Good bye Lewiston!

We are finally moving. I am just so happy about this move. This apartment was fine (not stellar) for just me and Marty, but it is so hard having Ezekiel here. We don't have anywhere for him to play, in the Summer, our entire apartment gets up in the 90s and even with THREE air conditioners, we can't drop the temp below 80. We have ants (we found the source of the problem outside just today..an ant nest..NASTY). We have neighbors that smoke pot ALL THE TIME (that's fine until you've got an infant sucking up the pot-air). We have neighbors that fight really badly, throw each other against walls, break beer bottles on the ground outside, climb on our roof - right outside of our windows, etc, etc, etc. The awesome part is we are not just moving to another crap-hole - nope..we are moving to a perfect place. Literally - perfect. I mean, check out these comparasion pictures...

Our "back yard" now:


Our "front yard" now:


Our "side yard" ? now:


Our caged monkey now:


Another caged monkey shot now:


Cage-free monkey!




Our front yard later this week:


Some of the back yard later this week:


Some more of the back yard later this week:




Our garden:


Our frog pond:


Our neighbor:


Also know as "Ezekiel's new best friend":






True sign of a country kid in the making...NO SHOES!

Eating cacti makes for a very sick boy

What with being on the phone with Poison Control, explaining that cacti are not for eating to a screaming-I've-got-thorns-in-my-tongue toddler, kissing a sliced thumb (clippers will do that to you), listening to the true crying for over an hour stemming from the pain, dealing with "after effects" of eating said cactus, and explaining that Mommy's nose is not for biting on, it has been sort of a hectic-wear-me-down sort of day. Thank goodness that Baby Kitten has agreed to watch over The Boy for a few...

Moving On

We are moving. Let me tell you the story.

Back in November of last year, we were looking around at places. My mom works for this woman named Sally who lives on a farm in Poland with like 100 acres and sheep, and chickens, and dogs, etc etc. She has this other house down the road from her on her property. She turned the house into two apartments and her step-daughter rents the top floor. So last year, she lost her other tenant. We asked if we could come check out the place. She said we could but that she had it in total disarray because she decided to remodel. We went and looked at it and fell in love with the land (you know -- the simple things-- a garden, a clothes line, acres of land for Ezekiel to run, a frog pond (!), etc). Even the crazy things were exciting to us (the coyotes coming up to the front door.. yeah, that is about all the crazy). The house seemed wonderful in an old, farm house, cozy sort of way. Sally was asking $650 plus half the oil - which would run about $200/month. It just seemed steep but we said we were interested. She said she would think about it.

Last week (FIVE MONTHS after our initial visit), my mom told me that Sally was done remodeling. She was really torn about us renting (she was concerned about the oil prices, Marty being the only one with a job, and us with only one car) so she said she had to pray about some things. Well, I didn't call and I didn't call..I just didn't want to annoy her and plus, she hadn't told US about deciding to rent the apartment, only my mom. Then, on Wednesday, I couldn't stand it anymore! I called her and told her that we were interested in her place if she was willing to rent to us. She called me back a few hours later and burst into tears. She said that she has been carrying around the ad for the newspaper for a week and she didn't feel right about putting it in, but THAT day she was going to put it in if God didn't speak to her in a very loud voice saying that she should rent to us. Well, she got home..and saw her answering machine blinking, it was me. She said that she talked to her husband and they decided that they really wanted us and they wanted to offer it to us for $450/month (!!!!). We were like "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, yes, yes, yes, please!".

We got the key today :) :) It is SO beautiful. She has done a lovely job with the place. I asked her about security deposit and first/last month rent. You know what she said? She said "this house was an answer to prayer and we want to continue to help people. If you are willing to sign a letter of intent to live here and that you will respect this place, then we do not want a deposit or anything".

I honestly didn't know that there were nice people like that.

We are super excited about moving (I almost feel like we are starting a new, fresh life) but there is a tinge of sadness too. We've been in our current place for almost 7 years now. My sister has always lived down the hall from us. We moved in when Jacob was an infant, and we have always been here in Emily's little life. So it is sad to move away from them and not be able to have them run down to see us whenever they feel like it.

I took some pictures of the apartment (but I didn't take pictures downstairs or of the garage..those will come later).

This is the breakfast nook/dining area (she did the tiling herself):


Part of the kitchen with an overtired baby (it has special drawer/cupboard things for potatoes and one for flour).:


One of the rooms upstairs:


Bathroom:




Another room (you can see that she isn't quite done with the remodeling..she is going to finish up this week)


And another shot of the baby..and the floors. The floors were all really dark, she stripped them by herself and refinished them:

Part Two

Ezekiel is trying to grow up before it is time for him to grow up. He emulates everything (thus resulting in a huge cleanup of our language as of late). One thing he loves is the phone. He has long involved conversations while walking through the house (Marty is a pacer on the phone).



Multi-tasking - "talking" on the phone while yelling at the door to see if Marty is home (Da-daahhh!)


He's even got the cell phone down.




Wondering if I'm going to try to take it from him...


nope! safe again!!


Doesn't he remind you of an insolent little kid using his phone?




He has also discovered his inner coolness. He wants you to realize how very cool he is.




Impressed yet? If not, he will flash you his very new, VERY extreme smile:


He's also decided that if Daddy can drive like a clown, then he must be ready to start the driving too!


Let's back this beast up!


GET OUT OF MY WAY!! (loving on the horn)


We have long days at home alone sometimes, so Ezekiel and I "staged" photos to make Marty laugh.
'do you like my hair?'


'how about my face?'


"Do the Fish Face!!"


"Now pretend you are making Daddy smell your stinkies!" (one of his favorite games of all time)


Mandy gave us a papasan chair. Ezekiel adopted it. He has also adopted his first "Lovie" (other than me or Marty). This is really exciting for us - unfortunately, we took it on a trip and already lost it (referring to his Lovie-Blanket). I think it may be in our backseat............
Relaxing.


Very comfy.


Eventually, he did snooze in his little nest.




Little Marty..


Towering Giant..

Are you shocked?

OK, this isn't the follow up to yesterday's blog about Ezekiel. But I'm thinking you will enjoy this.


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