Update

Whew! What a couple weeks it has been. Lots of good things as well as bad things, but I think we've leveled off a bit now. In an effort to be brief, I've consolidated everything into three categories. (Who am I kidding...it still won't be brief.) :)

The Good:

• I think we've found our church home! We've visited 4 Sundays and 1 Family Fun Night, and we really like the people and the whole vibe of the church.


• At Family Fun Night, we met a couple with a 2.5 yr old daughter (Emma). The mom, Heather, invited me to a women's bible study on Thursdays at our church. Two Thursdays ago was my first time to go, and I loved it! I have been anxious to get back into a study, and this one seems like a great group.


• I have friends here! :) I know several of you have been praying about this for me, and I SO appreciate it. It's so hard to move to a new place not knowing anyone. So, thank you!!


• Our neighborhood has a "happy hour" every once in a while. It's held at a different family's front yard each time, and you bring your kids (and beverages) and mingle with the neighbors. We loaded the boys in the wagon and went to our first one last Friday. It was great to meet people in the area, and we had such a good time. I just think it's such a cool idea!
• I took the boys to the children's museum this week with our friends, Susan and Benjamin, and they had a blast! (Well, Noah had a blast....and Gabe seemed happy :)) I'll post pics soon.

The Bad:

• We STILL have a flea problem in our backyard!! We (including Oscar the dog) have not used our backyard in over a month now. It has been treated 5 TIMES by the bug people. The fleas could care less about Frontline, so Oscar is on a pill that he got from the vet. I still won't let him in the backyard (except to test out the failure of the latest treatment) because I don't want him to bring them in the house. He is officially an inside dog. We taught him to use the toilet. Just kidding. We have to walk him. We've tried sprinkling diatomaceous earth all over, and our next step (after the bug company tries one last time) is to try beneficial nematodes. Most, if not all, of you have NO CLUE what I am talking about and you should be thankful. :) I do not wish bug issues on anyone. Any advice??


• Oscar the dog, in an effort to get himself thrown into the backyard (no such luck, pup), has taken to eating stuff off our counters. The latest meal was leftover pot roast--3-4 POUNDS of leftover pot roast. Now, I myself am not a fan of pot roast (although this recipe is pretty darn good--check it out http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/01/2008_the_year_of_the_pot_roast/) but my husband is a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy. So, while I was angry at Oscar because the meat was expensive, Eric was mad at the loss of a rarely cooked meal in our house. Either way, we were NOT happy. At least we still had the mashed potatoes...another great recipe from that website. Mmmmm. Anyway, see "the ugly" for the rest of the story...


• Our refrigerator BROKE this week!! On Monday, I came home from the grocery store (of all places) with both kids and found a freezer full of defrosting food. I loaded both my screaming kids (seriously...both were crying!) back into the car to go get ice to try and salvage some of the food. Of course the fridge is NOT covered under our home warranty...I can't get a hold of Eric...one child is still screaming while I frantically try to figure out what to do with 3 months of frozen breastmilk (liquid gold! :))...wishing I had a Laurie, Tiffany or Brooke still living nearby to call for help...a plate shatters all over the kitchen floor while I attempt to cook 8 thousand chicken nuggets from the freezer...Felix the flea guy calls in the middle of all this regarding our last FAILED attempt at eliminating the fleas...finally get a hold of Eric but end up collapsing on the kitchen floor to cry along with Gabe. Not. A. Pretty. Picture. I said a prayer, got up off the floor, and finished the bottle of wine from the fridge. Just kidding...but don't think I didn't consider it. :) We survived. And after 4 days with no fridge, 10 cum. hours with the fridge repair guy, 2 separate attempts to fix it, 1 broken compressor, 1 bad compressor replacement, 2 busted defrost panels (due to the bad replacement), and a large amount of wasted food, we now have a working fridge. And a friendship with repair guy, Justin (who has 3 yr old twin boys and a 15 month old boy--Leslie, I thought of you. :))

The Ugly:

• So, remember Oscar's kitchen counter meal a couple paragraphs back? The 3-4 lb pot roast? Well, 3-4 lbs of meat has to go somewhere. And boy did it go somewhere. On Thursday, while waiting for our second visit from Justin the fridge guy, I had to run a quick errand. (The roast was consumed on Wed. night.) So, after taking Oscar out to do "his business" (since we can't use our backyard!!), I loaded up the boys and off we went. For 30 minutes. Not that long. But long enough for Oscar to leave us a lovely present...right in the middle of the playroom. And since he's not used to eating pot roast, it was not of normal consistency. Now, I did not yell at Oscar because I know he didn't want to go in the house. He just had a belly ache and unfortunately has not learned how to use the toilet yet. Which I may have to teach him if this backyard thing doesn't get resolved soon. Poor dog had to use the bathroom MANY times after that (all outside thankfully). And poor Eric got a little taste of what it's like to wake up every 3 hours throughout the night. I don't think he liked it.
• Just to top it all off, once the fridge guy came that evening, he accidentally stepped in one of Oscar's many pot roast piles in the front yard. And then walked through the house. Lovely.

This week HAS to be better! :) So far, it has started off well. We had some friends over this morning--Ashli and her two boys Mac and Ian--and Noah had a great time playing with Mac. Although, in the middle of our playdate, Noah, with fond memories of last week, pointed to our playroom floor and said, "Oooooh, yucky. Oscar poopy." Welcome to our home, new friends. Watch out for poop.