updates and important dates

pretty sad when you relish the breaking-down of the car one day and having a sick child home the next. love having a reason to stay home and not get dressed. got the pics i promised oh-so-long ago. we are awaiting a couple inspections on the house before the drywall goes up. from there, it shouldn't take too long.
ok, here goes...
the house looks done from the outside. makes the neighbors happy. looks different from before, ya think?
my favorite part, so far, is the porch. we couldn't find the door we wanted until chris stumbled upon this mahogany beauty unfinished at Home Emporium. it took awhile to finish it, but i love how it turned out. we're gonna have some ceiling fans out there, too.
once again, the reason we bought the place and uprooted our family.
i think it's worth it.

now, onto something of equal importance. i would be remiss if i didn't include my dear first-born and her recent celebration of 12 whole years on this earth. she's fun and brilliant and confident and sassy. i couldn't live without her and i wouldn't want to try.

twelve things you may not know about harley...
1. her middle name is susan, after my mother and sister.
2. she was only 5 lbs. when she was born. not early. just skinny.
3. when she grows up, she wants to be a commercial writer.
4. her favorite meal i make is stuffed red peppers and she drools for bruchetta, too.
5. currently, she's only 1/4 inch shorter than my 5'4".
6. one hour of her day is spent on the piano.
7. writing is her favorite subject but she thinks grammar is for the birds.
8. she's the last to go to sleep and the last to wake up.
9. a self-proclaimed choc-o-holic, she thinks nutella is a gift from God.
10. she gets her expensive taste in clothing from my sister hilarie.
11. my biggest critic and most fervent cheerleader.
12. thinks that the Twilight Saga is the new four standard works. (thus, her Rosalie costume for Halloween)

happy birthday Harley! sorry the power went out as i was making your birthday dinner and stayed off long enough to have to postpone your party. you have to admit, opening presents by candlelight is kinda fun :):):)

feeling the spirit

i know how you feel, gracie.

uniqueness

i am unique.

when i grocery shop, i bring my own money. i don't stalk the parking lot for generous-looking people.

when i walk into the store, i go through the door labeled "Enter".
when i leave, i go through the doors on the opposite site. you know, the ones that say "Exit".

when i pack groceries into my cart, i have the uncanny ability of knowing if i am over or under the 20 item limit for the Express Lane.

i never forget that i am married and try to hit on some random guy in the cereal aisle.

when shopping with my children, i never slap them when they get unruly and then treat said unruliness with candy at the check-out.

i am truly unique.

at least i am in any norfolk wal-mart.

pressure

ok, ok, i get it. it's super lame when all you want to do is stalk blogs and the lame-o's out there don't even have the decency to update once in awhile. i'm still have the photo-upload problem so it makes me not wanna blog so much. a good photo can seal the deal on a good post. right?

anyway, i am getting bigger. no need to show off that in a photo. i'm stretching my reg. clothes out. getting close to full-on maternity wardrobe. i look at flat tummies and get kinda sad knowing it will be a long time till i can wear those things again. this baby better be cute.

waffling on finding out. we didn't with harley or gracie. i love, love, love surprises and i think i can wait this one out. the children were excited to know the gender, but now they're not so concerned. a week or so more to decide.

new house is coming along beautifully. i need to try and upload the pics of that. so worth it. we never expected chris to have so much work this summer. our house isn't being finished, but we can't turn down the jobs. the brick and stone are all done and i get sad when i need to leave.

getting excited about school. all three. all day. this will be a great semester before the baby comes. i feel freedom i haven't felt in forever. i think i'll probably volunteer at the school.

food is back on my brain and in my tummy. i was not interested in the stuff for a couple months. making dinner was a chore. yes, even for me. happy to report...i am back. my food obsession is at a climax. i cook all the time and eat almost as often. craving spicy, flavorful foods. tomato/mayo sandwiches and fried egg/tomato sandwiches. every day. oh, and i made spicy okra pickles. awesome.

'bout to kick some neighbor punks to the curb. they stole our scooters and chris found one of them a block away on the sidewalk. betcha it was the skaters.

contemplating baby names. the ones i like, the children give thumbs down. thumbs down?? my mom had 10 kids and i can never remember giving a thumbs down! i don't expect them to love the names, but to oppose? if we went with their choices it would be Ashalissa Marie or Cowen Carlisle. any guesses who picked those?

i do love reading your posts. i haven't commented in awhile because whenever i check out the blogs, i look in the corner and realize i am logged into harley's account. don't feel like commenting under her name. really don't feel like switching accounts.

pics of the house to come soon. i promise.

in case you haven't heard

we're having a baby! super excited. super tired. a beautiful built-in excuse for not cleaning, cooking or blogging in about a month. i'm feeling better and starting to care about the way my house looks. i figure since i've been cleaning for the past 5 hours, i should throw in a blog before i start my cooking spree. conveniently, this comes the day before my mother and other family comes in town. perfect timing.
the baby is due in january. i'm 11 weeks tomorrow. sorry, no pics of the ultrasound. requires way to much energy to scan and upload.
yes, my tummy is growing. with baby #4, it doesn't need coaxing or coaching. it knows the drill.
no, i haven't had morning sickness. never had it, in fact. i was, however, on bedrest for three weeks. some complications that have seemingly been resolved. must be due to my "advanced maternal age", beautifully stamped on my medical folder.

progress is sweet...

renting this house is NOT! have i mentioned to any of you that i am OVER this situation? if i clean this house, it still doesn't look clean. i miss my home. big time. chris has been working his tail off at the new house (we call it mona, after the street). anyway, mona is coming along well. it's amazing how much work you can get done when you put in 12 hour days and eat dinner at 9 o'clock about every night. love you, hon. thanks:)
wanna see the progress?? i need to get over and take more pics, it changes by the day and it already looks different. the roof has shingles, the framing is almost done.

before shot. needs work.

tore off the roof. we're gonna raise that baby.

taking time to visit dad for dinner.

adding some height to the house.

ta-da! new roof!

back of the house with a view of the nasty addition. can someone please tear it down??

thank you scott:)

roof, front view, with paper. sorry no shots of the shingles. i bet if you close your eyes you can probably imagine how great it looks with them on.

terminally ill

yes, i'm alive. i wish i could say the same for my computer. the jitters it usually gets has me picking up the phone to get my "nurse" over for a check-up. thanks tim:) this time, it needed the "doctor", and that wasn't enough. they don't know what's up with it. i see it as a terminal illness. not quite dead. barely alive. i have my photos backed up. (thanks, alisha for the reminder.) i'm not worried about losing anything too precious, except for the computer itself. we've bonded over the past three years. i have come to rely on it for access to the outside world, blogging on a whim, downloading my favorite american idol tracks (oh...adam:). it has become part of me and i can't afford to replace it right now. not with a new house in the works.
so, i'm blogging from chris's computer and feeling a bit lonely without my bookmarked pages and password prompts that remind me of the personalization of MY OWN COMPUTER.
we are in the rental house and settling OK. the phone and internet should be hooked up this week. (thanks random neighbor for having a strong enough wireless signal for me to borrow today.) until then...boxes, laundry and lots of finger crossing.