So last week when we were going around the room telling how we met/our story at our couples small group, I realized that we have been through quite a lot and God has definitely had His hand on our lives. I am also doing Beth Moore's Esther Bible study right now which is all about how moments that seem completely unrelated to anything, have a huge impact on your life path and story looking back. So I figured I would write down the story of how Chris and I came to be as well as how we ended up here in Melbourne, FL. If you had asked either of us if we would ever live anywhere other than an Army post or Virginia we would have thought you had lost your mind! Ha! So here goes, a lot of you already know this, but for some it may be new. :)
I grew up in Stuarts Draft, VA (the middle of mountain country in the Western part of the state). When I was finishing up 8th grade, my mom received an opportunity to go into management with State Farm in...dun, dun, duh...Richmond, VA. Growing up in Stuarts Draft, all you think of when you hear about Richmond is people getting shot (mainly because that's always on the news). So I was a wee bit nervous moving to this HUGE city (to me). I wanted to be an athletic trainer, so I signed up to do girls basketball. Well in order to do girls basketball, you had to do football because that is when trainers were "trained." :) So, off I went as a 9th grader not knowing a soul to football practice in August. I learned a few faces in the two weeks before school, but I still didn't really know anyone. So on the first Friday of school (4 days into the school year), I noticed that the JV quarterback (Chris) was riding on my bus to school. Now a little background, football was not the best sport at Midlothian but I didn't know that! Also most girls at Midlo used to tease the guys about not winning...again, I didn't know! So I walk up to where he is sitting talking with some other folks and ask "so how did the game go last night?" He looks at me with a snarl and replies "Shut up!" I immediately thought to myself, "Well, he's a jerk!" and made a mental note to avoid talking to him...ever. :) I think that is probably the last time I rode the bus to school as well. I was totally embarrassed.
Well God had other plans. So, throughout football season that year and the next year, Chris kept getting little nagging injuries that required none other than trips to the training room...and me! I still didn't think he was very nice, but I dealt with him. I think my bubbly personality just about drove him nuts. He was also in my 9th grade science class, but he always made snide remarks my way, so I really thought he was just mean! In 10th grade we were in two classes together, Math and P.E. For some reason both of the teachers decided it was their job to get us "together." So in Math she strategically placed us next to each other and when she changed our assigned seats (every 4-6 weeks because we had a talkative class) she always left Chris exactly where he was and moved me around him in a circle. Weird. Our P.E. teacher always found "errands" for us to run to the guidance office or principal's office which required both of us to go...weird. So by the middle of the year we were pretty good friends and by the end of the year we actually like each other somewhat. Over the summer we spent a lot of time at Salisbury Lake just laying around on the beach and talking about nothing in particular. During this whole time we kept insisting that we were just friends. By September of our Junior year we finally decided we were a couple and started dating. We were pretty much inseparable after that. I like to think that we kept each other out of trouble as neither of us were into the party scene. We would go to the movies, the mall or hang out at one of our houses, but we were pretty boring compared to most high schoolers.
Chris left for West Point 10 days after our high school graduation and I waiting all summer before going off to James Madison University for my first year of college. The first year was tough on all fronts as Chris was a Plebe at the Academy, I did not get along with my roommate and I pretty much hated life at JMU. I would drive up to West Point for long weekends whenever Chris had a pass...which wasn't much, and I would go see him in Richmond when he came home for Holidays, but mainly we communicated through AOL Instant Messenger and occasional phone calls. I finally got smart during my sophomore year and applied for transfer admission to UVA. I was accepted into the Business school (no small feat!) and my junior year I moved to Charlottesville. I LOVED my last two years of college, due in large part to finding and joining the Christian choir called Jubilate. Chris's time got a little better at West Point as he was finally an upperclassmen, but overall it was not a "fun" college experience for him. I graduated from UVA on May 18th, 2003 and then headed up to New York for Chris's graduation on May 31, 2003. We jumped into Chris's old Explorer and headed south to Virginia immediately following his graduation. He was DONE with West Point!! :) We were married on June 21, 2003 in Midlothian and after returning from our honeymoon headed West to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Chris was in his Explorer and I was in my little Honda Accord and we drove for three days to finally get to Fort Sill. I was there for 6 weeks of his 6 month Officer Basic Course. After 6 weeks I headed back East by myself...a three day drive...by myself...at 22 years old...that scares the heck out of me now! Didn't phase me at the time! Anyway, we moved into our first house in Fayetteville, NC as soon as I arrived in NC and I started my new job with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Raleigh two weeks after I arrived from OK. We were living in Fayetteville...and I was working in Raleigh...and 1 1/2 - 2 hour commute ONE WAY. I was crazy, but didn't know it at the time. I was working between 60 and 120 hour work weeks, and I was all alone in a town where I knew NO ONE. Talk about intimidating!
Chris graduated from Officer Basic and headed East two weeks before Christmas. He got home and immediately got a call from his new unit at Fort Bragg that he had the "option" to deploy with his unit...leaving on January 6th. WHAT?! He was told that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that this would be the last deployment to Iraq, so he would be one of the only 2003 grads to get to go...so he went! What a great opportunity right?! He was gone until mid-April. Again, we were back to communicating via e mail and AOL Instant Messenger (usually at 3am North Carolina time). When he came home, I was smack dab in the middle of an audit on a restatement (a big deal in the public company world). So I was working average 100-120 hour work weeks and Chris was driving clothes up to me on the weekends. A sad state!
During the time that I was working so much, Chris was also doing a lot of night jumps with his unit. Well he landed on the cement in the middle of the night one too many times and was now out with a back injury. Almost immediately the doctors said " you're going to be medically discharged." NOW WHAT?! We were planning on going back to West Point for Chris to teach...what do you mean a medical discharge?! Definitely NOT in our plan, but definitely in God's plan. :) A normal discharge takes YEARS to get through all of the bureaucracy...not us. From first mention to complete discharge was about 7 months. We were completely at a loss...what are we going to do now?!
Chris decided he was sick of having bosses, so he called my dad about going into a business with him. Amazingly at this very time, my dad was in the process of purchasing a commercial property as a real estate deal. Well the owner of the property really wanted to "sell" the business with the property. So my dad said "you wanna run an electrical company?" Chris said "uh, I guess so." So we moved to Melbourne, FL in January 2005 and Chris has been running Eau Gallie Electric ever since.
Now, what was I going to do? Well, it just so happens that Mom was going back into Agency at this time and she needed dependable staff people. Hello Keturah. So I walked right into a job with her, and we had SO much fun! I am not a sales person, so I knew this wouldn't be my job forever, but it was great to get me down here and then give me time to figure out what I wanted to do.
A month after we got everything moved in and settled, I went to a new doctor for my routine OB/GYN check up. Well the first question he asks me after my exam was "so are you here for a second opinion?" Uh...NO! Well he found a cyst the size of a grape fruit on my left ovary. (Can we see God's hand in all this...I wouldn't have been at this doctor's office if we hadn't been discharged!) The doctor said he figured it had been there for a few years?! WHAT?! So I was immediately scheduled for surgery the next week. I had no idea going in whether or not I would come out of the surgery with a full hysterectomy or just removal of the cyst. Talk about nerve wracking! The cyst was definitely benign and they only had to remove my left ovary...I could still have children!! With that said, the doctor told me that we should probably start trying to have kids soon because it would probably take us a long time to get pregnant since I only had the one ovary...great. We had planned on not having kids for another 2 years or so... Yeah...it took about a week to get pregnant. I can just imagine God laughing at "doctors" up in Heaven. :) We also found out after my surgery that the doctor I went to just happened to be a specialist in gynecological surgery and was the high risk pregnancy doctor...I couldn't have been in more capable hands. Amazing!
So now, here we are a total of 14 years after our first meeting and we have been blessed with 2 beautiful girls, a thriving business, and a house directly across the street from my parents and within 2 miles of our church. I think that this was definitely part of God's plan for us, even though it is drastically different from the plan that Chris and I had when we first got married. :)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sick!
So basically in one word the sum of our time since my last post has been SICK. Ugh! After Katherine's rapid recovery in time for school Monday the 5th, we had a rapid decline on Tuesday and Katherine didn't get over that cold until the 14th! A full week! UGH! The poor kid had a fever that just wouldn't go away. We took her to the doctor, but it was just a virus, so we had to just wait it out. Caroline and I did come down with the cold (or crud as I have been referring to it), but luckily it was very mild for both of us, so we didn't slow down for more than a day. :) Chris however got the worst of it. Poor guy. He was in bed for two full days...very unlike him, so you know he was very sick. He halfway recovered enough to head out of town for two days on business. That meant I was at home with both girls...and one had some MAJOR pent up energy since she hadn't been out of the house in over a week! It was an interesting two days to say the least! :) Chris finally came home in time for us to rapidly get ready for Mom's birthday party on Sunday the 18th. I was SO excited to finally use my living room (which we are using as a dining room, since our dining room is my office. :) and my Nana's dining room table! We had a WONDERFUL birthday for "grammy" complete with chocolate chocolate cake...her favorite. :) Sandi, GiG and Joe Joe all came to celebrate. I think it was pretty nice as it is the first time in a while that Mom has not had to cook for her own birthday! Sad I know!
The next week was full of craziness, but luckily no sickness! Whoo hoo...I thought we were in the clear! :) Chris spent two nights doing recruiting for West Point at local college fairs (meaning I was at home with both girls again...it's always interesting when it's 1 vs. 2!). Cory came into town on Thursday morning and Thursday night we had our very first couples small group Bible study. I was SO excited about this. Chris and I really had a good time and we can't wait for the actual study to begin next week!
Then Friday hit...WHAM! So, Katherine went to school, and Cory, Caroline and I ran a few errands around town (I'm talking to Sam's for two things and that's it!). We came home and I tried to get Caroline to take a nap before Katherine was finished with school, so that I could rest...yeah no. Caroline was ready to party!! So we went to pick up Katherine, came home, and the beginnings of a migraine settled on me...ugh. Katherine decided that she didn't want to take a nap...so on went the 3 hour battle of wills before she FINALLY conked out. Oh and then there was Caroline...yeah, she didn't want to go to sleep either...she might miss something, heaven forbid! So I am about to die from the pain in my head and I am running between two screaming kiddos...it was interesting to say the least. Once they both finally went to sleep I collapsed on the bed and found a bandanna to tie around my eyes, because the light from the windows was killing me! I got some sleep and finally managed to take some Motrin (the thought of even drinking water for a while made me want to get sick.), so when I woke up I was feeling MUCH better. Well that was just the beginning...
Saturday Katherine woke up with a fever of 102. Ugh! She didn't have any symptoms other than a fever, so I didn't really think much of it, but by lunchtime her fever was up to 103.5. I called the pediatrician who just said to keep her still (YEAH RIGHT!) and give her Motrin. All weekend her temp ranged between 101 and 103. So Monday morning I called the doctor's and got her in for an appointment that afternoon. The poor little one still had a fever and had a throat so raw, the doctor was sure she had strep. Nope! Both tests came back negative, so we're back to the wonderful viral infection...oh goody! His prescription was rest, Motrin and lots of smoothies since her throat was so inflamed. So that night when Chris got home, we all piled into the car to get smoothies for Katherine's dinner. Not to self: Do NOT give a 2 year old a smoothie in the car...wait until you get home. We had strawberry smoothie ALL over the car seat and Katherine. It was quite hilarious after we got it cleaned up. That night was rough...she was up almost every hour coughing her little head off. Then because she was coughing she would start screaming, because her throat hurt so badly. :( It was pitiful.
Tuesday was more of the same still fever between 101 and 103. I called the doc about the coughing and thankfully he called in a prescription for cough syrup with codeine. We just love our doctor. Dr. W! :) He called twice personally to check on little Katherine. So sweet. Last night was her first night of good sleep in four days. :) She still has a fever this morning, but I think she feels a little bit better since she actually got some rest! :) I'm very disappointed that she is missing her preschool's Fall Festival today, but I'm hoping she will be better by Friday when they have a Halloween party in her class. :) Keeping my fingers crossed!
I'm hoping November is a better month for the Hughes crew! I think we were not sick a total of 9 days this month...that's depressing!
The next week was full of craziness, but luckily no sickness! Whoo hoo...I thought we were in the clear! :) Chris spent two nights doing recruiting for West Point at local college fairs (meaning I was at home with both girls again...it's always interesting when it's 1 vs. 2!). Cory came into town on Thursday morning and Thursday night we had our very first couples small group Bible study. I was SO excited about this. Chris and I really had a good time and we can't wait for the actual study to begin next week!
Then Friday hit...WHAM! So, Katherine went to school, and Cory, Caroline and I ran a few errands around town (I'm talking to Sam's for two things and that's it!). We came home and I tried to get Caroline to take a nap before Katherine was finished with school, so that I could rest...yeah no. Caroline was ready to party!! So we went to pick up Katherine, came home, and the beginnings of a migraine settled on me...ugh. Katherine decided that she didn't want to take a nap...so on went the 3 hour battle of wills before she FINALLY conked out. Oh and then there was Caroline...yeah, she didn't want to go to sleep either...she might miss something, heaven forbid! So I am about to die from the pain in my head and I am running between two screaming kiddos...it was interesting to say the least. Once they both finally went to sleep I collapsed on the bed and found a bandanna to tie around my eyes, because the light from the windows was killing me! I got some sleep and finally managed to take some Motrin (the thought of even drinking water for a while made me want to get sick.), so when I woke up I was feeling MUCH better. Well that was just the beginning...
Saturday Katherine woke up with a fever of 102. Ugh! She didn't have any symptoms other than a fever, so I didn't really think much of it, but by lunchtime her fever was up to 103.5. I called the pediatrician who just said to keep her still (YEAH RIGHT!) and give her Motrin. All weekend her temp ranged between 101 and 103. So Monday morning I called the doctor's and got her in for an appointment that afternoon. The poor little one still had a fever and had a throat so raw, the doctor was sure she had strep. Nope! Both tests came back negative, so we're back to the wonderful viral infection...oh goody! His prescription was rest, Motrin and lots of smoothies since her throat was so inflamed. So that night when Chris got home, we all piled into the car to get smoothies for Katherine's dinner. Not to self: Do NOT give a 2 year old a smoothie in the car...wait until you get home. We had strawberry smoothie ALL over the car seat and Katherine. It was quite hilarious after we got it cleaned up. That night was rough...she was up almost every hour coughing her little head off. Then because she was coughing she would start screaming, because her throat hurt so badly. :( It was pitiful.
Tuesday was more of the same still fever between 101 and 103. I called the doc about the coughing and thankfully he called in a prescription for cough syrup with codeine. We just love our doctor. Dr. W! :) He called twice personally to check on little Katherine. So sweet. Last night was her first night of good sleep in four days. :) She still has a fever this morning, but I think she feels a little bit better since she actually got some rest! :) I'm very disappointed that she is missing her preschool's Fall Festival today, but I'm hoping she will be better by Friday when they have a Halloween party in her class. :) Keeping my fingers crossed!
I'm hoping November is a better month for the Hughes crew! I think we were not sick a total of 9 days this month...that's depressing!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
what else is new...we've been busy! :)
Well the past few weeks have been...you guessed it...CRAZY! :) I think one of these days we will actually slow down...maybe take a vacation?! I can't imagine it, but I think it will happen one of these days. :) The weekend after Caroline's 2 month check up I had a Session Retreat at church all morning at Saturday. So Christopher was alone with both girls for 4 1/2 hours! I was a bit nervous about leaving him all alone with the girls for so long, because I KNOW what a handful they can be, but he did amazing! I came home to two happy girls. One was sitting in the stroller just a smiling while daddy pushed her around the house (Caroline) and the other was sitting at the piano with no shirt on playing (Katherine). Daddy didn't even seem tired after keeping up with both girls all morning long...I think we may have to do this again! Ha! :) I was very impressed and it was wonderful being with adults for an entire morning without having to worry about one starting to cry in the middle of the meeting!
Also that weekend we had to make two batches of chocolate chip cookies...one for us and one to take to Katherine's school for her teacher Mrs. Maze's birthday on Monday. Katherine sat on the counter and helped me make the cookies...until she broke a glass right into the dough! AAGGHH! So we scrapped that batch and whipped up another one. This time the chocolate chips melted in the dough! I have never had that happen before! We aren't sure if the chocolate chips got hot from the steam coming out of the dishwasher or if I got the butter to hot when I softened it...I have no clue! They looked very strange, but Chris said they tasted better than normal because they had a fudge-like inside...guess I will have to try and repeat this in the future!
The next week was a bit crazy as I was helping to organize a marriage conference at our church the following weekend. I was at the church every single day that week and it was insane! The conference went off without a hitch and was actually a wonderful weekend. Chris and I attended and had a great time! We actually tied two other couples (one was my parents!) for the longest "courtship/engagement." haha. As the speakers put it "we've got some very cautious folks here!" Katherine and Caroline were in the nursery from 6pm on Friday until 8:30pm and then again on Saturday from 8am - 4pm! They both did great, but boy were we all WORN OUT by Saturday at 4! Our homework from the event was to schedule a date within the next 7 days...well it's been 10 days and we have yet to find time...guess we'll have to work on that! :)
After the wedding conference was over we moved into overdrive on operation "move out." In other words, my parents house was finally completed enough for them to move into! I know they were sick and tired of living in our little guest room. Really operation move out began in earnest the week prior (also during the marriage conference prep time). Dad had construction crews hopping over there all week...and I mean HOPPING! I swear I looked outside of my window and you couldn't even see the house for all the construction vehicles parked everywhere! GOod thing we have a large driveway or there wouldn't have been enough room for all of the cars to park! Monday and Tuesday of the actual moving week were spent finalizing things like the tile in the bathrooms, cabinet boxes in the bathrooms, paint, shutters on the windows (inside), etc. They managed to get 90% of it done in time for move in day on Wednesday. They got almost all of their stuff in the house on Wednesday and left non-essential stuff (books and Christmas mainly) in the storage unit until they can make room for that stuff. It looks like box heaven right now, but they are getting there!
Thursday was spent cleaning and getting ready for CiCi, Gran and Grandad to come and visit! They were en route on Thursday and we weren't sure if we would see them that night or not until Friday morning. We ended up not seeing them until the next morning as they didn't get in until after both girls were asleep. Friday was a day with the family! Katherine went to school in the morning so CiCi, Gran and Grandad were able to get some quality time in with Caroline before the tornado came home from school. :) CiCi and Daddy went to pick her up from school and she was super excited! We went out to lunch on Friday and then came home and took a nap and had a nice dinner in with the whole crew.
Saturday we got up early and made homemade pancakes, sausage, eggs and fruit for breakfast with everyone. Katherine was quite the entertainer. I had a haircut at 11am, so I headed off to do that while the girls stayed and played with CiCi, Gran, Grandad and Daddy. They had a blast. When I got back we all had some lunch while Grandad and Daddy ran to the tire place to get Grandad's tires balanced before the long trek back to VA. Katherine took another nap...yes that is TWO days in ROW!...while CiCi, Gran and I visited and had lunch (she had already eaten). The boys got back just in time for Katherine to wake up and CiCi and Daddy took her to the park! I fixed dinner while Gran and Grandad caught the Twins/Royals game on tv. We had an early dinner so that they could get back to the hotel for a good night of sleep before an early wake up call the next morning. We were sad to see them go. :( It seemed like they just got here! But we had a great visit! :)
After they left, Chris and I headed over to Mom and Dad's house...they were in the garage pulling cable through the house...didn't look good from our vantage point. Dad was pulling cable through the house and making Mom help him...should have just waited until Chris could help, but what's done is done! :) Chris helped dad for a bit while Momma reheated dinner (I brought over what was left from our dinner so she wouldn't have to cook...thank goodness since the Turkey she was cooking was taking quite a bit longer to cook than she anticipated!). Katherine was mesmerized by all of the boxes and furniture in Grammy and GrayGray's house. After they finished eating the Hughes crew called it a night! We were pooped! Oh...and I managed to burn my left hand pretty badly, so I was ready for the night to be over!
Sunday morning Christopher got up and went for a run and came home in time to get Miss Katherine when she woke up, so I got to SLEEP IN until 8:30am! Then, I was just waking up when in walks Christopher with homemade breakfast in BED! WHOO HOO! I had a feast all by myself! He's so sweet! :) I came downstairs and asked Katherine if she helped Daddy make me breakfast her reply "Nope. I ate my grapes." Chris looked at me and said "well at least she's honest!" hahahaha. When Caroline woke up we all took a trip to Walmart for diapers and such and then came home in time for lunch at Mom and Dads with GiGi and Joe Joe. Caroline started getting cranky towards the end, so she and I ducked back across the street while the others watched football and visited. I managed to sneak in a 30 minute nap before Chris and Katherine came back. Then it was naptime for Miss Katherine. I was very excited because when I woke up my hand was just red from the burn...didn't look bad...however by the end of Katherine's naptime I had a big old blister on my left index finer and super red marks on my middle and ring finger...oy. We had dinner at home and called it a night.
Monday was a crazy day. I wasn't sure if Katherine was going to go to school or not because she had a fever all of Saturday and Sunday, so I just KNEW she would still have one on Monday morning...WRONG! So my plans for a "jammies" day was out the window. So I rushed around getting ready and getting Katherine dressed for school. Got dad to come over and watch Caroline while I ran K to school. Then I came home, grabbed Caroline and headed off to the urgent care place close by...Mom was going to flip out if I didn't go to the doctor about my burn. So 30 minutes later I was on my way back home with a prescription antibiotic cream, a tetanus shot in the arm and the verdict of a bad 2 degree burn on my left index finger...oh goody. And by the way...I don't remember tetanus shots hurting so bad! OUCH! Caroline and I came home to get caught up on stuff for the shop and then it was time to head back to school for Katherine's very first parent/teacher conference. I was quite anxious about this as the few things I have seen/heard from school were Katherine running away from her teachers and not walking in line, Katherine bossing the other kids around...etc. Well Chris and I got there and met with Mrs. M and she said that Katherine was SO smart. They wanted to know how much we work with her at home...not too much...just bath and bedtime reading and such. She also said that Katherine is the "mommy" of the class and takes care of everyone else while also making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to do...in other words when someone is climbing on the table they hear "Mrs. M, Mrs. M, so and so is climbing on the table!" She said that all of the kids just love Katherine and she gets along with everyone. :) Phew! BIG sigh of relief!! The teachers are quite impressed with Katherine's ability to name every animal out there...in fact they play a game to see if they can pull out an animal that Katherine doesn't know...they haven't found one yet. They are also impressed that she knows all of her ABCs and can count to 50! Mrs. J said that her 3 1/2 year old can't even do that! She can count to 25 completely on her own, after that she sometimes misses a couple of numbers, but with a little prompting she gets to 50! I told Christopher she gets the smarts from him and the friends with everyone from me. :)
We came home from the conference and had lunch with Daddy before nap time. Katherine took a nap while allowed me to get some more much needed work done at the shop. While Katherine napped, Christopher won a bid at the shop that he had been working on for a while and GrayGray (my dad) got his braces off...FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!! It was turning out to be a GREAT day on Rio Casa Street! So when Katherine woke up from her nap at 5:30...we all packed up and headed to the Bistro for a celebratory dinner!!! Caroline even managed to sleep the entire time we ate! AMAZING! We came home and it was bedtime for all. :)
I am hoping the next few weeks will be a little calmer, but undoubtedly we will fill the schedule up with something! I don't think we know how to sit still! :)
Katherine is growing up way too fast. She's like a little girl now instead of a baby...:( Where did my baby go?! Caroline is also growing like a weed and should be rolling over really soon. She is such a happy little girl and only cries when she is hungry...which happens to be a lot! ha! She looks more and more like Christopher everyday and I think she is going to have his temperament. She's very content to sit and watch everything that is going on around her. She is the happiest little girl when she wakes up in the mornings...it is so sweet.
Well I guess that all...or should I say I will stop because this is WAY too long! Ha! Next up are my mom's birthday and a visit from Uncle Cory!!! :) Hopefully I can download pictures soon to post. :)
Have a great Tuesday!
Also that weekend we had to make two batches of chocolate chip cookies...one for us and one to take to Katherine's school for her teacher Mrs. Maze's birthday on Monday. Katherine sat on the counter and helped me make the cookies...until she broke a glass right into the dough! AAGGHH! So we scrapped that batch and whipped up another one. This time the chocolate chips melted in the dough! I have never had that happen before! We aren't sure if the chocolate chips got hot from the steam coming out of the dishwasher or if I got the butter to hot when I softened it...I have no clue! They looked very strange, but Chris said they tasted better than normal because they had a fudge-like inside...guess I will have to try and repeat this in the future!
The next week was a bit crazy as I was helping to organize a marriage conference at our church the following weekend. I was at the church every single day that week and it was insane! The conference went off without a hitch and was actually a wonderful weekend. Chris and I attended and had a great time! We actually tied two other couples (one was my parents!) for the longest "courtship/engagement." haha. As the speakers put it "we've got some very cautious folks here!" Katherine and Caroline were in the nursery from 6pm on Friday until 8:30pm and then again on Saturday from 8am - 4pm! They both did great, but boy were we all WORN OUT by Saturday at 4! Our homework from the event was to schedule a date within the next 7 days...well it's been 10 days and we have yet to find time...guess we'll have to work on that! :)
After the wedding conference was over we moved into overdrive on operation "move out." In other words, my parents house was finally completed enough for them to move into! I know they were sick and tired of living in our little guest room. Really operation move out began in earnest the week prior (also during the marriage conference prep time). Dad had construction crews hopping over there all week...and I mean HOPPING! I swear I looked outside of my window and you couldn't even see the house for all the construction vehicles parked everywhere! GOod thing we have a large driveway or there wouldn't have been enough room for all of the cars to park! Monday and Tuesday of the actual moving week were spent finalizing things like the tile in the bathrooms, cabinet boxes in the bathrooms, paint, shutters on the windows (inside), etc. They managed to get 90% of it done in time for move in day on Wednesday. They got almost all of their stuff in the house on Wednesday and left non-essential stuff (books and Christmas mainly) in the storage unit until they can make room for that stuff. It looks like box heaven right now, but they are getting there!
Thursday was spent cleaning and getting ready for CiCi, Gran and Grandad to come and visit! They were en route on Thursday and we weren't sure if we would see them that night or not until Friday morning. We ended up not seeing them until the next morning as they didn't get in until after both girls were asleep. Friday was a day with the family! Katherine went to school in the morning so CiCi, Gran and Grandad were able to get some quality time in with Caroline before the tornado came home from school. :) CiCi and Daddy went to pick her up from school and she was super excited! We went out to lunch on Friday and then came home and took a nap and had a nice dinner in with the whole crew.
Saturday we got up early and made homemade pancakes, sausage, eggs and fruit for breakfast with everyone. Katherine was quite the entertainer. I had a haircut at 11am, so I headed off to do that while the girls stayed and played with CiCi, Gran, Grandad and Daddy. They had a blast. When I got back we all had some lunch while Grandad and Daddy ran to the tire place to get Grandad's tires balanced before the long trek back to VA. Katherine took another nap...yes that is TWO days in ROW!...while CiCi, Gran and I visited and had lunch (she had already eaten). The boys got back just in time for Katherine to wake up and CiCi and Daddy took her to the park! I fixed dinner while Gran and Grandad caught the Twins/Royals game on tv. We had an early dinner so that they could get back to the hotel for a good night of sleep before an early wake up call the next morning. We were sad to see them go. :( It seemed like they just got here! But we had a great visit! :)
After they left, Chris and I headed over to Mom and Dad's house...they were in the garage pulling cable through the house...didn't look good from our vantage point. Dad was pulling cable through the house and making Mom help him...should have just waited until Chris could help, but what's done is done! :) Chris helped dad for a bit while Momma reheated dinner (I brought over what was left from our dinner so she wouldn't have to cook...thank goodness since the Turkey she was cooking was taking quite a bit longer to cook than she anticipated!). Katherine was mesmerized by all of the boxes and furniture in Grammy and GrayGray's house. After they finished eating the Hughes crew called it a night! We were pooped! Oh...and I managed to burn my left hand pretty badly, so I was ready for the night to be over!
Sunday morning Christopher got up and went for a run and came home in time to get Miss Katherine when she woke up, so I got to SLEEP IN until 8:30am! Then, I was just waking up when in walks Christopher with homemade breakfast in BED! WHOO HOO! I had a feast all by myself! He's so sweet! :) I came downstairs and asked Katherine if she helped Daddy make me breakfast her reply "Nope. I ate my grapes." Chris looked at me and said "well at least she's honest!" hahahaha. When Caroline woke up we all took a trip to Walmart for diapers and such and then came home in time for lunch at Mom and Dads with GiGi and Joe Joe. Caroline started getting cranky towards the end, so she and I ducked back across the street while the others watched football and visited. I managed to sneak in a 30 minute nap before Chris and Katherine came back. Then it was naptime for Miss Katherine. I was very excited because when I woke up my hand was just red from the burn...didn't look bad...however by the end of Katherine's naptime I had a big old blister on my left index finer and super red marks on my middle and ring finger...oy. We had dinner at home and called it a night.
Monday was a crazy day. I wasn't sure if Katherine was going to go to school or not because she had a fever all of Saturday and Sunday, so I just KNEW she would still have one on Monday morning...WRONG! So my plans for a "jammies" day was out the window. So I rushed around getting ready and getting Katherine dressed for school. Got dad to come over and watch Caroline while I ran K to school. Then I came home, grabbed Caroline and headed off to the urgent care place close by...Mom was going to flip out if I didn't go to the doctor about my burn. So 30 minutes later I was on my way back home with a prescription antibiotic cream, a tetanus shot in the arm and the verdict of a bad 2 degree burn on my left index finger...oh goody. And by the way...I don't remember tetanus shots hurting so bad! OUCH! Caroline and I came home to get caught up on stuff for the shop and then it was time to head back to school for Katherine's very first parent/teacher conference. I was quite anxious about this as the few things I have seen/heard from school were Katherine running away from her teachers and not walking in line, Katherine bossing the other kids around...etc. Well Chris and I got there and met with Mrs. M and she said that Katherine was SO smart. They wanted to know how much we work with her at home...not too much...just bath and bedtime reading and such. She also said that Katherine is the "mommy" of the class and takes care of everyone else while also making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to do...in other words when someone is climbing on the table they hear "Mrs. M, Mrs. M, so and so is climbing on the table!" She said that all of the kids just love Katherine and she gets along with everyone. :) Phew! BIG sigh of relief!! The teachers are quite impressed with Katherine's ability to name every animal out there...in fact they play a game to see if they can pull out an animal that Katherine doesn't know...they haven't found one yet. They are also impressed that she knows all of her ABCs and can count to 50! Mrs. J said that her 3 1/2 year old can't even do that! She can count to 25 completely on her own, after that she sometimes misses a couple of numbers, but with a little prompting she gets to 50! I told Christopher she gets the smarts from him and the friends with everyone from me. :)
We came home from the conference and had lunch with Daddy before nap time. Katherine took a nap while allowed me to get some more much needed work done at the shop. While Katherine napped, Christopher won a bid at the shop that he had been working on for a while and GrayGray (my dad) got his braces off...FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!! It was turning out to be a GREAT day on Rio Casa Street! So when Katherine woke up from her nap at 5:30...we all packed up and headed to the Bistro for a celebratory dinner!!! Caroline even managed to sleep the entire time we ate! AMAZING! We came home and it was bedtime for all. :)
I am hoping the next few weeks will be a little calmer, but undoubtedly we will fill the schedule up with something! I don't think we know how to sit still! :)
Katherine is growing up way too fast. She's like a little girl now instead of a baby...:( Where did my baby go?! Caroline is also growing like a weed and should be rolling over really soon. She is such a happy little girl and only cries when she is hungry...which happens to be a lot! ha! She looks more and more like Christopher everyday and I think she is going to have his temperament. She's very content to sit and watch everything that is going on around her. She is the happiest little girl when she wakes up in the mornings...it is so sweet.
Well I guess that all...or should I say I will stop because this is WAY too long! Ha! Next up are my mom's birthday and a visit from Uncle Cory!!! :) Hopefully I can download pictures soon to post. :)
Have a great Tuesday!
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