just because it's been awhile...

beach baby

I took the kids to the beach this morning for a walk along the seawall and to play in the sand. It was Meredith's first time playing in sand and dipping her toes in the ocean. She didn't care for the ocean, but the sand was very interesting to her. Thomas is more like me and doesn't care for the sand all over him, but Meredith loved it between her toes, in her fingers, all over her clothes...

home sweet home

The house and the street looking towards the ocean - one side is a development of a dozen homes built early 2006 and the other side is a mix of "older" homes (1980s), a small horse pasture, vacant land for sale and an orchid farm - we've seen some spectacular sunsets from here already, or as Thomas will tell you, "the sun is going for a swim". Though we are in a development (the thought of which has always made us cringe), it's an ideal situation because it is so small and to the right is a double wide drive to two houses and the guy who owns the house to the left lives here part time since he also has a home in Colorado. Must be rough being him. ;)

.

Couldn't get a good shot of the ocean view from the backyard, but here it is from the master bedroom's deck. The house faces south so we see the ocean from the front and back of the house on both levels. The backyard is small, but has a nice variety of landscape materials. I wonder how long it'll take before the grass isn't looking so nice due to the dogs? The sprinkler system goes off every morning and there's a gardener but we haven't seen him yet. We want to do it ourselves, but the lawn mower was left back in Portland so we may have to have a gardener for awhile. Darn.

.

The yucky yard next door is the part-timer from Colorado. The woman with the pool two houses down is friendly. She has three or four children, but I think they are all boys and range from 14 on up.

The front door really needs an eyehole or something, but it's lovely and quite large. It's 10 feet tall which is about right since the main level of the house has 12 foot ceilings throughout. On the right is the entry hall. Love the floors. Love the high ceilings. Love the open staircase.

The all important staircase - seen from the main floor and again from the top floor. It's certainly a climb. The second floor has a great landing with a built in counter and cabinets. At first I thought it was weird, but I love it for folding laundry and storing linens. It's against a short wall of about 4 feet high that opens to the living/dining room space below. If it were our house, we'd have to put up a rail. I can totally see how this might be fun for a child to climb up on and oops! fall right on over...

The dining/living on the left and the family room on the right. The first is a bit awkward and the second is a little funky with the off-center fireplace and entertainment center niches. I prefer a more symmetrical, traditional layout, but we're making it work. *sigh* It's tough, but we can make do if we have to. *sigh*

I love this kitchen. I could live in this space. It's big, beautiful, has tons of storage and the island is wonderful. There are two ovens and when I oohed and aahed over them, M asked when I would ever need two ovens. My response? For those times when I am roasting a turkey in one and baking in the other. Ha. That would never happen, but I do feel pressure with this great kitchen to do some serious cooking and baking. If it had a Sub-Zero like the refrigerator space is intended for, it'd be the perfect kitchen.

The master bath. Two sinks, a glass enclosed walk-in shower and a Jacuzzi tub the kids can learn to swim in. Big and beautiful. The toilet is off to the side in its own room and behind us are the walk-in closets.

A weird, but fun little retreat area in the master bedroom. The house next door uses it as an office and has french doors to close it off. We have the treadmill in there though I'm kind of thinking some runs along the beach sound pretty nice. I'll have to work up my endurance -- pushing the two kids in a Burley won't be easy!

ten months

I love ten months. Meredith has taken to squealing, sometimes very loudly and continuously, but always with a smile on her face. With such large, open spaces in this house, her squeals echo and she loves it. Sometimes Thomas will answer her and the two will go back and forth squealing and giggling. Meredith is also on the verge of taking her first steps. She loves to try and will take a step or two before we catch her fall, but she's getting closer every day and is able to balance for several seconds at a time. She's so proud of herself when she stands on her own. The expression on her face is priceless. And her sleep at night has totally come around since we moved here. She's been doing 10 hours minimum and even gave us 11.5 hours the other night. Ten months is so fun.

we love california

Meredith & her daddy our first evening in the new house

True, we've only been here one week, but we love it down here! People told us we'd hate it citing heavy traffic on super wide highways, population density, cost of living, endless sunshine (seriously!), lack of four seasons, and even Californians themselves. This morning we stood on the beach and stared at the majestic Pacific Ocean. At 10am, the sun was shining and the temperature was comfortable enough for shorts, t-shirts and sandals (well, shorts for M anyway). Surfers were looking for the perfect wave, beach-goers were arriving with beach chairs and sand toys and I couldn't help but feel so lucky to be right there at that moment. I love this southern California lifestyle and am so excited that our family will be experiencing it. And as for the endless sunshine? Bring it on. :)

livin' large in Southern California

Over 1000 miles, one speeding ticket, half a case of orange Fanta (love you guys!) and way too many renditions of "Way Up High" in the backseat squeezed between a chatty two year old and a cute 9 month old with two dogs immediately behind me... but we've made it here safe and in one piece.

We arrived Sunday afternoon after three days on the road. The kids were fantastic and did very well both in the SUV and in hotels, but every day feels even longer than the last and we were all very happy to be done with it. Upon arrival at the house, we were immediately greeted by several of the neighbors. It was a nice welcome and we were happy to see several young families with dogs on the street. Thomas made a new friend, 4 year old Shayne (girl), minutes after we arrived.

M had a good first day at his new job today. It's been a few years since he's worked in a corporate environment but I have a feeling he'll really enjoy it once he gets going. His office is a short 3 miles away from where we are staying.

And the house we are in? Amazing. All four of our kids are really enjoying it. The kitchen is a dream, M loves the 3 car garage and travertine floors, Thomas loves his bedroom and the lever handles and the light switches and the walk-in pantry and running up and down the stairs, Meredith is also enjoying having her own bedroom (she's sleeping better than ever which we are attributing to the quiet house and surroundings) and the dogs are loving carpet in the bedrooms and on the stairs. If the yard was larger and we had a million dollars, this might be a good house for us. We're just two short (but hilly!) miles from the beach with ocean views. It's really quite spectacular and this city is even more beautiful than I had imagined.

It's going to be awhile before we are settled in, but we are slowly finding places to shop, eat, area parks, the post office, the library and, of course, the beach itself. We've been here since Sunday afternoon and we still haven't felt the sand between our toes. Crazy, eh? There's just so much to figure out and do first -- like Internet service at the house which can't happen soon enough!

Speaking of which, I totally goofed during this move and canceled our Internet service before forwarding e-mails to my other account, making notes of everyone's e-mail address... you get the picture. Grrrr. I don't know anyone's e-mail address so shoot me one at my gmail account -- MyFirstnameMyLastnameATgmail.com -- so I'll have yours. :)

leap of faith

Tomorrow our family will embark on a new adventure. It's an adventure full of unknowns. We're all feeling a little apprehensive about it, but at the same time we're also very excited by the opportunities that await us, the new things in the area to explore, so many different experiences for us to share... It's fitting that we begin this adventure on Valentine's Day and together as a family. As long as we have each other, nothing else matters.

moving!

M and I bought our house almost nine years ago. Since then, we've added these four lovely little beings to our household and our once spacious home has suddenly become really small. We've been looking for a larger home for the past year but just haven't found our dream house. However, it's just as well since we are now moving out of the state for M's new job. Having packed up most of our belongings, tonight we will be sleeping on a mattress in one of the bedrooms on the main floor of the house just as we did almost nine years ago. So many memories here... We'll all miss our first home together.

Meredith loves having our bed downstairs ~ she rolled around on it nonstop with Thomas after cruising around it, patting the bed and laughing. This little baby is so much fun!

birthday party fun

Thomas' very good pal Logan celebrated his 4th birthday this morning at Chuck E. Cheese. Thomas had a great time hanging out with all the boys, playing the games/riding the rides, marching around the room with Chuck E. Cheese before the birthday song, etc. Meredith enjoyed taking in all the activities, sounds and riding her first coin-op ride (Clifford the Big Red Dog). She was the only girl amongst a dozen boys if you count the new babies ~ lucky girl!

We were stopped at the door as we were leaving because, not understanding that the stickers we were given upon arrival were a safety measure and we needed to keep them on, I had removed the stickers we were wearing. Only M was still wearing his. The young woman checking for them questioned Thomas about who we all were and thank goodness he told her or we would have had to leave him there. With a handful of coins for the Bob the Builder ride, he probably would have been fine without us anyway...

stuck on you

Today's mail brought two Valentines for the kids from Grandpa M and Grandma S. Thomas loved opening up his envelope and then helping Meredith with hers, but not until he had taken the "baby stickers" (everything small is "baby [object]") he received and stuck them all over his sister...

.

I heart hanna andersson

Adorable dress, $5 at the outlet store last summer - I. Love. It.

his opinions

left (Thomas' thoughts on overalls yesterday):

"She looks like a little man."

right (and on the flower hairclip today):

"She looks pretty cute."

learning to use chopsticks