Virginia or Bust

Well, as you all know I went on a wild ride to Virginia to help Mom and Dad with getting their house ready for their open house. Steve was absolutely WONDERFUL and stayed with the kids while I was able to fly kid-free to work non-stop for a little less than 48 hours. I was also blessed to have a great friend watch the kids on Friday while Steve worked so that I could go Friday. As usual, things were crazy and I still had 2 final papers and 2 final exams to complete by Sunday night so I did a lot of work at the airport and on the plane, with only about 2 hours worth of work when I got home. (As an aside, I did complete all my work still and got an A in each of my classes. Hooray!).

Anyway, on to the play-by-play of the weekend:

Thursday Night:
Started a final exam at midnight and got to bed by 2:00...

Friday:
*Up at 4:30
*On the bus at 6:20
*Plane takes off at 8:50, arrives at 10:30
*Mom picked me up and we joined Michael for lunch, toured his work, and arrived at Mom and Dad's house by 1:00
*Mom, her friend Liz, and I started on the basement at 1:20pm, finished working for the day at 11:30pm, when Dad and I took a load of items to a storage unit

Saturday:
*Up at 7:30 and back to the basement!
*Phone call at 11:00 that someone wants to tour the house at 1:00! We freaked out and started running around: Mom-straight to the bathrooms and floors; Dad and Mary-filling a pickup with garbage to take the dump; Mary-yard work extravaganza-trimming bushes, weeding, spreading ground cover.
*While dad ran the load to the dump, I finished the yardwork and cleaned the garage. When he returned at 12:30 we filled the truck again with things for the storage unit and the back of the Envoy with things for a local thrift store. It was just in time, too, because the realtor pulled up while I was running up the back stairs with the last items!
*The phone calls continued to come in and we were supposed to be gone until 3:00, but we sneaked back in between house hunters and grabbed another full load for the thrift store.
*Next it was off to some stores to grab more supplies to stage the house: new curtains for the kitchen, cleaning supplies, wall hooks, etc.
*Mom and Dad had to get ready for a dinner they HAD to go to (no choice since they were in charge of the activity), so I worked on Dad's office. Michael and I emptied out several closets and filled the Envoy again with boxes of papers, binders, and closet items to take to the storage unit. Michael and I also put up some art in Mom and Dad's room, which looked gorgeous.
*The office was a gem when we were finished (see the pictures) so I started in on Mom and Dad's closets--Mom and Dad came home at this time so Mom and I worked on color coding clothing (yeah, we actually did), moving around clothes to make the walk-in-closet look huge, organizing shelves, and dusting everything.
*Next, it was on to ironing the curtains, gluing down any slightly wallpaper that was peeling slightly, and waxing all the gorgeous hardwood floors.
*Finally, off to bed at about 2:30.

Sunday:
*I was up by 7:30 for my flight, which was delayed of course! Still, it gave me time to work on my final paper for class and I was able to almost completely finish it before getting home at 4:00pm. Steve and the kids got home from church 5 minutes after I walked in the door and it was back to work!

Well, I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the fun of last weekend....and here is a glimpse of some of the work we did. It was so much fun! To see 15 pictures online, you can check out the listing below, this has pictures that were taken before last weekend.
http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?loc=ashburn%2c+VA&mnp=395000&mxp=396000&sid=50a231b9d17e46c6a3209189fe2f612a&lid=1104956371&lsn=2&srcnt=2

All I want for Christmas is my 1 front tooth....

Here she is, the toothless wonder! Emma is one tough squirt. She pulled and pulled and pulled until her tooth finally just popped right out! We got the whole thing on video, which was really quite fun! Her shocked face was priceless.

In other news: This week I have finals and all my final work/papers to do...just in the nick of time, too! I've already lost my mind! I am trying to cope by eating my worries...it's not working out well. I worked out today for an hour to try to make up for it. Then I had a bowl of ice cream! Just teasing...but I wanted to!

Election Coverage

This election year, while the fundamental difference between our campaigns is that Steve prefers steak and Mary prefers chicken, I'm sure that the voters will do their patriotic duty and we will be victorious! Just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to get some good cheers...naturally, it doesn't mean anything. Still, don't you feel excited with the use of the words "patriotic" and "victorious"!!!!

Since victory tastes so sweet, we had an election day carrot cake to celebrate!


Of course, we are always bipartisan....


It's time that we get to work to bring our economy back on track! So, dig in!


Steve keeps on laughing because he decided to write-in a presidential candidate this year. You may have heard of him, his name is "Joe the Plumber"........ his VP choice is "Joe Six-Pack."


Steve promises that this year, all taxpayers that earn less than $250,000 will pay only $1 in taxes! Unfortunately, his campaign manager forgot to tell him that voters don't like it when you make promises that you cannot keep.


Savoring victory.

In all seriousness, even if your candidates didn't win their elections, wasn't it an amazing day?! I just love seeing Americans exercising their duty and right to cast a vote. Even though nearly 50% of voting Americans did not see their candidate become president, everyone should be so proud of our democracy and those that have given so much for our freedoms! I can't help but feel moved when I think of the history of our country and how blessed we are.

Happy Hauntings

We had a great time at a couple of parties this season and trick or treating. The kids had a hard time picking out their costumes so they were three things this year. Emma-Fairy, Spider, and Indian girl. Lauren-Fairy, Lilo, and a Chicken....just like Selina!! How fun! Dallin-skeleton and Eeyore. He also had a pumpkin costume but looked so cute as Eeyore, we couldn't give it up for Halloween night!

Enjoy the lovely pictures:)

Our precious little angels...errrr, rather....uhhh, you know what, maybe they're a little bit devious after all!

A SCARY BUNCH!!

Okay, can it get any more adorable than this?

Okay, can it get any scarier than this? Steve actually dressed like this AT WORK! I may never show my face there again....

Lauren's fashion show included this bumble bee, which didn't end up making the final cut. She did give a great performance, though.

Thanks for noticin'