boxes, boxes and more boxes

We are busy packing! Monday is closing day (assuming the loan people get it together) and rumor on the street is we will get possession that day as well (instead of Thursday per our contract). We really don't have a whole lot to pack since most of our belongings are in storage, but we've pretty much filled the "dining room" with boxes. We sold our dining table and chairs and bought new ones. We also bought new living room furniture! Darren will pick the new furniture up on Friday and take it right on over to the new house!

We went for our final walk-through on Friday. The owners were there so they could explain the irrigation system to us and show us some house specific things. Very cool of them. They are super nice and very organized. woohoo!

Still not sure Ella understands what is going on, but I know she is going to LOVE her new house! On a related Ella note, we found new daycare. We interviewed several people and finally found one we liked. Well, she called the next day and said that she no longer has an opening for Ella. We were really bummed!

A friend of mine was looking to watch someone. We visited and know it is the right place for Ella. She has 2 little girls and they all get along great. I'm so relieved!

Time for more packing and planning...

so that's where they all went..

Today we were cleaning up toys and for some unknown reason Darren thought it would be a good idea to move the couch to rescue lost toys.

I had no idea!

I'll have a cheeseburger and small fry...

This morning I was hiding in the bedroom working while Darren and Ella were in the living room playing. I peaked out the door and found Ella sitting by her kitchen playing. It was cute so I snapped a picture. Quality isn't the best because I was being sneaky. The first flash caught her attention but I quickly hid before being spotted.


Ella, Granny and I are heading to Canton this afternoon. Ella is very excited to see Sammy and Henry, we haven't seen them since Christmas! We are going to take the Big Blocks for Henry to use for a bit, we hear he is crawling all over the place these days so I'm sure he will love them.

More house pics...

The entry and another view of the living room.

Master bedroom and 2 of the other bedrooms.

The finished basement with play fort.

Snuggling with Daddy

Ella is a bit of a mommy's girl. She prefers me (as she should, right?) to wipe her nose, get her yogurt, change her diaper, etc. I encourage her to ask Daddy for just about everything but with little luck. Maybe one day I will get to make dinner without stopping to help her when someone else is right there that could just as easily help her. Ok, maybe not, but I can dream, right?

Well, I've been given a glimmer of hope. The other day I was working on the computer (doing the taxes, sigh) and Darren was entertaining Ella on the bed (in the same room). I can hear him reading a book to her but my back is to them so I am not really paying a lot of attention to them.

Until I see this....

Melt. My. Heart.

Could they be any cuter? (said in my best Chandler impersonation)

New House

Big news!!! We are in contract on a house!!!!



We've looked at hundreds of houses online and at least 40 houses in person and finally found a house that we both like (love)!!! We put in an offer last night and this morning they came back with a great counter-offer! We were SHOCKED as we were prepared for a battle to get the price down.

It is on the north side of Westerville. Darren can get to work in about the same amount of time as it takes from Marysville and hopefully will be slightly shorter drive for me.

4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, finished basement with rec room/play area.

Here are a couple more pictures from the original listing (meaing - not our furniture). :)



Assuming all goes as planned we will be moving the end of March!!!

Nursemaid's Elbow and Princess Dresses

First the bad news: On Thursday Ella partially dislocated her elbow. Ella and Darren were playing the classic game of airplane, where he was holding onto her arms and swinging her around. He set her down and she started crying the cry where you just KNOW immediately that something is very wrong. She was holding her arm and really wouldn't let us look but we saw a red welt on her wrist. We concluded that her skin must've gotten pinched on Darren's wrist.

We were actually out looking at houses and were at our last one chatting when it happened, so we loaded up in the car and headed home. Ella fell asleep in the car, much to our relief. Well, turns out Ella is able to sleep through some intense pain! As soon as we got home and she woke up she started crying again, so off to urgent care. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but Ella HATES going to the doctor. Hates with a passion!

So, we get to urgent care and get called back into the room and Ella isn't about to let some doctor come near her or her arm. I figure this was going to be a rough visit (I had no idea how they would fix the problem, or what the problem even was at this point). Well, the doctor (who was excellent, btw) heard what happened and immediately knew what the problem was. He did a quick exam to confirm and then popped her elbow right back in.

The look of relief that crossed Ella's face was priceless. She was immediately fine - able to move her arm without pain, stopped crying and started asking for her lollipop. What a relief!

Of course since this happened once it is more likely to happen again. No more airplane, no more holding hands and swinging your way through a parking lot (which was great for avoiding puddles), no more hanging by her arms.


And the good news: Ella got a new princess dress, Complete with tiara and "silk" slippers. :)

And I just thought this was a cute pictures. She was posing. :)