New House!

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted. Oops.... which I might add is Madelyn's new word :)

We officially moved into our new house 2 weeks ago! The weekend ofValentine's day started out with my parents visiting from Michigan, complete with a trailer of new (to us) furniture for the new place. We got the keys to the house on Friday, the 11th, and started unloading the trailer right away. Matt's dad and step mom blessed us with dinner and helping unload more things from the apartment that we brought over. Saturday began with movers coming around 9am and loading all hte furniture and big things in the truck for the move. We decided tohire movers this time sincethe apartment was on the 3rd floor and we didn't want to hurt ourselves. Mom and dad took Madelyn to the house to play and keep her occupied for us. The truck arrived at the house and was completely unloaded, boxes, furniture and everything, by 1pm. Again, my in-laws brought over lunch and were amazing! They helped us unpack boxes, move furniture and get things organized. My parents left on Valentines day and the rest of the week was spent unpacking and getting things situated.

Last weekend Matt's mom and step dad came down, since they get flight benefits now! Jim painted the guest room, the half bath and most of Mady's room (until we ran out of paint) Now, the office is unpacke, curtains are hung, color is on the wall and things look pretty good! We still need to put up pictures and get the last few things from the apartment but other than that, we are completely settled in the new place!

Dining room as seen from front door - stairs to the left, kitchen behind it

My wonderful kitchen!!! All new stainless steel appliances and I LOVE the island!

Family room with fireplace to the right - flip a switch and instant fire! :)

This is the loft at the top of the stairs - mostly for Mady's toys and the couch pulls out to a bed!

Madelyn's room - before painting it a pale yellow. Will post new pictures when it's done!

Guest bath upstairs - full bath with linen closet - very nice!!!!

Master bedroom - bath to the left with full walk in closet, and a sitting area to the right with windows out to the front of the house

Christmas time

Ok, ok, so I've been slacking quite a bit in the blog department but we've been pretty busy around here.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws here in Georgia, including Matt's brother, Jon and his girlfriend who were here from Memphis. We had a busy, packed weekend but it was great spending so much time with our family.

After Thanksgiving, mom and dad came back through from Florida and picked up Madelyn to take to Michigan. Matt and I went on a lte birthday trip to celebrate my 27th birthday and where did we go??? PARIS!!! We had a wonderful time. We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the city and saw so many beautiful things, including Notre Dame, The Louvre, the Arc di Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Had a good snow shower while we were there and it was great! Came home and was able to spend a day just the two of us getting the apartment clean, grocery shopping and catching up on our sleep. We had the rest of the week to ourselves and spent time with our friends without worrying about Madelyn and making sure we brought snacks and her blanket everywhere we went. Then on Friday, Dec. 10, we were able to fly in to Michigan and stay with my parents for the weekend. We got to see our sweet little girl again and enjoy 5 Christmas parties with family in just 2 short days! We enjoyed seeing everyone and received a lot of nice presents. Thankfully, the giant snow storm that made the Metrodome roof collapse didn't come all the way to GR and we were able to make it back to Atlanta pretty easily.

I think the biggest thing is our new house. It's coming along pretty quickly and the builder said we can move up the closing date from Feb 8 to Jan. 30 if we want! I was there a couple days ago and they were almost done with the brick and siding on the outside and were doing all the insulation on the inside. Hopefully tomorrow (Monday, the 27th) they will start drywalling!!!! It's been so fun to see it all coming together and so fast! We are truly blessed.

Yesterday we spent Christmas with Matt's dad and family. It was so nice to have everyone all together again. It doesn't happen all that much so it's fun when it does. I think God knew I was missing my family this year. It's the first time I haven't been home for Christmas and I had to miss the Mouw family party. So He blessed us with a White Christmas here in Atlanta!!!! It started snowing around 1130am and it didn't stop until almost 11 pm. We were going to spend the night but decided to try out the roads and make it home before the roads all froze and would keep us there all weekend. We made it home, many presents in tow, around midnight last night. Woke up this morning to the trees and ground covered in fresh white snow and it's still coming down now!!! It's been on and off all day but maybe I can have a snow day tomorrow and have another day off to spend with my daughter and relax.

I think that's all for now. Hopefully in the new year I will be able to keep up a little better! For now, here's some pictures from the last few weeks!

The house, as of Dec. 23, 2010 - brick and siding almost done!!! The drywall starts on the 27th

Opening a present with help from Uncle Caleb, or as Mady calls him, Clubby

Sitting at Nonni and Poppi's house, ready for Christmas dinner!

At the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France!!!

craziness!

Things are crazy around here! We've been so busy lately, it's hard to update this.

Let's see.... mom came to visit for a week which was great! Madelyn was able to stay home wtih grandma instead of going to daycare, and I know my mom loved that time with her. I didn't mind either, as it meant dinner was on the table when I got home and the apartment got super cleaned! Thanks, Mom!

I was also able to go to Indianapolis and see one of the greatest people EVER (that's you, Rebekah)!!!!! I was able to take last Friday off (We also had thursday off for veterans day) and fly to Indy with Madelyn. Rebekah and her two boys were waiting for me at the airport and we enjoyed the trip home, complete with three kids in the back seat! My mom drove from Grand Rapids to Rebekah's house and picked up Mady so we could have a girls weekend and she could have more time with Madelyn. It was wonderful! We had pedicures, Panera bread and pizza.... and that was just on Thursday night! Friday we took the day and went to the outlet mall near by and had a great time shopping, without the kids! Thanks to Rebekah's mom for watching her boys so we could go! Saturday, we stayed home for a little while, then went to Circle Center Mall, which was over taken with Band Kids!!!! The BOA nationals were that weekend and of course, the kids all wanted to shop. Definitely brought back memories! Saturday night we went to Outback for dinner and relaxed at home with our lovely green face masks and a movie.

I had to go home on Sunday, but Matt was also in Indiana at a friend's house so he was able to help with Mady in the airport. We didn't think we would get home but God definitely answers our prayers and we made it home around 6pm.

Tonight, we're having a big turkey dinner with our friends and I am so excited! I haven't seen them in awhile and it willbe good to see them all again.

Oh, and they started building our house!!!!!!

Finally an update!

I am such a slacker when it comes to updating this thing. I guess it just goes to show that we are a busy little family!

Last weekend we went to an apple orchard in Northern Georgia. We had a wonderful time! Mady liked looking at the animals and running through the apple trees. It was so funny to hear her say "apple," which comes out more like "papple." But she's learning so many new words and trying to get them right. She's pretty darn cute if I do say so my self.

Last weekend, Madelyn and I were able to fly up to Michigan for a long weekend with my parents. We flew in on Thursday and just got home this afternoon. It was nice to have a long weekend (thanks, gov't job for Colombus day off!) and see some friends and family. The purpose of the trip was to see my cousin, Melanie, before she heads off to be a missionary in Indonesia. We were able to take in Artprize in downtown Grand Rapids and even have a girls night with pizza and watched the movie "Baby Mama!" which is hilarious!

Matt's mom got married in Florida last week and had a reception at their house on Sunday. I brought Madelyn over there and she was able to run around and see a bunch of people who haven't seen her for awhile.

Today, Monday, we grabbed a direct flight and arrived in Atlanta around 2pm. Of course when Matt met us at the airport, Mady went crazy! She definitely knows when daddy isn't around (he couldn't go to Michigan this time) and loves to see him when he gets back.

I guess that's all. I'll close with some pictures, but will have more later when I get them from mom and Melanie!

Running around the apple orchard in Ellijay, Georgia - Sunday, October 3, 2010

Family photo time! Not too sure what Mady was doing but oh well! The background is beautiful!

Madelyn liked picking the apples all by her self. She kept saying, "papple!"

Right by the cow.... she wasn't too sure about this one!

updates

Wow, been almost 3 months since I updated but the truth is we've been so busy around here. Let's see what I can remember and do a quick re-cap.

July 1 - Mady celebrates her 1st birthday!!!! We had a great time celebrating with not 1, but 2 parties for her 1st birthday. We celebrated in Georgia with friends and family here and then also had a party in Michigan on the 3rd with friends and family up there. It was so cute to see her realize what cake and frosting were!

July 15 - mom had her liver transplant!!!! Successful surgery started at 4am and finished around 12noon. She was in ICU at U of M hospital for a few days, then was moved to a regular room. She's doing great!

July 21 - Matt and I "celebrated" our 3 year wedding anniversary. The reason it's in quotes is because we haven't really done anything yet. We tried to go out of town but he didn't feel well and we couldn't get on a flight!

August 14-27 - Madelyn and I spent a lot of time at Papa and Grandma's house in Michigan helping my mom recover from her surgery. Mady loves Papa and was his shadow for most of the 2 weeks we were there. She learned so many new words, including :Uh-oh, dog, papa, clock, ball, car, grandma and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. She also learned that a cow says "moo" - she even made the noise to a cow at the fair and it did it back!!! That scared her a little but she enjoyed seeing animals and watching people at the Hudsonville Fair this year. She was only 6 weeks when we went last year so this time she actually got to enjoy it and see everything.

August 28 - I completed my 1st 5k!!! Matt ran with me and so did Mady!!! (in a jogging stroller) Definitely wasn't as well as I wanted it to be but ya gotta start somewhere right?

August 30 - we found mold!!!! Our kitchen cabinets had mold in them and we were forced out of the apartment and into a hotel for a few days

Sept. 2 - Matt took the day off and "supervised" the moving. Due to the circumstances, our old apartment complex hired movers to come in and pack up everything, move to the new place (half a mile down the road) and unload it all into our new apartment. It's a little smaller but it will work until we can find a house. The best part is the new place is more rent each month but because of what happened, we get a nicer, new place for our same lower rent! Woohoo! I guess if I have to move, I'll take that!

I guess that's all now! We are planning on going to Michigan tonight and then to Ann Arbor tomorrow for the opening of Michigan Football!!!! GO BLUE!!!!!!!!

June

Wow, I can't belive it's been this long since I posted! So much has happened since March that I'm not too sure where to begin.....

Mid-March Madelyn and I flew home to visit for a long weekend and we really enjoyed it! I went to a banquet with my dad that we've gone to for 20 years. My mom and dad liked playing with Mady and seeing how big she has gotten. She was a little nervous around them at first since she hadn't seen them since Christmas but did fine once they played with her and gave her some Cheerios!

While I was gone, Matt moved us into a new apartment! We are so excited to have a place of our own. While we are truly grateful to my in-laws for letting us stay there, it's nice to come home and have a place to ourselves.

April was somewhat uneventful but it marked the time where my mom is no longer able to come visit us. She was officially put on the liver transplant list on Easter weekend, which means she can't be more than 6 hours from the University of Michigan. They were going to come forEaster but since she was placed on the list, it didn't happen.

May was pretty busy. Friday before Mother's Day, I received the call that Mom was going to the hospital to have her surgery!!!!! Well, once I got to the airport (I wanted to fly up and be with dad), I received the next call that stated the surgery was cancelled since the donor liver wasn't as healthy as they thought. Matt and Madelyn and I ended up celebrating my first mother's day with my in-laws. Everyone except Sharleen and I, made a fabulous dinner and we just enjoyed the time together. A week later my cousin Melanie came to visit!!!! We were able to go shopping, take Mady to the aquariium and lay by the pool! She's going to Indonesia as a missionary in November so I'm glad we got that time together.

May also brought a new job for Matt. He's been working as a staff accountant for a company about an hour from here. A few of our friends work for Delta and all talk about how much they love their jobs and how good the benefits are (flying for free, hello???) He decided to submit a resume and he was offered a position just a few hours after he interviewed! He starts June 9th!

June has only been here for a couple days but it's been busy already. Wednesday night my mom got another call to go get a liver andonce again it was cancelled. Everything looked good until an hour or so before the scheduled surgery so she was sent home again. Matt starts his new job on Wednesday and then Sunday is Father's day!!!

We are excited to celebrate Madelyn's 1st birthday coming up July 1st but makes me a little sad to realize my baby is getting so big. She'll be walking anyday now as she does laps holding on to the coffee table. She's eating all solid foods now and refuses her baby food! She doesn't like to take naps at daycare but that means early bedtime when she gets home and sleeping in on the weekends! This weekend she had her 1st fever! I know, she's over 11 months and it was her 1st one but it lasted for 2 days.... which isn't that bad. I think she was just teething as she now has two more that have poked through. Grand total of teeth is 11!!!

I guess that's all! Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks/months

Playing on the slide at the park in the apartment - she loved it!!!

A picture of Mommy and Mady on Easter Sunday just before going to church.

We took Madelyn to the Zoo Atlanta for the day. She LOVED the petting zoo, where she was able to touch goats, sheep and even a pig! She also liked watching the babyy gorillas play in the grass.



Miss Madelyn at the pool - she didn't know what to do at first but once she realized she could splash like in the bathtub, then she had a blast. She has a floating toy that she sits in and she thinks she's so cool - which is true!

new things

I have been terrible at updating this lately, seeing as there hasn't been an update since March 5th and it's now the 27th. Anyway, we are officially all moved in to our new apartment! All boxes have been unpacked and put away and pictures are making their way on the walls. We're having a house warming party tonight and we're pretty excited. It helps that it will be in the high 60's today too.

A quick update on my mom - yesterday she got the approval from her insurance company so she's officially on the list!!!! And, she's in the top 5!!!! Now we just wait for a liver to come. It's hard to think about her actually having the surgery because I know someone else has to die and my prayers are with that family too since I know how it feels to lose a loved one.....

Alright, gotta get moving to make this dessert for tonight!!!! Will post pics of the new place later tonight or tomorrow