up the beach. Too funny!

Tractor Show

This weekend we had a chance to go to a local tractor show with my parents. We were excited to bring Jensen because he really loves to talk about tractors and look at tractor books with Grandpa. He was disappointed that we missed the parade but he enjoyed seeing lots of tractors and also seeing a steam engine being used to cut wood. It was cute to hear him ask Grandpa about the different parts of the tractors and what they were called and asking how much power they had. He also did a pretty good job naming each of the tractors without any help.

Grandpa and Jensen in their matching Farmall shirts

Sitting with Grandpa watching the Steam engine show

Our little Farmall cub enjoyed the show too!